"I swear I didn't lie!"
I desperately shouted to the burly man standing over me.
"Shut up!"
The First Mate said as he kicked my stomach the second time.
Blood spilled out from my mouth and stained the wooden deck. No doubt I would be the one who would be forced to clean it up.
As the newest crew member on the ship, everyone treated me like a slave.
But I had expected such life.
As long as I could pay my family's debt, I would do anything they tell me.
Though it was more like I had to offer myself to them or they would kidnap my sisters.
I was lucky one of their deckhand died when they raided our village and they had no more space left in their prisoner wagons for my sisters.
Scrub the deck. Peel the potatoes. Do their laundries. Carry anything they want me to carry.
Duck my head, be silent, and only speak when spoken to. Anything.
But not now. I had to do something.
"I swear! There's a woman out there! We have to help her!"
I urged him while pointing my finger toward the raging ocean beyond the railings. What little radiation the moonlight provided that night was enough to show the huge waves roiling around the ship.
The First Mate grunted and swung his leg back to launch another kick at me.
"What's going on here?"
A tall bearded man in crimson coat stepped out from the cabin. A gold-hilted sword was hanging on his waist.
"Captain!"
The First Mate quickly straightened upon the sight of the bearded man.
"Are you torturing the new hand again, Renald? Didn't I tell you I want tonight to be as quiet as possible?"
"He's telling lies, captain. He won't stop shouting to the crews."
"I'm not lying! There was a woman out there in the middle of the sea!"
I shouted as I stood back up.
I looked to the captain and pleaded to him.
"Please, captain! We have to send out boats and rescue her! We can probably still save her if we move now!"
The captain's eyes widened upon my words. But he immediately tempered his surprise and turned to his second-in-command.
"Renald, wake all the crews. I want every cannon manned. Prepare the sails and be ready to raise the anchor. I want the Streaker ready to move the moment I say so."
"Yes, captain!"
The burly man said before disappearing below deck.
Huge commotion soon followed and the deck was streaming with the ship's crews attending their stations.
I gaped and stared incredulously toward the captain as he strode to the foredeck, watching the sandy shore by the lagoon where we anchored the Streaker.
"That bastard's late! Where the hell is he?"
The captain said under his breath.
His face was full with anxiety, which was rare of him from what I had seen so far of the man.
But it still could not compare to mine.
"Captain! What about the woman?"
I pleaded to him once more.
"Just go do your work, son. Help Tanson with the ropes."
"But, sir! We need to rescue her!"
"If you value your life, son, you better wish your eyes were playing tricks on you."
He replied before turning away and heading below deck.
I could not help but to form a frown upon his words.
If I valued my life?
What did he mean by that?
I stared back toward the raging ocean behind.
Did I really saw a woman in the middle of those waves?
Why would there be a woman this far out in the southern sea?
The captain said the island we were stopping by at the moment was unpopulated. Nor the dozens others we passed.
No trading route even passed this far south.
He was probably right.
My eyes were probably playing tricks on me. There was no woman.
With that conclusion, I quickly joined the others readying the ship for sailing.
About an hour later, as I was checking the knots of the sails, I spotted a pool of light forming at the other side of the lagoon.
The pool grew larger as it drew closer to us.
Once near enough, I could make out a wide rowing boat attached with a lantern coming nearer to our ship.
Two men were on the boat.
A huge muscular man in black shirt, wearing a pair of broadswords on his back. And a white-cloaked man with raven dark hair.
The muscular man was sitting at the front, back facing our ship, and rowing the boat alone. While the cloaked man sat composedly at the back, examining Streaker as they drew near.
Between the two men sat a huge box draped in thick gray cloth.
The box was so huge that it almost took the entire space of the boat. You could fit a bear inside by the size of the box.
Someone finally notified the captain of the new arrivals.
He and his First Mate quickly appeared on the deck and ordered the boom to be prepared.
Once the boat reached Streaker, crewmen started lowering cables attached to the boom.
The pair of men on the boat then tied the cables around the box and the men on the boom hoisted it up on the deck.
The box sounded a loud thud as it landed. Even cracking some of the wood panels.
Whatever was in the box, it was heavy.
The two men then climbed up to the ship using a rope ladder while their boat was hoisted up by the other crewmen.
The captain immediately approached them.
"You're late, Maran. You were supposed to be here two days ago."
The bearded man said to the muscular man with a pair of broadswords on his back.
Maran replied him with a shrug.
"What can I say? Things happened. But I know you won't leave me. Not with the amount of gold at stake."
"So you really did lose Soarer?"
The captain asked with dark expression.
Maran nodded. His face turned gloomy as well.
"A very good ship. Wrecked to pieces. A hundred trained men. Dead. And to think we once plundered and sunk five imperial army ships without losing a crew."
"I'm really sorry, Maran."
"Well, I knew the risk. We all knew. That's why we made you wait for us in case something like this happens."
The white-cloaked man let out an exasperated sigh and came between the two sailors.
"If you're done reminiscing for the loss of your men, can we now secure our cargo? You will only get your money once you escorted us safely to Chanlin."
The captain nodded promptly to the cloaked man.
"As you wish. I have prepared a space below. My men will carry the cargo there."
"Excellent. We must make haste to sail to our destination. It's dangerous for us to remain on water for long."
After bowing to the cloaked man, the captain immediately ordered the crewmen to move the cloth-wrapped box below deck.
A dozen other men and I carried the huge box through a ramp leading to the storage space deep in the hull.
As I was carrying it, I could feel the shape of firm cylinders along its flanks.
There was something moving inside too. The feel of a weight shifting as the box tilted this way and that.
So it was a cage.
Did we come all the way out here to capture an exotic beast?
Well, I heard stories of nobles who loved this kind of thing. I could see why the captain made us sail to the deep south if a noble promised him troves of gold.
Once we settled the box down, the ramp was pulled up again.
The crewmen and I then left through the door leading to the cramped hallway inside the ship's hull.
As I made my way out, Maran and the cloaked man entered with the captain. The three of them were talking and watching the box before the door closed behind us.
I was curious about what was inside the box. But the First Mate immediately called all of the crews to sail the ship out of the lagoon and back to the open sea.
I was so immersed with the box and the new arrivals that I totally forgot about the woman that I saw earlier.
There was no way I saw a woman, was there?
Even if there was a woman in the middle of the ocean, there was no way she could had survived those waves.
I actually doubted we could save her the first time I saw her. Let alone now when hours had passed and we were way over into the expanse of the ocean, leaving the lagoon and the island behind.
My mind was so caught up with the woman again that I did not realize I was walking inside the hull. Back toward the storage space where the box was kept.
Coincidentally, the door leading inside was open.
Driven by curiosity, I stepped inside the room and walked closer to the box.
The cloth wrapping the box was folded up on one side. Revealing what was hidden underneath.
I carefully stepped to the uncovered side and peered my head toward it.
Just as I thought, it was a cage.
But instead of steel, the bars were made of weird rock. Strange symbols were also carved on the bars.
I was so mesmerized by the strangeness of the cage that I forgot to see what was kept inside it.
"What…in the…Goddesses'….names?"
I staggered backward as I realized what was kept inside the cage. Or rather, who.
"Children!"