TurkeyxReader~The Legend of Citaqua~Ch 9

~The Legend of Citaqua~ Ch 9

“What the holy heck are you doing here?!” Sadık cried.

“You murder my parents—that I found out my not be my parents—you kidnap my friend and me, you make me an assistant to one of the most complicated jobs I’ve ever heard of, you put me on a leash like a fancy pet, and that’s the first thing you can say?!” you shouted back. Just then, you saw Tunç poke his head out from behind his brother.

“Oh…Neoklis,” he said. “So that’s where you’ve been hiding.”

“Tunç, what are you doing off of the Aral?” you wondered aloud.

“I could ask you the same thing, couldn’t I?” your not-really-official mentor countered.

“Yeah! What’s up with that?” Sadık frowned. “You just up and disappeared a few days ago, and I almost killed your little cat friend here!”

“Until I stepped in,” Tunç sighed.

Your eyes turned to Neoklis in hopes of being able to explain what was going on. Feliciano, on the other hand, wore a bright smile on his face as though nothing peculiar was going on.

“Uh…” you began. “You see…”

“And how the heck did you wind up with Neoklis?” Sadık continued speaking. “You know he’s been missing for months?”

“Yes,” you said with a scrunched face. This was all very awkward. You were expecting Sadık and his crew to go on an all-out rampage through Issao and make a scene—perhaps that would give you and Heracles the perfect time to escape. It was funny how he was here, too.

“So spit it out!” Sadık demanded. “Where the heck have you guys been all of this time? And who’s the space case with you?”

“He’s no one you need to worry about,” you said furrowing your eyebrows and turning embarrassingly away from Feliciano. By the way, where was Lovino in all of this?

Just then, as if answering your question, something—or rather, someone—pushed the captain of the Aral and back and pulled on your hand.

“What the heck?!” Sadık cried and got back to his feet. “Who did that?!”

“Lovi, where are you?!” you hissed looking around to see if you could make out Feliciano’s brother.

“Lovi?” Sadık repeated. “Is that the one who pushed me? Come on out! Show yourself!”

Before you could open your mouth to speak up, someone already began to pull you back.

“H-Hey!” you cried out in surprise.

“Shut your mouth, idiot!” you heard a familiar grouchy voice bark.

You blinked. “L-Lovi?”

“Who the hell else would it be?” he answered impatiently back.

“Toni?” you stupidly guessed.

“Why would you think that?!”

“I don’t know! I just thought he was more noble than you!”

“Ha!” Lovino laughed. “A noble sand rat. Why don’t you save that line for Toni when you really get back to him?”

“But I—Kyyahhh!”

“I’m not letting you get away from me a third time, __________!” Sadık shouted and remained hanging onto your other wrist.

“Yaaugh! It’s the captain of the Aral!” Feliciano cried and bailed out of sight into the marketplace.

“Feli, come back!” you shouted. Oh, what was this nonsense? Why would you want to be kidnapped by another group of sand rats?

“Let go, Sadık,” Neoklis demanded to your surprise.

“Why are you on her side?!” Sadık asked looking just as shocked as you were.

“Because the other ship is nicer, and I want ___________ to stay there with me,” he said. “She’s a good cat-keeper.”

“She’s a good assistant, Neoklis,” Tunç calmly said from behind Sadık just a little distance away in case your arms snapped and would cause the captain to go hurling back.

“You guys!” you grunted. “You’re going to pull me apart!”

“On the contrary, the human body is quite resilient,” Tunç spoke up in contradiction to your outburst. You were still in pain, however.

“Let ___________ go, both of you!” Heracles hissed and kicked Sadık in his stomach making him double up in pain and release you from his grip.

“You stupid cat magnet!” Sadık groaned as Heracles grabbed your free and hand began to run with you in the other direction with Neoklis eagerly following behind.

“Eh? Neoklis?” you blinked. “Why aren’t you going back to Sadık?”

“He’s going to catch up to us eventually, I've realized,” Neoklis calmly answered. “I’m just saving myself the trouble of not getting lost in this place until that happens.”

You looked behind you. There was no sign of Sadık or any of the sand rats aboard the Aral following you.

“I-I don’t understand,” you stammered. “How can he just—Oh my goodness!”

“I’ve got you now!” Sadık shouted and leapt from the top of a fruit stand to where the four of you (since Lovino was also with you) were running.

Then, you felt Lovino give your wrist a sharp tug sending the train of you and Heracles following you behind to pull forward. With a loud crash and a few tumbling fruits and surprised gasps, you realized Heracles had let go of your hand and became crushed underneath Sadık’s weight.

“Heracles!” you cried and attempted to see if your friend was severely hurt or not, but you heard Lovino urging you to stay with him.

“Huh,” Neoklis spoke up while keeping up with the two of you, “I was expecting him to get you right then and there, but your friend will slow him down.”

Sure enough, you heard a series of shouting and cursing about cats and being in the way. It must have been Sadık yelling at Heracles.

Oh, Heracles… you miserably thought hoping he was alright. When you looked back in front of you, you noticed that Lovino was completely visible again.

“Lovi, I can see you,” you pointed out to the first mate.

“That’s because I have to make sure that tomato bastard can see me when I find him,” Lovino growled, his eyes never leaving the front of his path. Suddenly—

“I’ve got you this time!” a familiar voice shouted. You nearly jumped out of your skin when you saw Sadık leap out from a concealed cart and try to grab your waist, but Lovino turned a sharp corner making him miss you by a hair.

“Wh-What the…?” you babbled. “H-How is that even possible? How did he catch up with us so fast?”

“He’s picked up some strange stealth skills from Kiku, it seems,” Neoklis breathed. He didn’t look like he was in the best condition. All of those days of being cooped up in the cat room and never getting enough exercise was finally getting to him.

“Ah, I can’t go on any further,” the cat-keeper panted and began to slow down until he reached a full stop.

“Neoklis!” you cried.

“Don’t worry about me, ___________,” he said, his voice getting softer as you got farther. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”

He’s really got a lot of confidence in his old captain, you frowned. Does that mean we’ll really be captured?

“Finally found you, you bastard!” Lovino growled and stopped running causing you to crash into his back and fall forward.

“You stupid girl! Watch where you’re going!” the first mate barked and threw you off. Before he looked away, you could clearly see the bright red flush in his cheeks from when you had fallen on him. If it wasn’t such a dire time, you would have thought he looked cute when he was flustered.

Anyway, as Lovino had mentioned, the two of you had found Antonio carrying a bucket full of tomatoes.

“Eh? Did you guys get the pasta like you were supposed to?” he asked completely unaware that Sadık and the others were hot on your trail.

“No, you idiot,” Lovino growled. “The sand rats from the Aral are here.”

“They are?”

“Of course they are, you idiot!” Lovino shouted to the top of his voice. “Why do you think we’re breathing so hard?!”

“Oh, I thought you were excited to see me!” Antonio laughed.

Your face fell. It was hard to take the captain of the Pinta seriously when he had such a free and easygoing air about him.

“Ah ha!” you heard a loud and exhausted voice shout from behind.

It’s Sadık, isn’t it? you thought and turned around. Sure enough, it was Sadık.

Now, when he set his eyes on the captain of the Aral, Antonio jumped backwards, dropped his bucket of tomatoes, and brought out a sword he pulled out of nowhere and pointed it at Sadık.

“Ggh! Sadık!” he hissed. “You’ve outsmarted me in the past, but I’m not going to let you get away with my key to Citaqua now!”

“Fat chance loser!” Sadık threw back and brought out a curved scimitar that had been hanging at his belt. “I’m going to cut you up so hard, your clothes will be the color of those tomatoes I always see you eating!”

“I’d like to see you try!” Antonio challenged the captain of the Aral as he stepped closer to meet his face.

“O ho ho ho!” Sadık laughed. “You really think you can defeat me?”

Meanwhile, you were wedged between the two captains like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. There was no way you could get out of this without getting hurt if a fight really started up. You had to do something.

“Don’t worry about it, ____________,” Neoklis sai—Wait, how in the world did he sneak up behind you so fast?

“You scared me!” you gasped clutching your hand to your chest.

“Sorry,” Neoklis apologized. “Anyway, there’s nothing you need to worry about. They always get like this. They’ll continue throwing empty threats at each other, and before you know it, they’ll settle their differences in a cook-off.”

You blinked in disbelief.

“A cook-off?”

Right after those words left your lips, something strange happened between Antonio and Sadık. It was like you had cast a spell over them, and their swords immediately withdrew into their hilts.

“Did someone say a cook-off?” Antonio asked no one in particular.

“When you put it that way, there’s only one true way to settle our problems!” Sadık jumped in.

“A cook-off!” the captains both shouted in unison.

They lost it. They completely lost it. Maybe you lost it, too.

“Wh-Wh-What the heck is going on?!” you babbled. Weren’t these two at each other’s throats only mere seconds before?

Then, before your brain could process anymore of this ridiculousness, Sadık pointed his hand into the air.

“It will be a battle of foods from the crewmembers!” he cried.

“The prize will be none other than the rightful ownership of _____________!” Antonio added pointing at you.

“Hey! I’m not something you can just go around selling and bartering off!” you shouted. “I’m a human being!”

“Yes, but you get to witness something rare that goes on in Issao while you’re here,” Neoklis added.

“That doesn’t pertain to me at all!”

“It will in a moment,” Neoklis assured you.

“The secondary prizes are the two cat-keepers: Neoklis and Hera-what’s-his-face!” Sadık suddenly brought up.

“See?” Neoklis said turning to you.

You frowned and began to look around. “But where’s Heracles if he’s going to be a prize, too? Wait: you do know you’re being put up as a prize by your own brother, right?”

The cat-keeper shrugged. “It’s just how the world works.”

“Don’t you even care?”

“Of course. But think of all the food that will be cooked.”

You buried your head into your hands.

Oh brother…

“And of course, ____________, here will be providing the water for our pasta dishes,” Antonio said.

You did a double take. “Seriously?”

“Who will be the judges?” Sadık asked.

“The prizes, of course!” Antonio answered.

“I agree!”

Your face fell. You had to choose between who you wanted to remain kidnapped by?

“Just think of it this way, ___________: at least there won’t be any bloodshed or violence if it’s done like this,” Neoklis pointed out.

“I’d rather not be a part of this at all,” you frowned.

“Too bad, ____________!” Sadık laughed. “After you get a taste of my fabulous cooking, you’ll never want to set foot aboard the Pinta again!”

You rolled your eyes and made a face unable to find a proper way to react to this level of ridiculousness. Maybe you could have escaped while the two captains were listing out the details of this cook-off competition they were going to host. Then again, you were getting hungry.