Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 304

Chen Zuyi could only watch in anguish when the tide turned. The squadrons of four evaporated as quickly
as ice-cream under the Summer sun.
The pirate ships no longer rammed. The archers aboard shot blindly, missing more than hitting. They tried
to evade instead of attacking ruthlessly like real pirates.
The first pirate ship was rammed to pieces by Admiral Zheng’s personal treasure ship. A second was set on
fire by the elite Royal Flamethrowers and flaming arrows. The third had its crew nearly exterminated and it
was drifting uselessly on the calm Natuna Sea…
The pirates were starting to collapse. They were being destroyed more than destroying. But still they fought
on and on, setting fire to ship after ship until only seven of the seventeen remained.
Then Chen Zuyi decided that it was enough. They were too weak to continue.
“Raise the white flag,” said the Pirate King. “We’re surrendering.”
Finally, this time, it was for real.
The victor of Palembang was at long last, declared.