Chapter Three: The Mirror

They partied as if they had won the day, drinking until they were stupid and passing out. The captain was nowhere to be seen however, his men had left the ship without him. Blaise would be able to get in and out without much trouble this way. It had taken her a long time to get to this point, the damn crew docked in a small town and left to go drink and flirt. Blaise released her small dingy and sent it off so that she could swim to it.

"Ruler of the sea please keep my vessel safe." She prayed before she was quickly rushing towards the pirate ship.

There was a single guard posted but he was already deep in his cups, he was a problem for her. It fully disgusted her seeing such filth. The man perked up as she approached, her hood was still up and her head down, the cloak she purchased a long time ago was doing a good job to cover her.

"Halt there, buddy, no one allowed aboard till morning, Captains order." The pirate slurred his words.

Blaise tipped her hood back and tossed her cloak over her shoulders a bit to reveal her body. The man did exactly what she hoped he would, looked straight down at her rather large breasts. She was angry, disgusting band of thieves. They had gotten to the artifact before she could, she had watched them as they ripped through an innocent town to find the one man who had found it. These monsters could not care less about anyone but themselves. She helped patch up those who survived until the Marines showed up. These men had escaped her for a while but she managed to find them.

Even now she could remember the smell of the flames as they licked wood and flesh alike, the town had still been on fire when she approached. It had taken a long time to quell the flames and help those who had survived. The looks they gave her, the gratefulness filled with suspicion. They needed her help but they didn't trust her anymore than they did the pirates. Blaise was only thankful that the Marines showed up when they did, it left her free to pursue the fleeing thieves. She could barely bite back the bile that filled her throat just looking at this man before her.

"I was told there was a member missing the fun, they asked me to keep you company on your watch. Are you guys expecting trouble?" She leaned forward towards him.

"Oh, no trouble really." The man fairly drooled, his eyes followed her breasts. "Just being sure not to let any strange ones on board, we got a hold of a nice treasure you see, and the one who it belongs to wants it back really bad." He told her boasting.

"How exciting, is this person dangerous?" She asked running a hand up his arm and across his collar bone teasingly.

He gulped hard. "Just one of those weakling religious types, some dumb shrine girl." He reached out his hands to touch her.

Blaise was annoyed enough that the slap she administered was not light but the man only laughed and she put on her best flirt face.

"No touching yet mister, we need a little more privacy don't you think?" She asked him huskily, inside she was vomiting.

The man chuckled and snaked an arm around her waist as he stood up. "How about we go on deck? No one inside except the captain, he won't mind if we find some barrels to play behind."

"Oh my, how naughty of you." She pressed against him, her breasts grazing the side of his chest.

Laughing the fool led her on board, the alcohol on his breath annoyed her and his hand traveled down to squeeze her bottom firmly. As soon as they reached a gathering of rather large barrels, he pulled her close, her arms went over his shoulders and back, that was when she struck. She used the old man's technique and pinched her fingers around the man's neck from behind and dropped him in seconds. Unfortunately, his fat headed weight dropped on her hard and she fought to keep him from hitting the deck and alerting the captain. She huffed and groaned until she had him hiding behind the barrels, his loud snores hidden by the splash of the ocean.

Blaise flicked her hood up over her head and headed for the captain's quarters, she would need to sneak in quietly and take back what she needed. The door was unlocked, stupid fool thinking he was safe from her at this point. She opened the door a crack and peered inside, he was sitting at a small table with a lantern at his side, his map spread out before him and the mirror sat there on table. She slid her dagger from her thigh and carefully opened the door, praying for silence as the hinges moved. Quickly she slid the door closed before the wind could disrupt the lantern and made her way across the wood floor as soundless as she could in boots. The Goddess had heard her pleas and kept her movement silent, she snuck up behind the captain as he took a long drink of his ale and pressed the dagger to his neck.

The bastard gulped the liquid down and slowly returned the jug to the table surface.

"Blaise." He said calmly as if they were just meeting after a long separation.

"Captain." She nearly hissed, her rage was evident, though her hand was steady.

"I thought you would have stayed in town longer, I did quite a bit of damage to keep you occupied." He laid his hands before him on the table, the mirror was just a reach from his hand.

"Those people, did nothing to deserve the devastation you caused. They had nothing to do with any of this and you slaughtered them, burned their homes!" She nearly screamed her throat threatened to close with emotion so powerful.

"Careful there little maiden, you almost sound angry. Aren't you supposed to forgive the sins of others?" The chuckled, unrepentant.

Blaise pressed the knife closer to his neck, a trickle of blood slid down his neck.

"Lucky for you, I am free to do as I please, you made sure of that. Give me the mirror, or I will cut your throat here and now." She would, it was all his fault, everything was his fault.

"You have the Jewel, don't you? Just one more missing piece, and I can rule this world. No need for a stupid piece of gold to call myself king." He grinned. "You could join me, we can rule the world little maiden. Even he will obey you then." His words were amused, he didn't believe she would be cajoled. He was right.

She frowned deeply, her eyes lit up like flames. "You will never get the opportunity to find out what that is like." She reached out and snatched the mirror from the table.

He threw himself back causing her to fall back, her knife scraped up his neck and she narrowly missed slitting his throat open. Blaise did the only thing she could think of, she ran, throwing her dagger at the man who now came at her with a battle cry she leapt away and threw the door open. There was a bell going off in the distance and her eyes spotted the pirates rushing back to the docks, their swords drawn. Seems she was not very good at that particular sleeping technique, the man she thought was asleep was ringing the warning bell on the ship. She had no time to think, she stuffed the mirror into a pouch as she ran towards the edge of the ship, her small boat was there off in the distance.

"Mother, if you could see me now." She shook her head and ran.