Macha's Journey

"You wanna know about me, do ya?"

He cracked the leg open and pulled out the tender pink and white meat. The salty juices ran down his hand, onto the table. He dipped the meat into a ramekin of b.u.t.ter before popping it between his lip.

"Alright. You"re payin" for the meal, so I"ll provide the entertainment."

He took another swig of ale. "I was born back in Phocée. That"s where we all," he motioned around with his hands, "come from."

Grabbing a prawn, he quickly peeled it and shoved it into his mouth. "Now, back then, when I was a young lad, Queen Alala decided ta expand across the sea. She asked which families were willing ta come over "ere. My brother, Hrod and Hymir came on the first boat. I was still young and my parents didn"t wanna leave, so we stayed in Phocée."

Macha nodded her head. "So, your parents are in Phocée? Tyr has grandparents there?"

A rueful smile touched his lips, and he gave a chuckle. "We"ll get to that."

His throat went dry, so he wet it with more ale. "Years pa.s.sed by and I finished my schooling early. I ended before a hundred, so my mother allowed me to decide what occupation to do. She said I was so smart that I could do anything."

When he remembered his mother"s tender love, his heart filled with sadness. While he was growing up, she had protected him from their domineering father. It was because she believed in him that he learned to spread his wings and dream. The thought of her made him regret his younger years, and he wished he had not been such a lousy son.

Laki"s eyes to become bluer than the deepest oceans and his sadness touched Macha"s heart. She realized that Tyr"s uncle had a very expressive face that one could easily empathize with.

He grabbed another crab leg and tapped it on the table, "I liked adventure and decided to join the navy. Since I was a n.o.ble, I got a position as an officer n life was easy. Everything was great until the civil war with Ma.r.s.eille. That"s when the Queen had me raid the Ma.r.s.eille ships."

He wagged a finger at Macha, "Ya see, I didn"t choose to become a pirate. I was ordered to."

Laki opened up the crab leg and slurped up the tender meat. "I was still young at the time. I didn"t wanna die and things were getting really dangerous. Choosing to live over dying, I deserted the navy. Captain Killigrew picked me up, and I didn"t look back for a few hundred years."

With a deep sigh, he continued, "I later hada chance to talk with someone from Phocée. At first they thought I was just AWOL, but when they realized I was a deserter that was counted as a treasonous act. It looked pretty bad cause my sis and bro were doing well in Ma.r.s.eille. The resta our family was executed n our properties divided. We didn"t have much, but the Queen took whateva we had."

Macha did not understand what "AWOL" meant but could understand the gist of what he meant. Now was not the time to ask for a definition. The news of Tyr"s grandparents being killed for treason surprised her.

"Oh, I"m so sorry to hear that." Trying to find something happy to say, she offered, "At least you can finally be reunited with your sister. She"s doing well."

Laki sneered, "f.u.c.k that! I don"t wanna see that b.i.t.c.h. She has a stick up her a.s.s."

That had been unexpected and Macha"s eyes grew wide. "Oh." Her mouth hung open from shock.

It took her a few moments to recover from his comment. "Uh, if you don"t want to meet with Hrod, then what do you want to do now?"

He wiped his mouth and tossed the napkin to the side. "I dunno, but I don"t want ya tellin" my sis I"m around. I swear life"ll be easier without her."

Macha sucked in her lips and bit them. "But she"s your sister. Don"t you think you should at least let her know you"re not dead?"

This made him shake his head, "You don"t get it, kid. She and I are like oil n water. Maybe even toss some fire in the mix too."

If he did not want to go to Hrod, then she was unsure what to do with him. If he went to Freyr, then naturally Hrod would find out.

They continued eating for a bit, then she asked, "Did you want to work as a captain of the airship we flew here?"

That was a suggestion he liked. He wanted to be a captain for a while now. "What would this Captaining entail? Who would I be workin" for?"

As long as he did not have to be around his sister, it sounded good to him.

On the way back, Tyr mentioned that he preferred to give the airship to Tai Shan. He explained that it would help the Swat"s business.

Macha felt confident that Laki could get a job at her brother"s company, so her face lit up. "My brother is a really nice man. He has a merchant business."

A broad smile spread across his tawny skin. "Ahh, you"re a fine woman ta think of me like that. I"d gladly become Captain."

This sounded perfect. The life of pirating was enjoyable, but he did not care for the killing part. Killing always seemed so dramatic of an option to him. The only things he cared about were sailing and not being tied down by the oppressive social behaviors that the n.o.bility expected.

Dinner went on and Laki grew tired telling Macha about himself. He recognized that she talked with an accent and he spoke many languages.

Unable to hide his curiosity, he asked, "Where you from? I don"t remember a Swat family."

This was a question she heard often. Whenever people saw her they always wanted to know where she hailed from.

"I"m not from here," she explained. "I"m actually from a different world. The Swat family adopted me, but they are from Phocée."

He tossed a mussel sh.e.l.l onto the plate in the middle. "You don"t say. How interesting. So ya from the demon world?" He had never seen a demon before, so he was curious.

A wide smile spread on Macha"s lips. She covered her mouth as she giggled. She shook her head and quickly said, "No, no. There are demons in my world, but they were people. I"m from a very plain world. It differed greatly from this one."

This was the first time someone asked if she came from the demon world. It made her wonder if other people thought the same thing as well.

Wanting to avoid the conversation about her past, because it usually made her want to cry, she changed the topic. "Did you want me to introduce you to my brother after we finish eating?"

"Maybe tomorrow. I"m tired and wanna get some rest. But before that, I also wanna explore the city. It"s really different from what I remember it being."

Tonight he wanted to meet a woman that would cry out with pleasure instead of sorrow when they had s.e.x. That was something he missed while he was a pirate. He knew he was good-looking, so it was not hard for him to find women if they stayed in a town. The only problem was the Captain never remained in towns for very long. She always had them fly back to the island after raiding.

After their meal, Macha paid for a room for Laki to stay in. She also gave him twenty gold pieces, so he would be able to enjoy himself. He agreed to meet her in the afternoon the following day so she could introduce him to Tai Shan.

The night was young, so Laki went bar hopping. He was enjoying himself with one woman on each arm. Today went so well he wished he gave up the pirate life hundreds of years ago. One of the women whispered in his ear how they should find somewhere to get a little more comfortable when someone tapped his shoulder.

He leaned his head back against the couch to see who it was. A delicious set of b.r.e.a.s.t.s filled his vision before a hard fist smashed down on his face. The sound of women screaming rang in his ears, deafening him. The women who accompanied him quickly ran away, worried that they might get caught in the fight.

After getting hit, Laki placed some distance between himself and the attacker. When his head cleared, he spotted an old shipmate from when he was working for Phocée.

"Qara? What the h.e.l.l are you doing here?" he asked. He put his fingers under his nose and checked if it was bleeding.

They had once been lovers, and he never expected to view her lovely face again.

"Shut up you traitor!" she spat at him.

Qara served fifty years in prison because of Laki. They had accused her of helping him to give information to spies. In the end, she lost her job, status, and reputation. In order to start over, she moved to Ma.r.s.eille.

She hopped over the sofa he previously sat on and swung a beer bottle at his face. Tonight she would get her revenge on him. It did not matter if she would go to jail for it or not. At least this time she would have been guilty of the crime.

"Whoa," he cried out.

He kicked the gla.s.s bottle out of Qara"s hand and caught her in his arms. He loved the way her large b.r.e.a.s.t.s felt pressed against him.

Giving her a grin he said, "Hold on baby, aren"t you glad to see me?"