From the Scribblings of Rany

I am going to die.

And I almost hope it happens soon.

Never been on the ocean before. It always sounded so pleasant and peaceful.

It is not.

The creaking vessel sounds as if it will come apart at any moment. Every massive swell is like going up a mountain, then crashing straight down a cliff. Each time it happens, I think this is the one that will do us in for sure.

Janx seems determined to kill us all. Took us out into a fucking storm. Said it was a good thing – a good thing! “Better than pirates.” My asshole.

I watch the crew carefully. When they appeared calm, I felt all was well, even if my own breathing was quick and shallow, my heart in my throat. When they began to look nervous, I knew we had some real problems.

Then Sammyl got sick. I had seen that he got some badly needed food as the voyage began. He had eaten like he had never seen food before. I also procured some booze from a sailor. It was foul stuff that burned the throat and gut, but Sammyl and Handice did not seem to mind. Now it all came back up as the storm raged and tossed us around. The girl would not stop complaining. Handice was the only one being quiet, but he stared at the walls with a moroseness that depressed me. He was clearly feeling sorry for himself because of his hand.

Sammyl’s retching and vomiting made me sick, and soon he and I were kneeling next to each other over a bucket, puking and retching together.

“Ah, Rany!” said Sammyl. “Almost wish I was back in the dungeon!”

Calm seas now. My stomach is slow in receiving the news.

Now there is nothing to do but sit around. Tried starting a card game to take my mind off the boredom. Sammyl’s sickness showed no sign of abating. His face had turned a sickly greenish gray. Handice wanted to do nothing but sit and sulk. I told him he only needed one hand to play cards.

Sammyl lifted his head from his bucket and said I should apologize for that, and the girl said something to me that was quite unkind.

The damn girl. At least she stopped talking. But we had to keep her tied up, lest she try to make a run for it. Where she would go, who knows, but by the look of her she would not hesitate to dive right off the ship and swim across the ocean just to get away from us.

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Finally found a game with some of the sailors. Of course that required me to avoid winning too much, lest I find myself having an accident and falling overboard. None of them had much coin either. They typically spend it all whenever they are in port.

Two days at sea and we had to spend the last night anchored in the harbor, waiting for daylight. River City apparently has a strict policy about ships identifying themselves before they approach the docks.

Janx wanted to talk to me before we docked. I’d been expecting the shakedown and was ready for it.

Janx said, “Still don’t know what you’re up to, but I expect we may run into people down the road, asking questions. Law types maybe.”

“We’re good with the law, I told you a hundred times.”

“Right. Nothing odd at all about a tied up girl, a man who still reeks of the jail cell, and another man who just lost his hand.”

“Paid for full passage for five, Janx. Hell, you only had to carry four. You’re making out like a bandit already.”

“Oh, I will honor our agreement. I will ask no more for your passage – what do you take me for? You insult me now.”

“More coin to ensure silence then. That’s what you ask.”

“Silence?” he chuckled. “All the coin in the world could not ensure the silence of ten sailors on liberty in port, lips loosened by drink.”

“What do you propose then?”

“Well, I was planning to lay in River City for three days. Sell the cargo we have, pick up some more, head back to Crille. It’s a profitable run. Or, I could dock just long enough to let you off, then head on up the coastline to Shaul. That’s three days sailing from here. The men will have forgotten you by then, and if they did talk, who would care?”

“And to do that, you would require how much gold?”

“Five hundred.”

“Ha! You mistake me for a prince!”

“You have it.”

“Nice try, Janx. You had no plans to stay in River City.”

“How would you presume to know that?”

“Don’t feign outrage. I can read people, that’s all.” (And log books, I did not say.) “Tell you what though. For the extra trouble, and I will hate myself for this, I will throw in a hundred extra gold. Just make sure none of your men get off the ship. Why are you laughing?”

“You still got much to learn, lad. You really think I’d leave my real log where you could see it? Didn’t see the hair I left inside it, did you? Fell out when you opened it. Well, every captain worth his salt keeps two books – one real, one decoy. Five hundred gold or my men will spend the next three days drinking and whoring in River City.”

“Then that’s what will happen. I don’t have five hundred.”

“No? Too bad. Well, that’s that then.”

“I can do two hundred. That’s really it, Janx.”

“Agh. Fine. Gods, I’m growing soft.”