Three days later, Kaden arrived in the port town of Krebat, almost running through the flat land with Trella helping. Trinity was so close to reforming. Vip was ready. Rocky was never going to want to leave again. Krebat was built on low cliff overlooking the sea. An maze of docks stretched out, and a sea of ships rested inside a distant ring of rocks with guard towers. Tiny ships with only two sails, ones with six masts and twice as wide and long as the one Kaden had gotten from the Greater Abyssinian. Wide roads led north and south—basically every direction except Verona. The closer he came, the more Kaden had to slow to avoid wagons leaving, or wait his turn.

Eve met them at the edge of Krebat, dressed in her dark blue robes.

Kaden unharnessd himself and waved. “You look good, Councilwoman.” [Split Second] activated, and he had zero idea what to do as Eve stiffly hugged him, patting him on the back with a closed fist. She then backed away and repeated with Trella, her face red. “I’m sorry. Did I do that correctly? Did I send any mixed messages? I told Sara I didn’t want to mix messages, but ‘thank you’ doesn’t suffice.”

“No mixed messages,” Kaden said. “And you’re welcome. Here’s a bonus.”

Trella handed Eve the original scroll for the trade agreement with Deshun. “I’m a hundred percent certain your last name isn’t black, but ‘Gertrude Slish’ also isn’t you, and Kaden noticed the wrong name. We debated what to do. I was in favor of giving Gerty some complimentary dagger therapy. Kaden said you would want to know.”

Eve studied the scroll, her face expressionless. “Do nothing. The only person who knows the agreement was re-issued is the city scribe, who owes me a favor. So we leave Slish thinking she has a trade agreement when she has nothing. Later? There will be time to capitalize on her mistake.”

“Your idea of vengeance is terrible,” Trella said. “Never underestimate the power of stabbing to make someone feel better. Usually me, if I’m the one doing the stabbing.”

“I’ll handle it my way. Sara sent me to warn you, don’t leave the wagon. She says, and I quote, ‘People will steal your tree for a mast.’”

Kaden looked to the stack. “Which one?”

“She should have expected this. Regardless, I will wait with you. Sara and Ashi will be up soon with the cargo crew. It’s not acceptable to move your own cargo, and this town is already a powder keg.” Eve circled their tree-train. “Sara will be impressed. I’m impressed.”

Hours passed with Kaden creeping a wagon length closer at a time.

Then, up the stairs from the cliff came Sara, dressed in her green leather, her Horror’s psuedopods looking around, then opening their mouths to hiss. Ashi hovered up the stairs beside her. White salt crusted her tan wraps, and her skin was deep blue like the water mana in the air. Behind them came a crew of [Sailors].

Sara waved.

Then her jaw fell open. “Did you bring all of FangWood?”

Trella couldn’t help laughing as Sara rushed to give each of them real hugs. Real hugs came with two arms and two psuedopods. “I’ve missed you both. Tell me about the Trial! Tell me about the blessings. Tell me about—hold on, business first.”

She turned and handed two gold to the head of the sailors. “We can’t leave. We’ll have to wait here until it’s all taken down to the dry docks, and then we’re going to have to negotiate with the ship builders. I promised them a mast. This is more like a ship.”

One by one, the [Sailors] unloaded the trunks, loading them into slings and then over the cliff with wooden cranes. In between, Kaden and Trella relayed the trial. The battles. The brutal end.

“Show me the system logs,” Ashi said. “I have heard of these trials. Perhaps I would seek out this Yarrow.”

“[Fireproof] didn’t protect me,” Kaden said. The only part he hadn’t mentioned was how Remembrance froze everything. How his Beasts transformed. “You could totally handle the first trial with [Wheamyn] and that’s all it takes to get a blessing.”

Still, they took time speculating on how effective each would be in larger battles. Then Kaden explained about the totally-not-bandits-anymore. “Trella paid for the inn. That’s gold we’ll never get back, but I’d rather pay in gold than blood.”

“Fifty-fifty they’ve either abandoned the village or all been hung a week from now,” Kaden said. He was usually hopeful, but change worked best when people chose change.

“It’s never wrong to hope,” Eve said. “It can be foolish, but not wrong.”

At last, the final trunk descended. Sara exchanged information with a [Wagoneer] and let him hook the wagons. “The Merchant’s Guild will guarantee us two wagons on return. Probably not the same two wagons, but if it rolls it will do. The enchantments are standard.”

Ashi looked to the sea. “A storm is rising. We would do well to return to the inn. Whether you see it, or not, the Sea whispers. It is good that you have survived. I have missed the company of you both.”

Sara hurried down the stairs. “If Ashi says there’s a storm, there’s a storm. If I move quick enough, I can sell the information. Excuse me!”

She hurdled the railing and dropped, catching herself near the ground and sprinting out into the maze of ships. Ashi kept her pace steady. “We have time, for now.”

Kaden felt sicker with every step.

The creak of wood and the slosh of waves brought back memories he hadn’t faced since the Greater Abyssinian. His skin grew slick with sweat, but he forced himself to move.

Trella put a hand on him. *What’s wrong?*

*Memories. Can’t hurt me.* It wasn’t entirely true.

Near the dry docks, the ship waited, christened with a name: Chalmer’s Child.

Kaden looked at the name and then to Trella. Chalmer wasn’t a name he knew. “Ashi. Who’s Chalmer. The captain?”

“Sara’s father,” Ashi said. “They wanted to name it after her, she chose this.”

That was more than enough reason. Kaden looked for Sara, who stood over by a dry dock. The ship in the dock was, put simply, a wreck. All three masts were smashed, two at the base. Half the railing was gone, and Kaden could look down into the hold through a suspiciously Skeleton shaped hole.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Sara waved for them to come. “Kaden, Trella, meet [Shipwright] Cohn. He’s managing repairs on the new ship.”

Cohn wasn’t tall or wide, he wasn’t intimidating. The man’s pale white skin and orange hair wouldn’t strike fear into anyone. He carried a dozen tools hung off his belt and placed a large draft plan into Inventory before shaking Kaden’s hand. “Good to meet you. You know, when Sara sailed into port with this…wreck…I though she was coming to scrap it. But with two cargo levels and a reinforced bow, it’s a heart-hauler. Or it will be when we’re done mending it. Does that skeleton of yours know what a ship is? Or that you want the ocean out it, not in it?”

Kaden shook his head. “Skully is overly enthusiastic and barely knows his own strength. Can you fix it?”

“With what you brought?” Cohn nodded. “The real problem’s going to be other captains. We expected a mast and maybe some side lumber. I could build the frame of a ship from scratch with what you brought, and finish it with two more loads like that.”

“Other captains,” Sara said with venom. “They get nothing.”

Cohn didn’t hide his discomfort. “I do business with many people. I can’t afford to anger everyone, and there might be a good reason for you to make a deal. Captain Senegal’s been stuck in port for months. His ship was attacked by [Gigantorrod] in the southern sea, lost all three masts.”

Sara listened. “And?”

“Ship’s owned by Elgarath Trading, but they don’t pay keep for a crew that can’t sail. You said you were looking for others to sail with you to Xiao. There’s probably something to arrange there.” Cohn offered Sara a scroll. “If you do strike a deal, I’d appreciate being mentioned.”

“Can I go aboard at it?” Kaden studied the blocks holding the ship up in the dry dock . Ropes and hoists and stone pillars kept it steady.

Cohn laughed. “It’s your ship. I spread word of the incomming storm but we’ve got time.”

Together they walked a wide ramp down into the floor of the ship.

This was definitely Skully’s work. At least it felt like there had been a rampage. Everywhere, instead of smashed boards, carpenters had pulled back deck boards so new ones could be layered in, and new beams sistered to broken ones. The center mast still stuck up as a stub, splintered, and when Kaden dropped down through one of the cargo hold entrances, he was suprised the ship hadn’t sunk. If every missing board had been a hole in the hull, it should have just gone down. “How did you get it here?”

Cohn rapped the boards. “Anyone on a ship gains a skill, [From Hell’s Heart]. It’s not just the boards holding the water out, it’s the determination of the person at the helm. With enough determination, you could sail with half the hull mising until you reached port. Every board is enchanted. Won’t rot, usually won’t break.”

Giant skeletons were probably not covered by [From Hell’s Heart.]

The interior of the ship smelled of sawdust and fresh pitch. They weren’t relying on will alone. Ashi hovered upward and picked up something from a deck beam. “Is this not a finger bone?”

Kaden accepted it. Friends didn’t keep other friend’s finger bones. “Best gift ever. Where is Skully?”

Sara pointed up. “He’s not welcome on the docks, so he’s been sleeping in the courtyard of the inn. Cohn, this is fantastic work. How fast can you have her ready?”

“A week. It’ll take you that long to provision, and if all goes well, I’ll need to do repairs for Senegal’s ship. Pirates have gotten smarter in the last few months, you’d be wise to bring a fleet.” Cohn studied a timber and then marked it with chalk.

“Let’s head to the inn. We only have two rooms, but there’s two beds in each.” Sara led them back up the cliffs, explaining about the cargo. “We won’t just go empty. My [Mercari] contacts are fighting to send cargo with us, and of course, I want the best to ensure we can arrange a trade agreement.”

“We’ve got room to breathe now. I’ve got room to breathe,” Eve said. “If Verona never sees a single mana stone from Deshun, it’s worth buying time.”

“Deshan. Deshan a Nodiska Bahon De,” Ashi said, correcting Kaden’s Vichorean. “Shadow of the Hanging Bandit. Not shadow of the hanging badger.”

“I’m not changing the agreement,” Eve said. “Badgers or Bandits, it’s all the same to Verona.”

The inn was far, far larger than Kaden expected, a U-shaped building with four stories and actual guards—and a skeleton moping in the yard. Skully stood, resting his skull on the second story balcony, staring at the ground.

Undead were, above all, patient, but Kaden felt bad for Skully. “Hey, big guy!”

The skeleton looked up and stood straight, waiting for orders.

“Look what Ashi found!” Kaden took out the finger bone and handed it to Skully, who clicked it into the “beard” of finger bones that hung off his jaw.

It was probably Kaden’s imagination that he stood a little straighter. That the red fire in his eyes looked a bit merrier. That the [Plague Crows] infesting his skull looked less angry and more out to plague something. “Good job, big guy. You want to leave the body and come in?”

Sully’s head would detatch for cases where a smaller, spider-like undead monster was more useful. It shook the head, rattling beard and ‘hair’ bones.

“Suit yourself.” Kaden went looking for Trella.

Each floor of the inn centered around a communal kitchen and bar. Hallways were wide enough Trinity would be able to lumber along comfortably with room for other guests, and one look at his room door said the inn was used to guests who didn’t trust each other. The array of locks, charms and wards would flatten a thief.

Eve had received permission to cook in the kitchen because, as she put it, ‘everything there was garbage.’

Kaden secretly agreed based on the slop he saw customers pay good coppers for. He bathed in the common bath and paid to put his armor through the cleaning box. It felt like an eternity since the trial.

Eve’s peacock landed on Kaden’s bed. “I’ve fixed a proper meal. I was trying a new technique and the fish are too dry, but the sauce should be a counterbalance.”

Kaden found Trella going over a ledger with Sara. Trella held a bottle of red wine in one hand and a fork in the other, and took turns eating fish and drinking. “So much better than Inventory meals.”

“Thank you.” Kaden took his plate and dug in. “Oh, this is great. Lemon. Lemon juice would make it perfect.”

“You could be right. You probably are right.” Eve seemed lost in thought as she sat.

Kaden summoned Vip. “Look who it is!”

Eve had her priorites and they didn’t include eating when Vip squirmed and yipped and licked her neck. “It’s all right, love. I’ve missed you, but this town isn’t kind to animals or Beasts.”

“Did I mention an unsanctioned rum run?” Sara asked. “That won’t be happening again. I have no problem with rum runs. Rum is mildly profitable. I have a large problem with not being aware and an even larger one with not being paid.”

“What did you do about it?” Kaden asked.

Ashi cleared her throat. “She did nothing. I spoke with the captain. I explained to him of how it would be. I set him on fire when he drew a sword. He has grown fresh skin and a fresh attitude now.”

“My frustration is with him seeing an opportunity and not talking to me,” Sara said. “I would have approved the voyage just to get sailing time for the new crews.”

Trella kept looking over the logs. “Someone’s lying. This is all too orderly. You say they stuffed the hold full, I’m telling you there’s no way you fit exactly two hundred of everything. The hold’s not even the same width all the way down. But not to worry, I’m here now. I’ll handle it tomorrow.”

“If you could keep the stabbing to the minimum?” Sara asked.

“I, too, will help,” Ashi said. “The sea is not gentle. It is not forgiving, but I have enjoyed teaching these sailors to respect me. A little of Vichor goes with each as they grant each other kindness.”

Kaden took out the Sniffer’s demon seed. “It didn’t regrow. I haven’t cut it open because I don’t know if I want another demon attribute yet.”

“Please?” Ashi reached for it and concentrated. “I feel no mana. I feel no life. I do not underestand if the demon was immature, or if it lacks the power to regenerate.”

Sara took a turn rolling it. “You should sell it to a [Mage’s Tower]. There isn’t one here but you could take a FarPortal while we wait for repairs.”

Kaden dispatched the Falcrow to Olidar with one set of questions, then to Ignus with another. “I almost didn’t realize I had this in my Inventory. I took an acorn from Yarrow’s offering. You can’t remove pieces of dungeons, but this is still with me.” He set an acorn the size of a man’s head on the table.

“I’ve still got a deer skull and some of the largest corn kernels you’ll ever see,” Trella added. “I like the skull. The corn is just weird, and the wheat feels poisonous. Kaden, you mind holding it?”

Kaden took both into Inventory. “Druids will know. I asked Ignus about the Sniffer core.”

You have received a new Faction Quest: You took WHAT from WHERE? - Meet the Arch Druid Memonar to understand exactly what the hell you brought back. Reward: 1x Naturi Faction token, Faction Favor.