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Chapter 13 - First Assignment

Gana felt the Sun rose barely amid the early morning. A dragon boat with a sail in the middle of it docked at the wooden platform that Gana was standing on. He felt a familiar aura from the man that went on the dock to greet him. Gana simply grinned at the man.

"Talu."

"Gana."

"Are you meant to be accompanying me?"

"Well, it's hard to find a match with your swordsmanship but eh, fighting on boats are way different."

"Heh, I guess. However, there is a lot to be learnt from you as well, Talu. There was no clear victor yesterday." Gana smiled faintly.

Talu, on the other hand, has a stern competitive expression on his face. They both faced each other with tension rising in between them. A man stood in between them with muscle-bulging arms to put them apart.

"Oi. Get in. We are departing."

Gana shot Talu a confused look. "Who's he?"

"He's the captain. Captain Dede. His muscles ain't for showing by the way."

"Hoh?" Gana grinned. "I don't see muscles but I could feel the force behind it."

Talu's eyes turned to Gana, staring at him like he's a freak.

They boarded the dragon-shaped boat with a width of five to eight wingspans. Dede ordered the mates to row the boat along with the river current. The boat was patrolling the Lentuk River for the Nangguk Great Tribe had a request with some notorious pirates robbing their tribesmen. Talu and Gana sat near each other while the ship's captain briefed them about Nangguk's request.

"Nangguk wants us to deal with Besi."

Talu's eyes widened, "Besi Pirates!?"

Gana inquired, "So, how strong are those fellows?"

"They are very infamous. A lot have died trying to capture them. For the last ten years, Besi Pirates has been a bane for the Three Great Tribes," Dede explained.

"I see. Pretty tough. What about manpower and firepower? Are we within the range of what we can handle?" Gana's voice contained concern.

Dede raised his eyebrow in admiration, "Heh, for someone so young, you sure have great maturity. We do have supplies and weapons. Hooks and ropes are there for embarking. Our sailors are elite within the Dalna ranks as well."

Gana nodded," Well we have Talu as well, so we should be fine."

"I wish..." Talu lazily replied.

Gana turned his head in puzzlement. Talu just shrugged, "Don't look at me like that. Them guys are battle-hardened to the core."

From morning until the Sun was scorching on their heads, the boat roughly sailed towards the Nangguk Great Tribe. Inside Nangguk's territory, a few villagers' boats went past them. Every three months, each village need to travel to any major town of a tribe to pay tribute. Besi Pirates targeted this time window to rob them. They planned their ambush near the docks or disguised themselves as cargo boats. Capturing them was never easy as they had complete mastery in escaping. Mainly consisted of deserters from tribes' armies and South Gertans that sought fortune, it wasn't a wonder why they were seasoned warriors. At the helm of Besi Pirates, Captain Hitey held the record bounty of one thousand gold coins.

Gana tried to focus on his ears to attune his senses to the water current of the river. He dipped his forefinger into the river as the dragon boat travelled slowly to investigate each boat that passed by them. He's starting to differentiate the various kinds of boats. Fishing boats, transport boat and army boats. Each type of boat owned a certain kind of current and ripple when they moved.

An unknown ripple hit Gana's finger. Gana tried to listen to the current that has a desimilar wavelength to others.

"Captain, there's an ambush from behind," Gana shouted. Dede and Talu rotated their heads to see behind them. Four sampans approach them as they threw cow-skinned rope tied with hooks at their boat. In the middle of each sampan, the dark-green cloths that was used as cover were thrown away. Five armed men emerged from their hiding spots, bringing their total up to twenty men ambushing the Dalna patrol of twelve soldiers and fifteen oarmen.

The sampans creeped closer as three of the armed men jumped onto the Dalna boat as they immediately slaughtered four oarsmen. Gana responded the fastest as he jumped onto his feet to block an oncoming attack. More of the Besi Pirates were flooding into their boat killing Dalna's oarmens that was nearest to them. The oarsmen only raised their oars in defence just to be met with cold steel that slashed their oar and life. The slaughtering of oarsmens made the Dalna patrol boat immobilized.

Unable to escape, Dede realized they need to salvage to situation by counter-attacking them in a swift manner so that they won't be too outnumbered. Dede raised his sabre as he parry across one of the pirate's sword before kicking him over the boat and into the river.

"MEN! ON ME! PROTECT THE REAR!" Dede boomed using all his breath as he dragged the shirts of two injured men with one arm. The number of men that Dalna dwindled to eight with five oarmen left. Dede and the remnants tried to repel the oncoming ten pirates that were piling on them.

"TALU! GANA! YOU ARE BOTH ON YOUR OWN!"

The rest of the ten pirates encircled Talu and Gana. The boat they're on was rocking back and forth trying to stay afloat. Gana shift his body left as his foot lifted to do a round house kick to the attacker behind him. His sword unsheathed before parrying a slash with his right hand. Gana retreated after the short clash as his back met Talu's back. His feet struggled to kept within the balance of the boat for his attacks lacked venom.

"Oi, Gana! Don't slack if you don't want to die," Talu smirked, budging his body to avoid the spears proceeding to return their offense with a stab. Blood trickled from the pirate's throat as he pulled his curved sword backwards before launching another thrust.

Gana used his experience in martial arts to let his body veered rightwards from the oncoming grapple. His knee rocketed straight into the pirate's chin. The pirate's eyes saw stars which later transitioned into night for his heart was penetrated by Gana's sword. Using the dead body as a shield to stop two thrusts from two different swords, Gana press his arms forward, letting the the two pirates and the body crashed to the boat's bow.

"Not bad, young blood!," Talu exclaimed as he wrestled back his sword from the man's chest as he front kicked the man into the river. Talu later faced three more pirates that were cautiously approaching him. Gana did not reply for he's extrenuating himself into an equilibrium on the boat as his ears vibrated at the accelerating footsteps. The pirate posed his arms into an overhead stance that dived from above. Sensing air wave from the sharp tip of the spear, Gana hopped as his left foot stomped on the spear's handle which led to an overhead attack on the pirate's head.

The tip of the spear pierced through the wooden floor of the boat causing the water to enter the boat. The pirates half-separated into two as Gana heard a shout from Talu.

"YOU IDIOT! WE ARE GOING TO DROWN!"