CHAPTER TWO

After boarding the barge I immediately headed towards the room Evy and I were going to be sharing.

I put my suitcase and duffel bag next to the door so Evy could have the rest of the room and unwrapped my parcel.

I ran my fingers over the beautiful twin sword's sheath that had an intricate white dragon design on them that was the mark of the best sword maker in Japan.

Unsheathing the swords I made a few moves with my wrists checking the weight of the swords in my hand as I admired the beauty of their blades before re-sheathing them.

I immediately put them into the holder which I then strapped onto my back before I went out and started exploring the boat.

I met O'Connell who would be showing Evy, Jon and myself to the 'City of the Dead' and we exchanged first names.

He told me his names was Richard but he asked me to call him Rick, I told him my first name was Anta but I went by Ella.

We talked for a while and then Rick asked me about my twin swords that were strapped to my back.

I smiled and pulled them out of the holder although leaving them in their respective sheaths as I let him look them over.

"I got them made specially for me while I was visiting in Japan." I replied as he touched them gently his eyes showing his admiration.

As he ran his hands up and down the length of the sheath his sleeve pulled back showing off a tattoo.

Curious as I had the same tattoo I asked him about it showing him that I had the same tattoo.

We found out that we had been taught the same saying and the reply that we should give when we heard it.

"I wonder if every orphanage gave them out or if it was just yours and mine?" I said conversationally as I put the swords back into the holder on my back after he handed them back to me.

He snorted, "Who knows? All the people who run them are insane if you ask me." I snickered and nodded my agreement before pulling out a small dagger and began to tap it between my fingers slowly at first but picking up speed.

"What about your other tattoos?" Rick asked me curiously.

I paused from my concentration on my dagger and flexed my right hand which had an intricate design on the front and back of it all off the black lines meeting and looping around on my hand creating a blossoming red Lotus flower in the center of my palm and a blue blossoming Lotus flower on the back of my hand.

"This one I got because of the meanings behind the red and blue blossoming Lotus flower. The red lotus symbolizes love, compassion, passion, and other emotions of the heart while the blue lotus represents knowledge, wisdom, and intelligence."

I said as I turned my hand so he could see both lotus flowers while I told him the meanings.

Putting down my right hand I held up my left hand showing him the ahnk on my left ring finger.

"The ahnk is a representation of eternal life also it looked cool and reminded me of my homeland while I was traveling." I told him

"While I get that each one has a meaning how did you stand the pain? Especially on your right hand?" Rick asked.

"I drunk till I could drink no more and then had them tie me down." I answered with a grin.

He grinned back and pulled out a bottle of whiskey that he had 'borrowed' from someone and offered me a swig and I knew then that we were going to be best of friends.

When night fell I was laying on-top of the cabin roof staring at the stars and thinking of my past when I heard gunshots.

"Well at least Evy can't holler at me since I'm not responsible for breaking the peace this time."

I muttered before I sat up and looked over the edge of the cabin roof.

I knew the smile on my face and the twinkle in my eyes gave away any annoyance that I might have projected into my voice away.

Being peaceful was never really my strong suit and I was aching to use my new swords.

I jumped down and saw men dressed all in black with black head coverings lighting fire's and generally causing a ruckus.

Immediately I pulled out one of my swords and started to engage the three men closest to me.

I didn't even have to pull my swords which disappointed me slightly so I put a little extra strength as I kicked the last guy in the head knocking him to the floor unconscious before I took off to try and find Evy and Jon.

It was chaos, men were firing their guns, fire was everywhere, some of the people were letting the horses out of their stalls.

I saw Evy with Rick and gave a small sigh of relief that was one sibling accounted for before I turned and saw Jon running my way but watching behind him.

"And that's two." I thought with relief.

"Evy, Jon!" I hollered as soon as they looked at me I motioned for them to come, however I ended up fighting some more of the strange men and I lost track of them as I ducked under their blades and used my fist's and feet to take care of them.

I ran towards the room Evy and I had been put in and found it untouched, grabbing my duffel bag I turned and raced back towards the deck.

I looked around and was starting to get worried when I didn't see Evy, Jon or Rick, then I heard them hollering my name from the water and immediately jumped overboard.

We all swam to shore, I helped Evy out of the water before I looked back at the burning boat and gave a tug on my duffel bag to reassure myself that I had indeed grabbed it.

I wasn't worried about the loss of my suitcase, I had my weapons and my duffel bag was filled with that was basically all I needed.

Evy however mourned the losses, "We've lost everything, all of our tools, equipment, all my clothes and yours to Elle."

Then an annoying voice from the other side of the river reached my ears,

"Hey O'Connell, looks to me like I've got all of the horses!"

I looked across the river to try and pick out who that annoying voice belonged to so I could beat the crap out of them should we ever meet again simply because his voice irritated me.

"Hey Beni, looks to me like your on the wrong side of the river!" Rick hollered back before he turned towards our small group,

I mentally made a note, "Beat the crap out of this Beni guy upon meeting him."

I would have started to think up various ways of torturing him however Rick's voice cut through my thoughts pulling me back to the present.

"Okay we need to find things and make some torches. When we get further in and drier we can stop for the night and we'll walk to the next town as soon as the sun comes up to buy new supplies." Said Rick.

We didn't argue with him as he took the position of leader and we did as he said.

I didn't feel tired so I decided to keep watch over our small group, I noticed Rick doing the same.

"Rich grab some shut eye, you need to lead us and you'll need to be rested." I said.

I saw him mull that over before he gave me a grateful nod before laying down and falling asleep.

I woke him up when the sun started to rise and together we woke up the other three, before walking towards the nearest city.

When we got there Evy and I immediately went to get new clothes and a bath and I was never more thankful that I my birth language was Egyptian as I told the woman what had happened.

They took Evy and I in without any questions and after we bathed they gave us both a new set of clothes.

Both set's of clothes were black, however Evy's had silver thread sewn in flower patterns on her veil a silver sash and belt as well.

Mine had a blue flower patterns sewn into the veil and had a matching blue sash and belt, the blue color matching the color of my eyes.

I smirked as I saw Rick's face when he saw Evy in her new clothes and Evy's face when she noticed Rick's gaze.

"They are so cute! I'm going to tease them terribly." I thought as I walked over to Jon.

"You look nice." Jon said as he handed me the lead to a camel.

"Not near as good as Evy." I said with a grin and a wink as I mounted the camel and waited for the others to do the same.

Jon looked at me in confusion for a second before I tilted my head in Rick and Evy's direction.

Jon's eyes widened and he glanced between Rick and Evy several times before looking back at me with a mischief filled smirk which I returned.