by Artemis » Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:53 am
Go Willow! Well, to a point - the evasion of Ronan's trap was neat (and interesting to go back to the previous chapter, and see the innocent dialogue that was actually Willow noticing the poison and putting Mockery on his guard, all without raising suspicion), but not so much the smacking into ceiling beams. Swashbuckling's never as easy as it looks in the movies.
I really liked Mockery in this chapter - we got two very distinct sides of him, the amusing jolly rogue, playing the effects of the poison with gusto just for laughs, and then in the fight we see that, hearty and fun as he is in jest, he's a vicious, mean bastard in a fight. It's an interesting reminder that 'privateer' and 'pirate' aren't that far off - as much as Willow would protest (with justification) that her liberating a slave ship isn't the same as raiding random prey, she's got some hard-as-nails killers in her crew, and no matter how noble the ends might be, the business they're in is brutal and nasty on both sides.
I'm curious about Ronan's inconvenient death too - they were being shot at from the other side of the table, but the bolt hit him from the front. Was he facing the other way, out in the open (a bit reckless, with crossbow bolts flying about, even if they were from his own men, him being so close to their targets and all), or was there someone other than just the hired goons around, and they decided to kill him when they saw he was going to squeal?
Please keep updating this story as I do quiet like the plot! 
This story is damn right spell-bounding so well written and vivid. I want more dammit! Update soon, please?