2

The sounds of the sea, the waves hitting against the boat and the flapping of the sails in the wind helped to distract Amadeus from his thoughts, about the recent events. Beside him he had another mug of rum just in case he needed it, but the simple return of the sounds he missed the most seemed to suffice enough. The loneliness on the top deck of the ship, save for a crew member or two moving stuff or checking to make sure everything was in working order, didn’t bother Amadeus all too much. His brothers were sound asleep in their beds. Their efforts to convince Amadeus that he wasn’t in the right mind to sail the ship were fruitless as trying to sleep would’ve put Amadeus in a much worse position anyway. He didn’t have any more Stardust to dull his thoughts so sleep would’ve been nearly impossible. He would end up staying awake until the point when his body was ready to give up on him and force him to sleep on the spot. His body would be too tired to think and he would fall asleep easily, but would wake up more exhausted than ever.

After everything that had just recently happened, Amadeus and his brothers thought it best to discuss the situation in the Grand Capital after they had finished this job and got their pay. It was clear that all three needed time to gather their thoughts on the recent events and reconvene with cooler heads. In the moonlight of the night sky, instead of thinking about the present, Amadeus willingly began to ruminate on the events of the past. He thought back to when he was a child, playing with his brothers in the streets of the Signia marketplace, just after everything had closed down. The starts above in the night sky always seemed so much brighter when they were little, full of so much wonder and possibility. To Amadeus, this was a hard thing to find nowadays, at least for himself. The only wonder he ever seemed to find was at the bottom of a cold mug of rum. He enjoyed the adventures that he went on, no doubt, but they always seemed like a means to an end. Just hours before, the end goal was in sight, only for it to be pulled farther away from him, as if life was teasing him with a carrot on a stick, and he was just a stupid mindless pig constantly chasing after it in the hopes of finally getting it one day. But now the presence of certain death had reared its ugly head. The situation was no longer just himself and a carrot. It was a whole herd of pigs chasing carrots towards a ravine waiting to give them their chance meeting with the reaper. Amadeus looked up towards the stars again. He remembered something his mother had told him when he was little. An old tale to speed him faster towards sleep. Up above in the stars, all his ancestors were looking down upon him. Whenever someone dies, their body becomes one with the earth and their spirit becomes one with the stars. How bright you shined depended on how you were as a person in life. The most courageous, kind-hearted, selfless people shined the brightest while those who’ve wronged or hurt others for their own gain, or just because they wanted to, were the dimmest, soon to die out and fade from existence. Still looking up, Amadeus wondered if his ancestors were looking down upon him, and what they thought of him.

On the horizon, the harbor of the Capital Port began to show itself. Small lights could be seen in some of the buildings that sat against the edge of the port. A few of the crew members, who he had stayed up with him to prepare to dock at the port, readied themselves at the sails and anchor in order to bring the ship to a complete stop near the harbor. Following this, the boat was tied to the harbor via rope and the sails were raised. Upon completion Amadeus told the crew members to stay on the ship and get a good night’s rest to prepare for the transport of cargo in the morning. Amadeus followed his own advice and promptly went to his quarters to try and get some sleep after everything that had happened that night.

…

Amadeus had gotten only a little bit of sleep that night and upon waking up a yawn forced itself from within him. Looking out his window, the sun could be just barely seen on the horizon, meaning that the very early hours of the morning were upon him. This lack of sleep was a blessing in disguise for him however as he still had a good bit of time to deliver everything to the respective buyer. He didn’t have a time limit to deliver the stuff, however. He soon rose, got dressed, and then, roused his fellow crew members, including his brothers who weren’t very happy about the decision, in order to get started on moving the cargo. The noble buyer of the cargo lived, unfortunately, in the Upper Civilian district near the Grand Capital Castle itself, meaning that he would have to rent some carts from a local wagon shop. The very early hours of the morning meant that all of the shops would still be closed so the entirety of the early hours would be moving boxes and making sure everything was accounted for. The boxes were stored at the backroom of the ship and added up to a total of fifty. The contents of the boxes were unknown to Amadeus but he was given full assurance by the noble who hired him. The noble told him that all the capital guards would be paid to look the other way and the cargo check that stood between the harbor and the city would be told to allow a man named Amadeus and anyone with him without any trouble. “The importance of this cargo must’ve been great if she went through all this trouble to make sure it wasn’t searched,” Amadeus thought as he watched the crew carry the boxes off the ship. “And the illegality”. The urge of curiosity was born within and stayed with Amadeus from the second the put the cargo on the ship. Unfortunately, he had strict orders that no one was to look inside the boxes, and he wasn’t about to throwaway a huge payday to satisfy a bit of curiosity. And besides, he knew how dangerous the nobles of the Grand Capital could be. It only would take a few words or a bit of money exchanged for him, and most likely his brothers as well, to be suddenly pulled off the streets of the Grand Capital one day and never seen again.

Amadeus looked towards the city beyond the harbor and remembered its layout from a map put away in his room. It was a map that he would look at sometimes to get an idea of where he wanted to live. The Grand Capital was separated into different districts in the design of a simple circle. The circle was cut into fourths, each fourth a district, with a small circle in the center where the Grand Capital Castle stood, the royal district. The harbor where Amadeus stood at the bottom of the circle, just outside the walls with an entrance into the city on either side of him. To his left was the market district, and to his right was the Commoner district. Across from the Market district was the Upper Civilian district and across from that was the Supply district. Amadeus himself couldn’t say what could be found in each one, although the names alone could give a pretty good picture. That was something he wanted to discover for himself when he came to live here one day. Suddenly, he spotted Richard struggling to pick up one of the bigger boxes. He rushed over to help him and said, “Woah there Richard. Make sure not to pick up more than you can carry”. The younger brother shot him a look of annoyance and replied:

“Why did you have to get us up so early in the morning to move these damned boxes?”

Amadeus ignored his complaining and looked around for his other brother. He saw all the rest of the crew moving boxes, but Alfred was nowhere to be seen. He went back to Richard, who had another box, one that was small enough for him to carry, in his hands, and asked, “Richard, have you seen Alfred anywhere? I thought I told him to get up and carry boxes?”

“Hell, if I know. Last time I saw him he was with the boxes”.

Amadeus thanks Richard for the information and made his way to the back of the ship, ready to reprimand his brother for his sudden laziness. Upon reaching the backroom he found there were still boxes that needed to be moved but his brother was nowhere to be found. He turned to leave until he heard a sudden ‘thud’ coming from the back left corner of the room, as if something was dropped. Cautiously, Amadeus crept his way over to the corner of the room. He unsheathed the dagger he always kept at his hip and readied it in his hand. The sound came from behind a stack of boxes. And now that Amadeus had heard the sound, he noticed how the boxes weren’t pushed all the way into the corner; they had been arranged in such a way as to surround something, to block the view of it from anyone who happened to walk into the room. He cautiously made his way over to the stack and peered through the cracks between the boxes. Upon not seeing anyone within, he removed the box on one side and peered over. In the center of all these boxes, was one that had been opened with its lid resting against its side. Instantly, both rage and anxiety rushed throughout his body just as much as his desire to find his brother did. He whipped around to march towards the door, but was frozen in place when he saw that his brother had been standing behind him. On Alfred’s face was a matching expression of anger. Neither of them said anything to break the silence until Amadeus, who had been using the time to find what words he wanted to say amidst everything he was feeling at the moment, said, “What the hell were you thinking!? I thought I told you and everyone else on this damned ship very clearly to NOT look inside the boxes!”. Alfred didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he sat on top of a box in the other corner of the room and gave a deep sigh. He gave Amadeus a sad look and said:

“I’m gonna give you one chance to answer me Amadeus. You’re my brother, and my friend. I don’t believe you’d do this willingly. Did you know what you were transporting when you got those boxes?”

“What? What do you mean?” Amadeus replied. Instead of answering, Alfred made his way through the stacks of boxes until he got to the one in the center. He dragged it out and left it beside Amadeus.

“I mean what I mean Amadeus. Did you know what you were transporting? Is that what the Queen meant when she said that she knew something that you’d wanna keep a secret from me and Richard?”

“Why the hell are you questioning me when you’re the one who’s sus- “. When Amadeus looked into the box, he froze in place. Both fear and anxiety rushed through his body as he recognized what was inside the box. It was still shrouded in the darkness of the room so inside he held some shadow of a doubt. Hastily, he rushed to open the windows of the room, still in disbelief of what he saw. With the light that would pour in, he would have his answer. When he opened the window, the light that came through shined directly onto the box, as if the gods were pointing him towards the truth. When he looked inside once again he confirmed his worst fears. The box was full of about one hundred and fifty bottles of Wolf’s Blood. Inside, Amadeus hated how much he instantly desired to drown out his feelings with a bottle of Wolf’s Blood. He didn’t care what it did to him. He just wanted to be numb. The intense desire for a bottle of Wolf’s Blood was something shared by almost all of Signia at one point in his life, when he had first become a pirate. The stuff had been sold by a notorious gang leader of the city, and everyone who drank it became addicted very quickly. To this day Amadeus never knew what made the drink so addictive, but regardless, almost all of the city would have become addicted to it if the guards hadn’t tracked down the leader’s location and stopped the production of it altogether. Luckily, Amadeus had never touched the stuff, mostly because the incident came long before what had driven him to alcohol and an early retirement from being a pirate, but he himself saw what it could do it people. He saw friends, family members, passerby, tear each other apart just to get a bottle of it. Curing the city in its entirety of the addiction took at least half a year as when production failed, others tried to recreate it for themselves to varying success.

Most importantly, and horribly, Wolf’s Blood almost lead Alfred himself to an early grave. When he looked at those bottles, he immediately remembered that fateful day when his brother, hyped up on Wolf’s Blood, tried to stab Amadeus who withheld his bottle from him. And another moment when he had to stop Alfred from trying to convince Richard to drink it, who knew nothing about it and was very naïve. Alfred had told him that it would help him find a girlfriend. Finally, Amadeus remembered how it single handedly ended Alfred’s boxing career. He had taken a bottle before a match and couldn’t stop himself from killing his opponent. He was immediately banned from ever boxing again. The night he was banned Amadeus found him preparing to commit suicide, but he was able to convince him to stop drinking and turn his life around instead. Amadeus looked from the box to Alfred with a look of horror an found that his brother shared the same face. Amadeus knew that the same memories had flowed into his brother’s mind as they did his.

“Alfred, p-please, you have to believe me. I had no idea we were transporting Wolf’s Blood. T-The client, the noble, he wouldn’t disclose to me what he wanted moved. He just said that he would pay me more than I’d make in my entire life. You have to believe me! He told me to not allow anyone to look in those boxes. If I’d have known Alfred…”.

Without saying anything, Alfred grabbed Amadeus in his arms and hugged him tightly, tears beginning to flow from his eyes. The only words he could verbalize were, “Thank the gods that you didn’t”. The two brothers stood there in silence until it was interrupted by the voice of Richard saying:

“Hey, what the hell’s going on? The other workers are wondering why you told them to stop moving boxes Alfred”.

Upon seeing his two brothers holding one another in a tight hug, he asked, “What’s going on here? Did something happen?” Alfred turned to him, his face slightly red and puffy, beckoned him over and sought to explain to him all that had happened. After hearing it all, Richard simply responded with, “So what are we gonna do with all this? Half the boxes are already moved outside and the crew won’t be too keen about having to move it all back onto the ship. But if that stuff gets into the city…”

“It would be disastrous,” Alfred finished with a solemn look on his face. Alfred looked to Amadeus for confirmation on the direness of the situation, but he was lost in thought. He was conflicted between the two possibilities of the situation. Once again, the life that he had been working so hard for, for his family and for himself, was at risk. Doing something about this situation would indefinitely paint another target onto his back that he’d have to worry about, even if his dream of living in The Grand Capital were to come true. It would be just like Signia where every day he’d have to keep a keen eye that someone isn’t trying to kill him. On the other hand, if they were to just deliver the Wolf’s Blood and take the money, they’d be sailing forever on a sea of blood that they helped create.

“Amadeus, what’re you thinking?” Alfred asked, still waiting for an answer.

Amadeus didn’t answer immediately. Hs face becoming more and more sullen with each passing moment. “I-I don’t know”. Deep within Amadeus, along with his feelings of sadness and worry, there was a feeling of indescribable rage that he wouldn’t let show. Not only was he angry at the noble who hired him, but he was also angry at himself for being fooled into transporting Wolf’s Blood. After a couple more minutes of silence, Alfred looked over to Richard, who at the same time looked at him, for a brief moment. They both had the same idea of what to do next, and Richard allowed Alfred to voice it by saying, “We’ll give you some time to think about things Amadeus, in the meantime Richard and I will help the crew move the boxes back onto the ship. When you’re ready, come find us and we’ll sort this whole thing out”. Alfred gave his brother another hug before leaving the back room with Richard trailing behind him.

Amadeus, who somewhat wished his brothers hadn’t left, pounded his fist onto the box that Alfred was sitting on hard enough to make his hand sting with pain. He cursed his indecisiveness, he cursed the Wolf’s Blood next to him, he cursed the noble who hired, and he curst himself most of all. Desperately, he wished he could go back in time to yesterday morning when he decided to sail his ship to The Grand Capital. He wished he could tell himself to just stay in bed because the only thing that the coming future would bring him is pain and misery forcing himself to question whether this dream of his is even worth achieving and if he even deserves to achieve it in the first place. But he can’t. He is stuck in this present that didn’t at all feel like any kind of gift that he would get on his birthday. If he didn’t make a decision soon on what he thought should happen, then one would probably be made for him. Although he knew what the decision of his brothers was. And he was sure they’d go against him if he decided to just deliver the Wolf’s Blood and take the money. Amadeus couldn’t help but wallow in his own self-pity. He was the world’s most famous pirate and yet he hadn’t sailed in over five years and somehow managed to lose all his money to his constant need to silence his own thoughts. He managed to pull himself out of this rut for one final job that would set him and his family up for life and it ultimately led to a situation worse than anything he could have ever imagined. When his brother had mentioned what the Queen said, secretly, his blood ran cold. If his family knew the true reason he turned to alcohol…. Amadeus didn’t want to entertain the thought of what might happen.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Eventually, Amadeus got up and made his way toward the top deck to talk with his brothers. Before, Amadeus even decided, he knew the decision was made for him, as the last thing he’d want to do is have his brothers turn against him. When he reached the top deck he found Alfred and Richard sitting beside the ladder leading down to the pier having a conversation. When they saw Amadeus, they beckoned him over.

“Have you made your decision?” Alfred asked.

Amadeus nodded and explained that he chose to side with them.

“That’s good, but we’ve run into another problem” said Richard. He gestured his head over to the crew sitting around near the boxes. “How’re we gonna break it to them that they’re suddenly not gonna get paid for their work. They’d sooner kill us and deliver it themselves”.

Both Amadeus and Richard agreed with him on their current situation.

“We need to find a way to get paid and not deliver the Wolf’s Blood” Alfred explained.

“But where would we put the Wolf’s Blood?” Richard asked.

“Dump it into the ocean?”

“I don’t know about you. But I don’t want to see what happens when a fisherman catches a fish that’s drank a bunch of Wolf’s Blood” said Amadeus. “Or someone who eats a fish soaked in the stuff”.

“Well then we’re stuck in a storm without a boat then. Is there nothing that we can do?” asked Alfred.

“Nothing that I can think of” Amadeus answered.

“There was a minute of silence before Richard said, “Well there may be one way we can get rid of it” said Richard.

“Really? What is it?”

“Well, I’ve sailed to this port many times and on one trip here one of the noble ships was raided by people I black clothing and masks. I asked some of the other crew members about it and they explained that they were from a resistance formed in the Commoner District that go by the name of the Circle Down Under. None have seen where they come from, not even the commoners. They keep to themselves but they serve the common people. The only ships that have been attacked were noble ships. They’re the most wanted group in The Grand Capital”.

“How does any of that help us?” asked Alfred.

“Well, there was a passenger on one of my trips who had gotten drunk and accidentally let slip some information about the Circle Down Under. Luckily for him and the rebellion no one took him seriously. But I took note of it. According to him they contact each other through a special symbol”. Richard then took out his dagger and carved the symbol onto the wooden railing. The symbol was a circle with what looked like roots extending downward from its bottom. The roots converged together to from a second circle underneath the first circle. “It’s very risky, and liable to get us all killed. But if we can get in contact with this group, then maybe they can help us get rid of all this Wolf’s Blood”.

“So, you want us to get in contact with a group of rebels, who might kill us for using their signal without their permission, only to give them the most dangerous drink known to man? It doesn’t seem like a good idea to me” said Alfred.

“Well, it might be the only option we’ve got. Plus, it’s better in their hands then in the hands of a possibly power hungry aristocrat” assured Amadeus.

“That may be true, but we don’t know the sides, the stakes, whether we’d be in the right or the wrong. We could very well be costing thousands their lives just to solve our own problems. Wolf’s Blood, it does horrible things to people. And I’d never wish that on anyone, noble or commoner”.

Amadeus placed his hand on Alfred’s shoulder and said with a serious face, “Alfred, I know where you’re coming from. Out of all people in this world, you know the most of what it can do. But we’ve got our own problems to settle. Right now, we’re in the jaws of the Queen and she could bite down any time she wants. If we don’t do what she wants soon, she WILL come after us and she WILL kill us. Not just us but mom too. And I doubt she’ll care if anyone else gets caught in the crossfire. In any other situation, I would agree with you. But right now, we don’t have time to worry about consequences.”

Alfred wanting to say something in response, but in his heart he knew Amadeus was right. He hated the fact that he was right. He hated the fact that they were about to leave everything in the hands of fate. But in the end, it was the better option. If they delivered the Wolf’s Blood, people would die. If they didn’t, he and his brothers would be hunted down by mercenaries and bounty hunters. They could no longer stay at home because of the immense danger that staying in once place placed on them. But with this new option, there was only the chance that people could die, but it was possible, nonetheless. He looked over to Richard and asked, “If we somehow show this sign, how long will it take for them to come to us?”

“I don’t know, but it’s possible, no, most likely, that they have eyes all over the parts of the city where commoners walk. Them seeing their symbol on a boat they don’t recognize would be sure to cause alarm and make them investigate pretty quick. We’d have to do it during the day before the eyes of a lot of people so that they’ll react immediately”.

“Okay, if and when they come to us, how can we trust them to pay us? They’re just a bunch of rebels. How could they have money equal to all the Wolf’s Blood?”

“They’ve become extremely notorious among the nobles of the Grand Capital for their repeated heists where they steal thousands upon thousands in gold with everyone”.

Alfred, who had been mulling over what Amadeus had told him just moments before, finally said,“Fine, I’ll go through with it since it seems like the best option. Hell, even if I didn’t, you two would do it anyway. And if I’m not there, who’s gonna protect you from a couple of knife wielding rebels huh?”.

The three brothers shared warm smiles before getting to work. While Richard and Amadeus got the supplies and made the sing, Alfred reassured the other crew members that everything was fine and that they just have to wait for the buyer to come get the boxes. He reassured them that they’d get paid, then went to his brothers to make a plan to ditch the crew members and lay low for a while if these rebels weren’t willing to pay any money for the Wolf’s Blood. Before the sign was shown, Amadeus had all the members of the crew move the rest of the boxes outside and then stay on board and inside so that they don’t grow suspicious. It was still morning when the sign was finally hung from the side of the ship, but it was late enough in the morning that people of all kinds began to come out and go to their jobs. The harbor soon became full of workers and other sailors. Some merely looked at the sing, while others stopped and stared. The brothers stood outside on lookout for anyone entirely dressed in black clothing.

Throughout their watch, Amadeus began to grow more and more anxious about their decision. “Have we truly made the right choice?” Amadeus thought to himself. This anxiety was not founded from a care from the nobles that would most likely be the victims of the Wolf’s Blood, no, he didn’t much care for nobles anyway. Sure, they were the ones who usually gave him work, but they always looked as if they were willing to backstab him the first chance they get if it would be more profitable for them. The worry that was within Amadeus was founded from the fact that they were going against their buyer, someone who potentially has a lot of power and influence, as well as money, and could have him and his family hunted down like wild animals. Alfred noticed the worry on his brother’s face and asked, “What’s wrong Amadeus?”. Amadeus explained his concerns and in turn Alfred agreed with him.

Richard jumped in by saying, “Well if they’re going to hunt us down, at least we’ll be together”. Richard gave them a warm smile and received a hearty laugh from Alfred.

“Yeah, I guess we will” said Alfred.

In Amadeus, a bit of hope and confidence arose within him. A little of his brothers’ confidence manage to leak into him and allowed him to feel good for the moment. In his moment of feeling good he said, “Eh, we’ve survived our whole lives in Signia. Pretty sure we can handle the buncha goons this moron of a noble sends after us”. Alfred let out another hearty laugh.

Soon after, when they became bored of the laborious waiting, Alfred and Richard convinced Amadeus to tell stories from his past adventures, despite the fact that they had heard all of them already. Amadeus regaled them with the story of how he managed to escape from the clutches of an evil witch by the skin of his teeth.

“So, I wake up to find myself tied to a wooden post by rope. I could hear the witch in the other room cooking up something dastardly for me”.

“How did you manage to escape?” Richard asked.

“I was only able to escape because of that witch. She left a few of her other potions on a shelf near me. Luckily, the post wasn’t forced into the ground properly and was loose I wiggled furiously until it was uprooted. I rammed myself into the bookshelf, hoping one of the potions would help me break free from by bind. One of them just so happened to be liquid fire and I was able to break free. When that witch came to investigate she got a face full of her own deadly concoctions. On the plus side, getting kidnapped from a witch netted me a lot of potions and medicines”.

“So that’s where you got all that strong medicine from?! You told me you bought that stuff from the market! I got boils everywhere cause of that stuff!” exclaimed Richard.

“Well, if I would’ve told you that I had gotten it from a witch, you would’ve refused to take it. You were sick, and I cured you. You didn’t die or turn into a toad. Personally, you should be thanking me”.

Richard and Amadeus continued to argue back and forth with Alfred laughing in between them.

“This isn’t funny Alfred! I had to wipe myself down in aloe vera every day for two weeks!”

“Yeah you did, and the smell was dreadful. We ended up calling you the ‘vera smelly boy’!” said Alfred while laughing.

Richard quickly began to grow more annoyed with his brothers, but it then began to dissipate when Amadeus brother bear hugged him and said, “I apologize for the medicine Richard. I had only the best of intentions when I gave it to you”.

Richard sighed and said, “I accept your apology”. “Besides, that medicine wasn’t nearly as bad as what I put under your pillow before you went to sleep last year” he said with a devious smile.

“Wait, what?”

…

Soon night fell upon them and they still had not seen any signs of the rebels. Alfred turned to Richard and said, “Are you sure that they exist Richard? It’s been all damned day and we haven’t seen any sign of em!”

“We did exactly what I overheard from that guy in the bar. Now all we have to do is wait. They’ll come; they have to”.

Suddenly, as if they had been called by Richard, five figures dressed entirely in black jumped onto the boat from the sides, their wet clothes glistening in the moonlight. Adorning their chests were silver crosses with a small indent in the center of it. Synchronously, they pressed into the indent of the cross, transforming it into a gold cross. Immediately, Amadeus and Richard pulled out their flintlock pistols and Alfred got into a fighting stance. The middle of the mysterious figures stepped forward and said in a gruff voice, “Lay down your arms, we mean no harm to you”.

“How do we know you aren’t trying to kill us?” questioned Amadeus.

“If I wanted to kill you I would’ve shown you my face as it’s the last thing you’ll ever see”.

There were a few seconds of silence before Amadeus begrudgingly put away his pistol, followed by Richard and Alfred putting away their weapons. The figure then when to sit down casually on the side of the boat. “You risked a lot to signal us. Usually, only ships that get supplies for our cause are marked with that call sign. Who are you and what the hell is the great pirate Amadeus doing in The Grand Capital with our symbol?”

“We’ve come here with a deal for you, for what’s in those boxes on the dock”.

“Really? You signaled us just to sell something?”

“Not intentionally. We didn’t know what we were delivering when we came here. A noble asked us to deliver something, and we did it. The high reward was too good to miss out on. The goods we were delivering was… Wolf’s Blood”.

The figure gave a hearty laugh and said, “That’s one I’ve heard too many times to count. Last time the guy had bottles of water with dark red dye mixed in. Look, if you’ve got nothing to sell us, then we’re done here”.

Amadeus’s face turned serious as he said, “Don’t believe me? Go check for yourself. I promise you won’t be disappointed”.

The figure begrudgingly decided to entertain Amadeus and they looked to two of the other figures in black and nodded. Immediately, the figures hurried to grab one of the boxes and bring it onto the boat. They forced open the box and pulled out one of the bottles, the moonlight illuminating it for everyone to see. Immediately the man stood up and grabbed the bottle from the figure. “This can’t be real. If you’re bullshitting me…”

Amadeus simply shook his head. The figure popped the bottle open and pulled his mask open a bit to smell it. In disbelief, he dropped the bottle and it shattered on the deck of the boat. They sat back down on the side of boat. Leaning forward, his hands gripping hard on his knees, said to Amadeus in an angry tone, “Where the fuck did you get this?”

“We don’t know. We didn’t even know we were transporting this stuff. We just took the boxes from Sensua and brought them here”.

There were a few minutes of silence between them before the figure said, “It’s extremely dangerous to transport this stuff. The fact that your cargo wasn’t checked soon after you arrived means that this buyer didn’t want it to be discovered and must’ve paid off all the workers and guards here. Did the buyer give you a name or anything at all?”

“No. He just told me that if I transported what he wanted I would make more money than any pirate had in their entire lifetime. However, he did tell me where in the Noble District to leave the stuff if that’s any help at all”.

“It is. If we can go to this place, we can maybe try and find out who ordered tis stuff and why”. There was another minute of silence before they said, “How much do you want for all this?’

“The same amount the noble promised”

“Well, ‘more money than any pirate had in their entire lifetime’ isn’t exactly a number. How about two hundred thousand gold?”

“We’re gonna need a lot more than that for what we’re giving you. This stuff isn’t hard to come by and, like you said, is extremely dangerous to transport. What’s more is that by giving you this stuff, I’m painting a target on my back to be shot at by someone hired for a lot of money”.

“Fine, seven hundred fifty thousand gold”.

“Deal”.

“Good. Good. We’ll have the gold transported and the boxes moved in the morning”. They motioned for them and their other companions to leave the ship. But before crossing onto the dock they turned back to Amadeus and said, “You’ve earned my thanks and my gratitude Amadeus. You just saved countless lives tonight and in the future by giving that Wolf’s Blood to us”. They then walked off the boat with their companions who were waiting for them.

The three brothers didn’t move a single inch until the group was gone, and when they did Amadeus let out a sigh of relief and said, “Thank god it’s finally over”. He turned to his brothers and said, “Now we can turn our attention back to the matter at hand”. Both brothers nodded with determined looks on their faces.

“I looked on the map, the only thing charted where the island can be found is a ring of ice, “explained Richard

Amadeus nodded and said, “Alright. Both of you get some sleep, and tell the other crew mates to get some sleep too. Anyone who isn’t coming with us to the island gets left here after they’re paid”. Subsequently, the brothers retired to their respective rooms, with Amadeus explaining the situation to the other crew members before going to bed and Amadeus grabbing some rum to drink.

…

Amadeus was woken up in the middle of the night by a splitting headache. He gritted his teeth in pain. Suddenly, after a bit, the pain stopped and was instead replaced by a voice he knew all too well.

“I’m going to guess that you didn’t like the pain I was sending into your head?” said the Queen.

“Obviously not! What do you want!” Amadeus shouted in his mind.

“You’re taking your sweet old time lollygagging about. Do you not remember what I told you to do? The threats I made against you?”

“Yes, I remember all too well. Unfortunately, I had other matters to attend to other than dealing with your gods forsaken disease!”

“Silence!”. At the same time that she said this, the pain instantly returned to his mind and he cried out in pain.

“All I’m hearing are excuses so it looks like you’re going to need some ‘motivation’”.

“Motivation?”

“You have two weeks to find that herb. After that I’ll enact on those threats I made to you”.

“Please… I’m sorry” Amadeus begged, out of breath. “We just had another job to do is all. We had to do it… for the money”.

Suddenly, the pain returned followed by the Queen saying, “You’d do well to not dig yourself deeper Amadeus. I am nearby, that’s why I’m able to communicate with you. I will not hesitate to resurface and kill you. I already gave you two weeks. Is that not enough?”

“I…yes. That’s enough. We’ll head there in the morning.”

“Good. Have a good night’s sleep Amadeus”. And just like that, the voice was gone. Amadeus laid there, still out of breath from the pain in his head and sweating profusely. He got up and grabbed some water from the barrels they had on board. Afterwards, he chased it with some rum and tried his best to go back to sleep.