While we sat in the woods waiting for darkness to arrive, I spent some time thinking about what we would do if we had won the race down the mountain and the ship was still in port. The ethics of the situation were . . . complicated. Some, but not all, of the remainder of the company were ready and willing to sacrifice me for their own personal profit. I didn’t think that the people I had spent so much time with, the ones that I had almost befriended, would be eager to see me suffer. After all, it was through our hard work that they were going to be rich in the first place. By our hard work, I meant mine, Aleyda’s and Bowen’s. They never would have so much as sniffed that gold vein if it wasn’t for the connections that we had forged during our expeditions up the mountain. Others, including orcs like Tikter and Yahg, seemed to embrace the every person for themselves mentality. They would gladly see me suffer if they profited in the end. Should I leave everyone who had feelings of goodwill on the island just to protect myself from the few who didn’t?

I tried to harden my heart. Any of my so called friends could have decided to join Dumbuk as a last minute addition to our group and make their way down to the ship with us. They didn’t, though. Did that mean they weren’t really my friends after all? Were they just people who had decided to while away the boring hours of the voyage by gaming with us without actually bonding with us? Why did so many people in this world have to be so damn mercenary. Were my only true friends the ones who had joined us on our trip down the mountain? After all, just like Dumbuk, they must have known what the others were planning and they decided to go along with it anyway.

The more I thought about the issue, I realized that it wasn’t about them. It was about me. I wasn’t a believer in situational ethics. I didn’t think that what was right and wrong changed from moment to moment based upon which direction the wind was blowing. I had fallen into that trap before, blinded by my obsessions. I didn’t like that version of me. That me had methodically severed every truly meaningful relationship in his life. I didn’t want to be that person again. Finally, I decided that if we made it to the ship that Aleyda, Bowen and I could hide out for a day in the hold waiting for the others to return. They didn’t even have to know we were onboard until we got underway. Then, once we were at sea, we could have a selective accounting if it was necessary. Just because Tikter and Yahg and the rest of my detractors made it back to the ship didn’t mean they would ever see Shroud Hallow again. After all, if they were willing to sell me out once, I had no doubt they would try it again and again until they succeeded.

Finally, it was dark outside. “Are we ready to do this?” I asked the others.

I received various forms of assent and we crept out of the woods. The trail we were taking down into town was eerily quiet. There were no company compounds out in this direction. The terrain wasn’t very hospitable for long term living. I wanted to change my appearance again, but I did not want to explain how I was doing it to the orcs who were with us. Instead, we three humans pulled the hoods of our cloaks up in an effort to hide our faces. The night was a little chilly, so we could use that as an explanation if anyone asked.

Within a short time, we had reached the outside of the military encampment. It was surrounded by a stout wooden palisade constructed of some of the larger trees found on the island. There were guards stationed at the gate and there was quite a bit of traffic heading back and forth from the port. Some of the people coming back from the port had obviously been sent there to run errands of one sort or another, but others clearly were returning from leave of some kind as they listed up the trail, staggeringly drunk. This is the moment of truth, I though, as we reached the guards. I had to fight the urge to hold my breath, forcing myself to walk as normally as possible past them.

I could feel the eyes of the guards upon me as we walked past them. I didn’t glance in their direction, though. I didn’t want to appear nervous. I wanted them to believe we were just another returning expedition. After all the build up in my mind, what actually happened was anticlimactic. None of them stepped out to confront us and we walked on by. Maybe it had something to do with the orcs who were with us. Once we got close to the gate they had begun loudly and roughly insulting each other. I admired their composure. To the rest of the world, we were just another company returning from another fruitless expedition.

We made our way into town. To reach the port, we had to go past the place where I had done the deed. While we were on the trail, some of the drunken soldiers started spitting insults in our direction. They demeaned our characters. They challenged us to fight them. Pregu, Dregu, Dumbuk and Yam didn’t rise to their bait. Instead, they met the insults with insults of their own but kept us moving down the trail. I thought if we had to, we could probably outrun a bunch of drunken orcs. I also thought that if we stopped to fight, more and more returning soldiers would join in until we well and truly got our asses kicked. The others must have had similar thoughts because we kept our heads down and kept moving until we had reached the outskirts of town.

If I had thought the port town was deserted before, I had no idea what deserted meant. The rush was over. Several of the businesses had closed and their closures looked to be permanent. We saw more roving patrols of guards than we did members of other companies. Even though the gate had been sabotaged, the guards didn’t seem to be particularly alert. After all, they must have known that there main force was up on the mountain attempting to push the Gremmans Confederation troops off of it. Moving forces of that size would have been obvious to everyone. We didn’t exactly avoid the guard patrols but we didn’t engage with them either. We just moved through the town, the orcs among us still hurling insults at one another. They must have run out of source material because they had begun to repeat themselves.

When we reached the central square, there were still a couple of the bars open, including the one we had been in several nights previously. Troops needed somewhere to blow off steam after all. I glanced at the portal and noticed that no effort had been spent to reconstruct it. They must have decided to move it behind the walls of their fortifications. As I got closer, I quickly realized that there was a corpse hanging from the top of the one remaining pillar. I steered our group a little closer to take a look. It was Mage Crothu. There was a sign around his neck that said “Traitor”. He had clearly been tortured. I wondered if he had confessed just to make the hurting stop.

Crothu was a vain egomaniac but he didn’t deserve this. I had not intended for him to suffer and die when I made my plan. But sometimes, all the good intentions in the world don’t amount to anything more than a pile of shit. I had gotten him killed because he was a means to an end. And now, some of the people I had saved by sacrificing him at the altar of my stupidity were preparing to sell me out. What goes around comes around, I thought. Add another black mark to my soul.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

We quickly passed through the square and headed down to the port. On our way, we passed the brothel which still seemed to be doing a brisk business. There were far fewer ladies out front this time of night. They must have been inside doing their thing.

Every time we passed guards, I tensed up a little. I couldn’t help myself. Things had been too easy so far. Things never went this easily for me. I expected that we would be confronted and made to throw back our hoods. That confrontation never came, though. I was so grateful that some of the orcs had decided to throw their lot in with ours. Without them, we would have been far too obvious. We would have been screwed.

We walked past the now empty storage yards and reached the foot of the piers. I noticed that several of the formerly civilian piers had been taken over by military ships. I didn’t know whether they were mixed in with the civilian ships or they had just seized them as their own. At each of the places where military ships were docked, guards were stationed at the entrance. There was a harbor master’s office but it was closed for the night. We needed directions, but I wasn’t certain how we would get them. Finally, I drew the others back away from the dock and we had a conversation.

“I don’t see us getting past those guards,” I said. “They actually look like they are taking their duties seriously. One of the orcs is going to have to go try to find out where the ship is berthed, if it is still here. I hope that it is still here.”

“I’ll go,” Yam said. “I spent some time in the army when I was younger. Hopefully, I can still talk the talk.”

“Alright,” I replied. “Don’t be confrontational, though.”

“I won’t be,” he said. “I am stupid but not that stupid. Anyone have a little pocket change? A little bribery goes a long way.”

We all dug around in our pockets, marshaling what meager resources we had left. I had given most of our money to Segerick so I had very little to donate, just a couple of gold pieces. The others were fairly impoverished as well. They had sunk their fortunes into this expedition and they had very little left. After regarding the pile of coins in his hand, Yam shrugged.

“I hope this is enough,” he said.

He strutted out onto the dock like he didn’t have a care in the world, walking directly up to one of the sets of guards guarding one of the docks. I couldn’t hear what he what we said from this distance but there was some animated body language. One of the guards must have thought Yam was funny because a booming laugh split the night. I watched the last of our liquid wealth change hands. Then, after a few more words, Yam was headed back in our direction.

Once he reached us, he spoke. “There is only one remaining civilian pier,” he said. “It’s at the very end.”

We walked out onto the pier. Once again, I could feel the silent regard of the sentries as we passed the military docks. We weren’t trying to bother them, though, so they didn’t leave their posts to bother us. Finally, we reached our dock. There were no guards. Nobody was moving back and forth from the ships, although I could hear activity from the ships themselves.

“Alright,” Bowen said. “Let’s go find out whether we’re fucked.”

We started walking down the dock, the uneven logs testing out balance. This location must have been chosen as the main port because the water was deep and unobstructed here. The first ships we passed were some of the large ones that the bigger companies used. We walked by. There were long stretches where ships had obviously departed and had not been replaced by others, which was a far cry from the ceaseless activity of our arrival. My stomach started to sink as we made our way farther and farther out onto the water. There was a big ship here, another big one there. We were running out of pier. Finally, as we neared the end we passed another large ship and caught sight of the familiar lines of the Merfolk’s Tears. I wasn’t sure whether we had won the race but they had not left without us.

A narrow gangplank led up to the ship’s deck. I was not stupid enough to try to board the ship without permission. It would be ridiculous to make it all this way only to be knocked into the water or slain by a crew of angry sailors. As I have previously mentioned, I can swim but not very well.

“Permission to come aboard the Merfolk’s Tears,” I called out into the night.

I saw a figure at the top of the gangplank. “What do you want?” the man asked.

“We are from Caider’s company,” I answered. “I need to talk to Captain Serxio.”

“You stay there,” the sailor said. “Do not try to board or it will not go well for you. I’ll get the Captain.”

We stood there. Then, we stood there some more. Finally, I saw another figure join the first at the top of the gangplank.

“I am Captain Serxio,” he said. “What do you want?”

“Captain, it’s James,” I replied. “And what I really want is to go back home.”

“Welcome back on board,” he replied. “We want to go home as well.”

We carefully navigated the gangplank until we were standing on the deck. “Is this all that’s left?” Captain Serxio asked.

“There may be a few more,” I said. “We got separated but we should know by tomorrow.”

“Where’s Caider?” he asked.

“Dead,” I replied. “Killed by another company.”

“That’s a shame,” he replied, but I didn’t sense a whole lot of ruefulness in his voice. “High tide tomorrow is late in the afternoon. Do you think that any remaining people will be back by then?”

“If they’re not back by then, I don’t think they’ll be back at all,” I responded.

“Then we will sail tomorrow,” he said.

“Were you able to plug all the leaks?” I asked.

“Mostly,” he answered. “We are dry in the hold again. We won’t be able to make our top speed, but we should be able to limp back to the continent.”

“Good,” I replied. “We don’t have nearly as many people to work the pumps now. Tomorrow, the three of us will probably hole up in the hold and try to get some rest. This has been an arduous trip.”