CHAPTER 20

OFFERS

Ship's Log 29: Our fame continues. We stop by any dock and everybody comes running just to catch a glimpse of the legendary Destiny, the ship that took out two entire fleets alone. The war behind Bastok and San d'Oria has actually quieted down, some say entirely to our actions. Mutual humiliation at their failure on the sea has made both sides rethink their strategies. Or at least chase every pirate ship on the waters.

I've received another package from Arcadia. Apparently, and very oddly, Abaj has stopped everything. He hasn't made any action at all ever since the war broke out. Or, quite worryingly, since we interfered. I have a feeling that he's become aware of me, and so I've risked replying to Arcadia. I've told her to hide, at least until I'm sure that this isn't related to me.

We do, at least, have a job. We're transporting cargo to a strange new port I wasn't even aware existed. It's called Mhaura, and appears to belong to Windurst. It seems they're beginning to open themselves to a world again a bit more, perhaps in shock at the war between Bastok and San d'Oria. All I know is we're getting paid, which means the job is fine by me.

Olose looked over his back at the wake behind the ship. It wasn't the first time.

"I think something's shadowing us." He decided to voice his concerns. Phabrizoe bolted up beside him and looked over him. There was a ship following them, just staying out of their wake.

"Hm. Looks to be pirates, Captain." Phabrizoe told him. "Pirates are the only ones that shadow ships like that."

"Yes, thank you, I know." Olose answered sarcastically. "We are pirates, remember?"

"For pirates, we do very little pirating." Nadia pointed out.

"That's hardly the point here." Olose sighed. "Shall we wait for them to board then?"

"Why wait?" Trevia asked. "We could just attack them rrrrright now."

"I just paid for new cannons, I don't want to risk them. It's easier to win on the ship." Olose explained. "Let's pretend we didn't notice them."

"They've hoisted the pirate flag." Phabrizoe pointed out.

"Guess we were right then." Olose shrugged. "Well, standard drill. Don't let them take anything. We'll defeat them, and then take anything they have on their ship. That should teach them a thing or two."

"What do you need Captain?" Trevia asked. "We going to fight?"

"No. Let them come aboard. We don't want to damage each other's ships. We'll beat them in melee combat once their on deck."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Suse saluted enthusiastically, clearing feeling left out of the conversation so making her input. "I'm rrrrrraising the sail!"

The Destiny came to a stop as the pirate shop drew up close to it. The pirates didn't react, it was usual for merchant vessels to stand down as soon as they saw the pirate flag, rather than risking capture or death, they'd hand over whatever goods they had. The pirates drew up aside, simply laughing. Olose casually folded his arms, waiting. It wasn't the first time they had run into pirates, it was a common occurrence on the seas. They swung onto the deck and Olose walked down wearingly.

"Captain Sampson. I'd of thought you would have put up a fight at least." Remarked the pirate leading the attack, the captain, Olose guessed. Olose didn't immediately register that the pirate knew his name, and instead shrugged.

"Who said I wasn't putting up a fight?" He asked, drawing his sword in a split second. The rest of his crew did so. The pirate laughed.

"You're out manned, Sampson. Stand down." The pirate grinned. This time Olose registered the use of his own name.

"If you know my name, you know what I'm famous for. I was out manned when I took down two entire fleets as well." He smirked.

"That was a combination of luck and strategy." The pirate remarked. "You have no such advantages here."

"Oh, I have one." Olose beamed.

"And what's that?" The pirate asked sceptically.

"I'm immortal." Olose grinned, kicking upwards powerfully. The pirate was caught completely off guard and flew backwards, falling completely off of the ship and landing with a splash. The crews erupted into combat.

Olose instantly spun around, fighting at incredible speed as he drove back the pirates all around him. Suse ran for cover, as they always taught her to when combat began. Trevia drew her katana and promptly began to attack with rapid, yet controlled strikes. Every hit was one firm strike, taking down an opponent. Her training shone through, only attacking when she knew she could get a finishing blow. Nadia had drawn her rapier in her one hand, and was duelling one of the pirate members. She dodged under his blows and hit him in the chest. The pirate staggered back. Another ran in at her but was taken out by a massive fireball from Phabrizoe. Nadia gave a nod of thanks and continued to battle another.

Olose had already managed to get a hold of a second sword, and now used the two blades to make short work of anybody who got near him. Another pirate ran in, but he spun around, using both swords and his incredible strength to knock the pirate's weapon clean from his hands. The pirate watched as his sword flew away, and gulped. Olose smiled, grabbing him and throwing him overboard.

There was a sudden loud thud on the deck. Olose spun around to see a huge galka sneering at him. The galka was unarmed, but took up a monk's fighting stance, and beckoned Olose to attack.

"Okay, I'm game." Olose smiled, throwing down his swords and running at the galka. A punch came in powerfully towards Olose, but he ducked under it. The galka brought it back towards him in a back fist, and Olose back flipped over it, delivering a straight strike into the galka's ribcage. He felt the ribs break away from his opponent's spine as he made contact and the galka howled in pain, dropping forwards. This gave Olose the ideal opportunity to hit him to the face, enough to take the mighty pirate out.

A sword suddenly pierced Olose's chest from behind. He laughed, spinning around and hitting his attacker. A strong looked elvaan girl, but she went down with his one punch. Olose had hit so hard he wasn't convinced she was going to get back up. He reached around, pulling the sword out of his chest and watching as his wound healed. He grinned at two pirates who had been about to attack him, but were clearly now having second thoughts. They suddenly both yelped in pain, and ran. Suse was stood behind them, smiling, with two daggers in each of her hands.

"Suse!" Olose cried. "What happened to you getting to cover?"

"Oh, you neverrrr let me have any fun!" She protested. Olose sighed, smiling slightly.

"Captain! I think they're retreating!" Nadia called. Olose nodded.

"Let's not let them. Attack!" Olose ran, grabbing one of the boarding ropes and swinging across to the pirate ship. The others quickly followed and the battle began once more.

This time it was much shorter. Olose landed and attacked instantly, not waiting for the pirates to have a chance to ready themselves. None of them had been expecting for a crew of five to launch a fully blown attack on them, and so were completely caught off guard. Olose made short work of the immediate pirates, the few that luckily landed blows becoming horrified as they realised there weapons were totally ineffective. They tried to regroup, but lightning roared down from the sky, striking them, as Phabrizoe summoned his attack. They stumbled in confusion, and it was mere moments before they threw down their weapons, surrendering. The Destiny crew gave a cheer, spinning and sheathing their weapons as the pirates sunk to their knees, admitting their defeat.

"We did it!" Suse cried cheerfully, hugging Trevia in joy. Trevia just looked at her with an intense stare until she let go. "Um, sorrrry." She mumbled, scratching behind her head in embarrassment.

"Okay, usual drill. Nadia, you loot anything valuable in the Captain's cabin. Trevia, you go below decks and get whatever cargo is down there. The rest of us will keep an eye on our prisoners. Be careful, we don't know who's still on board! Don't go getting hurt, or anything."

"We won't, Captain." Sighed Nadia.

"We'll be rrrrright back!" Trevia assured him. The two went their separate ways, searching for any valuables.

Trevia wondered down into the hold and began looking around. She couldn't resist grinning as she saw a whole chest full of gold. She ran down to it, happily breaking her professional act with nobody around to see her, and began to fill her pockets with money. As long as she left some, she knew Olose would be utterly unaware there was any more, and she'd have gotten a bonus pay off.

"Quite a lot, isn't it." Came a voice. She spun around, startled, cursing herself for not noticing somebody else had been there. "Of course, it's nothing compared to what I'll pay you."

"Abaj Tuh!" She gasped. "What arrrre you doing herrrrre?" Abaj chuckled.

"I'd of thought it were obvious. You didn't think it was an ordinary pirate attack, did you?" Abaj answered casually. "Kill Olose." His voice suddenly turned grim and serious, delivering a firm order. "You know his weakness, and he'll never expect a thing."

"I won't betrrrray my Captain." Trevia growled. "Now leave."

"I'm offering you a large sum of money. More than you'll make working on that heap of junk in a lifetime. You'll be rich. You can retire, if you're that way inclined." Abaj offered.

"You know I'd never retirrre." Trevia sighed.

"That's good too. You'd have enough money to buy any equipment you wanted." Abaj pointed out. Trevia paused, considering it.

"I could tell Olose about you now, and you'll be dead." Trevia pointed out.

"Please. I can teleport from this ship and he'll never know I was here." Abaj laughed. "So, are you going to accept my offer or not?" Trevia paused, biting her lip in a way that she hoped Abaj wouldn't notice. It really betrayed her attitude of professional assassin.

Olose had grown tired of the pirates, and so chased them overboard. They had jumped into the water, fleeing his blade, and he decided that would keep them out of trouble, at least until they could scramble back onto the ship. Nadia had returned with a few valuables that Suse was helping her transport back to the Destiny while Olose and Phabrizoe waited for Trevia. She eventually emerged from the hold of ship, and smiled faintly at them. Olose suddenly had a feeling something was wrong, Trevia very rarely smiled, but decided to push his concerns aside until they were off the ship.

"Did you find anything?" Olose asked, realising Trevia was still silent.

"Yes." She answered blankly. "Um, yes. Gold. And plenty of food." She guiltily felt the gold in her pockets. "Herrrre's some I brought up to show you." Olose made a mental note of how she had never done that before either. He looked over the coins she had handed him.

"Seems genuine." He remarked, trying to downplay his suspicions that something was bothering Trevia. "We'll get it onto the Destiny and get out of here." He decided. Trevia nodded sheepishly, her mind clearly on other things.

It wasn't until they were safely away from the pirate ship and had been sailing for some time that Trevia approached Olose.

"Olose?" She asked, a slightly worried look on her face. "Can Phabrizoe take control of the ship please? I need to talk to you in prrrivate."

"Sure, Trevia." Olose had already guessed something was wrong, so instantly agreed. "Phabz! Get up here! You've got the wheel!" Olose cried, before gesturing for Trevia to follow him down to his cabin. Trevia did so, but unusually slowly and seemed unusually hunched in on herself.

Olose didn't look back at her, or raise his guard. It seemed he trusted her completely.

"What is it?" He asked, casually slipping off his crimson jacket and hanging it up in the corner of the cabin. Trevia struggled, trying to make a decision. His trust in her was foolish, but touching. He believed in her. Nobody had ever believed in her before. She suddenly found herself asking a question she had never thought she would ask: why did she need money anyway? She faltered, trying to force her arm to reach for her silver dagger but failing. She couldn't do it. She couldn't kill her captain.

"Abaj was on that boat." She confessed, releasing her arm and letting the tension flow out of her body. She couldn't kill him, but she could help him.

"What?" Olose exclaimed, genuinely shocked and caught off guard. He had seen many problems among his crew, and had expected Trevia to be worried about a family issue or something similar. Abaj had been the last thing he was expecting.

"He wanted me to kill you." Trevia explained. "He offerrrred me a lot of money."

"And you accepted?" Olose guessed.
"No! No! Captain, I would never-" Trevia began, panicked.

"It's okay." He answered. "I understand. Let's admit it, Abaj wouldn't have let you walk away had you said no." He smiled slightly. "Besides, I know you accepted."

"How?" Trevia asked.

"You called me Olose up on deck. I thought that until you were no longer under my employ, I was your captain." He smirked. Trevia sighed.

"I was just tense. Worrrrried." She tried to explain.

"I'm glad you changed your mind, Trevia." Olose told her.

"I never serrrriously considerrrred it." Trevia answered, blushing slightly.

"I know you didn't." Olose grinned. "But I don't think you know that. You're my friend Trevia, and I'd never count among my friends somebody who would betray me." Trevia seemed genuinely touched. She had never had a friend before. She had always been absorbed in her own work. She managed a smile.

"Thank you Captain." She said in reply. "Olose." She added, trying to break down her professional act. "But what about Abaj?" She quickly asked. "This is serious!"

"I very much doubt he intended for you to kill me." Olose guessed. Trevia awkwardly fiddled with her sleeves, knowing he was right. He would have just defeated her again. "Probably more to stall me. I don't think he counted on you having discovered friendship, and thought you'd carry out your orders, which means he thinks I'm stalled fighting you. And then spending time afterwards mourning the loss of a friend, as I would." Trevia looked to the floor, blushing, not sure how to feel at the thought Olose would mourn her. "Which gives us the advantage!"

"What do you think he's planning?" Trevia asked gently, still a little confused by the new feeling of friendship she had.

"He must be going after Arcadia. I assume he had a teleport spell of some kind on that boat, meaning we're going to have to move incredibly fast." Olose decided. He ran out of the cabin and Trevia stood, dazed for a moment, before following.

Olose looked up to Phabrizoe, who was confidently handling the ship's wheel, despite the fact that it was far too big for him.

"Phabz! Turn around!" Cried Olose. "We're going back to Seblina!"

"What? Why?" Phabrizoe asked, already obeying, knowing that Olose must have a good reason.

"Abaj knows about us and is going after Arcadia! We need to reach Tavnazia as soon as possible!" Olose explained.

"That's hell of a trip on land." Phabrizoe told him. "We'll never make it in time."

"We might be able to cut him off." Olose decided. He knew how to reach Abaj in time, but it was something he had never been able to do. When he had fought Abaj, Abaj had transformed into his werewolf form at his own freewill. If Olose could do that, he could move so much faster, and be more powerful. He knew it was Arcadia's only hope.

Abaj would use her to hurt him. Olose just hoped he would use her as a lure first, giving him a chance to save her. But he knew that Abaj would kill Arcadia before he killed Olose to provide the maximum amount of pain for Olose. Olose gulped, looking at the waves tearing past the ship.

He began to pray that he wasn't too late.

Author's Note: Just a little warning and an apology, I may not be able to update tomorrow, as it's my friend's eighteenth birthday and I'm going to be pretty busy making a present for him (yes, I said making, long story) and then actually going to a party he's having, being out pretty late. I'll do my best to write something, but I might not be able to get it done. So sorry about that, but I may end up missing an update.

Which is annoying, since this is my first cliffhanger in a while!