“I knew it was a good idea to make you captain,” Cyll said as he and Maya walked through the market. “I never knew anything could taste this good.”

Maya fought to keep her expression under control as Cyll shoved yet another bun into his mouth. He’d already gone through a quarter of the sack, and the man showed no signs of stopping.

“You do realize we can save those for later, right? They aren’t going anywhere,” Maya said.

“You’d do the same if you hadn’t eaten in thousands of years,” Cyll said, spraying crumbs everywhere.

“Thousands?” Maya asked, but Cyll didn’t respond. He’d stopped cold once again, this time staring into a large tent full of weapons. Maya repressed a sigh and walked back to stand beside him.

“Those are swords,” Maya said. “Not for eating.”

“I know what they are,” Cyll grumbled, wiping his mouth with the back of a sleeve. “You we’re here for supplies, aren’t we? Weapons count as supplies, and I happen to need one. If you haven’t noticed, you have my old one.”

Maya glanced down at the sickle at her side.

“Why didn’t you bring the sword or the axe that was in you?” She asked.

“If you had something stuck in you for that long, you wouldn’t want to keep it around either,” Cyll said, stepping inside the tent.

“That’s a fair point, but did you really just say thousands of years? I didn’t forget that yet,” Maya said, following him inside.

Cyll lifted one of the swords up and tilted his head. The afternoon sun shimmered of the blade in a beautiful pattern, but Cyll clearly wasn’t pleased. He put the weapon back and picked up the blade beside it.

“Time blends together when you’re in prison. It’s not important. Oh, look at this!”

Cyll picked up a larger sword and held it aloft. It was made of the same material as the first weapon and, after a moment, Cyll sighed and put this one down as well. He rapped his knuckles on the wooden stand where the weapons were kept.

A grizzled merchant stepped out from the back of the tent. He raised an eyebrow and thrust his chin out towards them.

“What can I help you with?” He asked.

“I want a good weapon. Something nice, not this trash you’ve got out to scam fools with,” Cyll said.

The merchant’s eye twitched. The two men quickly descended into a tirade of insults. Maya rolled her eyes and leaned back against one of the wooden stands. Cyll was clearly planning on getting the most out of his freedom.

Despite Cyll’s laidback attitude, Maya scanned the market with cold eyes. Axel and Heral had stolen her future from her. There was no guarantee that there was a replacement for her Life-spark, and her aspirations were higher than the idiots that had made the last dozen years of her life a living hell.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Maya’s eyes caught on a well-dressed man. Axel, together with several retainers, was strolling through the market. Maya pulled her hat lower, but it didn’t look like her tormenter had noticed her. She turned to get Cyll’s attention, but he and the shopkeeper had escalated their argument into a shouting match.

Their yelling had started to draw the attention of the crowd nearby, and Axel wasn’t one to be left out of a fight. He’d made a beeline straight towards them. Maya glanced around the tightening crowd and gritted her teeth. Her hand shifted to the sickle at her side and she took a step deeper into the shadows of the tent.

Axel pushed through the crowd until he arrived at the front of the tent. He stepped inside, leaving his retainers behind him, and cleared his throat loudly. The two men glanced at him for a moment, then returned to their argument.

“Excuse me!” Axel said loudly.

Cyll and the merchant slowly turned towards him, both glowering.

“I’m with a customer at the moment,” the merchant started, but he trailed off as Axel shifted to show the Ashwind insignia stitched into the front of his clothes – a blue patch embroidered with grey wind.

“I’ve come to look at your weapons,” Axel said, but his attention was on Cyll, who had affixed Axel with a furious glare.

“I was here first,” Cyll said. “You can wait in line.”

A grin spread across Axel’s face. He reached back and unstrapped his axe, all the while keeping eye contact with Cyll.

“Speaking like that to the Ashwind family? That’s unacceptable. You must not be from around here.”

“I don’t give a rat’s left ass cheek who you are. I’m trying to buy a weapon,” the pirate growled.

Axel glanced around the crowd to make sure they’d heard the exchange. The people had already started to back away, making a makeshift fighting ring around the tent. Cyll raised an eyebrow.

“Captain, can I kill this joker? His axe seems decent enough,” Cyll said.

Axel drew a sharp breath as he finally realized someone was standing in the shadows of the tent.

“Pirates? You don’t have your crew’s coat of arms anywhere,” Axel said, his confidence shaken.

“We’re working on it,” Cyll said. He took a steamed bun out of his bag and started eating it. “Say, Captain, do you think you could handle this for me? I just remembered – that kid has my weapon. I’ll owe you one!”

Maya finally looked up, meeting Axel’s gaze with her own. The young man drew in a sharp breath and took a step back.

“Maya? You’re alive?”

“No. I’m her ghost, and I’m here to rip your head off, you god forsaken slug. You tried to kill me for a palm sized Essence crystal!” She snarled, drawing the sickle.

Axel recovered from his shock quickly, a smug grin carving its way across his face. He took a step back, exiting the tent, and beckoned for Maya to follow him.

“I’m afraid I don’t remember anything like that, but you’re welcome to try and settle the score now, if you’d like,” Axel said.

Maya spun her sickle in a lazy circle as she exited the tent and dropped into a fighting stance.

“I think I will,” Maya said, her eyes frozen cold with fury.

Her sickle arced through the air. Axel lunged to the side, but it cut a thin line across his face. Maya yanked the weapon and it cut another line into his arm on the way back into her hands.

Axel let out a roar and charged towards Maya. The sickle turned alive in her hands, forcing Axel to a stop as a flurry of strikes crashed against his axe and body. None of them were serious, but a fine mist of blood started to fill the air.

“When did you learn to use that?” Axel asked furiously, wiping blood out of his eyes.

“Oh, I just picked a few things up,” Maya said. “I hope you enjoy them. I learned just for you.”

The sickle slashed out again. Axel wasn’t fast enough to avoid the full strike and the weapon cut a deep furrow across his chest. He yelped in pain and took a step back, but the crowd wasn’t parting. They all watched with rapt attention as Maya slowly advanced on her old adversary. His face went pale.

“Help me!” Axel yelled. “She’s cheating!”

Three of his retainers stepped out of the crowd, drawing their swords and joining Axel. They were all large men, sporting scars that demonstrated the years they’d spent fighting. Axel tried to hide his relieved sigh. He gave Maya a mocking smile.

“You should have just stayed out of my way. Get her!”