Chapter 3

" Listen here little girl, we don't want to hurt you, so don't force our hand" one of them sneered .

" Huh! Is that so? I thought you wanted to prove that you are men. But if you don't want to ,that's fine" she smirked.

" Why you little bitch!"

" Can you believe this girl? Huh? " One asked the other.

" Are you done acting like tough guys or...."

" You!!"

" Oh! Look at me, I am a tall tough man who wants to beat up a girl" said Nalani to rile them up.

" That is it, we will put you in your place, you crazy bitch!"

" Let's play then, all this talk is very boring" she faked a yawn " show me what you got"

The two men looked at each other as if they were communicating in code. The shorter one was the first to approach, he revealed his shinny dagger in a way to scare Nalani. However Nalani wasn't scared at all, in fact she felt calm, strong and ready to teach this men a very valuable lesson.

The short man had a creepy smile on his face and constantly licked his dry lips. Was it some sort of seduction? Nalani didn't know but she found it disturbing.

" Throw your best shot" she challenged.

The man was taken back by the aura of command coming from such a small woman. But instead of stopping while he still had the upper hand he swung his dagger at her. Nalani shifted to her left, spinning to face his back, and she used the pomel part of her sword to hit the back of his head.

He fell like a bag full of potatoes. One down, one to go she thought. The other man seemed confused and suprised but he got angrier when he looked at his friend. This woman had disrespected them in the worst way possible. He initially thought he should go easy on her, after all she is a woman but after what that woman did to his friend, he will show no mercy.

" I wanted to go easy on you but I have changed my mind"

"  For someone who looks so rough, you sure do talk too much. let's end this. I have other places to go and important people to see"

The man angered further by her taunting came charging towards her, bouncing on the balls of her feet, she readjusted her grip on her sword. Holding it upright and forward she waited for her opponent to make the first move . Their swords clashed every now and then as they both used their swords as shields.

Her opponent had a smug expression and was overconfident with his abilities but Nalani had only began. This felt like a practice round before the actual war. She studied her opponents technique and she came to an understanding that he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

He swayed his sword from left to right . Although he was poor at this, he had strength and that could win this battle. However Nalani was quick and well experienced.

Growing bored of the fight, Nalani tapped the end of her sword at his. She moved in and the man thought he had finally gotten his chance to ablitorate her. He swung his sword to deflect her fake attack but she leaned forward. She dropped her sword under his and attacked from the side , slicing his side. The cut was not deep as Nalani had no intentions of killing him.

She simply wanted to prove a point , that women can be fearless too. The man dropped on his knees and grabbed his side which was leaking blood. He was in shock. How could that little girl beat him at a sword fight? He wondered.

She knew she had won and instead of antagonizing her opponent she reached in her pocket and got out a satchel of coins. She dropped it near the man's eyesight.

" Give that to your boss,that is last week's and this week's payment"

She didn't wait for his response and went back to pushing her useless cart. It caused her all these problems. The man listened to the sound made by the carts movement and grew enraged. How could she humiliate him like this? He will punish her, he promised himself. He will put her in her place.

He took the satchel of coins shoved it in his pocket using his free hand. He rose to his feet despite the pain radiating from his side and walked to his friend who was still out. How much strength can one little girl have?

He nudged his friend with his foot to try and wake him but he was unsuccessful. This was what they get for doing their job. Occupation hazard they call it. In his years of collecting debts he has never faced anyone who opposed them and to go as far as winning buffled him. If it were not for the suffocating humiliation he felt, he would have admitted that , the woman was pretty remarkable.

However it didn't matter whether she was remarkable or not. Now she was in his boss's radar which was bad news for her. He felt abit sad for her. Although with the skills she displayed today, he knew they would have their hands full dealing with her.

She would make a good wife, he thought. She had the heart of a lioness.

After some moments ,his lazy friend finally regained consciousness. He took his sweet time as if he was on vacation. He on the other hand took care of his bleeding wound, which was now well bandaged. His only worry was what they would tell their scary boss.

Do they say they were robbed and hide the money? Or they could say they were drunk and got in trouble? One of those options was better than admitting they were beaten up by a girl. They debated on the way to their boss's house ,since it was late and he had probably gone home to rest. They thought of going with option two .

Their boss was a nasty noble man by the name Cain. No one knew why he was named that way but the name certainly suits him. He was among the most feared people in Florrin. People trembled at the mention of his name. He controlled most of Florrin since almost everyone in town owed him either money, a favour or their life.

In short he owned almost everyone. He was not a sweet man. He was cruel , vengeful and unforgiving. He punished his men for even the smallest mistake. One would think he was a perfectionist but in real sense he was a paranoid man. He feared that someone would come and take away his power .

You see, Cain was born from a humble home, they had almost nothing to their names. Often times they slept hungry and when they were lucky, they would eat one meal a day. His father was a tough man who beat them if he saw any sign of weakness. He was often his father's punching bag. Back then he hated his father for treating him so badly but now he has grown and owns property of his own, he understands the need to project dominance.

If he wasn't tough on his men, they wouldn't respect him. He had a reputation that no one would go against him.

The two men were allowed in his residence and they found him eating dinner alone. Cain had no wife or kids . He never saw a need to get any. He was more interested in material possessions than having someone to take care of. The life he lived was not easy, he had enemies all over town who would jump at an opportunity to hurt him, if he had a weakness. And a wife and children are weaknesses.

" What!" He asked in a raspy voice.

The two men, bowed their heads without saying anything.

" Do you have my money?"

" Yes sir," said the taller one

" Place it on the table.  What happened to your side?" He asked without taking his attention from his food.

" Nothing sir"

" Idiot 1 and idiot 2" he pointed at them " I will give you one more chance to tell me what happened"

" We were drunk" they blurted out

" Ooh I see. "

" Yes sir, we were drunk and we started fighting with some men on the tarven. Isn't that what happened?" Idiot 1 asked the other

" That is what happened" idiot 2 agreed.

" Mmmh" Cain inspected the knife he was holding keenly, before he looked at the two men lying to him.

Suddenly he threw the knife at them and it landed on the wall behind them. If there was one thing he hated, it was lies. He couldn't stand a liar. In his line of work you had to trust those you lay in bed with, otherwise what was the point of working with others.

" Did you really think I wouldn't know that you got your asses handed to you by a girl?" He asked annoyed

Both men went down in their knees pleading for mercy. They knew they had committed a mortal sin but they had done it anyway. They thought they could outsmart their boss but he was ten steps ahead of them. They had forgotten that had eyes all over the town.

" Please forgive us sir" one cried out

" Have mercy on us" the other lamented

" I don't think that girl beat you up alone, she must have had help. I want to know who would dare go against me. You will bring that girl to me or I will kill you. Do you understand?"

" Yes sir" they said quickly standing on their feet.

In a miraculous twist of events ,their boss found them the best excuse. If only they could find someone who hated the boss enough to go against him. Their lives depends on it. And if they don't find someone, they could just pin it on some poor soul. Who cared?

Cain watched his men go. They were cowards and idiots. He gave them an excuse to see how far they would go to protect themselves. That was yet to be determined. However that girl Nalani, she had piqued his interest. From the first time he saw her, he was mesmerized by her beauty and demeanor. He has never met anyone he was as interested in as her.  He wanted to know who she was. He wanted to know everything about her.

" You will be mine" he whispered to himself.