Red cursed at their bad luck. A day had passed since their encounter with the pirate camp. A day since they had finally been able to eat. A day since Derrin had killed the pirate and alerted the rest to their presence.
As Derrin had predicted, there was a major increase in pirate patrols. Despite this, the trio had managed to dodge everything and closed the distance between them and the distant fort. They had even changed their moving time. It was far safer to travel in the early morning or evening to avoid patrols. There were still plenty of them out, but they were far less watchful.
They had passed by numerous plateaus during their journey around the island. Thankfully, they had yet to find one being guarded, which was a relief. It gave them an easy place to remain hidden. The biggest issue with their hiding place was the difficulty of getting a good view nearby. It was that same reason that they remained unguarded. The tree canopy was so thick that the only things visible were distant landmarks like the fort.
That had been their downfall.
Their luck had been good up until the last plateau. Red called it luck, but it was mostly thanks to Derrin's keen instincts. The three of them had dropped from the ridge late in the afternoon as the sun had begun to set. Afternoons and early mornings were when they traveled the most. This time was perfect because the sun cast enough shadows to remain hidden while still allowing them to see the unwary pirates.
Their luck seemed to have run out. They had stumbled straight into a group of pirates approaching from the opposite direction they expected. Derrin's instincts alerted them less than a minute before the group was upon them. That minute was enough time for them to make a hasty retreat towards the beach.
Every cracking stick or crackling leaf caused Red to flinch. He wanted to curse, but that would have given them away completely. Instead, he settled for muttering under his breath. Vizim looked at him funny, but he ignored him.
The pirates were following a predetermined path. The jungle had been flattened across their route, and it wasn't directly towards them. However, there wasn't nearly enough cover for them to hide in. They wouldn't have time to retreat up the plateau they'd been on, and the other side was far more open than they would have liked. They couldn't even make out the plateau in the distance.
Instead, they slowly withdrew towards the beach. The enemy wasn't in any sort of rush, allowing them to put distance between their two groups. Derrin had elected to remain at the rear in case the pirates did spot them. That left Red trying to lead the way. He had gained some experience over the last few days, but not enough to be confident about his decisions.
He let out a sigh of relief, seeing the distant edge of sand. Behind him, Vizim was practically shaking from adrenaline. Red stepped up to the edge of the beach and froze. Vizim slammed into his back, causing him to stumble. He barely managed to catch himself from tumbling onto the sand. That would have been their end, because another group of pirates was coming down the beach.
This time, Red did let out a curse.
"What is it? Are we going?" Vizim asked frantically, his voice tight.
Red put a finger to his lips, "There's more coming this way."
His eyes widened in fear. Vizim was most definitely an engineer all the way through. He didn't have an ounce of fighter energy about him. That simple statement made him wilt backward.
"Derrin," Red hissed, "There's more on the beach."
His eyes narrowed, and he silently caught up to them. As he peered out across the sandy shore, Red thought his ears had deceived him. He had thought for a moment that he'd heard Derrin curse.
The man shook his head, "We need to fight."
That gave all of them pause.
They had not been forced to fight yet. Derrin was the only one to have an encounter so far. Red didn't like their chances. Especially not when Vizim didn't even have a weapon.
"How do you expect us to do that?" Red grunted, keeping his voice low, "There are at least ten of them in total. Even if we could take all of them, that would definitely alert the other pirates to our presence, and then we're screwed."
They only had a few minutes to make their decision.
"We're not fighting all of them," Derrin replied, scanning the jungle.
He understood Derrin's intention. To fight all of the pirates at once would be nearly impossible. However, if they got the drop on one group, it might give them time to flee into the jungle unseen.
Red briefly considered their options. Either they went after the smaller group on the beach or the larger one in the jungle. He didn't like those odds in either circumstance. It would make sense to take the fight to the beach to avoid as many opponents as possible. However, his gut was telling him that was a bad option.
"We'll take the ones in the jungle as quickly as possible. Follow me," Derrin began to move.
"You want us to fight six at once?" Vizim said in startlement, "The smaller group is right there!"
Derrin didn't stop moving but said quietly, "That may be a smaller group, and you're right, they will be easier to take out. At this point, we don't care about easy. Everything is about to spiral out of control, no matter what we do. We want to control the spiral to some extent."
"What? That didn't make any…"
"What he's saying, or at least trying to, is that taking out the ones in the jungle will give us an advantage. They will be hidden in the underbrush and give us time to escape. The group on the beach is likely to be found relatively soon. They'll be seen from a large distance. We just want to give ourselves as big an advantage as we can get."
Red had come to that conclusion at least. He assumed Derrin felt the same way. It didn't matter. They were out of time and out of options. All they could do now was act. So act they did.