”Calfie is sleeping, again,” said Pugonathan. It’s been three weeks since they’ve started their new expedition. Captain Eaglen, chef Pugonathan, swordsman Liona, gunman Beavo, the newest member of the team navigator Calfie, and Antie and her family as the crew.

Captain Eaglen was known for his extravagant style. Some even called him ‘fly.’ His personality, on the other hand, was quite the opposite.

”Let him rest,” said the Captain. “He gave me directions not so long ago. And you know-”

Pugonathan was waiting for Eaglen to finish his sentence, but he looked quite unsure. “Go on lad. Just say it,” said Pugonathan with a warm smile. He knew that the captain was about to say something rude, and this was a rare occurrence. Pugonathan wanted to be entertained.

After a moment of staring at each other, Captain Eaglen broke the silence. “His fat arse gets tired as soon as he climbs up to the crow’s nest. Don’t get me wrong, he’s top-tier at navigating, but why the hell do we have a calf that can not move for more than 10 seconds without having a breather, climbing up to the crow’s nest?”

Pugonathan looked up towards Calfie and burst out a loud laugh. Captain Eaglen’s beak turned red. “Are you blushing or holding in a laugh?” asked the pug, but he already knew the answer. Eaglen always turned red after cracking jokes. Making his buddies laugh was his biggest joy, and sometimes, his biggest weakness.

Once Eaglen gets to that ‘shy state,’ it is a piece of cake for Pugonathan to manipulate him. And this was our dear pug’s special talent. He was well aware of his cuteness and loved using it to his advantage. Even against the ones he loved.

Whilst those two were laughing their asses off, Liona was sharpening one of her daggers. Liona, Eaglen and Pugonathan were childhood friends. Eaglen the shut-in rich boy, Pugonathan the annoying kid who works at his family’s tavern, and Liona the daughter of a servant. You might’ve guessed already, but yes, Liona’s father was a servant for Eaglen’s family. Her journey from being a servant’s daughter to being a feared swordmaster, defending a famous captain happened out of her choice. But, ever since they left home many years ago, she realized the beauty of life. A life full of adventures. A life, her father never had the chance to experience.

Liona, obviously, knew about Pugonathan’s antics and knew how naive Eaglen could be. Pugonathan opened his mouth and got ready to start a sentence, but instead of saying something he just shouted, “Aye!” as Liona grabbed him by his feet and turned him upside down. “We’re just having a laugh, Liona. Can you bring him down, please?” said Eaglen. He knew Liona’s weakness; it was himself. She valued Eaglen’s words more than anyone’s, and Eaglen has always been honest and genuine with her. The trust they had in each other was unbreakable.

Liona brought Pugonathan down. Or we could say dropped… “Thanks, gorgeous,” said Pugonathan. This wasn’t one of his manipulative tactics. Liona’s beauty was one of those rare things which he never lied about. Both Eaglen and Pugonathan always thought that Liona was the most beautiful girl that had ever lived. They MIGHT sound a little bit too excited, but they’ve always seen her as their little sister. They were so proud of the lioness she had become.

”My stomach is rumbling,” said Liona, quivering her lips, trying to look sad. Pugonathan rolled his eyes and shook his head. “That won’t work on me, m’lady. AND I just cooked you some human kidney,” Pugonathan said and pointed at her empty plate. “We wouldn’t want our swordmaster to get chubby, don’t we Cap?”

”We wouldn’t want our chef to get chubby as well, but here we are,” said Eaglen, and winked. Pugonathan wanted to look pissed, but his cute little face didn’t allow him to do that.

”Ooooh, you two won’t be smiling after I fart on your meals!”

”As if…” said Eaglen.

”WHAT!?!?” Pugonathan kept on looking adorable even when he was shouting.

”You never stop farting. Don’t act like you do. You could, probably, wake up Calfie with your fart.”

After Eaglen put that idea into the world, they all squinted their eyes for a moment. The more their heads turned upwards towards to crow’s nest, the more their eyes got wider. They liked that idea.

”May I?” asked Pugonathan with a smirk on his face. He jumped onto a barrel, took some deep breaths, and shook his butt a little.

”Whadda ye kiddos up to?”

None of them noticed the old man sneaking up.

”You have woken up, Mr. Beavo! That wasn’t a long nap though,” said the Captain, lifting his hat to greet the ship’s gunman.

”Sommat dropped in the kitchen, I think. It woke me up.”

Pugonathan slowly turned his head towards Liona. This time he had a bigger smirk. But Liona had already closed her eyes with shame. Her lips were pursed. She felt bad for the old man.

”We-we hit a big wave,” ensured Eaglen.

”Bloody ocean… Tis why I hate its guts,” said Beavo. Even though he’s been part of this ship’s crew for years, he still struggled with getting used to the sea life. After scratching his head quite aggressively, he looked up towards the crow’s nest. “Spill the beans.”

”I-I was about to fart,” said Pugonathan. Even he was a bit ashamed.

”So you decided to jump on a barrel?”

Pugonathan opened his arms to the side with an expression on his face that was clearly saying, “Why not?”

”Do it then, come on,” said Beavo. He looked surprisingly excited about this. His usual tiredness was absent. Pugonathan looked at his friends, hoping they would save him. But they weren’t interested in that. Both Eaglen and Liona were nodding with their eyes wide open. Pugonathan farting to wake up Calfie could’ve been funny, but him doing that in front of Mr. Beavo was definitely funnier.

”Alright,” said Pugonathan with the least enthusiastic voice ever.

He laid down on the top of the barrel and pulled his legs towards his face. As Pugonathan was getting ready, Eaglen gestured away from the barrel to get Liona and Mr Beavo out of the kill zone. Once they were at a safe distance, Pugonathan took a deep breath and ripped out a quaker. Everyone, including Pugonathan, was shocked at the intensity of the fart, but they had no time to take it in; not the smell, the volume…

In that exact moment Pugonathan farted, the ship crashed into some debris, which caused everyone to lose balance. Them losing balance was fine, but Calfie… He fell down from the crow’s nest, head first. There was blood everywhere. They were shaken. They’d only known him for about a month, but he was a good lad. Eaglen approached his body; and checked his pulse. The result was as expected. “He’s gone,” Eaglen said and put his hat on Calfie. He wanted to cry, but he knew there was no time.

“Liona can you go down to Antie and ask how severe is the damage, please?” asked the Captain. Without saying a word Liona rushed downstairs.

“Pugonathan can you go up and tell me if there is any land nearby?”

”On it,” he answered and started climbing up the stairs.

”I’ll find something to cover him up,” said Mr. Beavo as he patted Eaglen’s shoulder. Eaglen nodded, and ”Can you see anything?” he shouted towards his pug friend.

”There is an island due north-east, but it’s quite far away.”

Eaglen took a deep breath. He was annoyed at himself for letting this happen, and he would’ve been annoyed at Calfie too if he was still alive. But calmed himself down. “At least there is a land nearby if it comes to it,” he whispered to himself and rushed towards the wheel and redirected the ship to the northeast. He had a hunch. And when Liona appeared next to him again, she proved him right.

”Ship doesn’t have much time.”