Sitting uncomfortably on a wooden crate by the docks, Mahna frowned as Maya held her bloodied fist on her hands, looking focused. As the first beams of light from the rising sun began to shine on the horizon, tinting the sea with its golden light, Belle and Yuri stood a few meters away, watching the two warriors carefully.

  “You got lucky,” - Maya said while pulling a small flask from her clothes, passing it along to the woman - “I can take it out, but It’ll hurt like a bitch.”

  “Just get it over with!” - taking a good swing at the flask, the strong alcohol burning her throat, Mahna gritted her teeth as Maya took her dagger and began digging at the wound on her knuckle - “Son of a …”

  “Told ya she wouldn’t hold it in!” - smiling casually, Yuri stretched his hand towards Belle.

  “That’s what I get for betting with a little brat.” - picking a couple silver coins from her pocket, she placed them in the young boy’s open palm, before slowly walking closer to the others - “How long is that gonna take?”

  “Almost got it… There!” - with a quick movement of the dagger, a small object came flying out from Mahna’s knuckle, before being caught by Maya while still in the air - “It looks like a canine, or is it a front tooth?”

  “Who cares?” - getting up from the crate while rubbing her wound, Mahna approached Belle with a serious look on her face - “What we’re gonna do about that?”

  “That?”

  “Don’t play dumb! The attack on the tavern?”

  “Oh… we ain’t going to do shit!” - Taking a seat on a pile of nearby crates, Belle began to curiously try to take a peek at the contents inside - “There’s too much going on at the city right now, we’ll drop our cargo and set out as soon as possible.”

  “You’ll just let them disrespect us like that?” - stopping right in front of Belle, Mahna looked down at her with her fists ready.

  “We don’t know who they were or what they wanted,” - turning to face the woman, Belle could tell that her patience was running thin after such a long day - “only a fool would go blindly into a fight.”

  “And only a coward would run away after being attacked like that!”

  “What would you want me to do?” - getting up from her seat, Maya could feel her anger rising, the two women's faces almost touching - “Drag our entire crew into a fight with an unknown enemy, in a hostile territory?”

  “Easy ladies, easy…” - with her bloodied dagger still in hand, Maya started separating the other two, pushing them aside as if they were children - “It’s been a long night for everyone, we all need to take a deep breath before someone gets hurt.”

  Separating quickly, the two walked away angrily, each going their separate way. Still blind without his flying companion, Yuri guided himself by the sounds of footsteps to reach Mahna, while Maya just watched as Belle fell down sitting on the floor beside her.

  “I don’t know how long I can keep doing this…”

  “I’d say you’re doing fine,” - taking a seat on the crate beside the woman, Maya took a sip of her flask - “Mahna has always been hotheaded, there’s nothing you could do to change that.”

  “If the captain was here…”

  “The Captain had as much luck dealing with that Barbarian as you do!” - the warrior offered the flask to Belle, who simply refused with a gesture - “But yeah, I’d like to have him here too in times like these…”

  Sitting together in silence as the sunlight began to spread through the still empty docks, the two women watched as Yuri struggled to try and blindly bandage Mahna’s wounded hand, despite her attempts to refuse it. The four of them had shared countless calm moments such as those in the past, but to Maya those days now seemed too distant to even remember.

  “Is your arm alright?” - she broke the silence while watching the tranquil morning sea - “They hit you pretty good…”

  “Oh… yeah…” - pulling at the gash on her shirt, Belle looked at the place where the sword had gotten stuck during the attack, her wound now almost closed completely - “It’s mostly fixed already, don’t need to worry.”

  “That still freaks me out, no matter how many times I see it…”

  “Anyway…” - standing up from her seat, Belle began to walk to the edge of the docks, covering the top of her eyes with her hand - “I can see the ship coming towards us, where are Reynard’s men?”

  ‘Boss..” - Mahna called, her hand now awkwardly wrapped in cloth, forming a fist - “They’re here…”

  “Just in time.” - hiding her flask back inside her clothes, Maya got up and made her way to the others - “You said you trust this guy, should we expect this to go smoothly?”

  “I wish, but keep your eyes open.”

  Coming from the main entrance to the docks, around a dozen burly men were making their way towards the group, chatting casually as they walked. Sensing no hostility from the group Mahna relaxed her posture, after walking around all day and fighting at night, she could feel her body beginning to grow sore.

  “Morning ladies!” - an older man at the front of the group made an overly exaggerated bow, stopping the men after him - “I’m guessing that’s the cargo coming.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “That's right…” - Belle answered as the man began walking closer to them, the others remaining behind - “And you are?”

  “How rude of me,” - taking a handkerchief from his pocket, the man cleaned his hand before offering Belle a handshake - “I’m Owen, Mister Reynard asked me to take care of the delivery.”

  “I’m Belle…” - walking closer to the man, she gave a quick nod to Mahna.

  “Are these your men?” - Mahna began circling the group, carefully inspecting them, watching for any signs of danger.

  “They’re from one of our personal warehouses,” - Owen answered without turning back, his hand still in the air - “we thought it better not to bring outsiders.”

  “Very well.” - accepting the man’s gesture, Belle shook his hand while giving another nod to Mahna.

  Taking two fingers from her free hand to her mouth, the woman blew a loud note with her lips, before waving into the air. Recognizing the signal, a similar note came from the ship, which began once again to move closer to the dock.

  “How long until you finish unloading the cargo?” - Belle asked in her best business voice, still firmly holding the man’s hand on hers.

  “As long as there’s no problem with the contents, It won’t be much longer than an hour.” - trying to maintain eye contact with the woman, Owen began glancing towards his hand.

  “One hour it is then,” - still smiling peacefully, she continued to increase the pressure on the old man’s hand - “after that we’ll begin setting sail.”

  “We’ll do our best…” - forcefully pulling his hand from Belle’s grasp, the man turned back to face his workers - “Time to work boys!”

  Easily pulling a big cart closer to the dock, the men began preparing a large contraption near the edge of the water, used to load and unload large ships. Even if The Belle was not such a large vessel, using this kind of device would make their work go much smoother.

  The three-masted ship entered the dock easily, helped by the strong winds and the calm morning sea. Even from a distance, it was possible to hear the sounds of the crew running and shouting, preparing to dock and for any possible danger. It wouldn’t be the first time if there was trouble while delivering their cargo, and definitely wouldn’t be the last.

  As the ship began its final approach to the docks, a couple of young sailors jumped from the vessel, landing smoothly as thick long ropes were thrown overboard after them. Moving rapidly to secure the ship, the men quickly tied the ropes to the dock, confirming its safety.

  “We got your message boss.” - one of the sailors started approaching the group, while Reynard’s men began operating the small wooden crane - “Hope we didn’t keep you waiting!”

  “Gardenia almost plucked Cook's hair clean off!” - the second man added while laughing, hugging the first one - “He’s gonna give y'all a earful“.

  Seeing the two men empty handed, the dock workers shouted out to them, asking for help getting the clunky wooden contraption to work properly. As she accompanied them with her eyes, Belle realized that Maya had been facing away from them, trying not to be seen.

  “Well, guess that’s my clue to get back to work.” - the woman spoke as she began making her way to the entrance of the docks - “They’ll be worried if I’m not back soon.”

  “Already?” - Turning her attention from the workers, Mahna looked at the woman with disappointment in her eyes - “Don’t you wanna go onboard? See the rest of the crew?”

  “I doubt any of them would be very happy to see me…”

  Mahna stared at the woman, looking small and scared to talk to the people she once called friends. The same woman who once fought with her side by side no matter the dangers or if the odds were against her. ‘Time has changed her’, she caught herself thinking, unsure if that was a good or a bad thing.

  “Come on, I bet…” - Mahna began to speak, before seeing the sad smile on Maya’s face - “Alright, maybe they won’t be happy at first… I know I wasn’t…”

  “But things won’t get better if you don’t make a first move!” - putting her hand on Maya’s shoulder, Belle began pulling the woman towards the ship.

  “But…”

  “You can’t run forever!” - speaking firmly, Yuri stood behind Maya, Gardenia comfortably perched on his shoulder.

  “It doesn’t hurt to try, I guess…”

  “Enemies!” - shouted out a voice from the crow's nest, clearly surprised - “Enemies are coming!”

  Before anyone had time to prepare, the small dock began being invaded by a large number of enemies, all with weapons ready. They’re clothes were similar to the bandits who had approached them at the bar, despite this time seeming much better armed and prepared.

  Besides the heavy leather armor and weapons, some carried small shields, while others wore thick looking helmets. Quickly spreading throughout the area, their biggest advantage was not only their high numbers, but also the control of the only way in or out of the dock.

  “What?” - Owen screamed as his men gathered together in shock.

  “Fall back!” - Belle commanded while preparing her weapon - “All men at the ready!”

  “Yes Boss!” - a chant erupted from the ship, as its crew began to jump from the deck, weapons in hand.

  “With me!” - grabbing a sword from a nearby sailor, Belle passed it onto the unarmed Maya.

  Seeing the sailor jumping from the ship, the bandits began rushing towards them, their battle cry echoing in the otherwise silent morning. Picking up a large piece of wood from the floor, Mahna led the sailors against the bandits, swinging the improvised weapon and sending a couple of men flying into the sea.

  Being clearly outnumbered, each of the sailors seemed to struggle during the fight, despite smiling widely as they fought. Seemingly overwhelmed, Yuri stumbled through the battlefield as people battled around him, unsure of which way to go. In his shoulder, Gardenia moved closer to the boy’s head, in an attempt to hide.

  “Look out!” - Maya called out, ignoring her own enemy in an attempt to prevent a bandit from striking Yuri from the back.

  “Sorry…” - almost falling to the ground as the woman intercepted the blade meant for him, the boy watched as she fought both men at once.

  “Fucking bastards!” - Maya shouted, trying to hold both assailants at the same time - “Kid, go back to the ship!”

  Getting back to his senses, Yuri began to run towards the rope ladder hanging on the side of the ship, hoping to reach the top before the situation escalated. Despite her situation being quite complicated herself, Maya watched to make sure the boy reached the ship safely.

  “Getting distracted, ain’t we?” - taking advantage of her lapse of focus, one of the men moved to the side, approaching from her blind spot. With not enough time to react, the bandit landed a strike at full force on her side, which she tried blocking with her arm.

  “MAYA!” - she could hear someone shouting while her body lost it’s balance, her strength waning as a sharp feeling of pain began to spread coming from her arm.

  Falling on her knees, trying to regain control of her senses, Maya looked in the direction of her attacker. As her eyes moved upwards, all she could see was a large glowing mace moving quickly towards her head, before the world turned dark.