A/N: I have been on a roll so I was able to publish this one really soon after my last story. I don't really think this one is quite as good as "The One Thing" but I was bored. And yes I can not think of any good names. Reviews are welcome! And remember: Nunquam amitto.
Pholixus (A/N: again sorry horrible names) was not enjoying himself. He was supposed to be having fun, drinking wine and enjoying his night off. He was a captain in Sounis' navy and very proud of it. In fact he was the captain of the Principia, the largest ship in the whole navy.
All the other sailors around him were already drunk from the free wine the king was giving out, but Pholixus hadn't even touched his wine yet. He was jealous of his younger brother, Ernenides(A/N: Is it possible to wince over the computer?) who was put on guard duty that night for doing something stupid. Ernie would be having so much more fun here. Suddenly sick of all the drunken noise, Pholixus stepped outside and gasped at what he saw.
Ernenides(…) was bored out of his mind. He of all people had to stand guard on his shop the Hesperides. He would have given anything to switch with his brother, Pholixus. Ernie also knew that Pholixus would rather be back at his ship than partying with all the others. He and his brother were so different that sometime Erninides wondered how they were even related.
Ernie was so busy daydreaming that he almost see the smaller boats that had come up to the side of the ship. The men on the boats said that they were there to relieve the other men of their duties that night, by order of the king. Ernie had never seen them before and none of them really talked a lot. The only one that did talk had a strange, gruff voice.
"Oh well," Ernie thought "they can stay here while I go get some free wine." So he piled into the shore boats with all the other men and rowed back to shore.
Pholixus was choking on smoke. But what was on fire? It was then that he realized it was the ships. He was the only one sober enough to do anything. So he started running toward the shore when he remembered his brother, who was standing guard, and who would not be able to jump off the ships to safety because he could not swim.
Ernie was terrified. He and the other men had gotten to shore when they had heard a big "BOOM" and then he saw the flames. There was smoke everywhere, he could barely see three inches in front of his face. He started coughing and walking, not knowing if he was walking farther away or closer to the killing smoke when he felt a hand grab his arm...
Pholixus ran as hard as he could towards the dock and deeper into the smoke. There were people standing there. Pholixus knew that they had to move before they inhaled too much smoke and damaged their lungs. He grabbed the person closest to him who was coughing violently. It was Ernie! Pholixus pulled him out of the thickest smoke and pushed him away from the harbor hopin he would go get help. Then Pholixus went back into the smoke and started pulling all the other sailors out of the smoke.
When it was all over no one was killed but Pholixus lost his eyesight from getting to much smoke and ashes in his eyes. Pholixus was considered a hero, but he didn't fell like one. Along with the other men Pholixus was stricken with grief when he heard, rather than saw, what had happened to the ships in the harbor. From what they could tell, all the sailors came to the conclusion that the men in the shore boats who claimed they were there to relieve those on guard duty had litten the fuses in the powder magazines of all the large warships. Then the other, smaller ones caught on fire. They had one, possibly two, usable ships left. By that time they had learned about how the kings Magus had betrayed them to Attolia. So they though for sure that it was Attolians that did this terrible thing. All but Pholixus and Ernenides. Ernie had told Pholixus about how the men had really gruff voices, and Pholixus concluded that it was Eddisian and that the Thief of Eddis must have been involved, but none of the other men believed them.
The Thief of Eddis had stayed locked in his room for months. Or had he?