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25 – Pirate!

Late May 4031. Cohen Manor.

“That’s all, my lord”, I said. “Was it only Kyle who saw you in that form?”, Riley Cohen asked. “Yes, my lord”, I replied diligently. “Good, good”, he said and put the pipe into his mouth again. After few puffs, Riley spoke “You should visit your family. It’s been long time already. After a month you will head to Astoria to enroll in Monarch Academy”. “Thank you, my lord”, I said and bowed my head a bit to show respect.

It has really been long time. Walking through the halls of Cohen Manor brought up some old memories that were hidden deep in my memories. I exited manor to go to Howe village.

Sun was setting down. Red rays of sunlight were shining brightly upon my eyes, blinding me. I turned my face to my left so that bright rays don’t hurt my eyes.

Quacks of ducks caught my attention so I stopped to look carefully into rice fields. Rows of rice were perfectly parallel to each other which was result of hard labor. I walked close to field and bend on my knees to watch ducks walking around in rice field.

Young ducks were following adults which I found pretty cute. Actually I always liked ducks, although they seem to be kind of stubborn animals. There was a big grin on my face.

“So lovely”, I uttered. “O-o-o, warrior boy has a cute side too!”, a girl’s voice echoed in my ears. I glanced towards the direction where voice came up, by covering my eyes with my right hand.

There was a girl who was covered in dirt looking at me. “I’m Kain”, I said. “All of Howe knows who you are!”, she giggled. “I didn’t know that”, I revealed my lack of knowledge. She made few steps towards me and knelt down.

“Do you know why there are ducks in rice fields?”, she spoke in a tone as if interrogating me. “No, I don’t”, I replied. “Ducks eat pests and weeds, which makes field much more productive for farming. Moreover their excrement is fertilizer for plants”, she explained in a tone and manner as if she was a Harvard professor.

“So, who are you? Mother duck?”, I smiled at her. “Your neighbor! Ha”, she claimed. I stared at her for a minute or so. My silence was irritating her and I could see her puzzled face expression. “Good, because I have forgotten where my house is. Can you please show me the way?”, I asked.

On the way back to home, I learned that girl’s name was Arielle. She was a year older than me. Looking closely, she had a small perfect nose, although her eyebrows looked like Templar knight swords. Arielle’s eyes were big, brown and cheerful. Her hair was shoulder length, bounded up from back but few small curls escaping over her ears and face.

“Auntie, Auntie!”, she shouted. “I got a surprise for you!”, she continued. “Arielle, is that you?”, Leila’s voice echoed from other side of door. “Did you cook the cake recipe?”, Leila said while opening the door.

She screamed in joy as soon as she saw me standing by the door. Her arms enveloped around me. “Kain, Kain”, was all she was whispering while tightly hugging me. I hugged her back and whispered to her ears “Mom, I’m back”.

She pushed me back a bit. I saw tears flowing down from her eyes as if torrents of avalanche. “I was worried”, was last thing what she said as Oscar’s hands touched her shoulders to calm her down. “Kain”, word spurted out of Oscar’s mouth.

Oscar was not crying but his eyes were full of tears that could burst any moment. “Welcome home son”, he sniffed and said. I smiled back at him.

“I would be glad to eat Leila’s meals but I don’t like touchy moments such as this one.. I’ll be leaving then”, Arielle said and left to her house which was really just few meters away from ours. “Kain if you get to know her, she is a good girl.. If you like we may arrange her to be married to you”, Leila spoke in haste.

“Mom, I’m 11 and pretty hungry.. Let’s go in”, I said while making a weird face.

Our house was mix of cake shop, craftsmanship workshop and normal home. Nevertheless, Leila was keeping everything very clean and neat. We were walking into dining room when I was startled by voice.

A small kid was lying on sofa next to table. Both Oscar and Leila were grinning. I came towards the kid and saw a very beautiful but a fat kid screaming her lungs out. She had beautiful blue eyes and dark hair. She was as white as snow queen. I wanted to play with her, bite her, roll her around. I always wanted a sibling.

“Her skin is as white as yours, mom”, I said looking at Leila. “His skin, Kain”, Leila told. “A boy?”, I was puzzled. “Yes, his name is Luc”, Oscar followed.

I touched his nose with my index finger. Luc’s small hands grabbed my finger, he calmed down and his crying voice diminished. I was whistling and playing around with him.

Next day I strolled within Howe village. The roads were paved with stones which made them look good and gave a town like atmosphere. Most of the village consisted of two or three storey houses. I didn’t count but more than few thousand buildings had been built in Howe.

Almost everyone knew each other in Howe. Surprisingly there were no guild center’s in Howe, and village lacked a library. The mayor of Howe was appointed by Cohen family. There was a police force under control of mayor but theft and robbery were uncommon in Howe.

Few days before my departure to Monarch Academy annual Virgo Festival was held. That day Arielle accompanied me around the village while Oscar and Leila were sitting in a tea house with Arielle’s parents.

“Why don’t you wear traditional man clothes?”, Arielle asked me. I looked towards ground checking my white shirt, pants and leather boots. “Isn’t it traditional clothing?”, I replied with a question. “You look like a mercenary.. Although I have to admit carrying a sword gives you some kind of mysterious aura”, she had a perverted look.

“So, what’s virgo festival is about?”, I question her. “Nothing much. Peace, prosperity, happiness and so on.. ”, Arielle stalled talking for a moment. “Have you never attended Virgo Festival?”, she asked. “No”, I answered.

She grabbed my hand and said “Come on, follow me!”. She was running ahead of me towards the center of village which had a large free area. People were bringing wood pieces to lay on center of Howe.

“What are they doing?”, I asked Arielle. “Kain you are hopeless. They are going to burn a small fire and add wood to it to keep it burning until morning. Important part is that you gotta make a wish and jump over the fire. While jumping you should say, I throw all the bad things in my life to this fire to burn”, she had harvard professor face again.

Nevertheless, we had a good night. We ate, drank, jumped over fire, sang songs and danced. Arielle even kissed me on my cheeks which I found pretty cute as she was blushing like a fire alarm.

On departure day to Monarch Academy, Vurm in front of our house with two stallions. Oscar, Leila, little Luc and Arielle were there to send me off. I was glad to see Vurm after almost a month time.

Oscar was holding Luc while Leila had a bucket of water in her hands. As our horses left the front of house, she threw the water after us. “Your mom loves you a lot”, Vurm emphasized. “All mothers are like that”, I responded. “Not all, Kain. Not all”, he spoke with a sad voice.

It took us almost a month of traveling to reach port of Melen. It was a small city that was used by passing ships as a supply dock. I was going to travel from here to Astoria on a ship called Sea Serpents. It was a massive ship which was used to carry cargo.

On board of ship, I waved at Vurm and he left without responding. “He is emotional”, I whispered.

There was a private suite for me in Sea Serpents. It was going to take around two or more months to reach Astoria depending on weather conditions. There were a lot of kids around my age or older who were traveling by their servants to Astoria.

Ship departed the dock and sailed towards our next destination. I went through the deck to bow of ship. I was standing still, watching albatrosses with their long wings waving through the air; riding the winds.

It felt like some kind of mosquito or bug bit me above waist from backside. Without looking at it, I rolled my arm back towards the spot to hit but there was nothing. Almost at the same spot again pain occurred. I turned to see a young girl standing in front of me with another old man behind her.

Unusually she had a black eye-patch covering her left eye. She wore a white shirt, pants and leather boots made for men. On her hand, she was holding a small sword which was looking like a needle.

“Peasant!”, she shouted. I turned my face to right and left to see who she was talking to. “I’m talking to you, peasant!”, she shouted again. With my right hand I showed towards myself. She nodded and said “Yes, you!”.

“Do I know you?”, I asked. “I’m future Queen of Pirates, peasant!”, she said. Old man standing behind her was making hand gestures which was like begging me to continue the farce. “Thank you for blessing me with your presence, future Queen of Pirates. May I know why you honor me?”, I told. “Good! I like you peasant. I nominate you as part of my crew! Do you want to serve me until you die!”, she said.

Old man had both his hands folded together with a bitter and sorry face. “No!”, I said.

P.S: I read all of your comments! Sometimes I do reply, sometimes I do not BUT still I value each and every criticism that you make and evaluate my writing accordingly.. THANK YOU ALL!

Next: 26 - Esmeralda