Cid looked at Jeanne snarl menacingly at the ship. “It just had to be them,” she said through clenched teeth.

Cid turned back to find four men dressed in privateer attire and standing by a ship with the name The Bellamy Blade shining in gold lettering. “Remember what I said, Jeanne,” he told her before turning back to the others. All of them with their hand on their weapons.

“I want to thrash each and every one of them!” she hissed.

“Understandable, but we can’t go with that route this time.”

“Are we certain of that?”

“Sadly.”

“Damn it all.”

“How do you want to do this, Cid?” Kveldulf asked him.

“You, Sly and Hy hang back and make sure no one is getting the drop on us. The rest stay near me and don’t hit anyone unless I give the signal.”

“And?” Leonidas said to Cid.

“And we will make sure they won’t abscond with you.”

“You really are worried about that,” Maeryn said to Leonidas.

“Pirates have a habit of collecting doctors like a child collects toys.”

“He’s not wrong,” Benkin replied.

“They try anything, I doubt Jeanne would let them get away with it.”

Jeanne was silently, only cracking her neck as she stared at the vessel.

“And with that, I think it’s time we paid our privateering friends a visit.”

Cid signaled the others to follow him towards the ship. The four men chatting by the ship spotted The Wolves approaching and three of them immediately leapt into the water around the wharf. The last man standing looks around him and with his open hands clenched said, “Thanks for the support!”

The privateer turned back to The Wolves. “What do you people want this time? Break down the mast and maybe set the poop deck on fire?”

“That raises more questions than I was expecting,” Silvius said, scratching his head.

“Well, it’s not like your last visit was anything cordial,” the privateer replied.

“That’s a fair statement,” Cid said.

“But seriously, why are you people here?”

“We wanted to speak with your captain,” Cid replied.

“You’re not going to kill him, are you?” the privateer asked. “He’s a decent fellow and actually makes sure we have adequate citrus rations and rum.”

Jeanne’s head perked up. “Rum?”

Cid turned to her with a stern look. “Not now. And no we’re not here to kill anyone. We just have questions regarding a group of bounty hunters you transported a while back.”

The privateer pulled his head back and moaned. “I knew those bastards were trouble.” He then waved The Wolves to follow him up the gangway. “Come on, I’ll take you to see the cap.”

Moving up to the deck of the ship several members of the crew spotted The Wolves and quickly leapt behind crates, others ran down to the lower decks, and a few even leapt off the ship and into the waters below. “Will you stop embarrassing us!” the privateer shouted, “I swear on some days I think I should’ve become a stone cutter.”

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Reaching the door to the captain’s quarters, Cid saw Jeanne and Benkin trading smiles as they looked at the signs of their works the last time they were on this vessel. Cid ran his hand over his face, looking to the heavens, wanting some force of divine nature to save him from this madness. The privateer knocked on the door, “Captain Denis, you have some guests.”

“I’ll be right out,” came a voice from the other side.

As the door opened, The Wolves saw a draconic man step out. He was dressed with a steel cuirass wrapped around his torso, though the straps holding the two pieces together were fastened with buttons and not belts. He had shoulder pieces with the eagle insignia of his rank as captain adorning both sides. His hand rested on his sword as he approached them.

“Welcome to the Belamy Blade. This is the …” the captain stopped in his speech and turned to the crewman next to The Wolves. “Where is my crew?”

“Hiding Captain Dennis.”

“Oh, for the love of … why?”

“Remember that incident we had back in Vicatul?”

“The one with the sugar crazed tiger.”

“No, sir.”

“The one with the jester with the explosive pies?”

“No, sir.”

“The one with … wait, the one when my chambers were broken into by a rock lady.”

“That’s the one, sir.”

“So they were the lot who snuck onto our vessel, assaulted my sailors and absconded with client papers and a jewel piece?”

“More or less, yes,” said Cid.

“Well, color me impressed,” said Denis.

“Wait, what?” Kveldulf asked.

“I mean, it’s not everyday you come across a group that can infiltrate a pirate—”

“Privateer, sir” the sailor interjected.

“Oh, there’s not that much of difference,” Denis followed. “Either way that fact you did it and it got off the boat was impressive. Expensive, but impressive nonetheless. Plus not killing any of my crew is most appreciative. What with the forms, the negative reputation and all.”

“We’re happy to have provided the … whatever it was that we provided,” Cid said to the captain.

“But I doubt you’d come back here to reminisce on fond memories,” Denis said to them.

“No,” Jeanne said bluntly, “no we did not.”

“So, what I can do for you?” Denis said, looking at Jeanne concerned.

Cid held out a slip of paper with Jeanne’s bounty attached. “We found some individuals wanting to collect on this reward.”

“Oh,” Denis groaned. “I knew those bastards were going to be trouble. They just had that look in their eye.”

“And a smell in their feet, sir” the privateer followed.

Denis looked at the privateer. “Why don’t you go back to your post.”

The privateer saluted the captain and made his way back, giving The Wolves plenty of space. “And he made it through the sailing academy your guild has?” Benkin asked.

“Sometimes you find a real savant with the guild, and then you find some real colorful characters,” Denis replied. “But back to the previous topic, we ferried those bounty hunters into port here a while back. I’m assuming you ran into them?”

“Running would be an understatement,” Jeanne replied.

“I’m going to assuming things didn’t go well for them.”

“They’d need more than a few mommy kisses for what they got by the end of our introductions,” said Leonidas.

“Oh, that’s not good,” said Denis. “A few of them still owed me money from our last game of cards.”

“I would be expecting that debt paid anytime soon,” said Silvius.

“No kidding. Well, I can’t tell you much about them, other than they came from the port of Battle over in Prydainlands.”

“They didn’t say anything of note,” said Kveldulf.

“Not really,” said Denis, “Mostly kept to themselves, hardly said anything about what their business was here in Koulberg, aside telling them if we saw your friend there at all.”

“And did you?” Jeanne asked.

“We said we ran into you three months back at Vicatul, but obviously that wasn’t going to be much use for them.”

Jeanne chagrined from the corner of her mouth. Cid lifted both eyebrows and said, “Well I guess that takes care of that business. Thank you for your time.”

“Not at all,” Denis replied. “Thank you for stopping by and another for not damaging our vessel.”

The Wolves walked down from the gangway and back onto the pier. “So what’s the plan now, Cid?” Kveldulf asked.

“Probably charter a vessel to the Prydainlands and see what exactly can be done regarding the Follen Gang.”

“And getting the sarcophagus back,” Gabriel followed.

“Right,” said Cid. “That was well.”

“Well hold on a moment,” Denis called out, quickly moving down the gangway. “If you’re looking for a vessel, we can provide the service.”

“But we kill your last customers,” Maeryn said, confused.

“They paid their fees, and by the guild’s bylaws you are allowed one free round trip.”

“Come again,” Cid asked.

“Should a vessel within the guild become a party to any feud, knowingly or not, we are obligated to offer one free trip to the offended party to prevent any ill will from escalating.”

“So,” Jeanne said with interest, “That means we’d get a trip to the Prydainlands … for free?”

“That would be the size of it, yes,” Denis replied.

A bright smile grew on Jeanne’s face and Kveldulf and Cid both moaned and rubbed their foreheads with their hands.

“Oh no,” Cid said.