Chapter 15: Three Blades, One Cut
The Tempest Wing sailed low through the early morning mist, cutting across a quiet inlet east of Redhill Sound. It was an uneventful route — no known patrols, no marine watch towers — but Kira knew that meant little.
Unwatched waters bred different kinds of predators.
Which made it perfect.
She stood at the helm, eyes scanning a distant dock barely visible through the haze. A wooden warehouse perched crookedly on stilted legs, braced against the tide.
Sayida approached from below, journal in hand. "Three boats come in and out of that place every two days. Unregistered cargo. No permits. No markings."
Kira nodded. "Pirates?"
"Middlemen. They store stolen goods, sell them to brokers who clean the trail."
"And we're taking their share," Aria added as she stepped onto the deck, adjusting the fresh rifle strapped to her back.
Kira didn't correct her.
Because Aria was right — they weren't just stealing.
They were leaving a message.
The plan was simple.
Strike fast.
Split the crew.
Test trust.
Sayida would disable the outer boats — quietly — while Aria perched high on a nearby ridge with her scope.
Kira would enter alone through the front.
If any of it went wrong, no one said a word.
They just moved.
Sayida slipped into the water with a rope between her teeth, vanished beneath the fog.
Aria broke off into the cliffs, light on her feet despite the weight of her pack.
Kira walked.
Right up the dock.
The two men on watch weren't armed.
Not seriously.
One leaned against a barrel with a toothpick, the other nodding off in a chair. Neither looked up until Kira stepped onto the planks.
Then both blinked.
The standing one straightened. "Whoa, you lost? This is—"
The crack of Kira's staff silenced him mid-step. His body hit the boards with a thud.
The second man tried to run.
A rifle cracked in the distance.
He dropped, leg pierced clean through — not dead, but screaming.
Kira didn't flinch.
She kept walking.
Inside the warehouse, three more crew were mid-argument over a shipment manifest.
They froze when they saw her.
Too slow.
Kira stepped into the center of the room and swept her staff low — lightning sparking in a sudden pulse. The charge surged along the floor, arcing into crates and boots, slamming two of them into the wall.
The third pulled a flintlock and fired.
The shot missed.
Kira didn't.
She crossed the room in two steps and cracked her staff across his temple.
Outside, Sayida returned to the dock, soaked but grinning.
"All boats cut. Anchors snapped. No one's leaving without swimming."
Aria's voice rang out a moment later from her perch above. "Coast's clear. No reinforcements."
Kira opened the back door to the warehouse. "Load what we can. Burn the rest."
Sayida raised an eyebrow. "Leave nothing?"
"Not even ash."
It took thirty minutes.
Sayida and Aria moved quickly — already working in rhythm, handing off sacks and boxes, sorting valuables from junk with practiced efficiency.
They loaded three crates into the Tempest Wing — food, gunpowder, and gold. More than enough to last a month or bribe three harbormasters.
Kira lit the fuse inside the warehouse herself.
She didn't watch it burn.
Back at sea, the crew sat around the map table as the sky turned gold with dawn.
"Fastest we've moved yet," Sayida said, biting into dried meat.
"Not bad for our first real hit," Aria added.
Kira folded a new chart.
She didn't smile.
But she nodded.
Aria leaned back in her chair. "So what's next? More supply raids?"
"No," Kira said.
Sayida looked over. "Something bigger?"
Kira tapped the chart.
A set of islands marked with faint ink — the outer perimeter of an old smuggling ring.
"They used to run women through here," she said.
Sayida's expression darkened.
"They stopped after the Marines cracked the ring," Aria muttered.
Kira looked up.
"They didn't stop," she said. "They just changed routes."
They fell into silence.
Until Sayida spoke.
"Are we going after them?"
Kira rolled up the map.
"We're going to end them."
ADVANCED CHAPTERS:
patreon.com/CozyKy