8 The Rotting Clover #8

Five Months Later

East Clover Forest

I grunted as I gripped the charging giant boar's tusks and flipped to its side, causing it to squeal and flail wildly on the ground. I didn't hesitate as I reached for my spear, embedded into the dirt beside me, and buried it into the beast's skull.

"Looks like we're gonna be eating well for a while, Heat..." I said with a grin as I turned to the tall young man, who was watching the battle in silence. He merely grunted with a nod as he started dragging the boar away.

It's been several months since we ambushed those gangsters in the forest under Nyoka's orders, and the young man that Kid was beating the shit out of after the battle turned out to be Heat, one of the redhead's future crewmates.

I don't know how they met in the original work, but I was sure their first encounter was vastly different than what happened in the forest, likely due to my presence.

Heat's situation was similar to ours since he worked for a big gang in West Clover, and his boss sent him on a mission to ambush the same group we were targeting, all on his lonesome to boot.

Naturally, we got the drop on them first, and Heat couldn't return to his gang empty-handed, so he attacked Kid as soon as we were separated, which didn't go as well as he'd hoped.

The redhead was hell-bent on killing Heat, but I quickly intervened and stopped him once I realized who the young man was by suggesting we take him in instead of killing him.

Initially, Kid hated the very idea, but when I reminded him of our situation and our need for whatever help we could find, he had no choice but to relent and offer Heat to join our little merry band of adolescent cuthroats.

Unsurprisingly, Heat agreed to the offer without hesitation as he had no love lost for his gang and knew they'd just kill him or worse if he returned to them empty-handed.

Even more unsurprisingly, he fit right at home with Kid and Killer as he was just as prone to violence as his future shipmates were and strong enough to carry his own weight.

Though he rarely spoke, he was a great listener and pleasant enough guy as long as you weren't on the receiving end of the fireballs he'd shoot out of his mouth like a friggen circus performer.

Of course, I didn't spend the past months idling about as I continued my training, and I was already at a point where I had very little to worry about inside Four Clover Island, aside from the big gang bosses.

I also took a liking to the spear I looted out of the carriage and invested some time to learn using it in battle without turning myself into swiss cheese. I won't be competing for the title of the world's greatest spearman anytime soon, but you get the idea.

Besides my training, I didn't forget my goals and had already gathered enough money to leave the island. The only thing stopping me was Kid and the others, as I couldn't just up and abandon them, deep in shit with Nyoka as they were.

I've grown more than a bit fond of the little group of violent shitheads, and I wasn't afraid to admit it. I couldn't see myself going anywhere until I found a way to help them wriggle out of Nyoka's slimy paws.

Speaking of which, I was still confused why the bastard wanted us dead or why he'd have to use such a roundabout way of doing it, but I did a little digging and found out that Old Dean, that drunken old fence was the only thing holding him back.

I didn't know why Old Dean would do such a thing, but it unsettled me as the idea of some old guy being able to hold back a bonafide gang leader was rather strange, meaning there was more to the elder than what little met the eye.

Despite living for more than a year in this lawless hellhole, I was never the paranoid type, but even I had to question what ulterior motives the old guy had, and I was fully intent on finding out.

"Go ahead and take it to the others. I've got something to do in town," I said, and Heat merely nodded as he continued dragging the boar away, seemingly unfazed by its size, which was three times his own.

"And tell Kid there will be hell to pay if I find nothing but bones when I'm back..." I said with a chuckle, getting a faint smile from Heat as I turned around and walked away.

...

The Shark's Kennel

"Oh... I was wonderin' if I'd ever see ye again, lad," Old Dean said with a smile as he heard someone approaching him and turned around to see it was Cedric. "Come to have another drink with an old sea dog, have ye?" He added, patting the stand next to him at the bar.

"Let's cut the crap, old timer," Cedric blankly said, still obliging and sitting down despite his less-than-polite words. "You're protecting us from Nyoka and his lot. Why?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

"So, lemme get this straight..." Old Dean said, raising an eyebrow. "Ye think lil ol' me can stand up to Nyoka's gang, an' that I'm doin' it to protect a punk like yerself...?" He added, his tone growing colder as he stared Cedric down, but the latter remained unfazed.

"An' instead of thanks, ye come to me with suspicion...?" Old Dean said, and the air seemed to grow heavier with every word he spoke, the pressure causing Cedric's heart to sink.

Cedric merely nodded, despite himself.

"Good. Gullible youngsters don't float too long in these troubled waters..." The old pirate said with a laugh, and the pressure instantly disappeared as he smiled. "Aye, Nyoka wants ye brats dead. And it was I what saved yer hides," He added as he leisurely poured himself a drink.

"But why would an ol' sea dog go out of his way to help a punk such as yerself, ye might be wondering..." Old Dean said, maintaining his smile as he downed the drink in one gulp, wiped his mouth, and turned back to Cedric.

"A whim would be the simple answer..." The old pirate concluded. "And the complicated one?" Cedric asked with a frown, clearly not buying the reply he received.

"Ye see, lad, I've been around far longer than most..." He added, his smiling expression replaced by a reflective one as he sighed. "I watched over our little town back when it was the beacon of freedom what me pa and his shipmates made it to be..." Old Dean said as he reached for the glass to pour another, only to push it aside and go for the entire bottle instead.

"And I watched it rot into the wretched piss-pool it is today..." The old pirate said as he put the bottle in his mouth, inhaling half its content in one gulp. "Money an' power tend to change folks and places like that. Couldn't do anything about it then, couldn't do anything about it now..." He added as he slammed the bottle on the bar and regained his smile.

"Aye, eventually I gave up on the town, but then I heard talk of a foolish lad what couldn't shut his mouth, always talkin' about going into the sea..." The old pirate said, smiling from ear to ear. "It reminded me of the ol' tales me pa used to tell about how he used to be a loud-mouthed brat as a lad..." He added with a chuckle.

"It made me think there's hope for this damned town, but I heard he up and disappeared later, and that hope was gone..." Old Dean continued, shaking his head. "Then ye suddenly showed up at my doorstep, and though the hope didn't come back with ye..." He added, his tone growing heavier as he trailed off.

"I still wanted one good thing to come out of me pa's town... that's ye in case yer wondering," He concluded with a shrug as he put on the usual cheery smile people would see on his face.

"So there was a time when this shithole was actually decent..." Cedric muttered, more to himself than Old Dean. "Let's say I believe you and leave it there... but what about Nyoka? Why does he want us dead?" He asked with a frown.

"Aye, Nyoka is another example of money an' power rotting everythin' in its path..." Old Deadn said in a bitter tone. "Once he was an orphan, too much like ye and yer friends..." He explained, momentarily pausing as he seemed to remember the details.

"Another gang was running the town when Nyoka was a but a star-eyed lad..." Old Dean said with a chuckle. "They were just as cruel and money hungry as Nyoka's lot, though the lad wasn't, not yet.." He explained.

"Nyoka started his own gang cause he didn't like how they did things... and it all went to shit from there..."

...

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