As light struggled to fight through the cracks of the deck boards above, Kato observed one of the crewmen cursing and beating a prisoner who had spilled his drinking water. They had been sailing for a couple of days at this point, and Kato had felt his body make a strong recovery despite the circumstances.

All the prisoners were still chained up. However, their arm restraints had been removed, and instead, they were now grouped in different cell rooms. Each of the rooms had around ten people inside, some were full of despair, and others were idly filling their time.

Bahir was still the only one tightly bound by the chains as he had been since Kato met him. Kato had been making small talk with Bahir about their situation when he was feeding him the daily rations that were provided. Kato noticed crew consisted of men that were much larger than Kato was used to seeing. Their arms were covered in tattoos, and they wore cutlasses on their belts. They spoke in a similar manner to the men Kato had heard haggling in the port town.

“Why do they cover themselves in markings?” Kato questioned as he observed one of the crewmates walk past and peer through the cell bars.

“Norfolk. Nasty buggers. They have a culture based around piracy and brutality birthed in the very icy lands they come from. Supposably the markings give them the strength of those they kill.” Bahir spat.

“They aren’t all bad. They throw wonderful parties.” A lazing unkempt man off to the side chimed in.

His blonde hair was stained a tinged brown, and his skin was heavily caked with dirt. However, he had a pair of lively green eyes that didn’t suit his current situation.

“Who are you?” Kato questioned, not having noticed the man before.

“I’m Diego, a merchant, a traveling musician, and a culinary enthusiast! Oh, and now I can add "prisoner” to my list of titles as well.” He chimed as he massaged the sore skin around his ankle chain.

“What did you mean by they aren’t all bad?” Kato continued.

“Well, to understand Norfolk, you have to understand Norehaven. Which, no offense, but your friend in the chains clearly has a limited understanding of it.” Diego nodded toward Bahir, who did not seem amused.

“Norehaven is a brutal place to live. There are no seasons besides a lackluster dry season. It’s mostly just ice and snow. It wasn’t until about a century ago when large deposits of Tundra stones were found that anyone was interested in this part of the world.” Diego continued.

Kato looked at Diego with a puzzled expression, and Diego replied with a smirk and a sigh. Diego gestured towards a crystal-like light fixture on the wall that maintained a light orange glow.

“You know, Tundra stones? The things that power most of the magical items around the world,” Diego said with a flare of conceit in his tone.

“You haven’t been out much, have you, kid?” Diego asked.

“This is my first time outside of my village,” Kato said with a dejected look.

“Wow, what a way to see the world for the first time,” Diego said sarcastically.

Diego turned his head back from Kato to Bahir, who seemed annoyed by the presence of Diego.

“Old man, what's with the hatred for Norfolk? They rob your grandkids or something?” Diego asked tauntingly.

“Unlike you, boy, I have been around some time to know what the Norfolk are capable of—raiding villages, taking slaves, and destroying merchant's vessels. The Norfolk I know of aren’t exactly the dinner company you made them out to be,” Bahir said sternly.

“Look, all I said was they aren’t all bad. I know damn well what kind of bastards they can be. I know that your people and the Hydrians don’t ever get along, so I get your hostility, but you can't just write off an entire culture if you without understanding it,” Diego finished.

“Well, I suppose you might have some sort of point in your words,” Bahir said and sat up straight.

“Anyway, let's just say we got off on the wrong foot and start from scratch, huh? Again, I am the merchant Diego. So, who are my two newest friends on the boat to the frozen hell at the farthest reaches of the world?” Diego laughed heartily.

“I’m Kato, and this is Bahir,” Kato said.

“If you’re just a merchant, how is it you’ve ended up a prisoner of the Hydrians” Bahir asked with an expecting look.

“Nothing gets passed the old guy, huh?” Diego asked jokingly to Kato.

“Well, I was ‘just’ a merchant until I was caught selling goods to rebels from the Kingdom of Karlia,” Diego answered.

“What are you two on the prisoner transport for then?” Diego asked to counter Bahir’s goading.

“Captain Darius tossed me in here after the Hydrians attacked my village. Bahir told me that it was one of the candidates that didn't want me to get killed.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Kato kept Rena to himself to avoid questions that would make him recall the terrible event that happened to his village.

“C-Captain Darius?! Kid, What kind of horrible luck do you have? Well, if you stick around me, maybe some of my luck can rub off on you,” Diego deflected, trying to move away from Kato's unsettling story.

“Not very lucky if you’re in here with us!” Bahir laughed.

The chains warped tightly around Bahir clinked as he laughed heartily at his comment that clearly rattled Diego.

“It’s your turn now, old man! Stop laughing and speak up!” Diego asked with a flustered tone.

“Well, to make it easy for you to understand, I was a soldier, one of the best, in fact. However, the world is not always fair in how it dishes out its balance. So here I sit. Wrapped in chains on my way to the edge of the world with a terrible merchant and boy who is so young he could be my grandchild,” Bahir said matter-of-factly.

“You? A soldier? Old man, you look like you’re just skin and bones left,” Diego sneered.

“I said ‘was’ a soldier. Clean your ears out before you take that attitude with me, boy,” Bahir sighed.

Kato felt the tension between the two men rising but was unsure of how to handle the situation. However, the sound of ruckus on the deck grew, and a few of the Norfolk crew members threw open the door to the berth and came down the caged area. They started picking out prisoners and dragging them to an open area across from where the caged-off area was in the berth. It was a wide area surrounded by barrels and benches to form a circular shape.

As Kato was curious about the area across the way, one of the Norfolk came into the cell and reached for Kato but was stopped by Bahir’s interjection.

“I’ll go. Leave the boy here,” Bahir demanded.

The crew member looked pleased with the comment and grabbed Bahir and Diego, and led them to the other eight prisoners that were gathered near the circled-off area.

After Bahir and Diego were dragged off, and all ten prisoners were together, the other members of the crew all rushed down and gathered themselves around the circled-off area. All of the prisoners were shuffled into the circled-off area, and for the first time, Bahir’s chains were removed from his torso, leaving only his legs in shackles like the rest of the prisoners.

After the preparations had seemed to be completed, a large member of the crew wearing a black frock coat came down from the deck to this gathering.

“Listen up, you privileged few. Being the generous captain I am, we have a tradition here on my boat. We picked two from each cell in the cage to fight in my arena. All ten of ya are gonna fight for the chance to get this here bottle of the good stuff,” the ship captain said with a smirk.

The ship captain held up a bottle of alcohol that looked rather expensive, with a warm brown liquor swashing around as he waved it.

“I don't care if you work together with your cellmate or not, but you will put on a show for us here and try not to kill each other. It's only a bottle of booze,” the ship captain goaded with a twisted smile.

The prisoners were hesitant at first, but then a shorter prisoner on the far side from Bahir and Diego struck a rather heavy-looking prisoner in the back of the head and knocked him over, and proceeded to pounce on the prisoner. The roar of approval from the onlooking crew invoked an all-out brawl between the rest of the contestants.

Diego, surprisingly motivated, landed a good punch to the face of another prisoner charging at him with a shout. After stumbling him, Diego wrapped around the prisoner and tried to knock him out with a choke hold, but another prisoner charged and went to pull Diego off of him.

At the same time, Bahir was also being charged by a large muscular prisoner. Unphased, Bahir gave a swift and incredibly fast blow to the man's temple, causing the man’s eyes to roll back before collapsing to the floor like a pile of rocks. After dispatching his opponent, Bahir looked around to see the other skirmishes and noticed Diego getting charged by another prisoner while using a choke hold to bring a different opponent down. Using the rule of working together with his cellmate, Bahir figured he could gain an advantage by assisting Diego.

Bahir gilded across the worn wooden floor swiftly and silently, knocking out the second prisoner with a powerful blow to the man’s chin. Which allowed Diego to continue his chokehold and knock out the prisoner he had grappled.

Kato looked on with his face pressed against the bars trying to see who was left standing after being focused on Bahir and Diego. Five men were left standing, The initiator of the fight and two extremely muscular prisoners that seemed to be from the same cell due to their positioning in the ring.

The cellmates and the short prisoner sized each other up and then sized up Bahir and Diego. The remaining three inched closer to Bahir and Diego while respecting the space between themselves. In a split second, the muscular cellmates quickly went after the opponent without backup. The short prisoner, desperately trying to reposition, threw a punch to make space, but one of the muscular prisoners caught his punch easily, while the second broke his arm with a downward elbow slam causing the short prisoner to scream in pain. The prisoner who caught the punch then picked the shorter man up and threw him out of the makeshift arena.

“How's he gonna work with this arm, you stupid slave!” the boat captain roared.

The two prisoners, ignoring the outrage, split to either side and approached Bahir and Diego. Each looked to end the fighting quickly and reap the reward.

“Look, merchant. These are clearly skilled fighters. Do your best to focus on counters.” Bahir said with an exhale.

“Listen, old man. I'm pretty skilled my-self!” Diego said, taking a swing at the approaching prisoner at the final syllable of his sentence.

The punch connected, catching the prisoner off guard, who had assumed that Diego was the weaker of the two. Diego used this opportunity to begin pummeling his opponent with a series of punches that staggered the larger man back. Noticing the wobbling of his opponent, he then did a sweeping kick to the man's legs to bring him toppling to the floor and grappled him again to try and finish the fight.

Bahir, after noticing Diego’s plight, casually played with his enraged opponent as he dodged swiftly around the incoming strikes and threw a few light counterpunches. Bahir lazily dodged the telegraphed large downward slam with interlocked hands, he flipped backward and with a powerful upwards kick that lifted the larger man into the air and landed gracefully as he turned to see that Diego had also finished his opponent.

“Well done! Well done!” the ship captain cheered with a slow clap.

“Now I hope you know you won't be staying like that, Ghost of the Desert,” the ship captain said, gesturing over to Bahir.

“Chain him back up, and if he resists, kill him,” the captain said, leaving the bottle and returning to the deck.

Bahir, reluctant to start a fight in the middle of an unknown ocean, submitted to the orders and was chained back up. Diego and Bahir were then walked back to their cell with Diego desperately clutching to the prize they had won.

The crew gathered up the unconscious prisoners and threw them back into their original cells, then returned to their normal routines.