A/N: Oii, this chapter was waiting for a while, as I'm sure you all were. I'm sorry, it's almost the end of the semester and know I have Finals week to worry about. But I have a plan to at least do a rough draft of the entire story by July. As I edit the chapters, I will post them, but at least the entire thing will be done in some form or another!
Disclaimer: See chapters 1-10.
Feedback: Review and I'll call Ritz off from finding you. ;D
Warning: Violence mostly. But it's nothing to be too concerned about and for once, Sousuke isn't the one targeted. O_o What's wrong with this picture?
There was nothing but water for miles until around noon when a tiny dark spot appeared on the horizon. Not land; it was too small for that. But it was something. He clutched the mast for support as they drew closer. If he had a spyglass like Kharim, he might be able to make it out. After more time, he determined that it was another ship coming to meet theirs.
He couldn't tell whether or not it was another Corsair ship or a merchant vessel, but it carved a tall image on the seascape. And on its masts were black sails. He ran to the sides of the crow's nest and peered down at the deck. He immediately shut his eyes at the dizzying sight of how far up he was, but he gathered his composure and opened them again.
He racked his mind trying to remember the sailors' terms for ship directions. He vaguely remembered his father talking about it once when he was tasked with guarding Zaishen vessels.
"Ship off the...the starboard bow," he yelled down to the deck. Starboard...that was left right? Or was it port that was left? Divad, who was passing beneath the crow's nest with Shirad at his side, peered up at him.
"That side." He pointed in the direction of the black-sailed boat and added under his breath, "Whatever you bloody pirates call it."
Divad grabbed Shirad and dragged him in the direction Sousuke was gesturing. Jambalaya stirred at the sound of Sousuke's yelling and sat up. "See somethin' lad?" he asked Sousuke with bleary eyes.
"There's a ship over that way."
Jambalaya staggered to his feet and came to his side. "Oh, yer right. Oi! Ship off the port bow!" The latter was in a much louder bellow than Sousuke could have managed. More of the Corsairs clamored over to the railing to look for the ship. Some of them raised their voices in warning. Amankar appeared through the door to the cabin and strode up to the helm where she pulled out a spyglass. Kharim emerged seconds later and followed her. She started shouting orders to the men.
"Do you know who's on that ship?" Sousuke said, halfway mesmerized by the flurry of activity so far below him.
"It's another Corsair captain by the looks of them sails, Sewsuke. Might even be someone our cap'n knows, but I can't make 'em out. Me eyes ain't workin' right."
He looked down at the deck again. "There's me signal. I'll give yer Master the word to come and get you."
"Don't call him that," Sousuke said.
"What? Yer Master?" Jambalaya grinned. "If ye want I could just call him yer man."
Before Sousuke could offer any retort, Jambalaya had disappeared over the side of the crow's nest. When Sousuke looked down after him, he was already half way down, sliding down the ropes as if he were some kind of monkey. He felt a twinge of jealousy that the man could make it look so damn easy even while perpetually drunk. Even the thought of trying to crawl down on the first few rungs of the rope ladder was enough to make him break out into a cold sweat. And even more panic-provoking was the image of him plummeting down onto the darting corsairs below. He was not afraid of heights, per sae, but the way the ladder had trembled beneath his hands on his way up and the fact that the only thing between him and the deck was a layer of rickety wood was enough to give him white flashes behind his eyes.
It didn't look like he was on Kharim's list of priorities. The man was still on the bow, examining the strange ship. He wasn't sure he liked being alone in the crow's nest. It was a nice change from having so many intimidating Corsairs around him at all times, but he didn't want to be so high up if there was going to be an attack.
There was only one thing to do then, and he wasn't looking forward to it. He grabbed his shirt and, with a deep breath, hoisted one leg over the bucket and had to endure a heart-wrenching moment when his foot could not find the top rung of the ladder. When it found the rope, he hefted his other foot over the side. For the first few feet, it wasn't so bad. Climbing down took less energy than climbing up. His knuckles turned white from clutching the curls of rope underneath his fingers so tightly. He stared up at the blue sky, forcing himself not to look down, and carefully made his way down one step at a time. It felt like forever until his feet were flat on the wood of the deck. His arms were shaking a little too much, but the feeling of victory he got from his efforts was enough to make up for the terror.
"Good work, mouse. Ye'll get used to life here, yet," Kharim said behind him. His expression was far from pride, but it wasn't displeased either. He must have been about to start up when he saw Sousuke trying to get down. "Saved me a trip, but ye'll have to wait for your reward until later."
"None of your rewards are necessary, thank you," he scowled. "Is that ship full of Corsairs too?"
"Aye, and led by an ole' 'friend' of the Captain's. Wanna come see? Oh, and put yer shirt back on. With skin as fair as yours, ye'll burn up right quick in this sun." The second Sousuke slid the linen shirt over his head, he was grabbed and propelled forward. During his climb down, the other ship had moored besides their own, close enough to lower a plank between them. It was roughly the same size and design as Amankar's but with blood-red sails instead of black. None of its inhabitants looked ready to fight, but there was certainly an air of tension around the two crews. A small group of five corsairs crossed the plank over to Amankar's ship. They were led by a dark woman with red and white armor that exposed her belly and the better parts of her lean thighs. A gold-red scarf was wound around her neck. The top portion of her hair was pulled back into a ponytail while the lower portion hung down in a wave of braids. She strode with a cocky gait to where Amankar was waiting on the other side.
"It's high time I saw the devil's own bride on these waters," the woman said. She had a deep, rough voice. "Word is you caught a good haul from a Canthan ship some shakes of an hour-glass ago."
"Ye may have heard right, but what's it to a patch of sea scum like you?" Amankar said.
"Only that ye owe me a great deal of money from what I can remember," the other captain said. "Do you recall that deally that we had back at Camp Hojanu? You haven't forgotten have you? I couldn't expect the great Captain Amankar, the woman who would be the wife of Dhuum should he have ever looked for a bride, to forget a little debt..."
"I haven't forgotten," Amankar cut the woman off with a snarl.
"Who is that," Sousuke ventured to ask Kharim when there seemed to be a pause in the exchange.
"Margrid the Sly," Kharim said. "One of the foulest captains what's ever sailed on the Clashing Seas. She and the Cap'n go way back, though don't ask me how far back."
"And how exactly are ye lookin' for me to pay ye back?" Amankar continued. "Coins? Or maybe blood? Got plenty of that. Maybe we can even use some from yer crew. Yer already used to that, after all."
"That depends on what ye've got in yer holds. Lemme have a peek and I'll tell you," Margrid replied, folding her arms across her breasts.
"Tell her to shove off, Captain. She's got enough treasure in her chest to last her a long time," Shirad's voice cried out. There was a round of approval from the crew on Amankar's ship.
"Shaddup while I'm talkin'!" Amankar addressed them as a whole.
"Naw, let them talk. I'm sure I've got more here than what they've seen from you," Margrid said. This time the laughter came from Margrid's ship.
"Much as I'm one for chitchat, ye know I like to do my negotiations over a round of rum," Amankar said, sounding slightly irritated. "Why not you 'n yer men come and join me in my quarters fer a little parley?"
The tension around the pair of ships eased.
Sousuke looked up at Kharim in confusion. "What is a parley?"
"A meetin' between Corsairs to discuss terms, usually about a deal or surrender," Kharim said. "Under the Corsair Code, no captain or their crew can attack the other while they're in parley and they only stop parleying when they make a deal one says they're out."
"Corsairs have a Code?" Sousuke scoffed. "I thought your only rule was to get dead drunk before you fight."
"Heh, only in a perfect world, mouse. Even we have to have our standards, even if they are low." Kharim patted him on the back. "Now come on, the Cap'n will want you and me to be there when she parleys."
"Why us?" He asked as he was roughly pulled along behind Margrid and Amankar through the hallway and the double set of doors to the Captain's Quarters.
"'Cause I'm Amankar's navigator and yer with me," Kharim said. He leaned down a little closer then. "Plus I don't want Margrid's crew leerin' at ye all day. Buncha dirty ol' codgers, they are."
The Captain's room was double-tiered with a large table covered with treasures and maps on the lower half and a king-sized bed with green velvet curtains on the upper half. There was a rich carpet underneath the table. Next to a tall cabinet in the corner was a rack with several bottles of ale and rum. Under Amankar's orders, Divad took some of the bottles and offered them to Margrid, who had settled in one of the chairs by the table. A bald, burly man with several piercings up and down his ears whom Sousuke assumed to be her first mate sat next to her, staring ahead. Margrid's other escorts stood behind her, doing their best to look daunting. Kharim sat opposite of Margrid's first mate. He reached over and pulled Sousuke into his lap, wrapping one arm around his back while setting his jug of grog on the table. Margrid was quick to take notice, particularly when Sousuke gave a small yelp and attempted to extract himself.
"Since when did you employ Canthans? Trying to introduce some variety in yer crew or are Kournans not good enough anymore?" Margrid asked.
Kharim smiled easily back at her. "Spoils from a raid, ye could say. So pretty I couldn't resist."
"Yes, I suppose you could say that. They whine too much for my liking. The rich ones whine about the poor and the poor whine about the rich. Whenever I'm in their city, I take all I can just so I can shut them both up," Margrid said. Her entourage chuckled in agreement. It was all Sousuke could do to keep from leaping up and scorching her pretty face. As it was, he just glared at her. "Ooh, looks like he's not too happy with me. Going to run me through, little swabbie?"
"Nah, this one don't whine enough to have the guts to run you through. And if he did whine, I would just hurl 'im overboard. Makes fer cheap labor, though, as long as me navigator keeps 'im under wraps," Amankar said. She directed Divad to distribute the rum around the table.
"So 'e's a prisoner? I kill most of mine. I guess I should consider keepin' one once in a while," Margrid said. She inspected the bottom of one of Amankar's rum bottles. "1060 AE? Not bad. Least it isn't the pig swill ye usually find on some ships nowadays. I'm glad to see ye kept some class about you."
"Are we goin' to sit and talk all day or are we negotiating," Amankar scowled.
The association between Margrid and Amankar turned out to have been a bet made approximately one year before. Margrid was going to try to capture one of the fastest ships in the Istani fleet. Amankar said she couldn't do it. After a grueling two months' long chase in which Margrid had picked off the larger ships of the fleet one by one until she had caught up to her prize, killed the captain, and claimed the ship for her own. Amankar would have been willing to admit defeat on the bet had Margrid not lost the exact same ship three weeks later to a storm. Most of her crew had been killed and she had been left stranded on a island somewhere near Tyria.
After so long of building her reputation back up and coercing men into joining her new crew, she held on to the bet as a way to gain back the booty that she had lost before. After all, she had technically won the bet.
"But ye don't have the ship any longer. Ye can't sail it if it's lyin' at the bottom of the sea! It don't count!" Amankar argued. She had grown more animated over the last half hour. Both of them had while the rest of the room watched. Once in a while the Corsairs on either side would back up their captain with a hum of agreement and the occasional insult. Kharim stayed silent for the most part, content to observe with the whisper of a smirk on his lips. Sousuke wondered why he wasn't stepping in to support Amankar. On occasion, Kharim would nip his teeth lightly on Sousuke's soft throat or slip his hand underneath the table and into Sousuke's breeches to touch him. His reactions drew the attention of a few who eyed him hungrily. Margrid's first mate raised his eyebrow after Sousuke gave a particularly harsh gasp when Kharim squeezed him tightly.
"Keep the foreplay for your bed. I don't want to see him like that," he said.
"Don't you wish you had one too?" Kharim replied. "This one does whatever I want 'im to."
"Don't drag me into this," Sousuke said under his breath.
"Too late for that, mouse. Far too late for that," the Corsair muttered back.
"If yer just gonna show him off to me crew take 'im outside," Margrid said. "He's not in the negotiations if there's no way yer gonna hand him over."
"Ignore 'im if he's not on the market, eh, Margrid? That's so much like you it brings back memories," Amankar said.
"Ye know you just brought him here to distract me from milking you of every platinum you have," Margrid said.
"You ain't getting one gold piece out of me and you know it. You may have won our bet ages ago, but where's the ship now? You don't have it. The bet's off," Amankar said, slamming her hand on the table with finality.
"But I did win it, so you owe me money. And from the sounds of it, you've got plenty in yer hold to go around. Give some to me n' mine and we'll be on our way," Margrid said, pleasantly.
"I said you ain't gonna get a gold piece from me and I means to keep that promise," Amankar said, standing up and slowly unhooking her hammer from her belt. There was a lethal glint in the corner of her black eyes. The other Corsairs in the room picked up on the change in atmosphere. The ones behind Margrid took out their weapons.
"There's a smell of battle in the air, says I," Margrid said, running her tongue over her teeth. She stood rose, taking out her own sword. At this point, Kharim also stood up. He pushed down on Sousuke's shoulders.
"Get underneath the table, lad. Yer unarmed and this place is about to go to hell," he said in Sousuke's ear.
Sousuke could have argued, offered to stay and fight. But helping his captors was not on his list of priorities. He did as he was told, slowly lowering to his knees.
"Let the little Canthan watch. I'm sure seeing his captor butchered would be a sight for his sore eyes," Margrid said. She had somehow seen his movement without moving her eyes off of Amankar.
"He's on my ship. He's mine," Amankar hissed.
"Maybe after I collect my winnings I'll give him to my crew. They'll appreciate him enough. Maybe I'll even keep him for me if I feel like it. Or I could always sell him. He looks like he would fetch a high price." Margrid grinned sardonically.
Why did every Corsair suddenly want Sousuke? What could they possibly see in him that would make them pass him around? There was another possibility that they were just so hungry for power that it didn't matter whether he was human or made of gold. As long as they were the ones to have him, it didn't matter, like some sort of sadistic power-play. He couldn't decide which one he hated more.
"Sorry, 'fraid he's mine at the moment. And he's not to be traded," Kharim said.
"Our captain can take what she wants from yer pitiful excuse of a captain," Margrid's first mate growled out.
He peered down at Sousuke where he sat on his haunches, halfway in position to slide under the table should the fighting break out, but his eyes were full of disgust, not lust. Once not too long ago, Sousuke thought he would be lucky to see that in one of the Corsairs' expressions. Now he wasn't too sure. He summoned a ball of fire in his fist, keeping it partially hidden by the table while still at the ready.
"I suggest ye get goin' unless you want to spend the last few minutes of yer sorry life on me ship," Amankar spat. She had drunk an entire bottle during the parley, but it didn't appear that the alcohol was having any sort of negative effect.
"I'd like to see you try, bitch." Margrid spat at Amankar's feet. Sousuke expected Amankar to be the one to lash out at her, but instead it was Shirad. The headbanded Corsair was on the upper level and positioned at the end of the line that Margrid's cronies made up the stairs. He kicked the top man while they were concentrating on their captains. The result was like a set of dominoes crashing into each other until they landed in a heap on the bottom step. Amankar rushed forward with her hammer raised. Margrid's first mate parried her with his scimitar, allowing Margrid with enough time to move into a better position to swing. Kharim pointed the tip of his arrow at her.
During all of this, Sousuke scrambled under the table for cover. He watched the booted feet around him and they rushed around the table. Margrid's first mate and Amankar were still locked together. Margrid and Kharim were waiting for them to disengage. The pile of corsairs on the landing struggled to extract themselves from the heap. Divad stepped over the mass and went to pull the first mate from Amankar. Sousuke's heart was pounding with adrenaline even if he was not a part of the action. He created two fireballs in hands and held them there, hoping to wait in case he did not have to use them. If he kept a low profile, maybe he would not even have to be involved in their conflict at all. He scooted over so he could get a better view of the group.
Divad managed to get a blow in at the first mate and dazed him before Margrid slashed his arm. Divad howled in pain and staggered backwards but the distraction allowed Amankar to shove the first mate off so she could pursue Margrid. She side stepped Amankar's head blow and aimed a stab at her side. Amankar was stealthier than she looked, evading the attack enough to turn what would have been a fatal strike into a stab that tore her coat instead.
Amankar hurled the hammer towards Margrid's stomach, effectively winding her. But the burly first mate had recovered and maneuvered himself in front of his captain, a move which then earned him an arrow from Kharim's bow.
Meanwhile, the noises from the jumble summoned the attention of the Corsairs outside, who forced open the doors. Margrid's crew sprang to their feet, ready to meet them.
Sousuke stayed underneath the table, not aiding one side or the other, his attentions focused on just keeping himself out of the fray. Insults and curses flew, there were cries of pain and cries of maniacal triumph. The entire ordeal was more like a disorganized tavern brawl than a fight. This was not his fight.
He picked out Kharim's boots from the rest of them by the black lining around their soles. He focused on lending what support he could with his bow. At one point, when the table threatened to overturn when someone fell against it, Sousuke could have sworn it was Kharim who steadied it.
Somehow, the group began moving their efforts outside, although whether this was out of a desire for more room to move or part of an effort on Amankar's part to save her quarters from getting wrecked anymore, Sousuke could not tell. Papers and maps littered the floor. Bottles fell and shattered, leaking their contents all over the floor. Divad was propped up against the wall, nursing an arrow that protruded from his arm. One of Margrid's crew lay dead on the floor, blood seeping out from a gaping wound in his belly. Kharim was blocking the light in the doorway until he turned around and stomped over to the table, kneeling down until his face emerged. He didn't even look winded.
"Still alive, mouse?" he asked.
Sousuke dropped the fire in his hands and said, "Do I look dead to you?"
Sparing a grin, Kharim reached in and pulled him out from underneath the table.
"Call back yer spells. I need you to cover me," he said, dragging Sousuke behind him towards the door.
"I won't be able to control it without a fire rod," he protested.
"I didn't say it had to be good, jus' make sure no one gets close." Kharim raised his bow from the miniscule cover of the door frame. Luckily, the bulk of the battle had migrated to the area surrounding the plank between the ships. Sousuke had to assume that the captains were somewhere in there. The activity was too thick to make them out. Cannons were going off on either side, determined to sink the other ship. A cannonball from Margrid's side rammed into the mainmast, breaking off the top half. It fell onto an abandoned portion of the deck, taking the crow's nest with it.
No one came remotely close to the doorway, from which Kharim was unleashing several waves of Barrage on Margrid's crew. The crew member lying dead on Amankar's floor was not as dead as he looked. In a last ditch effort for revenge, he stumbled to his feet, sword drawn, and lunged at the pair of them. Had his desperate cry not alerted Sousuke, he probably would have succeeded. He slammed a fireball into the man's wound when he was just feet away. His cowl had slipped over his eyes, but his gaping, scream-less mouth told the story. He crumpled to the ground again, the cloth around the wound bursting into flames. He was probably gone before hitting the ground. His dead weight extinguished the flames underneath him.
Sousuke turned around, grinning despite himself at what he considered to be a good save when he saw Kharim standing stiffly like a statue, arrow poised and ready but not firing. He seemed to be caught in his own world. Sousuke looked around him to see what had caught his attention.
Margrid had Amankar pinned beneath her. They were entangled, knife hovering in two tight pairs of fists between them. Everyone around them was occupied, completely oblivious to the desperate struggle in their midst. Everyone except for Kharim and Sousuke. The Corsair had the perfect shot right in front of him, he was staring at it down the shaft, or so the elementalist imagined. One shot to Margrid's head and she would roll harmlessly to the side, off of Amankar. He could save his captain with one tiny movement.
Sousuke held his breath, waiting for the arrow to release. He watched beads of sweat glisten off Amankar's brow as she held the knife at bay. At any moment she would be released, her attacker limp at her side.
So why in the name of Dwayna was it not happening? The arrow stayed cocked. Kharim remained unmoving.
A little nervously, Sousuke slowly reached out and grasped the silken fabric of the Corsair's sleeve.
"Master?"
It could not have been said above a whisper, but to him, it sounded more like a scream. The only indication that Kharim was acknowledging his presence was a harsh intake of breath. But the man's concentration never broke.
"Master, she will die...why do you not..."
The bloody body of another Corsair knocked into Margrid, jarring her loose. Amankar shoved them both aside and stood up, panting.
That was what Sousuke saw before he was thrust back into the room, behind the wall and out of sight from the action. He looked up, startled, into a slightly glazed pair of fudge-brown eyes staring into his. But they were distant, as though they were not really seeing him there.
"Stay here. Don't move," Kharim commanded in a low voice, sounding far from the detachment that his eyes portrayed. A second later, he was alone, Kharim having slipped onto the deck. He tried to recollect the images of what had just happened and found that none of them made any proper amount of sense. A navigator not coming to the aid of his captain. An action that directly interfered with one of the tenants of the Corsair Code. It didn't just not make sense. It was crazy.
Divad caught his gaze and he made a gesture for the pyromancer to come to his side.
"Hey rat, make yerself useful 'n help me get this thing out. It's stingin' like Grenth's touch!" he said. Sousuke obediently made his way over, almost unthinkingly, and fell to his knees beside the man. Divad did not have the strength left to pull it out himself and was looking rather pale with pain and blood loss. He was lucky he had not been trampled during the fight earlier. Sousuke took the arrow and pulled it out, trying his best not to twist the arrow shaft unnaturally and cause the head to grind into the wound more than it already would. Divad made a face, grimacing until the arrow came free and his face relaxed.
"You have a Healing Signet?" Divad asked him. When Sousuke shook his head, he said, "Fine, I'll wait 'til Doc can get to me. Now get lost."
So Divad hadn't noticed the episode at the door through his pain or Kharim's strange behavior. That was all right. Then no one had to tell Captain Amankar. And no one outside would notice them because of the shadow cast by the door frame. Neither of them were caught. It was all okay. So why was he so worried about it?
Because he knew that if anyone did tell the captain, Kharim could be called a traitor and accused of...mutiny wasn't it? And if Kharim was killed because of mutiny, then Sousuke would be left to the crew's mercy without his protection.
So that was what made him uneasy, really. So uneasy that he thought he might be sick. He had realized in those long moments just how much of his fate depended on Kharim while he remained with the Corsairs. If Kharim died, Sousuke would die, or possibly worse.
For his own sake, he had to find out why Kharim had paused. He wanted to know why the man had just endangered them both for no reason. But he had to wait for that. The battle on the deck was dying down as the men became exhausted. From the looks of things, Margrid had been pushed back onto her ship. Her crew fled as well, scurrying back across the narrow plank before it was severed and the pieces fell crashing into the sea. Amankar's crew jeered after them.
"Mark me words, Amankar. You will pay off yer debt if I have to chase you down to the the Realms of the Underworld to get my payment!" Margrid yelled across the gap. Even from a distance, she looked the worse for wear, with her face bloodied and her armor broken in several places.
"The day you get your debt will be the day a new god joins the Five! Now get yer sorry hide outta me waters!" A deafening round of cheers lifted after Amankar was done speaking.
Margrid's ship left them with the pace of a kicked puppy. Once they were out of distance from the insults being thrown after them, Amankar turned to address her crew.
"Throw the bodies overboard. Take any prisoners to the bow fer me to deal with! Salvage what you can of the mast. We ain't goin' nowhere until it's back up!" she hollered. "Well, don't stand here lookin' at me! Get to work!"
Sousuke watched the crew dissolve into their respective tasks. Kharim came back to the cabin. He looked neither pleased nor angry.
"Come on, mouse," he said shortly. "I need some maps from my room. I've gotta plot out a new course from here. They can do a quick fix for the mast, but we need better supplies if we want it fixed for good."
"Right," Sousuke said, a little disconcerted. He followed Kharim back through Amankar's quarters until they were in the dark corridor outside his room. He slowed his pace. His curiosity was becoming too much to bear.
"Master, why didn't you shoot Margrid when she was trying to kill the captain?" he asked. He expected anger. What he didn't expect was to be shoved against the wall by the fabric of his collar. He gasped and fear sent chills down his spine when he saw that the fudge-brown eyes had darkened to a muddy black.
"Speak a word of that to anyone and I will slit your throat instead," Kharim growled. Yes, it was scary, but at least now he knew that what he had seen was true and not just his own imaginings. Kharim had really hesitated. But Sousuke didn't like being on the receiving end of the potential violence this time.
"I wasn't going to," Sousuke said, gasping for breath. "If the captain found out, it would put me in danger too."
"You swear you won't utter a word?"
"I swear it."
The muddy rage relaxed, if only a little. The hand in his shirt did as well. He landed back on his feet, relieved. Kharim turned to unlock his door.
"But can I ask you one question, Master?"
His reply was a short grunt.
"You could have made that shot, right?"
The lock clicked and the door swung open. Kharim muttered, "What do you think?" before disappearing inside.