And So It Begins

Kaine and Runt stood at the dock for a long time, taking in the sight of the ship. Smaller than most of the merchant galleys and warships that filled the rest of the harbor, she exuded an ominous, dangerous aura that made both of them nervous. She was built for speed, that much was certain, but Kaine would wager that she could easily take any warship in the open ocean. He had known too many small men like that. Short and slight of build, but burning with a fierce tenacity. A tenacity that enabled them to beat bullies much larger than themselves. 

“Freedom. A strange name for a slave galley, no?”

Runt let out a low growl that signaled his agreement. At nearly seven feet tall, and massively muscled, his name was something of a joke among his companions. However, by his own standards, he truly was the runt of the litter. Ferals were a powerful species of bear-like humanoids with fangs and claws that could tear through stone. They usually stood closer to eight feet tall, and so Runt was indeed small of stature. He was even smaller than his sisters and mother. Ferals had their own language that they spoke among themselves, but in human lands, Ferals relied on a series of grunts and growls that could easily be interpreted by most other humanoid species. 

Kaine continued. “Small. But dangerous. What do you think they use it for? Running slaves, I’m sure. But slavers are usually larger, and more-heavily armed. Hard to make a profit with so little cargo space. Speaking of armaments, it doesn’t seem to have any. Then why does it give me such a bad feeling?” 

Runt yawned and flexed his claws, but said nothing. 

“No flag. So no protection from any king or chief. Incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid. What the hell kind of man sails a ship that’s too small to make a profit, too poorly armed to properly defend herself, and too proud to show her colors?”

A sudden female voice behind him startled him. “What makes you think it’s a man?”

Kaine jumped, but Runt only smiled and let out a long purr. Sophia was his closest friend. She had rescued him from slavers and nursed him back to health many years ago, and since then, he had fought by her side. They were twin souls, bound through a friendship deeper than the ocean.

Kaine whirled around to look at her. “Damn it woman! You scared the shit out of me! Where have you been? And I don’t suppose you’ve seen Trick or Nightshade, have you?”

Sophia smiled softly as she answered. Her quiet, self-assured power trumped Kaine’s bluster every time. “One thing at a time. As to where I have been, that would be the library, trying to find some information about that ship. None of the sages at the library knew anything, and it doesn’t appear in any books, so that was a total waste of time. Trick, if I am not mistaken, is already on board and having a look around.” She paused for two seconds with one finger raised before continuing. “And Nightshade should be rounding that corner back there just about now.”

They looked, and right on cue, the Peri known as Nightshade rounded the corner and stepped out from the shadows. She was cold personified. Skin like a glacier, and eyes the harsh blue of Midwinter’s sky. Even her long black hair refused to elicit any analogies of warmth, instead bringing to mind the darkest, coldest night of the year. She moved gracefully, always quick without seeming hurried, and deliberate without seeming slow. She was poetry in motion.

She had a wicked grin on her face. 

Kaine spat in the ground in disgust. “Shit. She’s killed someone.” Raising his voice to carry it over to her, he said, “Damnit! All you were supposed to do was go to Cyclone’s and grab some potions! We’re not supposed to be here, you know. Stay low. Stay below her attention. That was the plan. And now, you’ve gone and killed someone in her alleys, and were screwed. Damnit, damn it, damn it! And don’t tell me that there’s no bodies, because you’re smiling. And you only smile when you have fresh blood.”

“Relax, Kaine. Yes, there are bodies, but it’s all gravy. I had her permission.”

“You what?!? How?!” 

“As soon as I stepped into the deep alleys, she had me. Sent Baron himself, and six others. They teleported in, and poisoned me before I could even gut the first one. Instant paralysis. Game over, I thought. But Baron just laughed and teleported me back to the guild, where I had an audience with the Queen of Murder herself. We had a nice long chat. Funny how much two women can accomplish when the menfolk aren’t there to say stupid shit.”

Kaine ignored the jab. “What does she want? We have a truce. We stay out of her business, and she doesn’t kill us.”

“A truce we broke, Kaine, by coming back here to Bloodshire. She warned us, Kaine. She told us not to come back.”

“Yeah, I know, but we’re just here to gear up. I didn’t think she’d begrudge us a few supplies. I told you not to try and go to Cyclone’s! It’s right in the middle of her territory!”

“Kaine, we needed magic. The kind that only Cyclone sells. We were dangerously low on all the things that keep us alive out there.”

“No sense in arguing about it now. I assume you also made it to the magic store? So, you never said. What does she want?”

Nightshade nodded to answer the question before replying. “She wants us on that ship.” 

Kaine let out a string of curses that would have caused any of the sailors in the taverns nearby to blush. “What the hell for? She has an army of assassins down there! Why not send them? Why us?”

Nightshade looked grim. “Well, in her words: ‘You fools have volunteered yourselves simply by being here in Bloodshire.’ She also said that we were planning on doing it anyway, and she’s also willing to let bygones be bygones. She’s offering us forgiveness, Kaine. I say we take it. Bloodshire is home, Kaine. This is our base of operations. We need to be here, and we can’t be here without working for her.”

Sophia stepped closer to Kaine. “She’s right, Kaine. No matter where we have gone, we always come back here. That’s because we know where everything is. Where else can we find a magic shop like Cyclone’s? Where else are we gonna find a library like the one here? Where else are we gonna find another Izzy, or another Sheila? We have connections here, Kaine. Bridges. Bridges that were dangerously close to being burned.”

Kaine let out a few more choice curse words, then settled himself with a deep breath. “Fine. What are her orders?” 

Nightshade gestured towards the black ship. “We’re supposed to get on board. Either stow away or join the crew, and sail with her. Find out what they keep shipping out, and why they keep coming back here. Find out what’s happened to the twenty or so assassins she has already lost in this endeavor.” She paused for a second, then continued. “Kaine, Smedley is with them. He was the first to go.”

Kaine nodded solemnly. They had few friends outside of their own tight-knit group, but Smedley was definitely one. He was the rarest of rarities: A thief who never stole from friends, and an assassin who never stabbed you in the back. An honorable man, even if not a particularly “good” one.

Briefly, Kaine worried about Trick. But the shape changer’s one redeeming quality was that he was very good at staying hidden and moving about without being noticed. He shifted his attention back to the discussion at hand. “What’s the word on the street?”

Nightshade paused, then began. “There’s never any cargo. The crew never leaves the ship. It docks about twice a year, and the captain comes down to post a bulletin on the board. Always the same message: Sailors wanted, no experience necessary. Daily pay and high adventure guaranteed. Inquire at Freedom. After he posts the message, he goes back on board. When any person approaches the gangplank, the captain comes from his cabin and meets them on the foredeck. It’s a brief interview, and those who pass are invited inside, never to be seen or heard from again.”

“He kills the ones who fail?” Kaine asked.

“No, that’s the strangest part. He lets them go. They walk off of the ship, apparently no worse for the experience.”

“What do they say about him? What’s the interview like?”

“They say he’s strong, obviously very powerful. But polite. Friendly, even. He asks all about the sailors’ personal lives, and seems genuinely interested in their answers. He listens to their stories, and apparently makes his decision on the spot. There’s never any mention of mission, cargo, payment, or anything else you might expect. Its just small talk, really.”

Kaine sniffed the air, and Runt followed suit, but then he looked questioningly at Kaine, confused at the possibility that Kaine might smell something he could not. “Yep, smells like a trap.” Kaine grinned. Runt let out a disapproving snort, and Sophia and Nightshade smiled.

“Trap or not, Kaine continued, I’m intrigued. And since we really don’t have any choice, let’s go see if we can get hired on.” He chuckled, and began to sing: “Heigh, ho, a pirate’s life for me!” However, his amusement was short-lived, as his gaze returned to the ship and he felt the familiar sense of foreboding once again. 

“I have a bad feeling about this.”