Thar Shaddin

Ko did not look at Ceallach's face. He didn't dare, but he wanted to. Time was he'd glare that mean fucker down, battle-scarred body or no. Oh, he could hold out his own long enough f' the sailors to come to aid. Once it was explained the man was a 'reformed' killer he was sure him and Shann would be let loose. Then Ceallach could dangle his pretty little toes on the deck, trussed up tight enough to do no harm.

He wanted to let Shann handle himself, he did, but even as Shann spoke he found he could not hold himself in an longer. "Whispers? Mate, might want t' get yer ears checked, not that I'm sayin' yer not." He glared at some part of the deck past Ceallach's shoulder. "We were in that tavern same as you, and them folk gave no cause t' be cut down like dogs."

Well, that'd been what he'd meant to say, had not his last few words been carefully overridden with a female voice. Though he was a vast appreciator of a good voice and a nice body -- he didn't dare look at the face so soon, trusting only Shann's reaction to give him a good gauge on whether or not she was ugly -- this wasn't no place for ladylike interruptions.

"Wasn't no fight gonna happen." He said with a rakish smile, though he didn't point it directly at her. She could go to the Captain with a complaint, and weren't no good captain alive didn't resist a fine woman. Not unless he appreciated. . .rougher touches than a woman could apply. Ko doubted that.

Grown men. Phaw.

He was going to put her in her place when a smaller shape was suddenly circling around her, and Ko resisted a groan as he recognized the damn Jinhuff gnome's feet. Had the gnome been trailing after her like a dog in heat?

"Boys, the lady has wise words. I hope you all are getting along, especially as I've tied money in you. Accidents wouldn't be very professional of you, hmmm?" The gnome's voice was slightly ingratiating.

The woman’s gaze barely even registered with the warrior. She had a bow, certainly, and probably knew how to use it but she would be at a great disadvantage, what with the deck gently swaying, twilight setting in, and, worst of all, being within two strides of him.

Ceallach glanced down to the gnome.

“Of course not. I am a professional, first and foremost,” He said to the little man.

And then, to Vexako, “And that business in the tavern is none of your business. I did what I was paid to do.”

“Honestly, you should all consider yourselves fortunate to be traveling with me. You are all the safer for it.”

Finally, he looked up into the woman’s eyes. They were emerald. They were beautiful and if he was a younger man earlier in his life, his breath would have stopped in his chest. But now, his heart was forever firmly set upon his wife and son.

Her smile, although somewhat forced, exposed a kind heart. That took him more aback than anything else, but outwardly, he remained stoic. He was a man of stone, as the gnome had said, a professional.

Was she attempting to test his mettle? By not breaking eye contact, it almost seemed as if this woman was trying him.

Her eyes may be a beautiful and tempting green to most men, but he knew that his own eyes were usually somewhat disconcerting for most people.

There were certain advantages to having one blue and one brown and sometimes, it seemed to almost make up for the reactions of the superstitious. He could lay down a glare that would make children cry and dogs whimper.

He could not be distracted by this little game with the female for too long, though. He had to keep the elf guessing before he could get stupid again.

So, he did the one thing that was completely unexpected of him.

Ceallach returned the lady’s smile. His eyes may have remained ice cold and cruel, but that was more out of habit than anything at this point.

He mustered all of his charmisa from his days as a bard's ward and his time as a gladiator and asked with a sly amount of charm, “And what might your name be?”

Shann paid the woman very little attention. She was a distraction, one that he was sure he would enjoy, only at a later time and a different place. If he was going to prove himself, he was going to need to stand up to the other man and not appear to be intimidated by his size and barbaric nature.

And that was when Jinhuff stepped in. Where the woman could not convince him to stand down, the gnome could. Shann was still trying to impress the small man. It was a tedious task but Shann thought that he was finally starting to break down the walls of the stubborn gnome mentality. Displeasing him would only be a step in the wrong direction and it would set him back by at least a day, if not more.

"There won't be any accidents," Shann addressed Jinhuff. "We were merely talking. I believe I have gotten my point across. Now, we can further discuss business, as you have said there is money on the line."

Shann turned his back to the larger man in order to face the much smaller one. He almost, almost bent down to speak with the gnome on a more face-to-face level, but as he had learned shortly after they met, you never bend over to talk to a gnome. It was belittling, Jinhuff had said, he was a grown man and as a grown man he wanted to be treated with the same respect that would be given to any other man. He was not a child, he did not want to be treated like a child, and that meant that when somebody wanted to have a serious conversation with him that they would not squat down to speak with him as if he was a child.

So Shann stood there, almost twice Jinhuff's height, and tucked his chin into his chest so that he could look at the smaller man's face as he spoke to him. "Are we to get to those schematics today? I can not stress how important it is that we document them so that you may patent the design. You do not want your brothers stealing your work, we must claim it is yours in the first place. Come let us find a quiet place to speak, I will get my supplies."

He all but ignored the others as he placed his hand on Jinhuff's back and guided him back towards the stairs from which he had come. "We are done here, yes?" He asked over his shoulder to the others. "I don't want a fight, I just want you to respect my wishes."

~ Selena watched with interest in her eyes. She however did not remove her eyes from the beast of a man standing before her. He was a rather brute of a man, and Selena felt a certain attraction for that darkness. She however decided to play the part of a lady and finally broke eye contact. She looked down at the creature who ran around her. She had never seen a being like this. Elves and humans….that was all she had ever seen. Emerald hues watched the gnome with a deep interest. She heard the man’s question and merely shrugged it off. She of course would answer the question, but only when she was ready. Her smile, practiced of course, turned into a small smirk as she tilted her head in regards to the gnome. She then looked at Ko and then back at the elves. Of course, she was a new person, and had no right to intervene, so it was only natural that men would ignore someone who means nothing to them. It was a petty game, and it was rude beyond measure. Selena than gave a small laugh, which would seem like she was enjoying the presence of the gnome, but in her mind that laugh was meant for something else. Selena laughed because the only person here who showed a hint of respect for her, was the man who probably could have killed her without even trying. The others barely even recognized her presence and went along their business. At least this man even asked for her name. She stood up and looked at the soldier with respect in her eyes. She then slowly drew her hood up before her face, casting it back into its darkness. The time to answer the question was now. “Selena.” She said softly as she wanted to back up from the man but decided not to. Putting a couple yards between them wouldn‘t really matter. “Just a lady traveling.” Her smile faded into the darkness of her hood, as emerald light flashed from her eyes.

Her eyes bore into the soldier as she took note of just about every aspect of his features. Her eyes then moved back to the gnome. This time she did not bent down, mainly because she did not want to be seen in a submissive stance. “And what is your name?” She spoke softly to the gnome, but at the same time, she asked the same question to the soldier but in a different way. This man intrigued her, but he made her feel awkward. It was like her magic wanted to reach out and force a distance between him and her. It was almost like her magic registered how dangerous the man was. “I see death around you warrior.” A statement. Selena thought in her mind. “You have slain more people than I have in age“ A fact. She thought “And you are a sell sword.” Truth…Selena shook her head. “Your name?” She said softly. In truth when Selena had figured out the man was a mercenary, she had thought she lost all respect for the man. But….how could she. She could not judge a man who killed for money, when she had killed for revenge. Both go hand and hand together with morality. She could not think wrongly of him without hating herself. And this was no time for her to doubt herself. She waited for the soldier and gnome’s reply.

Ko was vexed. He needed to sleep, and soon, and he'd counted on a quick bit of merrymaking with Shann before turning in for the night. He was lucky his chores needed the light of day to complete, else he'd still be muckin' it with the sailors. Jinhuff was primary blame for this one, but it was the lady who'd caused the gnome to see their little guff. He sighed.

The gnome paused mid step, as Shann took him away, and brushed the taller elf's hand aside as he turned to study Selena. "Talk to your new friend." He told her, smiling. His eyes were dark pits in the fading light, and they did not give much at all away. "Attend her then, gentlemen, as you have caused her. . . strife." His lips curled into an odd expression. "I must attend business. We shall talk later, hm?"

Then he gave Shann a look, as though he blamed him for the delay, and they both disappeared below.

Ko's lips pursed, and he only barely contained the spit he'd been about to bless the deck with. He'd be cleanin' it nohow, and that plum ruined any effect he'd wanted. So he turned, and drew upon the years of courtly experience he'd had to survive his own sorry life, and remembered such things as posture and poise. He mighta been rusty, but he wasn't stupid. He remembered form.

He bowed to the lady, sharpish, and rose upright with an expression both mournful and grave. He stared precisely and exactly at the upper portion of her forehead, weren't no bad forehead, and not once did his eyes stray. "Apologies fer the interruption an' the rudeness, Lady." Oh, those words. Damned fine excuse t' punish him fer nawt a stone's harm. He had a moonspan to convince Shann of the whole foolishness of the blind trick. Gnome would doom 'em to a quick drop, if the killer didn't end it first.

But he knew to not let his body show it. He was relaxed and smart, and he bowed again. "I'll be up wi' t'dawn. Fair night, lady, warrior."

He even kept his sarcasm out of the warrior as he turned and walked quickly away, following the footsteps of Jinhuff and Shann to the stairs below, though his destination was decidedly different. How low he'd got. How low still he'd go. He muttered and made for his sling.

______________________

Jinhuff had occupied his cabin much the way a stud occupied a bitch. He'd taken a thing and twisted it to suit his own purpose, and the result was something like a burrow, like a home a man from a proper gnomish clan might claim. There was a great sturdy table that occupied the center of the room, with chairs: all of it bolted down securely lest it escape and cause damage. The pricklish creature that had thrown a bolt at them in the backwater village was gone. In its place was a man of great importance.

Jinhuff Trizinkaff, potential heir to a great artisan empire, walked into his cabin and stopped at the table. He turned, and gave Shann a long, hard look. There was nothing of the twittering idiot Ko had taken him for. What was left was a businessman. He had dressed in clothes of fine quality (and where these clothes had come from in the small handcart he had brought, much less any of the other things he had shoved around the cabin, was a mystery perhaps better left unsolved), and they were tailored to him impeccably. He had a slim form, decked in a smart velvet overcoat, shining leather boots, and fine silk shirt and trousers. His face was pleasant, and from his expression he knew that he cut a sleek, handsome form.

But too, there was the anger from which he had first made acquaintance of Vexako and Kaillashann, of an unjust task set before him. Too there was the dark ambition that had gotten only darker since the dust of Trelham had first settled upon his boots.

But he was calm as he watched Shann. "Prove to me, then, that this is worth my while." He said.

Ceallach looked into the girl’s eyes. She was obviously reading him, trying to take a measure of his character. He would allow her to, for now.

He nodded and replied, “I am Ceallach.”

Vexako’s attempt at a fanciful exit seemed effete, at best, to his warlike sensibilities. In his judgment, it was better to just ignore the swashbuckler’s little quirks for the time being.

“I would say that you are more than a traveling lady but we will have this discussion later. If you will excuse me...”

The soldier stepped around her and followed after Shann and the gnome.

He glanced around his shoulder a few times, doing his part to make sure that the female was not following him. He partly expected her to, and another part of him hoped she would.

As he came around outside of Jinhuff’s cabin, he silently made his way to the thinnest portion of the bulkhead. If he was accepting this little man’s pay for his blade, he may as well know what he was going to be killing.

Thusfar, the little bastard had kept silent as to the details and that wouldn’t do at all.

Ceallach leaned in and pressed his ear to the wall. He strained and tried his best to listen in to the conversation of the elf and the merchant.

Shann had gone about placing his things upon the table. He unrolled a stack of fresh parchment, he placed a well of good ink off to the side, and he carefully inspected the tip of his quills. He brushed his finger along each feather to smooth the edges that had spread apart in packing. He wanted them to look their best, it helped him to get into that 'work' frame of mind.

"I admit I do not know much of gnome culture," he said after setting the last quill back on the table next to his paper. "But I take it there is a sense of pride of ownership. That stealing another man's work is frowned upon. What I am to do is to help you claim ownership of what is yours. You said your brothers want you out of the picture so that they can claim your work as their own, so you need to back up your claim. It is one thing to say that one of these inventions of yours is in fact your own, but it is an entirely different story when you can back it up with some proof."

He picked up a strange object on the table. It looked to be somewhat simple in design at first glance, but the longer Shann looked at it, the more complex it appeared. He saw parts within the object that twisted, spin and revolved around each other. It was small enough to fit within his palm but the thing was so dense holding it above his head for very long would be a strain.

"Take for instance this thing? What is it? What does it do? If it were taken apart, could you put it back together? Can you describe each step taken in constructing it? I need you to give me all the information you have on each of your inventions and I will in turn record them for your own records. If anybody tries to claim your work as their own, you will have documented records to prove otherwise."

Shann gently set the contraption back on the table. For all he knew it could be some kind of explosive devise or a glorified paperweight. He took a quill in hand and dipped it within his well.

"So shall we begin?"

~ There was very little Selena could say. Everyone was leaving the top deck. She had made a movement to follow the soldier but then hesitated. Her emerald eyes flashed as the moonlight began to set in. She was alone. She would always remain alone and that was her path. She nodded to the Gnome who dismissed himself saying nothing back. A lady's nod was one that could give so many responses or answers. She had thought about stopping the soldier to keep her company, but she figured he was off to do business. She would never stop a man from conducting his duties. She understood that far too well. Selena turned around and gazed off into the horizon. The wind had started to pick up and Selena could feel them reaching out to her. Her own magic wanted to unleash itself from its captivity and join in with the dance of the current, but to Selena's own distrust, she could never truly let herself go. She had been working on her magic ever since she had departed from her haunting home. She had gained strength but lately she had grown a fondness for reading through magic. She realized that through her experience with magic and the stronger she had grown she had began to understand more and more of her mother's book. Perhaps it would have answers to things she sought, or perhaps things others sought. Selena than shrugged her shoulders and went below the deck, into her room to study some more. She doubted she would leave again for a few days.

Jin manuevered himself gracefully onto one of the chairs, and took the device from the table where Shann had left it. He had put it there on purpose, as a reminder of his failure to implement any small level of technology within Trelham. They had proven most resistant to change, and the tension towards him had grown decidedly more ugly whenever he tried to press them. The business with the customer, Lawfin, had been the last straw for him. Not only that, but he'd been accused of misunderstanding the difference between a T-13 and a X-6 model tumbler, one of the simplest sets of hardware in existence.

Simple, elegant, and altogether one of his designs, back from when he'd been a lad and mischievous; altogether too interested in the concept of keeping people out and breaking into places you weren't supposed to go. His family had absorbed the more than usually complicated tumblers into their offered designs, and that had been that. But the T-X-R-S series had never been complicated for Jin, just a small diversion. He stared narrowly at the X-6 tumbler in his hand, and considered Shann's words.

"And you then, you are so well known that no one shall cry fraud when I offer up my paperwork for their perusal? What is your reputation? Where are your credentials, such that I will know you will not run away with my designs?"

Ceallach listened closely to their conversation as it continued. Even a small detail could save his life.

He was fortunate that his companions knew almost nothing of him and every day, his intelligence on them increased by leaps and bounds.

This new lady was an unknown factor, though. He would have to get to know her a bit. She had a haunted air about her, a lingering sadness. He could not help but consider this a sign of weakness.

He would know soon what the measure of her strength was. Things were coming to a head and there would be blood. His warrior’s instincts told him that much.

The dialogue that the elf and the gnome were having, although of trades and inventions and trinkets, had some sinister undertone.

Additionally, if there wasn’t a need for blood, he wouldn’t have been hired.

Hopefully, the boy would be there yet again when the morning came and he would learn his lessons well. He would need them, if he was to survive this journey. In some ways, the child made him miss his own son that he hoped to see again someday.

Ceallach would allow no harm to come to the boy. He had a heavy enough weight on his soul already.

"I'll have you know that I've worked for one of the most renown notaries on Darleone. I've personally transcribed some very important information in my time. Day in and day out I recorded births, deaths, marriages, property transfers, and the like. Then I moved to a sea port and took up accounting for the various imports and exports that made their way between Eyropa and Darleone. Nothing enters that island without proper clearance and approval and the first step in acquiring that approval was to fully document everything."

Shann could have gone on about what his duties entailed, but he simply wanted to get his point across. He was not the average man with a quill in his hand and a stack of paper at the ready, he knew what he was doing, he knew how to do a professional job.

"As for stealing your work," He continued to speak with his back turned to Jinhuff as he began to mark the top page with the time of day, date and their current location, or as close to them as he could get. "Why would I make off with your designs? They are quite valuable to you yes, and maybe even to your brothers. However to those like myself who have not the knowledge or the know how to put such work to good use, stealing your plans would be pointless. Even if I did have it in me to take your work and pass it off as my own, or even sell it for that matter, where would I go? Who would I sell it to?"

"Certainly not to Darleone, being sheltered as it is the population has become too resistant of change. They would not accept taking to gnomish inventions to accomplish their means, even if it made life a little easier for them. If they can't do it on their own terms, with their own hard work, they won't do it. So then where would I go?"

"I could try to hunt down these brothers of yours, but to be perfectly honest I can't really tell much of a difference between all of the three gnomes I've seen in my lifetime and it isn't beyond the realm of possibility that I would mistake the next one I see to be of your bloodline."

When he was finished he looked over his shoulder at the man maybe half his size. Jinhuff didn't look all too pleased with Shann's words but Shann had the feeling that he got his point across if nothing else.

"So shall we begin," he asked yet again.

Jin watched Shann, as was the other man's due, but he too had set down the trifling lock tumbler to pull out a high quality sheaf of paper and a quill with which to write, moving slowly between the table and a small desk set too close to the rather worn bed. He had begun to write before Shann had finished speaking, and as he finished Jin looked up. "So." He said, and continued writing. "I work by contract. You are a civilized man, and no doubt will understand my need."

The gnome did not take long to complete the two pages worth of detailed stipulations in a formal cursive that embellished on flourishes but was nevertheless legible. He could have been a scribe, should that have been his bent. He offered the pages to Shann, and told him to sign at the bottom should it meet with approval. It was a simple contract, stipulating a rather heavy purse of one thousand bishani up front, with an additional two thousand bishani per moon span should the work be up to Jin's satisfaction.

"Then." Jin began before Shann would have any chance of finishing reading the contract. "I have been most hard at work. At first, I tried to devise any form of contraption to help with fishing or the like, but it became clear quite quickly that fishermen and technology are not easy bedfellows. Perhaps it is so only for the incompetents of Trelham, but as they were my clientele for the challenge at hand I felt the need to cater to their. . .lack of easy understanding. Many trifling things came of that."

He paused.

"Those will be easy to catalog, it is not them I am most worried about. I determined I would need research. Yes, I would have to delve deeper into the world of sailing were I to produce a true masterpiece worthy of the Trizinkaff clan. By chance I happened upon a treatise regarding the strange world of sailing magic and superstition. You see, it is by the imbued practical magic of runeworking that their superstitions become reinforced through reality. That is most inefficient, yes, terrible waste of potential.

"I sought a means to fix it. Magic is wholly unreliable. But -- but! -- magic combined with a splash of technology, measured within meters? Yes. Yes. I am a persistent man. The work was tedious and quite a strain upon my health, but I produced a devise that will measure the magical efficiency and ability of these small sailing magics. I was only able to tune it to the most commonly used, and could only test it sporadically due to those wretched men from Trelham. Yet, it works. This device could herald a new era of magic and technology alike."

He sniffed.

"I will not show it to you until you sign. Should you happen to let information scatter to the winds I will see your name ruined until you are chased entirely from the whole of society. But, should you succeed with ensuring this creation remains true to my name and my name only, you will earn yourself a portion of the riches I earn. The choice is yours."

If Ceallach were a lesser man, he would have nodded off during the rather dull chatter about fishing gear. He wondered when this conversation would finally begin to justify its dark overtone.

As patient a man as he was, this could not be the extent of their discussion. He sensed something else was afoot. A lifetime in the shadows of politics and a victim of the slave trade, he knew they were angling at something.

He was intently focused that he almost didn’t notice the stranger. Another passenger, having obviously consumed more than his ration of rum, was staggering toward the mercenary.

Ceallach stood up and straightened his tunic.

He locked eyes with the bastard. This was going to be trouble.

“Hey, I don’t know you think you are, but...” The man was slurring his words heavily. He weaved with each step. His quivering finger snaked toward the warrior and he continued.

“What are you? The wandering swordsman with a soft spot for elf kids?” He chuckled a bit. “Or maybe a hard spot.” The drunkard brayed at his own innuendo.

Ceallach’s lips tightened. This man was an insulting little leech and his presence was offensive but the crew wouldn’t be very happy with him slaughtering other passengers.

“You dirty foreigner dog, sneaking around like a spy, dropping in on people and bringing her stranger ways. Go back to your hellhole and die.”

The warrior’s arm was twitching with the urge to thrash this pathetic scum for insulting his homeland. It took every bit of restraint to not do it.

But then it happened.

“And may your children be born infertile so that we never have to see another of your ilk.”

Before Ceallach knew it, a dagger was in his hand. He grabbed the drunk by the throat and squeezed until he started to hear bones crunch. The man’s eyes bulged and his face quickly turned from crimson to violet.

The soldier slammed the drunken lout against the wall against which he’d previously leaned and stabbed him repeatedly in the midsection. The final blow sunk deep enough to post him against the wall, leaving him hanging like a side of beef.

Slowly, as the rage faded, Ceallach exhaled and gained control of himself. Savagely, he ripped the dagger from the dying man’s torso, and completely disregarding whatever final gasp he attempted to mutter, tossed him overboard.

With a quiet splash, the body sank into the waves.
He didn’t even bother to check if anyone was watching. He did not care.

He simply wiped the dagger off on the side of his tunic and said, “No one speaks ill of my son.”

Shann had read through the finer print of the contract. From what he saw nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. It basically stated that Shann would be working to document Jinhuff's work and that in no part was Shann taking over ownership of any of Jinhuff's inventions. Shann was not allowed to claim ownership of this work, he was not allowed to sell this work so somebody else or in some way transfer it to another person. It went on for a few pages, but that was standard with this type of work. He understood the risks that Jinhuff was undertaking and why he would want to have a contract for the off chance that Shann actually decided to jump ship with his documented work with him.

However pointless it might be, Shann thought. He had no intention of going through the grief of trying to steal blueprints and then trying to find somebody that he could sell them too. It wasn't that he was above stealing, if it came down to it, it was more a matter of he saw little value in such a thing and he wouldn't want the hassle of trying to track down somebody who would find them of value. He was more of the coin purse, jewelry, ornate trinket kind of guy. He went for the stuff that wouldn't be greatly missed and could easily be pawned for a night of drinking.

So he was in the middle of initialing the contract when he heard a loud thud outside. It was enough to make he look up from the pages in front of him and look to Jin for answers. Well the gnome looked just as puzzled as he was by the sudden interruption. It was too loud and wall-shaking to be a knock. He also doubted that it was one of the crew simply moving something outside of the door. No, this was something different.

By the time he pushed his chair back, stood up and walked over to the door to open it, whatever it was that had made the noise was gone. He had opened the door half expecting to see one of the drunken passengers had fallen down the stairs, but there was nobody there. However, there was a smear of blood against the wall, several shallow notches in it and a small pool of blood that tailed off up the stairs.

"Fuuuuuuuccck...," he let out slowly. "You might want to come see this." He called to Jin within the room.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Zian had been above deck with his dog. The crew had expressed a sense of displeasure concerning the boy feeding his dog around the other passengers while they ate. Some of the wealthier people on board had complained about it being unappetizing to sit and eat with a flea-bitten dog in the room. So Zain had been asked to take his dog someplace away from the others and feed him alone.

So the two of them had been sitting against the aftcastle, in the shade created by the sun setting behind the ship when the warrior had come up top. Zain was about to stand up and join the man, but then he saw that he was carrying something over his shoulder. Something that looked very much like a person. Then, without warning, the warrior tossed his burden over the side of the ship.

Zain felt a rush of terror spread through him and he had to grab Thanmorion and hold him tight to keep from screaming. Tears were pouring down his face as he pushed his nose deep within the thick fur his companion had to offer. "No, no, no, no...," he whispered into the dog's back.

Jin stepped down from his own perch on his chair, a look of irritation across his face. "What -- " he began, as he crossed to the door, when the ship's bells began to ring. It was not the standard two-note pulsing for the watch. It was something much louder, and the rush of pounding footsteps it heralded was much more ominous.

_________

The ship, Ferozuelo, was rather unusual for its kind. It was part of a small merchant fleet owned by a rather eccentric Corezan lord whom had it built initially for his own personal transport, and for trips for his family. Unfortunately, after a rather unfortunate bout of seasickness, he lost interest in personal use of the ship, and sent it into a more typical merchant capacity. However, due to the order of space he'd specified (a cabin for the captain under the forecastle, for himself under the aft-castle, for his children, and one more for any relatives on the tween deck) there was not as much space set aside for cargo as other merchant vessels of its size. So, the Ferozuelo was relegated to finding passengers. Wealthy passengers, whose passage could be done in comfort, without having to stoop to sleeping in space normally reserved for trade items.

Jinhuff had procured one of those cabins, Selena the cheapest, and the man Ceallach had killed the most expensive -- the poop cabin -- which he had shared with his wife and brother. Ferozuelo carried a higher passenger total than it typically did, eleven in total (some of whom had been forced to displace the crew in the aft, though the crew did tend to sleep on the main deck in good weather). The crew in turn slept in the long, narrow room designed to hold valuable cargo, and that valuable cargo was in turn lumped in with the rest of the tween deck's cargo at the fore of the ship, and kept watch by a sailor at all times.

At least four men were on duty at any given time; one man always watched the helm, and one always sat the nest on lookout for pirates. Sometimes the sailors slept up on deck, and typically at least one sailor worked the deck while the last on the watch stayed by the cargo unless one of those off duty agreed to sleep by it or dice by it with fellows.

The smell of blood and the deeper stench of perforated bowels was strong despite the fresh air as Ceallach had crossed the main deck with his grim bounty, and one of the passengers on deck -- a young lady -- screamed. The man at the helm, who happened to be the helmsman, shouted once he recognized the body for what it was, and scrambled to ring the 'all hands' pattern.

___________________

Ko did not hear the bell at first, but the flurry of movement all around him did jerk him from what had been a short-lived, uneasy sleep. Once he would have reacted with the twitch reflexes of the sailors, but time had dulled his sensitivity to the bell peals. It was not particularly necessary he follow -- he was not really crew -- but he did anyways. Something would be wrong for them to ring that call.

His gut knew what it was when he was hit with the smell of a deep, bloody gut wound, and the sight of blood on the steps confirmed it. He did not feel any gratification for the reality of his fears, which could not be dispelled, only a deep apprehension and dread. He felt a little sick at the portents that coated the deck, the steps, the deck.

He was behind the main stream of men, some armed with blades and some with bludgeons, as he ascended to the main deck. The helmsman was howling and yelling, a girl screamed and sobbed while two passengers patted and fluttered uselessly, and a ring of eight men had raggedly formed about Ceallach. Ceallach. Ko's gut twisted. Had there been provocation? There was no body, and Ceallach was at the rail. Blood spread thickly over the deck; it would have to be scrubbed quick else it leave an unsightly stain.

One man had grabbed sail, another a piece of rigging left neat on the deck for Ko to repair in the morning. The sailors worked in tandem, as if they had cornered a man before and subdued him. Ko did not watch, hanging his head as Jinhuff spilled onto the deck, mouth gaping wide. Ko stared at the blood on the deck, distantly surprised to feel regretful responsibility. He hadn't killed a man, but it was as if it was his own fault Ceallach had been able to kill again. Guilt pinned him until, after some minutes, the sailors pulled a sail wrapped and restrained Ceallach to the steps, and Ko swung aside. Then he stumbled after them as if they were the anchor he was reluctantly tethered to.

They settled Ceallach down on the orlop deck and chained him to one of the support beams. It was cramped and small, short of height and dark. It was lit only when a crewman, typically the head carpenter, was present. As the sailors finished their chaining, muttering dire warnings about luck, they left and were replaced by Jinhuff.

Jinhuff was not happy.

"They will not kill you." He said grimly. "I lightened my purse to prevent that. You will still likely meet the port guard once we make berth. I hired you for protection. Was the man an assassin come to slice my throat? Why would you do such an imbecilic thing?"