Reaching Cornostus hadn't happened as Alayne had envisioned, he'd been in quarters when the call of land had come down and had expected another half day or more of travelling before they reached a harbour to dock. But apparently that wasn't the way anymore and after little more than an hour of the call coming down Captain Orc had shuffled them all into a small rowboat and began steadily rowing them to shore.

It was actually fairly relaxing at first, Captain Orc rowed steadily and the small waves of a calm sea gently nudged them from time to time. Only Victorious didn't look to be enjoying the moment of serenity as he sat behind the Captain and barely in view of Alayne due to the Orc's massive frame. But his wide bloodshot eyes were clear over his gag and the rope from his bound hands to the Captain's waist shifted ever so gently now and again as he shuffled.

"I've not been back since picking you up that first time, but ya hear things from new crewmen and crying captives"

As he rowed Captain Orc informed them of the current state of the White Knot and according to the Captain the islands had changed and not for the better. Rumours had spread of unimaginable cruelty from the heir apparent and his close friends who controlled the area. The islands were essentially a wasteland now with nothing but the prince's palace still in operation, what became of the people; no-one knew.

"I thought perhaps I'd made a difference when I was here, left them with a smattering of hope"

This had been Alaynes last stop before fleeing the empire, the White knot had been a place of wealth and prosperity for longer than anyone living could remember, with Cornostus at it's centre the mass of islands had been the main source of both common and more rare building materials. If something needed building you could bet that Cornostus quarries had been involved at some point.

Ascendious had taken this as his many years ago and he had slowly ruined everything; breaking the people with more work than they could handle and not giving the land time to recover, one by one the islands had began to struggle and the lords had turned a deaf ear to the cries of their people.

"What did you do Alayne?" Raven seemed confused and Alayne had to apologise to the man, he'd had a habit of talking about the outer Rha'Vandian world like it was all common knowledge without thinking.

"I saw children starving and fights breaking out over the last half loaf of bread that was already blue with mould. I tried to inspire them in some way" He'd done more than that, he'd got far to involved and taken punishment because of it. He still bore the scars on his back from speaking out so openly, luckily word of his black marked status hadn't reached the White knot at that time so he escaped with his life at least. Alayne had merely been passing through before deciding to stay and spread his message of treason and but he'd had to leave in a hurry hoping someone would take his message to heart and fight for themselves.

"Perhaps you did lad, heard tell of some sort of rebellion on one of the isles in the knot that caused a bit of a problem for the Empire. Could just be rumours and eggs-hatch-aration but before...falling overboard, a navy officer told me the people had managed to storm the villa of the local lord. Beat him. Skin him. Hang him and then burn him."

Captain Orc laughed as he finished whilst pulling the oars on either side of the boat.

"Why do you suspect Alayne pushed them? Couldn't desperation have been the reason if things had got as bad as you both say?"

"Aye, Aye. But again, this is all told through the mouth of a man covered in his own piss and tears so take it as you will. Rumour is though they sang a very particular song as they did what they did to that little lord. I recall you singing that song to my crew on our first night, before you realised it was the wrong crowd for it." He cracked a wide smile and spoke at the same time as Alayne whose heart was sinking with the guilt of the trouble he may have caused.

"Light cracks the Shadow"

The musical tale of a group of low born men and women who sacrificed everything to take down the ShadowKing. There was a strong sense of irony that the others would not pick up on. The song was the telling of how Mercy and Deacon had become cursed to stop the immortal tyrant of their age, it had been Alaynes call to arms in many inns and street corners to take down the emperor and rebel against the constant misery. Now it was obvious in retrospect that the heroes of that tale were based on the Shadowsouled duo that had come to him and demanded he stop a tyrant who was trying to become immortal.

Before long the low treeline just past the shore was becoming more apparent and would be quickly disappearing with dusk approaching and they still were unsure as to why they had to row.

"What happened after they killed the lord, Cap...Cap...Cap"

"Things get fuzzy here, but what we do is that there are no boats allowed to dock anywhere but the royal harbour that sits on the back of the palace. Nothing gets out of the main city; food, goods, people, nothing.""

Alaynes body went cold as he realised what that meant and he noticed Raven had tensed up as well. The main city was under complete control of the prince and the outer islands had been starved out.

"Rumours of naval patrols, some kind of sickness infesting what is left of the people and even curses have been passed about. I tell you one thing boys, no seafaring man or woman will go anywhere near somewhere that may be cursed, not in our nature, I not be risking me new ship if any of those things be true."

He had bit his tongue to not ask how Captain Orc was fine coming to land if curses were about, he didn't want to risk the orc turning them around when he realised.

"How old is this information Captain, could we help the islanders out" There was that naivety and morality coming out again from Raven.

"Been a while boy, I'd say if we found any alive by now, then you wouldn't want to find them if ya get me meaning."

For once Alayne did.

It was almost dark by the time they reached the shore, the final purple and red rays of the day were scattered across the sky as Raven and Captain dragged the boat off into some reeds. The 4 of them stood (or where held in Surrichs case) together with the bound and gagged Victorious in the glow of the setting sun watching the last tips of Captain Orc's New Boat disappear over the horizon.

"Do you think they will be ok? Surely that ship will be hunted"

"Nah, he'll be right lad, Captain Second Mate knows to get that beast to the Flotilla, they'll sort him from there"

"Why did you call him Captain Second Mate?"

Alayne had a theory about this but now seemed as good a time as any to get answers, he'd heard the Captain use titles across his ship every time he'd been aboard, it occurred to him he'd never once heard a name from the man.

"He be Second mate to me, but now he be Captain. So...." Captain Orc leaned forward slightly, expecting them to fill in the blank like anyone could think like him.

The large orc sighed.

"So now he be Captain Second Mate...simple"

"But what's his name?" Raven asked, frustration in his voice.

"Second mate? Or do ya mean his old name? Not sure why ya not getting this, but I'll chalk it up to ya's been bad at piracy. Now as you may expect pirate crews have a fairly high turnover rate, on account of the violent deaths that happen upon them, and I be to old to learn every buggers preferred name, so when ya join me crew ya name be ya job"

Alayne himself was confused now but really didn't want to get involved in the conversation. It was apparent to him that everyone on the ship used their usual names except for the Captain who seemed unaware that it happened by the sound of things.

"I must say Captain, despite it been a...strange rule for your crew it is admirable you followed it yourself"

Captain Orc stared at Raven, for an uncomfortable amount of time, Alayne started to worry a fight was about to break out, he'd stayed silent to allow Captain Orc to explain but it was impossible to tell what was going on in his mind at any time.

"Oooo I get ya, No boy, I be called Orc by the pirate crew that bought me years back, then I changed me name to Captain Orc to match me new station."

"I'm sorry, so your name is Captain Orc, so when you run a ship your name is Captain Captain Orc?"

Alayne remembered this discussion when he'd first met him, it had gone much the same, although Alayne had laughed more, Raven was doing well to keep his face plain.

"Aye"

Raven was just staring at the Captain, dumbstruck by his nonsense ramblings spoken with such confidence.

Alayne pushed the captive into Captain Orc's arms and led them all forward.

"I'm just going to cut this conversation up before any more brain power is wasted. Captain, if after all that rowing you are still fit, I say we push ahead to the city and see what things are like there?"

He was making things up from this point onwards, did they need another prince if they had Vic? Really he just wanted to understand what had happened here, and then to find a way to the mainland on a less suspicious vessel.

"Thirdly, thank you for ya help with the rowing, real crew spirit ya showed there and Secondly, How dare you question me fitness Ducard. You know I could scrunch this little prince into a ball, sprint to the city gates and throw him over without breaking a sweat."

Alayne left that alone as it was probably true, the man hadn't looked strained at all despite spending hours rowing the 4 and quarter of them to shore.

"Before you do, just in case..."

And without asking for permission Alayne flicked his lute strings, barely making a sound as he did so and subtly gestured at Captain orc. Anyone who looked his way should see someone who bares a striking resemblance to the ships bard instead of the hulking mass of green muscles and pirate attire that was the Captain, it wouldn't stand up to much scrutiny but it would get them through the nearby city at least. Hopefully anyway, if the great lummox could keep his hands to himself and his mouth shut.

Alayne was already working on a back up plan, despite the dreadful state of things from the Captain retelling he was optimistic. They would find people and he would help them in some way, he was sure of it.

There was always hope, surely he couldn't have had a hand in the deaths of all the islands' worth of people.

He can't have failed that badly surely

You failed AJ, you could have failed here to

He pushed that thought down where it belonged and started to move, just as it started to rain; which matched his mood at least.

There was always hope.

From the shore they climbed a small sandy hill and then travelled for a time through overgrown thicket before finally coming across a badly maintained road. A road that looked like it had once been carefully laid stone slabs, now mostly cracked and uneven with large puddles gathering in the small ditches that had formed. Travelling through uneven ground in pouring rain in near darkness had not made the group overly talkative, especially coupled with Captain Orcs updated news on the islands they were on.

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The pirate had taken the lead once they left the shore and was still leading the way currently. The path was larger enough for the 3 of them abreast with Victorious dragged behind but he insisted.

"I be your guide through the night"

Against his better judgement Raven had asked why he'd make such an offer. Captain Orc was very proud to announce that he could see in the dark and had pointed to his one remaining bright yellow eye that was currently a deep brown, due Alaynes illusion.

"It be because Yellow beats the darkness"

Raven had listened to his better judgement at that point and left the Orc to lead on, what could you possibly respond to that with.

Instead he turned his attention to Alayne who was still more reserved than usual, but at least he was engaging with them so far. He hated to admit Captain Orc may have been right about something.

"So what do we do when we reach the city?"

Alayne was casually strumming his lute as he walked, notes so soft Raven had to stop himself leaning in to hear them.

"Take the prince, can't hurt having two, maybe he has more information than Viccy. Maybe we save the city if we can as well"

"He has no pla...pla...pla"

They had confirmed with Surrich after he had been thrown several times that he no longer felt anything and so to keep him secure he currently hung from Raven's belt, opposite his sword with a leather strap through his mouth to tie him.

"I have a plan thank you, Head"

There was tension in Alaynes voice, Raven had a sinking feeling he didn't want to probe further.

"Then share it lad, we trust ya"

Raven wasn't sure if trust was the right word, he was just following Alayne along because he had nothing else.

"Get to Cornostus..."

"I thought we were here?" Raven had been told so many names of new places it was hard to keep track

"We are on the island of Cornostus Raven, but the capital city of the White Knot; Cornostus we are still yet to reach"

Surrich was right, he had no plan.

"I think I be following ya so far boy"

Raven could see the Captains now grey bearded head nodding up and down in the darkness.

"Presuming at some point we reach the city, what is the next step of the plan"

"Well then we look towards the inner city...also called Cornost-"

"Alayne!"

He despised people obviously stalling for time and pretending its some great act of subtlety, he'd often sent Gaspar or Taraveen to muck the stables when they'd tried to deceive him this way. The bard was no exception and was lucky he did not fall under his command, and that there weren't any stables.

"I don't know. The only living person who killed a ruling monarch is the Emperor so he knows the trade better than I but he may grow suspicious if we seek his advice. Just let me solve one problem at a time. We're here now, so let's deal with what is here and whatever may be behind those walls."

Impeccable timing as always as the bard finished and gestured in his performative way towards a tall shadowy structure that crossed the road well ahead of them and stretched off in either direction well out of sight and into the night.

They stopped well before the gates and it was silently agreed they should wait until dawn before proceeding. The city which presumably stood behind the walls should be massive. A capitol of a rich set of islands and home to the prince, and yet there was no light that could be seen in their approach. No ambient sounds of singing or laughing. No clopping of hooves or boots scuffing stone.

It was deadly silent.

They found a small section of trees off the road that protected them from the worst of the rain. They agreed on no fire and Alayne put Surrich high in a tree overlooking the camp to keep watch, as he remembered him doing for those nights in the woods fleeing the Forgotten Valley.

"Surrich, can you see in the dark?" It had never occurred to Raven to ask back then, and judging by Alaynes wide eyes all of sudden he hadn't thought to ask either.

"Of course, my eyes were yel..yel...yel"

Alayne visibly relaxed.

"Yellow. Do you not know anything about eyes Raven? Yellow beats dark"

The Captain was nodding away as he puffed on a cigar he had lit; ignoring the no fire rule.

He realised they were mocking him.

He didn't like that.

All of them except Captain Orc of course who thought this was the most sound logic possible.

Also Victorious sat still bound and gagged, he may have been Ravens favourite at that moment.

Raven attempted to turn his back on the group and find some rest, but it would prove hard to find for all of them and they'd spend most of the night staring off into the darkness towards the shadowy wall that protected a hollow silent city, and the ill feeling it gave them all.

The morning started badly enough with most of them waking from what could barely be described as a nap. They moved quickly back to the road during the first rays of dawn, with Captain Orc no longer disguised due to the lack of life they'd seen.

Then after a short and silent journey they were upon the gates.

Stretching off out of sight in both directions were monstrous white walls that he was sure looked brilliant at their best, but now they were chipped and cracked, large chunks had fallen outward littering the ground with jagged boulders of white stone veined with greys and blues. The gates were set back in a walled recess they stepped into and were not much better off; tall wooden double doors taller than 3 men, along the top and bottom where long metal bars holding the door closed and on either wall to their side was a metal wheel attached to the wall. There were gaps in the wood, chunks and splinters missing and even though the wood was dark Raven could still make out the slightly darker patches that had been stained with blood.

Raven had dared to peak through one of the larger holes, the sounds of a city could still not be heard from within. Past the gates was a further road like the one they stood upon, it crossed several streets as it went ahead and towards a stairway leading to the prince's palace. It was raised substantially higher than the city and they'd been able to spot it on their approach in the morning with the aid of daylight.

Despite all the road he could see, and the shops and houses alongside it, there was still not a person to be seen.

"Well?"

It was obvious they were all nervous about entering, but they all tried to hide it anyway. Alayne fiddled with his lute more than usual, Captain kept one hand loosely on his sword at all times and Raven couldn't help but pace when they stopped moving. Pulling away from the hole to respond to the bard he slowly took 3 steps forward and then a further 3 back, over and over.

"Nothing, not a soul"

"The crew be right, place be cursed. I say we leave"

"I invited you along to be the muscle of the group, not to run scared at the first sign of danger"

Captain grabbed his sword hilt in a white knuckle grip and lit another cigar that he seemingly had an unending supply of.

"Fine. FINE!" he then hunched over to the bard level and pointed a heavy green bejewelled finger at him "But if I do be getting cursed, I'll make ya life unbearable, that I promise"

"You are doing a fabulous job of that so far"

Despite the size and madness present in Captain Orc Alayne never flinched away from him. He was either a fantastic reader of character or much stupider than Raven thought.

"How do we get in the damn place then Ducard"

"I assume-" and he moved to a metal wheel on the gates right "we turn these and...Raven would you-"

Raven moved into a similar position on the opposite side and with a nod they began to turn. Whatever mechanisms were inside were old and had not been used for some time. They groaned and squeaked as they turned and slowly the metal bars started to move outwards, unlocking the gate. The scrapping the rust made as it crossed the stone walls set Raven's teeth on edge but when they were done Captain Orc tried the gates to no avail.

He peeked through a hole and stepped back swearing

"It's barricaded on the other side, did ya not see that when you looked through?"

"I was looking ahead not directly down" he was a tad embarrassed not to notice something so simple

"Me one eye clearly be better than ya...more than one. Maybe you should give one of yours to Captain Orc so he can make better use of it"

"You'd only lose it" Raven wasn't sure if the orc was joking but it was worth stopping that line of questioning quickly just in case. He seemed to accept Raven's answer regardless as he nodded thoughtfully for a moment before pacing away from them back towards the path.

"I'll climb over and open it from the other side"

The metal hissed as the bars slid back into place as both Raven and Alayne let go of their wheels and chased after Captain Orc

"Isn't it to hi...hi...hi"

"Exactly, how are you going to climb it, it's easier taller than all of us combined"

"Looks easy enough, I've climbed masts during storms at sea and scaled the walls of sea forts whilst archers took shots at me. I'm sure I can climb a crumbly wall"

As if to prove it he dropped his thick red coat from his shoulders and pointed to a scar on his right shoulder

"See, got that from a lucky archer as I crested the stone defences of Fort White wall, metal head is still in there somewhere"

Raven stepped forward to take a look and knew he should have expected nothing

"That, is quite clearly a bite mark Captain"

"Ha, different kind of adventure that one, I'll tell you about it when you're older. There definitely be an arrow in there somewhere though, trust me."

Raven nodded as the Captain readjusted his jacket, hoping that was the end of it.

They watched for some time as Captain Orc stalked along the edge of the city wall, looking for the gaps in the stonework or convenient cracks that had formed.

Finally a hearty laugh came from him as he marched over to where the rest had been watching from, back in the road where they'd started.

"Got it, just need another knife for stabbing the rock" Captain Orc pulled a silver handled dagger from his boot with a large ruby on the pommel. Raven went to grab the knife he kept stashed in his own boot but realised he was wearing the sailors clothes he'd been attired with whilst at sea, he'd been unable to find anything that fit his usual dark style or at least covered his shins, and his only weapon was his sword and he wasn't losing that again.

Luckily Alayne had one of his own, tucked away behind his belt and hidden by his long flowing cloak. A small yet mean looking blade with a serrated edge that seemed uncharacteristic for the bard and he seemed strangely begrudged to part with it.

Captain Orc picked it out of Alaynes hands, not seeming to recognise whatever struggle the bard was having.

"Take Surrich Captain, extra set of ey..." he trailed off as he untied the talking skull, realising that between the 2 of them they only actually had 1 eye...although Surrich could still see somehow.

He quickly moved ahead and handed the leather strap to the Captain, letting Surrich dangle and twist slightly in the gentle morning breeze. It wasn't dignified but he didn't seem to mind and no-one liked touching the skull itself, too many scraps of flesh clung on still and the feeling when that met a man's fingers was indescribably foul.

Without another word Captain Orc gave a nod and started making his way up the outer wall, driving the daggers into cracks in the stone and checking they'd take his weight before moving ahead. He was surprisingly agile and even more surprisingly adept at this.

His deep red coat flowed more and more aggressively with the wind as he climbed higher and higher.

Raven and Alayne watched whilst sitting on a fallen tree that laid on the still wet grass not far back from the wall or road.

"Have you written a song for AJ yet?"

He wasn't sure why he asked but something had tweaked his memory. He had expected the bard to write something for him and make him into a folk hero of sorts, but despite the ship wide performances almost every night nothing had come out about the former apprentice.

Alayne was silent for a moment but knew Raven would persist and there was nowhere to run to unlike the ship.

"No. It's been difficult. I've never wrote for a fallen child before"

There was a pain in his voice whenever AJ was brought up, Raven assumed it was always there but he hid it very well the rest of the time.

"I thought you played 'The boy in the gutter' aboard Captain Orcs boat? Wasn't that one of yours?"

It had been a favourite amongst the crew, a sad tale about a boy who finds a talent and performs on the street for copper. His family however use him to distract whilst they cut the purse strings of the audience. Eventually they are caught and the family run, leaving the boy to be beaten by his former admiring audience. He dies alone in the gutter as the song suggests. It had caused many a damp cheek on the ship every time it was played. Raven assumed there was a large number of pirates who could empathise with a child paying for the sins of his parents.

"Nah, not really. I mean it is one of mine, don't get me wrong. But it isn't fully true; the kid from that song didn't die for one and he isn't worth half the acclaim that A...that the boy is worth"

Still couldn't say his name.

"I know I'm no 'Master bard' but I did know him although not nearly as well as you, as did Surrich for a moment. If you'd like our help we would give it"

Raven sat in silence for a moment, he could tell Alayne wanted to push him away and wallow in his grief but he was struggling to find the words. Though AJ's death had been a tragedy, it had helped Raven see Alayne more as he is, see through the façade of the bard, if only slightly, and take a glimpse of the damaged man lying within.

Unfortunately the rest of that conversation would have to wait as Raven jumped up, realising that Captain Orc had made short work of the wall and was already out of sight. Alayne jumped up after him and they ran back to the gate.

Turning their respective wheels once more, and hearing that horrid squealing sound from the rusty metal bars slipping out of position they waited. After a few heavy stomps of the familiar boots of the Orcish Captain and a heavy grunt the sound of a wooden beam could be heard falling onto the stone floor.

Captain Orc pulled the gates open and stood before them.

"It ain't good here lads"

They stood in the gateway and faced towards the palace well ahead of them, listening to the empty streets of the dead capitol city of the White Knot.