Bella didn’t see the point in hiding that our plans had changed from the crew, which was reasonable. Everyone knew that we were heading straight to Caer Drarrow now.

Now that we were alerted to the Neptaurian scouts, the mood on the ship took a more serious turn. Everyone was aware that with every hour we grew closer to Caer Drarrow, the possibility grew that we would be attacked by a Neptaurian at any time.

Which did happen.

It wasn’t constant, but with Pete keeping an eye out, we had an early warning system for the arrival of the scouts. He must have a build that specialized in Perception or something, because he could spot them miles out from underneath the Reef. Over the next few days of travel, we encountered three more scouts.

I wasn’t involved in fighting these scouts, as I was still caught up in my punishment detail. I’d gotten to watch as the crew of the Reef easily dealt with the scouts that had come by. It was cool to watch, if nothing else. I’d seen Morlow, the angry guy I’d played cards with a few days ago, literally harpoon one of them out of the water and drag the screeching Neptaurian onto the deck.

In the light of day, I’d gotten a much better look at them. You know, when I wasn’t fighting for my life against one of them trying to drown me.

They were large, bigger than any man, dwarf, or Sculpted. From hooves to head, I’d say the average Neptaurian was about nine feet tall. And they really did seem similar to the myth of the Centaur from back home. They had the same basic body plan of one, with an equine lower body and a humanoid upper body. However, these Centaurs had neither hair nor skin. Instead, they were covered in dense blue scales, reminiscent of fish. On their massive four fingered hands were equally massive talons as well, easily extending out several feet. All of them had bulbous yellow eyes that glared out at the world from a flat face, with a mouth filled with what seemed to be shark teeth.

But perhaps the oddest part of them had to be their tail. Because they didn’t have any hair for a tail like a normal horse, they instead had a large finned one. It honestly looked like something you would see on a shark, similar to their teeth. It gave most of the Neptaurians I saw a decidedly odd silhouette. I guess it made sense, when I thought about it. They were aquatic creatures, and needed some way to swim through deep water easily.

But damn. I hadn’t even seen that huge ass tail during my first encounter with a Neptaurian. I guess you really missed some things when you were being asphyxiated.

While the crew was fishing for Neptaurians, I’d finished fixing the burn marks the first day by cheating. I’d had an idea, you see. Why not see if I could use Aetherial Melding to try and fix the planks of the deck? It was an interesting idea, and I’d wanted to see if I could ‘meld’ damage away from an object, essentially repairing it. Fade had kept me company through all of my drudgework. While I hadn't seen him much during the trip to the island, he still sought me out sometimes.

Like now, so he could watch me repair the ship. Somehow, I thought the little wolf was amused by my labor.

Turns out I could fix the damage with Aetherial Melding. But there was a catch. I needed material to replace the damaged portions with, which I had an easy solution for. Some of the planks on the deck had been too damaged by the fire to stay, so I’d been given a few replacements for them. I’d taken a few portions of the wooden planks, astralized them, and then used that astralized material to repair the decks very quickly. The crewmates that walked passed me during this process could only watch in confusion. Bella had even come by to watch as well, watching me with a hawk-eyed glare in case I damaged her ship any further.

But everything was fine when I was done. In fact, funnily enough, the boards that I had fixed looked visibly newer than the ones that surrounded them. When I had somewhat smugly pointed that out to Bella, she had given me a bit of the old evil eye. What wasn’t so funny was that she left down to the cargo hold, then returned with a bucket of wood stain and ordered me to use it on the deck by hand. Apparently, with no ‘funny business’.

All right, fair enough.

However, a few days after adjusting our course directly to Caer Drarrow, the Neptaurian attacks abruptly stopped. No more scouts were even getting in range of Pete’s detection. He told us that he sometimes thought that he saw one or two way out into the distance, but they never drew close anymore.

This was apparently a bad sign.

“They know we’re out here now,” Grey told me, with narrowed eyes directed out onto the horizon. I was standing with him on the stern of the ship, standing behind the helm with Fade at our feet. Bella was with us, no doubt paying attention to our conversation as well.

“Because the attacks have stopped?” I asked my mentor.

“Yes,” Grey nodded seriously. “There’s no other reason for their probing to cease. I suspect that the Prime has noticed he’s been losing scouts out in this direction, when they don’t report in.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

I glanced at Grey from the corner of my eye. “Just how smart are Primes? You’re talking about it like it’s intelligent and running a military squad or something.”

“It is intelligent, Nathan,” Grey said, turning to me. “Not as intelligent as you or I, but intelligent nonetheless. Primes are fully capable of basic reasoning and trap setting, more so than your usual monster. They’re bestial, yes, but not stupid. It would be wise not to underestimate it. Remember that.”

Trap setting, huh. I guess that the snake Prime back from the Addersfield forest had nearly killed me with a trap.

Our conversation was interrupted by a silvery, bell-like whistle erupting from above us in the crow’s nest. Activity on the ship ceased, with every eye turning upwards, mine included. Sylvia was up there, waving down at the deck. She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Land!” She called down. “Land on the horizon!”

The ship exploded into action, including Bella. She spun the wheel rapidly to the left while calling out commands. “Hard port! Drop anchor! Furl sails!” She bellowed rapidly, and then paused for a moment. “Reel Pete up!”

The crew had seemingly anticipated her orders though, because they were already doing the things she had ordered. The sails of the Reef were untied from their rigging and rapidly furled by the crewmen calling all over them. A few crewmen, including Azarus, heaved a massive iron anchor over the side of the ship. Meanwhile, Pete was getting reeled in like an unruly stone fish by his improvised rigging. The Sculpted shed water like a sponge as he breached the surface.

I leaned into Grey. “Wouldn’t the anchor not be very useful? Aren’t we too far out?”

Grey shook his head slightly, watching the chaos. “No, the waters around Caer Drarrow are notoriously shallow. It’s one of the reasons that the island was chosen for the prison. It helps prevent both a clandestine underwater approach, and discourages escapes. Far easier to find escapees in shallow water, you see.”

I made a quiet noise of understanding, while Bella was bellowing orders to her crew. Before long, the Thorny Reef had come to a complete stop. When the ship had halted completely, Bella shouted one final order. “Meetin’ on deck!”

Grey and I exchanged nods, and followed Bella down to the main deck of the Reef where everyone was gathering. We found our companions pretty quickly once down there, as it was pretty easy to pick Venix’s massive frame out of a crowd. I admit, I was only slightly startled when Sylvia dropped down out of the sky from the crow's nest with a muted thud, so similar to how she had killed the Neptaurian a few days ago. Fade wagged his tail at our Sculpted friend, causing her to briefly reach down and pet him.

Once everyone had assembled, Bella turned to face Grey with a raised eyebrow. Grey took the hint and stepped up. “Now that we’ve arrived at Caer Drarrow, it’s time to discuss our next steps. Bella, if I could borrow your far eye?”

Bella grunted, and opened a small tube at her waist. From it, she withdrew a small collapsed telescope. I’d seen it a few times on our trip to the island, so I wasn’t too surprised at its appearance. I just considered it another indication that Vereden wasn’t quite as primitive as I sometimes thought it was.

She handed it to Grey, who extended the small spyglass and turned to face the distant island. From where I was standing, I could only see a small black dot on the horizon, now that I was looking. Grey looked through the telescope for a few moments, before frowning and making a considering noise. He lowered the glass and turned to face the gathered crowd.

“Well, it’s not quite as bad as it could be,” Grey said, causing a stir in the crow.

The hell does that mean?

“The hells,” Pete started, before spitting out a handful of seawater. “Does that mean?”

Yeah, what he said.

Grey rolled his eyes slightly. “It means that there is a gathered force on the island, but not an excessively large one. There are two corvettes currently docked at the island, neither of which seem to be excessively armed. I do, however, believe that they’re adapted troop transport.”

Bella hissed to herself. “Damn. I don’t care if they’re just ferries, the Reef can’t outrun a corvette. Much less two of the damn things.”

I heard Curloch laugh from the crowd. “Then we’ll just have to make sure they can’t follow us!”

The gathering of pirates chortled among themselves, only slightly sinisterly. I laughed along nervously. I guess some sabotage was on the menu, during our prison break.

“Indeed,” Grey said, unfazed. “I would recommend it. In the meanwhile, I expect somewhere between two to three hundred garrisoned troops on the island, with the presence of the corvettes. A not insurmountable force, with the strength gathered here, but we should avoid open combat if possible.”

Two…to three hundred? And that wasn’t cause for concern? I cast a gaze out at the people gathered here. There were maybe around thirty crewmen for the Reef, while there were seven people in our group of people. If it came to open conflict, that was a hell of a disparity in numbers. Nobody else looked concerned, though. Maybe Grey really was just that much of a force multiplier.

Bella cut in. “What about the damn Seahorsemen? Can ye see them on the island?”

“As I’ve told you, Isabella,” Grey said with a frustrated sigh. “I believe the Loyalists are granting them sanctuary in an underwater cove around the back of the island. Said cove is roughly beneath the northwestern cliffs. Thankfully, our approach has left us perfectly positioned to approach the cove. However, not in the Thorny Reef.”

“No shit,” Bella rolled her eyes. “We’ll be using the lifeboats to reach the island. The Reef ain’t a big girl, but she’s big enough to catch more than a few eyes.”

“We?” Grey raised an eyebrow at Bella. “Are you going to accompany our group then?”

“Of course I am,” Bella scoffed. “I’ll be goin’ with ye to kill the Seahorsemen, while me men go slit some throats and slash some sails.”

Grey tilted his head in acceptance. “Very well. I welcome your blade at our side.” Grey turned to face our group now. He met my eyes. “Ready yourself, my friends. We leave soon.”