Sonya

Sonya

Before she earned renown as a pirate hunter, Sonya was just an ordinary barmaid at an Inn.

She grew up in a chaotic port town and the guests at the Inn came from every walk of life, all of them dangerous: sailors, dockworkers, soldiers, and mercenaries. Dealing with those ruffians was never easy, so Sonya learned to protect herself like no other bar wench before her.

Captain Phil Anders could still recall the day when he first met Sonya, who was no older than fifteen. It was in the narrow alley behind the Inn when a group of hooligans confronted Sonya. They had sneers on their faces and ill intent in their hearts. Young as she was, Sonya clawed, bit, and scratched, eventually sending the ill-intentioned roughs running. Greatly impressed by what he witnessed, Phil offered his dagger and gun to Sonya, eager to see what mischief she might create.

Not surprisingly, from that day forward, gunshots and the whir of a flashing blade were the hallmark sounds emanating from the Inn. A soldier's scream or a mercenary's moan meant that Sonya was at her business again.

But it wasn't until her eighteenth year that Sonya found true fame. A gang of pirates had raided and looted the harbor town, wreaking havoc on all...until Sonya single-handedly subdued and captured the band by herself, earning a tidy bounty for her efforts.

However, as everyone knows, stories always tend to stray from truth. The truth is that on the day of the pirate raid, Sonya was hiding in an empty barrel in the Inn's cellar. Later, in the dead of night, Sonya snuck out, Knocking two drunken pirates unconscious as she fled. Unfortunately, other pirates heard the commotion and surrounded Sonya. Then, just as she was about to be overwhelmed, Captain Phil appeared, stunning the pirates with ease.

Nobody knew Captain Phil was a skilled swordsman because Phil himself did not show much interest in swordplay. As the night wore on (and the pirates fell one by one) Sonya saw for herself what tactics Phil used instead. A master of subterfuge, Phil lured, attacked from the darkness, threw sacks over heads, any kind of feint or dirty trick that worked.

The astonishment continued the next morning, when the town officials came to take the pirates away and offer payment for their capture. At the end of the line of captured pirates, Phil stood, shackled, pretending to be the leader of the band of brigands. The townspeople were amazed that Sonya not only captured the pirates single-handedly, but she was also able to subdue the legendary Captain Phil Alders as well! Not only that, the bounty offered for Captain Phil was more than the bounty offered for all other pirates combined!

Sonya was not surprised at all when she heard the Town Crier yelling in the town square the next day" "Hear ye, hear ye! Pirate Phil Anders Escapes from Jail."

When Sonya returned home, she also was unsurprised that the Captain had stolen the bounty paid out to her for Phil's capture from her hiding place behind a dresser. She found a note with bad handwriting next to her pillow: "Thanks for drawing out the cash for me> I only took what I am owed."

Phil also left a rose for Sonya, though its petals had already begun to fade.

After that day, Sonya bade her ordinary routine farewell to pursue a life of adventure. As the years passed and the list of criminals she captured grew longer (and her legend grew), people looked forward to the day when the legendary pirate Captain Phil Anders and Cataline, the only hunter who had ever caught him, met each other once again.

What does Sonya think about that day? Only God knows!