Jakal shifted from his position behind the tree on the hill at the end of the harbour. This was, without a shadow of a doubt, the ship he had been hunting. Through his spyglass, he saw the red, six-starred skull-and-crossbones flag described by his informant. Scanning the vessel further through the telescope, he made out a few hands moving goods on the deck and one on the watch post. Add that to the two guarding the pier, and there were only about six men here. For now. The rest must be on leave at the various bars or brothels in town. His only concern now was the whereabouts of the captain. The magnificently panelled windows of the captains quarters at the back of the ship were lit up like a town-hall festival, suggesting the captain was inside. He would have to be careful. Jakal mulled over his options. This ship is said to arrive in a town at the start of sundown, and leave before sunrise the next day. Minimum chances to be spotted by the town guards. Sundown was nearly over, so he likely had six hours to plan and execute his job, or he’d have to track it through the seas again. Jakal frowned. This was his chance to save the prince. With a minimum skeleton crew, this was as good as it was going to get.
***
A colleague and I have recently been doing a couple of writing challenges to give them more practice writing in English. And, because I love anything like this, I have been doing them, too!
Our writing challenge:
Write 250 words based on this picture.
What I find even more interesting? My colleague’s piece took the form of a fiction diary, of a man on board the ship that was likely the captain. We joked that they could very easily belong to the same story!
Perhaps I will write that story some day …
***
If you ever feel like giving yourself a short writing challenge, give this one a go! It was fun to write, and perfect to get your creative juices going!
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