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Ch 12 - Prosperity - Part 1

Chapter 12

PROSPERITY

PART 1

Feeling the ship lurch beneath their feet, Anvi grabbed a rope from the rigging and Jackle’s forearm, preventing both of them from tumbling backwards as the waves from the explosion slammed into the aquamarine hull of their ship.

To his right, Mara remained fixed to the floor, with a hand already extended to support Kali’s back as she stumbled towards her. A precognition ability? Exceptionally lucky? He still wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t the first time he’d seen her react before she should have- Usually it was subtle enough to miss, but his eyes were hard to trick.

“Aey- Cap’ain! We sailin’, gawkin’, or stoppin’?”

Mara glanced over to the barbarian-ranger she had as a first-mate, the only one in her crew with any sea legs about him before she brought them onboard.

“Best we should- Ash isn’t too great on the scalp…”

Glancing up towards the smoke clouds slowly expanding ever higher and ever outwards, Mara pointed up towards the crows nest and looked towards Kali.

“Grab something to cover yourself and keep watch for us- Oh, and prep like it’s a blizzard, it might not be snow, but when it starts it’ll be just as cold and it’ll buildup just the same.”

Getting an affirmative nod and salute from Kali, Mara turned towards Jackle as the elven ranger ran off behind her to gear up.

“Jackle, I want you at the front of the ship, same dress-code. Listen for Kali’s call-out, but wait for my signal to fire on anything. It’s move we move with stealth while the conditions favor it.”

Jackle’s agreement came in the way of a grunt and a shuffle towards the cabin after Kali, but that was typical for the desk-jockey. Anvi waited for Mara to turn back to him, ready to set course and sail, but instead she appeared to look out towards the horizon, away from the glowing smoke-plume.

“As it’s already sent, we’ll chop this up to a valuable learning experience for all involved, and see what they do with that information…”

Finally turning back to him, Anvi couldn’t help but swallow what little moisture remained in his mouth. He thought he’d gotten away with it when she didn’t mention the note on the bird. At this point, the whole thing felt like a mistake, one he’d take back in an instant seeing the look on Mara’s face- Completely deadpan, but with eyes brimming with a harrowing excitement.

Her gaze affixed upon his, Anvi could find no words to defuse the tension. Excuses would get him nowhere, she’d caught him red-handed ratting them out. Apologies seemed meaningless to such a betrayal of trust- But it was so much coin. He couldn’t resist.

“Wha… What you gunna’ do?”

“Set a course for Aubroastrem obviously. You however will be downstairs, cleaning out Fran’s cage. I’m sure she’s proper panicked right now, and she ate a lot of stew.”

Eyes wide, Anvi realized what she meant, but she hadn’t answered the question he was actually asking.

“Oh bloomin’ heck… I meant, you’re not gunna’ tell t’ others?”

“Nope. Learning lesson. I’m sure your old friends will pick up on us sooner or later, so if you wanna save yourself some embarrassment, keep the man-eating beast comfy- I’ll take the helm.”

Anvi didn’t know if he should apologize or not, Mara almost seemed eager at the turn of events, but for now he’d take ‘latrine duty’ over trying to fight her after the first time they met.

“Aye- You do me kind, when nary I deserve.”

Already setting off for the helm, Mara paused, then replied with her back still to him.

“Kindness? Perhaps. Hindsight is as valuable as it is costly.”

Leaving him to stand there, dumbfounded, Anvi watched as Mara headed up the stairs to the deck above their cabin before he could bring himself to turn towards the cargo hold.

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Thankfully, it seems she’d assumed the message was for her old ‘friends’, a hobble of pirate crews that anchored nearby he used to call home before she barged in one day and pommeled her way aboard his old ship just to kick him through his own door. Woman was a wild fire.

However, his intentions for sending the message were far from banditry. In fact, that bird would never even approach such a cave- No, it was an ‘Imperial Strout’, bread and trained by the best avian tamers in the Limeren Empire.

When he agreed to leave with the mad woman, he’d attributed it to a variety of factors, her persuasive attitude, the state of his crew in the face of such a powerhouse, and the fact that she’d already lit his ship on fire before she even boarded it. What wasn’t there to love about such a broad?

However, barbarian-turned-pirate he was not, he never was- That was just a posting in a long line of lives he’d lived for the Emperor. When she offered him to join her, he seized the opportunity. The threat level she so casually displayed in ‘holding back’ was enough to trump any potential trade collusions a band of pirate crews could impose.

Stepping down into the cargo hold, hand holding one of the ropes secured as a railing on the steep planks that served as stairs, Anvi found the room a mess as his eyes adjusted to the dark- More than Kali had taken a bit of a tumble, he’d have to put most of the cargo hold back together just to clear a path.

So far, he’d held back on contacting his superiors about his change in posting, but someone would eventually come looking for him, and they’d be able to put the pieces together. He was alive, and tailing a high priority target.

However, when she brought back a chest of gold large enough to threaten several Limeren war chests, he had to say something- So that night he’d brewed a particular blend of spices into a rather rancid tasting tea, and poured it out near the ship to entice a passing strout.

It took a little longer than expected, but he’d assumed there would at least be one in the area, someone had to have replaced his old posting by now and would require its services- He was pretty sure they wouldn’t mind, but the one he’d flagged down did not like him for some reason. A factor he greatly attributed to his current fate, shunting boxes and righting barrels as he cleared his way towards the light squawks of his new-found feathered friend.

At some point, it must have heard his shuffling as he tidied his way through the cargo hold, and had started calling out on occasion, startled at one point, but now just seemed confused at its circumstances.

Unlike people, animals did not plan and plot, they were direct and upfront. Trustworthy unless panicked, and usually eager to forget that which pains their mind.

Perhaps then, it was the way he viewed them, but he’d always had a penchant for charming animals, and Fran had been no different. Somehow they always knew he was willing to spare his time and resources for one in pain, seeing right through the front he put up for everyone else.

In another life, perhaps he would have been a farmer, or a stable hand. A life without all the shadow… But that wasn’t the fate he’d been struck. A bastard child of duke, he was too important to shun and too shameful to claim- So he’d been given to the people of the empire who specialized in staying alive and out of sight.

His whole childhood was one long boot-camp, crammed to the point of blur, and rather than celebrating coming of age, he was being taught how to compromise, exploit, and manipulate- All in the name of the empire’s pursuit of enduring peace and prosperity.

Every nation had its faults of course, the empire was no different, but its goals were noble and its results, compelling. Thus far they’d ensured stable trade between three nations that now serve as an economic hub for their neighbors, and there hadn’t been a successful assassination attempt since the Pellar rebellion, which gave cause to found the Feathers in the first place.

Finally righting the last crate that blocked his view of the pynma, Anvi saw the issue immediately, and had to hold back his laughter as he saw the state of the poor animal.

The crate she’d been stored in had been toppled over to the side, and somehow Fran’s legs had ended up poking through the bars, getting stuck, and then suspending the startled creature upside down, where it now hung, staring at him with a confused obliviousness at its circumstances before squawking once out of curiosity.

Sighing and shaking his head, Anvi put a shoulder against the side of the crate and put his whole weight behind restoring it to its upright position, grunting as he strained against the weight of a hanging pynma until he felt it shift off him and clatter back, level with the floor- To which he received a happy squawk from inside the crate, and moved around to the other side to help maneuver Fran’s legs back through the bars.

Once he’d managed to keep her from kicking him long enough to do so, Anvi stood up and found himself face-to-face with the thankful tongue of Fran’s licks, and surprisingly, a cage devoid of stinky startled ‘aftermath’ from the explosion on the beach.

Patting the pynma on its furry head, Anvi tried to calm the beast before plopping down in front of the crate, head still drowning in the mess he’d made for himself.

A large part of him had really grown to enjoy the faux sense of freedom he’d been enjoying in Mara’s company, her methods sometimes extreme, but never detrimental on the larger scale, and usually her adventures took them far from spectators and casualties.

Kali was reliable and trustworthy, and a surprisingly good teacher, if not a good friend outright. She’d been with Mara before him, and he found no reason to protest the company, though Jackle was a bit of a different story. A novice was risk in dangerous situations, but, surprisingly, he seemed more adept at holding his own than he looked- A testament to the many years he spent as a monk.

Now though, he’d betrayed their trust. It didn’t feel like it when he’d planned to, but as soon as the strout started giving him trouble, he could feel the pangs of guilt set upon him, and they’d not ceased their torment since- Mara’s confrontation was just tinder to the blaze boiling within.