Venture; Shadow

11. Vagabonds

We left the forest and began to travel by foot with only our swords and the clothes on our back. We travelled as far as our feet could carry us, further and further away from the camp grounds and towards somewhere unknown.

Soon, I could smell the saltiness of the sea and hear the squawking of seagulls drawing closer. We have reached a small beach and there seemed to be huge ship up ahead. 

It was oddly foggy on the beach even though it was bright and sunny just a moment ago.

As soon as the ship was clearly in view, Hunter grins and sprints off towards that ship leaving me to follow in his actions with a confused look. 

As we got closer and closer to the ship, I could make out a few figures on the ship.

However, something felt out of place. Those figures looked bigger and a lot taller than the average human being. They were just busying about doing their job and did not even notice us.

Hunter looked around to find the ladder leading up to the ship but there wasn't one.

"They must have kept it and is preparing to sail off!" he exclaimed and immediately waved his arms around while calling out names towards the boat deck, trying to get their attention but to no avail. 

It was like they could not hear us.

"What's up with them were their ears plugged or something?!" Hunter said frustratedly and continued calling out.

Then, a female voice could be heard, moving towards the edge of the huge ship while scolding those in her way. 

"How could you knuckle-heads not hear the annoying screams from Rebel", she shouted.

Then, she looked at us from the top of the boat and shouted as she throws down a rope ladder.

"Long time no see Rebel! What brings you to my territory this time?"

We were allowed on the boat and I realised that those who were on the deck just now were Ogres! 

They were huge, with giant muscles and scabby skin to match. The tough-looking lady with a pirate sword on her waist, greeted us with a wide smile and joked around with Hunter like they were best of friends. She seems to be the captain of this ship and the leader of all these pirates.

Hunter told her about our situation and she offered to let us join their ship for as long as we needed to. We were immediately surrounded by a group of over friendly ogres.

"Welcome to The Vagabond last" said the tallest of them all while giving me a huge bear hug. 

He was crushing me with his huge ogre arms and I would have suffocated if Hunter did not tug me away from the ogre, giving him an unreadable stare.

'This is a ship full of pirates' I thought to myself, looking at all the ogres, trolls and a couple of humans bustling about on the deck. 

I have never seen such a sight. This will take some time getting used to but they all seemed friendly yet tough in a way.

Thus, begins our adventure on the rough seas. 

I cannot believe that the kind of people I am unfamiliar with the most such as thieves and drunkards were the ones who were willingly enough to accept me.(talk about irony)

Call me judgemental but in my opinion, most thieves and drunkards have no right to act they way they do and harm the lives of others. 

Having said that, I believe that we should not judge one base on the surface alone. Many people have their own reasons for behaving the way they do and I respect that. 

Well, at least I was not alone anymore.

It was hard being alone, trying to survive and with a load of unanswered questions but we have each other's backs now. 

On the rough seas, toughest of mountains paths and forest trails, we learn to play the game called survival together.