Zami laid helplessly on his stomach for days. Nobody came to see him again, not even Mythene. When he was thirsty, he'd drink from a nearby puddle of indistinguishable liquid. He didn't really want to know what it was, though he knew he'd certainly done worse before. As for food, he was a bit out of luck. He'd tried his best to lure the attention of one of the scampering rats, but they obviously weren't taking the bait and gave him a wide berth.
The growling of his stomach served as a sort of calendar. The rumblings got significantly louder with each passing day. Knowing the trip from Ratchet to Booty Bay should take about a week in total, and he'd been brought down on the first day of the trip, he could guess it was about the fifth day.
Time was a lot easier to determine, even without any view to the outside world. He'd come to rely upon the activity of the rats to determine a day and night cycle. He knew rats were nocturnal, so he took their presence as a sign of nightfall.
It was during the night of the fifth day when something finally happened.
"Excuse me, sir," A familiar voice spoke from the deck above, "I'm looking for my friend and I can't find him. I've already searched everywhere in the ship except for the cargo. So if I could just pop down for a moment-"
"No way, lady," A goblin responded, "We got orders that nobody's allowed into the hold til we reach Booty Bay."
"But I need to find him quite urgently."
Zami tried to speak but his throat was too dry to produce any sound.
"You deaf, lady? Not until we reach Booty Bay."
"Please, I'll be very quick."
"Do I gotta escort you to the captain?"
"...No."
"Then get lost."
Zami frowned as the conversation fell silent. There was suddenly a mysterious thudding on the stairs. Zami perked an eyebrow as a goblin sailor fell down onto the floor next to the base of the stairs. A moment later, Mythene stepped over the unconscious goblin. She looked around for a moment, squinting against the darkness.
Zami tried to move, but it was practically impossible. Days without moving and no food made him feel incredibly weak. Fortunately, after a moment, Mythene uttered something under her breath and her hands began to glow. The light illuminated the hold well enough, making Zami's eyes water. Upon seeing Zami, she quickly hurried over to him.
"Thero'shan!" She crouched down next to him, "Are you okay?!"
Zami looked at her flatly, since he wasn't able to say anything.
"Here, let me get those ropes off of you," She said quickly, drawing a familiar knife from her side.
Zami furrowed his brow, seeing his skinning knife, flicking a curious glance up to her.
"I knew it didn't make any sense," She said quietly, shaking her head, "They said you snuck back off the ship before we departed, but I remember that I was with you when we cast off. And then I found this among your brother's things."
Mythene nodded towards the knife as she began to cut through the ropes.
"I don't really know who that old troll is," Mythene continued, "But your brother hangs on every word he says. Most of them are obvious lies. Well, obvious to everyone except your brother, it seems."
Zami nodded solemnly as Mythene finished cutting the rope and then disentangled them from his body.
"Chains," Zami managed to say weakly.
"Hm? Chains? Wha-" She glanced down, seeing his ankles were chained, "Oh…"
"Need...pick," He mumbled, sitting up slowly.
"A pick? A lockpick?"
Zami nodded. Mythene quickly stood up and looked about for a moment, trying to find something in the cargo hold that he could use as a lockpick. As she was searching, there was a sound on the stairs. Both of them looked over to see the goblin sailor was gone.
"Oh dear," Mythene mumbled, "That is certainly not good."
She returned to searching with greater haste. After a moment, she hurried back over to Zami.
"Here, will any of these work?" She asked, holding out a fishing tackle box.
Zami opened it, looking through at the various hooks and bobbers. Picking up one particularly large hook with a long stem, he sat back and began to work it into the lock. As he listened to the sound of the pins shifting, a group of heavy footsteps sounded on the deck above them. Mythene bit her lip anxiously as the footsteps drew closer overhead.
Meanwhile, Zami furrowed his brow as he focused on the sounds coming from the lock. After a moment, the first shackle came loose with a loud click. Without skipping a beat, he moved to working on the second lock. As the pins clicked into place, the footsteps were coming down the stairs. As the second shackle popped open, Zami quickly reached out and grabbed Mythene's hand, taking a deep and ragged breath.
A group of sailors of various races hurried down the stairs with boxed lanterns in their hands, spreading warm light all throughout the hold. They quickly dispersed to examine every last corner, every nook and cranny. Mythene held her breath, squeezing Zami's hand as several sailors came right up to them, but saw nothing.
"They're gone," An orc sailor muttered, holding his lantern towards the opened shackles, "Come on, they couldn't have gotten far. Let's check the orlop deck."
And with that, the sailors all hurried up the stairs. Mythene exhaled at last as Zami lowered his stealth. A beat passed before both of them quickly retracted their hands away from each other.
"Dat was...too close…" Zami mumbled, rubbing his face.
"What's going on here, thero'shan?" Mythene asked, "Why are they keeping you prisoner down here?"
"I dunno," Zami frowned.
"Could it be the Emerald Coven?" She asked as she removed a waterskin from her hip, holding it out to him.
Zami took it quickly and drank his fill as fast as he could, like he thought it was all going to evaporate in a few seconds or something. After he was finished, he gave a satisfied sigh before handing the empty skin back to Mythene.
"Maybe, but I dunno how dey would be involved, or even know we be here," He shrugged, "But I do know he be involved, at least."
"Who be-er who is?"
"Jumi," Zami grumbled, spitting the name like it was venom in his mouth.
When Mythene looked back at him in confusion, he sighed lightly.
"Da old troll," He explained, "...My fa'da."