With every second the shouting became louder and louder, the gunfire got closer to their cabin. Philippa's eyes trembled in fear, in order to protect Yakon, who was now crying, she squeezed him harder and put him closer to her chest, it seemed to have calmed him down a bit, but he was still scared out of his mind. 

Two deep, male voices were shouting on the outside of the train cabin, it sounded like they were dragging something on the floor and whatever that thing was it was struggling. 

Christina tried to hide the nervousness on her face, but she knew that whoever was outside was not a friend, so she looked at Philippa and spoke calmly.

Christina: "Listen to me, Philippa. Hide under the bench and no matter what happens DO NOT go outside!" 

Philippa: "But what are you going to do?!" 

Christina: "We are going to have a little chat with those men…" 

Philippa squeezed beneath the bench, on which she sat on, covered the baby's mouth and eyes and tried to make herself as small as possible. 

The two young ladies gently opened the door to the hallway, they looked to their left and noticed two muscular men, with torn up clothes and bandanas over their mouths, in one of the men's hands he was dragging a woman with a sealed mouth. It didn't take long before the men noticed Christina and Alexandra, they dropped the woman and pointed these old-fashioned guns filled with gunpowder, then they spoke angrily with a foreign accent. 

Man 1: "Ohohohoho look at this, mate, we really be hittin' the jackpot today, ain' we?" 

Man 2: "Damn straight, I guess we will be havin' some fun after all!"

Alexandra: "Dear God…" - she said in annoyance.

A frozen spear appeared in the palm of Alexandra's hand, with her amazing precision, she threw the spear right in his shoulder, pinning him to the wall, but not killing him. The man next to him looked surprised and quite terrified when he found out who he was facing. In the moment when he was the most distracted, Christina used that opportunity to hit him on the side of the throat, knocking him out. 

Alexandra grabbed the man by the collar and removed his bandana, she looked at him in an intimidating way and asked.

Alexandra: "Who are you?!" 

The man: "Isn't it obvious, sweetheart, we are pirates! We came here because we heard that there's a lot of wealthy people on this train, but we didn't know that there were two mages here…" - The man leaned next to her ear and whispered. "...Your organs will earn us a fortune…" 

Alexandra: "What are you talking about?! You are defeated!" 

The man: "I'm pretty sure your friend knows exactly what I'm talking about…" 

Alexandra: "Huh?" 

She turned around to see what the man was talking about, she saw Christina lying on the floor with her eyes closed and a strange dart on her neck, before she could even react, that same sort of dart stabbed her throat. Her sight became blurry, in a matter of seconds she lost control over body and fell on the ground, but before the world turned completely dark, she saw somebody coming towards her from the hallway up front. 

A very deep female voice laughed and then said in a happy tone. 

???: "HAHAHAHA FUCKING HELL! We makin' a fortune after tonight!" 

*** 

The room revealed itself to Christina's eyes, she saw a bunch of people stacked up together in the main wagon, the people who attacked them were pointing their guns at the people and demanded their most valuable possessions. 

She slowly lifted her head from the ground when she realized her hands and legs were tied up. 

???: "HAHAHAHAHAHA And those motherfuckers from Nkrumah used to say 'Pirates ain't doing shit on the ground' wait until I tell them we captured two mages HAHAHA!" - The same voice from earlier spoke.

The pirate next to her was really stunned, he was sitting there like a statue, clearly afraid of her. She looked him in the eyes. 

???: "Why so fucking serious, mate? Are ya telling me my joke ain't funny enough for ya?!" 

The pirate: "No, captain, I jus-" 

The woman pulled a dagger out of her belt and pointed it at his throat. 

???: "Listen to me, ya little shit, if you want to live you are going to laugh at every joke that comes out of my mouth, understand?" 

The pirate: "Hahahahahah!" 

???: "Well that wasn't a joke, but you are doing a good job." - She glanced over one of the pirates. "HEY JOHNNY! COME OVER HERE!" 

Johnny: "A-a-aye, Captain Nadoka?" 

Christina: "So her name is Nadoka?" - She told herself.

Nadoka: "Well since you are the only bloody fucker from our crew who can read, I want you to take the list with the passengers' names and make sure everyone is here right now, don't want anyone running away. Meanwhile I'm going to have a little chat with the two princesses we have over here. P-princesses? Princesies? Eh whatever, I was never that good at common language anyway!" 

The Captain got closer to Christina, her vision was still a bit blurry from the tranquilizer, but as Nadoka got closer, she was finally able to take a good look at her. Her skin was dark, her hair was short and tied up in dreadlocks, her clothes were made out of torn up leather and her left leg was replaced by a cannon. 

Nadoka ran her fingers through Christina's hair and examined her eyes. 

Nadoka: "Ahhh I recognize you! I saw your wanted poster a while ago, ya name is Christina Strider, am I right? And your friend over there is Alexandra Marrow? HAHAHAHAH Your heart is worth over 10,000 Rios!" 

Christina: "So that's what you want, huh? Well I hate to bring it to you, but you are just like the rest of the bad men who tried to hunt me down and sell my heart on the black market. I believe we can end this peacefully, we will give you all of the money we have and you will leave us alone, deal?" 

Nadoka: "HAHAHAHAHAHA I like you! You are really funny!" 

Alexandra: "That wasn't a joke, or perhaps you are not smart enough to understand it?" 

Nadoka: "Oh I know she wasn't joking, sweetheart, I just find it funny that she thinks we will be satisfied only with the miserable money you have. Nah, I'm not letting a deal like that slide!" 

While Nadoka and the girls were talking, the rest of the pirates took all of the money and valuable possessions of the rest of the passengers and Johnny was carefully checking to see if everyone was there. 

Johnny: "Captain, two people from the train are missing. A woman named Philippa and her baby, Yakon." 

Nadoka: "A baby ey? Oh well, search the entire train for those fuckers, if they escape I will blow up ya bloody mouths!" - Nadoka pointed a gun at Johnny's mouth, he shivered in fear as she stared into his eyes. "Aye?" 

Christina: "You can't do that to them!" 

Nadoka: "Why not? Eh sure, I mean the baby will cry a little, but he will be fine. I was eating snakes when I was less than a year old and I turned out fine" - She said in a laid-back tone.

Christina: "You bitch!" 

Nadoka: "You know, you are really starting to give me a headache with all that whining. MAKE HER SHUT UP!"

Nadoka violently pushed one of her men towards Christina, he reached out his hand to grab her head. 

… 

For just one second, Christina opened her mouth and a large pink flame came out of it, which engulfed the man. He began to row on the ground in pain and in a desperate attempt to extinguish the fire. While the rest of the crew were watching this in shock, Christina freed herself and Alexandra from the bindings around their arms, she snapped her fingers and the fire disappeared, the man was alive, but unconscious. 

Nadoka: "I THOUGHT YA TOLD ME THAT THEY CAN'T USE MAGIC WITH THEIR ARMS TIED UP?!" - She squeezed Johnny's neck. 

Johnny: "I-I-I I didn't know… t-that one of them can breathe fire, captain…" 

Christina: "Alex, make sure the rest of the passengers are okay!" 

Alexandra: "Wait, what? What about you?" 

Christina: "I will take care of the captain…" 

The pink flame surrounded Christina's hand, she charged at the direction of Nadoka, just as she was about to unleash that massive amount of fire inside her hand, Nadoka used her quick reflexes, grabbed Christina's arm, pointed it towards the ceiling and the massive wave of fire melted a large hole in it. 

Nadoka: "HAHAHAHAHAHA IT LOOKS LIKE I'M ABOUT TO HAVE SOME AFTER ALL!" 

As Nadoka was about to use her fist to punch Christina right in the face, but she dodged her attack by jumping on the rooftop of the train, the wind was violent and incredibly strong, due to the highspeed. Nadoka jumped on the rooftop as well, a bunch of weapons and rifles were strapped around her whole body, she grabbed the largest one and laughed maniacally. 

Nadoka: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Are you ready for the gods to witness our glorious battle, princess?!"  

Christina: "Why can't you just shut up already?" 

***

The steps of the big pirate felt like bricks falling on the floor, Philippa squeezed her baby in order to protect him. As soon as the man stepped inside their cabin a very wide and evil smile appeared on his face. 

"Now now, this just looks like another empty cabin, ahh what a shame!" 

Philippa seemed to be relieved by his claims, it felt like she dodged a bullet… until the man spoke again. 

"But it just looks like an empty cabin, am I right, woman?" 

She screamed as a huge muscular arm grabbed her neck and pulled her from beneath the seats. The man opened his grip, the tears began to fall out of her eyes as fell on her knees, he looked at her sadistically and said calmly.  

"Spread your legs…" 

The poor woman knew she stood no chance against the giant man, so she obeyed. She placed Yakon, who was crying his heart out, on the seat next to them and took her top off, while the man just stood there and looked at her completely emotionless.  

Philippa: "Please… don't do this to me, not in front of my son!" 

"It is a cruel world, sweetheart." - He stroked her chin. "Your son is still young, he will probably forget about it. But you, however, I will make sure you never forget this…" 

Philippa: "PLEASE DON'T!" 

The man slapped her in the face. "I said… Spread. Your. Legs." 

Alexandra: "Dice Roll." 

A frozen dice was thrown on the ground, the man suddenly was in a completely different wagon and Philippa was no longer in front of him, instead he saw Alexandra's slander figure next to the exit, she was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and a shadow that covered her face. 

"Ah you must be one of the mages we captured? Where are we?" 

Alexandra: "In the last wagon, I hope you realize that what you were about to do is not going to go unpunished…" 

"Then come as close as you like…" 

A knife was drawn from his pocket, but he quickly dropped it when a blue ominous aura came out of Alexandra's body, all the machines and luggage froze almost instantaneously, while her hair flowed towards the ceiling and his blood was slowly freezing as well. 

Alexandra: "Dice Roll!" 

She threw the dice on the ground, it spinned a bit before landing on the number 4, then a frozen King of Diamonds card appeared in her hand. 

"WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS?!" 

Alexandra: "You really are out of luck, I feel bad for you, but then again… That's how gambling works. It's simply based on luck, those who do not have it, should not be allowed to play." 

She placed the card on the ground, it illuminated the whole room in blue light, then a violent gust of frozen wind struck the man, the wall behind him was destroyed, he flew out of the wagon and fell somewhere next to the railway. 

Alexandra: "That's judgement only a scum like you deserves…" 

She returned back to Philippa and together they gathered all of the remaining passengers in the front wagon in order to protect them if anyone came. 

***

Christina did her best at trying to avoid all those bullets flying towards her, her fists were surrounded by pink fire as she closed the distance between her and Nadoka, she hit her with a series of punches, of which only a few landed, causing mild burns on her skin. Nadoka grabbed the dagger strapped to her belt and used it to stab Christina in the shoulder, she grunted out of pain and anger, but she pulled the knife out of her, then threw it back at Nadoka, though she was quick enough to dodge it. 

Nadoka: "It looks like you are more than a pretty face, ey?!" 

Christina: "You bet." 

Due to her short figure she was able to slide between Nadoka's legs and by Infusing some of her magical energy with the dagger, she controlled it midair and stabbed Nadoka in the elbow. Nodka didn't seem bothered by the damage, almost like she was enjoying this. 

Nadoka: "HAHAHAHA That stings like a bitch! Not gonna lie, girl, I really didn't see that one coming! But don't get too cocky yet, the fight is not over!" 

Christina: "Well that may be true, but with an injury like that, I highly doubt you will be able to use your right arm." 

Nadoka: "You are being a smartass, aren't ya? I hate smartasses!" 

Nadoka threw her entire body at Christina, wrestling her on the ground with one arm and still having the advantage, that just goes to show how much physical strength she has over the mage. Christina's head was leaning over the edge of the train's rooftop, looking at the fast moving train tracks beneath her, when Nadoka violently began to punch her in the face. The mage increased her body temperature to the point it was almost unbearable for Nadoka to even touch her, she released her grip, Christina saw that as an opportunity so they changed positions and now she was on top of Nadoka, before she could even land a hit the pirate spat right in Christina's eyes, then falling off the train and being catched by one of her subordinate's carriage. 

Nadoka: "Hahahaha until we meet again, prickly princess!" - Nadoka smiled and waved at her before the carriage lost speed. 

Christina: "That bitch!" - She brushed it off and went back inside to where the rest of the passengers were. 

Nadoka: "Hehe don't think everything is over, princess, if I can't have my gold, NOBODY WILL! I still haven't used my strongest weapon against ya, mate!" 

Nodoka lifted the cannon on her leg and loaded it with a cannonball and gunpowder, she closed one eye and aimed directly for the middle wagon, then she pulled the rope. The rest of the wagons separated one another, the passengers inside screamed in terror as they rolled on the ground multiple times, until eventually crashing into one of the trees. 

Nadoka: "Hahahahaha Nadoka gets everything she wants, whenever she wants, don't ever forget that you bloody fucks!" - The rest of her crew caught up with her and ran away empty-handed. 

Things went quiet, Christina wanted to make sure the pirates were far gone before melting a hole in the wall so that everyone inside could get out. The people were exhausted, some were heavily wounded from the crash, but luckily nobody died. 

A heavily structured man approached the two mages and grabbed them by their shoulders, Alexandra looked at him terrified, with a slight blush across her face, but then his intimidating face turned into a warm smile. 

"You two should be proud, if it wasn't for you, a lot of people would've died. So thank you!"

The crowd gathered around them and cheered them up, stressed out of their minds, but happy and grateful that they were still alive.

"But what are we going to do now?" - A woman asked from the crowd. 

The Conductor: "The nearest town from here is Noreen, we were supposed to stop there for a break before heading straight for the capital, I think there might be a place we can stay." 

Philippa: "Is there anywhere else we can go?" 

The Conductor: "Afraid not, but don't worry Noreen is a pretty nice place." 

Christina: "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!"