40
The ominous shape on the horizon gained on them faster than the wind, galloping closer as Alroh seemed to only ever inch. The shore wasn't close enough to escape to, and the seemingly treacherous crags and sandbars they avoided earlier would have helped slow down their pursuers. But now that they were out on the open ocean, there was no where to go and no where to hide.
Corsairs in these parts were known to be much more voracious and relentless than their counterparts near the Stepstones. Corsairs here docked amongst the rocky coves on the shores of the Basilisk Isles, off the northeastern coast of Sothoryos. In his time with the Captain, Har had many a run in with corsairs and pirates of all sorts. More often than not, they were easy enough to out run. Much like wild predators of the animal kingdom, corsairs are mostly only able to catch and overtake the weakest and slowest of ships. But the few times they were caught, it was only after the bloodiest of fights that they would ever retreat back into the sea, and of those times, Har only ever remembered them leaving after being dropped overboard, lifeless.
Aegon called directions to crew directions to maximize the gusts, trying to outrun the much swifter ship now behind him, still gaining. With each chop of the waves, they seemed to jump closer and closer to their stern off the port side. When they came into view, Aegon looked at the ship. It was a large galley, not fully a war galley, but something custom built and ravishing. Even from the distance, it seemed to glow golden off the glare of the water. The wood of the ship was a pale yellow, almost white. Not weirwood, but something as exotic. The sails flapped, marked with a peculiar emblem. It was a woman colored in teal standing on the back of some creature, holding reins as if riding it. The creature had the body of a dolphin and the head of a dragon or seahorse and the shape was surrounded in a purple sun with four points, seemingly north, south, east, and west. There were twenty oars on each side, churning the water like a maid butter, relentlessly propelling the ship nearer.
Chekka yelled to Aegon to speed up, almost begging. "How? We have no oarsmen?" Aegon replied.
"You have me." Chekka said, "Where do I go?"
"You'd need another on the other side to counter it. Take Trihknee down there, where you see those staffs and seats, you see them?" Aegon said, pointing to oars, a place he spent so much of his life.
"What do I do with it?" Chekka asked. Aegon was already manning the rudder and the sails himself. He couldn't go down and demonstrate for him.
Aegon tried to explain it, "You push and pull the staff in one continuous circle, pushing at the top curve and pulling at the bottom curve. Use your legs. Your arms will get tired in a heartbeat if you don't."
"That's with your puny arms," he chuckled.
"Go. Now. They're gaining."
They ran down, though Aegon already knew it didn't matter. Nahknani came to him asking, "What are we going to do?" She clutched him as he was trying to steer and almost got knocked over.
"Sorry," he apologized and acknowledged her question without answering it, "I'm doing everything I can at the moment." He didn't know how to answer her yet.
Aegon thought about it. Some craven captains would order their men to hide during raids from pirates rather than risk their lives or their crews'. Some even more craven, only had a small designed hiding spot for themselves, but of the men he'd heard of, most sunk in their ship, locked away, as pirates either sink or steal boats with no resistance. Others would seek to parlay, offering their wares willingly, without a fight, but with the dignity of looking the pirate in the face. Those, though, left their fates to the honor of corsairs, the likes of whom have not been known to be an honorable bunch.
Fighting was the only way Har believed in, but was Har right? Could there be another way?
A galley that size, with that many rowers, would be stuffed to the stern with men ready to kill them. With the Brindled people on his side, he'd be able to overtake a few of the boarding party, but eventually, their numbers would overwhelm them. And for what? A few bundles of food, four swords, and a barrel of black powder the corsairs couldn't know the value of? Why would anyone involved risk their lives for such a poor prize? Sure, nine out of every ten corsairs would sell any captives into slavery, and out of the one out of ten, nine out of those ten would just kill anyone anyway, but if Aegon gave it to them willingly, maybe they would be kind enough to allow them to live and be on their way. And if whoever the parlaying captain wouldn't be so kind, Aegon was quick enough with the dirk to at least kill him. The rest of his group would know what to do, and maybe leaderless, the pirates would scatter and flee. Yea, and maybe my dragonblood will help me fly.
It was a gamble, but Aegon decided parlaying would be their best option. Then, at least, he could offer himself up as a last bargaining chip and save his crew if it came to that. Aegon Velaryon was still worth land and titles in Westeros. That was more than any corsair could hope to find aboard a victim.
As it rolled, closer its bow crushing through the waves, climbing the choppy mountains of waves and gliding down them until the golden ship was almost on them, approaching from the port side. Aegon countered by moving back until it was on their starboard side, their captain clearly setting up the boarding party port. As it came closer into view, he noticed its bow was adorned with a woman, or so it looked like. Not a mermaid or a representation of a goddess, it seemed, but a woman dressed in common garb, her face more angry than seductive. Most corsairs would garnish their rams with a nude, beautiful woman. It was strange to see a face so strong and fierce where there was usually something so pleasing. He feared for the type of man that would make that choice.
Aegon continued to swerve, each ship jockeying back and forth for position. Aegon heard Chekka from below yelling to him that he was going to be ill if the boat continued to rock so hard. Aegon replied by turning the boat hard again to the starboard side, catching a small gust the best he could, trying to escape, seemingly helplessly, as the chase had felt like a full day, but had been in real time only an hour or two. He heard Chekka retch from below. He did the best he could, but all they were doing now was wasting time. He hadn't even responded to Nahknani when she asked him, so focused on every change in the wind's direction and the approaching doom the golden boat represented.
It was time. He tied off the rudder and sails and huddled down to his group to explain the plan. He left out the last bargaining chip, for he would explain it to them after he did it if he had to. He wasn't sure if he didn't want them offering him up first, or not allowing it at all and dying for his cause. Well, all except for Trihknee. He assumed she didn't like him very much anymore. She would almost certainly turn him in if he could.
Aegon stood near the rudder, patiently awaiting the boarding party as he waited for JaHahn. There was no planned surprise attack. Even if they caught the corsairs by surprise, how could they hope to defeat so many. Forty, fifty, maybe? They'd still all die.
Aegon just stood, cautiously optimistic of the make shift approximation of a plan he was trying, but still gravely aware of the consequences of a wrong turn. Men seemingly poured onto their boat, flooding it in teal silk doublets not at all in line with what a corsair might where. Their hems were all seemingly stitched with fine needle work. Their footwear was all cobbled. They all seemingly had their teeth that he'd seen. No band of corsairs could ever claim to as fine a collective of teeth than these pirates. All of them, gleaming white chompers, none missing. And among them, there were more women than he had ever imagined would be on a ship of scoundrels and scallywags.
They flooded the ship and surrounded him, his stance motionless, but passive, allowing the tips of their short swords to be pointed at him with some distance. They're even polite enough to honor my personal space. Who the fuck are these pirates?
The rest of them, and it did seem all of forty men and women, searched to boat, claiming all their valuables like ants on a forest floor, each time something was found, it was brought back to their boat without hesitation, as more looked for the rest of it. Within minutes, the entire boat was searched, and the other three crew members were easily found. There was no use hiding Brindled Men in a boat so poorly constructed. Where they fuck would you put two women and a man so large? He prayed to the gods that Nahknani would be safe. They didn't seem to touch her. Good. He thought. Maybe they can hear me.
The rest would take even more divine intervention. "I seek to speak with your captain." Aegon said in Valyrian.
"You seek parlay?" A man said, his voice softer and smoother than one would expect.
"Yes."
"Very good. We could use a good show. For what you have aboard, you better prove entertaining. This was more a waste of energy than anything." He twirled the purple half cape around him and marched back toward his ship to fetch his captain. Aegon locked eyes with Nahknani and tried to appear strong. She was visibly shaken. He mouthed, "Its going to be okay." He didn't know if she understood. That phrase in Valyrian was hard for him to remember.
Then the men that surrounded him parted in unison as if they'd practiced. From the folding teal men, a procession of six shirtless men carried a throne on two iron poles that had teal and purple swirls forged into them. Atop them sat a golden throne, thin but gilded, with ornate carvings in the shapes of coral. The captain seated on it wore sheer purple breeches or trousers, thought they flowed more like a robe or dress. The doublet to match was a deeper teal than the crews', stitched and etched with the same creature on the sail. The shoulders were wrapped in a dark lavender cloak with teal trimmings that hung down and under where the captain sat.
She was a woman. A striking beautiful woman with purple eyes and white hair. Her skin was golden, kissed by the sun into a warm glowing shine that almost emanated off her. Her hair was tied and braided to one side, though thicker and more elaborately than a Dothraki, her hair seemingly crowning her head. Her dark eyebrows were a stark and startling contrast from the light features of her hair and eyes, and though beautiful, her face seemed intimidating and grave. She wore a smile on her face, with slight dimples in her rouged cheeks, but it wasn't a happy grin or a flirtatious look of intrigue, it maniacal and sinister, and it still turned him on.
She crossed her legs, and took a sip from her goblet as the men below her carried her to him. Her skin was covered from head to toe, but he could still make out the fullness of her frame. She was tall, and somewhat muscular for a woman, but still held her posture in a dainty and feminine way. Her silvery white braid hung down and propped on the shelf of her chest until it then curved back down to her waist, the curls near the bottom bouncing as they carried her, suspended in a floating waterfall from the tip of her breast. She tossed her drink back, gulped it, chugged it, then tossed the goblet to her crowd. They roared, as if adoring fans, and fought for it amongst themselves in a small scuffle. She wiped her mouth with the teal silk sleeve of her doublet and belched deep and loud. She gestured to her crowd, who all laughed in applause. When the men reached where Aegon was, they lowered the throne and she stepped off with a bounce.
"You say you seek parlay with me?" She asked. She carried herself like half a pirate and half a noble lady. He face was lined with the experience, not as much with age, as she herself couldn't be more than thirty to five and thirty. She wore thick dark makeup around her eye lids and lashes, which were long curled, and probably fake. She batted them after asking her question, as she looked Aegon up and down as Nahknani once had. "Why, ser, would I do such a thing as that?"
"I hoped, though in short supply, that I would be speaking to a man of honor. Lucky for me, it seems I won't be speaking to a man at all." Aegon replied.
"Lucky you say? May I ask why is it you are so lucky to parlay with a woman?"
"There's far more honorable women in this world then men, I've found."
"Indeed," she said, her scowl momentarily switching to a curious grin. "Have you found corsairs and pirates to be so honorable?"
"I have not. But then again, I've never been boarded by corsairs so finely dressed. And with enough taste to put a woman in charge, surely you are of a more honorable cut of corsair."
"Indeed." She smiled again. "What is your name, ser?"
"You can call me Harwin."
"That is not what I asked you, is it, Harwin? I have played that game as well. When those used to ask my name, I used to tell them to call me many things. For a time I was Moutain Laurel. For a time I was called Oleander. Both are beautiful flowers, but poisonous, too. Just how you said it is how I would say it to. 'You can call me Oleander.' Again, I ask you your name, ser?"
"Those who call into question my name would call me Harwin Snow. For most of my life I was Harwin Snow. I believe my true name to be Aegon Velaryon, but as I was orphaned so long ago, and I have little recollection of my birth and naming, I could be mistaken."
"Velaryon, huh? Strong name." She said, slowly stepping towards him, pulling the cloak off of her scabbard on her left hip. "There's money in a name like that. Why are you in the middle of the Summer Sea with no cargo and three beasts with a name like Velaryon?" She took another step until she was next to him. "You are Westerosi, no?"
Aegon couldn't get what she was playing at. He told her his name as to not provoke her, assuming she somehow might already know and avoid retaliation by her crew killing Nahknani or the others. He thought it would be the end of their discussion and he would be taken immediately. If she didn't already know his identity however, than she certainly wouldn't know about the secret bounty.
"More or less. I am not in good standing, lets say, with my kin. So, I'm not under their protection or employ, thus why I go by Harwin Snow."
"Okay, Aegon Velaryon Harwin Snow or whatever." She said, as she walked her two fingers over Aegon's shoulder to his chest. She poked him once playfully and said with a grin, "Why the fuck would I parlay with you, when," she looked around to her audience and paused dramatically, "I've already take every shitty little thing you have?"
"Like I said-"
"Yeah, we get it, 'honor'" she said in a mocking tone. "Well, let me tell you about me, Ser Aegon Harwin Velaryon Snow," she walked back, circled her throne, and sat back down, resting her foot on her knee. "I see a man with these brindled beasts on a boat with a Harpy on the sail, and the first thing I think of is slavers. Now, you're certainly the best looking slaver I've ever seen, but you're sailing on a slaver boat, with nothing of value other than slaves. Why would you keep mentioning honor to me when you clearly do not honor freedom? Men, take him, let us see how he feels with fetters and chains."
"Wait! Stop! He is no slaver. This man is saving our people from slavers!" Nahknani yelled as she reached through the men guarding her, holding her back from running to him.
"Stop!" The woman screamed back to her men. "Bring her here."
They seized Nahknani and brought her to their captain. "Gentle. There's no need to harm her." When she reached her, Nahknani stood straight and defiantly, staring straight past the beautiful pirate.
"What do you say of this man?" the captain asked.
"I said he is no slaver. He's killed many slavers if only to protect our people. He is foreign to our lands but still fights for honor. If it is honor he speaks of, its because he lives it." Nahknani said, never looking the woman in the face.
"Bring him back here," she said. Her men and women obeyed, and pushed Aegon back down to the deck in front of their captain. "Move her aside, but within listening distance. I want to make sure neither are able to lie to me." She looked down at Aegon and asked, "Does she tell it true? Are you not a slaver after all?"
"No. Fuck slavers."
"Aye. A man after my own heart." She offered her hand, "Here, stand."
Aegon reached for it. As he did, the woman quickly glanced at Nahknani, then back at him. "So, you're not a slaver, at least. That's good enough to start. But that still leaves us with my original question. What do you have to offer if you mean to parlay?"
"I will answer that in a moment, but since you know my name and what I call myself, can I ask your name, my lady?" Aegon said.
"You may ask, and to be true, you already have asked. You're capable of asking a question, yes. Can you know this? No. As I said. I've been called many names. I've been called many other things, too, but that's because of the depravity of men, not because I enjoy colorful language. Now answer my question. What do you have to offer me?"
"We have already given you our offering."
"Those meager food rations and weapons? This is what you offer? Remember, I already have that shit in my possession. How can you claim to treat with things you don't even have in your hands?"
"That is not all we've given you, though admittedly our plunder is minimal. We've given at least ten of your men, maybe as many as twenty, of your men their lives. We put up no resistance to your boarding and have made all your lives the easier if only for today. Take our things and your lives. You may even have the ship, just take us close enough to land or give us a row boat to get ashore. We can all continue our lives and reek further havoc on slavers, if you would allow us to live, that is." Aegon sensed she had as much disdain for the slavers as he had. He hoped it would be enough to bargain with.
"That's so very kind of you to consider, ser, but we are not goodwill hunters, we are pirates and we seek booty!" He turned to her fans as they cheered. "Let me tell you a little more about myself, Aegar, I'm going to call you Aegar. When I was only seven, I was sold to a pleasure house in Lys to be trained in the seven sighs. I was little more than property. On my eleventh nameday, when I was to be sold, a beautiful Westerosi woman bought me and freed me the next day. She said I could live in the streets as a whore, or come with her to her manse and live a free woman under her roof. She said she was lonely and needed a companion. Obviously, I accepted."
"She told me she was once a princess in your land, until she wanted control of her womanhood and her father tried to strip it away from her. She wasn't 'lady-like' enough, or proper, so they tried to turn her into a servant for the gods. She fled and worked her way from nothing to something, then something more, and she used the power of her body to take control of her world. She died with everything I ever wanted as a child. Money. Land. Wealth. Influence. But she died still sorrowful for what she'd lost."
"When she died, the Volantenes did not honor her decision to bequeath me her estate, and confiscated it, leaving me little more than a bag of silver and the clothes on my back. I fought through this disgusting world the same way she taught me, using my talents to seduce a triarchy and blackmailing him for a third of his wealth. I told his wife anyway. After that, I took my money to Braavos, becoming a courtesan by the name of Oleander, with my own pleasure barge and a bouquet of lovely little flowers all around, men and women, free to leave when they wanted, but also free to make money the way I did."
"But after years of having sex with fat old men, too drunk off booze and power to thrust hard enough to feel, I needed to break free, again. I had become the same sorrowful woman as my mentor. I had money. My own boat. Wealth. And more influence than almost anyone in Braavos, as I was the Sealord's own mistress, or so he thought. But I was still unhappy. I was still a slave."
"I ordered the Sealord to commission this boat, Terrax, and since, I've pirated the seas as, Lady Belaerys, Queen of the Summer Seas. Jaenara Belaerys was always my favorite story as a child, and it felt right to patrol above the Green Continent she explored."
"It is a pleasure to meet you Lady Belaerys." Aegon said, cordially.
"Yes. It might be. So, there is nothing else you have to offer, Aegon?"
"Nothing else."
"Maybe there is," she said with that same sinister smile. A smile similar to the one Nahknani would sometimes give him. "As a woman whose spent so much of her life pleasing men, I have come to appreciate a man that can please a woman more than most. I am done with fucking men who think they get to have me. I want to fuck who I want. And as I look at you, that's what I want." She smiled, and quickly glanced at Nahknani, then back at Aegon. "I want you to fuck me and if you please me, I'll honor your parlay. I want you to fuck me in front of all these people and we'll all decide if you deserve to go on pleasuring the women of the world or is that beautiful physique just a tease for the next girl you deceive. What do you say? Do you agree to my terms?"
Aegon didn't look at Nahknani, but he could feel her eyes on him. If she only knew what he was thinking, she could relax, but he could only imagine the pain in her heart as she assumed he would take the opportunity to lay with such a strikingly gorgeous pink woman, a Valyrian looking woman, in fact. The girl of Har's dreams.
"Before I answer, may I ask you a question?" Aegon responded.
"It seems you already have again. But yes, you may ask yet another."
"Did the woman who freed you die wishing for love?"
"I could not say. I knew not of what made her sad." She said.
"Frankly, since you caught me before with my name, that is bullshit. The woman passed down her wealth to you and you knew nothing of her pain and sorrow. That is as much a lie or more than my name. At least I slanted my phrasing to mislead you. You just outright lied."
"Yes I did. It was not my truth to tell, nor your truth to know," she growled. She composed herself and shook her head as she continued, "You test me, Aegar, though I like the challenge. Hopefully you will be as formidable an opponent with your sword, and I don't mean that tiny thing on your hip."
"Unfortunately, Lady Belaerys, I will have to decline your offer. Hopefully that doesn't mean I still have to show you my sword."
"And why would you deny me such an easy request?"
"The reason you left Braavos is the reason I decline. I cannot use sex as currency. In this instance, it is because I have found the thing your mentor so longingly desired, and I would not risk that for the chance to get in you. I mean you no offense, but as I can sense your pretense, I believe you never meant for me to fuck you anyway."
She stood from her throne and clapped her hands. She started slowly, almost sarcastically, then sped up and jeered on her crowd to continue, going as far as to adding hooting to the cheers. Nahknani, Trihknee, and Chekka were stunned. Their faces twisted and searched the scene for some sense of clarity they would never find. Especially Trihknee, who probably didn't understand one word of any of the conversations that were said, for the entire pirate crew to now be cheering the Drahkness Kahn.
"So, you are in love with this one," Lady Belaerys asked, pointing to Nahknani. "Do they even have pussies?"
"Yes, they seem every bit as human as you or I."
"I could tell she felt it. All women in love look at me like that when I speak with their men. I just wanted to see if you were truly an honorable man, or just another hound with its pink dick out, waiting to fuck the first thing wet enough." She turned and looked at Nahknani, "You are exotically wonderful, that's for sure. You could make a fortune in the right place with the right clientele. Too bad though, sweetling, we could've worked something out with the three of us all together."
"I'm not one to share," Nahknani said, smiling as nicely as she could.
"If it's all the same to you, since it's just the four of you and we will be taking this ship once you've reached your destination, would you care to join my crew and I in some libations and song?" Lady Belaerys asked, the sinister smile returning again.
Aegon looked to Nahknani. She seemingly looked back, saying with her eyes, "I want her to fucking go away, but since she can't, say yes, but don't go near her ever again." He assumed her eyes said as much. They could have said, "No," but if he said that, they'd be swimming ashore.
"Consider you and your crew formally invited onto our boat. But we never agreed to you getting the boat," Aegon said.
"Well if you're not going to fuck me, I'm going to need something."
"The boat will do." Nahknani said, stepping next to Aegon and grasping his arm and clutching it tightly.
When night fell, the entire crew of both boats were drinking, eating, and singing. Aegon didn't know any of the songs or even the melodies, but he, Nahknani, Chekka, and Trihknee, were still drunk enough to try to sing along. "Is this how pink men celebrate, your grace?" Chekka asked, yelling over the singing.
"Yes, and don't call me that until they leave." It seemed they were in the clear, but Aegon didn't want to chance it.
The whole boat rocked back and forth, as the crews were singing and dancing. One woman got up on a platform, like a raised dais, and called for men to dance to seduce and win her in front of the crowd. Each man jumped up and performed a sensual dance for her and the crowd to the roars of many men and women. When she chose her winner, they demonstrated his prize for all to see, prompting other men and women to begin kissing and touching each other in the audience. They were dressed like a Westerosi court, but they were still as savage as Dothraki, copulating in public beneath the stars. Proper pirates finally.
When they were finished, the crowd cheered with a roar. One mans voice yelled, "That's it," which prompted a roar of drunken laughter from the crowd. When the couple got off the dais, Trihknee climbed up, almost falling, and yelled out to the crowd in her tongue. She gestured enough for everyone watching to know, she meant to do the same as the previous woman. Even going so far as to expose her lower lips for a flash, which incited a roar from the crowd louder than any before.
A few men quickly jumped up, dancing to claim her. She watched, interested enough, but not impressed. Aegon ran to Chekka and nudged him, saying, "Get the fuck up there, she's waiting for you."
"No, she wants one of these other pink men. Look how hard she went after you." He said.
"You don't get it. She wants you to win her. She's not interested in that idiot," he said pointing to the elder drunken man, fully nude, with his old wrinkled manhood swinging around to the laughter of the crowd. "Get up there and fuck her senseless."
With that, he stood, his face somewhat flush, which he'd never seen a Brindled person's skin do before. He stepped powerfully towards the dais and leaped on top of it with one smooth and easy hop. He stood before Trihknee, picked her up with one arm and ripped off her vine wrap with the other. He threw her down, the whole boat seemed to shake, and he stood abover her, unwrapping his own garments, and exposed himself to her. She smiled as she did in the tent covered in the slavers blood, but she was looking up at him, naked on the stage in front of the entire crews of both ships. He lowered himself down to her and took her right there.
Aegon looked away, as the crowd kept chanting, "Go, go, go, go!" He looked to Nahknani, who was looking away as well, "Let's find our own spot."
She smiled and nodded. They crept away as the boat chanted their show and found a quiet corner toward the back of the boat where no one could see.
She kissed him. Raking her teeth against his lips hard enough, but gently. He shoved her back up against the wall behind her and gripped her ass hard with one hand and the side of her face gently with the other. She slid her vine covering over and pulled his dick out from his breeches. He lifted her up and entered her, sliding in and pushing her up against the wall. Locked with both her lips, he kissed and pushed into her, the skin of his member caressed by the smooth wet sensation of her sex, and the blood rushing from his brain to its tip. He pushed and she whispered, "More," in his ear. He pushed and she whispered, "Yes." Pushed, "Oh. Oh. Yes. Yes."
"Can I watch, I've never seen anything like this before," Lady Belaerys said, turning the corner and scaring the hells out of Nahknani and Aegon both. They didn't stop though, he just stopped thrusting for a moment to realize what was happening. The two looked each other in the eyes, shrugged, and Aegon continued to thrust again, bending the wooden wall behind them with each push. The former courtesan reached her hand down into her lap as Aegon continued into Nahknani. Each woman began to moan, and the courtesan came over next to them. He touched Nahknani's chest and exposed her breasts. They bounced as he thrusted into her, and the courtesan's fingertips traced around her erect nipples. Aegon continued to push, faster and faster, his member pulsing, his body tingling and numb and hot all at the same time. He couldn't hold himself any longer.
He finished, pushing into Nahknani deep, and held her there against the wall, the courtesan gently caressing their sweating bodies. Out of breath and in ecstacy, Aegon tried to speak, but he couldn't, as his legs quivered underneath the fully euphoric feeling from his heart to the tip of his dick. "Was that as good for you as it was for me, sweetlings?" She asked, readjusting her silk doublet and trousers.
The two of them sighed and smiled. Aegon put Nahknani back down, and both put the rest of their clothes back on. "It seems your friends are still going." Lady Belaerys said, referring to Chekka and Trihknee who were still on the dais.
"I'm all settled on that front, may we depart your company, my Lady. Nahknani and I would retire for the evening." Aegon said, showing as much upper class etiquette as he could remember.
"What the fuck are you asking me for?" she replied. "I'm as drunk as either of you, and we're on your fucking boat. Well, it will be mine soon, but for, now. For now, its yours. Still."
"Good evening Lady Belaerys," Nahknani said, nodding and pulling Aegon away.
"Good to meet you, Nahknani. Aegon. Good night."
In the morning, the two ships made their way towards shore. Lady Belaerys said the volcano wasn't and knew of a cove they could dock in that would keep them hidden while they landed. From there, she said, she knew nothing of the land, but as far as run ins with corsairs went, meeting her and her crew went about as well as anyone could ever dream. Chekka and Trihknee connected. They connected seemingly all night, according to some of the crew. Aegon and Nahknani got lucky in more ways than one, and more than once. And all were still alive. Aegon though when I said we're fucked, I didn't mean it that way. He chuckled to himself.
"Join us, Lady Belaerys. We mean to kill slavers and end their plot against the Brindled Men. We could use a crew like yours." Aegon asked as they began docking the ship to depart.
"This seems a suicide mission to me. No need to get involved with any of that righteous bullshit. Good luck, and all, but we won't be joining you anytime soon." She replied.
"We need that keg of black charcoal for what we are to do." Aegon said.
"You don't get this whole pirate thing do you. I could have already killed you a hundred times or more. The only reason I let you live is because it was more fun to watch you fuck than to see you struggle for air." She said coldly. "But fine, the barrel is yours."
They unloaded the ship and climbed ashore. Aegon took some rope and fashioned straps to hold the barrel as they traveled with it. Two people could hold it or one person could hold it on their back with their two arms through the handles. As Aegon's group set off on foot and Lady Belaery's set off with their two ships into the Summer Sea, Aegon wished her farewell, "Good luck, my Lady. Hope to never see you again."
"Good luck, Aegar. May you find what you're looking for." She yelled as the golden boat Terrax made its way out into the Summer Sea.
A/N
Thanks for reading and stay inside and safe. Hope everyone is healthy and happy.
