It took two days for Daana’s party to smuggle across the border into Hallowbac territory, avoiding swaths of realm and resistance fighters alike. Another three days were spent canvassing a small wharf town before Ellisar secured passage on what she insisted was a reputable sailing vessel. The fact that the captain was willing to take a bribe probably should have been Daana’s first tip off that her and Ellisar’s definition of ‘reputable’ was not the same. Daana’s second tip off came the moment she set eyes on the ship in question.

The Ducky Luck was on the smaller side, with patched sails, paint chipped sides, and appeared to be held together by a combination of pitch, barnacles, and sheer tenacity. A narrow plank stretched across the lapping waters, serving as the bridge between the rickety pier and the equally rickety looking boat. The gangplank wobbled in the middle, a good twenty foot drop over the churning sea. Daana tested its sturdiness with her foot. The fact that it didn’t immediately snap in half was not a good enough reason to edge further out onto it.

Snag stood bent beside her, the ends of his black and gold coattails flapping haphazardly in the wind. Due to his measurements, the suit had been purchased not stolen. Fortunately for them, Hallowbac bordered the neighboring swamp territories and had a thriving goblin population. Finding a tailor had not been difficult. Convincing Snag to fork over two gold pieces for clothing he deemed ‘prissy’, however, was an entirely different story.

He looked the part though, Daana had to give him that. Unlike other realm territories, here goblins made up a large percentage of the head merchants. You could pick out the more important ones from the crowd based on attire alone–that and the line of comically muscular bodyguards trailing in their wake. Snag had known exactly the image he wanted to project and selected a black doublet with red embroidered details, a pair of ankle banded trousers, and a sharp overcoat. His clothes advertised that he was a mid-level merchant, well off enough to afford a bodyguard, but not so much that it would be worth the hassle to jump him in the streets.

With the territory in open rebellion, the noble and merchant class were fleeing the area to ride out the oncoming storm in calmer waters. Daana’s small group would be indiscernible from all the others rushing to buy passage further up the coast.

Although Snag did not enjoy the change in attire, he certainly wielded his newfound sense of status with gleeful vigor. “Secretary.” He tapped the butt of his cane against the pier as a means to command Daana’s attention. “Are you going to cross or not? I grow weary of your indecision.”

Daana’s nervous gaze shifted from him to the rickety gangplank and then all the way down to the frothing waters below. Her stomach clenched in protest. Sweat dripped down her brow as Daana shuffled to the side, gesturing for Snag to take the lead. “My apologies, sir. After you.”

Or, better yet, they could ditch the boat altogether and travel on land as Daana had been vehemently insisting from the start. Who cares if the sea was faster? It was also a lot deadlier. Considering the travel arrangements were Ellisar’s doing, this was probably just another ploy to get Daana to give up.

It was a shame that it was working.

Snag appeared to be having similar reservations. He peered cautiously over the side of the pier into the heaving waters below. His ear flattened against the back of his head as he shuffled several steps away from the edge. “Maybe we should send someone bigger. Make sure the gangplank’s got structural integrity and whatnot.”

“We could send Wormy,” Daana agreed.

He raised his cane at her. “Mind your tongue, you worthless girl!”

Whereas the other horses had been sold off to net a little extra coin before their voyage, Snag had insisted on keeping Wormy. It had taken a small fortune and Ashwyn’s sweet-but-scary negotiation skills to get the captain to agree.

“Today, ya lubbers!” A harsh voice rang out from further down the pier.

Daana glanced over her shoulder at the odd pair awaiting their turn to board. Somewhere in the past two days Ellisar’s speech mannerisms had slowly reverted back to the seafaring type. And yet, this was not the strangest of her transformations. The posh, neatly dressed elf with finely combed hair and a touch of makeup looked every inch like Snag’s wealthy business partner, and not a wanted criminal with the dwindling patience of a cranky toddler. The most alarming part was that, visually speaking, Ellisar was pulling it off. The moment she opened her mouth was, alas, the same moment the cover stopped working.

Ashwyn’s hair had been cut and greased to resemble a man’s. Her freshly procured uniform of worn leather and wool all but screamed ‘working muscle’. The addition of a few convincing blood stains probably helped sell the package, too. Unlike Ellisar, Ashwyn had a better handle on her role and kept having to kindly remind her wife to stop trying to carry the bags.

Wrangling the pack from her wife’s stubborn hands, Ashwyn turned in their direction and broke into an easy smile. “What’s the hold up, boss? Not afraid of heights are you?”

Snag twiddled his lip ring nervously. “Shipwreck, actually. Seen a few too many of those to board one of these with confidence.”

“And you, miss?”

Daana gazed down at the choppy waters wide-eyed. “All of it. Heights, dark water, shipwreck, this little measly board that no person in their right mind would ever consider crossing.”

“Oh sweet Peaches, it’s gangplank, not a tightrope. There’s nothing to it.” To demonstrate, Ashwyn strolled out onto the makeshift bridge with practiced ease. She stopped near the middle, seemingly unperturbed with how the wood sagged beneath her weight. “See? Perfectly safe.”

Snag covered his eyes with a moan, unable to watch. “Please stop bouncing.”

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“What’s the matter, Daana? Having second thoughts already? There’s still time to back out, you know.” Without Ashwyn to interfere, Ellisar had slunk up from behind. She kept her voice low and free of the fire that burned in her eyes. “A lot can go wrong at sea. Swept overboard, a nasty fall from the rigging, sick to your stomach so bad you vomit your own organs.”

“That last one’s anatomically impossible,” Snag said with his eyes still covered.

“You’re right. I made it up to sound scary.” Ellisar took Wormy by the lead and moved out across the gangplank without any apparent concern for dark, frothy waters below. “Spewing blood and stomach acid ‘til you choke to death didn’t sound nearly as ominous.”

Ashwyn intercepted Ellisar at the top of the wobbly gangplank. A look of exasperation danced across the orc’s firmly set eyebrows as she extended her broad hand in the elf’s direction. “My lady, please allow me to take that horse from your delicate hands. Such work is unbefitting a person of your status.”

“Shove off, ya peasant!”

What followed could only be described as a sort of childish standoff. Ashwyn remained at the top of the gangplank, blocking the path as she waited for her wife to surrender the lead to the horse. Ellisar simply stopped midway across, content to run her wife’s patience into the ground instead.

“What does it mean when Ashwyn does that thing with her hand?” Daana whispered as she leaned closer to Snag, unable to tear her gaze from the signal the orc was holding aloft. “The number of fingers changes, but there doesn’t seem to be any pattern to it.”

“Awarding demerits,” Snag replied, sounding slightly amused.

Daana considered this before realizing she had more questions. All of the questions, in fact. “I know what demerits are, but I don’t understand how they apply in this context.”

Unable to contain his laughter, Snag snorted into his sleeve. “It’s probably better if you don’t.”

“That’s not fair. An explanation like that only makes it more intriguing.”

“I suppose you’ll just have to ask Ellisar then.”

The elf in question realized they were talking about her. She whipped her golden head around, scowling. “You’ve realized this is a lost cause by now, right? If you can’t even get on the bloody boat without issue, there’s no way you’ll survive two weeks at sea. Do us all a favor and call it quits.”

“She might be able to board easier if someone wasn’t blocking the damn bridge.” Ashwyn lurched forward and seized the braided rope from Ellisar’s hands, leading Wormy all the way up the gangplank and onto the ship.

With Wormy plodding up the gangplank behind her, Ellisar had no choice but to move with him. Ellisar threw her hands out from her sides as she was forcibly ushered up onto the ship. “What is with you and your insatiable need to pick lost causes? I already offered to get you a damn puppy instead. It’d be so much less trouble at this point.”

Something about Ellisar wanting her to fail lit a fire in Daana’s belly. Giving up now was exactly what she wanted. Daana would be damned if she proved the stupid elf right. Resolute, she grabbed Snag by the wrist and started out across the gangplank. With her gaze focused on the ship and not the churning sea below, she managed one careful step in front of the other.

Snag’s resistance was pathetic at best. He slunk along behind her, muttering, “Daana, I like you, but if you start to pull me overboard, I’m severing your hand.”

As she was committed to staying in character and, therefore, could not call Snag the childish name that curled on her tongue, Daana demonstrated her irritation by tightening her grip on his wrist instead. “Hush now, sir. We’re almost there.”

“We’re barely three steps across the rickety plank!”

“Almost there,” Daana repeated. “We’ll be on the boat before you know it.”

“Boat? I don’t see no boat! This here’s a leaky bathtub, at best. Barely fit to stay afloat above watery depths teeming with sea beasties all hungry for fresh gobby meat.”

In a small, practically nonexistent way, it was a relief not being the one in the middle of a full blown panic for once. Focusing on keeping Snag calm was making it easier to ignore the pooling sense of dread currently turning Daana’s legs to leaden weights. She kept her line of sight on the nearing ship, ignoring the way the lapping tide caused the board to undulate beneath her.

“I hate everything about this,” Snag wailed. “Look, I know Ellisar can be an asshole, but she has a point. We don’t actually have to do this. We can still turn back and find another way.”

Daana tuned out the rest of Snag’s bellyaching. Not due to annoyance, but because he was talking sense. By some miracle the rickety gangplank maintained enough structural integrity for them to complete the crossing without falling to their watery deaths. Daana stepped over onto the ship, pulling Snag with her. She resisted the urge to drop to her knees and kiss the wooden deck–mostly because it looked like it had been some time since it had been cleaned. Also, the crew was already staring enough as it was. It was probably best not to give them even more reasons to continue doing so.

Daana straightened her stance, attempting to appear diplomatic once more. On the inside, however, she was practically giddy with relief. Ha! Take that, Ellisar. Daana, one. Gangplank, zero.

The sudden rolling sensation beneath her feet caused her to stumble backwards into the taffrail. Her stomach churned in protest, threatening to upend that morning’s breakfast all over her shoes. Oh gods. What was this? Seasick, already? Seven realms, they hadn’t even left the harbor yet! And this was only the bay! The open waters beyond the sheltered alcove would be substantially worse.

Suddenly, the idea of asphyxiating to death on blood and stomach acid didn’t seem so far-fetched.

Daana’s panicked gaze swept across the bustling deck. The vessel was even smaller than it had looked from the dock, packed from bow to stern with the crustiest crew she had ever laid eyes upon. A particularly malnourished looking individual accepted Wormy’s braided lead from Ashwyn with a grunt. He led the scruffy horse towards the crowd working the pulley system, lowering the rest of the livestock into the animal pens below deck.

The crewmember’s one glazed eye looked Daana up and down as he passed, uttering something under his breath about the sudden surplus of fresh, young meat.

“That’s it.” Daana whirled back around, heat rushing to her ears. “I changed my mind. We’re walking!”

So what if the journey took a few extra weeks? She’d already survived one ship wreck and that had been enough for a lifetime. And anyway, Snag was right. Out on the open sea there would be no place to run in the event of trouble. As formidable as her party was, they were heavily outnumbered and no match for an entire crew. She didn’t know why she’d agreed to this stupid plan in the first place. Walking was obviously the more practical option.

Daana’s plan to scuttle back down the rickety gangplank was thwarted by Ashwyn. The orc reached out and caught her under the arm, pulling a desperately struggling Daana with her whether she wanted to or not. “Oh miss, you can’t let your fears get to you like that. We’ve already made the arrangements and the money’s been spent. There’s no sense in letting all that go to waste.”

“Let go! I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to live!”