Alayne re-joined Captain Orcs New Boat with an aching body and was both physically and mentally exhausted, and yet he found himself rejuvenated when stood atop a crate in the centre of the deck singing and telling stories whilst drunken pirates dragged cask after cask of ale or rum or wine above the deck to down as they cheered him on. Every night without fail for nearly 2 months Alayne stood on a barrel, a crate or Treit's shoulders and performed for the adoring pirates, like Treit’s shoulders, they never tired of him and they hung off his every word. He allowed his guilt and pain and burden to fall without thinking as he basked in their adulation.
He even made up some new material on the spot ‘The old man who read a book’ he had titled it. He remembered it had gotten laughs from everyone but he was too drunk himself to remember his own words, which may have been for the best.
Of course he'd regaled the crew with the exploits from the white Knot, this is something he'd been putting together since they'd spent that first unsleeping night outside Cornostus. 'Broken waves and shattered oaths', the tale of Raven Broken-Oath and the Dread Captain C. The loyal crew had lapped that one up, incomplete as it was and Raven had got many a pat on the back for his part. It of course went without saying that the crew had thrown drinks in the air when Alayne had retold the taking of the Red Arrow and the fall of prince Victorious.
But all good things must come to an end and despite it being the longest he'd performed for one audience he had to stop at some point. Any day now they would spot the mainland on the horizon, not long after they would dock in Shansheer cove and depart on their impossible journey, until then they had to be 'quick and quiet' Captain Orc had stated, no more drinking or performances until they made land.
Alayne had sulked to himself, remaining below deck with Surrich and Raven whilst the sailors worked tirelessly upstairs. It was on the second day, whilst Alayne had managed to entice Raven into a game of flick the gold piece into Surrich's gaping empty eye sockets, that they'd had visitors in the mess. It was a large room they were in, filled with seats and tables for those who weren't needed above, but now everyone was either working or sleeping so they sat alone, opposite each other on a table in the centre of the large area with 2 empty chairs beside them.
"It's been some time my wandering grey friends" he'd spoken just as Raven had been about to take his shot, it went very well wide thanks to the distraction.
"How do you know when we have arrive?" Raven jumped up and knocked his chair back as the two greymen appeared from seemingly nowhere and pulled the two centre chairs and sat down.
"Call it Bardic intuition, I always know when eyes are upon me. Doesn't matter if they are centuries rotten, magically undying or half blind. A bard knows."
Maybe he was telling the truth and it was just another bardic skill he had, he lost track himself more often than not.
"We see you have finally decided to come to the mainland, as we advised some time ago. We also see this ship is distinctly lacking any of the Emperor's sons, has your plan changed since we last spoke?" There was a very thin veneer of anger to her words as Alayne shared a quick look at Raven
"We had both the eldest sons, but they were needed elsewhere. But I have another plan, even better than the first if you can imagine that."
"You let them go? 2 of them? We let you detour from the intended course for your plan, which you have now abandoned and it has left even more time for the forbidden knowledge to be found."
Alayne tried his usual disarming smile, it was hit or miss in truth but always worth the gamble.
It did not work on Adeline who looked at him like a cat would a mouse before it pounced.
"Adeline, have faith in the 'Black Marked Band'-" he winked at Raven who sat back to distance himself from the name as best he could in the moment "in a few days we'll make land at Shansheer, there I find my thief and we move onto the Emperors palace."
"I did not agree to the name or any name....I...I realise that isn't important" Raven went red under the glare of the greymen.
"No more distractions, Ducard. I will not have another monster gain immortality" Alayne sensed a story and they shared a quick look. Raven gave a very small shake of the head but Alayne couldn't refuse a dangling thread especially not when it was dangled by someone like this.
"The false god, the Shadow King, whatever other names the legends call him. He was the first to cheat death and you stopped him. How? Why can this not be done again if the Emperor succeeds"
Adeline audibly sighed, which caught Alayne truly off guard.
"What has Surrich spoken of regarding what lies after this life for you?"
"We haven't wanted to ask" Raven blurted out.
"We don't want the surprise spoiled" Alayne deflected how uncomfortable Surrich had made them with his wish to remain this rotten stump then cross over, they hadn't dared bring it up since or probe further.
"I...I believe that was the correct decision and I will respect it and omit the details. To put it simply, 12 of us worked as one to trap the King of Death in the world after. Killing him and each other to build a prison his...soul, is the closest word you'd have for it, could not leave."
"Where are the rest of your kind then?" Alayne probed, there may never be another time to get these answers.
"We killed each other over, and over, and over for decades. By the end over half of us where driven mad by the pain and torture of been ripped back and forth between worlds. Those of us who remained dare not risk our own minds to build more prisons, instead we had to resort to more barbaric methods."
"More barbaric than trapping someone in some form of afterlife for all eternity."
"That false god has now become the god of death for most cultures, the guardian of the forever after for those passing over. He is a god in most ways, we invertedly granted his goal even if it is a bastardised version of it. My kin however, despite their sacrifice, are trapped in this world forever: encased in stone, buried at the bottom of the sea, burning in the belly of volcanoes. To suffer and die over and over for all eternity. We are the last, we are old and we are tired. We cannot guarantee victory over a new strong undying foe."
Alayne took this all in and would reflect on it later but for now reached across the table, testing his charisma and his undying companions' vulnerability. He laid a hand on Adeline's and spoke softly.
"We will succeed"
He wasn't sure how much he believed that but he tried another smile at the grey skinned woman who looked him in the eye, sizing him up anew but seeing nothing different than before.
"See that you do"
"LAND HO"
The call came from above and when Raven and Alayne looked back from the timely distraction they found the two middle seats between them empty once again.
As soon as land was sighted Captain Orc gave the order to shuffle the two merchant captains onto the Salt Skate and cut the toe ropes they used to carry it with them across the sea. Despite travelling with them for some time there were no goodbyes to be had. Raven and his companions had stolen their livelihood and forced them to aid in their journey, without a backwards glance they left. Captain Orc in a rare act of kindness had ordered the crew to fix the mast of Captain Brennats ship, it wouldn't sail far or fast he'd said but it would get them to shore, eventually, if they weren't found by patrols first.
With the distractions gone it was off to Shansheer cove, a place Captain Orc seemed uncomfortable travelling to despite it sounding well suited to his character from what Alayne had told of it.
It was a large cave that was only accessible either by ship or by navigating through maze-like tunnel systems from land. The entrance was only visible and accessible for ships if they approached at the right time at the right angle. It had been hidden or ignored by the empire for decades and had become almost a town in its own right. A place of freedom, without the meddling of nobles and their house guards where illicit goods were traded and those black marked by the Empire could pay to be smuggled away to some form of freedom or at least live in peace for a time without looking over their shoulder.
Raven approached the Captain as he stood at the helm gently navigating towards the visible coast line. Alayne remained below with Sturrich, he'd been quiet since his performances had stopped and quieter still since the short but powerful conversation with the Greymen, although that had rocked Raven as well. It was no wonder they were so cold after what they'd experienced. He'd been close to death twice in recent memory, although it felt like a lifetime ago though he could recall perfectly the pain, the shock, the fear and the creeping darkness that began to enclose you. To feel that over and over countless times. He couldn't begin to imagine and he didn't want to.
"Ya been gawking at me for some time now lad, ya been drinking with the bard?" Captain Orc brought him back from the recesses of his own mind and back to the present.
"Sorry Captain, I was lost in my own thoughts"
"Ahhh I get ya, done that many a time. It be like a maze in there" and he lifted a heavy green hand from the helm and tapped a finger to his temple "and the screaming…just drives you mad. It's why I stay out of it"
"Of course.” Raven moved things swiftly on “I was talking to Alayne about Shansheer, but I imagine it may have changed since he left. Is there anything we need to know?"
"Aye, lots has changed. It be why I be wanting to avoid it, but the bard gets what the bard wants."
"And what has changed Captain?" He enjoyed short conversations, this wasn't a thing when dealing with Captain Orc, or Alayne for that matter. He missed being able to cut off one of his flock and having them cut to the point where all it would get him here was a vile insult or at best completely ignored.
"A free town, a town of lawlessness, a place of absolute chaos where you could be stabbed at any moment and have to fight to the death to get served a mug of ale at a bar" Captain Orc sighed deeply.
"I can see why that would be somewhere to avoid"
"What? No, that's what I liked about it, but now...couple of the local lords found a way in and staked a claim. Neither will move on it and risk a civil skirmish but they have a presence. Now the people behave like normal town folk, you can still find thieves and smugglers but it's just not the same, there be an air of formality to the skulduggery of the place."
This was Raven's second daily reminder that Captain Orc was completely mad, but at least he knew what awaited them there.
When Captain Orc had stated they had to be at the right angle to find the cove Raven had not expected just how difficult it would be. They had continued towards land, a large cliff face in front of them, nearly twice as high as the ship they were on and it stretched in either direction for what looked like days. Captain Orc barked orders at his crew as the dull thudding of heavy feet hitting the deck became a constant. He waited as long as possible, Raven thought he was going to plough them into the red rocky cliffs, hoping that it was some strange magic like Alaynes illusions and they'd just pass through unharmed. Instead Captain Orc spun the helm as far as he could, calling his crew to shift their weights as one to help and the ship turned slowly at speed almost grazing the prow. They continued moving, travelling now alongside the cliff face, Raven could almost reach out and touch the jagged rocky wall.
After some time the cliffs split, creating a opening only visible from this side and approach, barely wide enough for Captain Orcs New Boat to squeeze through and just tall enough so that the flag above the main mast clipped the cavern roof everytime they hit a wave sending a small shower of splinters down to the crew.
They raised the sails and allowed themselves to drift slowly, turning sharply at the Captain's orders until Raven caught sight of the town underground, lit by a hundred lights showing the multileveled settlement, houses built into and out of the reddish cave walls, all square with small not quite square windows, there were also tent like structures backed up by the stone using scrap wood and hide materials to provide cover. Despite the darkness and the salty air, the rock based town reminded him of his home, the Stonehold, a city for the oathbound built into the Oathbinder mountain just as this was here. Despite all his loss and guilt this was the first time he'd been homesick for his childhood home since he'd first been posted to Burtyne. Raven found himself slightly giddy and wanting to explore and see the sights.
As they approached he could make out, as Captain Orc had stated, guards patrolling the streets. The people paid them no mind though and they travelled in packs, some in dirty yellow and others in a dark snakelike green, both accented with the deep red of the empire though. They avoided fights in the street, parted ways to let running thieves past them without making a move and most of them seemed to be determined not to look at the former flagship of the navy now docking before them flying the black of the pirates. There was a set of 5 brave souls who took up a post on the wooden pier they would be stepping down to, a mix of both house colours and lining the pier not blocking it.
Almost like a welcome of sorts, Raven thought.
When they were docked Captain Orc gathered the crew on the deck and stood shoulder to shoulder with Raven and Alayne, who hung Surrich from his belt.
"Are you still with us Captain? Can't say I'd blame you wanting to take your crew out to sea" Alayne spoke as the final members of the crew finished their work securing the ship to the pier, there was a tone to Alaynes question but he wasn't sure if it was because he wanted Captain to stay or leave.
"Nah lad, I've sailed enough for a lifetime, me heart will always belong to the waves but I'm with ya lad, both of ya, until the end of this one. Can't have a poncy bard and some cult run-away getting credit for killing the an emperor now can we,? wouldn't make a good story for ya boy."
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As the crew gathered around their captain Raven thought it best to take his leave, he hadn't really bonded with any of the crew beyond pleasantries. Alayne followed not long after, he'd had them cheering and shouting his name as he left, one final memory to keep his spirits up. He looked weary and tired the moment his foot hit the wooden walkway but before he could say anything to the bard they both turned to listen to Captain Orc whose voice as always boomed out from him
"Right you horrid lot. Captain Second Mate be in charge. Be brutal, be rude and be pirates. If you ever be wondering 'what would Captain Orc do?' remember: Stop thinking, start doing. If I don't see ya on the waves, I'll see ya under em"
That advice made total sense from the Captain and Raven found his goodbye oddly touching, he'd said nothing of the sort when leaving for the White Knot and he was un-surprised to hear the Captain get a round of cheers that at the very least rivalled the bards own, despite his many flaws his crew truly respected him as their captain.
The 4 of them slowly made their way off the small wooden pier they'd docked on, getting passed by several of Captain Orcs pirates as they left to enjoy the pleasantries of land before inevitably returning to sea.
The party passed the guards who said nothing as the group walked through them. Alayne and Raven passed through under their cautious stares, their jaws were set and their eyes looking dead ahead, careful not to make eye contact with any of the new arrivals.
Captain Orc seemed to not notice the welcoming party and flicked a half burnt out cigar to his right which caught the collar of one young looking man, in a heavily dented and badly painted yellow chest plate, and then flicked up and lightly burnt his cheek. The man who was just slightly older than Raven, with short black hair like his own and a patchy stubble that would hopefully fill in with time, stepped forward slightly, hands clenched by his side.
In a moment, without a sound, Captain Orc was in front of him. The large orc towered over the guard and grinned down at him
"Ya gonna be doin something stupid lad, best think it thr-" a gauntleted fist hit the bearded jaw of the pirate and sent him back a step.
With the grace of a man half his age and twice his mental capacity Captain Orc tossed his hat and long red jacket at Raven and Alayne who had both frozen to watch events unfold.
There was a sound of unsheathing metal and Raven turned on his heels ready to fight. He relaxed, jaw slack, as the entire crew of Captain Orcs New Boat stood on the pier with; shortswords, daggers and rapiers pointed at the 4 guards who stood helpless to watch what happened to their companion.
The man threw another fist, the same as before, this time the Captain saw it coming.
He didn't move to grab or block like Raven expected, although why expected any kind of sense from anything Captain Orc did was a question for another day.
Instead he slammed his head forward and met it halfway with his thick green forehead.
There was a sickening crunch as the man stepped back screaming, small bits of metal dropping onto the soaked wooden boards at their feet and holding up a mangled hand in pain.
The Captain grabbed the wailing man by the metal collar of his breast plate and picked him up with one hand and slammed him down onto the pier.
Wooden planks groaned underneath them but held firm as the guards head bounced off the wood.
Raven could see the man's eyes had gone glassy, he doubted he knew where he was anymore after the impact.
Captain Orc flipped him over with ease and picked up again this time by the back of his collar and held him aloft.
"People of Shansheer, this man be challenging Captain Orc and lost. What say you be his fate?"
The market on the shore stopped all at once, merchants, shoppers, children playing all started shouting at once
"Bash him!"
"Drown him!"
"Pull him to bits!"
"Hire him!"
Captain Orc pointed to a small boy with a fishing rod in his hand, who went pale at the attention.
"Thar be our winner-" he turned the guard to face him "welcome to the crew"
He was still dazed and confused and said nothing as several of the pirate crew dragged him onto their boat to do god knows what with him.
"That's one of my men, you can't just take him" Finally one of the other guards spoke up, an older man although not by much and in armour that was less dented and more recently coloured with the yellows and reds of house and crown.
The swords of the crew dropped, despite the protest they obviously felt no threat here.
Captain Orc rounded on the man.
"Crew, What be the rule of fighting Captain Orc?"
"Don't!" The crew shouted as one.
"and the other rule?"
"Hope he's in a good mood"
"Thar you have it, I be happy today and ya lad survived. Hopefully he'll keep surviving and live a good live as a pirate. If not, well the sea always be hungry."
The leader of the guards looked to the others, the ones in opposing house colours had already started to leave and the faces of his remaining men obviously gave him little hope.
He hung his head in shame and marched off, his forces in tow.
"What no...no" Surrich asked from below them as Captain Orc redressed himself.
"Now Surrich, we find our thief." Alayne replied with a heavy sigh.
"Do you know where to look?" Raven found himself oddly numb to the pirates antics at this point and instead was looking up at the 4 tiers of the town that curved around the cave, there were many, many cities that dwarfed it in size even in Rha'Vander, but it would still be hard to find one person in all these homes and businesses.
"He had a home somewhere round here and I doubt he would move, a creature of habit is Rickster, he stays until he is forced to leave."
Alayne led them through a throng of people, they were armed and confident and the common pickpockets in the crowds and even the guards gave them a wide berth. It was only the merchants selling clearly stolen fabrics and poorly made weapons that dared approach, that was until Captain Orc threatened one after they accidently knocked his cigar out of his mouth in passing whilst showing off just how stretchy the genuine Taurosi hide fabric was.
"I be enjoying that"
"I..It was...I mean"
Captain Orc had grabbed him by the throat as the other merchants quickly started to shy away.
"Any ya come within arms reach of us and I be increasing ya stock by the number of ya teeth I forcibly remove"
It had been quite a pleasant walk after that, they had the paths and stairways to themselves as everyone avoided them. Raven saw the shadowy houses and tent like structures that passed out, red mouthed, sickly looking folk took shelter in to take herbalist remedies they would do better avoiding. He saw the blood soaked stone and sand in many corners and mouths of alleys where obvious fights or robberies had gone wrong. Captain Orc tried to steer them to a two story building with barely covered women and men dancing outside.
There was even a merchant, on the 3rd tier of the town rather set back compared to most others who occupied the buildings closer to the dock, that sold exotic and illegal pets. Snakes with feet, a wolf as big as a bear, a bird as big as a man and a two headed lizard that the owner swore could talk for the right price.
Alayne dragged them both from distraction and attractions and they quickly moved on, further away from the noise of the town to a smaller section of housing where no one walked around. A small section on the 4th level where 5 houses were set away from the rest, built well into the stone so they faced each other in an almost closed loop. They were all boarded up and looked empty but Alayne went straight to the middle house, it looked ike a shop front with the metal arm of a hanging sign above the front door which Alayne ignored. Raven noticed looking around that they all looked this way, all 5 houses with smashed in large front windows that would have once displayed wares and some remnant of a hanging sign, this looked to have been a small market square that had long lost its customer base. As he had looked around noisily Alayne had wandered down the side of the middle house, he was barely visible in the shadows between houses and without knocking he opened it and went inside and without a word the others followed.
Alayne entered through the little cracked dark wooden door and took the tight right to go up the very thin stairs. He worried Captain Orc would get stuck but then it would mean he'd miss the conversation so it wouldn't be too big a problem until they tried to leave.. At the top of the stairs there was another small wooden door to his left that he opened without knocking. He entered onto the top floor of a long abandoned book store, he tried to remember what the rotten, almost completely faded sign had said so long ago...'Sticky spells for Sticky fingers' an atrocious name for a magic spell book shop, seeing peak business when mages where trying to flee their compulsive servitude in the Mage tower. That time had long since passed though and this shop had been empty, as a business anyway, for decades. Instead what was once a store room presumably filled with scrolls and magic filled tomes was now filled with rotten wooden shelves, discarded bottles of who knows what, a table that could collapse at any moment and 3 scrappy beds made of what smelt like driftwood.
His companions entered behind him, Captain Orc was not stuck it seems but he was flustered so it must've been close and Raven maintained his wide eyed wonder he'd had since arriving in Shansheer, he distracted himself for a moment wondering why this place in particular, out of all the things he'd seen since fleeing Rha'Vander had caused him to become so starry eyed.
Behind the shelves to Alaynes right a woman sat in the shadows sniffing deeply from bottle after bottle she found on the floor, paying no heed to the strangers entering her house.
To the back of the room a shaggy head of thinning grey hair rose from one of the creaky beds before quickly falling back down but neither Tobias or Mildred were of any interest to Alayne, on this day or any day.
He was here for Rickster, a small thin man with a little pot belly which crept out underneath his badly stitched waistcoat, and his small dumpy legs that poked out of the ragged ends of his almost knee high trousers. He sat at the table which dominated the left of the room, trying to carve something into it with the saddest looking knife Alayne had ever seen.
Alayne gave a short cough and the small man looked up, his short dirty brown hair didn't pass his ears and was clearly unwashed for years, he had dark weasel like eyes above a crooked nose and pointed chin which despite been in similar years to Alayne could barely grow more than few unsightly whiskers of hair. He looked shocked for a moment, his eyes wide which still left them smaller than most peoples, until he noticed who had come to his hovel. Then a big 3 toothed grin spread across his face.
"Oh Mother! Alayne Ducard hav come back...O Mother and da Captain!" Alayne was impressed he'd managed to draw the eye enough to allow Rickster to miss Captain Orc for a moment, that rarely happened.
"Ri-" Alayne was about to jump straight to business but quickly shoved out of the way
"Rickster bloody Boggsworth, can't believe ya aint dead. Good for you lad" Captain Orc picked the small man up and then gave him a large aggressive pat on the back
"Mother, dey proud I ain't bin bopped off"
Mildred grunted disinterestedly from behind the shelves and glass bottles shuffled around as she found one with enough in it to huff from, and a small burst of anger rose in him before he quieted it down.
"Rickster, good to see you again, this is our friend Raven Brokenoath"
"Wow, you luk more wide eyed dan I be, where ya find this chap den"
"He's from Rha'vander-"
Rickster spat a large spray of dirty brown water he'd tried to drink from an equally dirty glass on the table , Captain Orc gave him another pat on the back which he waved away.
"Rha'vander? Dat’s amazing. But why?"
Rickster was easily impressed, naïve to a fault and terribly loyal, not the best traits for a thief.
"Well.." Alayne took a seat opposite Rickster "you see-"
the chair groaned before he'd even put his weight on it, Alayne shot back up and instead walked around the table, sitting on the corner nearest Rickster but not allowing the table to take any of his weight, it left even the graceful bard looking awkward but he'd committed himself so here he'd stay.
"Raven and the Captain are helping do something stupid and dangerous. But one thing they can't do, is get me somewhere I shouldn't be."
Alayne let his words hang to see if Rickster would grab onto his point.
He did not, instead he sat there wide eyed and mouth open watching for Alayne to continue.
"We-"
"Dat's a shame"
"We need someone to open locked doors for us, someone who claims to be a burglar and a thief, someone we can trust to keep it quiet."
Another awkward amount of time passed before Captain Orc gently, well gently for Captain Orc, patted Ricksters shoulder and nodded at him.
"Oh Mother, Dey mean me! I'm a fief and a burglar and dey trust me and I can open doors, locked ones as well sometimes!"
There was a thud from behind them as Mildred tipped onto her side and then vomited violently on the well stained wooden floor.
"Is she ok?" Raven was several steps towards moving to help the woman before Alayne held out a hand and he stopped beside him instead.
"Poor Mum, she hasn't bin da same since da accident"
"What accident?" Alayne couldn't remember a time when she hadn't been rotting her brain with illegal toxic concoctions, and he'd first met Rickster when they were both young boys barely old enough to leave home alone, if they'd had parents that cared anyway.
"The accident where as she accidently gots addicted to da Red Mist, she fort she was buying milk and accidentally huffed 10 bottles of da stuff and she hasn't been da same since"
Naïve to a fault.
"But she'll soldier on, brave and fearless is me mum." he gave an innocent smile towards the barely moving body of his mother and turned back to the group. She didn't deserve his love or loyalty, a quick stab of shame hit him as he questioned where he deserved it either.
"Where we robbing den?"
Rickster had a twinkle in his eye now, he'd chosen to be a thief to follow in his family's footsteps. He was fine but he got himself in trouble more often than not and Alayne was hoping that the rest of his companions would keep his weaker traits in check.
Alayne recalled how he'd once tried to steal a prize horse from a racing stable, he got away without a sound but was caught the next day as he had no idea what to do with the beast once he had it and he had been found in an run down shack that had half a horse sticking out of the door only one street over from the stable.
"We need you to get us into the Emperors palace Rickster"
Captain Orc leaned in and whispered loud enough for the neighbours to hear.
"So we can kill him AHA!" that last sound made Rickster flinch with surprise.
"You sure you want me? Me family are much better at fiefin, Grandad, Tobias da man who licks apples and me Mother, Mildred the Baby deliverer even got nicknames. I just be Rickster boring Boggsworth, I'll just get ya all hung, drowned and thirded"
Alayne and Raven both were about to correct him when a creak came from the cluster of scrappy beds in the recesses of the room and the croaky old voice of Ricksters grandfather Tobias, groaned out.
"If he dies I'm having his bed. Someones been pissing in mine"
Rickster shook his head.
"I wait up every night t' watch for who does it. No-one ever comes in but poor Grandad's bed is always wet when he wakes up. I can't just leave dem"
Alayne had his own parental issues, as did Captain Orc and he assumed Raven did as well as you don’t join a cult from birth if you have a good home life. But Rickster was something else, at least they'd all left them in the past, for the most part anyway.
Raven turned to Rickster and used his body to separate the man from the view of his family, if you could call them that.
"If we succeed, Rickster, you could come back with your own nickname. Rickster The thief who helped topped an empire"
"Don't exactly roll of da tongue dough do it, hmm, but we can work on dat."
Alayne stood up and clapped his hands, this had been easier than he thought, he had a good team.
"Well this seems settled, why don't you pack your-" Alayne looked around the bare room shared by 3 people "thing, and we'll meet you at...nearest inn Captain?"
"The Soiled Tankard"
"Lovely, yes the Soiled Tankard."
They all turned to leave before Rickster called their attention back.
"Yeah I am happy to come, I fink but I do need to get da boss to agree. She dunt like me taking jobs without her say so, says I always end up in bovver"
Alayne had never taken Rickster for someone to get involved with a guild of any kind, and he doubted any guilds would take him if he did want to.
"You have a boss? I..who"
"Nah Nah its fine" he waved them away "she'll be flying in from da outer cities soon and we'll meet you at dat place you said"
They left, although not as confident as they had been moments ago and moved back through the city with Captain Orc leading the way.
There were a list of questions Raven had as they left, Alayne could see the thoughts behind his eyes racing to get out
"Licks apples?"
"So he could claim they were tainted and not pay, it never worked to my knowledge, he just got beat up for stealing apples"
Next he'd ask about Mildred.
"Baby deliverer, as in-"
"As a merchant, not a doctor. She belongs in her current state Raven, trust me, with any luck she'll choke on her sick whilst Rickster is away. And no I don't know about this boss of his either but we'll see who meets us at the Soiled Tankard, it's not a problem" yet, he finished to himself.