Birth of Dragon Dung

Part 2: The Resolution

Of course, being the prince that he was, he wasn't able to live on anyone's schedule but his. His second rude awakening was less wet than the first… but more painful.

"What the bloody… Ow!" he shrieked as he was shoved out of bed… and straight onto the hard wooden floor. "What was that for?"

When he got up, all bristling ego (and painful bottom), it was to find another pirate, this one rougher than that last one – Orc – contemplating him.

"You're supposed to relieve my shift now," the pirate said in a rather hostile tone. "The captain was right when she said you won't wake on your own."

"Well, what did you expect?" Yet another moment of idiocy (Pendragon arrogance) and this fresh embarrassment prompted him to reply sarcastically. "I'm not one of the crew, and I'm a royal prince, dammit! You lot should be serving me! How dare you just shove me out of bed!"

A soft hiss was all he heard before a rapier was perilously close to his throat. "Being a royal prince won't prevent me from cutting your throat, you insolent cur…"

"No, but I will. You're wasting your break, Thorp. I will deal with him." It was the pirate captain, come to rescue him.

…

Er… rescue? It was her fault that he was in this fine kettle of fish anyway!

"Aye, captain. Although a wetlander like him…" Thorp had yet to replace his rapier in its sheath.

"Now, Thorp."

Shuffling, Thorp exited the quarters, mumbling under his breath, snippets of which Uthar could hear, as Thorp did not bother to regulate his tone. "Dung brain" and "arrogant like a dragon, thinks he's so high up in the sky" particularly caught his attention. He scowled petulantly, returning his attention to Rip.

"Refusing to pitch in, are we?" she asked softly, but Uthar could detect the hint of steel in her tone. "Think you are above us?"

He turned his nose up, now that his limbs were not so heavy thanks to the effects of drink. "I don't think so. I know so. You're a pirate. I'm a prince. There's no comparison necessary."

This time there was no softness masking the steel in her voice. "Wrong. I may be captain of this ship – which means that what I say holds more sway than your words – but unlike you, I earned the respect of my crew because I respect and understand them in return. I was not born a captain. I fought my way to supremacy, and I'd like to see you try the same thing."

"Respect? Why should I respect pirates?"

Mockingly, Rip replied, "Perhaps because they are worthier of respect than you. But perhaps you'd rather consider that if you don't, you won't be able to find anything edible. After all, on this ship, you'll only get what you work for. If you are a good boy and help out on the ship, I may not let you starve. If you refuse to help, maybe I'll just let you drown in your overlarge ego and feed yourself with air. Not that you need to anymore, of course." Looking Uthar up and down, she scoffed, "You're practically floating on air with your arrogant belief that everyone else is there to serve you."

Suddenly impatient, she snapped briskly, "Now get yourself up onto the deck. Your first duty is to scrub the decks." Ignoring Uthar's cry of outrage, she continued, "You'll find Orc with the necessary. He's who you'll report to in the interim. You can break for a meal in a few hours, but you can only nap in eight hours time. Now, change, unless you want to get grubby in your fancy, smelly outfit, and get going!"

"When I get back home…" he muttered menacingly. It did nothing but elicit a bark of laughter from Rip.

"Oh that's rich. But the truth is, since we've just left Thais port, we won't be returning any time soon, so it looks like you're stuck with us for the time being. Maybe you should learn to swallow your pride and learn from us in order to survive long enough to actually return home." With that parting shot, she left Uthar standing, fuming at the audacity of the pirate captain. Unwillingly, he changed into his new clothes (which he only did because he was really getting uncomfortable in his old ones) and went onto the deck (only because he had nothing better to do, of course).

The first full blast of sunshine momentarily blinded him, but when his eyes had adjusted to the light, he found the ship busy with activity. For some reason, whenever one of them spotted him, they would share a cruel, knowing wink with another. Feeling terribly isolated, he even felt a little relieved when he spotted the pirate who, just a few hours before, had given him a lesson he'd never forget quite easily.

Orc greeted him with a grunt and directed him to the items at hand, telling him which decks to scrub before saying, "I'll be at the other end if you need me. Questions?"

Hmm… if intimidation won't work… "Why can't you do it? I'd be willing to pay you. Obviously not now, but when we get back to Thais…"

"Are you quite finished?" Uh oh, it didn't work. Orc was looking at him with murder in his eyes, his voice deceptively soft. "Your money is useless on the high seas. As I've said before, the only currency here is self-worth. Now, I have tolerated as much nonsense from you as I can stomach because of the captain's wishes, but enough is enough. If you don't shut up and get on with this, I will dump you into the ocean and care less about what happened to you. Understood, Dragon Dung?"

Uthar's head snapped up. "What did you just call me?" he asked angrily.

"Dragon Dung. Thorp was right, as always. You really are a dung brain whose head is so high up in the clouds you need someone to bring you down again. Get used to it. Welcome to life on the high seas, Dragon Dung!" Orc's laughter followed him as he disappeared to… wherever he came from. Uthar didn't much care.

Of course, being a born-and-bred prince, he had not the faintest idea what to do with the items spread before him, and he was too arrogant to ask. He ended up spreading the cleaning agent straight onto the floor (instead of mixing it with water as he should), and trying to mimic the motions of the maids he had seen cleaning the Thais castle.

"In the name of the goddess, what do you think you're doing?" a cold, female voice asked.

The question was clearly rhetorical, but Uthar stubbornly met her eyes and said, "Cleaning."

Rip gave a disbelieving laugh. "Are you just dumb or did you do this deliberately? You're going to spoil the wood. Goddess preserve me from good-for-nothing idiots. Here…" And to his complete amazement, Rip mixed the soap water herself and demonstrated deck-scrubbing with a familiarity that was unexpected. She then handed the mop back to Uthar, who took it back and asked, "How…?"

"Unlike you, rich boy, I told you that I fought my way to supremacy, which means I am acquainted with even the lowest duties of a sailor. A good thing too, because to run a ship and be a fair captain one must understand and know how to do everything. Be grateful you only have me to contend with and not my old captain. Now, carry on, Dragon Dung."

A tiny groan escaped Uthar. "No, not you too. My name is Uthar Pendragon!"

"Not from this moment, you're not. Do you think any of us actually use our real names on board?" Rip chuckled with mirth.

"So your name is not really Rip? And Orc and Thorp and the whole lot of them?"

"Yes, yes, now enough chatter. Finish this in two hours or you'll be on sentry duty tonight." As she walked away, Uthar could hear Rip saying to herself, "Can't imagine what Orc'll do if anyone called him by his real name. Then again, he has proven himself to be worthy of his chosen code name, after all."

Uthar expanded his chest. By the goddess, he'd prove himself worthy of his name when he was through with this. And someday these disrespectful, don't-know-their-rightful-place pirates will be calling him "Dragon Dung" with as much deference as the people in Thais called him "Prince Uthar".

– Finis –