The Taurosi, as a people, had barely been seen outside the Greenlands since they were conquered decades ago. Alayne had himself, despite his travels, never encountered a free member of the race. they'd been too proud to retreat until it was far too late. Their armies had stood to the last man, was what storytellers and chroniclers had been told, their bravery unable to be hidden by the Emperor's propaganda.

They were a long lived people, not reaching full maturity until they were around 80 years old, it was either fortunate or not then that most of them would be able to remember freedom or a time before the hate, maybe those memories gave them comfort on the worst days, but looking at the 5 Taurosi they'd rescued this day he doubted they took much comfort in anything.

Alayne had found a large drawing room that would suit his needs for the time being, an extravagant room like any someone of Ascendious' station would have. Walls littered with portraits and tapestries detailing his heroic life and crowning moments of assumed glory. Pedestals along the walls on top of which sat statuettes and busts of what he must have looked like before his chins expanded. This was a central room on the 1st floor of the building and luckily for them it contained a large set of glass panelled double doors that opened onto a balcony overlooking the only working port in the island network. Between Alayne and the former slaves they'd made quick work throwing the reminders of the former prince out to smash amongst stone and steps.

Once they were done and the reminders of their captor were removed the Taurosi seemed to visibly relax, if only slightly. The room sat bare now with walls now only occupied with curved gilded sconces that they now lit. The furniture was pompous and tacky by anyone's standards but they dragged chairs and cushioned benches towards the rooms centre where a white marble fireplace sat. This was carved above the fire and up the chimney breast with a large well muscled man, through context alone Alayne assumed this was Ascendious, holding aloft a large wave with flecks of orange and red that seemed natural to the stone running through it. A clear metaphor for the prince holding the empire on his shoulders and one they could do little to remove.

No sooner had they seated themselves around the fire than Raven had found them. As instructed he had stormed the hallways and rooms, finding them empty of guards and guests as they'd all been dispatched in the courtyard earlier by the good Captain. He'd entered the room now dressed in a silver button down doublet with black embroidery that hung over his waist and slightly covered the dark blue trousers tucked into calf high shiny black boots. More colour than the man would like Alayne assumed but much better than the rags the pirates had left him in.

Alayne had sent Raven out to the docks to back Captain Orc up in wrangling any merchants that were currently unloading. He had absolute faith the Captain could do as asked but he also had this nagging persistent fear the merchants would take that arrogant tone they are capable of and get on the wrong side of the mad orc.

He also knew that neither man would be adept at dealing with the newly freed Taurosi, Captain Orc was far too brash and Raven too curious around the new race of people he'd just discovered for himself.

The one who had identified himself as Bruccan'hor sat beside Alayne in a high backed dark red padded chair. 2 of his companions sat beside him on a similar coloured bench and didn't take their eyes from Alayne, one had small horns barely perceivable above a large head of curled black hair and the other had large scars where horns should have been. Both were dark brown of fur and had purple eyes that could have been black like Bruccan'hors' in the wrong light. Another with cream colour fur and no head of hair sat in front of them all staring into the fire and the last of the Taurosi was a brown similar to Bruccan'hor with curls around his ears and one horn filed to a blunt point and was standing watch over Victorious who cowered before him on the other side of the room.

"Sir, may I speak?" Bruccan'hor looked at his companions nervously, they were all now out of their rags similar to Raven and wearing various ill-fitting trousers and vests covered in elaborate embroidery.

Alayne almost chastised for calling him 'sir' but it would do no good, better to let them grow out of it.

He just offered a soft smile and a slight nod.

"What happens to us know?"

He hadn't really expected to be freeing slaves as part of his journey. His lack of planning was catching up with him quicker than expected.

"What do you want to happen?" Always best to ask a question back at the asker if you were put on the spot, at the very least it would buy you more time

"I..." he looked to his companions "We...have not been able to want anything for some time"

"Well you have time to think it over. I'll leave you to talk amongst yourselves in peace whilst I seek some fine food and wine I assume this slob had stored in the cellars. Viccy will help me to give you your privacy"

They watched without a word as Alayne left the room the way they'd came, Victorious falling in line without question.

Raven had stood upon a large stone walkway that overlooked the harbour at the back of the mansion they'd taken over. There were two large stairways curving downwards for easily 100 steps that met on another stone walkway below him. There a large pier stretched out to either side with several places for ships to moor like they had in Burtyne, only much larger ships than the small canal boats he'd been used to. Currently he could make out 3 ships sat in dock with a small crowd in front of them, all facing a single figure who had his sword drawn and small tendrils of smoke rising from what Raven knew to be a cigar resting on his bottom lip.

He held his sword belt in place and began a steady jog down the steps towards the Captain; he rather enjoyed running in good boots again after being stuck in the pirate's raggedy shoes for days. His attire wasn't perfect but it was better than what he had, covering his full legs and body, including the tight plate vest he'd found in a guards room.

As he reached the bottom of the staircase he could hear the rabble of the crowd, at least 20 sailors stood before Captain Orc. All broad shouldered and well tanned from time on the deck.

"Just stay where ya be and do as you be told"

"You cut his hand off!"

There was one man sitting in front of the Captain, shirt stripped off and wrapped around what remained of his arm with the rest laid on the wooden deck in front of him.

"He came at me. Didn't ya boy. Meant Ol' Captain Orc harm dint ya? Well, now you be 'armless"

He barked a laugh that caused everyone to step back

"Everything ok Captain?" He pretended not to have heard the joke or see the blood splattered across several faces from the detached hand.

"Aye lad. Just merchant guards thinking they can out muscle one such as me. HA"

"YOU'RE A MONSTER!" a brave voice called from the back of the group.

Raven needed to defuse things, he could really do with a silver tongued bard about now or even an over confident Talon like Gaspar. This really wasn't his area.

He held his open hands in the air.

"Good people. We have freed the White Knot from the tyrannical rule of Prince Ascendious. We ask..."

"We don't give a shit about that."

"Are we gonna get paid?"

"Who's going to take all this food if the fat bugger is gone?"

Raven raised his voice louder

"The people of this land are in need and will gladly take your food..."

"Are they going to pay for it?"

"Do they have gold?"

"If they ain't paying they aint eating"

He was growing annoyed now, where there was empathy?

Once again he raised his voice louder.

"The people are starving, with your generosity we can build this land back bet...."

"NOPE"

"Not likely"

"If you want charity, take yourself to the Divine City and pray"

There was a break out of laughter among some, whomever had shouted that had defused what remaining tension there was and it annoyed Raven that he didn't get the joke.

He lost his temper too quickly to control himself, he wasn't proud of it but they just had no desire to do anything that didn't see them benefit.

"You WILL bring all your goods onto the pier..."

"We bloody well won't"

A tall man with a scarred face and a black ponytail called from the front. Raven looked at Captain Orc, who had shown remarkable restraint whilst Raven took the lead, and nodded. The Captain scooped up the dismembered hand off the now stained deck and after a quick but large step forward slapped the outspoken man in the mouth so hard his lip burst.

"Your goods are now forfeit of the Dread Pirate Captain Orc. Your ships are part of his fleet and your lives depend on how quickly and efficiently you unload ya cargo."

No-one moved a very long second until the Captain raised his hand a fraction and they scattered like fish in the water.

Captain Orc and Raven were alone now on the pier with 3 figures. 2 women and a man, smaller build than the workers and dressed in a more formal attire than could not quite be described as finery. Waist high coats of blues and purples with matching trousers, hair tidy yet tied back and well pressed shirts that showed they were clearly not going to be doing heavy lifting or manual work.

"The Captains?"

Captain Orc nodded as the 3 squirmed under his eye.

"Up the stairs to the main house then." They didn't look either of them in the eye as they marched off without a word, they'd clearly made their point. Raven put a hand on Captain Orc's arm as he turned.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"When they are done, force them all onto a single ship, lock them below deck and set it adrift, it should buy us some time to leave this place."

"Aye Aye"

He began to walk after the merchant captains who had begun their ascent.

"And Captain"

The Orc turned to lock eyes with Raven

"No more cutting off of limbs please, we aren't the monsters today"

The Captain looked wistfully at the hand on the floor and sighed before sheathing his blade, reluctantly, and nodded at Raven with clearly gritted teeth.

He was pleasantly surprised by how easy that had been.

Alayne had found a couple of casks of the wine that looked like they were worth as much as a small town and Victorious kindly carried them back to the sitting room the Taurosi still occupied. Alayne himself carried a platter with cups on it and a basket filled with various fruits he'd seen bagged in a kitchen they'd crossed through.

All but Vic now sat with a goblet, tankard or cup filled with fine wine and were visibly more relaxed. The time Alayne had given them seemed to take some of the tension out of the Taurosi and Bruccan'hor had now swapped seats with the smaller black haired one of his companions.

"My name is Thuran'ar last heir to the Grass Mantle, Bruccan'hor is my brother and protector; General of the Taurosi army"

The Grass Mantle was the highest seat of power in the Greenlands, homeland of the Taurosi, Alayne had heard the royals had been slaughtered to the last.

"Why did you come here songsmith?"

She was more direct than her brother and Alayne saw no point in lying or hiding truths from her.

"I came for the prince. My companions and I are aiming to take down the Emperor and we thought his sons would be a good start. It was also a minor sip from the ever full cup of revenge for myself as well"

The 3 Taurosi on the seats looked at each other with a spark in their eyes, the single horned person had moved back to stand watch over Vic and the other had not moved from their spot in front of the still roaring fire.

"We will join you"

He'd considered it as something they may suggest. Their options were limited and revenge would be the first thing on their mind. But could he justify using the pain of these survivors to his own gain, even if it was theirs as well.

"Thuran'ar, we would be honoured, but we don't go to greener pastures. My task is near impossible. You have your freedom for the moment. I would not ask you to throw it away on such a foolish endeavour."

"I don't remember being given such a speech?" Raven had timed his arrival in the room perfectly, flanked by 3 seafaring folk he assumed were ship captains from the dock.

"When should I have delivered it? After you committed treason? After you committed treason again? Or As we ran for our lives from farmers and kings, because of aforementioned treason?"

That stopped the man in his tracks, he said nothing as he sent the captains to stand beside Victorious in a small huddle and took a post himself leaning against the carved marble of the fireplace.

"Are we free? Where can we go in this land? Unless you succeed we will be slaves again before too long. Better to die fighting free than at the hands of a slaver, whipping you for spilling water, or killed by your own kind in the bull fighting pits for sport."

"Surely we could use the help Alayne?" Now they were all in agreement, great.

"We can't walk across the empire with 5 Taurosi and an Orc. I alone draw enough attention to get us killed in most cities"

"Disguise them with your..." and he flapped his hand dismissively towards the lute resting against his leg

"I can do no more than 2 at a time. It gets tiring quickly, it would be like you fighting 5 opponents at once" Raven nodded at this, equating it to something he could understand seemed to settle the matter.

"By the salt those sailors can whine, they wouldn't last half a day on my ship"

As if the conversation wasn't difficult enough to navigate, the great Captain Orc appeared in the doorway, wiping his knuckles on his already over-stained grey undershirt.

"Why is there blood on your knuckles" Raven stopped leaning as he spoke

"They didn't exactly like taking orders from a being as handsome as me. When I ordered them onto the ship, like your lordship requested, a squat little fella mouthed off to me and spat on me boot. Since ya gon and forbid me for cutting arms off I had to settle with breaking his face instead."

Alayne pinched his nose, this wasn't a difficult task he'd given them.

"Captain..." Raven and Alayne spoke at once

"Relax yourselves boys, the job is done and no one died. Cargo is all down below and the Taurosi are loading up the crane to start bringing it up"

Thuran'ar stood up at the mention of her people

"There are more of my people?"

"Aye 10 of them on that ones deck, crammed in the lower decks in case they were needed to row I would guess"

Suddenly the silent merchant captain stood near Victorious held up a finger nervously

"6. I only had 6"

"Aye same thing"

He always had been terrible with numbers, Alayne had watched someone try to teach him once. It resulted in a screaming match and a desk the size of two men launched through a wall and out to sea.

"Bruccan'hor, take Tal'iah and see to those below" without question Bruccan'hor, who Alayne had assumed had been in charge not long ago, and the 3rd sat with them got up and left the room.

Alayne found himself watching the brown furred Taurosi who still stood in front of the, now, eldest son of the empire. He hadn't taken his eyes from the man despite the 3 sailors twitching and shifting nervously next to him. He realised that a plan had come to him like the notes to a song, just when he needed it and just the right way.

"Lady Thuran'ar, why don't you go home?"

There were raised eyebrows from everyone still in the room, even Captain Orc who had no idea what was going on and Raven who barely knew more than the Orc.

"My home is a destroyed and sees what remains of my people doing the destroying at the hands of the Emperor’s Viscounts" Successful generals who had lead the destruction of the Taurosi armies under Ascendious had been given large swaths of the Greenlands and ownership of the former occupants along with lovely titles like Viscount to go alone with it.

"Yes. It is. I imagine you can remember when it was still beautiful. Maybe you could remake it again"

"You would not let us join you in your assassination of the ruler who subjugated my people but you send us to die back in our homelands?"

"With me death is likely how things end...but what if I could give you a weapon."

Alayne looked past the dark eyed monarch in waiting towards the sad looking prince and everyone's eyes slowly followed.

"We took him as a stepping stone to get to his father, who apparently cares very little it would seem. But..." Alayne had jumped up now and begun to gesture dramatically as if mid performance. "I doubt the Viscounts who run your lands would be so dismissive of part of the royal lineage held hostage"

He let that sink in for a second.

"There are people in the city below who could follow you."

"They be half mad boy"

"No you're half mad Captain, those below are hungry and desperate. With the food your people are bringing up and what already lies in these walls you could provide for them. Bind them to you. Lead as you were born to"

He hated the idea of those born to lead but on this occasion it suited his narrative well.

The queen-to- be stood beside her companion over the former heir, she slapped a hand to the brown furred Taurosi's shoulder and nodded at Alayne.

"Kru'bian, keep the honourable prince close"

Alayne bowed towards his companions beside the fire who rolled their eyes at him. Victorious shied away bringing his knees to his chest and silently sobbing as the Taurosi stared at him with fire in their eyes.

It wasn't much of a plan but it was a powerful start to a potential campaign in the Greenlands. He had been struggling with reasons as to why he kept the prince alive since they made landfall but now it all fell into place, and whilst the prince may not matter to the Emperor it may offer a resistance in the Greenlands a chance.

"I thought Bra'Canoe was in charge, what did I miss with this one?" Captain Orc had clearly been following the conversation several moments behind everyone else and had now used the momentary silence to ask his question.

"That is Thuran'ar, rightful monarch of the Taurosi"

"Well bugger me with a main sail. We be swimming in royalty since finding you Ducard. Now tell me Thirsty Star, why don't this fella here be talking?" His question was apt if asked poorly and on the back of complete disrespect for the name of the hopefully future queen.

Clearly she had a read of the Captain already and she let his confusion slide without correction

"That poor creature was taken early in the war and had been a captive long before us. In all our years here he has never spoken." She paused to spare the silent creature a pitiful glance "Only screamed during the punishments."

Captain Orc for all his faults showed the awareness to say nothing more on the matter.

Over the course of the next few hours they drank and ate from the casks and baskets Alayne had brought up earlier. More Taurosi had poured in along with Bruccan'hor as the final crates and barrels were lifted from the docks and carried to the front of the manor to be dispersed among the people first thing in the morning.

Slowly the Taurosi had pulled away from the rest of them until Alayne and his companions felt that a change of scenery was required.

The 3 of them and Surrich's head relocated to a large wine cellar where they drank the night away. Well Raven slowly nursed a goblet of dark red whilst Captain Orc and Alayne gulped anything they could grab by the bottle. Even Surrich tried to get involved and had white sparkling liquid poured down his open throat hole and onto the floor.

Alayne enjoyed the brain fog that came over him when drinking, it had become a good pass time on the ship and he was glad to steal a night of it here before they left for whatever happened next.

It had been quiet drinking at first but after...some amount of time the empty bottles were beginning to pile up and even Raven had drank more than a couple of cups worth.

"Why-Why do you keep trying to annoy the Greymen, Ducard" Raven had asked the question out of nowhere as he rested on one elbow over a barrel of something expensive. Alayne had a bad feeling this was going to be one of those drunken nights where everyone got too personal but from his position slouched on the floor between two wine racks he couldn't quite force himself to leave.

"They think-What do they think- they think they are so closed off from us 'mere' mortals, and, and, and that annoys me. So if they want to play emotionless statue people I will make it my mission to make them feel....and furthermore if the only thing I can make them feel is angry...well I still win."

He had completed many performances after more than a few tankards of ale but here he was struggling, but he rarely drank wine in his defence.

"Dead man, why do they be leaving you with us. Feels like undead people should want to stick together?"

"Scared of me. I remind them that they can fai...fa..fa"

Alayne tried to jump up but got almost to a crouch before crumpling back down, but he did manage to point towards Surrich who had somehow got lodged on a lit chandelier above them all.

"See they pretend to be stone but they are broken. Fear, Shame, Anger. I will crack them open"

"Think they'll kill ya first boy" Captain Orc stood leaning against another wine rack, looking more sober than Raven despite the pile of bottles at his feet

"Honestly gentlemen I am fairly certain that my tale ends at the end of a Greymans blade regardless of my success. I firmly believe the only way I...we...can survive this is to reignite humanity in the inhuman..."

Alayne should stop there, it was depressing enough and had killed the energy in the room but he couldn't, the wine was talking now

"There are worse ways to go though than being killed by fairy-tale monsters on a quest to free the world from tyranny. You could die in the middle of a road, beaten by bandits as your guardian does nothing mere fingertips away"

He was self aware enough to know he was spiralling, but not strong or sober enough to pull himself out of it. He found the melody to the song he'd been to broken to write conjured into the air from the lute that never left his lap and he began to drunkenly sing:

"O AJ the Boy...AJ the Bard, he-he wasn't very good but he did try hard."

"Ducard lad..."

"he liked to chase beetles, he liked to eat bugs. But in the end he was k-kicked to death by a couple of thugs"

"Alay..Alay..Ala"

"His mentor watched in vain, as his apprentice died in pain."

"Alayne"

"His first and only standing ovation, was the one that caused his final damnation"

He broke then, he tried not to.

He'd tried to stop after every word but it just kept tumbling out.

He sobbed into his hat as he had every night on the boat when the music had died and the fake smiles had fallen. For the first time in his life he didn't want an audience but he couldn't stop and couldn't move.

There was a thick heavy silence, much like the drunken fog that clouded their minds.

The only sounds were the muffled cries of a broken black marked bard.