Chapter 3: New Friends, New Stories.
"…so while we were interrogating him, he suddenly stops talking. He wasn´t making a noise at all, so, so I say: Did the cat eat your tongue?"
We all explode in laughs when he finishes his little story, as some are just too drunk to realize that is a bad joke, and others were just tired and wanted to laugh for a while. It has been a long season.
"Oh, man. If I wasn´t Captain of Carrie, I would ask you to be my quarter master myself" She finished her sentence by drinking the whole glass of beer at once, and sat closer to him.
"Okay...Like I was saying, we finally got the information we wanted, with some complications in between of course, but we were able to leave peacefully and now I´m here. Ready to finally hand over what I was tasked to find, and take." While he finished his sentence, she decided to snug of his arm while closing her eyes.
"You are so soft and squishy! I don´t care, you´re my quarter master now." She said snugging him even harder than before, while caressing the fur coating his arm.
"! For the love of everything good! I can´t be a quarter master no more, I´m the Captain of Ferruginous. Have you forgotten that, Felicia?!" He said with a tone of anger, as winning the true status of Captain is the last quest for any of us as a mere privateer.
"Don´t be so harsh on ´im, boy´s know this season hasn´t been good to ´im. Leave him alone" Rus decides to touch the matter, as he decides to protect the pride of his feline buddy.
"I decide what I do, not you Rus. And what are you doing sitting here?! This is the table for captains!" She broke the hug and decided to scold Rus.
"Enough! We´ve gathered to enjoy ourselves. To taste, and enjoy a drink. To share and tell tales. We´re not here to build distrust and anger to fellow Captains. Are we?" The oldest of all the captains, great man who sat the left of Rus, decided to speak.
"Now, you two spoiled brats" He said while pointing with two fingers "Apologize, and congratulate Rus. He´s a fellow Captain now and he hold the chains of nothing less but a full metal Dreadnought."
"A Dreadnought, that´s great Rus!" Felicia jumped out of her seat, landed on the table and kissed Rus on the cheek. Then she turned to me, and softly kissed me in the nose.
I smiled.
"Congratulations, little Edward here finally got tired of being Quarter master of Cormac, and decided to take a ship" She said while rolling over the table, finally falling off the edge.
We all laughed once more; because we knew drink had turned her into dumb once again, as always. She looks at me with furious eyes while getting off the floor. Then, she approached me and pulled me from my tie.
"That hurt, and you al, laughed. If you keep laughing, I will tell my girls to punish you all. I will laugh last, promise." She spoke with a hostility and childless, classical of her.
I could easily smell her, as our faces were really close. I was still sitting, but she was standing. She was looking down to me. She let me go, and walked back to her seat. Her face was pouting while she sat, resting the chair with her hands with crossed arms.
"Don´t put so many attention to her, she´s just the spoiled brat of a rich merchant." Another fellow captain, sitting to her left, talked.
"No, I´m not!" She replied like an angry child.
"Don´t lie, how else could you be so pretty? Unless you were royalty, and I doubt that" He answered while looking at her with an irritated tone.
Something is missing
While they were arguing who was truly right, I decided to get up and look for Krell. He´s a Captain now, so he has earned the empty 8th chair of the rounded table in which we were sitting.
It is our own little tradition, but every year after hunting season, we captains gather on a little pub, built right in front of the port, which let us see our vessels while we eat and, specially, drink. This pub is not the newest, the biggest or the finest. It´s just like us, and that´s why we choose it every year after year. We always sit in the same table, a rounded wood table located in the middle of the room, in front of the bar and just under the chandelier. Behind it, there are two sofas and a book shelf behind it. Tables fill the rest of this old place.
I walked through the crowd, and realized how many people attended this little bar, which we own, every goddamn night. A beautiful piano was giving us a hopeful serenade, along a violin, both being played by two gorgeous ladies on the second floor of this place.
While I was approaching the bar, I saw Krell, who was looking melancholic, at the left end of the bar.
"What will you have tonight, Captain Finn?" The Bartender, young lad named Irus, ask me when I finally arrive and sit. I put my arms on the counter, and order without losing sight of Krell.
"Give me please a glass of Wyvern Blood, without ice." I was thirsty for a strong drink.
"And what it will be for Captain Krell, Captain Finn?" Irus was cleaning a glass, but rolled his eyes to the left. He knew about my concern about him.
I took a quick glance at him, and saw him standing, while resting his arms on the counter, with blank eyes. Just breathing, slowly, and steady.
"Give him a cup of hot chocolate. This night is cold as hel, it will start him up" My answer awakes two smiles, one mine and one of Irus.
"In a moment, my Captain" He laid down the glass, and retired to the door, which connected to the kitchen, to our right.
While waiting, I started to breathe slower, and think a little bit of the future. I had no plans at the moment.
We´re just fifteen hours away from Victoria´s Lair
Victoria´s Lair, known by outsiders as Queen´s city, is this city they formed around two years ago. All kingdoms, especially the Candy Kingdom, sent funds to build a new city from scratch. A place were citizens of the Kingdom Continent, and citizens belonging to the other four, could gather. It´s a coast city and it has the biggest port in the entire continent.
What will I do?
"Heavy night, isn´t it?" Krell approached me, sat to my side and spoke.
"It is" I answer, and then the rounded table explodes once more in drunken laughs.
Irus came out the door in that moment, delivering the promised drinks.
"Gentleman, your beverages are now served"
"Don´t you say, Irus. I thought that you had brought us another person´s drink" With a smirk in my face, I taunt the boy while reaching for my drink. Krell laughs, and decides to take the first sip of his hot drink.
"Oh, boys, those are other person drink" A bearded, giant man takes my shot from my hand, and another one, bald with tribal tattoos and as big, takes Krell drink.
"Em, gentlemen…" With fear, Irus spoke to those men.
"What do you want your little coward? If you want to talk to us, come out of your little fortress." The bald decides to speak this time, while taking a sip of Krell´s chocolate.
Krell decided to stand up to the guy, and proved that he was taller than those two men. But his thin figure didn´t helped at all, his delicate skin, long and blonde hair, and his young face were factors that helped.
"Krell, don´t." Knowing what he´s capable of, I had to boss him.
"Captain, these men…" He answered me with anger, and a provoked expression painted his face.
"Don´t" I say once more.
"All right, captain" He sat down, and tried to ignore the men.
I decided to look at the one face of the menu, deciding what I should order next.
"Irus, please bring me a Steak, medium, with a smoked potato filled with beans and coleslaw, and bring me the strongest mead you have. Full, tall glass, please." I laid down the menu when I finished, and Irus took it.
"Young Irus, please bring me a smoked bear filet, with a glass of red cherry wine, and some grapes. If it isn´t a burden, of course." Krell did the same, and smiled when he gave Irus the menu.
"It won't, Captain Krell. I´ll be back in ten minutes with your meal, gentleman" Irus finally left the counter, and I could still hear the gulps of those two men.
Two men, drinking our beverages. Ours.
Mine.
Krell and I turn to our sides, looked at each other face and nodded.
"Ahh, that was a good drink!" The bald one talked and decide to throw the cup to the ground. Pieces flied everywhere, and one cut one of the ladies feet.
One under Felicia command.
"You two ladies have a good taste. Kind of curious that little pussy boy called you captain, you´re too delicate to be captains of any fleet" The giant bearded, drunken man spoke.
"I hope our meal is as good as those drinks! We must eat, and lemme tell you something pussy boys" The bald one approached us, and sat in one of the chairs. The bearded one followed.
They smelled terrible, like rotten fish and bad tatertops. That´s probably the only thing they have eaten while they were at sea. Krell and I were still glued to our sits, looking down at the counter, waiting for our meals. We were hungry, so hungry, our stomachs decide to roar.
"Hahahaha! Who would say such delicate ladies would have such appetite?!" The two men looked at each other, and laughed at the bearded man joke.
I looked at Krell´s eye, and he smiled.
"Huh? What´s so funny thin legs?" The bald one, the one which was besides Krell, decided to ask with rage in his tone.
"Now?" Krell asked me.
"Now what, Pussy boys? Yarr gonna leave. Did we hurt you too much in your Feelings? Buncha faggots" The bearded man asked this time.
"Yeah, now" I answered.
We elbow-jab those bastards in the jaw at the same time. They fell to the floor, and I decided to kick him in the ribs until one cracked. Krell, as a man of style, decide to take the guy and stab his hand in the counter.
"All right, if you two, incest idiots, haven´t realized yet I´m Liam Cormac"
"And I´m Lucius Krell IV"
"L-Liam Co-Cormac... and Lu-Lucius K-Krell?" The bearded one stared at us, while the bald one passed out. I guess that blood loss and drinking liquor and chocolate can knock you out.
"Captain of the Ragnar" I answer
"Captain of the Häya" He asnwers.
The bearded one kneeled, and was going to kiss our feet. Luckily, Krell kicked him once more in the face.
"Just fuck off and leave the Pub" I told him.
The guy got up and quickly ran to the door, he then left the pub.
"All right gentleman, medium rare stake with a stuffed potato and a full, tall glass of mead. And a bear fillet with red cherry wine and a plate of grapes" Irus came out of the door once more, and laid down our meal. He didn´t put any attention to the bleeding guy on the counter, as he was now used to that.
"Thanks, Irus" I, gratefully, tell him.
"It´s nothing, Captain Finn, it´s always a pleasure to attend you" He replies with a smile of his face, and turns to clean the bottle shelf.
Finally, Krell and I sat down and happily ate our meals. My steak was cooked perfectly, as least for me. It had a good amount of salt, pepper and spices. The potato was as good, maybe better. The Mead was strong, refreshing and sweet. Krell´s meal looked as good as mine, as he was enjoying as much his meal as I did. You could tell by his face,
"Man, I´m full" Krell said with a happy face, eating the last of the grapes.
"Great meal, Irus. Thank you." I got up of my chair, and left a little sachet full of gold coins as tip.
"Oh, and before I leave for the table, where do those ladies come from?" I asked Irus, while pointing to the musician ladies on the second floor.
"The piano lady name is Vanna, the violin one is Tyvis. Why do you ask?" Irus replied while he was cleaning the blood off the counter
"Just gonna ask them to join Nana´s fleet. That´s all" I reply while turning my back to him.
Krell quickly followed, and we approached the Captain´s table together for the first as Captains. We´re not mere privateers of a simple boat. We´re captains of strong vessels, which belong to the fleet that rules the north.
"Oi, look out for Captain Cormac and Captain Krell." Rus speaks of our arrival to the table.
I sat in the same seat, which is in the one facing the bar and turning back to the bookshelf. To my left, there´s Rus, captain of the Dreadnought known as Yavanna.
To my right, Nagron, captain of Thors. Nagron comes from the 3rd continent, known as the republic continent. He was a gladiator who obtained his freedom, then he escaped to the sea´s, in which Liam Cormac the IV found him. He captains the Ship of War which length is almost 180 meters. Nagron is around 1, 90 meters, and he has a lot of muscle mass. He´s around 40 years. He wears a military republic uniform, and has gloves covered with a cestus. He has a brown skin, dark brown hair, pointy ears, thin lips, big, arched nose, hairy eyebrows, long beard and hair. His fleet is mainly composed by war prisoners and political exiled people. All of them are men.
To Rus´s left, we have Jo, captain of Rok. Jo comes from the 2nd continent, known as Vik continent. It´s located to the south poles, in one of the coldest part of this planet. Jo was once a war general, but he got bored of land. He stole a man of War ship, with a length of 60 meters, and decided to follow a man who he honoured, Jonathan Davis. Jo´s age is around 50 to 60 years, and has medium build and is 1, 78 meters. He wears pelts and ragged pants, with an improvised hood. He has tribal tattoos all around his white skin. His fleet is composed mainly by Vik men, but there is also a good quantity of women.
Then, to Jo´s left there´s Krell, captain of Häya.
Nana was sitting by Nagron´s right, and she had been quiet all night. A lady that comes from a little settlement of the Republic at the Vik continent. Daughter of a Republic commander and a Vik warrior. She´s a red headed, hot headed woman of 1, 87 meters. Her real name is Anne Lothbrok. She´s tall, and wears a uniform which looks like a mix of Jo´s and Nagron´s uniform. Her eyes are red, as she´s the daughter of a demon and a necromancer. Her fleet is composed by demon women and were-wolves. She captains the Bonnie, a 70 meters galley.
To her right, we have the were-tiger known as Axwell, who captains the Ferruginous. He comes from the 5th continent, known as Animalia. This continent´s population is composed by very advanced tribes, which are formed by people who can be the mix of human like forms and animals, or just the mix of two animals. Axwell wears glasses, and has a lot of muscle, but less than Nagron, and wears a long tunic, with a uniform of a navy captain. And, like Felicia said, he has a lot of fur. A lot. Feurriginous is a 170 meters full rigged ship.
Finally, right in front of me, we have the lady which is now winking at me while caressing her hair. Felicia, daughter of a Jarl of the 2nd continent. Short blonde-white hair, green eyes, rounded face, hourglass body, 1,69 meters, soft skin, etc. Kind of a "perfect woman", which kind of looks like if you mixed Bonnibel and Marceline faces. She captains the Carrie, an only woman frigate of 65 meters. The meanest and most beautiful privateers of the 6 seas.
"My fellow Captains, report" When I said that, they stopped doing anything else, and sat properly, except for Krell and Axwell, as they are two full blooded gentlemen.
"All right, we have raided a total of 24 villages this year, and our net worth is around 42 tons of gold. We own now a total of 77 boats, with 8 main vessels, controlled by a boss vessel.""Axwell spoke first, he manages the money.
"New recruits are now commanding and establishing new camps, their progress is good. I´ve trained them" Jo, our trainer, is the second one. He controls the recruits.
"Lots of gun powder, lots of guns. We are now the biggest fleet in terms of fire power. We could powder the walls of the republic itself." Nana´s next, our explosive girl.
"All the meat that could have possibly been gathered, it´s now on our cargo ships. We will obtain around 9-17 tons of gold for the meat and skin." Rus next, our expert in whaling.
"Our isle home, Kaizer, is perfect. We have now established a working society on the isle, in which there have been democratic elections past winter. But, as we know, you still control the isle. You own it." Nagron keeps eye on the colonies.
"All of the ships are now in perfect state, and have been improved with the latest phoenix mortars, Odin´s cannons, new, thicker shells and new sails." Krell keeps eye on the main vessels state.
"We still have government support from new, uprising democratic governments in all continents. And our bounty in all continents has been paid, and taxes." Felicia, smart girl, keeps our politic affairs in balance.
"Everything seems all right then" I said while taking the glass of beer.
"Let´s have a toast my friends, as we tomorrow visit Rus´s and I homeland. For progress, future, love and health. Cheers!" I stand up and raised my glass.
"Cheers!" They rised too and we all had a good time the rest of the night.
Then, it was morning.