Zaia was back at the seashore again. She had been walking on the sand for more than an hour already.
She always go to this place every time she feels troubled and wanted to be alone. The soft sand under her bare feet makes her calm down and think properly.
Raru was walking silently by her side, seemed completely unconcerned on her problem.
"Why would Fox do that to me? Isn't Alieya his woman already?" She asked herself once more. Kicking the sand under her feet.
There was a time when she was a little younger that she would hug every nice people she met on the streets. People seemed awkward towards it but Zaia thought that was just because of her being a noble born and one of the village's beast contractors.
One day her father told her that hugging was the same as kissing. That gesture was only reserved to close family members and lovers.
Zaia knew what a lover is because of the countless stories and songs she heard about it. It meant as the life long partner and the person who she would have children with in the future. But they would need to be married first before they could hug and kiss.
She remembered the heir of the Da'anar clan proposed a union of marriage to her about three years ago. She quickly declined and threatened her father that she would rebel if she was forced to marry someone that she doesn't like. She wanted to find her own man on her own time.
Now she met Fox and Alieya. Fox looks fine and seemed strong, She also really like him, but he already has Alieya as his lover.
Zaia's head began to hurt again in confusion.
She was having fun today. She finally had someone to duel with her. She did not have to hold herself back either because she know that Fox had contracted a superior blooded beast like her. It was her first time to actually fight someone and enjoyed doing it. Then Fox suddenly hugged her closely in the middle of their duel. He even did it with their servants around. For sure her father already knew about it by now.
"But what if Alieya wasn't his lover all along? I didn't ask them about it yet and I only assumed that they were. What if they are blood related or just friends?" She argued to herself.
"Should I ask Fox? No, that would be too embarrassing. Maybe I would just talk to Alieya in the evening." She said to herself once more.
"I suppose I could be married to him if Alieya is not his woman. I am already on the right age."
Soon, Zaia felt a little better. The soft sea waves hitting her feet and the cool breeze of the wind made her calm and relaxed.
She made a mental note to talk to Alieya in the evening before climbing up to Raru's back.
She decided to patrol the forest. There was still few hours remaining before the sun set. She would just let Raru and his pack run around and perhaps catch some bandits that are making camps in the woods.
Zaia felt her mood being lifted once more at the thought of hunting again with the pack.
----------
On the outskirts of Zongco city, A woman in her early 20s was sitting silently on a pile of wooden crates in a deserted wharf. She was casually chewing a cheap bread, looking at the setting of the afternoon sun.
She goes by the name of Stingray, A new recruit of the Hammerhead pirates.
This was her first assignment. She needs to meet an important man from this city and relay whatever his request or message to their leader, the captain of the Hammerheads. She will be paid for this meeting whether they accepted the job or not.
Their small group of pirates only consisted of around 50 people. All notoriously deadly in their own way, and everyone went in with the same initiation mission when they first joined the crew.
Their group specialize in raiding merchant ships, wharfs or even town and villages that they get interested in.
Just as she finished up her bread, she saw a group of five men walking towards her. She recognized the four men as military, based on the arms and equipments they carry. The man in the middle was wearing a formal suit, as if expecting her to set the meeting place inside a glamorous hotel.
Stingray watched in silence until the group was finally standing before her. She slowly stood up and greeted them.
"Good afternoon, I am Stingray." She introduced herself, giving them and over exaggerated military salute.
The man in the formal suit scanned the surroundings for a while before shaking his head in displeasure.
"I requested to meet with the Hammerhead Pirate's leader, or at least one of their top member. I don't intend to waste my time with some insignificant messenger. Take us to your ship." The man said, already trying to establish his authority.
"What if I am the leader of the Hammerhead and our ship is far offshore. Will you talk here?" Stingray said in a bored voice.
The man in the formal suit whispered something to the soldiers beside him and the next moment, the four soldiers advanced towards her.
"Oh, Is this how things are done in this City? Remember that I came here because of an special request. If you want it the hard way, It's fine with me too. It's just that I don't know which one of you is in charge. I might accidentally kill you all." She held her ground and looked mockingly at the group.
In all truthfulness, Stingray doesn't really know how to fight. She could fire a gun and swing a sword and maybe she could defend herself in a one on one confrontation, but that's all there is to it. She only managed to get into the Hammerhead Pirates by using her convincing bluffs and some crazy luck.
She was from a small town in the far south that was previously attacked by these pirates. Most of her people were killed and sold as slaves but she was lucky not to be part of them. She was an orphan long before her town was attacked and the people were not really kind to her. Her town was burned almost a month ago now, and she was with these pirates since then.
She was a thug and a thief so when the pirates attacked, she slipped in their group and pretended to be a new recruit from another place.
Being a female new recruit has plenty of risks so she had to act like a man and be aggressive as a man. There were times that she was assaulted by the pirates and tried to force themselves into her. She already killed three of them and blinded another four. The leader had taken a liking to her because of her sheer bravery and ordered them to lay their hands off her.
Now is her final test before she could finally say to herself that she is officially part of the group.
The four soldiers looked back at the man in the suit, suddenly feeling uncertain.
"It seems that we are in a stalemate. These soldiers are under oath to die for the people of this city, right? I could help them with their oath. Afterall, I am only expecting to meet one man." She said, maintaining her mocking voice.
A few more seconds had passed before the man in the suit beckoned the soldiers to stand down and return to his side.
"I want to apologize. It's just one of the bad habits of mine. I am Marco Decontre. I was the one who requested this meeting. These soldiers are only here for my security" The man it the suit said in a formal voice.
"I understand. So, let's get right down to business. You said you have a special job request. Let's hear it." She said, matching the man's business like tone.
"I want you to pillage a small village, about 30 kilometers to the north east. You can burn the village to the ground, and annihilate a certain clan. All loots will be yours and I will pay you a hundred gold bars, not our local money currency." Marco DeContre offered with a confident smile.
It took much of Stingray's will power to maintain her passive expression when she heard about the hundred gold bars. 'I will get rich in this.' She said in her mind.
"A territorial rivalry, I say? What clan are we going to wipe out?" Stingray asked.
"The Da'anar clan, they are the clan that currently rule the village. They have beast contractors in their ranks but I guess you can deal with it." Marco DeContre said, clenching his fist as he mentioned the clan name.
"We can handle beast contractors without problems. Let me have this night to think about your job request. You will have your answer tomorrow at the same time as today." Stingray said finally, after pretending to think deeply about something.
She have heard about beast contractors from the merchants back on the far south, but she have never personally met one. She also doubt if any of the pirate members were beast contractors. Maybe their leader was one. She saw many times that their leader has lots of ravens kept inside in his personal cabin.
Marco DeContre shook hands with her before they left the area.
She waited for a few minutes on the same spot before finally relaxing her grip on the small dagger that she was holding under her sleeves.
Stingray walked silently towards the edge of the wharf where a small wooden boat located. She jumped into it and started rowing back to their ship.
It was already dark when she stepped back into the deck of their ship. Their leader was quickly notified and she was quickly summoned to report inside his cabin.
Inside the captain's cabin, Stingray saw a bloodied man with his wrist stretched upwards and tied to the ceiling. He recognized the man as one of their own crewmate, and a troublesome one.
"Don't mind the bastard, he's an ambitious one who thinks he's smarter than me."
An old man was sitting in a desk in front of the bloodied man. He seemed to be writing something when he noticed her enter the room. He was known as the Kingfisher, the captain an the leader of the Hammerhead pirates.
"You're back. How was your mission?" Kingfisher said, his eyes still on the paper on his desk.
"It went well. I have the details of the job, and told the client to wait until tomorrow for our reply." Stingray answered in a clear voice.
"You did well, tell me about the job and we'll see if I can decide now." Kingfisher said casually.
She nodded and recited the job order that she carefully memorized earlier. She told the leader about the Da'anar clan, the beast contractors and the payment of gold.
"All loots and treasures will be hours, We can sell the village people as slaves too. Then we will be paid gold on top of it all." Kingfisher's eyes were suddenly filled with greed.
Stingray had expected as much. The gold alone will be more than enough to make her rich. She just bowed down her head and waited for the leader's instructions.
"You can deliver my response tomorrow. We will accept this job. We will attack and burn this village two days from now. Beast contractors will be a bit of a challenge but they will be easily handled. Tell the client to have his gold prepared. You can rest now." Kingfisher said, full of confidence.
Stingray nodded her head and exited the cabin.
Outside, the pirates were drinking and singing to themselves. This was a common sight very time their ship drop its anchors. Some of the men made a subtle advances towards her as she passed by but she simply gave them a deadly stare and show them her dagger's handle. The drunken pirates backed away almost immediately.
Stingray must not lose focus on her real goal. Being a member of this band of pirates was just a stepping stone for her. A small stop to her real destination.
She climbed up into the ship's observation post and sat there quietly. The loud noise of singing and dancing was somehow lessened by the sound of the soft breeze of the cold air.
"Just a little longer, I will find you." She whispered to herself as she took a small locket that was tied in her neck. She held the locket close in her hands.