Whilst soldiers cleared people out of the tavern, and their two commanders rushed off to their barracks to prepare, Lyrassa walked by Geruke’s side on the cobbled streets.

“This is a perfect opportunity,” Lyrassa said with a grin. “Pirates are like Barsanna. They can’t store their money in Templaga banks. They’re bound to keep their treasury on their ship, or at least a map to where they’ve hidden it on their ships. If not, then they’ll at least be carrying loot from a merchant vessel, or some other target they recently raided.”

“That’s true.” Geruke stared at the ground and scratched his head. “But what about Madrily and Lerute? Will they be ok if we just left them to fend for themselves? The soldiers who saw the pirates said they had a bigger ship and larger crew compared to the usual pirate attacks the Town faces.”

“They’re powerful fighters.” She leaned against him, her arm resting on his shoulder. “They can handle themselves. No point in squandering an opportunity to pay off your debts by protecting people who don’t need protecting. Focus on yourself.”

He had trouble dealing with the emotional aftermath of what he did earlier on in the night. What if he had to do something like that again? Stealing from pirates wouldn’t be anywhere near as emotionally tricky. Especially considering the fact that they’re attacking his home. Lyrassa was right. It was a perfect opportunity. “Fine, let’s go.”

Geruke brought Lyrassa into his forge and, like he expected, Jarlunn was nowhere to be seen, probably hiding in the cellar with his son, locking himself in there. He would never let Geruke in. Not like he’d want to be stuck in the same place as that bastard; he’d be safer on the battlefield.

So Geruke and Lyrassa feasted upon the many weapons the forge had available, just like they did earlier on in the night. Geruke didn’t need to show her where everything was. She knew the place like the back of her hand, considering the number of times she broke into the place and stole from it.

He wrapped a leather belt around his waist, filled the slots with daggers, and sheathed a short sword into the belt’s scabbard. Lyrassa did the same, except she brought two short swords. Geruke grabbed his parent’s claymore, and they left.

They jogged across the cobbled street towards the town’s Eastern Gate. Geruke looked north and saw torches glowing across the wooden battlements and soldiers preparing for battle. There were thirty soldiers. They adjusted their helmets, knocked their arrows to their bows, and gazed at the sea where the pirates were presumably sailing towards them.

Heading towards the Eastern Gate, they turned a corner and found Madrily and Lerute, both in full plate-armour, arguing with the Templaga in front of their Archi Town bank. Lyrassa grabbed him and pulled him behind the wall of a house.

“They’d probably try to convince us to defend the town with them,” Lyrassa said, peeking at them from behind the wooden wall. “Let’s wait for them to fail in their futile attempts to, I assume, convince the Templaga to help them in defending the Town.”

Uncertainty wormed its way through his stomach. How many pirates were there? What if Madrily and Lerute died in the attack? The thought sent a rush of worry through his chest, rattling his heart. If he helped them in the attack, then he could reduce the chances of them dying, especially if he got them to give him plate armour. If they’re able to defeat the pirates, then he could still go onto their ship and steal any money or belongings there. He shouldn’t follow Lyrassa, he should help Madrily and Lerute fight. He rose his leg to step beyond the wa-

No, he stepped back and further behind the wall. If he fought alongside Madrily and Lerute and waited until after the battle to get the money, then he’d get a much smaller share. Not to mention, like Lyrassa said, Lerute and Madrily were powerful fighters. They could handle themselves. And if Geruke really wanted to, if he stole from their ship quickly enough, he could jump into the battle afterwards and help Lerute and Madrily.

He could have his cake and eat it too.

So he continued to wait with Lyrassa behind the wall and watched Lerute and Madrily argue with Friedroth.

Templaga surrounded their bank, leaning against its caen stone walls. One was stationed by each of the many lancet windows that circled the cylindrically shaped building’s ground floor and the rose windows that circled the Fralinian Church, looming with its tall and sharp spires beside the bank. Two Templaga stood beneath the church’s lancet archway entrance and another two at the bank’s. Friedroth stood in front of there and argued with Lerute and Madrily.

From what he could hear, Madrily and Lerute obviously wanted the Templaga’s help in defending the town because the pirates had an unusually large number of enemies. However, the Templaga weren’t interested. Friedroth sent a nastagle to his province’s Grandmaster, asking to bring a grand nastagle to their bank so they can transfer all of their assets to another; one that’s not endangered by pirates.

The Templaga could then easily escape the town on their huxkrana horses if the pirates won. Smart move. He wished he had nastagles and grand nastagles. The former he found extremely convenient as a child, the latter he didn’t have the authority to own, but he flew on Eddan’s quite a bit. Geruke smiled at the mere thought of how exciting it was.

After Lerute and Madrily gave up and walked away, Geruke’s heart leapt; Barssanna ran up to Madrily.

“Dear, please come back to the manor with me,” Barsanna said with quivering lips and a trembling voice. She grabbed Madrily’s hands with shuddering fingers. “Something terrible has happened.”

“What happened, mother?” Madrily said with concern. Her eyes widened as she stared at her frightened mother.

Geruke knew exactly why she behaved, how she did, and it pained him. Something squeezed his hand, and he turned to see that it was Lyrassa. “Don’t feel bad,” she said with a smile. “You had no choice. Neither of us did. Don’t let what you see disturb you.”

Geruke nodded and stared back at the front of the bank. Barssanna explained to her daughter the explosion at her house, the slaughter of all of her guards, and the theft of her money. Surprising both Geruke and Lyrassa was her saying how it wasn’t her entire treasury, that there was some in a separate room the thief wasn’t able to find, which inspired Lyrassa to click her tongue.

Geruke paid little attention to that, however. What hurt him the most was when she explained how terrified she was during the whole ordeal. By the end of her explanation, tears streamed down her face. Madrily hugged her mother. Geruke’s eyes fled to the floor. He couldn’t bring himself to look.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there,” Madrily said with glistening eyes.

“You’re safe now, my Lady,” Lerute rubbed her back. “We’ll send some soldiers to stay with you at the manor.”

Geruke felt even worse.

“Only if you knew pirates were gonna attack,” Lyrassa whispered with a grin, rubbing salt on his wounds. “You could’ve earned so much more money from tonight’s events. If you knew, you could’ve asked the pirates to pay you to sabotage the town’s defences, but you ended up doing it for free. Such a shame.”

Geruke shook his head and sighed.

“That’s not enough,” Barssanna pulled away from the hug and grabbed Madriy’s wrist, pulling her down the road; towards her manor, face wet with tears. “Don’t die out there. Stay with me at the manor and if the town gets overrun, we can escape with our money.”

“No,” Madrily pulled her arm out of Barssanna’s grasp. “I’m going out there to protect the people of this town.”

“The soldier you sent to inform me of the situation said that eighty pirates were on a ship sailing towards us!” Barsanna said, pointing north. “There’s no chance that the Town’s Watch can handle that!”

“We have no choice,” Madrily said, turning. “I’m sorry, mother, but we have to go now. We’ll send a few soldiers your way.”

“Promise me,” Barssanna grabbed her shoulder, curling her fingers around the pauldron. “Promise that you’ll escape to our manor when the situation gets too dire to succeed. Don’t be stupid about this.”

“Fine,” she shrugged her hand off of her and shoved her helmet over her head. “That’s if it gets to that. Which I refuse to let happen.”

Lerute followed Madrily whilst Barssanna ran off back to her manor. Lyrassa stared at her. “How much do you think we didn’t steal from her manor?”

“No, Lyra,” Geruke stomped out of cover and jogged towards the Eastern Gate. “I’m not doing that. “

“Fair enough. We could do it another time,” Lyrassa said as she caught up to him. “Let’s focus on these pirates first.”

Geruke opened his mouth, wanting to say that he’d never do it. But he closed it. Who was he kidding? He’d steal from her and do much worse if Friedroth made him. He just had a more urgent and promising opportunity to chase after first.

So they continued jogging down the cobbled street and exited the town through the Eastern Gate. As they headed down to the beach, the stench of burnt toast filled his nose. A fire roared as it tore apart the town’s Port. It glowed against the dark sea and the indigo night sky behind it. The wood of ships and quays shrivelled, blackened and smouldered, forming a smog that spiralled up and to the moon like a Fralinian Church’s spire.

The sight confused Geruke. Why would the pirates put so much effort into burning the port? Were they afraid of the town chasing after them? But how could the town chase after them if they planned to pillage and kill everyone in the Town? Why not put all of that effort into burning the Town’s wooden walls instead?

Regardless, he ignored his confusion and marched onwards. His boots sunk in the sand and crunched rock as he and Lyrassa crept across the beach. They hid behind a beach boulder and Geruke peeked around it. The Town’s Watch shot arrows and threw rocks at pirates who rammed the gates and shot arrows back.

A group of the Town’s Watch exploded in a cloud of bodies, blood and broken wood as a cannon shot at and shattered the town’s battlements. Behind the pirate’s frontline was a line of pirates who operated cannons, probably heaved out from their ship. Geruke’s heart shuddered. What if Madrily and Lerute were on those battlements?

Geruke quickly counted the pirates, and he only saw sixty on the beach. Was the scout lying about there being eighty? He must’ve been. But despite there being fewer pirates than he was initially led to believe, there were fewer Town’s Watch soldiers on the battlements than he thought there would be as well. There were twenty soldiers, the rest probably being sent to protect Barssanna’s manor and escort her in her abandonment of her people.

The pirates severely outnumbered the town. And looking at the cannons, they also overpowered the town. Once again, more of the flimsy wooden battlements vanished in a puff of cannon thunder, soldier screaming and pirate laughter. It was only a matter of time before they destroyed and pillaged the town. It was hopel-

Zooming around the Town’s western wall, Madrily and Lerute shined in the moonlight and blurred as they rushed at the pirates. Behind them, a group of ten soldiers whipped swords out of scabbards, yanked maces and axes off of belts and shoved pole axes off of shoulders. They only gave Barsanna five guards, after all, evaporating some drops of guilt out of an ocean of it.

Before the pirate cannoneers could acknowledge their appearance, Madrily and Lerute were already upon them, slashing down pirate after pirate without breaking a sweat or releasing a grunt. Geruke’s friends had a chance, albeit a small one. If he could steal from the ship quickly, then he could go back down to the beach and make sure Madrily and Lerute were safe.

Brimming with hope, Geruke and Lyrassa continued to creep across the beach, lit with the port’s inferno, and trudged into the ocean’s depth. The sea’s cold scratched across him as he submerged himself into it. He pushed himself through the water and towards the pirate ship, silhouetted by the full moon.

Above the mainmast, a flag rippled. It had the symbol of a golden dragon's head. The Golden Dragon Knights? The flag confused Geruke. Why was a mercenary band favoured by the Galladrian royal family raiding coastal towns? Did something happen to the royal family? Worry whirled in his chest when he thought of the possibility of something bad happening to Eddan. Or did Snakard and the Queen have a falling out? He couldn’t say. Ever since he left the nobility, he got little information about the world beyond what was happening within Archi Town or the general province.

So he shrugged like most people of his social class did regarding national politics and placed his fingers on a ridge of the ship’s hull. It could just be some copycat wanting to use their flag to intimidate people. So he clambered up the side of the ship, not paying it much mind. Lyrassa followed.

Geruke’s head peeked over the side, and he looked across the deck. A pirate climbed up the other side and hopped on the wooden floorboards. Geruke pulled his head down, hid, and shushed Lyrassa. He didn’t have to warn Lyrassa that someone was up there as the deck’s floorboards squealed as the man stomped across it. The sound of a door creaking crept past the tumult, and Geruke sneaked a look at the deck.

The pirate opened a door and marched down a staircase towards the lower deck, black and battered frock coat billowing in the sea wind and revealing a bare and scarred torso underneath it. Geruke jerked his head and beckoned Lyrassa to climb up. They both hopped over the ridge but did so gently to make sure their footsteps wouldn’t make the noise the other pirate’s did.

Dripping the ocean from their clothes and onto wood and snaking past spilled kegs, rolling tankards and torn baskets of mouldy food, Geruke’s suspicions of it being the ship of the Golden Dragon Knights vanished. Whilst they were warriors, they were fancy. They valued appearance more than any mercenary band he ever knew. They’d never pass up on a chance to show off how wealthy they were. These pirates didn’t seem to care or could care at all.

Geruke tapped open the door leading to the lower deck and sneaked down the staircase. They stepped off the stairs to enter a cramped hallway. The smell of damp and must pummelled his nose. All was dark except for the lantern that the pirate they followed carried with him, continuing to furiously stomp somewhere.

The pirate opened a door and within Geruke glimpsed another pirate sitting on a stool with a few sacks slumping behind him. Peeking out the top of those bags, the golden shine of rubounds twinkled. Geruke grinned. It was the pirate’s treasury.

Lyrassa seemed to notice that before him, as she was already beckoning him to follow her down the hallway. They crept behind the doorway and crouched behind it. Geruke assumed the captain sent those two pirates to guard the treasury, just in case people like him or Lyrassa existed. So he waited, and Lyrassa wagged her index finger to signal for him to do the same.

“I’m sorry, Snakard,” the pirate they followed said just ahead of the door. Geruke’s heart leapt and roared. Why did he say the name Snakard? Was this really the ship of the Golden Dragon Knights? Was Snakard the pirate sitting on the stool in there? Who else would he be talking to? The pirate they stalked cleared his throat. “I’m not fine with sacrificing twenty innocent people from an innocent town.”

“Did you close your eyes and cover your ears when Xisanisto presented the Count of Friederance to us, Darty?” Geruke knew that voice. It was Snakard. What was he doing on such a ship? His mind only scrambled further and his heart only thumped faster with the mentioning of ‘Xisanisto’. Was Delphun correct in his suspicions, then? Did the King of Tennivoor get revenge on Galladria by hiring pirates to attack Galladrian coastal towns and villages?

“My eyes were wide and my ears captured all of it,” Dartine said. “I’ve decided that it’s not worth it.”

“Look at this ship!” Snakard roared. The thud of, presumably, the stool hitting the wooden floorboards boomed through the door. “It’s cold. It’s wet. It’s dirty. It’s so flimsy a group of fishermen could sink this ship if they put a bit of effort in. Yet you get handed a life of wealth and luxury and power and fame and acclaim and prestige on a silver platter and you want to throw it away, hoping to continue to live like this?”

“Wealth at the cost of innocent life is worthless,” Dartine said at the sound of his cutlass scraping out of its scabbard hissed through the door. “Whilst we may be rich, innocents will be tortured and killed.”

“Don’t make me kill you, Dartine,” The screech of metal scraping against metal sounded from Snakard’s position. “You were a good pirate, one of the best. It’d be a shame to throw your corpse into the sea.”

“The world doesn’t revolve around you, Snakard,” Dartine’s footsteps boomed. Floorboards squealed.

“I agree, it doesn’t.” The ringing of metal slamming against metal clanged from the room. “Yet!”

The sounds of grunting and groaning rumbled through the door as they fought. Geruke and Lyrassa waited, hoping to attack the survivor after they’ve been weakened. However, the clanging of metal barely began before the scream of death devoured it; Dartine’s screams.

The speed of his death only re-affirmed the fact that it was Snakard standing in that room. He never saw him fight, but he heard stories akin to those he heard about his parents. So sweat streamed across his face as he thought of going in.

Lyrassa pointed her palm at him, beckoning him to wait. The hallway was dark, so if Snakard ever left, then they could hide in the shadows and attack him from behind. Knowing what he did about Snakard, that was the ideal strategy. He was most likely too strong to fight in a plain fight.

But what about the town? No, he didn’t care about that; he refused to let himself care about such a thing. Lyrassa wouldn’t. Friedroth wouldn’t. Most of the people in that town didn’t know or care about him, and it was the same for him. He should wait. The survival of the town meant nothing to him. Yet his feet twitched and his hand fell to the hilt of his sword. Restlessness infested his body. Something pulled him and begged him to run into the room and attack Snakard. So he inhaled and exhaled and calmed himself down. Such a decision made little sense. The town meant nothing to him.

But what about Madrily and Lerute? They did a good job of flanking the pirates and Lerute and Madrily could cut down a couple dozen pirates by themselves, but if the pirate crew was related to the Golden Dragon Knights, then there could be equally strong pirates down there as well. What if Pilla and Griever were down there? Not to mention the pirates outnumbered them by a large margin. They were his friends. Fear and sorrow surged up his stomach at the thought of them dying.

But what happened to him the last time he thought this way? He thought back to the lake when he decided not to kill Lyrassa. He lost all of his money and the Templaga beat him down in the street.

He should’ve killed her.

Would he make the same mistake again?

Friends who need you to sacrifice yourself for them aren’t friends; they’re leeches. Focus on yourself and life will go smoothly.

He should let his friends die.

He strangled the hilt of his sword and rushed to his feet. Shoulder barging the door open, he knew he couldn’t waste any time. The pirates could eradicate Archi Town’s Watch and kill Lerute and Madrily at any second.

He couldn’t let his friends die.

Lyrassa clicked her tongue. “What the fuck are you doing!?” she whispered. “You’re a fucking idiot!”

The worst thing was that Lyrassa didn’t even know the full depths of his idiocy. She didn’t know how strong Snakard was; she was just smart enough to know not to underestimate her opponent, considering how quickly he disposed of Dartine.

But despite his doubt, despite his hesitancy, and despite consciously recognizing how dumb he was acting, his puppet master was nowhere to be found as his legs pushed him forwards; leaping over Dartine’s bleeding corpse and towards Snakard. Towards a warrior who could rival his parents.