Dauntless Raiders

Chapter 5 - The Cerberus [Part 1]

Beverly had one eyebrow raised at me.

"You what?" she said, "You were honest about your real name to him, which you have kept a secret successfully from the world all these years, but you couldn't be honest about what you felt?"

I sighed, "Somehow I thought that time was inappropriate."

"Sheesh. I'm gonna be honest about one thing. You annoy me to the point that I feel like strangling you."

"Yeah, I figured that out the very minute we befriended each other. You know he told me his real name too. He had been hiding his identity from the world like I did."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Never asked."

She placed a wooden crossbow that she held, leaning against a tree. The crossbow was lined with metal. It had been a long time since I had seen that. She never really used it much because it was powerful and she didn't like hurting people unnecessarily unless it had a valid reason behind it.

"That thing never gets old." I said, staring at the weapon.

"Yes, but we are." She replied, "Maybe you need to get a date before you grow old and start walking with a cane."

"Why are you so keen on finding a match for me?" I asked.

"Because you need one." She answered, "You seriously need a decent guy to talk to, at least. Besides, you already gave your unbreakable promise to August that you would help him get back together with his wife. I mean, fiancée."

I think she misplaced the words on purpose. That made me grin a little. I knew she was emphasizing on the fiancée part. In other words, she wanted to let me know I still had a shot with August.

"You know what that means, Akasha?" she added, "It means you turned down the man you clearly like to a woman you clearly hate."

"I don't hate Evelyn." I answered, "At least not anymore. I don't want to build the foundations of my life with hate. It doesn't solve anything."

She moved her lips to say something, but didn't know what to say.

"You need to find a man." She said, "You could really use the company."

"Yeah. Like you could really use Michael's company."

Her eyes moved elsewhere, as she licked her bottom lip. She avoided the subject for some reason.

"That's different."

"No, it's not." I replied, beginning to feel concerned, "What happened with Michael? I thought you two were happy."

"He's not there anymore." Her voice almost choked and everything about this subject seemed to feel upsetting to her.

"Oh God." I sighed, "Michael was a good person. To think he would just leave you..."

"No." she interrupted, "He didn't leave me. He was taken by a filthy, treacherous band of pirates. They took him, beat him and tortured him in front of my eyes. Then they tied him up, asking me for ransom. When I couldn't give anything, because I didn't have anything, they took him for good. I don't know if he's alive or dead."

She said all of that through her teeth. There was this burning rage in her eyes. The single tear that then rolled out of her eye was laced with anger and helplessness. It came as a shock to me because despite being her best friend, I was oblivious to this unfortunate turn in events. It was hard for me to say anything for a while. Nothing would console her. To add to that, I mostly felt like an idiot to even leave her alone in the first place.