“What is it? Not hungry?”

The familiar and thick accent of Helgi brought Jamie back to his senses. She had, most unfortunately, fell down to a seat next to him on the deck so close that they two of them were rubbing elbows. She had smashed and spread a pickled egg upon a piece of tack like jam, and tore into it now vigorously with teeth much tougher and stronger than any muscle or bone in his own body! Jamie, meanwhile, nibbled at a piece of saltpork. An uncharacteristic choice of meal for the young Cabin Boy, all of the crew knew how he despised the stuff, but the thought of vinegar currently sickened the boy to his stomach.

They ate silently there for a moment, but Jamie’s quick and prodding glances over to his companion swiftly brought on her irritation.

“What?” she finally demanded of him. “Is there problem?”

“N-no! None at all!” Jamie replied immediately, putting up his hands between them. “I was just... where did you go at the port a few weeks back?”

“What?” Helgi asked confusedly. “Why are you asking this now?”

“Curious is all. After all, I never get to leave the ship!”

Helgi narrowed her eyes at the young lad, but she acquiesced nonetheless. “I had a meeting... with the Wharfmaster.”

A flush of shock washed over him, though he did his best to maintain what little composure he had presented himself with to this point in the conversation. “W-whatabouts, if I may ask?”

Helgi paused briefly before she spoke again, perhaps choosing her words carefully. “I had to talk to him about... delivery.”

“Like a package or a parcel, or..?”

Helgi furrowed her brow in frustration, rising to her feet suddenly. “Why you ask me this?” She demanded again, this time with anger in her voice.

Jamie was shocked for a moment, so much that his mouth hung open briefly before he caught his bearings again. “Just b-bored is all!” He hung his head down and looked at the floor to avoid her gaze.

Helgi stared down at him for a while longer in silence, then she let out a weary sigh and rubbed her forehead. “I’m going to get some grog.” And then she marched away, leaving Jamie alone again.

Jamie watched her go with a sullen expression. He was sorry to have offended her, for she was one of his favorites among the crew, especially her tall tales she liked to tell from her childhood and her homeland. He just had to know the truth behind his night’s dream. But then, as she made her way down the steps to below-deck, something briefly caught his eye, and caused his breath to catch in his throat: as she leaned forward to descend below the planks, the bottom of the rightmost pouch on her belt bore a crusty brown stain, as if some ichor had leaked and seeped into the material.

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That night, after most of the day crew had climbed into their own bunks, where they now draped over the sides and snored loudly, Jamie sat there awake listening to the gentle waves against the sides of the ship. Aloft he held the Head by its string before him, staring into its tight-shut eyes. No longer did it grin like it had in the morning once he had awoken from that dream, nightmare or vision whatever it might’ve been. His throat crooked as he swallowed, and his stomach swam with nerves. Finally, he huffed out through his nostrils in a determined way as he made his decision, bringing the leather band up and around his neck.

He fell back into the flimsy threadbare cushion of his hammock, the one piece of comfort that he owned, and no sooner had his head laid back than did he begin to detect a seemingly unnatural drowsiness begin to creep up from the corner of his vision, threatening to pull him into full slumber with a worrying speed!

Even guarded as he was now, he risked a simple blink of the eyes and found himself once again in a place that was not where he was. This time, however, he found himself looking down, far down! Hundreds of feet above the shores of a dark-blue sea! He cried out soundlessly, thrashing his limbs in a panic, before he came to the shaky determination that he would not plummet to his doom. Taking a long breath to steady his heart, as it thumped painfully in his throat now from the fright, he peered down and around, attempting to gain a better idea of his current predicament.

Below him he saw the city of a port, one which travelled up a long and meandering incline that began at the sandy beaches by its docks. The time appeared to be just after the sun had set, and so the white-stone buildings with their torches and lamps glowed like gold against the surrounding amethyst night.

Suddenly, Jamie felt himself tugged harshly, as if he were a fish attached to a hook! He flew so quickly in a single moment that he barely even had the time to comprehend it before he had been brought to just as sudden of a halt! Whatever this powerful force was that commanded the young man now held him aloft above a dimly lit cobbled-stone street. From his elevated position several meters above the earth, the ghostly Jamie could see that just a street away sat the massive, opulent palace that he had spied from on high to be the centerpoint of the city. And just beneath him now, so crouched and hidden in the low light that it took Jamie several minutes to spy him, was another familiar face.

He was a man with copper-colored skin, wavy long black hair that looked finer now than it usually did as it was free of oil or dirt, and a goatee which came to a sharp point below his chin beneath a sprouting mustache. His current clothes and his cloak were currently shades of dark so as to blend in with the night, as his usual sunny and colorful attire would not be suited for such a task, while the normally jovial expression which Jamie knew him for was currently amasked with an expression most serious and furrowed. This was the boatswain Santiago, slinking through the streets of his home of the port city of Forteleza, which lay North and a gulf past Bastión, where Jamie’s dream of the night before had taken place.

Santiago stared like a cat down the darkened alley, watching as a man clad in a bronze helmet and scale armor yawned into his free hand, while in the other he held a burning torch aloft. The guardsman looked right and then looked left, causing Santiago to press lower against the tall stone wall beside him, but the soldier appeared mostly lackadaisical in his duties and likely couldn’t see much further than a couple of feet before him in any direction, and soon he turned on his heel and began to march back up the street from whence he came, allowing Santiago to let out a sigh of relief, and then continue on his way up the road unobserved, except for by the ghostly visage of Jamie who trailed along behind him all of the way.

Doing his best to balance a quickened pace with a silent gait, the Boatswain kept himself low and close to the wall as he turned the corner and then darted swiftly to the other side of the street, before continuing up the way and closer towards that large and opulent palace.

As the sleuth came upon the corner at the end of the long street, which turned off to the left and away from the palace fence to the right, he peeked oh-so-carefully around so that only his nose would stick out. The guardsman had come upon another, and the two were currently chattering and laughing in order to pass the time. Seeing that the sentinels had busied themselves with other matters, Santiago turned and dashed across the way, and with his running start he managed to leap up to the top of the black iron fence of the palace. He scrambled for a moment so as not to fall, made more difficult and uncomfortable by the sharpened spires which topped each individual bar of the fence, likely in order to prevent an intrusion such as this, and then finally he was able to wrench most of his body over and onto the other side without any issue or injury. Landing with a thud onto the grass upon his feet and hands, Santiago winced noticeably as he reached to the joint of his hip, and when he retrieved it once again he looked upon his palm and saw a smear of red from where one of the sharp spires had dug into his shirt and sliced him painfully! He said nothing, but growled through his teeth in frustration. Swiftly he shed his black cloak from his collar, and tore a sizable portion from the end of the cape with which he haphazardly bandaged his wound. Then he shed the rest of his dark clothes, beneath which was his more recognizable, colorful attire.

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What is he going to do..? Jamie wondered to himself as he watched his Crewmate begin to march across the grass and then up the stone steps towards the entrance of the Palace, for he was not even trying to stay out of sight as he had been before.

As he came to the open double-doors which led inside, the two guardsmen at either end of the portcullis noticed him coming, and looked to him with surprised expressions.

Santiago put on a confident smile, and he raised up a hand in greeting. “I am a guest of La Senescal, just popped out for a walk. I shall now be returning to my Lady.”

The two armored men exchanged troubled looks, for they did not recognize this man, but as the Palace was currently closed to guests, they thought that he must have been allowed access if he was already this far within. The soldier on the left simply nodded wordlessly to him, a gesture which Santiago returned with a smile before striding on past them. But no sooner had he rounded the next corner than did he stumble and prop himself against the wall with a hand, while with his other he clutched at his injured side! Sucking in air through his teeth, he looked down at himself to discover a small stain of red was now beginning to seep through his white cloth blouse!

“I guess I am on a limited time…” Jamie heard the man chuckle to himself, before he righted his posture and continued on his way further down the corridor.

I wonder what he means to do here? Jamie wondered as he was pulled along behind. I saw him asleep as I turned in this night, so I know that he is alive now, but I am unaware if this is a recollection of the past, or a portent of the future, so he very well may not survive this endeavor!

The two continued on for what felt like a terribly long expanse of time. Every time Santiago came upon a doorway he would try the knob, and if it was unlocked he would crack it open to peer inside at its contents, before shutting it again, and every time he passed a guard he would put on the same confident demeanor as he had worn at the gate, giving the impression that he was indeed supposed to be there, though now he would stand at an angle as he did so, and cover his reddening patch with his arm.

Finally, the Boatswain creaked open a door and let out a small noise of approval. Shutting the door just behind his ghostly follower, who was pulled within just in the nick of time, he had no sooner clicked shut the lock than did he dash over towards the large wooden desk at the center of the room and begin to rummage through it!

“Come on! Come on!” He grumbled with a desperate air as he tore through old musty parchments, folded notes, and rolled vellum, with such haste that many utensils tools began to spill out and clatter the the floor around him. Then, his ears perked up, as the sounds of footsteps began to draw near! Santiago froze where he stood and did not move a muscle. The footsteps drew closer… closer...

Clack...

Clack...

Clack...

Stopped. Just in front of the door, as if whoever they belonged to, something had caught their attention just now! Santiago barely breathed, letting out but a ragged little whine when the pain in his lungs grew too great! There was a long, long pause that felt like an eternity. Jamie turned his head slowly from the doorway to observe Santiago, whose hand was very slowly travelling towards something on the back of his belt.

But then, finally, mercifully, the footsteps resumed, continuing on their way and disappearing into silence once more. Santiago was so frightened and on-edge that he still did not move nor breath until the footfalls of whoever that had been could no longer be heard, and when he did suck in a long and painful breath he weakened to the point that he fell upon the desk with his hands to steady his shaking arms and quaking legs!

“...Too close!” Santiago chuckled aloud, before he once again resumed his destructive search.

“Damn it, I don’t think that it’s here!” He complained under his breath after a couple of minutes, doing his best to stuff everything back into the cupboards and containers as they had been before he had arrived, though to minimal success.

Suddenly, once again the two heard the distinct sound of booted footfalls upon the marble floor just outside, and coming nearer! Santiago froze up again, attempting to recreate his success from the previous episode, but this time when the person outside reached the doorway, Jamie was horrified when he heard several clicks as, whoever they were, the owner began to jiggle the handle of the locked door!

Santiago became white as a sheet, and more pallid still when he heard the jingle of keys being lifted from a pocket! With no time to spare, Santiago scurried over to the far wall on his hands and knees, so that he would be hidden behind the door when it was opened. Indeed, as the thing swung ajar, Santiago was obfuscated from view as the other person made their way inside!

She was an older woman, middle-aged with similar copper-colored skin and black hair, which had been cut short at a tomboyish length. She was quite striking, wearing makeup on her eyes and lips, and dressed in a form fitting gold dress that sparkled. She was holding an unruly stack of papers, and seemed quite invested in her reading as she strode inside, so she did not immediately notice the state of disarray that the room was now in until several steps inside, taking in a sharp breath from the shock as she realized that something was wrong! Santiago was just now in the midst of creeping back out of the open door when she spun on her heel, intent on calling for a guard, and she fell upon him there!

She was so surprised that she choked on her words, and Santiago moved like a flash, bringing a curved dagger up to her throat, covering her mouth with his hand and pushing the woman roughly against the far wall! With no one to hold it anymore, the door fell closed with a slam! They waited there in silence, staring into each other’s eyes, waiting to hear if someone had heard the commotion, but after several long moments of silence, they both realized that nobody was coming.

“W-where is it?” Demanded Santiago shakily. The woman could only shake her head, unsure of what it was he was asking. Santiago pressed the blade further against the skin of her neck, drawing a droplet of blood and causing her to startle from the pain.

He asked something, sharply and demanding, but in a language that Jamie did not recognize, and the woman’s eyes grew at first wide, but then narrowed, and her brow furrowed. Again there was a long and silent exchange of glaring gazes between the two. But then, perhaps out of instinct or anxiety, and for the barest moment, the woman’s eyes darted down towards the marble floor beneath the desk. Santiago slowly turned his head towards the very same place, and then just as slowly back at the woman. He gulped, as though he were preparing himself for some great effort.

Then he carved in deep and drew cold steel across her neck!

She attempted to scream from the pain and the shock, but all that came out was a ghastly gurgle, and all strength left her body! The poor woman toppled into a heap onto the marble floor, spasming as blood pooled out around her!

Jamie screamed in horror, bringing his hands up instinctively to cover his face, though they would not protect him from the terrible sight that was now burned into his mind’s eye!

Santiago fell to his knees and began desperately prying at each and every facet of the stone floor, scraping with his fingers and nails until those nails cracked, and his fingertips became raw! Jamie knew not how long he watched him search, for he had gone light in the head from the shock, and his perception of time was hampered severely. Finally, however, the Boatswain found a small crack from which he wrested free a small panel of the decorative floor, a secret compartment beneath which lay what looked to be a decorative wooden box. Santiago retrieved the thing from its hiding place, and without another thought, he bolted from the room as fast as his legs could carry him!

For once, Jamie was not pulled along with him, but simply remained in the room with the carcass that still bled and shivered where it lay. With great hesitation, Jamie turned to look down at that poor woman, only to find that, to his horror, her eyes were looking back at him now! Wide, and full of fear!

Then he awoke.