Nose to Nose

The group of 4 made their way to the boat, which was beached when Lia pulled the black marlin out of the waters, with the help of Jim and the other 2 spearfishermen who reported the little lady to begin with.

If those bastards only knew that they would get 1,500 gold coins just by casually beaching a large fish, they would have stuck with Lia. It's not like those two care about the greater good, they just wanted the reward coins.

Jim however stood by her side, it's still not certain to Lia regarding why he did that.

If it was love, that would just be creepy because Lia is 16 years old, basically not even an adult yet and Jim is a 27 year old Ignite man.

Love pushed aside, it still remained massively puzzling on why Jim stuck by her side, a puzzle she doesn't want to think about right now.

As they dashed their way down to the beach, with Saleem carrying King Macek on his back, noticing that they weren't alone, became the inevitable.

Although the boat was intact and wasn't struck by anyone in the means of preventing them from escaping, a bigger problem was approaching. 

The life of King Macek suddenly became irrelevant as a guard commander took control of the scene, a hunch after the group of 4 left the Kingdom of wide rivers.

Above 100 guards came out of the Kingdom's main gates and bursted towards the group of 4!

No matter how much King Macek yelled for them to retreat, those raging fuckers just plainly ignored his commands.

This embarrassment of a King treasures nothing more than his own life, but at the moment even his life seemed to be in a rather great risk, considering the lack of control of this situation.

"Push dad! They are getting close!" Yelled out Kaleem, urging his father in such a fatal situation.

He would help lift the boat but as mentioned before, the young man cracked 2 fingers bringing that watchtower down. And the pain now was getting greater although he was holding hauls of pain in because of Lia.

"This thing is like a boulder!" Gave out Saleem a muffled reply, with King Macek still over his back.

"Alright! Drop the bastard down, I'll hold him still." Pitched Jim swiftly, pulled out his sword after which he took from a dead guard earlier.

As Saleem took no time or caution to drop King Macek, Jim placed his foot over the bastard's chest, sword pointed forwards an inch away from the King's neck even.

"The Guards are a 100 yards away gentlemen, why isn't my boat in the Water yet?" As Lia finished her sentence, she took a quick sprint, ran towards the boat and actually managed to move it by an inch. 

Which was progress because Saleem didn't even move the whole shit until now.

With a force of two people, the boat started moving inch by inch. But they killed all stamina in that short moment because of all their strength bashed in.

Yet the boat hasn't slid deep enough and yet danger increased by the passing breath.

"My hand's broken but the other isn't! Let's do it all together on 3!" As Kaleem finished his counting, they put in the last bit of cumulative strength.

Managing to move the boat at twice the speed now, which was harshly enough to make the thing float. But once the water aided, Jim alone could push it into deeper waters so this is firmly a success.

"Move move move!" Hollered Saleem as he grabbed the King and tossed the little man along with Jim on the boat.

"I said move!" Yelled out Saleem once more when he caught Kaleem and Lia looking awkwardly at each other as they both insisted on who should climb first.

Kaleem wanted Lia to climb first because he wanted to ensure the little lady's safety over his own.

And Lia wanted Jim to climb on the boat first because the good willed illustratio had a broken hand and could use assistance underneath while climbing.

Which is why Saleem lost his last nerve and forced them to become airborne.

But it was worth hitting the hard wooden plank for. Because even if they wanted this or not, Saleem tossed them in such a way that Lia ended up over Kaleem, almost kissing him, practically being nose to nose.

Seeing themselves in such an embarrassing situation, they both got red even though considering Kaleem has dark green skin.

But he no doubt liked it and Lia became tremendously shy because no boy could ever approach her that close even if they wanted too.

Pushing the boat deeper towards the sea waters and almost tipping the boat over while climbing on, they can finally set sail.

Saleem did most of the work on keeping everyone's behinds safe, we can't underestimate his grand effort.

"Paddle!" Saleem yelled as he urged everyone to work with all their might.

Including King Macek because Kaleem's hand was still cracked, can't let his boy work any further now can he? 

And what bravery had King Macek to go against a 6.4 foot man's word?

But the short minute everyone required to set everything into motion, took too long!

About 7 guards have duck their hands on the boat's woodwork, even had the guts and strength to start climbing up.

"We have company!" Kaleem shouted, alarming the group.

One of the guards had already climbed on deck, on the other side of the boat that is.

After alarming them, he rushed towards the armed guard and leaped for a kick! He really didn't want to punch anything right now and the reason behind it was obvious.

The enemy became airborne shortly after, piercing the air a bit before landing on water.

"We can't stop paddling or everyone will climb on!" Saleem pointed out the obvious as he put a stronger paddle to accelerate the boat. "You have to take them out son!"

Understanding the situation and demand, the young illustratian man walked towards the backside of the boat and noticed that 6 more guards were putting in efforts to climb up, while there was an entire tail of these enemies bursting in the sea waters, trying to reach the boat.

Having a sword carried from that thirsty battle in the castle, he pulled it out of the scabbard and aimed at the guard who climbed the furthest.

It struck the man right on the head, death is an inevitable factor due to that process, but it aided in a different way too.

The enemy fell and knocked out another man behind him, so what was too dangerous earlier remained mild now as there were 4 more guards trying to climb on.

By the time he took out those guards, another one climbed dangerously close so Kaleem took the liberty to kick the man right on the face.

Such a strike coming from a boy who had super strength, well he heard a strong crack after the kick, had to be the enemy's neck bone.

Out of a sudden, Kaleem saw a dagger rushing downwards and hitting another guard.

Gazing at his left, the young man spotted Lia by his side. "Uhhh... what about paddling?"

Pointing behind them, he spotted Saleem getting at it with 2 paddles, fairly increased the boat's speed too. "Your dad has it covered."

Looking back down, Lia tossed her own sword against one of the enemies!

It sunk right across the chest, scratched the woodwork even but nothing that can force them to sink.

As for the only remaining enemy, his hands "slipped" so he fell into the water a few breaths after that last kill.

"Coward." Murmured Kaleem and spotted Lia getting back to her paddling spot.