Amanda could hear shouting coming from down the hall but she couldn’t make out any of the words. She was also now keenly aware that she hadn’t been to the bathroom since she’d left that morning, quite a few hours ago. She wondered if this didn’t count as a desperate enough situation to be worth breaking out of her restraints. She’d tried shouting but to no avail. Maybe she could even tie herself back in again after. She was roughly aware of what knot they’d tied and that it had been tied well. If she broke out she wouldn’t be able to tie that one as well as they had. Would they notice if it were a little looser when they came back? Or a different knot entirely? Maybe she could claim that she managed to squeeze her hands loose naturally. But as she made another attempt to twist her wrist she knew no competent sailor was going to believe that. One thing was for sure, if she didn’t break loose soon she was going to wet her pants. She glanced around the room. It was empty apart form the four circular wooden beams spaced around the centre of the room, one of which she was currently tied to. Where would she even go? In a corner? Sure! Why not?

She was just about to burn through the rope when the commotion down the hall died down. Amanda paused. Maybe she should wait, just a little longer.

When nobody came she resumed warming the rope with her mind. She had to be careful, just enough to cut through, not so much that the whole rope went up in flame.

She’d just managed it when she noticed a face appear at the doorway. It belonged to a younger boy, maybe sixteen or seventeen with dark eyes and dark hair. He was watching her. She knew he hadn’t been there long but she was glad she hadn’t yet moved her hands in front of her. Right now he probably assumed she was still tied up and he was still far away not to smell the singed rope. What was he doing there though?

“Hello,” she ventured, wishing for him to leave.

He took a step forward into the room. “Hello,” he replied. “Who are you?” Evidently the captain hadn’t yet told the whole crew about her. It made sense, there really hadn’t been that much time.

“Amanda,” she replied.

“You’re a girl,” he said taking another wary step forward as if she were a wild animal that might attack him.

“Yeah,” Amanda replied.

“What are you doing on this ship?”

Before Amanda could answer a glob of silvery liquid fell from the ceiling and landed right between the two of them. The boy jumped backward then leaned forward to stare more closely at the liquid.

Amanda skipped that step and looked up instead. Right, of course, she thought, if they were shipping pegasi why not arasnids too. Amanda took a very slow step away from where the creature on the ceiling was perched. They weren’t usually aggressive but they could be very defensive. And while they didn’t bite they did drool acid that could eat through bone. For those unfamiliar with arasnids they are best described as spider like but with webbed flesh between their ten legs, like a duck foot only slimier, and overall a little bigger than a duckling. Their heads contain many eyes in random locations spaced around a head that can swivel up to 380 degrees in either direction. Their main bulbous bodies are coated in what looks like fur but is actually very small blueish tinged spines.

Eventually the boy looked up as well, just as Amanda turned her attention down. So she was on a ship with creatures that drool acid that can eat through bone, great! She watched as the wood on the floor slowly got thinner and she wondered just how many floors there were between this one and the sea. It was slow eating acid but it would get there eventually, especially if that wasn’t the only one. And as far as she knew these creatures were rarely found alone.

The boy seemed frozen. The arasnid crawled along the ceiling a little closer to him.

“Back away,” Amanda hissed at him.

But he just stared upward. He appeared to be trembling.

The arasnid was right above him. A glob of saliva started to drool out of the arasnid’s mouth.

Amanda dashed forward and tackled him out of the way. They both crashed to the ground. Amanda winced as her bladder complained. The boy let out a high pitched scream.

The arasnid dropped from the ceiling. It probably didn’t like being in an unfamiliar place. Another thing Amanda remembered about them was that they were attracted to the heat, and right now the hottest thing in this room was their body heat.

Amanda scrambled to her feet and grabbed the boy under the arms. She dragged him to the door as the arasnid scuttled a little closer. It didn’t run at them directly yet though. It seemed mostly confused, moving in their direction haphazardly with occasional scuttles to either side. The boy suddenly found the ability to move again as he tried to push himself upright while also being half dragged away from the thing.

They reached the door and Amanda ran into something solid. She looked up to find the ship’s captain standing in the doorway.

“What in the Devil is that?” he asked staring at the creature.

“Arasnid,” Amanda replied. “They drool acid, it’s eating through the ship, you’ll want stop that.”

“Argh fuck!” he mumbled as if someone had done no more than burn his toast. The captain walked into the room, right up to the arasnid and brought his boot down solidly on creature. It exploded with a loud pop, sending goop flying everywhere. Amanda was glad that she was far enough away at this point.

The captain stared down at where the acid was eating through the ship, swore again and stormed from the room yelling the names of some crewman. Amanda could already hear footsteps coming running.

“Take her to the mess room,” he told the boy as he pointed to Amanda before walking off to meet the crewman and explain the situation.

“There will be more somewhere,” Amanda called after him. “They’re really hard to transport on their own like that.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Come on,” the boy said. “I really don’t want to be here if there’s more of those.”

“They’ll eat through the ship,” Amanda told him.

“Sirius will deal with it.” The boy nodded confidently.

Amanda let him pull her after him. He let go of her arm once he was sure she was following but glanced back every now and again.

They’d gone only a little way when Amanda asked, “There’s not a bathroom on this ship is there?”

He stopped and looked back surprised. He then blushed. “Uh sure.” He paused for a moment and then said, “This way.”

Amanda followed him down some stairs. Eventually he stopped at a door that looked just like all the other doors. “In this one.” He gestured.

The bathroom consisted of a hole that Amanda was sure just went out to sea. There was a sink, no taps but there was a bucket of water and a bar of soap. And a port hole with a lovely view of the ocean. It was nicer than Amanda had been expecting, didn’t smell at all either.

A moment later she was back in the corridor and feeling much better, other than the niggling worry about the ship melting arasnids. At least the crew knew about it now though. The boy nodded at her and then continued walking. Amanda followed.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Bruce,” he replied.

“You been on this ship long?”

“A few years now,” he replied.

“How old are you?”

“Older than I look, 17 next month. How old are you? You can’t be much older than me.”

“I’m 18,” Amanda replied.

“Same age as the captain.” Bruce replied.

“Same age as the captain,? You mean Sirius, the one we saw just back there?” Amanda was surprised, she hadn’t expected him to be her age. He’d looked much older, surely he was at least 30, or late 20s.

Bruce gave her a funny look “You know many ships with two captains?”

Amanda shook her head. “I just didn’t think he was that young.”

Bruce laughed. “He’s been running this ship for almost year and a half now, or maybe it’s been longer. Anyway, here’s the mess hall.”

Bruce led her into a long room with what looked like a drinks cabinet solidly fixed to the wall at one end. A low wooden table with long wooden benches stretched almost the entire length of the room. It looked like it could fit almost 50 people.

“I’m not sure if he wanted me to stay with you or not.”

Amanda laughed and held out her hands. “Where am I going to go?”

But Bruce gave her a serious look. One that seemed almost ridiculous in contrast with his squeaky voice and small stature. “I better wait I think,” he said. “Do you want a drink?”

Amanda smiled. Bruce poured them something that smelt like whiskey. It was cheap and probably made here on the ship but Amanda didn’t care. It burned just as good as the stuff they had at home and after the day she’d had so far that was all she needed. Plus she hadn’t eaten much so she was happy for any kind of sustenance, even if it was probably going to go straight to her head.

“Do you think we should go see how they’re managing with the arasnids?” Amanda asked once they’d finished their first drink.

Bruce thought about it for no more than a second. “Nah, I’m sure they’re fine.” He poured her another drink. “Do you play cards?”

Amanda gave a nod and another smile.

“I don’t really like things with more than two legs,” Bruce said as he opened a drawer beneath a buffet table situated near the drink cabinet and pulled out a pack of cards.

“What about dogs?” Amanda asked.

“Nope, don’t like dogs, they bite,” Bruce replied.

“Cats?”

“Nope, Cats are unlucky.”

A third voice answered. “Only if they’re black and it’s a full moon, or wait was that the other way around, fuck I can’t remember.” The dark-eyed telekinetic leaned against the doorway watching them.

“How’d you get out of your restraints?” he asked.

“Acid,” Amanda half lied.

“Hmm?”

“There were these giant spider like things, big as a dog,” Bruce said holding his hands out to show the size.”

“More like a duck or duckling.” Amanda corrected with a smile, eyeing the telekinetic carefully.

He seemed to be doing the same in return between glances at Bruce. “Yeah I saw.” He moved forward and took a seat on the bench next to Bruce. “What are we playing?”

“Poker?” Amanda suggested. “Er are the arasnids...”

“It’s under control,” Shiv replied nonchalantly.

“We’ll need chips,” Bruce said as he scrambled over to the drink cabinet again. “That’s Shiv by the way.”

“Shiv?” Amanda repeated eyeing the telekinetic even more carefully. She wasn’t sure she liked his name.

Shiv gave her a sly grin.

Bruce continued talking. “You know, fish I like, fish have no legs see. Anything with no legs is fine.”

“Even sandworms?” Amanda asked as he dumped a pile of chips on the table.

“Sand what?”

Shiv chuckled. “Bruce here ain’t spent much time on the land, he was born at sea you see.” Shiv chuckled some more.

“They’re like snakes but bigger.”

“Oh I don’t mind snakes, how much bigger?”

Shiv put his face in his hands.

“What’s so funny?” Bruce demanded.

“You are,” Shiv replied between laughs.

“You don’t mind snakes?” Amanda asked.

“No, I don’t mind snakes, they got no legs.”

He seemed so serious that when Amanda caught Shiv’s eye she couldn’t help but start laughing too.

“Aw come on,” Bruce complained.

“Oi Brucey!” another voice called from the doorway. The almost twins from earlier both entered the cabin. It was the one with the earring that spoke. “Ain’t you supposed to be down in the kitchen helping prepare our grub by now?”

“Yeah,” Bruce replied with a sigh.

“Yeah,” agreed the man with an erring

“Yeah alright.” Bruce got up. “I’ll see ya later,” he pointed at Amanda with both fingers

“What are we playing?” Earring asked.

“Should she be out of the brig?” Scarface asked.

Shiv nodded. “Captain’s dealing with a creature problem, said he didn’t need my special skill set right this minute.” Shiv pulled out a knife, splayed his palm on the table and played a quick game of five-finger-fillet, then spun his knife around and put it back in his pocket. He gave Amanda what she supposed was intended to be an intimidating grin.

Amanda just turned to scarface and replied, “She has a name you know.”

She met his eyes and didn’t let them go even as he sat down opposite her and fixed her with a equally strong stare. Eventually his face broke out into a smile and he started chuckling. “I like her,” he said to his maybe-brother. He leaned back and crossed his arms. “Alright, Amanda was it then? Can you play cards?”

“Tell me your name first?” she replied.

He nodded. “I’m Alice.” The way he said it invited no laughter and Amanda expected that if she had she’d have lost any respect she’d gained so far.

“Thatch,” said the brother with the erring as he sat down beside her.

Across from him Shiv shuffled cards in such a way that told Amanda he’d played more than a few games.

“Are you brothers?” she asked Thatch and Alice.

Alice nodded.

They played several rounds. Amanda watched as Shiv quickly went from relaxed and cocky to watching her with narrowed eyes. She kept winning hands and so he thought she was cheating but she’d rolled her sleeves up just to avoid that type of accusation. He wouldn’t risk accusing her if he couldn’t show how. Besides they’d already searched her. She wasn’t cheating though. She was just that practiced and Shiv played too loosely. He bluffed when he should have folded. It scared the others off but not her. She played the good hands and she folded on the bad, and she knew when it was safe to bluff. Thatch was at the other end of the spectrum to Shiv. While Shiv danced with risk Thatch was much more cautious. When he won it was because he had a very good hand but he never won much nor very often. And Alice, well Alice was just an all around bad player. He was all over the place.

Eventually some more of the crew showed up. Shiv got some extra chips and dealt them all in. Some of them were better, some were worse and soon enough Amanda had forgotten where it was that she was playing. That she was miles from shore with no obvious way home. The few glasses of whiskey and several rounds of cards pushed all of that to the back of her mind as she joked and laughed and stole their money in broad daylight. No one asked what she had to offer and it didn’t matter because right now as far as she was concerned she was winning.