Nocturna League (Episode 1: The Witching Book) (Nautical Fantasy Short Story) Read Free Page B

his feet.
    “There they are!” The not-so trustworthy butcher says, pointing to the four, “They’re the ones that want to steal Vuuya from us-our paradise!”
    “As much as I hate disagreeing, I fear I must, ladies and gentlemen,” The Captain interjects. “We’re not here to steal anything of yours. We only want an old, useless relic from a witch, one that could not possibly still be alive. However, if you insist on fighting; I will have no choice but to authoritize each and every one of you.” He cracks his knuckles, and while his sailors all experience the Pavlovian nervousness trained into them, the villagers know not who they deal with.
    The butcher is the first to rush the tied up Captain. He makes a quick slash with his cleaver-- but The Captain, his arms tied down, uses his leg to deliver an immaculately painful kick to the butcher’s shin.
    “GRAH! SHHHHIT!” The butcher, his pain threshold only that of a common man, exclaims as he falls to the ground in agony.
    “Watch your language. You should be old enough to be a respectable example to the younger generations,” The Captain says as a man and woman both come forward. The Captain makes a deft, fluid swing of the feet, striking the young man in his nethers and the knife-wielding woman in her face. Again the two of them are reduced to cringing piles of human misery as The Captain turns to his crew.
    “Dunklestein. Take Jim and Colette out of here from the window. I’ll meet up with you in the nearest shaded alley.”
    Colette, free from her binds, brandishes her knife. “No, Captain! Let me fight!”
    “There will be time for your fighting,” The Captain says as he kicks someone again in the shin with a skillfully strung combo, “now follow orders.”
    “B-but si-” Colette is interrupted as she is picked up by the hulking Dunklestein and, along with Jim, carried out the large window. “I’m going to kick your ass extra hard in training for this one, sir!” she shouts.
    The Captain sighs as he trips another opponent and heels them in the crotch. “Playing quite the child, my cookie. Answer me once I’m done with this: How do you expect to become a leader if you cannot be led?”
    The Captain hears a loud scoff from Colette, and she answers sharply, “Because leading and being led are polar opposites! I’m only planning to become good at one ! You keep holding me back! This isn’t what I signed up f--” her voice disappears through the window as Dunks leaps from the roof with the two of them. Down below she finishes her answer, “This isn’t what I signed up for! You need to let me loose! I’m not a kid!” She struggles out of Dunklestein’s grip and brushes off her clothing as Jim simply tugs himself down politely from Dunklestein’s grasp. “I hate it when he’s like that,” Colette says, ducking into an alley and tapping her fist against a wall.
    Dunks chuckles, placing his webbed hand on his hips. “Kinda surprised you haven’t gotten used to it yet. You’ve been crewing with the Nocturna for a month now, you should have noticed that he cares more about his crew members than anything-- especially one that's a girl. I’m pretty sure he’s in his fifties; if he had a daughter she’d be about your age you know... I’m not that surprised at all that he’s pillowin’ ya’ around.”
    Jim, catching his breath, nods at Colette. “He babies everyone on the ship. After he’s ‘authoritized’ them,” he says with a smirk.
    Dunks and Colette both cringe at the thought of their first fight with The Captain; the second they went out of line, they were put back in their place to grumble all they wanted, but always follow orders no matter what.
    Colette sighs. “Yeah… yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll get my chance and I’ll take it,” she adds, watching The Captain leap down from a tall window from the room now filled with moaning and cries of agony. Colette waves him over, and The Captain enters the alley, his arms