I did as Grey asked and fetched the wagon, bringing it to rest on top of the ‘lift’. Once I did so, Grey activated the message board one more time and had a short conversation with Skinflint on the other side. When he was done, he bodily tossed the plank of wood away from him to land in a patch of grass some distance away from the lift.

I climbed down from the wagon just in time for the lift to lurch into motion. The rails that the platform was bolted into shrieked in protest as they began to grind downwards. The sound and the movement spooked the horses, causing them to whinny and shuffle as much as they could in their harnesses. Thankfully, they didn’t attempt to bolt. As the lift began to descend, I moved from horse to horse, trying to soothe them.

As I was patting one of the horses, I was interrupted by an impressed noise from Azarus. Looking up, I saw that he was standing near the edge of the platform, staring off of the edge at something. “I gotta admit, this is a mite impressive,” He said, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

Curious, I walked over to join him on the edge. My eyebrows shot up at the view.

Stretching out below us was a massive cavern, easily miles in diameter. The huge, yawning mouth of it opened out to sea, with the three spires of stone visible in the distance. A large portion of the cavern was filled with seawater, over which floated dozens of massive docks and what might be hundreds of ships. Some of those ships were absolutely massive, easily the largest wooden ships I’d ever seen. Most of them were much more reasonably sized, though. Hanging onto a bar on the platform and looking further down, I could tell that the back half of the cavern directly underneath us was occupied by a town of some kind.

Honestly, it didn’t seem like a small settlement. Rather, this was a town nearly on the scale of Hollow Hill, with winding streets and a great many buildings and even homes dotted throughout it. This far into the cavern light didn’t reach very well, so from up above I could see dozens and dozens of lights blaring out into the darkness, from lamps to torches to bonfires.

That wasn’t even to mention the people. There were easily hundreds of people out on those streets, milling about.

As I was nearly hanging off the edge of the platform, the rest of the party came over to join Azarus and me.

Grey crossed his arms as well and smiled. “It is quite a sight, isn’t it? This port was the work of generations. It may be a pirate cove, but it’s actually not quite the lawless zone you would expect it to be. You’ll find a surprising number of families living and working within it, unafraid of their rogue patrons.”

I settled back onto the platform, letting go of the bar. “With how big this place this, it can’t be a secret, right?”

Grey nodded. “Oh, it’s not. I assure you, both the Kingdom and the Principality know of Marrowmist’s existence. However, it would be a war in and of itself to try and root them out. There’s simply too much strength concentrated here, both in naval form, and in powerful individuals. There’s an uneasy agreement in place, where Marrowmist agrees to enforce a certain level of civility on its partisans in exchange for leniency.”

I tilted my head in curiosity. “I’m surprised a bunch of pirates agreed to something like that. Isn’t the whole point to be free from government control?”

“I won’t pretend that there aren’t those who, shall we say, vehemently disagree with the decisions of the Marrowmist leadership,” Grey said wryly. “However such people are typically…dealt with. There’s simply too much prosperity to go around under the current system. Lawlessness is always going to be a problem. The Kingdom decided many years ago to attempt this path in addressing it, and I must say it’s worked out quite well for everyone involved. Even those who are targeted by a Marrowmist crew end up benefiting, in the long run. You would not believe the insurance schemes that have arisen in response to the rise of Marrowmist.” Grey finished with a chuckle.

I shook my head at Grey’s explanation, baffled. Organized circular corruption. I…guess if everyone was happy about the situation? It might be fine?

Whatever.

While we’d been talking, the lift finished its descent to the town below. With another grinding noise, the platform settled into a depression set into a wooden frame. A group of men dressed in workmen’s clothes hustled onto the platform and made a beeline for the wagon. I stepped forward to stop them, only to be held back by Grey.

“It’s quite all right, Nathan,” Grey told me. “They’re merely taking the wagon to my residence. I assure you, our belongings will be quite safe there. After all, my name holds quite a bit of weight in this town, doesn’t it, Skinflint?” He said, looking past me.

I turned around just in time to watch as a tall, thin, scarecrow of a man stepped onto the platform. His skin was weathered and salt-scarred from long years spent at sea, and was wearing blue and red striped pants. He was also wearing a white linen shirt, over which he had a brown leather vest, from which hung a variety of odds and ends. He grinned at Grey with a broken smile, numerous teeth missing in his mouth. “Suppose ye do, ‘Whitegull’,” He said, semi-mockingly.

Grey just smiled back at him sharply. “How long has it been, Skinflint? Three years? Five? Whatever could you have done to deserve message board duty? Last I heard you were sailing with Jackie Three-Thumbs.”

Skinflint scowled and spit off to the side. “Nothin’. He jus’ couldn’t take a joke, that’s all. I’ll be back on a ship in no-time, ye’ll see.” He hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his belt. “Enough abou’ me. Ye said ye want ta see the Tri-um-virate? Well, c’mon then. I sent word ahead. They’s expectin’ ye.” He turned around, gesturing for us to follow him.

Grey stepped forward confidently, seeming completely at ease about stepping into a pirate town. He paused before we left, though, causing Skinflint to turn around in irritation. Grey didn’t pay him any mind, however. “Aurum,” He said kindly to our healer, causing him to snap to attention. “Perhaps you should remain with the wagon after all. I’m not sure if Marrowmist is entirely…to your taste.” He said delicately.

Aurum actually seemed relieved to be asked to stay behind. That reminded me of something. Bending down and scooping up Fade, who had been following at my heels, I deposited the wolf pup in the Sculpted man’s arms. He looked down at the animal in a bewildered manner, before looking back at me.

“Keep an eye on Fade for me, will you?” I asked him, causing Fade to yip at me reproachfully. I rolled my eyes at the young wolf. “You’re a bit young to be traipsing around a pirate town. I promise, when you’re big and strong, you can come on more adventures, all right?” Fade just chuffed at me, and settled into Aurum’s arms.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Um, sure,” Aurum said, blinking. “I’ll look after him.”

“Are ye done?” Skinflint asked sarcastically, before turning around and walking off, clearly expecting us to follow. Grey rolled his eyes but did so anyway.

The rest of us trailed in his wake.

……………………………………..

I kept my head on a swivel, as I followed Grey through the pirate town of Marrowmist. Not only because I was honestly a little wary of it, but because I was also interested.

This was a pretty unique looking town.

It wasn’t ramshackle, but I wouldn’t exactly call my surroundings upscale either. Rather, it bizarrely seemed like the normal working-class neighborhoods that I’d seen back in Hollow Hill. Except, more nautical themed. We passed by plenty of fisheries, general stores, and an absolute ton of bars. Sure, there were some shady-looking people idling around, but by and large it wasn’t quite as rowdy as I would have expected it to be.

Honestly, I’d kind of built this place up in my head, over the last couple of weeks. I’d thought I’d be walking into an absolutely lawless den of thieves, but it only came off as slightly dubious.

Grey seemed to know where he was going, but was content to let Skinflint lead us through the streets, further into the town. Our procession through Marrowmist was actually garnering a bit of attention from the locals though. Every once in a while, someone would recognize Grey and do a double take, stopping in the middle of the street. That would set off a chain of other residents stopping to watch and whisper with each other.

Skinflint seemed to love it, strutting down the streets like he owned them. Grey, though, took it in stride. I think he was just used to this kind of attention.

Eventually, our little group reached a more wealthy-looking area of town. Well, I say wealthy, but what I really mean is gaudy. I think this was the residential area for the more, shall we say, ‘successful’ pirates of Marrowmist. On either side of me, I was surrounded by extremely tacky-looking manors, gilded in more gold and with more ostentatious decorations than even Magnus’s manor back in Addersfield.

I couldn’t help but rubberneck as we walked past one of them that had a massive golden statue of a one-eyed pirate riding a shark, just beyond a metal fence. The pirate was waving his tricorne hat in the air like he was riding a bucking horse, instead of a sea predator.

I exchanged an incredulous look with Sylvia. “Have you ever been here with Grey?” I said to her, leaning in closer.

She shook her head. “No,” She said, bewildered. “Father has never shared this part of his life with me.”

Grey must have heard us, because he turned around. “I’d always intended to, my dear,” He said with an apologetic smile. “But it’s been a…hectic last few years, to say the least.”

Sylvia’s eyes trailed to another statue, this time of an octopus menacingly brandishing a different melee weapon in each of its eight tentacles. “As you say, Father.”

Before long, we reached the end of the block of ridiculous houses. There we found the largest of the manors by far, and also the busiest. Past the metal gate and through the open doors, I could see what looked like dozens of pirates busy partying and drinking in what looked to be an oversized tavern. The sounds of singing and laughter reached us even from the street.

Skinflint didn’t pause for a moment before barging through the gates and making for the tavern entrance like he owned the place. The rest of us followed him inside. Looking around, I hid a wince at the loud music and carousing that filled the air. Now this was what came to mind when I thought of ‘pirate tavern’. It was huge for one, and the entire massive first floor seemed to be entirely taven, with a massive bar along one wall. In one of the back corners, I could vaguely make out what seemed to be a fighting ring of some kind, but there were too many people gathered around it see what was going on. In another corner, I could see an entrance to a busy kitchen, with people coming in and out of it constantly. On the far wall was a set of wide double stairs that let up to the second floor. That was where Skinflint was taking us.

He was stopped though, when one of the huge guards dressed in leathers at the base of the stairs laid one massive fist on his chest. “Invitation only,” He grunted.

Skinflint reared back and slugged the massive man in the jaw, dropping him in one punch. He spit on the unconscious guard's body. “Try and stop me, will ye. Pillock.” Without sparing the other guard a glance, he stepped over the guard's body and onto the stairs. He didn’t even glance back to see if we were following.

Our group walked around the dazed guard, who was being helped back to his feet by another one. “Uh, sorry,” I told him, slightly apologetically. I didn’t know what I was apologizing for, honestly. It’s not like I was the one to punch him. The guard just blinked at me stupidly.

The second floor was much quieter than the first one, even though noise from the first still reached us. It, bizarrely, seemed much more ‘civilized’ up here, in comparison to the chaos of the first floor. Rather than open tables surrounded by drunken fools, it was littered with private booths filled up with… wealthier-looking drunken fools.

They were at least quieter about it, though.

However, none of them were important to us. I could tell what was.

It was the three occupied thrones along the far wall of the second floor, up on a dais. As we drew closer to the thrones, I was able to get a good look at the occupants.

I guess these guys were the Triumvirate.

Two of the thrones were occupied by humans, one man and one woman. The third was a dwarf, dressed in clothes with an almost militaristic cut. Said dwarf had long blonde hair, and an equally long blonde beard. Something told me he wasn’t a noble, though. Maybe it had something to do with the glower he’d fixed Azarus with the second he’d caught sight of us.

Just a guess, but maybe he didn’t care much for dwarven nobility.

Honestly?

I didn’t blame him.

The human guy was likely the biggest fop I’d ever seen, which was saying something considering what I’d seen back in Rhoscara. He was slightly older looking, with a massive head of curled white hair, very obviously a wig. His older features were painted with thick ivory cosmetics, which didn’t quite mask the huge mole he had on his right cheek. He’d been checking his appearance in a small handheld mirror before our approach, but snapped it closed when he caught sight of us. Fussily, he straightened his frilly and ostentatious pearl suit and sat up straighter.

Frankly, I wasn’t intimidated by either of them.

The woman on the other hand…

Something about her struck me as dangerous.

She was beautiful, but that seemed like one of the least important things about her. Dressed in close-cut black leathers, she nearly blended into her own clothes with how dark her skin was. Over those leathers, she was wearing a blood-red silk long coat with a cutlass belted at her hip. Long, braided steel-grey hair hung down her back, kept out of the way of her sharp, chocolate-brown eyes bearded on either side with slight crow's feet. She was watching us now, almost hungrily.

Looking at this woman…it was like staring at a naked blade. It almost hurt to see her.

She spoke first. “Well, well, well,” She nearly purred, once we were in range. “I almost didn’t believe Skinflint when he told us you were in town, ‘Whitegull’. For once, he wasn’t lying.”

Skinflint affected a wounded posture, one hand over his heart. “‘Ere now, tha’s uncalled for. When ‘ave I ever been anythin’ but the heart of honesty?”

The dwarf snorted. “All the damned time,” He said in rough, gravelly voice. “Now get out of here, bilge rat. Your betters have business to attend to.”

Skinflint sneered at the dwarf but did as he was told. He turned away and strode over to one of the unoccupied booths. As he passed me, I heard him mutter to himself. “Betters me arse…”

“Now!” The fop said in a high-pitched, nasally voice once Skinflint had walked away. He clapped his hands together, once. “Let’s get started, shall we?”