It was a new day. Marina and Charlotte went to take a walk on the beach while holding each other's hands. It was the siren who suggested to do this, although she was not sure about why. The feeling of their hands intertwined made both girls feel happy, so they stayed silent the whole time enjoying each other's company.
"I will treasure this moment forever," Marina said out of the blue, surprising Charlotte. After the conversation they had had on the previous day, the pirate girl got into a state of high emotional sensitivity, something she had never gone through before as she had always hidden her emotions when she was part of Captain Anna's crew, and all to give the impression of being a fierce, aggressive and fearless woman. But now with Marina, there was no need to act, and being able to show off her emotions was something new for her. Still, her face expression was neutral.
In the middle of the walk, Charlotte looked to the horizon and saw a strange silhouette on the ocean surface. That image confused her, as in the time she spent living with Marina in Ismael's home they had never seen anything in the ocean. Ismael had explained to them that ships did not pass near that beach because there were no docks, and the closest one was half a day away from there sailing in parallel with the shore.
Charlotte stopped walking, and since she was holding Marina's hand, the siren stopped as well. Marina was confused by the sudden stop, so she turned around to check on her friend and she could see her with her sight fixed in the horizon. Marina then looked in the same direction and she also saw the silhouette on the water, making her confused.
"Are they lost?" Marina asked, but Charlotte stayed silent. The pirate girl squinted her eyes trying to focus on the silhouette's details, and after a few seconds she could identify some of them: the silhouette was a ship, apparently a merchant one, and on its deck, it seemed like there was the whole crew. Charlotte kept looking at the ship and she did not notice anything weird on it; nevertheless, when she spotted the flag waving on the mainmast, she immediately knew she and her friends were in terrible danger.
"We have to go," Charlotte said while turning around to get back to the shack.
"Why?" Marina asked confused.
"There is no time to explain. We have to go. Now," Charlotte answered trying to sound demanding.
"Did you see something bad?" the siren asked.
"Very bad," the pirate girl answered. "We have to get back to the shack and warn Ismael about this." After Charlotte said that, both girls started running back to the shack.
Ismael was chopping lodges on the backyard. Since Marina and Charlotte arrived and started living with him, their help had reduced the housework a lot for him, so he felt bored very easily as all the chores were completed early. He took advantage of the girls' absence to do all the housework by himself. Suddenly, he heard the sound of steps moving fats coming from the front of the shack, so he went to check out what was happening. Once at the front, he could see it was Marina and Charlotte running fast.
"What is going on, girls? Why are you so agitated?" Ismael asked the girls noticing they looked scared about something.
"We must leave this place," Charlotte answered after catching her breath.
"Why? What happened?" Ismael asked confused.
"Because a ship is coming to this place… A pirate ship!" Charlotte answered.
Marina's face went pale with that announcement. She remembered with detail the day she was captured, and it was a very unpleasant memory even though thanks to that experience she met Charlotte. Marina's mind started to create all the possible scenarios that may take place if these pirates captured her: would they take her as their prisoner and put her in a cold cell? Would they use her to entertain people on docks around the world? Would they torture her to see if any of her body parts could be sold for a lot of money? What would happen with Charlotte and Ismael? Would they be taken as prisoners as well? Would Charlotte be allowed to join their crew as she was a pirate before?
Her mind was so deep in doubts that Marina did not notice that Charlotte and Ismael entered to the shack to pick up supplies, and the siren was pulled back to the reality when her friend got out from the shack running and Charlotte took her by the arm and started to pull her.
"Where are we going?" Marina asked trying to run as fast as possible.
"I am not sure, but we better get away from here as fast as possible," Charlotte replied without stopping her running.
The three friends ran into the forest that was near the beach. They kept running for half an hour until weariness made them stop. Charlotte dropped the bag she was carrying while trying to catch her breath; Marina and Ismael did the same, but they laid on near trees to rest.
"Ismael, do you know how to go to the town without using any of the known roads?" Charlotte asked panting.
"I am not sure. I have not tried to use other roads before," Ismael replied.
"Do you think they saw us?" Marina asked while looking around to be sure no one was following them.
In that very moment, they heard branches breaking followed by the sound of steps. The three friends quickly got alert and checked their surroundings to find the origin of the sound, which was becoming louder and was getting closer to them.
Knowing they had no chance against a group of pirates and worried for Marina's safety, Charlotte ordered "You better leave, guys. I will stay here to try and distract them."
"It is too dangerous. They might kill you," Ismael said with slight worriedness in his voice.
"I am the only one of us three with fighting skills, so I am the one with more chances to stop them," Charlotte replied confidently. "Go to the town. I will reach you later."
Marina and Ismael looked at each other worried. They both knew Charlotte's words were true, but still, they were not sure about leaving her alone. They took a while to react until Charlotte shouted at them. "What are you waiting for? RUN!" and then Marina and Ismael left to the town.
Once she was alone, Charlotte put herself on total alert of her surroundings. Even with her skills, she was scared. When she was with her crew, Charlotte always fought accompanied by her mates, but now she was completely on her own. On top of that, since the shipwreck she did not have her sabre, so she would have to fight with her fists only.
The sound of branches breaking was getting closer, and this took Charlotte out of her thoughts. She kept her guard up while looking around in every direction waiting for an attack, knowing very well the slightest slip-up could cost her life.
All of a sudden, a couple of men hidden in some bushes jumped out to attack Charlotte, but she was very quick and dodged them by giving one step to her left. The men fell face-first to the ground, but this was not enough to stop them. They stood up and tried to attack again, but this time they took out their sabres. The sight of them did not surprise or scared Charlotte, as she was good in both sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat, so she could dodge every single attack from her enemies, and in some of those evasions, she could punch them either in the face or in their torsos. Charlotte kept using this strategy for a while until she gave a false step and fell on her back. She was about to be killed by the men with a double death blow when the sound of a female voice sounded shouting "Freeze you two!", making them stop.
Charlotte froze as well after hearing that voice. It was very familiar to her. She was hoping to not hear it ever again. She was hoping it was just a product of her imagination, but when she saw the woman coming from between the trees, she knew the voice was very real, and the confirmation of her fears came to her in the shape of the phrase:
"It is nice to see you again, shipmaster Charlotte."