Return to Inheritance

Chapter II

When the drunk man got right in front of the two, he stopped and looked their way for a bit before speaking.

"All women are the same!" he laughed mockingly, watching Jade. "Weak and crying 'cause of anything." Suddenly he caught the girl's attention, and she almost instantly stopped sobbing to look at him with hateful eyes. "What would happen to this world if not for us, powerful men!" he then exclaimed, beating his chest in pride.

But Jade had enough of his arrogance, and immediately stood up and faced the stranger, forgetting everything else. "I'll show you who's the weak and who's the powerful one here!" she growled through clenched teeth before charging at him.

She had no weapon on her, but she needed none. Using one quick move she made him fall flat on his back as she grabbed his face and pushed it backwards, using her foot to make him trip. Seen that he was drunk, his reflexes were horrible, and therefore had no time to defend himself against the quick movements of the girl. The drunkard banged his head on stone and nearly lost conciousness.

She now held his wrists tightly above his head and looked towards the hooded man. "Grab his feet," she said, but by the time she finished her sentence he was already holding them tightly and working on tying them up too.

As soon as he was done with his handiwork, Jade kicked the drunk man in the head so he would finally fall unconscious, and then stood up, never letting go of those thick wrists. The hooded man figured out she meant to move the body so he helped her raise him from the cold stone-paved ground.

The streets were empty so they could move around freely. Soon they were closing on the docks, already in view of the sea. It was all Jade needed: the water.

When they reached the edge of a wooden platform above the water they stopped and let the man down. Jade was now trying to make him wake up with a few slaps on the face. The hooded man watched in curiosity her strange actions, but remained silent. Eventually the drunk man woke up, groggily looking around and trying to say something, but choked. Without even caring, the girl pushed him into the water. She then started walking away.

"We should go," she said, and the hooded man immediately caught up with her. Only minutes later after walking in the silence of the night did he speak.

"If you wanted him dead, I could have solved it much quicker."

"I never meant to kill him."

"But you threw him into the sea, he will surely drown since he's drunk and tied up too."

"Only his feet are tied up and he's close to the shore so there are no dangers in the water. If he's a smart man he won't try to break the rope holding his feet, but swim to the surface first thing. Even a drunkard must have some sort of survival instincts."

"How could he swim if he's bound?"

"You don't need your legs to swim. I might show you one day if you like." The man laughed at her answer.

"Are you asking me to tie you up as well and throw you in the water?" His response made her a little hesitant to answer.

"That's not what I had in mind..." she blushed. "But it's not like I'd be able to force you into anything. I'm at your mercy after all." The man laughed again, and for a moment he sounded like a happy child, but then became serious all of a sudden. "Speaking of which, you should probably be leading the way with your weird methods."

"You have an interesting way of thinking." The girl plainly thanked his attempt to a compliment and then remained silent as they kept walking through the dark city. She barely recognized it at all.

Silent minutes passed, and eventually the hooded man spoke, something other than the few path-finding indications.

"I understand your name is Beatrice?"

The girl's face contorted in a frown and he noticed it even in the darkness. After a slight hesitation, the girl answered his question.

"In a way. Just call me Jade."

Then they fell silent again. The girl couldn't put her thoughts straight. It would have been polite to ask for his name too in order to make conversation but she lost the chance. Also, she had no idea where she was going or why. So many questions she couldn't bring herself to say out loud.

"Why do you have two names?" he asked suddenly.

"It's a weird story," she started, but told him nevertheless. "Back when I was ten, my parents wanted me to marry Willy Buns, the man that kept me hostage when you showed up. He had just invaded my ship the previous day. Anyway, I refused to forcefully marry someone I had never met so I ran away from home. I was so young I didn't know what I wanted from life so my only objective was to get as far away as possible."

"So you boarded a ship?"

"Exactly. I hid inside an empty barrel, and by the time anyone found me we were in the middle of the sea." The man let out a short giggle. "I was lucky though, very lucky. The captain of that ship had lost a daughter of my age long ago, so he accepted to take me in as his own. He was the one to give me my name: Jade. He was the closest thing I've ever had to a family, and taught me everything he knew, for eight years."

"So you're eighteen?"

"Let me finish." He laughed again at her reaction, but listened curiously. "When I did turn eighteen he died and I took the post of captain in his stead. The crew accepted me, even though I wasn't a man. Two years passed since then." She took a pause and took a deep breath. "So I'm twenty," she added afterwards, but didn't ask for his age, expecting he'd tell her, but he didn't.

"I'm sure it was hard for you."

"I got over it quickly. He always taught me to leave the past behind and focus on the present so that I can make my own future the way I want it. And that's what I've always tried to do."

"You are one weird person," he said a few moments later.

"How come? Is that even a good thing?" As they walked, she turned her head his way and saw the back of his hood as he averted his gaze in the opposite direction.

"Well I don't know. You just told your life story to a person you know nothing about. Even more, you are in my captivity, whether you like it or not. At my mercy, with nobody to protect you, and yet you show no signs of fear, which I find disturbing."

"When you say it like that..." She looked down to her feet when he turned his hooded head to look her way again. She didn't want to look into the darkness of his hood because she knew she would freeze staring at his beautifully gleaming eyes. They were somehow hypnotic. "You didn't really gave me any reason for fear. You only saved me so far, in fact!" she laughed.

Before long, he unsheathed his sword and pointed it at her throat, but she didn't even flinch. When he noticed her lack of interest he sheathed it back and they started walking again.

"You're so weird," he sighed, and Jade laughed once more.

"Will I be even weirder if I ask you where you're taking me?"

"Uh..." he hesitated.

"What's wrong?" the girl asked.

"If I tell you, you won't like it."