"But we made a deal," I protested, though I knew my heart wasn’t fully into it. "You can’t just back out now."
"Saintess Lilith is after you. You do realize that, right?"
"Yes," I said, nodding my head somberly. "Of course I know that."
"Did you know she was after you before that night?" Ginah prodded me.
"No."
She narrowed her eyes, looking deep inside of me; she wanted to trust me, I could tell. And she should have— I was telling the truth.
"I didn’t know Saintess Lilith would come for me, Ginah. I didn’t even know the Church was hunting for me." I hesitated, realizing that that was a part lie. I quickly corrected myself. "I mean, I was aware that they probably didn’t want me alive since I escaped. But I had no idea they were actively coming after me."
"Escape?" Ginah cocked her head. "What did you escape from? Who are you, Melas? Why is a Saintess hunting you down?"
"I…" Should I tell them? I glanced over at Gennady. He was standing by my side with his arms folded. I had told him who my mother was completely by accident; it was good fortune that he didn’t care too much about it, but would Ginah react the same way?
I looked over at Lisa standing over in the corner. She had already been thrown off by the fact that I was a spellcaster. If she found out I was the daughter of this infamous Fiend, would she demand I be handed over to the Church?
I couldn’t tell them. But I wanted to. I had to. And yet, when I opened my mouth, nothing came out.
"It seems it has been decided," Ginah finally said, realizing I had nothing else to add.
"No it isn’t." Gennady stepped forward. "How can you possibly leave this girl to die? Aren’t you lot supposed to be some group of noble pirates? To have principles?"
The pirate Captain hesitated, chewing her lower lip and glancing over at me one last time, before looking back at the Dwarf. She shook her head.
"We’re not leaving anyone to die. I— the Dark Crusaders will surely take her in. She’s an enemy of the Church and a spellcaster. They can protect you."
"She can’t turn to the Dark Crusaders."
"Why not?"
"I don’t know," the Dwarf said, grimacing. "But she can’t."
Everyone in the room turned to look at me expectantly. I wanted to explain myself— but again, I could not. If they knew I was wanted by the Dark Crusaders, they would want to cast me aside even more.
"Well?" Ginah raised an eyebrow.
"Ginah," Braz said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I think that’s enough questions for now."
"No." Shaking her head, she turned to her crewmate. "I’m sorry, Braz. And I don’t like doing this either. But I have to know. For the safety of our crew."
Her actions made sense; I could tell everyone was uncomfortable with how hard she was pressing me, a ‘kid’. But I could see the logic behind it.
And yet, I didn’t want to speak; I had just barely escaped captivity once again, and now had to deal with all my plans— everything I had strove to avoid— come tumbling down. It was not that I couldn’t go to the Taw Kingdom anymore, but traversing through land would have delayed it by months.
I could wait. I was always willing to wait. However, when you thought you were killing two birds with one stone by working to your own ends while doing something good, and it turned out all the good you did was worth nothing, it weighed you down a little bit.
So instead of giving them an answer, I simply turned around and just left.
I heard them call after me. Gennady tried to stop me, but I ignored him. Braz said something, but I ignored him. Even Kai tried asking me to wait, but I ignored him.
I returned to my room and began packing my stuff. It took me a couple of minutes to get everything ready, but when I was done, I took a deep breath and sprawled onto the bed. There was nothing to be done. I was probably going to be captured once again— have my freedom taken from me again. Lose the autonomy and agency I had worked so hard to create and maintain.
I lay there for a moment, staring only at the ceiling; I did not know how much time passed— how many minutes went by— eventually, however, loud footsteps approached the doorway and I glanced up.
"What do you want, Gennady?" I asked, sitting up.
The Dwarf was standing by the doorway
"Lass, I know I’m supposed to be your bodyguard, but I can’t protect you from a Saintess alone. I think you should at least try to get them to change their minds. There’s no way we’ll reach the Taw Kingdom on foot with someone like Lilith coming after us. Sacred piss, I don’t even think we’d be fully safe if we went by sea."
"If you’re coming with me, then let’s go," I said, ignoring him. I grabbed my back from the floor and hefted it up next to me onto the bed. "Get your things and prepare to leave by nightfall."
"But I think you should at least consider—"
"No." I closed my eyes, resolving myself. "It doesn’t matter. People only care about their own interests. And it goes against Ginah and her crew’s interest to help me. Truth be told, I should have known something would’ve gone wrong. At least I can leave this place knowing I did some good and my time here wasn’t pointless, even if I didn’t get what I wanted."
He furrowed his brows. "You don’t mean that, do you?"
"I do," I said simply. "What else can I do here?"
"You’ve fought alongside
