Chapter 114: Book 2: Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Day 52

 

We left port on time two days later. In addition to the crew, I brought along one hundred members of my new militia. Unlike the crew, the militia representatives were strictly voluntary. Therefore, most of the volunteers were former inmates.

Amber was one of the exceptions to that dynamic. Her attitude remained barely civil towards me, and she avoided me like the plague when she could.

Something which I thought was a rather funny observation when I mentioned it in passing to her given her recent pestilential troubles.

Amber was not impressed.

However, Amber wasn’t as frosty with the rest of the crew.

Anastasia could see everywhere on the ship, when she bothered to pay attention, and stalking the former cheerleader helped her pass the few hours until we would make first landfall. What she learned and then shared, whether we wanted to hear it or not, was that it seemed that Amber had a bit of a thing for LT. At least, she seemed to move around the ship and find herself in his vicinity a little too often to be a coincidence.

I left Shana and Anastasia in Navigation heatedly debating about what to do with regards to Amber and LT. Shana favoured encouraging a romance. Ana, unsurprisingly, thought it would be more fun to mess with Amber instead and make things difficult. I’d let them thrash it out for a bit before telling them we were going to do neither and leave well enough alone.

Stepping out on deck I breathed in deeply, taking in a lungful of fresh air. We were in the final days of summer and the sun was still out and the air was clear, giving me a good view in all directions.

We were sailing down the Western Michigan coastline.

After much debate, the decision was made to raid the Michigan coastline despite some of the restrictions that would impose upon us. Several of the coastal settlements we’d pass had doffed their cap to the Governor and had become official Michigan State citizens.

Making them effectively hands-off, for now anyway.

Due to that, raiding the Wisconsin coastline would have made more sense. However, a visit to the Strategic Command Hub in my palace pushed me on to our current course. Luca’s faction, which had changed names several times and was currently called the Brotherhood of the Lion’s Claw, had expanded.

He’d been picking up some of the smaller townships around Grand Rapids steadily over the last month but during the last weekend, both the sizable towns of Holland and Grand Haven, to the west of his powerbase, had flipped to being under his control.

Holland had been the first to switch five days ago. It had previously been under the Governor’s sway, so presumably, it had either been conquered or Luca’s brotherhood had managed to initiate a coup from within. Grand Haven, which had been independent up until this point, capitulated two days later. Whether by force or out of fear we didn’t know yet.

I couldn’t neglect my Divine Retribution quest any longer. If I let Luca continue to grow in power, he would become too strong for me to defeat. We would scour the western coast as we sailed southwards and stop off at any abandoned townships and salvage what we could from them.

Then we would hit Luca’s newest acquisitions.

The small town of Leland was a few minutes away and I could see it had been abandoned or overrun. We would stop and scavenge here before we moved on. It would likely take us most of the day to reach Muskegon, an independent town to the north of Grand Haven, that I’d been to once before.

We would stop there for the night and see what information we could gather on our targets.

“Kristoff!” I yelled up to the former German smuggler who was stationed on the poop deck.

I heard the sound of boots and then Kristoff peered over the railing “Yes, Captain.”

“Get everyone ready for scavenging duty. Make sure they go armed. Daylight is no longer as safe as it once was.”

“Aye, Captain,” Kristoff answered.

He gave a few curt orders to those up on the deck and then headed below to the mess where most of the crew and militia were gathered and relaxing.

Within a few minutes, the deck and surrounds were a hub of activity. Which was when from the corner of my eye I spied a small figure haul themselves out of the hatch at the prow and skulk their way into the corner, trying to stay out of sight. The figure was dressed head to toe in dark raggedy clothing and if that didn’t give it away the small flash of pretty green orbs certainly did.

It was Jade-Eyes from Li Qiang’s cell in the slave market.

I had wanted to speak to them about Li Qiang and had asked Susan to bring them to me last night, but she had returned a few hours later confessing that based on my description she wasn’t sure who I meant. It was late so I’d put the thought to one side and decided to handle it upon my return.

But here they were. On the ship. Which they most certainly should not be. We didn’t bring any of the new arrivals from China.

Jade-Eyes was a stowaway.

Which in and of itself was intriguing. Even below deck, the ship was not that large and filled with crewmen and militia. We hadn’t been out of port for long but the odds of Jade-Eyes remaining undiscovered was slim, especially when you factored in the near-omniscient eye of Anastasia who was the ship. Admittedly, Ana wasn’t watching everywhere, all the time, but she was a nosey little minx that liked to keep an eye on things unless she was suitably distracted.

And we hadn’t been engaged in any sexy time this morning.

Using the bond between us I tugged on Ana’s psyche and summoned her to me. Unfortunately, the link between us didn’t provide any kind of explanatory options along with the summons, and it would surprise no one that Anastasia detested when I used it. She would come and join me, but if there was no sign of danger, which there was not, she would walk, slowly, rather than materialise instantly.

She’d be in a snitty mood when she got here too, but I didn’t want to spook our stowaway who was watching the upper deck like a hawk on the hunt.

I used the time to analyse the interloper.

 

*** The willpower check was successful. Analyse ability activated. ***

 

That was new and secured my imp’s attention.

<What have we got here?>

“I’m looking into that as we speak if you would care to display the results,” I muttered under my breath.

<Of course.>

 

Fang Mei (Jade Cambion)

Warp Blade (Notorious) (P) 1

Character Aptitude: Extremely High

Loot Value: Nil

Threat: Low

XP Value: 4,140

Market Value: 1,135 GP

Current Affiliation: Shattered Storm (Property)

Fertile Receptivity: 0/342

 

Well, the fertile receptivity tagged Jade-Eyes as a woman. And one with an aptitude just shy of Raven Reynolds.

<Impressive. You know what this means, don’t you? Quest time!>

 

*** Path of the Soulbinder 2 (K)

Fang Mei has a high binding potential and would make an excellent asset for any growing Soulbinder. Bonding her is a priority.

Success: You bind Fang Mei.

Rewards: 3,400 XP, Soulbinder Tier 2 is unlocked and can be purchased if you have the upgrade points. Future Path of the Binder quests.

Bracers of the Bound

Bonus Reward: Should Fang Mei be bound voluntarily, receive the following bonus gear that suits her class. Chaos Dragon Daggers x2

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

 

“Bloody Nora, Quixbix,” I growled out in a low volume. “I thought we were past this. I recall giving you strict orders not to force surprise quests on me without discussing them and their contents with me first.”

<That you did.>

“And?”

<And what?>

“Would you care to explain why you disobeyed that order?”

<Framework rules, Bossman. I’ve got to hand out these character quests as and when the opportunity arises. I will consult you with regards to the customised quests I can occasionally hand out but for these, my hands are tied. Fang Mei meets your specific soulbinding criteria. Ladies with exceptional character aptitude.>

“I never set any criteria!”

<Not with words. Your roving eye speaks for itself.>

“Ass! If that is true, then how come you didn’t hand out this quest when we met Trisha or Raven Reynolds? Explain that,” I snapped.

<Because even though you had reached level six, which allowed you to bond a second person, at that point, the ability was still on cooldown for three weeks. You haven’t been in proximity to them or any other qualifying individual until now.

<Can you stop being unreasonable? It’s free XP and you even get a nice little bonus if you get her to volunteer. I’m not even going to suggest the alternative. My gift to you.>

“Fine. How come the quest didn’t prang yesterday in the cells?”

<You didn’t know who she was as you hadn’t analysed her.>

“But I always analyse people…oof,” my response was cut short as Anastasia had arrived on deck and jabbed her elbow into my gut. It didn’t hurt but I hadn’t been expecting it.

Since Anastasia and I had become intimate it had felt unfair to keep her under any behavioural proscriptions.

She hadn’t abused her new-won freedom.

Much.

Well, not in front of the crew.

Usually.

“You summoned me, Captain,” she seethed at me with an angry pout.

“Yeah, sorry about that Ana, but it was necessary.”

“This had better be important. You know how much I hate it when you pull me around like a puppet.”

<That’s a bit ironic considering you literally make puppets to order about as you please.>

“Peace, both of you,” I interrupted, forestalling whatever vituperative response Anastasia had in store. “I called you up here, Ana, as we have a stowaway on board.”

“A stowaway,” she exclaimed in mild shock. “Are you sure? That can’t be. I would have spotted them.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Don’t look with your eyes,” I said to her. “Use your ship senses. But she is hiding at the prow. Probably waiting for us to make landfall and then slip away.”

“God damn it,” Anastasia hissed angrily. “You’re right. How did I miss her?”

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<For once, this is not your fault,> Quixbix commented. <It’s her class, Warp Blade. It allows her to warp what people perceive around her so that she goes unnoticed. They can make excellent assassins and spies.>

“But I noticed her?” I said.

<Yes, but only because you happened to be looking directly at her. And you weren’t unaffected. What you were saying before Ana interrupted was correct. You do analyse all new people out of habit. You likely failed the willpower check you passed this morning and due to her warping ability were no longer aware that you even tried.

<It’s a damn shame I don’t get details of failed checks like that. It would make things so much easier.>

“That’s kind of the point isn’t it, Quixie,” Anastasia teased.

<Anyway, now that you are aware of her existence the field will be less effective. She is strong, but only level one. There is still a significant level disparity between you. Had she been closer to your level of nine she may have succeeded in going unnoticed.>

“That…That is actually quite frightening,” I whispered. “You said Warp Blades make excellent assassins. Are you saying she could have killed any of us during the voyage unbeknownst to the rest of us?”

<We wish it was that easy. Then getting rid of Luca would be a breeze. Warp Blade is only a P-grade class, after all. They aren’t that powerful. The warp field comes with a serious drawback.

<While the field is active all attack attempts and damage are heavily penalised. Those penalties persist for quite some time once it has been dropped. Hours, even for a well-developed Warper, which she is not. Factor in that the warp field is not infallible, and it remains a risky proposition. The field is usually used to get into position and then the warped assassin waits for their target to arrive many hours later when they can act without penalty.

<But in the hands of the skilled and the patient, it can be immensely deadly and very useful for escaping after the deed is done.>

“Well, this one isn’t going to escape.” Ana grinned wickedly and made a swishing gesture with her hand.

Two dozen or more tendrils sprang into being from the top of the taffrail above the hiding Fang Mei’s head. Before the young woman had a chance to react, they swept over her head and connected with the deck, fusing with it, and forming an impromptu cage that trapped her.

Fang Mei gripped at the bars of her prison but didn’t cry out or drop her warping field. The sudden appearance at the prow of the new structure caught the attention of several crew members who peered at it curiously. However, they seemed not to notice or care about the figure trapped inside. A few began to approach the cage to investigate, but then the ship came to a halt as we moored up in Leland and diverted their attention landward.

“Good work, Ana. We’ll wait until the crew disembark and then have a conversation with our guest.

“Kristoff, LT, get everyone moving. I want this done as quickly as possible.”

The crew launched into action and disembarked with practised ease. Fewer than ten minutes later, it was just me, Ana, and Shana, who I had beckoned to come and join us when she came out onto the deck.

“What do we have here?” Shana mused with feigned casualness as we surrounded the silicate cage.

Fang Mei had been testing the sturdiness of her prison as soon as the number of people on deck had thinned out. Failing to break free, she withdrew her hands and huddled up against the rail as far from us as she could get and tried to make herself seem small. It appeared to me that she held out some small hope that her warp field ability might still be able to affect us.

That might be possible with a weaker group that didn’t enjoy the advantages we had racked up over the last fifty days. But with us, once spotted, it was game over.

I got down on my haunches and peered through the bars at the captive. Her jade-coloured eyes glowered back at me, but Fang Mei remained silent.

Those eyes were all that we could see of the real her. She was fully covered otherwise. Wrapped in what looked like strips of raggedly torn grey blanket. A regular homemade mummy. I noticed as part of my examination that the fabric around her throat bulged out a little as if there were something beneath it.

That reminded me of what I had seen on her analysis sheet about her current affiliation. Shattered Storm: Property.

I grinned widely at her. “You’ve still got a collar on, haven’t you?”

Fang Mei’s alluring jade eyes widened with alarm, and she couldn’t help betraying the truth as her wrapped-hand half shot up to her throat before she whipped it back down to her side.

 “Excellent. That makes this easier. Fang Mei,” I started, and she blinked in shock. “Yes, I know your name, Fang Mei. Show me the collar,” I ordered.

Her hand reached back up and pulled a section of the wrappings away revealing the black leather beneath. It didn’t hurt to be careful and make sure.

“Fang Mei, you are not to try and harm me, my people, or yourself. Nor are you to attempt escape. When we dispel this cage, you are to follow me to my cabin where we shall discuss your future. Ana,” I said, turning to the dungeon avatar “you can release her now.”

The silicate tendrils decoupled from the deck and withdrew back to the rail and were absorbed back into the ship. Watching that spurred a thought in my head.

“Quixbix, can Anastasia do something similar to enemies if we are ever boarded?”

<She can try, but it is unlikely to be as successful. Their presence inhibits her ability to make alterations to the ship too close to them. Checks would be involved and chances of success slim. She had no trouble affecting the small Warp Blade here, as despite her likely reluctance, the collar means she is technically part of our faction.>

“Says you, Quixie,” Anastasia snorted. “I’m awesome and any pest trying to touch me will feel the fury,” she declared passionately.

Quixbix declined to respond, but I could almost feel the wry amusement emanating from our connection. He was going to enjoy rubbing it in Ana’s face when she tried the same trick against an opponent who could resist, and it went awry.

Well, he would if I didn’t intervene and make sure Anastasia took no such risk.

Which I would.

I guided my recalcitrant guest to the Captain’s Cabin on the upper deck. She had yet to say anything.

“Do you have clothes under those sheets?” I asked.

A nod from Fang Mei was the only response I received.

“In that case, take them off and let’s get a look at you. Then you can sit down on that chair.” I pointed to one of the tables on the other side of the oak audience table. The same one that Celeste had been sitting in a few weeks earlier.

Fang Mei’s eyes narrowed as she glared at us, but she moved over to that side of the table and slowly began to untie the torn blanket pieces that she had wrapped herself in.

While she did that, I pulled out a pair of chairs on my side of the table and sat Shana and Anastasia in them. Setting up a kind of interview panel. Because in a funny kind of way Fang Mei was being interviewed for soulbinding. She just didn’t know that.

A minute later, she had finished removing the mummy wrappings and stood in full view before us.

“Oh, and Fang Mei, drop the warp field,” I commanded gently.

Once more there was a flash of anger in her eyes, but she obeyed and dropped the field. Immediately we felt the sudden absence of the fields effect on us, and our perceptions of the young woman lurched in an almost disorienting fashion.

We were seeing Fang Mei properly for the first time.

She had on a pair of brown shorts and a black T-shirt underneath the rags, and both were far too small for her and revealed quite a bit of flesh. That was one of the things that stood out instantly. She was not quite as small as she had earlier appeared.

Fang Mei had short straight black hair that was cut very short in a tomboyish manner or as if she had been trying to masquerade as a man at some point. She had two tiny pointed back horns protruding from her forehead that poked out past her fringe.

Her skin was a shade of vermillion punctuated by a series of jade-coloured tattoos similar to the icy-blue ones that adorned my frame. However, where mine were thick jagged tiger stripes, Fang Mei’s were thin and spidery, like bolts of green lightning on a red night sky.

She had high cheekbones and oval-shaped eyes. Her lips were a shade of dark grey and when she parted them I could her tongue was forked like a serpent. She was a demonic beauty that very much got the attention of the soldier in my pants.

Her body was lithe and built for speed and agility. Fang Mei was not as tall as Shana but was closer in height than she had appeared while using her warp field when it seemed like Ana had an inch or two on her. She had black clawed fingernails and when she showed her side profile while taking her seat, we could see she had two vestigial limbs that extended from her shoulder blades.

This was where her wings should be, but at the moment in the place of leathery wings were two stubs about the thickness of her closed fist. Well, we couldn’t exactly see them as all that was visible under the straining cotton T-shirt was a pair of lumps, but I knew they were there.

I knew this because I’d been listening to Jackson when he gave me a lowdown on the various character races available to people in the Darkwyrlds, so I had an idea of what to expect when I read Jade Cambion as her species.

The Cambion were a race of quasi-demons much like the Acheronians were. According to the Darkwyrlds lore, we were the result of shadowborn elves playing with the powers of Chaos and they created us by accident. Cambion came about as the result of Archfiends mating with mortal women. They were the half-breed result.

Archfiends were somewhat akin to the gods, but not quite. You could think of them as demigods, though their power levels varied considerably. This meant that unlike the gods, who spent almost all their time trapped in their demesnes, the archfiends could get out and about for short periods of time.

If the correct rituals were performed and the Framework didn’t put a stop to it.

As a general rule of thumb, the weaker the fiend, the longer they could stay in the wider Darkwyrlds. The weakest tended to not have their own realms to rule and were subservient either to other archfiends or to one of the gods.

Regardless of their strength, what they chose to do, for the most part, was have sex with as many women as they could before they were drawn back to their hellish realms.

Well, according to the lore that is what happened.

Quixbix had interrupted Jackson’s explanation at that point and told me the truth was a bit more complicated and a great deal less pleasant. He hadn’t gone into details as it hadn’t been relevant at the time. I would have to ask him to finish filling me in another day.

Anyway, the important part is this meant I knew Fang Mei didn’t have her wings yet. She hadn’t been born of an Archfiend’s union with a mortal, the Framework had made her a Jade Cambion.

If she wanted her wings and some of the other bells and whistles her species could provide, she would need to summon an archfiend, make a series of offerings, and dedicate herself to his service before they would be bestowed.

Also, if she had wings, I’m fairly sure she would have flown off rather than stowaway on the ship.

We stared at each other for a short while.

“Fine,” Fang Mei snapped in defeat. Her voice was silky-smooth with a clipped accent. “I will sign one of your two-year contracts.”

“You know about them, do you?” Shana pushed.

“Yes,” Fang Mei replied. “I heard what your castellan had to say.”

“I see,” I said gravely. “Then you must have also heard her tell your people that there would be penalties for those who tried to escape?”

“What he is trying to say is that you’re in trouble,” Anastasia gloated in the sing-song voice she liked to tease people with.

Fang Mei wrung her hands nervously at the avatar’s needling.

“I don’t think I heard her tell us that,” she lied in a little-girl-lost voice. “I merely followed those other men and ended up on the ship by accident. I was afraid of monsters and zombies. I didn’t know if it would be any safer here than it had been in Luchang and wanted to stay near those who were armed. Nobody told me I wasn’t allowed to come on board.”

As lies went it was fairly plausible. It was also evident that deceit and wielding it as a weapon was something Fang Mei was quite familiar with. But you have to get up a bit earlier in the day to fool me, plus she was still wearing a collar, and this made verifying the truth ridiculously easy.

“Fang Mei, tell us only the truth.”

The vermillion-skinned woman gulped, and her demeanour sank as the degree of power I held in this situation became clear.

“Were you informed of the consequences of trying to escape by my castellan, Susan?”

“Yes.”

“And were you planning on escaping if we hadn’t noticed you lurking on the deck?”

“Yes,” she admitted reluctantly.

“Then a two-year service contract is off the table,” I informed her.

I knew Susan wouldn’t have gone into detail as to the exact penalties for attempted escapees because I wanted it kept suitably vague. That would give us the leeway to get creative if needs be without seeming to break any established precedents. The illusion of fairness was important for societal well-being.

For most, it would likely mean the doubling of the contract length, but Fang Mei didn’t need to know that.

“For you, it is going to mean something a bit more permanent. If you want that collar off, you will need to become soulbound to me as Shana is.”

I gestured to her, and Shana smiled at Fang Mei warmly. I had to grin too, I could see the wheels turning in the elf’s head and felt her palpable excitement through the bond. She was making plans already.

I had no intention of forcing Fang Mei into my bed if she was not interested, but Shana would have other ideas.

“Are you going to order me to do this?” Fang Mei asked with her head bowed.

“No. You can have some time to think it over. You will stay in this cabin for the duration of this expedition. There are bathroom facilities through that door over there,” I said and pointed them out. “Now, I have captaincy duties to take care of. I will be back later, and we can talk further.”

I got up from the table and Ana did the same, skipping out of the room, eager to explore Leland.

“I’m going to stay behind, if that’s alright?” Shana asked. “Give Fang Mei the benefit of my experience.”

“Of course,” I replied and kissed her on the crown of her head and then whispered in her ear, “don’t push too hard.”

Shana beamed back up at me and winked as I departed.

<See. I didn’t suggest you bond her against her will even once> Quixbix chattered, extremely proud of himself as I exited the corridor back into the sunshine.

“I noticed,” I laughed. “Now why don’t you tell me a bit more about these Archfiends while we oversee this scavenging operation.”

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