Chapter 108: Book 2: Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Day 9

Dawn woke me from my satisfied slumber, and I sat up straight in the bed. The black silk sheets were heavily ruffled and not to put too fine a point on it covered in a substantial number of stains. Black might be gothic and cool, but it did have a few drawbacks.

I’d assumed that my quarters were part of the dungeon’s demesne and that Ana had been magically disposing of the soiled bedding. It wouldn’t surprise me if the cheeky minx had left it this way deliberately.

I flopped back down into the pillows and put such domestic thoughts from my mind and replayed last night’s sexy times instead. It had only been a couple of hours since Ana and I had fallen asleep entangled in one another’s embrace. She had wriggled out and departed at some point or just dematerialised and returned to the dungeon proper.

With my new Acheronian constitution, I required far less sleep than I used to and could get by on the two hours I’d managed to sneak in. Anastasia as a dungeon avatar required none. With any luck, she was overseeing the preparation of breakfast, but in all likelihood, she had just snuck off as part of her plans to prank me.

Time waits for no man or Acheronian, and we still had a ton of stuff to get done today. Thirty minutes later, I was showered and dressed. My hopes of Anastasia making breakfast proved as forlorn a hope as I’d suspected, and I wolfed down a hastily poured bowl of cereal before heading up on deck.

Padding down the aisle to the outer deck I glanced inside the reception cabin and spotted that Susan Trilby had fallen asleep with her daughters, but I didn’t awaken them.

“Good morning, Captain,” Anastasia greeted me from above as I exited the doorway our onto the deck a few seconds later.

She was perched on the railing of the poop deck, her legs swinging, with an inordinately wide grin on her face.

“You’re pretty proud of yourself, aren’t you?” I replied.

All I got was a shrug of her shoulders and that wide beaming smile. She was truly enchanting when she was genuinely happy.

I grinned back up at her. “Of course, we’ll be reuniting with Shana within the hour. I imagine the first thing she’ll want to do is use the shower, so unless you want her to know exactly what it was that we got up to last night, you might want to perform the usual clean-up.”

Her eyes widened slightly but Ana tried to maintain an air of calm reserve. Then she went glassy-eyed for a second, a sign that she had shifted her focus to elsewhere on the ship.

“Happy now?” she sassed when her attention returned to her avatar.

“Jubilant,” I replied.

Our verbal sparring was interrupted as LT and Kristoff Meyer stomped up the gangplank and boarded the ship. LT’s presence meant the Pewamo contingent had returned from their foray, and I’d left the German former smuggler in command of the crew that had remained with me in Muir.

“Captain,” they both said by way of greeting and nodded their heads.

Neither looked ecstatic, nor did they seem overly maudlin leading me to presume that the results of the overnight tempering of the crew had been a mixed bag.

“Good morning, gentlemen. How did last night’s activities go?”

LT stepped up first. “Not as well as I’d hoped. We lost three guys in the fight for Pewamo. The orc in charge there was one tough motherfucker. His guys seemed generally tougher too. Stronger than any of the inbred fucks we had to fight here at any rate. He knew what he was doing, and if we didn’t have twice the numbers things may have gone the other way.

“The night was fairly quiet, though. There wasn’t much to bring back, another couple of dozen collared townsfolk have what was left in their inventories,” he finished.

Inwardly I cursed myself for not anticipating that the Pewamo Jenson’s would be stronger opposition than what we’d overcome here and in Lyons. Gertie’s siphon ability was partially proximity-based and she’d likely taken far fewer, if any, of their levelling stats for herself since she abandoned the town for Muir.

“Don’t sweat it, Captain,” LT reassured me. “This is a dangerous biz and you’re always gonna’ lose a couple of people. Ya can’t avoid that shit. They were all weaker guys that would likely have gone down at some point anyway. Better it happened now, rather than after we’d invested resources in them. The rest of the crew will be stronger for it.”

It may have seemed callous, but the former dealer was right. Losses were unavoidable. I nodded in agreement with him. “Kristoff?”

“Yes, sir. There was a lot of activity here during the night, especially in the southern part of the town,” he started. There was only a slight hint of his German accent, mostly where he stressed his consonants a little more heavily than Americans or English people.

“I believe this was a result of us emptying Lyons and the mobs wandering up from there when they found the town empty. There were plenty of the redcaps you mentioned, several packs of two-headed reddish doglike creatures and some nasty scorpion things that spat acid from their stingers. We managed to kill everything before they got to the mouthy harridans, we had tied up overnight.

“Everything had gone to plan until an hour before dawn when something much larger charged through the town. It was a snow-white stag, but its antlers seemed to be made of branches with purple flowering.”

<A Snawfus. Well, that is a spot of bad luck> Quixbix piped up at Kristoff’s description of the animal.

I decided to wait for Kristoff to finish before interrogating the imp.

“We were taken by surprise at first, it was a spectacularly beautiful animal and it halted in front of our position and seemed peaceful enough, staring at us curiously. I’ll admit, for a moment, I thought it might even be friendly. Then most of us began struggling to breathe and started choking, a few of the men even developed nosebleeds. It was very unpleasant, but the sensation stopped almost as quickly as it started.

“Our crewmembers all recovered quickly enough, but then the Jenson women started screaming. Two of them were dead. The deceased pair had copious amounts of blood streaming from every orifice. But that wasn’t the most unnerving thing. The white stag. It began laughing. All while it exhaled a blue mist from its mouth. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything quite so unsettling.

“We recovered quickly and unleashed everything we had at it, but it seemed to just shrug off our attacks and then it pranced away, its chilling laughter drifting on the breeze. We tried to pursue the beast, but it outpaced our chase swiftly and I thought it best not to abandon our defensive positions even with dawn so close.”

Quixbix spoke to me again. <That was definitely a snawfus. They are high-grade creatures, if they’d managed to catch up, it would have made mincemeat of them.>

[Did I hear you right, Quixbix? Were they attacked by a snawfus during the night? I might have to redouble my efforts to unhitch Susan’s fate from your pirate captain if that’s the case] Quinntexxis interjected.

The sleeping former mayor would have been close enough for the fairy to snoop on us like Quixbix could.

<Don’t be ridiculous, Quinn. You heard the report. The snawfus killed two of the Jenson women, not Torin’s crew. If it’s marked any group for its attention, it will be them. Besides, we live on an island. Those deerlike monstrosities might be fleet of foot but they can’t walk on water.>

I tuned the pair of them out as they continued to bicker. I’d get to the bottom of it later. “You did the right thing holding your position, Kristoff. These losses are unwanted but not entirely unexpected. Kristoff, I want you to wake Susan and take her to the podium. She will know what she needs to do with it. LT, I need you to get everything else loaded onto the ship and the rest of the crew ready to leave as soon as Susan is finished.”

Both men nodded and hurried to do as I’d instructed, eventually leaving me alone with Anastasia and my incorporeal helper.

“Right, time for you to explain what the hell a snawfus is and why it’s got Quinn so twisted up.”

<It’s a special mob type. The snawfus and similar mobs are always high-grade. Although the precise grade does vary, it’s unlikely to be less than D.>

“Whoa, D-grade. I’m fairly certain you assured me we wouldn’t be seeing stuff like that in only the second week. And you’re saying it could be higher than that,” I interrupted.

<They. Are. Special.> The imp enunciated slowly in the most condescending manner he could manage.

“Ass,” Anastasia grunted on my behalf from her perch.

“Fine. Quix, what makes them so special?” I asked.

<Their behaviour differs from other mobs. Most mobs will attack until either they’ve got what they want, or they fail a morale check, or it becomes obvious that they are losing and flee. They’ll also stop pursuing people once they leave what the mobs consider to be their territory. Snawfus and mobs like them don’t behave in this manner. They are intelligent, powerful, and above all, cruelly vindictive.

<They are colloquially known as Hexbeasts as they act like a curse upon a faction or group, one that strikes without warning, leaves just as suddenly after exacting a pound of flesh, and then returns repeatedly to inflict further misery. A similar kind of setup as the legend of Grendel from the Beowulf saga. This pattern continues until the targeted group is dead or the snawfus desire for despair and death is sated.

<The fact they don’t go on unstoppable rampages despite their strength is one of the reasons they can spawn earlier and nearer people. Additionally, they are always solitary monsters. Their crystals won’t spawn another of their kind until the current one is slain, at which point the crystal will move to another location, which is something else that differentiates them from other mob types. Instead, they are drawn back to their crystal periodically and then they are enhanced, hence the grade variances for Hexbeasts.

<The snawfus has a powerful area of effect psychic-based attack that tests the mental resistance of its targets. As Kristoff described, it maintains the attack until it causes a couple of casualties, almost always the weakest individuals in the group, before it disappears. Which is another reason the Framework allows them to appear early. They weed out the weak and leave the strong alive.

<But they are incredibly rare. As in, many worlds won’t even have a single snawfus crystal present. Although there is some debate as to whether the crystal can jump worlds when they relocate. That’s a digression for another day. I suppose with Earth’s rather unique situation within the Darkwyrlds we shouldn’t be too surprised that you’d end up with more Hexbeasts than others.>

“Is Quinn correct? Should we be worried about the snawfus coming back or are you blowing smoke up my ass about the lake being a suitable barrier?” I pressed the imp. “The last thing we need is an uber-powerful beast slowly thinning our numbers.”

<Quinn is a worrywart. The snawfus targeted both your people and the Jenson women at the same time. That means it’s just wandering about hitting random groups at the moment. It hasn’t taken a fancy to anyone for specific attention yet. Once we move out of its range, we’ll be fine. And as I said, if it were to come back for any group, it would be the Jenson’s as it already killed a brace of them. Best we ditch them as soon as possible.>

“Okay,” I said. “But Kristoff and his team did attack the stag and you said the thing was vindictive.”

<Sure, they aimed at it, but I severely doubt they got even close to hitting it. The snawfus has impressive psychic defences that match its offence. It is protected by an aura similar in effect to the Haze of Befuddlement spell. None of the crew would be powerful enough to break through. Hell, it would be a struggle for you. Maybe Shana could do it with her Archery as high as it is. Thankfully, she wasn’t with them.>

I left my interrogation at that.

Quixbix was right, we had dallied long enough. It did, however, convince me to change up the morning’s schedule. Rather than waiting for Susan to finish retrieving the podium I left two squads to watch over her and sailed the Jenson’s and their kids to the small town of Boston before we returned to collect the former mayor and the podium prize.

 

õõõ

 

An hour later and we were sailing back towards Ionia having delivered the remnants of the Jenson clan to Boston. The remaining Bostonians seemed welcoming and empathetic to the influx of children and the few mothers left. We didn’t stay long; it wouldn’t take the townsfolk long to figure out what a bunch of wretched little shits we’d dumped on them and try to foist them back on us.

As we approached the main bridge over the Grand River that connected Ionia to southern Ionia and the destroyed airport we were flagged down by a most welcome hitchhiker. Shana was waving to us from the bridge, and we moored up just before the apex of the curve in the river.

Shana sprinted up the lowered gangplank as soon as it made contact with the grass verge. She launched herself into my arms with a big smile on her face and planted her lips against mine firmly.

There was a cacophony of whoops and whistling from the crew on the deck at the public display of affection, but it was mostly well-intentioned in nature. And honestly a bit tame considering they had all been in prison the day before.

“I’ve missed you,” she gasped when our lip-locking ceased.

“I missed you too,” I whispered as I gave her supple butt a light spank.

“Bojemoi! It’s only been a day,” Anastasia snarked. “You can’t be that horny already, Shana.”

Shana stepped away and examined the blonde. Anastasia had resumed dressing in her catholic school-girl outfit and the lithe elf arched her eyebrow at the dungeon avatar.

“That’s a bit rich coming from somebody who was obviously warming his bed last night,” Shana observed.

Her words drew a bit more catcalling from the crew and Ana actually blushed bright red. The embarrassment didn’t last long before she stomped up to me, her face a thundercloud.

“I can’t believe you told her, you as…” Anastasia accused me, her insult choked off as I’d never officially rescinded the orders not to bad mouth me. Stymied in her attempt at chewing me out she turned on her heel and marched below deck.

“When would I have had a chance to tell Shana?” I called out, attempting to be reasonable but her departing figure was having none of it and flipped me the finger.

“Trouble in paradise,” Charlie sniggered from behind me.

I swung about and silenced him with a glower. “Back to work,” I ordered him. “That goes for the rest of you, too.”

There was a chorus of ‘yes, sir’s’ as the men busied themselves with real or imaginary tasks.

My focus was pulled back to Shana as she giggled lightly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get you in trouble. I’ll smooth things over with Ana in a bit.”

“You might want to leave it for a couple of hours. She has a tendency to sulk and bear grudges. How did you know we slept together? Some kind of woman’s intuition?”

“Can’t a girl have a few secrets?” she replied archly.

My doubting expression encouraged her to explain further. “I didn’t know. I just thought about what I would have done if I had you all to myself and the answer became obvious. There was a chance her stubbornness might have kept her out of your bed and if Ana had kept her cool and not got so angry, she might have been able to convince me that had been the case.

“I’d bet a shiny silver dollar that’s the true source of her anger. Not that I guessed right, but that she gave herself away too easily when she blushed.”

“And then she redirected that ire at me,” I added.

“Precisely.”

Shana’s assessment did fit Anastasia to a tee.

“I take it all went well last night?” I inquired, changing the subject.

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“Yes, Jackson and I got into town easily enough. One of his friends, Carlos, was on guard and vouched for him. Convincing the Ionians to take the fight to the Jenson’s took longer, but we managed to whip up a posse by the evening and got the jump on some of their patrols. We didn’t get them all, though. A few of them managed to run away.”

“That’s alright. Everything went more or less to plan in Muir, Lyons, and Pewamo. We intercepted a few of the stragglers trying to scamper back to their den. Does that mean you and Jackson are ready to come back aboard? We need to make a quick pitstop in Muir and then collect the remaining prisoners and we’re good to head back to Stormblade Harbour. Where is Jackson anyway?”

“Not quite,” Shana confessed. “There is something I need to talk to you about. After we came back from hunting the Jenson patrols things shifted somewhat in Ionia.

“The town is largely being run by three people. The mayor, the chief of police and the head guard from Bellamy Creek. No sign of the warden by the way. They think he is dead. Anyway, those three were the ones dead set against any of the townspeople assisting us on the hunting trip. If Jackson didn’t have friends in town, it would have just been the two of us.

“Then when we got back after that success, Carlos and Tommy, you remember him…” I nodded; it had only been a few days. “…were on a bit of a high and excitedly talked up our exploits to anyone and everyone who would listen. And this led to a bit of grumbling.”

“Nobody threatened you, did they?” I interrupted worriedly. “They aren’t holding Jackson?”

Shana smiled at my concern and put her hand on my forearm which had been quivering in anger. “Calm down, Torin. It’s nothing like that. This was a good thing. The grumbling was about the current leadership of Ionia. To put it, as a gruff ape of a man named Brant, eloquently stated. ‘They made us look like frigging pussies hiding behind children’.

“Long story short, there was a lot of bickering and by the end of the night a significant number of people, including some with combat classes, were inquiring about going back with us. A little over two hundred. We haven’t told them yes, yet. We said we had to consult with you as the captain first before any confirmation. Jackson is very keen to take as many as we can, what with Grand Rapids and Luca so close.”

Taking people back other than those I picked up from the prisons hadn’t been on the agenda, but we needed bodies and those willing to fight would always be welcome.

“That’s great news,” I told her. “Why did you seem a bit hesitant to tell me?”

“Yes, well…uh…well, quite a few of them, like Brant who I already mentioned, were prison guards. I was worried you might not want them aboard in case of conflicts with the crew.”

“You make a good point. Do they know what I’ve been doing?”

“Yes, Jackson and I explained the basics when they started to approach us. Some of them changed their minds when they heard the crew were mostly former inmates.”

“Just as well. Okay, it shouldn’t be a problem. You go back and let Jackson know to tell those interested that they could come if they are ready to go by mid-afternoon. We should be finished by then and it will give me a chance to address the crew. They might have more of a problem than the former guards.”

Shana nodded and then went up on tiptoes to kiss me on the lips before she raced off the ship and we set off for Muir.

Guards and inmates together on the island could be problematic. However, taking the podium from Muir could also be a potential solution. If old enmities proved too difficult for the two sides to put aside, moving the former guards and their families to man the second settlement would keep them apart.

I waited until we reached Muir and the full crew were present to tell them about the extra passengers we’d be taking on board for the trip. None of them seemed very enthusiastic about the idea, and there was plenty of angry muttering, but for most that was all it was.

One advantage of the Canon was the little extra steel it gave my commands. So, when I ordered any crewmember who harboured any intent to do harm to step forward the twelve who were that way inclined unthinkingly moved as directed.

Despite the panicked look on some of their faces, I quickly assured them they weren’t going to be punished for bearing a grudge. A few quick interviews with the twelve revealed that for the most part their murderous intent was directed at specific guards and not the custodians in general.

In fact, a handful of guard’s names came up repeatedly, the most prominent of them, Donaldson, was the head guard at Bellamy Creek and most of the others were his lackeys at that facility and the others. Apparently, Donaldson and company were a bunch of corrupt assholes that turned a blind eye for the right price.

Shana hadn’t given me the names of the trio of Ionian leaders that opposed her, but she had said one of them was Bellamy’s head guard. Presumably, he and his cronies wouldn’t be coming along anyway. Regardless, after a further chat with LT and representatives from the inmates of the other facilities, I had a list of ‘problem’ guards to turn away.

Brant’s name did not come up.

 

õõõ

 

Things moved quickly after that. The last of the prisoners were shuttled to the cells and transported via the harmonic plexus node to the cells in Stormblade Harbour.

We returned mid-afternoon as promised to Ionia.

Once it became clear that a couple hundred of the residents, including a fair number of defenders, were departing for greener pastures, the number of interested parties swelled to almost four hundred. We got them onboard rapidly. This many put us at close to full capacity and I’d have to turn people away if many others decided to change their minds about staying in the town.

We had to open the cells to accommodate the overflow, which didn’t go down well, but people quieted down when we informed them of what possibly awaited us when we sailed past Grand Rapids. I made it clear they were welcome to stay on the top deck if they really wanted to. Nobody did, fleeing refugees had spread the word of Luca’s reign of terror.

The only scuffle was when we had to eject a couple of men trying to get on the ship that were on my list of malcontents. During the kerfuffle, Brant, a big beefy guy naturally taller than me, and a few of his friends approached us and for a second, I thought they were going to wade into the fray in support of the two men I was firmly opposed to bringing.

Instead, Brant grabbed one of them by the scruff of his neck and manhandled him over the taffrail and into the river.

He turned to me after and shrugged his shoulders and simply said. “Spies for that cunt, Donaldson.” As if that explained everything.

Donaldson’s other compatriot scarpered back into town after that rather than wait to get the same treatment. He didn’t even bother denying Brant’s accusation.

LT just laughed at the display and spoke to me quietly after things had calmed down. “If there was one thing everyone quickly learned in Bellamy, it was that you don’t fuck with John Brant. But he wasn’t a bad C.O. all things considered, bit of a rules jockey, which could be a pain in the ass. Just meant you had to get creative to get something past him.”

Then it was onto the prisons to finish up there.

Brant and a few of his fellow former correctional officers offered to assist but I thought it best to have a clean break on that front. Besides the sentinels were now directly under my control and with their cooperation, the transfers went swiftly and smoothly.

Not that Brant wasn’t useful.

Being familiar with Michigan corrections meant he knew the location of three other facilities along the western coast of Michigan that were accessible by ship. Two in Muskegon and another in Manistee. Presuming there weren’t more out-of-favour fairies running those places as well this would prove to be a very fruitful voyage.

This time we passed Grand Rapids in broad daylight. The ship was chock full of armed people, and we had nothing to fear. Although I did instruct Anastasia, who had finally got over her funk after a few hours of sulking, to keep the pace up.

There was no reason to tempt fate. We only slowed long enough for Ana to leave behind a gift.

It was a small doll that she had golemised. The golem’s primary instructions were to locate and observe Claudia Gattosi and secondarily to gather general intelligence on Luca’s operations. I still hoped to have an opportunity to snatch her up and weaken Luca by doing so.

The return trip around the bend in the river was mostly uneventful.

The city was quieter than before, with no running gun battles and far less smoke. Although there were still plenty of smouldering ruins dotted along the route we sailed. A few yahoos took potshots at us, but our resident deadeye Shana ensured they paid a heavy price for such foolishness.

With our extra stops, we didn’t sail into Stormblade Harbour until the middle of the night. There may have been a bit of grumbling at the delays, but I didn’t want to waste the opportunity that three more correctional facilities afforded me. Sorting the inmates out had to wait until later and we just marched them out and into the bowels of the ship for transport as quickly as possible.

<Quest ‘The Corsair’s Canon 5’ completed. 6,800 XP and Pauldrons of the Bound awarded> Quixbix intoned and quickly flashed me the next quest in the chain.

 

*** The Corsair’s Canon 6 (K)

Ship, Cove, and crew have been secured. Time to earn your stripes as a true Corsair of the seas.

Success: Raise your Notoriety to four hundred. Complete three moderate acts of piracy or a single major one.

Rewards: 3,400 XP, and future The Corsair’s Canon quests.

Greaves of the Bound.

Failure: If this quest goes incomplete the rest of this quest chain will remain locked and unavailable. ***

 

The quest details were not a surprise. It was a simple escalation from the previous quest. The biggest downside was that it suggested I might be coming to the end of this chain. Presuming number seven would be to commit a superior act of piracy. There could be an eighth in that vein, say to commit three superior acts or possibly to keep raising my notoriety.

Disembarkation was a tad chaotic with so many new people. The cacophony of noise soon woke and drew out the few residents of Stormblade Harbour.

Shana and I managed to spot Britney, the smart red-headed cheerleader, give Jackson a particularly warm embrace to welcome him home which caught the young man by surprise and left him rather rosy-cheeked. Celeste followed suit, albeit her hug was a bit less effusive.

Tommy who had been trailing after Jackson was both shocked and awed.

Amber who stood back from the group was not, glaring at one and all and didn’t get in on the action.

“Her loss,” Shana remarked at my side as we viewed the activity from the poop deck. “She should have listened.”

“Oh, listened to what?” I inquired.

Shana smiled conspiratorially and leaned in close to speak in a lowered tone and tapped her elongated ears deliberately. “I may have overheard a hushed conversation between the girls before we left. Despite her timidity, Britney is smart, observant, and quite the devious little tactician.

“She understood the implication of concubinage immediately and was advising Celeste and Amber they should act fast to avoid losing out on the opportunity that others would jump at. She was also smart enough to infer your fraternal-like affection for Jackson. Making him an ideal candidate for them to, ahem, seduce, so to speak.”

“What? I’m not sure I like the sound of this. Are they trying to take advantage of him? Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

Shana giggled at my reaction. “See, you do behave like he is a little brother that needs a big bro’s protection. I would have said something earlier but then you put me in charge of managing concubines, so it’s my job now, isn’t it?”

“I suppose,” I grunted, not entirely convinced.

“Stop worrying. Nobody is getting taken advantage of and Jackson certainly won’t thank you for intervening. He’s about to score a cheerleader, probably two,” she joked.

“Fine, I’ll leave it to you. It just seems a bit clinical if you ask me.”

Shana cosied up to me and put her arms around my neck and kissed me on the lips. “Trust me, Torin. We barely knew each other before we bumped uglies and now look at us. Tethered unto death and happier for it. Sex first, emotions later, you’d be surprised how many great relationships start that way. Worst case scenario, Jackson gets his feelings hurt if things don’t work out. He’ll get over it and move on to his next conquest. Following in our wake there are sure to be plenty.”

“I take it Amber wasn’t too thrilled with Britney’s suggestion.”

“She wasn’t and that doesn’t look to have changed. She was more in favour of growing strong. I think she may volunteer for the militia,”

We canoodled up on the poop deck for another minute before a dozen or more people were clamouring for our attention. We hadn’t anticipated bringing back so many exhausted new citizens in the dead of night and hadn’t made arrangements to house so many.

“I’ll speak with Janet,” Shana offered. “She should have a good idea of the homes suitable to accommodate people tonight. We may have to open up the palace in the morning, though.

“Thanks, Shana. I’ll stay up here as a focal point for inquiries. Let you get on with the business of sorting it out.”

“How gracious of you,” she chuckled from the top of the ladder leading down to the main deck. “Damn, fighting monsters last night was less hectic than this. The worst we had to worry about was a strange white buck just before dawn.”

“Wait. What was that about a white buck?” I asked, trying to suppress a hint of panic. Memories of Quixbix’s explanation of the snawfus were fresh in my mind.

Shana had already slid down the ladder adroitly and called back up as she weaved her way through the bodies on the deck. “A white buck with branches for antlers approached Ionia just before dawn yesterday. Don’t worry I put an arrow in its rump and it took off.”

She turned to look up at me and smiled before she sprinted down the gangplank and onto the deck. I waved half-heartedly, but Shana was too distracted to notice.

<Fucking Nora!> Quixbix swore when Shana was out of range.

“You took the words out of my mouth.”

<Let’s not tell Quinn about this, shall we>

“Agreed. No trips to the mainland for a few weeks, maybe months, either. We have a load of islands to map and explore, dungeons to delve, quests to complete, and crew to level up.”

<Agreed.>

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