you jumped off the plank, and set foot onto the wooden boards of the docks. Here in Ketterdam the air smelled different than it had out there, on the open sea, but also different from all the other harbours you had visited. It smelled of salt and fish, but also of mould, smoke and faeces. You turned around one last time to look at the ship which had been your home for more than five years. It was an impressively big ship, a three-master with countless sails, big and small. And you knew all their names, had hoisted them so many more times than you cared to count. You had climbed the masts, sat up there for hours staring over the sea, and spent evenings in the net below the bowsprit, watching the setting sun sparkle on the water. You had spent so much of your - so far rather short - life on this ship, the Wolfszahn that it hurt to leave it, and all your crewmates, behind. But you needed change. You needed to start out anew. And Ketterdam seemed just like the place for it.

"Never trust anyone, especially not with your money," the words of your best friend echoed in your head. "Ketterdam is full of possibilities. And criminals. Take chances, but don't be foolish. You won't find the friendship of crewmates there. And never trust anyone."

You nodded to yourself. Jojo had been very clear about that last part, and with these few words confirmed your believe of just how painful his past still was for him.

With a last glance you tried to spy if any of your crew mates were around to say good bye, but they were all busy with unloading the ship. Even Jojo was somewhere running around in the belly of the ship; doubtlessly trying to keep count of the barrels the others were unloading.

So you turned around, and headed off the quay in sixth harbour, and into the city, where the smell of faeces decreased, while that of mould increased, much to your dismay. You had nothing but your bag with you, the same bag with which you had boarded the Wolfszahn about six years ago, after your parents had both died of flue in the same winter.

Back then you had grabbed the bag and everything you considered of worth something for your future, and made your way to the harbour of your small village in the south of Kerch. A neighbour had once mentioned that the big ships always needed workers. And if you wanted to survive, you needed money, and the only way to get money, was through work. For almost two weeks you had tried getting a job on one of the ships, but of course nobody would hire a seven year old girl. Only the captain of the Wolfszahn, an elderly gentleman with a red, round face, white hair and a bushy beard, had realised how dire your situation was, and eventually agreed to take you aboard. Soon you had learnt all the knots there were to know, and because you had been so small, you had been able to crawl even into the darkest corners of the ship to look for things or repair whatever had broken. But your true passion had always been climbing. You spent hours upon hours trying to climb every and any rope you had seen the others climb, and soon you were the fastest and safest climber in the crew.

But these days would be over now, a new life lay ahead of you. Filled with confidence and hope, you left the harbour, and walked deeper into Ketterdam.

After you had left behind the Warehouse District, you strolled along the huge houses by the canals. They reached high into the sky, white walls with sparkling windows, and balconies with flowers. Further into the city, the houses shrunk in size, but were still taller than any you had seen, growing up in your little town. These houses and broad stairs in front of their doors, and were painted in many different, vibrant colours. At a stand in front of one of them, you bought lunch, warm waffles with fruits and whipped cream. As you ventured even deeper into the city, you found yourself intrigued by it, and scared.

The houses here were just a few stories high. Some were built out of wood, most of them half-timbered. Ivy grew up on their fronts, the roofs were touching each other, and the streets were narrow and crooked. It was obvious that the people here did not have as much money as in the parts of Ketterdam you had previously passed through, but it still looked beautiful, like straight out of one of the stories Jojo had used to tell you before you fell asleep at night. But these alleyways felt dangerous, as if behind every corner a robber was waiting for you to pass by naïvely. You slipped your hand into the pocket of your coat, and felt for the knife there. The Captain had given it to you on your second day aboard, and now it was your most valued treasure.

Like a habit you looked for places you climb up, just like you had done daily on the Wolfszahn. Thick robes of ivy hung from the roofs, and drains seemed like an invitation to try out your skill on them. But still you felt not safe, so soon you turned around started making your way back to the more respectable seeming part of Ketterdam. The sun was about to set when you had almost reached the part of town again that seemed to be called West Stave, when you took a turn and suddenly realised you were being followed.

You had noticed the bulky man behind you a while ago, but now it started to feel weird. And as if your luck had run out all at once, you found the narrow street, alley rather, before you to be empty. Panic washed over you as you hurried up your steps while simultaneously trying to keep your breathing steady. But your heart was racing in your chest nonetheless. Behind you heavy steps got faster too, and again you felt for the knife in your pocket.

Just the moment your fingers closed around the handle, you heard the man behind you leap, his steps missing a beat, and the next second a strong hand landed on your shoulder. Before he was able to take hold of you, you spun around, cutting through the air with the knife you held securely. The man jumped away just in time, but you kept a defensive stance.

"Do you really think you can fight me, girl," he growled with a smug grin on his red face. Saints, it pissed you off.

"I don't want to, so leave me alone," you shouted, but sounded far shakier than you wanted to.

"Just gimme the bag you go' there and I'll be on my way," he grinned as if he had just made the most generous offer.

"Fuck you," you hissed.

The smile immediately wiped off his face, and you could tell he would attack you again at any moment.

"You little bitch," he spat.

You took a fighting position, digging the heel of your foot that was further back into the ground.

"Make sure you got a good stance in the beginning, then half the work is already done," echoed Jojo's voice in your head. But before you had time to remember much more of what he had told you, the man had already launched himself at you, and your body moved on its own. You stepped out of his way, but not without slicing your knife diagonally across his face. Immediately he started screaming, and any other day you would have felt guilt rushing over you immediately, but not today. The man had tried to rob you; he deserved the pain he was in now.

You were about to relax, when suddenly the steps of two more pairs of feet echoed over the walls of the small alleyway.

Alarmed you shot around, but before you had even taken in the appearance of your opponents, the knife got kicked out of your hand, your wrist caught in the fleshy fingers.

"Too slow," Jojo laughed as the wooden knife you were training with clattered to the wooden planks of the ship.

"Not fair," you pouted, but did not dare to reach down to pick up the knife. "You trained way longer with the Master."

Jojo laughed at that. "You just hung out on top of the mast all the time!"

Ever since a Shu warrior had spent some time on the ship, and taught Jojo and you the basics of how to fight with Shu techniques, the two of you spent almost all of your free time trying out what you still remembered. And over time your movements got quicker and more fluent.

Jojo missed the way your eyes flickered to the knife that lay on the planks right between the two of you, so you quickly allowed yourself to fall to the floor, and rolled right over the spot where the knife was, grabbing it. When you came back up, only a few inches in front of Jojo, you softly pressed the wooden tip of the training knife between two of his ribs. The older boy stiffened before he grinned down on you.

"Good job," he complimented, but you knew he was not done with you when you felt his fingers close around your wrist.

Like all the years ago on the ship, you took a step behind your attacker, and in a quick motion you brought him down to the ground, but unlike with Jojo, you put in all your force and effectively dislocated the man's arm. Of course you did not allow yourself a moment of triumph, knowing there was still one more enemy to fend off, but this time you really were too late.

A sharp pain struck the back of your head, as the third man hit you with a bat. You lost your balance and stumbled forwards, stars dancing in your vision. As quickly as your clouded mind allowed you to, you turned around, and managed barely to avoid a second hit. Quickly you tried analysing your situation. Against a bat you had no chance. The man was bulky and heavy and tall. And slow. You could run. But not with your bag.

Without a second thought you slipped off the bag, and swung it against the man, before starting down the dark alley. Grunting behind you alarmed you that you were still being followed. So much for you would be let go if they got your bag. You had almost reached the end of the alley, already hearing music and a loud crowd at the bigger street you were running towards, when a figure stepped into the alley, blocking your way. The person, most likely a man, was of the same stature as the one chasing you, and you knew you had no chance to get past him. So you did what you did best.

You leapt at one of the strong ropes of ivy and started climbing. Within a second you had climbed up almost two meters, when suddenly a hand grabbed your ankle. Too slow, again. With a sharp tug pain shot through your leg and hip, your hands lost their grip on the plant, and you fell down, hitting the ground hard. More pain spread through your body as you landed ungracefully, and you knew you had most likely sprained your wrist, and gotten a concussion. As if the hit with the bat had not already given you one. The man who had chased you was towering over you, seeming far taller than before.

"Take the bag, and bring it to the boss," he snarled at them man who had blocked your way out of the alley. "I'll take care of this lill' troublemaker here."

You heard the other man walk off, doubtlessly collecting the bag which held all your belongings. You wanted to scream, tell them to leave you and your few belongings alone. Hell, this was your first day in the city and you already got robbed? What a start! But you stayed quiet, instead trying to crawl away from the man as good as possible while searching for a way, any way, out. But you came up empty.

"Scared, lill' one?" The man leant over you, shit eating grin on his face. "I promise you, after tonight you'll be a lot more scared, because then you'll know how truly cruel the world can be. If I let you live, that is-"

The last word of the man got cut off by a terrible wet sound, and his head got yanked to the side from the hit with what looked the top of a cane. The man made a strange sound before limply falling to the side, the cane still sticking out of his head. In horror you watched as blood seeped out of the side of his head and onto the street, pooling there before running in a little rivers between the cobblestones.

"This is Dreg territory," a harsh voice spoke indifferently, but it sounded young, almost like a child. "Do you never learn?"

Shakily you looked up. A few feet away stood a boy. He seemed barely older than you, by a year at the most. He wore an oversized coat, but even with it on, you could tell he was skinny. He had shifted his weight onto one foot, and stared disapprovingly at the collapsed man in front of him.

"You killed him," you blurted out in shock. The boy did not turn to look at you.

"Would you rather I had let him kill you," he answered indifferently, before reaching for the cane, and pulling it out of the man's skull with another sickening squelch. Now you saw that the top of the cane was decorated with a metal crow-head, blood coated. It had been the beak that had bored into the man's skull.

Disgustedly you looked at the boy. He scared you. He had just killed a man! How could he be so calm?

"Come on," the boy spoke and turned around, making his way out of the alley, leaning heavily onto his cane while walking.

"Come where?"

You were scared and alone, and you had no money or goods. And the Wolfszahn had been scheduled to leave sixth harbour by noon. But you were not yet desperate enough to blindly follow a boy who had just killed a man in cold blood. To save you, admittedly. But still...

At your question the boy stopped in his tracks, and turned around to you, slowly. The air around him seemed to change, as if it quivered in fear of him when he raised an eyebrow at you.

He is dangerous, you thought to yourself. He is dangerous and he knows it. The kind of dangerous that you would expect from a forty year old, not a teenager.

"Were going to Per Haskell. You owe the Dregs now, so you're expected to pay back that debt. Besides you'll want your bag and the knife back, am I right?"

You stared at him confused.

"I don't owe anyone anything," you protested.

You had never in your life heard of Per Haskell before. How could you owe him something?

"I just saved you, didn't I? This is Ketterdam. Nothing is free here. Not even death."

You wanted to scream. Again. What did he mean, you were indebted to him for him saving you? It was not like you had asked him to help you. You had no money, had lost everything. What would he do if he found out you had not a single kruge to your name anymore?

As if he had read your thoughts, the boy rolled his eyes, and started walking again.

"Don't worry," he spoke and somehow you felt as if that was exactly the opposite of what you should do. You really, really should worry. "I've got work for you. You're a good climber, you'll be a good spider. This way you can work off your debt."

You quickly hurried after him. It felt as if the ground was slipping away from underneath your feet. This was nothing like what you had imagined your stay in Ketterdam to be like. And now you would be basically enslaved to this boy?

"What if I don't want to work for you," you asked, turning into the big street while walking beside him.

All kinds of costumed people pushed past you, dressed up in the most brilliant colours. For a moment you wanted to gape at them, until you noticed the houses you now passed by. Pleasure houses.

"You're a little girl, alone in Ketterdam. No money, no place to stay. How long do you think it will take for a slaver to get to you? They will sell you. To one of these houses here, if you're lucky," he pointed at the pleasure houses that lined the street left and right. "To a house further that way, if you're less lucky."

You did not even want to imagine what happened behind these walls. You were fourteen, and knew what pleasure houses were. But would anyone really let a child work there? You caught sight of a young woman, no, kid, who was dressed like a porcelain puppet, presenting herself in a window, and your question got answered immediately. She was probably even younger than you.

"And if you're really out of luck, you'll be sold to a ship, or overseas. And then it's just a matter of days until you're dead," the boy finished his little speech. "How does working for the Dregs sound now?"

"Who are you," you asked instead of answering his question, but both of you knew you would no longer protest.

"Kaz Brekker, Per Haskell's right hand man," he answered, and for the first time since you had met him a little emotion, pride, swung in his voice.

You did not say anything to that. Even his name sounded as if it was enough to install fear in the people around him. He had not asked for your name either, so you saw no reason to give it to him. Instead you followed him back through West Stave towards the part of town that was called the Barrel (another snippet of information he dropped for you), and right to a gambling den called The Crow Club.