Kaden lay on the deck while Trella gripped the schooner’s wheel. His legs hurt. His arms hurt. The healing potion his herd-mate—no, Trella. She had a name. Her potion wasn’t enough for someone his size. He really needed a taller mate, she didn’t even come up to the middle of his chest, and her horns—he loved her, but they were pathetic, more swirls of hair over an embarrassingly smooth skull.
Deep in his mind lay a memory.
He’d been almost completely Beast when he met Kanli.
She’d spoken with words for hours before finally recognizing a minotaur’s truth - a headbutt was worth a thousand words. That blow had shattered one of his horns, but more importantly, it made Kaden’s mind ache in a spot he couldn’t stop thinking about. The spot that was human. The more he thought about it, the more his thoughts were human, until the human-ness began to leak out and steal the hair from his body and the horns and hoves.
Now Kaden focused on that spot.
He was mildly aware of Trella groaning as she forced her will on the ship. He was also aware of the cold wind, which was cold because his chest wasn’t covered in fur. On the way his fingers rubbed together without claw-tips clicking.
The sun went down, the sun rose, and inch by inch, Kaden regained his human form. After three days, he could speak, his jaws no longer inhuman. “What happened to the other ships?”
“Trinity is now a saint among sailors. They’re carving a bow-head figure of her. Figures. Several figures. Skully is building a new body with pirate corpses. Sara…let’s just say she won’t have problems with respect anymore.” Trella tossed a blanket over his shoulders. “We’re getting company. You’re human enough the sailors aren’t terrified of coming over.”
“Can’t really move around well,” Kaden said. His knees remained somewhere between human and minotaur.
“Don’t really need to!” Trella waved. “Send him over, I’ll untie him once he’s here.”
Over at the Child, the sailors lowered a rowboat into the ocean, and a moment later, dropped someone into it. The body thumped into the bottom of the rowboat, and then Sara dropped down. With two hands and two psuedopods rowing, she rowed over. “Kaden, you’re looking…actually, I can’t look at you right now. Your right eye is still all minotaur.” Sara turned around. “Let me just help Trella.”
She grabbed a rope and began to pull. “Kaden, you should meet Entroa. He’s a sailer and working on a business profession. A profession he started by stealing from S&K Holding. Entroa has volunteered to help sail the ship.”
Trella pulled herself up and flipped over the railing. “On—hold on. Did you hear that?”
Kaden had been focused on his eye. On returning to normal. Now he stood, flexing toes and working on his balance as he gripped the ship’s wheel. Something wasn’t right.
Trella drew a dagger and stalked to the door which led to the hold. She held a finger to her lips as Sara drew both short swords. She threw the door open and pulled the man hiding behind it out, putting a dagger to his throat. “Hello. You’ve been awfully quiet, hiding down there. I didn’t even hear you. How’d you do that?”
“Ho-ho-hold’s flooded,” he said, his voice a whisper. “I kept myself on the stairs but the water’s rising.”
Trella spun a dagger. “Well, you know, I think I’ve heard this story. See, there’s two kinds of people who might be hiding below deck on a ship that attacked us. Option one - you’re a helpless prisoner who’s been forced to serve his evil pirate overlords but now that you’re free, you’ve always dreamed of swearing an oath of loyalty to the captain.”
Sara raised her hand. “I like option one! Tell me about option two!”
“Option two, you’re a piece of shit like the other pieces of shit Kaden killed. I should cut your knees and elbows and throw you into the water.” Trella waited.
“Option two does have its advantages,” Sara said. “For us, not you.”
The man spit out blood. “Option one! Option one! I swear I’ll serve you.”
Tyris Thom has sworn an oath of loyalty.
“Excellent!” Sara helped him up. “You remember Kaden, standing at that wheel? Eight foot Minotaur? This is his more dangerous form. You’re going to help Entroa keep this wreck floating by taking a turn at the wheel.”
Kaden let the deckhand take over, even though the ship sank eight inches.
Entroa was a pale white man with black hair and bruises all over. He produced a pump kit from Inventory, as well as sixteen lengths of wood that glowed with a soft white light “We’ve got to get the water out of the hold. And patch any holes in the ship’s hull with these. They won’t hold for ever but they will get us to land.”
Kaden stretched and relaxed as one knee, and then the other popped back the right way. “I’ll handle patching the holes in the hull.”
Their deckhand shook his head and spoke through the strain. “The whole thing is flooded. It’s pitch black, the crates have all shifted and you’ll need to find the holes.”
“Got it.” He picked up the boards and descended into the hold. With a [Mana Dart] in one hand for light, he relied on [Resist Suffocation] to let him fix three seperate sections. The broken boards were too neat to be his work, the pirates must not have done proper repairs.
When he returned, Sara ran the two man pump, using psuedopods to drive it. “Excellent work. What’s the cargo below?”
“Not cargo. Empty crates we—I mean they—took. Probably the only thing that kept this ship from sinking,” the deckhand said. He’d let go of the wheel, and his hands were bright red with blisters.
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Kadena and Trella took their own turns pumping on one side until the pump refused to spit out more water. The schooner, as the two-masted ship was called, sat high in the water now.
Now that Kaden was moving, he appreciated just how much damage his battle had done. Ripped ropes, smashed gunwales, holes in the deck Kaden didn’t remember making, holes in the deck he remembered pirates making (with help) and suspciously axe-like gashes everywhere, including the foremast.
“I see where Skully gets it,” Sara said.
“I got a ship.” Kaden hadn’t spoken to her. Or anyone but Trella.
“It’s awfully small.”
“It’s a ship. I like it better than the big ones.” He couldn’t explain why, but it didn’t trigger the same memories. Probably because it was so small. “I broke some stuff. And some pirates. How did you manage to capture a big one and I could barely handle the small one?”
“First off, I had Skully.” Sara said it like it was a game changer. “Second, they had no reason to expect I was anything but a swordsman. I had the Horror suppressed until I landed on the deck. By the time they realized what was happening, I’d already dealt with a third of the crew.”
“And the other two thirds just surrendered?”
“In a manner of speaking. Word will be out, now, that attacking our ships, with our flag, is a recipe for disaster.” Sara headed down into the hold, leaving Trella to watch the sailors, who worked to repair the ropes first so they could raise the sails.
“How did you know Entroa stole?” Kaden asked. “Did you [Shadow Walk] into some hidden vault filled with loot?”
Trella put a hand on his cheek. “I love how you think, but it’s much more boring. I paid a broker to put out a priority call on stuff our ship was carrying. I got five replies with sellers for our cargo—and him.”
“I don’t like thieves. I don’t tolerate being stolen from,” Kaden said. “Tell me why I shouldn’t put him a barrel with a jug of water and a mound of preserved biscuits and let him go.”
“Entroa re-packed the hold, more efficiently than it was supposed to be, then loaded it with additional cargo. Then unloaded exactly what was on the bill of lading and took the rest. I like the creativity. I want him to use it for us instead of against us.” Trella shrugged.
A few minutes later, Sara emerged. “The best thing I can say is that it’s not sinking and that’s the only positive thing I can say. It’s literally coming apart.”
“I’m staying on this one,” Kaden said. “I don’t care of the crew quarters are flooded, I like it.”
“How did I know?” Sara asked. “I’m going back to the Child. If you need anything, have Trinity scream.”
###
One week, six emergency patch jobs later, one mast collapse and constants round of bilge pumping, the sailor atop the crow’s nest gave the shout. Land spotted. The wind itself seemed to pick up, urging the two ships forward, and urging them to lug the schooner along behind.
The Xiao empire occupied islands, islands so large that sailing from one to the other could count as a voyage for [Sailors]. The Captain himself rowed over to explain to Kaden. Xiao could only be entered at specific harbors. S&K Holdings had a letter of permit courtesy of Mistress Scylla, but they were strangers in a hostile empire.
The warriors here grew mana cores the way Beasts did and enlarged them to power skills in a process they called ‘cultivation.’ Apparently their skills were limited in scope and yet, because they had mana cores, the cultivators could use their skills far more at the same rank.
The Xiao harbor was organized and careful. A short boat propelled by a water mage jetted out to meet them and examine Sara’s records, then escorted them past warships four times the size of the S&K Holdings vessels. These ships were like cities alone, with blacksmiths and winged beasts and warriors and so many levels. They had to be ponderous but when such a ship went to war, the only counter would be its equal.
Every wing of the harbor had a dockmaster, who came out to tie off the ships. He took one look at Kaden’s schooner and dispatched a mana bird. “You can’t leave that there. It’s going to sink.”
“Not while I have my hands on it,” Kaden said. “It’s probably just another leak.”
Water mages worked to shift the schooner and draw it down to a Xiao drydock, where a tidal wave raised the schooner up and left it sitting in the cradle.
Kaden ran down the plank—then stopped and stared.
The underside of the schooner wasn’t just leaking, it was damn near ruined. Barnacles and rotten boards abounded, and every golden patch board stood out in a sea of black rot.
“You. Are you the captain or the owner?” A [Shipwright] in long purple robes approached.
Kaden shrugged “It’s my boat. I took it from some pirates. They didn’t need it anymore.”
“I’d bet they didn’t fight too hard to keep it. Two hundred gold to break it down and scrap it,” the [Shipwright] said.
That was a terrible offer. “It’s worth more than two hundred gold.”
“Two hundred you pay me to break it down. You want it repaired, that’s…six thousand gold. Maybe more, depending on what we find. Could be twelve thousand gold.” The [Shipright] spoke in patient, cautious terms, like he was a [Healer] delivering bad news.
Kaden dispatched the [FalCrow] and waited until Sara arrived. “Six to twelve thousand to repair my schooner. That sound good?”
Sara’s [Negotiate] was far more powerful, and she focused on the [Shipwright]. “It’s a good starting place. Let’s go talk with some other [Shipwrights] and see what they offer.”
“Eight thousand total,” he countered.
Sara glanced to Kaden. *It’s not a good deal but it may be the best we can get. You could sell it. Don’t you want to resettle a town?*
Kaden had made a few bad purchases. This felt more like an investment. “Eight thousand. I bank with the Adventurer’s Guild. That work here?”
The [Shipwright] produced a contract, which Sara scanned and made a few modifications to. “We have a deal. How long will it take?”
“As long as it takes. By the end of the week, you’ll think we’re tearing it apart. Because we’re tearing much of it apart. I have your bird information, I’ll keep you appraised.” The [Shipwright] called and assembled a crew, pointing to the ship and giving orders.
Trella and Ashi came strolling down the dock with Trinity behind them.
Ashi looked at the ship with its rotten hull and stared. “Do you plan or is this another act of Kaden?”
He stood with Sara on one side and Trella on the other. “You know what I see when I look at this?”
“Worms,” Sara said. “Wood eating worms. You probably tamed one.”
“A ride home that doesn’t bring back memories of the Greater Abyssinian?” Trella asked.
“A rum runner.” Kaden had listened to the two sailors talk at night while his will kept the schooner afloat. “Our ships are too large and too slow. They cost too much to provision and require a larger crew. This could make rum runs all winter. I’m going to pay to have the hull reinforced with metal.”
Sara crossed her arms and watched it. “It’s not quite so simple. You need a route that—”
“You have a Quest for it, I’m sure,” Trella said. “If not, I bet there’s a hidden Quest. Or maybe there’s no Quest and all we make is money. And training crews. And gaining skills so our sailors are more effective.”
“I feel mocked, but I’ll investigate.” Sara seemed pleased. “Skully is staying in the hold. Undead are not welcome in Xiao, but he didn’t seem to mind when I ordered him to fold down and hide.”
Kaden was going to visit Skully, but he spotted Eve with a cluster of soldiers behind her, heading down the dock. Eve spoke to them, then turrned to the group. “Our cargo is being offloaded. These fine gentlemen are to escort us to the castle. We’re guests of the local province lord.He’s the one who I need to sign a trade agreement.”
“Sara will negotiate. I’m not even here,” Kaden said.
“Same,” Trella added.
Ashi laughed. “I am not one for hiding, but the Xiao empire is almost respectable. It has stood nearly a thousand years of our time. I will meet with this lord.”
Eve seemed reassured. “Excellent, because I am not certain it’s an ask. Do you remember the Sister of Shadows and their motivational chambers? Let’s not end up in one of those.”