"Your sister, huh?" Kasim frowned slightly, studying Morgana for a minute. "You sure you wanna share, just like that?" He shook his head. "Well, whatever. Just so long as she doesn't decide to do... you know... anything untoward."
He returned to the wheel and reached to take hold of it. His fingers had just closed around one of the spokes when a sharp whistle rang out from the crow's nest. Kasim immediately jerked his head up, his gaze focusing on the young man in the basket atop the mast. The young man was leaning partway out of the basket, keeping his grip on the rim and saved from tumbling out only because of the rope tied tightly around his waist. His arm was pointing straight out toward the left, using his spyglass to indicate something behind their ship. Kasim felt his heart begin to pound, knowing there were few things that could have his lookout give a signal whistle. Rarely would anyone charged with lookout duty give a false alarm, so Kasim immediately had shifted to survival mode, his hand tightening on the wheel as he waited for the lookout's clarification.
"Captain!" the young man shouted, his voice causing everyone above deck to stop what they were doing and turn to face the crow's nest. "Colors of the port side!"
Kasim quickly spun about and searched the horizon in the direction his lookout was pointing, but he couldn't see anything for the longest time. But then he saw it, a silhouette far off to their left and gaining fast. Kasim twisted at the waist to grab his own spyglass, extending it quickly and putting it to his eye. Magnified, he saw the ship - a large galleon meant for battle, slow but efficient - quickly closing the distance between them, having gained the advantage by coming up on their blind side. He directed the spyglass toward the highest point on the largest mast of the ship, focusing on the colors flapping in the wind above the half-full sails. A large black flag snapped back and forth, folding onto itself and out again. Kasim was able to make out a white stylized skull and crossbones on the otherwise black field. The skull was wearing a tricorn hat and had fangs where its canines were supposed to be.
"Shit!"
Kasim didn't need to scan the deck of the galleon to know that it was full of men who were armed to teeth for a takeover. The flag flying proud told him everything he needed to know, mostly because he recognized it. While Kasim dabbled in piracy himself, he made a point of avoiding the territories and preferred prey of other pirates. He held true the Pirate's Code of Honor, and for that, most other pirates that sailed these seas left him alone. Others would make an exploratory pass by his smaller ship, causing Kasim to offer to pay tribute to the larger ship's captain to preserve the integrity of his own crew and his ship. But there were a few who didn't care. A few who were only out for themselves and had various shades of honor that were always skewed in their favor. And this was one of them. One Kasim had insulted before, but hadn't believed the man would take such offense as to attack him so blatantly.
Of course, he wasn't sure that his enemy knew who he was yet. There was one way to find out.
"Raise colors!" Kasim shouted, his voice booming out loud with authority. "I want those bastards to know we're not afraid of them!" He didn't bother to look to see if his orders were being followed. He knew they would be, the moment he shouted them. Within minutes his ship's flag, a dark blue trident on a grey field, was snapping in the wind above their heads. He lifted the spyglass again, focusing on the deck of the ship. "What are you going to do now, eh?"
His answer came when the sails unfurled to their full length, bowing out as they filled with the wind. He saw the shadows of cannons as they were pushed out portholes, and knew there was no escaping. They'd lost that chance before they'd even known they'd had it.
Kasim cursed again and snapped the spyglass closed, turning his attention to Morgana. His eyes burned with a strange fire, and his face seemed to lose its boyish charm, becoming dangerous.
"Morgana, I won't ask you to fight for us. And I won't hold it against you if you abandon ship to save yourself, either." Kasim's voice was hard, and held a razor sharp edge. "But if you stay, you might get involved in this, and this doesn't concern you."
Then his attention was off her and given to his crew. "All hands to stations! Full sail! Let's try to outrun these bastards!"
There was a raucous cheer from the men and women on the deck.
And a heartbeat later there was a flurry of activity as they armed themselves, pulled the long guns into place and began to load them, and sent the sails snapping out to full to catch the wind. Kasim spun the wheel to change course, using the wind and his smaller ship to advantage. Yet he knew, somehow, it wasn't going to make much of a difference.
And it didn't.
But his quick movement of changing his ship's course prevented that first cannonball from ripping a hole into the hull of his ship.