Peaceful Bay.
The former trading port had changed beyond recognition.
Half the stone mooring posts once used to secure merchant ships had been smashed, replaced by makeshift berths cobbled together from wrecked ships' keels and thick iron chains.
The smooth flagstones paving the streets had long since been pried up and scattered. Rubble mixed with mud underfoot, sticky and disgusting.
The walls of shops and homes along the streets were covered in crude graffiti and skull flags. Their windows had been boarded shut, leaving only narrow gaps through which numb eyes peered out.
Most of the locals who had failed to escape in time had become the pirates' property. The men were forced to haul cargo, and the slightest delay earned a lash across the back from an overseer's whip. Women and children were locked in enclosed huts, their eyes vacant as they waited to be sold.
Two pirates held Mia up, one on either side, as she stumbled down the street.
Her sodden clothes clung to her body, outlining curves that drew countless lustful whistles and jeers.
"The boss really struck gold this time!"
"This chick's fucking gorgeous!"
Mia kept her head lowered, her eyes full of calculation.
Honestly, these bastards are even cruder than Hector's thugs. Still, that's fine. The more these idiots let desire rule them, the easier they are to handle.
Their destination was the largest building in the deepest part of the harbor-the Siren's Song.
It had once been an imposing merchants' guildhall. Now a skull assembled from whale ribs hung above its doors. The tavern was packed and deafeningly loud, the roaring voices threatening to lift the roof.
Over a hundred pirates crowded the main hall, raising their cups and pouring cheap rum down their throats.
Tables were piled with charred chunks of meat