Tap. Tap. Tap.

Water tapped against the metal outside the hull as Alex took a deep breath. What had been a simple run for supplies while getting the ship repaired was now a rescue operation. Alex closed his eyes as he leaned against the table in the mess hall.

"When it rains, it pours."

"What?" Li Wen asked, sitting back in her chair.

"Just contemplating on our luck," Alex said, looking up. "We got a ship, but the second we're in a port, trouble just keeps coming at us."

"Our fate is ever to be luckily unlucky," Jean said between mouthfuls of his meal. "Though let it not be said that I do not appreciate the gift of this meal. Sayed's curse kept it superbly warm."

Alex raised an eyebrow at him.

"You guys are awfully calm for one of us being kidnapped by slavers," he said.

"I have trust that we will see her safe." Jean shrugged. "Besides, with this storm, no slavers will leave the island."

"They're more likely to try and sell her here." Li Wen nodded. "People who want to buy come here for the most part. They don't go to other places to sell. Dry Turtle is the central hub for trade between the First Quadrant and the Fourth Quadrant."

"Still." Alex sighed.

"I don't know her that well." Li Wen shrugged. "We've only known each other for a few days."

"Weeks." Jean nodded. "But I am still behind going to rescue her. I just see that we have time to figure this out. We don't need to rush in."

"You're not wrong." Alex nodded. "I just wish we knew more about what happened."

"But we will get her back." Mari pulled on Alex's shirt.

"We will." Alex smiled down at her. "The question is how."

"I may assist with that, brother." Sayed stumbled into the open entrance to the mess hall, leaning against the white metal frame and breathing hard. "I have information that is vital to save her."

Alex knew Sayed had pushed himself hard to get back to the ship, and that was before he had to search for Erin. If he had run after the ships stopped leaving the town for the docks, he would have had to run several kilometers, carrying Mari with him.

"Alright," Alex said, waving him in. "But sit down first. We don't want you to collapse while you tell us what happened out there."

Sayed nodded, stumbling over to the table before he collapsed into a chair. It creaked under his large frame as he leaned back against it. After taking a minute to steady his breathing, Sayed leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.

"It all started while Erin was in a shop buying supplies," Sayed said, his eyes roving between the three of them. "While I waited patiently down the street, barred from entry, a man came out in the street and yelled…"

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Sayed raced through the dirt streets, throwing all restraint to the wind behind him as he chased after the slaver in the distance. A sea of flesh kept him from seeing the slaver, but the slaver ran fast, and Sayed could not push past the crowds of people fast enough.

And the slaver was escaping.

He remembered the man. It wasn't the brother who had sat down on the ship, William, but Roy, who held Erin over his shoulder as he ran. Sayed continued to run after him, but more and more people moved to block his way as the large man cut down an alley.

"No! Come back, you fiend!" Sayed yelled before cutting hard to the side of the street and between buildings.

He would take to the alleys if he could not catch the man on open ground. He was sure that he would be able to make his way down a similar route behind the buildings. Surely, the alleys were as logically planned and straight as the streets, but with fewer people.

As he turned the corner and saw the massive fence in front of him, he knew that he had overestimated the rightness of his strategy. However, Sayed was not one to give up easily. He drew a khopesh from his back, aiming toward the fence as he gathered power in his legs and arms.

He took in a deep breath, and his muscles bulged. With precise focus, he brought his sword down in a long swing, slicing into the fence vertically with all his might. He called out the name of his technique as he visualized the flow of power.

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"Demon's Divide!"

Crack-ksh.

Dirt and splintering shards of wood exploded around him as he cut down through the fence, dividing the wood cleanly into two separate sides and leaving a long v-shaped passage through the fence. Without a moment's hesitation, Sayed ran through the opening, hoping that there would be few other things blocking his path on the other side.

"I will not be stopped!" Sayed jumped over a man working in a garden, his feet not even touching the long stalks of the man's plants as he vaulted the next fence line.

With the aid of the posts on the opposite side, Sayed vaulted over the fence, taking his chase past his first obstacle and deeper into the alley. More obstacles rose to block his path: a woman with a baby in a carriage that he dodged around, a sleeping man who rose just as Sayed tried to vault over him, and a cabbage cart being moved through the alley between streets.

He took each one in stride, but each one inevitably caused delay. Sayed had to stop after a few and realize that he would not catch up to the slaver. The man was too far out of sight, and there was no other way forward. Unless he knew precisely where Roy might have gone, he could not even hope to guess where to search.

So he returned to the merchant. Perhaps he could find answers there. He trudged his way back toward the street, perfectly avoiding returning the way he had come. As he chanced a glance down the alley, he frowned. A long line of disrupted people glared at him, none willing to approach with his naked blade in his hand.

"Apologies." Sayed smiled tightly, quickly running toward the street to avoid any more incidents.

He returned down the road and eventually found the merchant's shop. The man stood outside, his hands in his robe's pockets as he glanced down the street. Sayed hurried his steps once he was close to the man.

"Can you tell me where the city keeps its slaves?" Sayed asked, standing tall above the man with his khopesh still in his hand.

The merchant looked between Sayed and his sword, the man's eyes wide as his mouth gaped open. Sayed looked down at his sword and quietly sheathed it. While he might still need it, it drew more attention than he wanted.

"Please," Sayed said. "I need to find Erin, and I think that man will take her there. When we met on the shuttle, he was a slaver, and I have no doubt he intends to sell her into bondage."

"That's usually what happens when they're brazen enough to kidnap someone in broad daylight," the merchant said.

Whoosh.

As if to punctuate his statement, a sudden shadow fell over the street, and a chill wind blew over them both. Above, a line of clouds had consumed the sun, and the cold told Sayed that rain would come soon. He held back the shiver as the chill settled across his skin and into his bones.

"Nothing to be done for it," the merchant said. "Once a slaver takes you, it's almost impossible to prove your freedom. The Port Authority won't side with you unless you have a solid case. You might as well let her go and get back to your ship."

"No," Sayed said.

"What'd you say?"

"No," Sayed said. "We will not leave behind a brother in need. Tell me, merchant, where does this city keep its slaves? I will go there and retrieve her myself if I must!"

"That's a fool's errand," the merchant spat. "You'd be going against the Port Authority, and the slavers would have the right to defend themselves. You'd be hung at the gallows in less than a day!"

"A small price to free a life," Sayed said. "I would rather spend my short life hung to death than to leave a brother in the hands of slavers."

"You're crazy." The merchant looked down, clenching his fists. "But I can't stop you. Take your friend and go west. You'll see the warehouses out there where they keep the slaves. You might find your friend, or you might be too late."

Sayed nodded, reaching past the merchant to open the door and retrieve Mari. Mari came with him easily enough, and he set out to the wast, hoping he would find Erin in time. As he walked, the storm grew above him, clouds rolling out wide over the horizon to block out all light and turn day into night.

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"But did you find her?" Alex asked.

"I did not." Sayed shook his head. "I made it to the edge of the area, but there were many guards out with thick black clubs. They patrolled the streets between some outdoor cages. However, I could not spot Erin in any of those. There were several large buildings beyond that, and each one might hold over a hundred slaves."

"Their ship was in the docks this morning, right?" Alex asked. "They rode the shuttle over with us, so they were in for repairs, just like us."

"They were." Li Wen nodded. "That means they likely have a base of operations in the West District."

"That means we might be able to find them, at least," Alex said, closing his eyes. "You didn't spot anything else while you were there, Sayed?"

"By the time I thought to search the buildings, the storm was upon us." Sayed sighed. "I thought it best to bring Mari to shelter before she might catch a sickness, but then the shuttles were no longer running."

"Then how'd you get back here?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

"I ran through the jungle, of course." Sayed puffed out his chest. "I needed to bring news back as quickly as possible, and if the shuttle wasn't enough, my feet would have to do. There are several roads, it seems, that run between the docks and Dry Turtle, though the one I found was very old."

As Sayed described the situation, the skeleton of a plan was gathering in the back of Alex's head. The details of a plan were sketching themselves together in the back of his mind, and his eyes roved back and forth as he put them all together. The best news for him was that he was no longer alone.

If it had just been him on the ship with Mari, he wouldn't have been able to act. Unless he wanted to risk losing Mari when he went to rescue Erin, he would have no choice but to leave her alone on the ship. That alone could cause problems. That wasn't considering that he wouldn't be able to watch the slavers's ship if they happened to run while he was looking for Erin.

No, he wasn't alone anymore, and that meant he could plan for all the contingencies.

"Okay," he said. "I've got a plan."

"Exactly as expected, brother." Sayed grinned up at him. "Just make sure that I'm going to help find Erin. I need to make up for my inadequacy earlier."

"I'll take my assignment with grace now that my tastes have been sated." Jean smiled, closing the now empty food box.

"I'm still new to this," Li Wen said. "So, I'll go with the flow for now."

"There needs to be three teams," Alex said as he explained the plan.