While Nick was prepared to see dying pirates in the docks, he was not ready for the sight that greeted the crowd of captives. The wide field of bloodied bodies was in front of them, many decapitated or mutilated in other ways. It was obvious that a huge battle had taken place just a few minutes ago. Some pirates on the outskirts where still standing or kneeling while blood flowed from their orifices. And on the far end of the pier king White and king Red where facing each other with drawn weapons while few of their followers were trying to stand up bleeding all over.
The crowd of the former prisoners gave a loud cheer as they ran over and started hacking the last signs of life out of already dying pirates. People continued to kick and stab those who stopped convulsing – their resentment and hate was just too strong. Some women were kneeling in front of pirate corpses and slashed with weapons over and over while hysterically crying. They were abused for many days and now they had to release the pain, otherwise it could follow them for the rest of their lives.
Nick and the Qi masters didn’t take part in this, but rapidly encircled both kings. King Red’s eyes were blurry, but she could still recognize Nick among the freed Qi masters.
“Hahaha, do you believe me now?” She hysterically laughed.
King White couldn’t answer her. A minute after the fight began he could tell that everyone, including king Red’s followers, was dying not from fighting, but from some other symptoms similar to the few of his crew members had back on the “Queen Elizabeth”.
The two king’s didn’t fight, just stood there with drawn weapons and tried to use their Qi to neutralize the poison, but to no effect. As distinguished Qi masters, they could fight most poisons on their own or at least neutralize for a longer period, but this time even after using some antidotes they couldn’t slow down the effects. It made them even more agitated and in addition most of the crew members were not listening to their orders at all, only charged blindly at each other and died in agony. And now, ten or fifteen minutes later, the captives had already encircled them.
“You should’ve listened to her, she really was the smartest one around here.” Nick plainly stated.
“Ahrrrrr!” King white charged towards Nick only to get decapitated half way.
But Nick suddenly felt extreme danger and instinctively raised his right hand to protect himself when a strong gust of wind hit his face and even stronger slash of sword – his chest.
‘F*ck!’ He barely managed to curse when he crashed in a pile of boxes several meters away. Immediately after a couple of Qi masters quickly killed king Red following her last charge of revenge.
She was an incredibly fast Qi master and used all of her speed in one burst to kill the person she hated the most. Although she died with some feeling of content, in the worried eyes of Clayton, Steven and the Qi masters, a pitiful figure climbed out of the pile of broken boxes while cursing.
“F*ck! Never ever be careless again! Damn! It hurts!” Nick was holding the back of his head with his left hand while his right was pressed to his chest.
‘This wristband is really magic! I would’ve been cut in halves if not for it. And the sword didn’t even leave a mark!’ He was astonished by the miraculous item on his forearm, ‘How incredible the beast was when it was still alive?’
“Are you alright?” The stupefied Clayton asked while almost stuttering.
“I think she fractured my arm.” Nick complained, making his way towards king Black whom he just spotted. Although he was certain no one would contest him for the meteorite ring, there was no limit to human greed and he didn’t want to incite a new open or hidden conflict.
He quickly searched the body, took the ring and joined the Qi masters who still stared at him in disbelief. A kid took a direct hit from Qi master’s sword and then complained about a fractured arm? What kind of logic was that?
“Alright, plan remains the same, we have over forty ships to check. Clayton, let’s go, everyone else – meet you back here in half an hour.” Nick said and under the still stunned eyes of the Qi masters dashed over the water towards the closest ship. Clayton recovered first and soon caught up to him.
While they ran from ship to ship, Nick quickly explained the main problem – Kate and the girls will be delivered to the emperor in around thirty days. As expected, Clayton immediately started to discuss how they will catch up to them, and there was no need to ask if he was going to join – his decision was obvious.
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Nick’s idea was simple – gather a small team and in a quick boat they would reach the continent as soon as possible, and then proceed to intercept the emperor’s tribute. He would even prefer if only three of them – he, Clayton and Steven went, because more people would raise more suspicions and he didn’t trust anyone else. He saw a month ago how trusted officers turned out to be pirates and there was no way Nick would be willing to risk his life ever again like that.
Turned out there were no pirates guarding the ships and everyone soon reassembled at the docks. It was still a dark night and the sun was to come up only a couple of hours later. Steven and the military Qi master stayed back and gathered everyone in a clean spot further away, albeit the stench of blood could be felt everywhere around the Paradise city. People sat on the ground with a myriad of expressions on their faces, many were happy, many cried and many blankly stared in one spot motionlessly.
“Nick!” Steven saw him and rushed over. But there was no trace of happiness on his face.
“I know. We’ll depart shortly.” Nick obviously knew what his friend was thinking about, but they still had to settle few things before they could leave the island.
“Nick, could you debrief everyone so we could decide on further actions?” The military man asked.
“Who are you, what is your name?” Nick asked in return.
“General Walter Grant.” Man plainly stated.
“Grant?” Nick wracked his brain for a second, “Is William your brother or something?”
“He’s my older brother, you know him?” It was general’s turn to be surprised. He couldn’t really know Nick met general William Grant in king’s study during the crossbow discussion.
“Great, this will make things easier!” Nick grinned and flashed his silver token in front of general’s eyes.
The latter’s pupils widened, but he instantly calmed down and seriously nodded. This explained everything – only his majesty’s trusted man could pull something like this off, even if it was a youth.
Nick didn’t stand in ceremony, jumped on the nearest pile of boxes and clapped a couple of times to draw the attention of the crowd. Then he tried to imitate king Black and infuse Qi in his voice to make it more impressive and louder. It didn’t go as well in the beginning, but after few sentences he got the trick.
“Alright. Everyone has been freed. You have killed your captors and will soon leave the island, but there are few things I would like you to know.” Nick started his speech, “We managed to kill more than two thousand pirates and, even if it was impressive, there are still many out there in the sea. There is over thousand of us, but most are weakened and unable to fight, therefore we all need to get off this island as soon as possible before a random pirate ship returns. After this debriefing I will show you where you can wash yourselves and, while you will rest, I’ll prepare a decent meal. But immediately after that you will have to start packing.”
“This is general Walter Grant from the Sun kingdom and he will be the one responsible for evacuating all of you.” Nick pointed at the general nearby, “I understand, some of you might not be from the Sun kingdom, and if you wish, you’ll be given an appropriate vessel and you can try to get home on your own. Or you can come to the country that doesn’t allow slavery and where the free people live. We’ll take every ship we can and with big armada sail back to Aurora and you all can be a part of this voyage!”
Under the light of several torches that were plucked in the ground around the crowd, Nick could finally see some true happiness and longing reflecting in the faces of these former prisoners.
“We are very short on time, therefore first thing we will do after you wash, drink and eat, will be to divide you in groups that will help to bring water and supplies to the ships. The route back will take over a month and it’s not a child’s play. The Qi masters here will be the leaders of each group and the general will supervise the process. I expect you to keep calm and help each other, because every single person here is a victim like you!”
Nick took a long look at everyone and said in especially serious tone, “There is another important thing. I want all of you to restrain yourselves and don’t run around looting and stealing stuff. After we have loaded ships with supplies and the crews for each ship have been decided, you will have a couple of hours to loot everything you can from this place.” Nick saw the burning eyes of the crowd and hastily clapped, “Calm down! You will not loot for yourselves. All of you will work together to gather valuables which at the end of the journey will be distributed to all of you. Also, and this is very important! Many people have died here, and even if I managed to poison this bunch of mass murderers I couldn’t save everyone. Therefore part of the things you manage to gather will be given to the families of deceased. Although it can not bring people back, their wives and children won’t have to starve!”
Many people in the crowd were nodding and inwardly praising the kid. General looked at him and wondered where did the king found this talent.
“Few of my friends are still in the hands of those bandits, therefore I can’t join you on the way back home just yet. But I promise to cook you another meal after I get back safe to Aurora after saving them!” For some reason the half-dead crowd was suddenly invigorated. They got up, cheered and applauded.
“General, you’re up. I’ll make some food for the people and you already know how to proceed. Take as many ships as you can, bring “Queen Elizabeth” back to the Evans family and the rest of ships to his majesty. You heard how you should divide the loot, I don’t think it’s unfair. In two hours I, Steven and Clayton will leave – we must get our friends and king’s daughters back.” Nick smiled towards the general and pulled Steven away.
General felt that he should accompany them to go after princesses, but knew very well that a small task force was much more effective than a bigger unit behind the enemy lines. Also, he had to bring over a thousand people back and many of them were weak and sick, no matter how lively they looked at this inspirational moment.
He got on the boxes Nick just jumped off and in similar fashion clapped his hands, “Alright! Everyone heard our savior. To help me get every single one of you back home, please remain calm and maintain the order follow the instructions. Now go after Nick, wash yourselves and rest for couple of hours. After the sunrise we’ll start packing and I want to leave this damned place before noon!”
Cheers celebrated this short speech as well and the large crowd orderly followed Nick.