Toris

"She got what?"

Gilbert watched me furiously; his eyes burning with hate, his knuckles were white due to his grip of the hilt of the sword. He was completely restless, the red of his eyes held such intensity. "It was Roberts' first mate," I replied, a shudder running down my back as I observed him. "And if he were the Queen of the world, I would still kill him," he tried to regain his composure but failed badly at it. "I don't care who is… Wir werden so was von in diesen gottverdammten Krieg ziehen."

The only word I understood was „Krieg", which meant war. I never thought I would witness the day the Crown prince would wage a war for a woman – well he did say to fight against the Edelstein-elite and Roberts, but to see his reaction because of Elizabeta's inury was a whole new experience.

"She is still unconsciousness, but as far as I could examine her, she will be all right," I told him, trying to calm him down.

We were on our way to the prisoner's hold. After we had entered the vessel, Gilbert explained the royal crew why he wanted the pirates to be treated fairly. Their faces showed a great amount of confusion and some disagreed with the idea. At first they wanted to threaten Sakura because she had not been taken down to the hold to join the pirates, but she had demonstrably showed her mark again, which now matched the Prince's. "She is my guardian, and far more capable of carrying out the job as you," Gilbert had said, shaming the marine. That exclamation had caused half of the sailors to glare at her. Although Gilbert was socially above all the people on the vessel, the marine had some problems cooperating with him. The thought of letting the infamous Kirkland, Fernández Carriedo and Elizabeta's crew on the ship without punishment was questioned by the look of the sailor's faces. Whereas Gilbert's authority was doubted, Sakura received hateful and curious glances. By now, everyone knew that she was a creature of the ocean with the power of using magic and some were fascinated by it. "We are almost there," Gilbert muttered. The tense grew as we came nearer to the door of the hold.

"What?" Sakura whispered, her eyes focussing on the guard who was blocking our way who refused to let us enter. The mermaid's face was calm, but her eyes told otherwise. Hours ago, after she and Gilbert had reached the beach, I felt the tension. Her eyes had glanced back and forth between the ship and the injured Captain Kirkland; the worry had been visible in her face. He was being carried by two officers who were not glad about their new task. Raivis and Noah had followed them closely. Gilbert had told me afterwards that the two boys would look after Kirkland, because Sakura knew that we would be separated. Sadly, Natalya and I got split too. I had no idea why the marine had been so fast in defeating Roberts' crew. They had taken us apart but recognised me immediately, in spite of the lack of my uniform. Natalya had shot them evil glares and she almost fought with the Marine. She hated the royal guards, regardless of their rank or position. I myself had the pleasure of realising that detail as she attacked me a week ago. Despite her nature – which some described as cold or hateful – I liked the way she was. Forthright, elegant and beautiful. And she surely knew how to wield a blade. The way we had fought against the enemies, demonstrated how synchronised and harmonic we were during battle.

My eyes fell on Sakura, who was deep in thought; her one hand was grabbing the forearm where the mark of the amulet was. "You want to see if his wound has worsened," I stated quietly, while the Prince was busy arguing with the guard. She was startled, not realising that I was talking to her. "Poor Raivis must be frightened," she murmured, hugging her upper body. "…a-and Captain Kirkland will be fine."

I always had to smile when she addressed him with 'Captain'. Everyone except for her just called him 'Kirkland', but she always mentioned his rank with light rosy cheeks. She liked him, the way she acted (quietly and still nervously) around him and worried for him. Both of us had a soft spot for lone pirates who behaved unsocially towards others – mostly pulling their blades out when someone confronted them in an awkward moment – and were protective over those who had their affection. "Are you certain that his wound is not as deadly as it seems?"

She nodded, "I created a magical patch on his injury."

"O-oh."

"With it, I can watch over his heart-rate and breathing. In addition to that, I can control the magic through it, which is healing him at the moment," she said, moving her hands to create little blue sparks. "That means you are currently healing him through the magic which you can regulate from your hands?"

She nodded. At least Sakura knew that he was fine; she could heal him completely before we would dock. "I had no time to heal him completely when the marine arrived, so I made the patch in order to stop the bleeding and to cure him over hours."

"I see," I spoke, a small smile gracing my face. Before I informed Gilbert of Elizabeta's light head injury, he told me of the incident where Kirkland got injured. He had saved her from it and got stabbed instead before Roberts could escape.

We both looked up as Gilbert's voice rose higher. "What do you mean? Let us in this instant."

I marched towards the scene, observing as Gilbert pointed a sword to the guard.

"I apologise Your Royal Highness, but I received orders from my Captain."

This statement was fuelling Gilbert's rage, "Who gave you this none-sense order? I am your Prince."

The man's hands started to shake, sweat drops claiming his forehead. Nonetheless he held his position. "I am sorry, but I am under order of the King to not let anyone enter except for the Captain or other high ranked members of the Borussian army or military."

The flicker in Gilbert's eyes had almost escaped my notice. "The rank of the Colonel is higher than Captain's, is it not?"

The guard's eyes wandered to me. "The Captain of a naval marine ship has the same rank as a Colonel of the army and ground troupes."

The prince's smirk almost illuminated the hall. "How fortunate. The Colonel of the Royal Guards," he slapped my back lightly, "is present. Right, Colonel Toris?"

"Yes," I confirmed, staring the guard down. He could not refuse my entering, having exclaimed that my rank gave me the advantage to access the hold and its prisoners.

I looked back to the two behind me, seeing their hopeful and pleading eyes. "I will look after them," I promised firmly before I descended the stairs to the hold. The first obligation I felt to do was to see if Natalya was all right.

[A/N: Sorry for the rather short Chapter :O. I know I mentioned in Chapter 16 that mermaids can perform some magic, but only related with the element of water; but Sakura can do such healing magic because she has done the ritual of channelling magic from the Island and the Dragon; so she can do more magic, especially more efficient and stronger magic such as healing processes (I thought I should explain it :3.)]

Translation:

Wir werden so was von in diesen gottverdammten Krieg ziehen – we are so going to this goddamn war

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