Return to Inheritance

Chapter II

Even as there were some lit light posts, the place was dark enough to make it hard to see what was around. Even the man next to her seemed invisible, mainly because of his black clothes. At least the metal on it gleamed beautifully, though faintly, in the dim light and she knew it was him, not another.

Later on when they had been walking in silence for several minutes, the sea always in view to their right, and put some distance between them and the docks, he let go of her arm, letting her walk in front of him. He kept telling her which way to go, if to walk faster or slower, and she obeyed without complaint, not even thinking that she could easily run off and hide in the shadows.

Later on, when people started disappearing from the streets as it got even darker, she was asked to keep on walking, rather quickly. Ten minutes passed and she wasn't told anything else, so she turned around to see if the man was still behind her. She couldn't understand why she cared whether he was there or not. Her brain was telling her to make a run for it.

However, neither her brain nor her instincts were quick enough for what happened next. She was grabbed from behind, grabbed by the neck. She felt the breath being kicked out of her lungs when she couldn't breathe. Jade was desperately trying to get off the powerful arm holding her neck, but she simply couldn't.

Thankfully, she noticed in the distance a dark silhouette rushing over, and she simply knew it was the hooded man coming to rescue her. She noticed the gleaming metal on his outfit.

Within seconds the grip on her neck went away as the aggressor was pushed away, wounded by a quick, but not immediately deadly, stab in the stomach. Jade took a deep breath of air before her hooded saviour took her by the hand and started running, leaving her no choice but to run along. Her lungs immediately felt like burning because of lack of oxygen, but she couldn't stop as her dangerous saviour made sure to not let her hand slip away.

Eventually they reached a silent and empty alley and finally stopped running. Right above them was a small lamp hanging from the stone wall of the building they were leaning on. Slowly, the girl felt her knees go weak and let herself slide down until she reached a crouch position. She was holding her breath in shock. As much as she tried breathing now, it felt like an impossible task for what seemed an eternity.

The man beside her sat next to her and seemed to watch the girl in sympathy from underneath his dark hood. In a gasp, Jade turned her body in his direction and hid her head on his warm chest, sobbing and trying to regain her breath. As her lungs were still burning, she was crying before someone for the very first time. She always refused to let others see her when she felt weak and defenseless. But now she had gone through the most traumatic days of her life.

She lost her crew and wasn't a captain anymore, the person she ran away from when just a child hunted her down and kept her hostage, then was captured by another pirate crew and now this, strangled by a random citizen. Even so, she would have still tried to hold her emotions in and avoid crying in front of someone. But she couldn't. She was crying in front of someone she didn't even know, who had tied her on that ship and who she had never even seen, because of that hood he wore.

"Sorry," she whispered between sobs. "This never happened to me before," she added, although the man probably didn't know what she was actually talking about. Still, he patted gently her now messed-up hair still held in a bun, and pulled her a little closer.

"I'm sorry for letting it happen," he whispered back. Judging by the sadness in his voice, he did feel sorry for letting the situation get out of control.

They remained like that, not moving and not speaking for minutes. Later on, a seemingly drunk man was making his way along the alley. The hooded man was looking at him intently as he stepped slowly, ready for anything.