I’d been dreaming of my escape from my village for most of my life. It wasn’t until I started my pilgrimage a year ago that opportunities began to present themselves. Still, Evri was always one step ahead of me, her eyes always watching my every move. She kept me isolated on the road or locked in rooms. I learned to fear both myself and others, and I might have believed her about the ill intentions of everyone around me, but there was something inside of me screaming that Evri and her teachings were wrong.
I didn’t loath Evri—nor even my people—despite everything they’d done to me—but I refused to be their Saintess. I would live my life the way I wanted to.
The muted sound in my ears cleared all at once and the reality I had disassociated from came into full focus. Evri was only one of several dead in the streets of Tempestas. Flames engulfed the buildings all around me, and the smoke became unbearable to breathe. I forced myself to my feet and buried my face in the crook of my elbow. It was almost impossible to see, but beyond the fire and death, I could smell the faint salty scent of the ocean. Tempestas was a huge port city, and a boat was my best chance at escaping whatever was happening.
Dodging fallen wooden beams and weaving through crowds of panicked civilians, I rushed towards the water. The attack on the city had come out of nowhere, and I hadn’t seen a single city guard respond to defend the people. With Evri gone—for the first time in my life—no one was telling me where I should go. No one was protecting me. I only had myself.
My foot snagged on a smoldering board of wood and I tumbled to the ground, catching myself with my hands just in time to stopmy head from slamming against the cobblestone. A shooting pain lanced up my left wrist and I gritted my teeth. Of course. Of course that would happen. It was fine. I was fine. Wrists could be mended. I propped myself up with my other arm and continued to run, cradling my aching wrist against my chest.
The smoke was finally clearing, enough to see more than a few paces ahead of myself. The dock was nearby and I could see several boats loading civilians for evacuation. Almost there.
A blade held out in front of me stopped me in my tracks. “Where are you going, pretty thing?”
Blood stained the man before me, his nearly black eyes gleaming wickedly with violence. Based on his clothing and weapons—could he be a pirate?Had the attackers on the city been pirates, too?Evri had warned me they were common in Tempestas. It was why she’d wanted to pass through the city as quickly as possible, but I’d begged for the chance to rest at an inn.
I reached for the dagger strapped to my thigh before he moved the blade to my throat and I froze.
“That’s not happening, dear.” He motioned for me to turn, and I obliged. “You’ll be coming with me. Looking like that, you’ll catch a fair bit of gold. My buyers love the strange ones. Why don’t we get your hands tied so you don’t do something stupid like try to stab me again?”
I had only a breath to decide if I was going to take my chances at running.
“Ugh! What th-” A strangled groan erupted behind me.
I turned on instinct and found the man who’d threatened me collapsed on the ground, a blade piercing through his back, and standing above him, the wielder, an Elven male with a shock of vibrant red hair. His eyes, a brown so light and flooded with gold they looked like tiny orbs of sunlight, narrowed in on me. From the black, billowing pants to the barely-there shirt, to theexcessive amount of gold and ruby jewelry, he looked every bit the pirate as my fallen adversary had been. He—at least—didn’t seem inclined to murder or capture me—yet.
“Follow me,” the stranger spoke, removing his blade from the back of the man beneath him. As if sensing my hesitation, he added, “or die, or worse. The choice is yours, but that filth was right. You’ll fetch quite a sum. You aren’t safe here.”
“Slavery is outlawed.”
He barked a laugh. “First time in Tempestas? Follow. Now.”
My legs, riddled with fear, followed him of their own accord. The male was a skilled swordsman. Two more men approached us before we reached the docks, and he’d cut them down with a single flourish of his blade. He was quick, too. I could tell he was slowing his pace to match mine. He could’ve made it to the docks in half the time if he wanted to. A fact that had me internally questioning why a pirate was helping the innocent in the first place.
We finally stopped running in front of the dock to a large ship, and he pointed to the rope ladder. “Climb up…or die. You seem to respond better to ultimatums.”
“Why are you doing this?” I questioned between labored breaths. I was still standing by willpower and adrenaline alone. My body was well past its limits. “You’re a pirate, aren’t you? Like those men who attacked the city.”
“I am not like those men. Now—questions later. Make your choice.”
My wrist ached at the thought of grabbing onto the rope and lifting my body weight. “I- my wrist- I can’t.”
He looked behind him before shouting upwards. “MAKATZA!”
A half-Orc woman—by the looks of her barely-there tusks and smaller-than-normal frame—poked her head over the side of the ship. “Yes, Captain?”
“Carry this up!”
The pirate he’d called Makatza jumped down from the ship in an instant, landing perfectly on her feet. Before I could scream, the male’s hands were on my waist, hoisting me up onto the shoulder of the female. Apparently, I was the ‘this’. At least she carried me surprisingly gently, which I was grateful for. But I still found myself digging my nails into her light- green skin, and hanging onto her like a cat being dangled above water. I clung to her the entire way up the ladder until she set me down on the deck and I felt solid wood beneath my feet.
The following shouts of commands as the Captain boarded were unfamiliar to me. The crew swiftly undocked and maneuvered us out of the port before I could process everything or understand what was happening. I stared out over the water at the burning city of Tempestas and felt myself slip into that familiar feeling of numbness once more.
Evri had died. I was free. Tempestas was on fire. I’d been saved? By pirates? I was on a ship full of pirates in the middle of the ocean. I was free.
Did anything else matter?
The sun was setting by the time I received the alert that the Captain wanted to see me in the cabin. I’d been staring out at the water for half of the day, undisturbed. The crew had kept a wide berth of me—from what I’d noticed. I wasn’t sure if it was fear or empathy that kept them away, but I was grateful either way. I’d needed time to process. In a few brief hours, the trajectory of my entire life had changed.
But it was time to face my mess.
