Mayor Pres and the others on Krus Island had assumed that the Sword of Dawn pirates, with so few people, would find it impossible to command everyone joining the fight. Surely they would ask Pres and his people to do it for them.
That was how things had worked with the Deep Blue pirates. Whenever their captain, Egbert, needed something, he told Pres, who organized the people to do the actual work.
If Egbert wanted a feast on the island, for example, Pres would have people clear a space, bring in wine, food, tables, and chairs, and arrange enough prostitutes.
Then Egbert and his crew could arrive and do nothing but revel.
That was how pirates usually operated when they reached an island. If they needed a large number of locals to serve them, they went straight to the local leaders.
Organizing the locals themselves was too much trouble.
Pres believed Captain Gal would eventually do the same and rely on them to command the ordinary people in battle.
Instead, to their surprise, Captain Gal had divided the island's young fighters into two groups in a few sentences. The forces on the southern plain slipped out of their control at once.
It caught them off guard. By the time they collected themselves, they realized they did not dare object.
Donnachie had just told them that the Sword of Dawn pirates had wiped out the Red Lion pirates, a crew of more than three hundred. Only eight had survived.
Pres and the others immediately understood that this crew might be small, but it was powerful.
The restrained air the pirates had displayed also weighed heavily on them. None dared be the first to speak against Captain Gal.
After Odys announced the two battle zones, he had his crew press the fighters