Episode 1

She never thought that her legs could run as fast as they did. Fear and anxiety infused with adrenaline, coursing through her body at an alarming rate. She needed to get away from Moldor fast.

Although the sun was about to set, she still had to push past the aggregation of commoners that flocked in the marketplace. She heard a few people yell at her for being rude but she had no time to apologise, as much as she wanted to. She couldn't waste time – her life depended on it.

If she was caught, it would definitely be the end of her.

She held back tears as she wondered how things turned so sour so quickly. The events that occurred in the last forty eight hours were unbelievable. More importantly, she had lost her father. She pushed down that feeling of dreadfulness and grief which threatened to weaken her knees.

Her heart quickened with gladness as the salty smell of the sea overflow her senses. She hid behind a shed and scouted the ships that were anchored at the wharves. Some Navy officers were talking to a group of drunken sailors not far from where she was.

"Have you seen a woman around here?" An officer asked one of the men. The men drunkenly replied, "Nah, I have not seen any women around 'ere, officer. But if you find one, lemme know! I need a bedmate tonight!"

The rest of the men laughed as the Navy officers shook their heads in exasperation. One held up a photo and pointed at it, "This lass here has bounty on her head - Bring her alive to the Imperial Navy base and 10,000 gold coins shall be yours. Her name is Maureen. Spread the word."

She was a wanted woman! With a decent amount of bounty for the one that captured her first. Even so, she saw this coming.

But the sailors weren't listening anymore and they made their way into the port bar. It would be dangerous for her to show herself now. She needed to wait until the Navy officers left. Keeping an eye on the officers, she hid behind sheds and barrels towards the bar. As she stood up from behind a barrel, she lost her footing and tripped over, causing the barrel to topple over.

"Hey there's a woman here!"

She'd been found out by the Navy officers. Before she knew it, she was running again, this time the Navy officers hot on her trail.

She ran past sailors who were returning to their ships for the night. The last rays of the sun were slowly dissolving in an orange sky. Behind her, the Navy officers shouted at her and alerted everyone that they pass. "Ten thousand gold coins! Capture that woman!"

But She was running too fast before anyone could react to the beckon of the bounty reward. Then she saw a peculiar ship at the end of the harbor – she couldn't make out what the flag was but she spotted the entrance wide open with no one around. Her mind focused on that ship, she'd decided that it would be her escape transportation out of Moldor. She didn't care about what the crew members would be like - she'd have to deal with that later. Although she hoped that they wouldn't be as cruel as what the Navy would do to her if she was captured.

She didn't see where he came from, but a man suddenly came to be in her way that it made her crash into his back so hard, her lungs seized up for a moment. Her vision blurred as she fell on top of the man. She felt hard muscle under hear and heard a loud groan. Not willing to give her vision time to fully recover, she pushed herself to get up, seeing a flash of dark blonde hair and broad shoulders covered in a white shirt. She stood on a piece of black fabric by the man's head, a cloud of dirt covered him as he laid there groaning.

Pushing past a group of people who seemed to be the man's acquaintances, she saw that they were as surprised as the man she'd just knocked down. It all happened so fast.

A strange sense of familiarity filled her mind. Their appearance... Where had she seen them before?

" Stop that wom – Hey, they're the Sirius pirates!" a Navy officer yelled.

Those men… The Sirius pirates… An image of a series of wanted posters entered her mind. They were the Navy's most wanted pirates!

"Forget the girl, arrest those pirates!"

As she reached the end of the wharf, she looked up and saw the unmistakable flag of The Sirius. She had no choice but to go into a pirate ship or she would be captured.

She ran into the ship without looking back – knowing that there will be consequences for boarding The Sirius.

Meanwhile, the group of men Mara passed gathered around the man she fell into.

"Ugh, what in the hell was that?" Nathan groaned as he got up slowly. His clothes were dirty from being pushed into the ground so violently and when he tried to pick up his bandana which was equally filthy, he felt a strong jab of pain from his left shoulder.

"Nathan, are you okay?!" Russell was immediately by his side, picking up his bandana off the ground for him. Christopher immediately started prodding at his left shoulder, which earned a loud groan from Nathan.

Christopher took a closer look at Nathan's shoulder and looked at him worryingly, "I'm afraid your shoulder's inflamed."

"Some wench she was, knocking you down like that," Captain Morgan said with a look that was a cross between amusement and annoyance, "Almost as strong as a bull, if not more."

Thomas nodded his head in agreement. It was then that Eduardo noticed the Navy officers running towards them from a distance, their guns ready in hand.

"We've got to go… Now!" Eduardo took out his gun and pointed it at the Navy officers as the others get a move on.

Russell put Nathan's uninjured arm around his shoulders and helped him to run as the others followed. They could hear shots being fired at their direction as they make their way back to the Sirius.

"Run faster Nathan!" Eduardo yelled, firing shots back at the Navy officers, injuring a couple of them.

"I'm trying my best 'ere!" Nathan said with clenched teeth.

They spotted the entrance to The Sirius… and barely saw something – or someone – go inside.

"Was that – " Thomas started, pointing at The Sirius.

"Just keep running, we'll deal with her later!" Morgan interrupted, pushing Thomas to keep moving.

By the time they reached The Sirius, Eduardo has managed to wound the rest of the Navy officers that were chasing them.

"Let's weigh anchor and get the hell outta here before more of them come!" Morgan commanded.

"Aye aye!" Russell, Thomas and Eduardo went to their stations as Christopher took Nathan away to the ship's infirmary to be tended to.

They were gone from the port of Moldor in no time, no doubt that the bounty on their heads went up higher than what it already was.

The moon was beaming onto the deck of The Sirius as they set sail further into the vast ocean, where they could not be traced by the Navy.

"For now, we're safe from the Navy," Morgan spoke as Nathan, Russell, Thomas, Christopher and Eduardo watched him, "We need to find the stowaway wench that injured Nate's shoulder."

The gleam in Morgan's eyes was unmistakable as he grinned.

"But… What ever will we do with her once she's been found?"

End of Episode 1