10

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“One day, I took on a fleet of Auroites, outnumbered twelve ships to one . . . I won. Then, on another day, I traveled through a river port full of mercenaries. Some low-life pirate hired them to ambush me. Their heads ended up on pikes across the riverbank, and their bodies floated out to sea. Another day, we took on a swarm of herials. Ten of my men were injured that day, but we still had over a hundred dead herials to feast on. We ate good for weeks. Another day . . .”

Katu continued to blabber on about his victories on the sea as he controlled the steer of the ship. Leah sat in a chair next to him, trying her hardest to seem like she was interested in what he had to say. He had been bragging about himself for over three hours, which Leah presumed was his idea of a good time, and she had finally had her fill of it.

“So,” she said, cutting him off. “When should we arrive in Ban-U-San?”

“Ban-U?” Katu replied. “We’re not going to Ban-U. What gave you that idea?”

Leah began to worry. If she wasn’t going to Ban-U-San, then she wouldn’t have a chance to escape. “Well,” she said to him. “We’re going in that direction. I just assumed.”

“There’s nothing that I need in Ban-U-San,” Katu told her. “We’ll pass by it, but that’s about it. I don’t need that admiral goody-goody pestering me anyway.”

“What about the damage on your ship?” Leah said, trying to make an excuse to stop there. “Miro did a number on it, don’t you think?”

“I would have stopped in Uselles if I thought we needed repairs. He didn’t do enough to make me worry about it.” Then he turned his head to her. “What are you trying to do?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “You seem a lot more concerned for my well-being than you have for the last five days you’ve been on this ship.”

“I care for the ship because I’m on it,” Leah quickly told him, so he wouldn’t get the idea that she was falling for him. “I haven’t the least bit of concern for you.”

“Did the Oakans teach you nothing about how to be a good wife?” Katu asked as he kept his eyes on the sea. “Savages, that’s what they are.”

Leah looked up at Katu and glared at him. Her people had enough trouble with the Atlohs. They didn’t need a pirate scandalizing their names. “Don’t talk about my people,” Leah said. “You’re the worst of savages.”

“I’m a savage?” Katu laughed. He shook his head as if he was sorry for her. “You poor girl,” he said. “You’ve been secluded from the world for so long. Believe me, you haven’t seen a savage.”

Leah glared at him some more and then turned her head away. She had to watch her mouth. She had to remember that she was a prisoner on this ship, even though she didn’t feel like it. Katu had personally tried to make the ship feel like her new home. She wasn’t chained up, she had her own cabin, and she could roam the ship if she wanted to; she ate with the crew, and above all, she had her double-ended glaive. The only thing that was asked of her was that she help clean the deck and dance every evening for entertainment. 

Unlike her first evening, Leah became quite good at her dance routine. Besides the fact that she didn’t want to be flogged again, she quickly became comfortable with the crew . . . at least as comfortable as a prisoner could be. They were a vicious and haughty lot, she clearly noted. They were loud and rambunctious. Nothing they said was without a hardy, brash voice. And all of them had quite the egos, which spurred many fistfights between crewmembers. 

They were a crew without rules; however, they all had a submissive respect for their captain, and it was this united respect that grew on Leah. Katu was the only person that could tame the wild men of his crew. Since she was his, by the spur of the moment rule of the ship, then she too had mutual respect from the crew. However, they did have the authority to flog her when she got out of line. Leah never got out of line. She played her part and would play it until the time came when she could finally escape.

From the mutual respect that she had with the crew, Leah did gain a certain acquaintance. She got up from where she was sitting and walked over to the cabins. She walked down the stairs into the kitchen quarters. It was a mess. Fruits and vegetables were all over the floor. 

The walls had different color stains from different condiments, and fish were hung from the ceiling. Barrels of different fruits were situated along the side of the kitchen, and on the other side were windows, the only source of light for the enclosed room. Through the windows, the deck of the ship was visible, and Katu could be seen at his steer. 

In the middle of the room was a round table that held butcher knives, forks, and a large, uncooked meat patty. At the far end of the room was a man with his back turned to her. He was a thin man . . . well, thin in comparison to the rest of the brawny crew. He wore an apron that was covered with stains. His evenly shaved head was covered with a white bandana. 

He was stirring something in a boiler that was hung over a furnace, and all the while, he was throwing spices and sauces into it. He then took the spoon out of the boiler, tasted the soup that was in it, smacked his lips to reassure himself of the taste, and then said, “Blah,” as he started to stir again and add more spices. He turned around to grab the meat patty and in doing so, he spotted Leah sitting against the counter watching him.

“How do ya do, milady?” he said to her in a polite voice. He continued to grab the patty and throw it into the boiler. “What’s the motive for a visit to the ship’s cook?”

“I could smell the good food you were stirring from my spot on the deck,” Leah told him as she walked over to him. “I thought I could get a quick appetizer.”

“Help yourself,” the cook said. He stomped his peg leg onto a round fruit that was on the ground next to him. It popped up from under him and then he slightly volleyed it to her with a little kick. The whole movement was done without him averting his attention from what he was cooking.

Leah caught the fruit and took a bite. It was sweet and juicy, very scrumptious. “Well . . .” she said with a mouthful. “I was sort of talking about getting a bite of what you’re cooking now.”

“A good chef never serves unfinished food.”

“Oh, well,” Leah said as she gulped down the rest of the fruit. “It was worth a shot. So, what’s going on with you, Machi? You haven’t stepped out of the kitchen at all today.”

Machi, with his back still toward her, pointed to a bowl of spices. Leah grabbed the bowl and handed it to him. He quickly took it, poured a bit into the boiler, and began to stir. “Same old, same old,” Machi told her. “Cooking this stew without the proper ingredients is starting to become a headache, but it’ll get it done.”

Leah smiled as she leaned back on the table with the knives and forks. “Katu’s pretty lucky to have a cook like you,” she said to him. “You always make such good food, and you’re quite modest compared to all these other ruffians.”

Machi laughed. “‘Compared to the other ruffians’ is the key phrase in that sentence. I tried to be a cook at a fancy restaurant in Ban-U, but supposedly, I was a little too . . . how’d they put it . . . passionate.”

“Isn’t that a good trait for a cook?”

“That’s what I thought too,” Machi continued. “Anyway, after that, I became the cook of some rundown bar in a shady town. I met a lot of immoral people and saw some really messed up stuff while I was there. I enjoyed it, nonetheless. It fit my so-called passion, but the pay was not enough to really live off of. That’s when a young boy came in with two huge men like bodyguards behind him. He sat down, I took his order, went back and cooked his food, brought his meal to him, and he ate it and thought it was delicious. Then, he asked me if I’d be interested in being the honorary cook of a crew that he was trying to get together.”

“Katu,” Leah said under her breath.

Machi nodded. “I asked him how many were in his crew and he told me he had two, the two bodyguards that followed him. Honestly, even though I had a reputation for being the tough cook, I didn’t want to hurt the kid’s feelings, so I told him that I’d consider it if he came back with a ship and at least ten men under him.”

“It must have taken him years to get you as a cook,” Leah said with a smirk.

“Years?” Machi said with a raised eyebrow. “More like five days.”

“What?”

“Yep,” he assured her. “And hear this. He didn’t just come back with a ship and ten men; he came back with a ship and forty of those hooligans.”

Leah was flabbergasted. “But he was just a kid,” she said in disbelief. “How?” she asked.

Machi shrugged. “Beats me. I couldn’t go back on my word though. As soon as he came back, I packed up my stuff and got aboard his ship. I’ve been the cook of this crew ever since. You said that Katu’s pretty lucky to have me; I say I’m pretty lucky to have Katu. Now, I make more money than I ever would have made in some fancy-dancy restaurant in Ban-U-San.”

“Yeah,” Leah said. “But as a pirate. Are you sure this is the path that you wanted your culinary skills to take you?”

Machi shrugged as he continued to stir the stew in the boiler. “What can I say?” he told her. “I was just looking for a place to cook and make a lot of gleddies. Besides, it fits that so-called ‘passion’ I’ve been told I have.”

Leah laughed. “Sorry, Machi. I can’t picture you as a violent man. You’re way too nice.”

Machi smirked and looked at her intensely. “Nice guys can be the most dangerous.” He kept his eyes on her.

“Are you saying that I should watch out for you?” she joked.

Machi continued to stare into her eyes without saying a word. 

“Machi?” Leah asked. He still said nothing. “Machi, this is starting to get weird.”

Machi then grabbed a butcher knife and rushed at her. Leah quickly got into a fighting position. “Machi!”  Was he really doing this? Was she going to have to kill her only friend?

Machi was about to bring the knife down on her, but he stopped before it came in contact. He let out a hilarious laugh. “You should have seen your face,” he said with tears of laughter. “You were all like ‘No, don’t stab me!’”

Leah eased out of her fighting stance and put her hand to her chest. “Don’t do that,” she told him with her heart still beating fast. 

Machi continued to laugh and animate how she reacted to his little joke. “No, Machi!” he exaggeratedly mimicked her again. “I’m too pretty to die!”  

Leah’s grudge disappeared once he said that. She started to laugh along with him. Machi always seemed to brighten her day.

As Leah and Machi continued to talk, Leah suddenly heard the startled voice of one of the crewmembers from out the windows. “Katu!” the crewmember cried from the mast. “The war is ahead of us!”

Katu looked forward toward the clouds in front of him. His calm and unworried face slightly frowned. Leah and Machi looked out the window of the kitchen. Leah, astonished by Katu’s somewhat worried look, followed his gaze. She looked at the clouds as well. There were many white clouds in the sky—so many, in fact, that it seemed like there was more white in the sky than blue—however, she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. 

They just looked like regular clouds. Leah looked back at Katu, who continued to study the clouds with a furrowed look. Leah turned to the clouds again. She focused on them even more this time. Again, the clouds seemed quite ordinary, but then suddenly she saw a flash of green light through one of them.

“What was that?” Leah cried. Another light flashed in the cloud, but this one was red. Soon, she started hearing low-frequency rumbles, sort of like thunder. “White clouds don’t mean storms,” she said to Machi. “Do they?”

“No,” Machi said to her. “It’s not a storm.”

“Then what were those lights?”

Machi let out a deep sigh. “It’s a battle,” he told her.

“A battle?” Leah echoed. As soon as she spoke, she saw in the distance a ball of light fall from the flashing cloud. It continued to fall until it hit the water. All the while, different colored lights continued to flash in the clouds.

Katu ordered his crew to drop the mainsail so that the ship would slow down. “We don’t want to get caught in the crossfire of a battle like that,” he said.

“What kind of battle is it?” Leah asked Machi as they continued to stare out of the window. She had never seen anything of the like in her life. She had heard stories of sky battles, but she never believed them. They seemed too far-fetched for a girl who had known nothing but the peaceful ambiance of the island.

Machi looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Wow, you were pretty secluded from the world, huh?” He looked back at the flashing cloud. “It’s the war between the Atlohs and the Auroites.”

“Really?” Leah exclaimed. All of Auroa knew that the Atlohs and Auroites had been at war for many years now; however, she never knew that it reached so close to home. Thinking on it some more, she had a revelation. So, the reason behind the Atloh attack on Oaka could have been more of a territorial motive. Taking that into consideration flooded her mind with agitated thoughts. Her captured mother could very well be a prisoner of war.

Machi continued to explain the situation. “Atloh airships are facing off against Urali dragons that Auroite Libretti Sky Forces tame and ride.”

“Libretti Sky Forces?” Leah asked confused. “I thought Libretti was only used for healing and mundane tasks?”

“Libretti is used for much more than just that. I’ve seen a single Auroite Libretti speaker create a ball of heat within his hands and launch it at a ship. He single-handedly brought down an entire pirate crew. Besides that, libretto is used for many other things.”

Leah was amazed by what she was hearing. She knew of libretti of healing and flames but she never knew the extent those powers could reach. 

“Healing is the only type of libretto that doesn’t have to be licensed to use, so that’s most likely the reason why it’s the only kind of libretto that you sort of know about. The most skilled libretti speakers have learned how to tame the docile dragons of the Urali Mountains. They’ve been using them in battles like this one. Thus, you have the Auroite Libretti Sky Force.”

Leah watched in amazement as the lights flashed through the clouds.

“It’s a beautiful sight,” Machi said. “But knowing what truly is going on up there tends to take the beauty out of it. Every flash of light that you see is at least twenty or thirty people being eradicated by Atloh weaponry or Auroite Libretti. War is nothing to smile about.”

“Wait,” Leah said with an astonished looked. “So, that falling ball of light that I saw was a . . .”

“An Urali dragon with at least fifty or sixty Auroites aboard,” Machi finished her sentence. 

Leah’s heart dropped. “No,” she said with a desolate whisper. 

Machi verified that solemn truth with a nod. “Regardless of their newfound abilities to tame dragons with Libretti . . . Auroites still haven’t figured out a decisive way to defeat the Atlohs in the air. Those airships have too much armor and firepower. As of now, the Atlohs have control of the skies. That’s not going to stop the Auroites though. They’ll keep trying, even if it costs them their lives. I hate Auroites with a passion, but they don’t give up. That’s something to respect . . . I guess.”

Leah watched as the different colored lights flashed through the clouds again. Then, she looked in horror as she watched several balls of light fall one by one. “This . . .” she said in fear and awe. “This is horrible!”

“Welcome to the real world,” Machi said as he looked with intensity at the lights of the battle. “Hate you had to come into it like this.”

Taking into consideration that each ball of light was a burning dragon that carried at least fifty burning people was more than enough to cause Leah to shed a tear. Seeing dozens of those balls of light fall in clusters was too much for her heart to handle. She sat down against the wall, tucked her knees in close to her chest, and wept. She had never witnessed something so heart-wrenching in her life. 

After noticing her response, Machi closed the window. However, the low-frequency rumble of the battle could still be heard. Leah tried covering her ears, but she could still feel the vibrations of the sounds. There was no avoiding it. The myriad of death was to be inevitably witnessed. Machi stood in silence as he listened to the ominous sounds of the far-off sky battle. After a while, he went back to his boiler. He started stirring again, and then he said to Leah, “The food will be ready soon.”