CH 12 A ship ride

"I still can't believe Reaver agreed to this."

Adam was now dressed in Gary's clothing, shook his head in disbelief. "I mean, what could you have possibly done to convince him that this plan would work?" He scoffed.

"Well first off, I convinced him that it was his brilliant plan. Second, he doesn't have to be the bait. Remember, he is still trying to make himself more…" I gestured with my hands as Adam was loosely binding them

"Attractive? I think that's the right word."

"Alluring?" Adam suggested.

"Oh yah, that works." I agreed with a grin. His eyes pinched in the corners as he grinned, his smile covered by the assassins coat that came up to his nose.

The walk down to the docks and around the cliff side was peaceful in the warm light of the afternoon sun. Even if the walk was to the waiting boat to take us back to see the wanna-be pirate king. Even with my hands tied and a piece of cloth around my mouth to act as a gag. Real peaceful like. Well at least I was in a comfortable cotton shirt and pants. Emily was kind enough to hand me the fresh clothes instead of the harlot outfit Reaver had picked. Seriously, what was he thinking? I would have been helpless in that corset with the lacy, stringy things and layered skirt. Maybe that's what he wanted, the bastard.

I felt a presence on the edge of my awareness and pushed it away. The last thing I needed was to get distracted or lose control. A shiver ran down my back as I remember what she- what I did to Gary.

"Do you know who got suckered into cleaning up that mess?" Adam asked, his voice muffled from wearing the assassins mask.

By the time Gary had spilled his guts and some of his teeth, Captain Rorix and his crew had the goods ready to be taken off their ship so Reaver had to excuse himself but not before granting poor Gary a little bit of mercy. Norman, Adam and I had formed a plan, which Reaver took full credit for, to use Gary's assassins clothes to get onto the ship. Adam was similar in build, eye and hair color so he got to act as Gary. Norman was waiting by the docks to take one of Reaver's faster ships to follow us. We would just have to send a signal to Reaver and the crew to attack when the time came.

"Emily should have been in charge of that, poor girl. She's such a sweet heart!" I responded with a little difficulty from the mouth gag. Adam "led" me to the shore line where, if we were lucky, a small crew of sailor waited to take us to The Sirens Match. I pretended to struggle every once and a while since leaving the mansion, Adam acting to restrain me. The plan would go up in smoke if people thought it was a sham.

"Yah she's something, ain't she?" Adam sighed. I bumped into him and he nudge me back.

"Why not ask her on a date if you're so smitten? After all of this is done with, I think it would be a great idea. Right now though, I need your head in the game. We can't risk botching this up."

"Speaking of head, why are we carrying this idiot's head in a bag? What if they ask to see Reaver's head and notice it's Gary's?", his voice lowered so it wouldn't travel far on the beach.

"Just say it's for the Pirate Kings eyes only" smiling as he avoided the Emily dating question. My ears flicked as I picked up the noise of waves hitting wood. Looking ahead of us, I saw the small ship with five sailors just as Gary had mentioned. I would kill for my sunglasses right now, everything was so dam bright! A growl began in my chest, but I smothered it before if could rise up.

"Alright, you ready to work?" I asked. Adam nodded and in a gruff voice responded, "I got your back."

The sailors noticed us a few minutes later and hooted with laughter and cheers.

As Adam forced me onto the deck, I gave the sailors my trademark 'back the fuck off' glare and most of them did. Adam's glare and grimace was equally avoided. The largest of the sailors, probably the leader of this group, approached.

"Well, this is certainly a surprise. One of Captain Riley's assassin's pulled it off. Tell me you blood stained freak, how did you manage to snag the bitch and kill his royal narcissistic ass?" The big man prodded the bloody bag with his foot.

Adam sneered, "A true killer never reveals his secrets" his voice deeper and rougher. According to Gary, this brutish bastard was Denis, the head runner for Captain Riley.

One of the other sailors with a dim witted expression responded, "I thought that was magicians? " someone else whacked him over the head and called him a dolt.

Adam led me past Denis and down to the hull where Gary was supposed to have taken me. I gave him bit of a hard time, letting him know he did great.

There was a small cell with a sleeping jailer next to it. Adam grabbed the keys unlocked the door and threw me in. Ok maybe he's being a little too good at this as I bounced off the wall and staggered to get my balance back. He propped himself on a barrel as the ship began to take off. 'Like hell I'm going to sit on this garbage heap of a ship, if it can even be called one. Ugh' There wasn't a dry place to sit, so standing it was.

We listened to the pirates above us run about, working to keep the ship on track. Adam and I exchanged a few looks while the ocean took the ship for a spin. With each wave that hit the side of the ship, a hard, slapping echoing filled the hull. I had to raise my arms over my head to block out the noise. Not even the jailer's snoring could block out the sound; it just made things worse. My only saving grace was how dark it was down here.

Adam's eyes squinted, trying to adjust so he can look around, while being nonchalant. I tried pacing, but the cell was too tiny to take more than a few steps. I did notice a few things below deck, mostly that it didn't contain any hammocks, very little supplies and the one person down here was asleep. No, no he isn't asleep. that little voice purred. I went to take closer look at the man, when the ship lurched and I fell backwards. The feel of cold metal hit the back of my head, causing pain that rang inside my skull. My body sank limply to the cold, wet floor and my head fell forward.

A large shadowy wolf paces in front of me. Snapping his jaws at nothing, snarling and growling as he rushes left and right. 'What is he attacking' I think in a haze when he turns large head towards me. His muzzle is blood red and burnt with fangs as big as my hand, glistening. I look into his eyes, two pools of fire. In them I can see the inferno of the sun, feel his thirst to chase after it. The blood lust hits my hard in the chest as he lunges towards me, looking for a way out.

I gasp as hands pull me up onto my feel. I scream, thrash and bite. My teeth only catch cloth. 'Why can't I hit anything' A sharp whistle brings my attention to the man in front of me, dressed in dark and blood stained clothes. He looks familiar… 'Oh shit the mission, how long was I out?'

Reaver and the world of Albion belong to Fable and Lionhead studios