It didn't take her long to catch up with the group. The soldiers saluted as she approached, while the others looked at her with revelry. Zara ignored all of this and waved the group onwards, choosing to remain at the rear. There would be enough time for discussion later.
She remained at the back for a few reasons. Firstly, it was the ideal location to protect the group from sudden attack. Iris would be able to warn her in advance of anything unexpected. However, the more important reason was that she needed to focus on something else, the pirate's vision.
Zara had every intention of hunting down the cursed king now that she had men to defend the fort. With no leverage against her and a proper force, the pirates would soon understand what it meant to be a Valencian. Well, Derrin was there as well, so that wasn't an entirely accurate statement.
Her mind closed the vision from Iris. It was hard to keep track of three points of view at the same time. She could hold many more than that at once, but that would be very difficult to control. Besides, most of the time, holding that many visions wasn't helpful.
The only sense she possessed of the person was their sight, and that didn't include the ability to blink. That meant it couldn't even be used for communication. She had originally thought the ability was not all that useful. However, situations like this one were exactly why she was glad to have it.
Zara's focus returned to her own surroundings and that of the pirate. He was stumbling maniacally into the cave at the camp. As they traveled closer to the fort, she watched the pirate travel closer to the central chamber of the island. It took him a long time to come across others, and when he did, she was disappointed.
Her vision followed the pirate as he came across two of his companions, neither of whom was the Pirate King. She'd never seen these two before, most likely because they remained beneath the island. The caverns around them were dark, and Zara had a hard time picking out minute details through the pirates' eyes since they were not her own.
However, she could see enough to read the lips of the pirates as they spoke. Although she didn't know what her pirate said, she could guess the conversation from the other two.
"What are you doing down here?" said one of the pirates.
"The upper camp was attacked." Zara assumed the reply was like that.
"Attacked by who?"
"It was the people from the fort."
Zara smiled when she saw the panic fill the expressions on the other two faces.
"The king still hasn't returned. What are we supposed to do?"
"What do you mean? What are we supposed to do? You know, we were told to stay away from that fort?"
"Nothing we can do will stand a chance against her. We need to wait for the king."
Zara could tell that the man whose eyes she looked through was shifting uncomfortably. His vision darted around the cavern, as if he were trying to calm himself. Zara hoped that the man would continue on into the lower chambers.
If she couldn't get a good view of the king, at least she wanted to know the status of what mattered most on the island. The pirates likely hadn't found out how to activate it, but even so, freeing the central chamber would be their primary goal.
She took a moment to focus back on her surroundings, but there was still nothing around them. Zara guessed that they would be safe all the way to the fort. With the king on the other side of the island, and after Red's distraction, they would have no time to guard the fort.
The pair of pirates continued speaking, and one of them said, "There's nothing much we can do until the king returns."
"I have no interest in going back out there."
Zara felt the man blink. As his eyes opened, she almost released the man's vision in surprise. One of the pair of pirates was gone, simply gone as if he never was there at all.
In his place stood a tall, stocky man. Long black hair hung to his shoulders, framing his irritated expression. He wore a long black coat, and a black curling mustache rested above his lips.
Nothing about the cavern had changed. No one had arrived from below or above. The pirate in front of her had not left. Somehow, this man had simply appeared. Zara knew who this was without even needing the guess. It seemed she was getting her chance to get a look at the Pirate King after all.
The Pirate King's eyes narrowed, and he spoke quickly, "Status report?"
The two remaining pirates kneeled before their ruler in startlement. It seemed whatever power he had used just now didn't show any signs, at least not outwardly. Zara cursed at the kneeling pirates. With their faces downcast, she could not see the Pirate King's lips nor the other pirates.
The vision remained there for a few minutes, and both of the pirates were still facing the ground. The Pirate King never moved, and Zara considered whether she had simply lost control of the vision. However, after a while, her pirate finally rose to his feet.
"Were you present when the camp was attacked?" The Pirate King asked.
"No, sir. I arrived late." Zara assumed the man said something like that.
"Is that so? What exactly happened after you arrived back at the camp?"
Zara could not even begin to guess how much of their encounter the man spoke of. He spoke for too long for her to even attempt to guess. The man likely recounted his arrival and subsequent retreat into the caverns. Eventually, the Pirate King gestured for the man to be silent.
"So, Zara finally chose to make her move, did she?"
Zara paused at the mention of her name. How had this pirate known? Had she encountered him in the past? Or was there something far more sinister at play?
The Pirate King continued, "She likely believed that this attack would send a message…Unfortunately, for you, it does not."
She spotted walking. The Pirate King was staring into his subordinate's eyes as if looking for her. A crooked smile twisted at the corners of his lips. Then, he laughed, a cold-hearted, merciless sound. It made her want to cringe. Zara quickly strode to catch up with her group of rescuees. She did everything she could to remain impassive to the group.
The pirates in the cavern seemed to be just as confused as she had been. They had no idea why the Pirate King was laughing so abruptly, and they didn't know who he was talking to.
Zara didn't think it was possible for the Pirate King to sense her presence in the man's eyes. However, there were thousands of powers throughout the seven seas. Perhaps, he had something like that, but there was that strange fact of his suddenly appearing.
When the King spoke again, it was with a voice as cold as ice, "We will be meeting again very soon, I think. The arrival has yet to come. I'll leave you with this, Valencian, there is nowhere you can remain safe when they come."
The connection died. Zara was left staring at a black empty space in her mind. She had not gotten any of the answers she was looking for. In fact, this entire situation seemed to leave her with more questions. However, one thing was certain. The Pirate King had known she rested in the man's eyes. How he had known, she hadn't the slightest idea.
But he had known. The pirate she had shared a vision with was dead. That was the only way her connection could be lost, unless she released it or lost control of it. She had not done the former, and she would have felt the latter. Instead, the vision simply vanished. The Pirate King had simply killed one of his own to send her a message.
After this brief glance at the King's true powers, Zara knew the man was strong. She had known this all along, of course, but this scenario only reiterated the point. However, it was his callous disregard for even his own people's lives that threw her off.
The Pirate King could have simply thrown the man in a holding cell for the remainder of their stay on the island. If the man got too far away, she would have been forced to release the vision. Instead, the Pirate King just killed the man. Not because it was easier or made more sense, but simply to send her a message.
Zara wished she could have sent a message in response. Nothing the Pirate King had done scared her. It left her uneasy, true, but it also gave her more to work with. It gave her more of a start to killing the blasted man. He was going to die on this island, no matter how many of his men he sacrificed.