After a little while the assailing boat closed in on them. It came down to a mere ten-foot gap between them.
"Tell it to go faster," Belarus yelled
"Go faster!"
The boat picks up a little pace but they stay within reach. Belarus looked back and saw one of them bringing out a shotgun.
"Go down!" he pulled Dorian with one hand, dragging him to the floor.
The man shot the side of the boat and took off a chunk of wood, the men laughed and cheered. They were gaining on them.
"Tell it to sway left, so won't get hit"
"But we'll lose the gap"
"We are losing the gap, so let's drop some bait."
Dorian looked him in the eyes. He still did not trust him, but his eyes had fear in them, so at least he was reassured of the fact that he was In as much danger as him.
"Sway left," he said in a low tone but made sure his face was close to the wood of the boat.
The boat swayed left, towards the side of the river. The men fire as the boat moves away, they miss but they jeered and screamed and dropped a coin into the river. Their boat picked up more speed as the distance decreased to almost nothing. Their bow bump into the stern of Dorian's boat
The top of the men's boat hit the back of Dorians. It threw them against the wall, the side of their boat scratched against it. They were on them, they could hear them laughing
"Sway right," Dorian screamed
"What!" Belarus said
The boat began swaying right, its stern brushed against the bow of the assailing boat, as it turned towards the right.
The force of the boat behind them was pushing them into an unnatural position
"Who told you to do that? If this continues, we could be turned the wrong way."
They kept their head down and the assailing men had them in their grasp
"Boss should we shoot the kid," one of them said
"No, he's the merchandise,"
"How about the pig, you can But it must be up close he's got tough skin"
"I thought there were your men," Dorain said
"They were, they're being compelled to do this, now tell it to go straight and onward, as fast as a token can take."
"Alright, Dorian said. Fast and onwards as fast as a token can take."
Instantly the water bubbled around them as waves became more like a torrent. The leader of the group took notice and screamed for them to jump in.
A man jumped in the boat but Belarus had already gotten up he punched him in the chest, sending him flying back to his boat, then brushed him aside, letting him fall into the water
"No," said Belarus as he watched the man go down
"Take aim and from men," the leader commanded.
"Get behind me kid," Belarus.
Dorian quickly took cover behind him and the men opened fire on Belarus.
The sound of gunfire rang out like the rattling of a storm on a roof; it was a rain of bullets, and Belarus was the roof; his tough skin could only take so much.
"Come on, go faster," Dorian said, he could feel the impact of the bullets on Belarus with his back pressed against his own.
The gunfire died down, and in its place was the clicking of their guns as they all ran out of bullets. The big man stood his ground; his eyes were still as bright as ever, and just a few spots of blood were forming on his clothes out of that many shots. It was there lost and the leader of the gang sighed in vile contempt as he looked down on the pig.
"Reload men!" He commanded.
They all began reloading with no fear whatsoever for what the pig might do; the tip of the other boat was on the tail of theirs, and they felt their catch had no place to go.
"Dorian!" Belarus said. He carefully hands him a coin in his hand, concealing it the best he could.
"What's this?"
"Quiet," Belarus cuts him off, "drops this in the water when I say now."
He watched them reloading their guns one bullet at a time, the ring leader brought out a shotgun this time. He showed it to him
"You're gonna die, covering that kid, I ender how you taste, you fat pig, taste anything like pork, you could be passed off as pork in the back market, I just know it."
"Dorian," Belarus said under his breath but loud enough for Dorian to hear.
"All set boys, now aim and…"
"Dorian now!"
Belarus scream cuts him off and Dorian lunged for the side of the boat, he dropped the coin in. Belarus jumped forward towards them, and they opened fire out of fear he was going to attack them, but he threw a punch and only hit the bow of the boat, pushing the whole boat with everyone Inside backward a few leagues.
Dorian's boat picked up more speed than before, it was going two times faster, the fastest two tokens could take it.
Belarus stood there watching the gap between them widen; he fell on his ass, his weight rocked the boat, and Dorian, he turned to Dorian and laughed, and Dorian did so as well.
Two men fell off the assailing boat due to the pigman's punch. As they struggled to get back onto the boat, a few of their comrade tried to pull them up but the leader said,
"Leave them"
"But sir, we have enough tokens to get them out," one of them jiggled the pouch full of tokens."
"What! Our first priority is getting those two, do you hear me? "
"But we could at least try to pull them out"
"You could try; ever seen the bottom of the Styx? He could try! He said with a smile on his face. "I second the motion to try." He burst out laughing.
"Onward we go; if we fail, we try, try, try again, he laughed even further and scratched his scruffy beard; the redness in his worn face dulled the blue of his eyes, and he gave a cynical smile as he stuffed more bullets into his shotgun.
"I'm gonna flay that pig," he says
"They'll be catching up soon," Belarus says. He was panting heavily, it could be from his wound but Dorian wasn't sure.
"Really," Dorian said, seeming a bit panicked.
"Don't worry, we'll be in the city soon, and I'll be off to the black market with you." He laughed, Dorian didn't find it funny. "We have to defend all the way there, I'll block you steer"
"I could try to…"
"Don't even think about it; releasing that monster is definitely going to destroy this ship; you better shut up and drive."
"Dorian sat down; he seemed to be sulking; he wanted to do more than he was needed to and couldn't help but feel a bit useless.
"There they are," Belarus said.
"Get ready!"