The ship came to a halt about three hundred metres away from the shore. It was far too huge to come any nearer, or otherwise, it would get stuck. And this was one ugly situation none of them wanted to be part of. So Kidd and Harle simply had to wait until one of them would get them with a rowing-boat. It was the only alternative to swimming.
Harle sat down again, enjoying a moment of admiring the sheer beauty of the ship. It was fully made of wood, unlike the Porre ship Harle and Kidd were once travelling with. The frame resembled the one of the S.S. Zellbess in some ways, but all in all, it didn’t look the slightest bit modern, which was something Harle really liked about this ship. Of course, it wasn’t the first time she’d seen this ship, but every time anew it struck her with amazement. Her eyes wandered from the frame to the big sails, which were crimson red, with two eerily blurred black letters on it: RD.
“Whaddaya starin’ at? Somethin’ wrong with the ship?”, Kidd asked, looking at Harle.
“Non, it’z juzt…it lookz trés jolie.”, Harle whispered. She didn’t know why she found that ship so entrancing. Maybe it was because she had always wanted to travel with such a ship, not these modern ships, which looked so ugly in her eyes.
“Huh? Better not say that ta the captain, ya hear? He’s so proud, cuz everyone keeps sayin' his ship looks dangerous.”, Kidd explained and smirked. Sometimes, Harle found the oddest things especially nice or beautiful. Just like that Bellflower they found a few days ago, while crossing Fossil Valley. Kidd couldn’t believe Harle had never seen one in her entire life. They had stopped almost half an hour, just so that Harle could regard the flower, only to decide that she didn’t even want a few to take with them. Sometimes, Kidd really couldn’t make out what Harle was thinking, but to her, it made just Harle even more interesting.
Kidd concentrated her eyes to see the man in the rowing-boat, which was slowly approaching them. “Aw, nuts. It’s Jack. Wonder why the captain always chooses him ta row, he’s the slowest of all. Bet it’ll take him half an hour ta get here.”
“Don’t complain all ze time, he alwayz doez his best, non?”, Harle said calmly. She didn’t like it when Kidd or the others talked about him like that. Somehow, she was really fond of him. He always tried to help wherever he could and although he was still a little clumsy and weak, he never gave up. He had a strong spirit and Harle was sure that in time, he would make a great fighter and sailor.
“Yeah, guess you’re right. Ah, that reminds me, can ya help him with his throwin’-knives practices again today? He’s still pretty bad with ‘em. He should’ve chosen the sword or dagger, like the others. Geez, he always does things the hard way.” Kidd sighed. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him, but he had such a talent at picking things he wasn’t good with, instead of concentrating on his real talents…which weren’t that many, Kidd had to admit.
Harle nodded. She knew Jack had picked the throwing-knives as his weapon out of admiration for her. Harle still remembered the impressed look on his face when Harle first demonstrated her skills to the captain when Kidd had introduced her to the crew. That was about three weeks ago, just two weeks after Jack had joined the crew. Maybe it had been because they were both newcomers, but they grew close really quickly. Harle could talk to Jack about almost everything that worried her. Of course she could talk to Kidd as well, but Kidd couldn’t understand the worries of a beginner anymore, seeing how she was in direct command of the whole ship right after the captain now. At least Harle thought she couldn’t. So she often came to Jack with her worries, about being unable to complete the missions for example. And Jack too was always very worried to do something wrong. He had dreamt his whole life to be part of this crew, and the thought of being thrown out constantly worried him. So like that, both of them were glad not to be the only one in this situation. Even if they were still treated like newcomers sometimes, they were gradually showing them their capabilities. It was especially important for Harle to show them that she could stand on her own two feet. She didn’t like the image of weak women the crew seemed to have, so she wanted to get rid of that as soon as possible.
“Oi, he’s almost here. Seems like he trained a little while we were away, huh?”, Kidd asked smirking. Harle giggled, but was impressed nonetheless. By now, he was faster than Harle, at least when it came to rowing. Harle and Jack always had little competitions going on, about the faster rower, the faster mast climber and countless others. It was just more fun to train like that. And even though Harle had topped him in every competition at the beginning, she was now losing in most of the strength-demanding ones. She was a pretty skilled fighter because she had good reflexes and could move fast, but when it came to brute strength, she was no match to any of the other members. Not that she cared too much about that, though.
“Oui, he’z trés fast.”, Harle answered, waving her hand to Jack, smiling broadly.
After three more minutes, Jack finally reached the shore Harle and Kidd were waiting at.
“Hi there ladies.”, he said and stood up to allow Harle and Kidd to get in. Harle noticed the deep breaths he took, a sign that he really did his best to come here as fast as possible.
He was a handsome young man of twenty-one years, with light-brown hair, which almost reached his chin and often hung in front of his right eye. He was tall and slender, maybe even a bit too slender for his own good, Harle always thought. But slowly, Jack had begun to grow more muscular and didn’t seem as frail as he had seemed when she had first met him.
“Hiya mate. Good ta see you’ve gotten faster.”, Kidd said and gave him a clap on the back. Harle nodded at him and smiled, then took a seat beside Kidd.
Soon they were on their way back to the ship. They didn’t talk much on the way. Harle found she was pretty tired and just wanted to sleep and Kidd was too hungry to concentrate on anything else than that. As for Jack, he never really spoke much in presence of Kidd. He respected her deeply, but also feared her occasional outbursts when she was in a bad mood. And judging from the look on Kidd’s and Harle’s faces, something didn’t go as planned and therefore, he was almost sure they weren’t in the mood to talk.
“Here we are.”, Jack said hesitantly as he shook Kidd and Harle out of their thoughts. He got up and climbed up first, then turned around and reached out his hand to help the girls up. Kidd, however, climbed up by herself and elegantly swung herself onto the deck, grinning at Jack. Harle, who at first had wanted to take the offered hand, now imitated Kidd and reached the deck almost as gracefully as she had.
“There you are again! Good ta see nothin’ happened ta ya. How did it go?” The captain stood proudly in front of the girls, despite leaning heavily on his crutch he needed to support him. He smiled broadly and Kidd could see the sparkle in his left eye. The right one had been damaged long ago, and he wore an eye flap ever since. Only the annoying parrot, every of those pirate captains in children’s stories kept, was missing.
“Don’t even ask! What did ya think we’d find with that lousy information ya gave us? It’s not like Viper Manor’s bloody waitin’ ta be robbed from pirates, ya know. Were we supposed ta search through the whole mansion!” Harle flinched at the harsh tone Kidd was talking in. She still wasn’t used to this special “Kidd-Captain” talk. They always talked to each other like that, and just from listening, it was hard to tell whether they’d start ripping their heads off or not. Harle, who still preferred to talk like a civilized human, couldn’t quite understand that way of speaking and she swore to herself to never talk like them. She was still a little proud of her accent.
“So ya didn’t get anythin’?”, the captain said, sounding only a little disappointed.
With her left foot tapping on the floor angrily, Kidd threw the maps they had found at his feet. Looking to the side, she said: “That’s all we found. Everythin’ else there was worthless. Don’t even know if this’ll be useful at all.”
The captain picked it up and took a quick look at each of the three maps. “Looks like a bloody cheap treasure map, but somethin’s odd ‘bout these crosses. Why two of ‘em?” With a grunt, he rolled them up again. “We’ll talk ‘bout this later. Just rest for now. And the others, move yer sorry arses and take course on the Isle of the Damned. Gotta pick up Hack n’ Slash. Hurry up!”
“Aye!”, the crew shouted and everyone got back to work.
“Damn, just when I started ta get used ta not hearing their yellin’ all the time.”, Kidd said jokingly. These two brothers were always quite noisy, it drove her crazy sometimes. But they were extraordinarily strong and the best team imaginable. They weren’t very bright though, but Kidd didn’t think of herself as very intelligent either, so she didn’t complain about that. Their strength made up for it and when things became difficult, they had proven themselves as brave and dependable buddies countless times in the past. Kidd trusted them deeply.
Kidd smiled in her reverie, but eventually came back to present. Turning around, she took Harle’s hand gently, leading her down to the lower floor where their cabin was. Their cabin was the only one big enough for two persons, aside from the captain’s, who never had other people sleeping in his room, though.
Kidd opened the door and immediately headed to the bed, letting herself drop onto it with a thud.
“Geez, I’m tired…but I’m hungry too. What should I do, Harle?”, Kidd asked, wailing like a child. Instead of answering, Harle smiled mischievously and lay down beside Kidd, pulling her close for a kiss.
Having longed for this moment the whole time during their mission, Harle just hoped no one would knock at the door and disturb them. Ever since Harle came to this ship together with Kidd, the crew had developed a habit of gathering in front of their cabin in moments like these. Sometimes Harle wondered just how many men on board hated her just for snatching Kidd from them. However, Harle found it quite amusing.
“Ah, that’s fine too, I guess.”, Kidd said after they broke the kiss and giggled. She then exhaled deeply and turned on her back, staring at the ceiling in contentment. Closing her eyes, she listened to hers and Harle’s breathing.
“Harle?”, she asked softly, her eyes still closed.
“Hm?”, Harle answered, looking at her, “what iz it, mon amour?”
“Don’t ya think there’s somethin’ wrong with the maps? I mean, Marbule, c’mon…as if there’s somethin’ ta get there. I think it’s bloody strange.”, Kidd said quietly. She still had her eyes closed, and it was hard to tell if she was falling asleep or not.
Harle frowned. It was odd for Kidd to think so much about things like that. Usually, she was always up to exploring.
“If you think it’z odd, zen we juzt have to go and look, non?”, Harle answered cheerfully, curious as well. She didn’t have a good feeling about it, but she wasn’t afraid, as long as Kidd was with her.
“I’ll speak ta the captain later…or tomorrow and ask him ta send us ta Marbule. This time, we’ll get somethin’ for sure.” Even though she was already half asleep, Kidd sounded as confident as ever. Harle chuckled and snuggled closer to Kidd, falling asleep as well.
Together, they slept peacefully for the next five hours, until a rough, loud voice reached their ears from the corridor in front of their cabin. Loud voices weren’t entirely unusual on this ship, but this one was just a bit too loud to simply overhear and continue sleeping. Kidd got up first, rubbing her eyes in annoyance as she listened to the voices.
“Whaddaya mean, they need ta sleep? The captain told me ta get her, so stop talkin’ ‘bout them like they are babies.”
Kidd could hear a yelp as someone was pushed aside. It was Jack’s voice, which she was almost unable to hear compared to the loud voice, which most probably belonged to Slash.
Kidd sighed and got up. Followed by a few curses, she opened the door.
“Could ya stop yellin’ already? What’s the problem?”, Kidd asked, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed.
However, instead of an answer, Slash took her by surprise with a fierce hug, which almost caused Kidd to faint from lack of air.
“There you are, mate! Nice ta see nothin’ happened ta ya!”, Slash said with genuine happiness and finally let go of Kidd. “The captain calls, better not let him wait for too long, eh?” He smirked at Kidd and then turned to leave.
Kidd sighed and followed him. She was still a bit sleepy, and she hoped the news from the captain would make up for waking her.
After Kidd had left, Jack slowly got up to his feet again and looked into Kidd and Harle’s cabin. Harle was still lying on the bed, as if completely oblivious to it all.
“May I come in?”, Jack asked hesitantly and knocked onto the doorframe, not entirely sure if Harle really was sleeping or not.
“Mais oui.”, Harle answered and turned to smile at him. Her hair was a bit messy, but Jack decided to say nothing. Harle didn’t look any worse because of something like this, anyway.
“I was wondering if you could show me that move again. I’m still bad with my knives, you know.” Jack scratched the back of his head. He found it somewhat embarrassing to always as Harle for help, but she was about the only one he could ask without being laughed at.
“Of course, mon ami.” Harle leapt up from her bed and indicated Jack to follow her. On her way out she quickly snatched her deck of cards.
Outside, they went to their usual training place, at the back of the ship where they weren’t too much in the way. Quickly, Jack took out his knives and began the practice. He could already aim pretty well with one throwing-knife, but when it came to throwing three or more at once, they flew haphazardly into every direction.
Jack wasn’t about to give up, though. He placed three knives into his right hand and threw them with full force into direction of the mast, which was marked with a cross. Again, the knives flew everywhere but in direction of the mast, and Harle had a hard time avoiding two of them.
“Non, non, non.”, she said with a sigh, walking beside Jack, taking out three of her cards. “Ze trick behind zis move iz, you don’t throw every card at once. It juzt lookz like that, comprends-tu? You juzt have to throw zem in a succession trés rapide.”
To her dismay, Jack looked completely dumbfounded, so Harle thought it better to just show him what she meant. She placed the three cards carefully between the sides of her fingertips. Jack imitated her immediately, having a little trouble with this, because the knives weighed more than cards.
Then Harle reached back, making sure her cards pointed to the ground, and threw them forward. Jack had trouble to see how Harle released every card one after another. First she released the card between her index and middle finger, then the other two in the same manner. Throwing them one by one left her enough time to aim each card, so that they all flew into exactly the same direction.
When Jack lifted his head to see where the cards hit, he saw that every card hit the cross perfectly. Which wasn’t easy, regarding how the target was about fifteen metres away from them.
“…perfect, as always.”, he said, not quite able to hide his amazement.
“Zat was not’ing. Soon you will be juzt az good, truzt moi.”, Harle said and giggled, patting him on the shoulder. “Juzt try it, mon ami.”
Jack nodded enthusiastically and reached back. This time, Harle distanced herself a bit, not fully trusting Jack’s skills yet. Then, with one smooth movement, he sent the knives flying towards the cross.
Upon hearing a thud, both dared to look at the cross. One knife had split one of Harle’s cards into two, and therefore, had hit perfectly. The other two stuck a few centimetres above it.
“Trés bien!”, Harle exclaimed and clapped her hands together.
“Th…thanks.”, Jack said shyly, more than a little surprised by his achievement.
Just when Harle wanted to say something, Kidd’s voice interrupted her.
“Oi, Harle! Over here! The captain wants ta talk with ya!”, she shouted, making sure Harle, who was at the other end of the ship, could hear her. Harle waved, indicating she would come soon, then turned to Jack.
“Make sure to practize bien, oui? Moi will show you how to hit trois targetz later!” Harle hugged him briefly and then turned to hurry to Kidd. Jack watched her running towards Kidd for a moment, but then thought it better to concentrate on practice.
Upon reaching Kidd, Harle could already tell what kind of news awaited her. With that sparkle in Kidd’s eyes, it could only be a mission.
Harle bowed slightly before the captain, showing her respect. When she looked up again, she saw a wide grin on the captain’s face.
“After inspectin’ those cheap-lookin’ maps, I think it’s worth a shot. Who knows, there might be some really big treasure there. And ‘cuz you’re the ones who found ‘em, you’re gonna be the ones trying ta get it. That all right with ya?”
Both Kidd and Harle nodded.
“Awright then! We’ll be headin’ ta Marbule first! Hurry up, guys!”, the captain shouted.
“You two relax a little. It’ll take at least eight hours till we reach Marbule. Prepare yerselves well.”
“Aye!”, both girls answered and headed back to their cabin.
Back in their room, Kidd immediately lay down on the bed and fell asleep, while Harle started preparations for their mission. She tried to think of every possible scenario that could happen in Marbule, and how to deal with them. Thinking of possible fights, she reasoned that another deck of cards would be more useful than elements, for they would most likely be fighting humans, not monsters. If they would have to fight at all. Having only limited space in her pockets, she also chose to take just four Heal elements with her. They had to be enough.
Harle left the rest of the preparations up to Kidd, she didn’t want to get into a fight again just because she did what she thought best. However, watching Kidd sleeping peacefully, Harle wondered why they even had had a fight at all.