"Yew see 'im in there?" The pirate asked, breathing in Null's ear. He had told himself he wouldn't flinch, wouldn't give these pieces of garbage the satisfaction. But it was really, really hard to avoid flinching with the hot, smelly breath of an unwashed canid in his face. "See that pretty boy sleepin'? Get a nice long look at 'im, cause ya won't be seein' 'im outside th' arena again after this."
Null didn't answer, instead choosing to look around at the other prisoners nearby. A bunch of grublins, a couple cells with giant arthropods - spiders, scorpions, and ants mostly - and a blue-scaled naga who gave him a weird look before trying to avoid the attention of Null's handler.
"Bah." The Skavenger scoffed, then tugged Null away. "Ignore th' freak show. Ye'll get plenty o' chances t' see 'em in the arena."
"You keep saying that, but I doubt I'll be allowed in the arena," Null said sardonically, "I'm sure I'll be given plenty of chances to see the floor, though, when I mop it."
"Shaddup, yew." The Skavenger yanked the chain of the collar, easily pulling Null off-balance. The one thing this bully could do that he had no way of ignoring. "Let's get ye up t' where ye'll be workin'."
It was, quite possibly, the worst tour Null had ever been on. That was kind of impressive, since the only other tours he'd ever been subjected to were a brief explanation of where everything was in the old schoolhouse back home and Apex showing him around his father's house - with his father present. Even old Dolus, piece of living garbage that he was, hadn't been this poor a host.
Still, he kept a mental map of where everything important was. The brig, the gladiator housing, the captain's quarters, the arena, the cannon bay, the barracks, the upper deck, the lower deck, the poop deck, etc., etc. The only place he wasn't shown was the treasure vault, which he correctly pointed out as his escort dragged him past. He had been briefly strangled for that one. By the end of the day, Null had a good knowledge of the ship's layout, which he would apparently be using for the rest of his life.
Not if he had any say, of course. He was already planning an escape. The plan was, admittedly, not good, but it was a plan. That was better than nothing, right?
It was certainly better than losing his mind despairing about his current situation.
At the end of his first day, Null was brought before Captain Krawl.
Krawl was a horrific thing to look at, an arthropod species like the beetles of the grove and grublins. But while beetles were… beetles, and grublins were related to flies, Krawl was a centipede. That meant he had, in theory, a hundred limbs. Null hadn't counted. Each limb was the same as the others, long and spindly with a three-fingered hand at the end. Except for the limbs that had been ripped off, of course. Krawl's face had a pair of antennae right in the middle, where his nose should be, and a pair of bulbous compound eyes on either side of his head. His mandibles clicked when he wasn't talking, rubbing against each other constantly. Krawl wore an oversized coat that smelled faintly of blood around his uppermost shoulders and many, many belts that held various kinds of pistol or dagger. Presumably he'd be a terror in combat, but Null had no intention of ever seeing that.
Krawl was always accompanied by his first mate, a well-groomed canid by the name of Silver. Silver's outfit consisted of a tailored uniform covered in awards, with a heavy firearm of some kind strapped to his back. Null had expected Silver to be the Captain's mouthpiece, being both very talkative and the only one of the two with vocal chords designed for the common language, but to his surprise Krawl spoke for himself.
"So." Krawl clicked his mandibles against each other. He had an odd accent, and his speech was frequently interspersed with clicking sounds as he forced his mouth to form words that were designed by species with tongues. He said everything with a slow, deliberate enunciation, though he had trouble with certain sounds. "This is the newest slave, yes?"
"Yes, cap'n." The canid that had dragged Null around all day saluted, drawing himself up from a slouch for the first time all day. "One've the scoutin' crews brought 'im back with th' white 'un."
"Why?" Krawl tilted his head to one side, orienting one of his bulbous eyes towards the canid.
"Said 'e'd be good motivation fer the white dragon, Sir." The canid held the salute, but he was beginning to sweat.
"The Storm - klik - has been most… effecktive. A champion in the… make-ing." Null kept his face carefully blank. That was what they were calling Apex? The Storm? Why? Krawl moved towards Null, his legs moving in an unsettling undulating pattern as he did. He smelled of rotting meat and blood, like something dead. Krawl clicked again, reaching down to grab Null's collar. The canid holding the chain relinquished it instantly. "A smart chhoice. The fruit of that sckout's labor is already - klik - blooming."
"The Storm truly is quite th' sight t' see. An evasive master. Shame ye missed it," Silver said, smirking.
"A motivation suchh as this… worcks best un-damaged," Krawl said, directing one of his compound eyes to Null. Null found it interesting more than frightening, to be honest. His escort for the day clearly though otherwise. Null could smell the sweat on him from here. Based on the twitching of his antennae, Krawl could too. The centipede used two of his three-fingered hands to move Null's collar a bit, then a third hand to brush at the scales where the collar had dug in during one of the canid's power trips. "A shhame that you - klik - did not see it the same way. Silver, assign this deck-hand an appropriate punishh-ment for damaging valuable ckargo."
"B-but Captain, I-," The deckhand protested.
"Did you man the ravages that brought the two dragons in?" Krawl asked.
"W-well no-,"
"Off with you. I am willing to be merciful - klik - and not open you up for my neckst meal. Report to Silver in the morning."
The canid deckhand scampered away with his tail between his legs - literally. Krawl returned his attention back to Null.
"What is your - klik - name, dragon?" Krawl asked.
"Null," He answered.
"And your friend? The arena Chhampion?"
"Apex."
"Apecks…" Krawl let out the most horrific sound yet, scratching his mandibles against each other to produce a screeching noise. After a moment, Null realized it was a laugh. "Very fitting. Tell me, Null. Do I frighten you?"
"A bit. You're quite a bit larger than me and you're very armed, so I am afraid of the possibility that you might use that to hurt me. But given what you just said and how you've treated me thus far, that possibility seems pretty distant at the moment," Null answered honestly.
"...I like this one," Krawl said, apparently to Silver, "Very armed." Another horrific screech, the equivalent to a laugh, apparently. "Yes. Assign Null to a job out of the sun. And give him a proper meal plan. He lacks meat."
"Yessir." Silver nodded.
"You are dis-missed, Null. Go to the slave quarters - you ckan find them I am shhoore. Report to Silver in the morning."
With that, Krawl reached down and looped the chain of Null's collar around the collar itself, the links clicking into place to hold in a coil. Then the centipede waved him off, scuttling to his quarters with that horrible undulating movement. Silver followed him close behind.
Null did as he was told, for now. There was nothing to be gained by rebelling. Not yet.
O-O-O
The next week was spent keeping his head down. Null cleaned the floors, moved things, and made sure to not draw too much attention to himself. He was given his daily tasks and he did them effectively. It wasn't too long before he was beneath the notice of most of the pirates, just another slave doing menial labor.
He even saw Apex, from time to time. Never while the wind dragon was awake - the arena must have been exhausting for him to be asleep so often. He was keeping himself unharmed, though, aside from some minor scrapes. Nero, the blue-scaled naga that was in the cell opposite Apex, was kind enough to let Null know how Apex was doing. That was good enough for now. As long as Apex was doing alright.
And that's how things were. Occasionally one of the pirates would pick a fight with him for no apparent reason, and he would ignore them until they either lost interest or Silver showed up to give them a stern talking to. Many a death threat was issued, and that usually meant that Null would be left alone for a few hours. That usually gave him enough time to go where he wasn't supposed to be, slinking around corners and hiding in shadows when anyone came nearby. It was actually kind of ridiculous how he hadn't been caught. It was like people just stopped noticing him when he didn't want to be noticed.
He'd even managed to get a peek into the treasure vault one time, and the sheer amount of gems in there was staggering.
But he didn't want to risk anything now. He'd snoop and poke his nose in places he wasn't allowed, and he had an excuse in mind to lie his way out if he got caught. But he didn't get caught, and he didn't leave anything out of place.
It was on a quiet day, where nobody had bothered him yet, that the situation changed.
He had been assigned to the upper decks for the day, out in the sun while he worked. He was to tar the deck, using a mop to spread it about and coat the planks with a water-repellant layer. The bitter, oily scent coming off the tar was the most hindering factor in his work, burning his nostrils and tormenting his sensitive olfactory receptors. But he persevered. He had to make as good an impression as possible if he was to get any sort of leverage.
It was during one of his frequent and necessary breaks that he saw something odd on the horizon.
For the entire time Null had been on the Lady Albatross, all he could see was sea in every direction. Other ships came by frequently, docking to the massive skyship for the duration of arena matches before they departed again, but that was it. No land, no visible sea creatures, just arena goers coming and going.
But today he could see something, floating atop the waves. For a few moments he thought it might be driftwood, or perhaps a piece of detritus cast off from a ship. Maybe a sea creature surfacing for a little bit. But as the tiny shape got closer, it became clear that it was none of these things. It was moving far too quickly to be tugged along by the waves, and it sat on the surface of the water too long to be a sea creature. And, to make things even more concerning, it was moving straight towards the skyship.
The Lady Albatross sat above the ocean, high enough that it never touched anything but the stormiest of waves. Nothing that came from the sea should be able to reach it. But something about this made Null feel uneasy.
Null looked up at the nearest mast, at the scout lazing away in the crow's nest. The canid Skavenger seemed to be dozing. This was a slow business day, after all. But Null needed him to be alert.
"Hey!" Null shouted up. When the scout ignored him, he sighed. He was lucky that his wings weren't bound - they probably thought he was too physically weak to pose a real threat, and that he wouldn't leave Apex behind. They were right on both counts. Null took off, flying up to the crow's nest and clearing his throat.
The Skavenger jumped, scrambling upright in moments. When he realized who had disturbed his nap, he scowled. "Whattaya want?"
"There's something rapidly approaching from… that direction." Null pointed at the dot moving over the waves. "I can't tell what it is from here, but it's moving fast."
"Really?" The Skavenger raised one brow. When Null nodded, he sighed and grabbed his spyglass, orienting it in the direction of the thing Null had spotted. After a moment he swore loudly.
"What is it?" Null asked.
"Bad. Real bad." The scout tucked away his spyglass and leaned over the edge of the crow's nest, putting both hands to his mouth as he shouted. "Tidestrider! We've got a tidestrider incoming!"
As the scout started ringing the emergency bell, a chill ran down Null's spine. Tidestriders were bad news. Bad news. Creatures made of water and coral. In areas with confirmed tidestrider activity, ships were found cut cleanly in half. The one thing that was certain to take out a tidsetrider was removing it from the water for a prolonged period, drying it out and killing it. But they lived in the ocean, so doing that was nearly impossible. And, of course, they were elementals. Because everything terrible in life was, apparently.
And now one was running towards the skyship at full tilt.
"Can it reach us?" Null asked the scout.
"Last one did," The Skavenger grumbled, "Get yerself belowdecks. Hopefully we get outta this one without anyone dyin'."
"All hands on deck!" Silver's voice echoed across the ship. "Slaves belowdecks, crew to cannons! We have a tidestrider on our hands!"
"Go on, git!" The scout snarled, waving one hand at Null. "'Fore the tidestrider gets here."
Null frowned and descended back to the deck. He was still in the middle of spreading tar across the deck, and if he stopped at this point it would be a pain to get going again. But then, he wasn't eager to die. Null picked up the mop and bucket and started heading down into the ship.
Before he could get there, the cannons went off. He heard the splashing of cannonballs hitting the water, but not the triumphant cheering he would expect of a direct hit.
The ship listed to one side as wood splintered and broke, and Null saw the tidestrider clearly for the first time as it leaped onto the deck.
It was bipedal, with pointed legs of water leading up to a torso composed mostly of warped yellow coral. In the center of its torso was its heart, the dark purple crystal that powered an elemental. Its arms were asymmetrical, with one being a trailing tendril of water that dragged along the deck behind it and the other being an enormous blade made of jagged red coral enwreathed in water. Its head was reminiscent of a crab, made of cast-off chitin and clam shells forming a mandibled mouth. It tilted its head for a moment, as if deciding whether or not Null would be a good first target. After a moment, it made up its mind, launching towards him at blistering speed.
It never managed to reach him, distracted instead by a barrage of magical blasts and bullets that collided with its form.
Captain Krawl had made his way onto the deck at some point, and was wielding his impressive array of pistols in his many arms. Some mundane, gunpowder weapons, some magic-powered mage pistols. The tidestrider changed directions, almost seamlessly changing targets, which gave Null a chance to throw the bucket of hot tar on it.
The elemental let out a hissing, bubbling sound as it recoiled, water pulling away from its torso as the tar blanketed its coral ribcage. The tidestrider careened over the other side of the ship, dragging its blade down the side and slicing it open as it went. It wasn't the reaction he had expected, but he would take it nonetheless.
Krawl said something, but it was drowned out by the sound of more cannons firing. When he tried to say it again, the tidestrider leaped back from the ocean onto the deck.
It had only been moments since he had thrown tar on it, but the effects were already visible. The coral composing its body was beginning to go gray, withering and shriveling up as it was unable to get water. The chitinous head of the creature opened in a silent roar as it rushed Null.
Krawl was there, half a dozen knives and short swords blocking the tidestrider's blade. The elemental retreated, just a bit, then dashed to one side and sliced the nearby mast. Null backpedaled to avoid getting crushed, and Krawl went the other direction.
The tidestrider was on Null in an instant, its blade swinging downwards with finality. Null was defenseless.
Well… almost.
He'd timed it just right. His claw wrapped around the crystal in the tidestrider's torso, and the entire thing froze. Its blade was the first thing to lose cohesion, hitting the deck and rolling a short distance, little more than a lump of dying coral now. The crystal in Null's paw went gray, slipping out of the tidestrider's torso as the creature lost all cohesion. Bits of clam shell and dead coral bounced off of the deck, and Null was left miraculously unscathed.
"Ckall - klik - Ckall out if you are harmed," Krawl said, his voice carrying in the sudden stillness.
"I've fallen… a fair ways, Cap'n." The scout's voice came from the fallen crow's nest. "Think me leg's broken, but I'm alive."
"Any - klik - otherss?"
Silence.
Null stared at the dead crystal in his paw. This was the third one. More proof that his touch negated magic. Interesting.
"You have - klik - defied my orderss."
Null looked up to see Krawl looming over him. The centipede was holding the stump of one arm to his chest, his clear blood slowly bubbling out of the place where his hand was. He must have been clipped by the tidestrider at some point, too fast for Null to see.
"That would - klik - normally be ckause for… punish-ment," Krawl continued. His face was inscrutable, unmoving aside from his mandibles and antennae. "How-ever…"
Krawl tilted his head, directing one of his compound eyes towards the lumps of dead coral on the deck.
"Your bravery is… ckommendable." Krawl changed his attention to the crystal in Null's paw. One of hs hands snatched it, quicker than Null could react. "And has pre-vented many wounds. You are re-lieved of your duties for the day. See me in my office tomorrow morning."
Krawl turned and left, legs undulating in a discomforting way as he did.
A/N:
Apologies to anyone who doesn't like it when accents are written phonetically. I do like it, and I find it's a good way to convey the voice of a character.
Extra apologies to anyone who doesn't like centipedes. I sympathize. That's why the scary pirate slaver man is one.
Admittedly this chapter doesn't further the plot a whole bunch, but it does set up some things that will.
