Tanvi nodded as Akileshwar finished explaining his fight with Sakradeva. She knew he took fighting very seriously, so it made sense that he had overreacted that night.

Akileshwar had learnt to fight with open eyes after that incident, and he had never seen Sakradeva ever since. 

'Akil, can you teach me fighting, in case, you know, I need protection. I've never been the greatest at the fighting type' Tanvi asked shyly. She felt as though women were often taken seriously when it came to battle. And she resented that.

Akileshwar managed a small smile and beckoned for her to follow him. They walked to the bottom deck of the ship where weapons lay and an area was, blank. It was at an adequate height and had a wall where the weapons were. It was kind of like the weapons station and the battle practice area of the ship. Akileshwar had no idea as to why a local merchant had a weapons area, but he didn't complain. 

Akileshwar went to the weapons wall and grabbed a random sword and tossed it to Tanvi. She caught it as Akileshwar pulled out his own from it's scabbard. He walked over to Tanvi and commanded her to take a stance.

She did as she was told. She held her sword in front of her and spread her back leg behind and  front leg straight. Her left hand was at her side as she faced forward. 

Akileshwar moved to her and started correcting her position. He placed her back leg slightly forward and front leg was kept slightly bent. He moved the sword hand slightly to the left so it did not block her vision and kept her sword straight as it was slightly bent.

'Now' Akileshwar walked in front of her and took a stance that was defensive. His legs were parallel and his sword was at his side. The same stance he had taken with Sakradeva. 

Tanvi, not being familiar with sword fighting, decided that this was a normal defensive stance and slowly started forward rather than circling. Once in striking distance, she jabbed weakly, not wanting to hurt Akileshwar. Akileshwar sidestepped and pointed his sword at her head. She spun around but was not quick enough to counter the attack. 

'Again' Akileshwar this time did not wait for Tanvi to be ready. He jabbed at her and Tanvi rolled to the side instinctively. Realizing she had an opening, she jabbed at Akileshwar's undefended side. He sidestepped and slashed at Tanvi's open side. It was now only she realized that he was using a wooden sword rather than a normal one. Tanvi felt a slight spike of pain at where Akileshwar jabbed and returned back to her original pose.

'Again' It went on like this again and again. Tanvi had always heard of how serious Akileshwar was about fighting. But only now she saw it. Even with regular training with a mediocre person at sword-fighting, he held a very serious and focused expression.

Tanvi once again jabbed and Akileshwar slashed at her left side, this time, Tanvi learnt from getting beat and sidestepped. Akileshwar gave her an impressed look but she didn't register it. She slashed at him and Akileshwar brought his sword to counter. Tanvi sidestepped to the side, attempting a faint and moved her right leg to the right side, but her mistake was to keep her left leg where it was, showing that it was a faint. Akileshwar detected it and brought his sword to the left and countered Tanvi's attack. She jumped back as Akileshwar jabbed and locked her sword onto his, attempting to disarm him by twisting the sword. But Akileshwar held his strong, firm, grip. He then proceeded to kick Tanvi in the stomach, but stopped just in front of it.

'Better' He said and broke into a smile at seeing Tanvi's tired and shocked face.

'Probably enough for the day' Said Akileshwar just as a bell went of on the above deck, signaling for everyone to be there.

Tanvi and Akileshwar raced to the top to see the dock they were aiming for. But that was not the problem. Placed in between the dock and the ship, was another ship, much larger than theirs. A flag was noticed on the top, a skull with two bones crossed under it. The ship was loaded with people standing on the deck. Even from far away, Akileshwar could see their smugness and sense of thievery. 

'Pirates' He growled. Just their luck. When they were just going to dock, pirates come in their way. Of course, Mahanadi was famous for breeding pirates and precious cargo. So, Akileshwar knew they were bound to meet pirates somewhere.

'When did they appear?' Asked Akileshwar.

'We saw them come from the other side of our ship. We tried to steer clear of them but they noticed us and chased us down' Replied the man who was steering the ship, Satyaram, by name.

Akileshwar grit his teeth. He squinted and saw that a man stood on the front deck of the pirate ship. He had a full bearded face that was slightly tones. He seemed to be pointing at their ship and Akileshwar looked behind him. He heard the faint sound of arrows nocking and saw that archers were holding bows with arrows nocked. On the arrows, there were orange glints.

Akileshwar's eyes widened. Fire.

'Get to the below deck!' He yelled to the people of his ship. Bhringi, Kali, Tanvi, David Cross,  Satyaram along with two other people started down to the below deck. They reached their safely just as the arrows were shot into the sky. Fire and arrows rained upon the empty front deck as they ran to the below deck where the arrows would not reach them.

'How do we get out?' Asked David Cross as they reached the below area.

Akileshwar desperately thought of a plan to escape or fight back. He ruled out fighting, as the pirates were way more equipped for war. He was stupid for not bringing more people. The main reasons for that being that was because they had planned a safe journey to Naraka, where only Tanvi, Bhringi, Akileshwar, David Cross and Kali would venture.

An idea struck him. 'Didn't the merchant say there were extra rowboats present on the ship side? If we could get there-'

'Too risky' Kali cut of and Bhringi nodded in agreement.

'The arrows will penetrate the boat easily. The ship is our only protection' He said.

'Well, we have got to think of something soon, because the fire will soon spread throughout the ship and it will sink' Satyaram Informed .

'What the hell do pirates want with us anyway?!' Shouted Cross. He had a panicked expression on his pale face. All he wanted right now was to survive. 

'Pirates don't care about wants except when it comes to money. They must have assumed we have jewels on board or something. Or else, they might want to just strike us down to prove they are masters of the seas. Pirates are unpredictable people' Explained Akileshwar. 

Akileshwar heard the sound of wood cracking and the masts falling above. His eyes widened as the mast crashed onto the above deck and destroyed their protecting. The fire took that part and spread throughout the ship as Akileshwar felt it getting wildly hot. Smoke started appearing as the group coughed and squinted. This was the end.

Suddenly, the fire started clearing and shouts were heard from above. Akileshwar heard arrows being fired and thought with horror that the pirates had shot another volley.

Surprisingly, water was suddenly poured onto the the places where the fire was spreading. It cleared just as it neared Akileshwar and the clear sky was once again, clear.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, forgetting about who saved them as they took heavy breaths that they realized they had been holding.

Then, Akileshwar remembered that they were saved. He moved up the to the deck using the stairs that had surprisingly not been destroyed. As he reached the half destroyed above deck he saw the pirate ship sinking and fire was spreading throughout the deck. He glanced to the left and saw that there was another ship present, much more splendid than either of the ships.

It was a much larger ship with more people on it. Archers had just finished firing arrows and were putting down their bows. A single man stood on the deck in a yellow angavastram and purple dhoti. He held confidence and fierceness that could be seen from far away. The ship had gold masts and on it's front, where a symbol usually was, was a Golden helmet. A large one. Akileshwar knew that symbol.

He looked at Akileshwar's ship and for a moment he thought he was going to fire on their ship too. But then, he signaled for the man on the steering to move to the ship.

Akileshwar moved to the edge of the broken deck where the other ship was joining.

It neared them and moved to align with Akileshwar's ship. Once achieving it, a plank was lowered to walk onto Akileshwar's ship. The man who had stood on the front deck walked to the front deck of Akileshwar's ship and it was only now that he realized he was wearing a gold helmet. Which was rare because only the most fiercest warriors or else known as Hiranyathratri wore the attire that he wore. If Akileshwar guessed correctly, they had full armor that was all gold and very protective. The Hiranyathratri's symbol was the golden helmet present on the ship's front.

'Who are you?' Asked Akileshwar. Regardless of the fact that he had just saved them, he could not trust this mysterious man.

The man raised his head to the side slightly as though he raised an eyebrow. 'Why, my friend, do you not recognize me?'

Akileshwar frowned. For some reason, this man's voice sounded familiar.

'Let me make it easier for you' He said as he removed his helmet revealing someone from Akileshwar's childhood.

'Sakradeva?'