Tolen Mar
First Post
Chapter 5 A brush with destiny
“The captain’s going to be angry we were late.” Samson remarked.
“Let him be, we had bigger fish to fry.” Charity replied.
The captain’s ship was pulling alongside, grapples were flung across, linking the two, and gangplanks extended. On the far side of the ship, bodies were being tossed overboard. As soon as the two ships were joined, Captain Perri strode aboard. He headed straight for Samson.
“What the hell took you so long?” he demanded.
“Ease off, Cap. We had a tangle with something not far off.”
“Aye,” Orange agreed, “Ottoman, we think.”
“You fought Ottoman?” The captain’s disbelief was evident. “I suppose that would slow you up. It’s amazing you survived, then. Most ships this small are never seen again. How is everyone then?”
“Most of us are okay, Khadija over there got pinned by a trident, but I think she’s all right.”
At the bow of the ship, Charity and the others were going through the pile of loot they brought off the island last night. Kor, thinking he wasn’t seen, started to slip the tablet that one of the scholars had tried to escape with into his tunic.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Charity hissed. “We fought like hell to get that!”
“Shush girl!” Kor answered, looking over his shoulder to see how close anyone else was. “This is important. Give me time to look it over, we can work out the details later. If the cap gets it, he’ll just sell it. Trust me.”
Charity noticed that perhaps for the first time since she had met him, he genuinely seemed excited. He was wide awake, and desperately wanted to keep that piece for himself. He had never acted this animated before. However, before she could say anything, the captain walked up.
“What’s going on here?” he asked.
Charity looked at Kor, saw the panic evident in his eyes, and nodded slightly. “He’s just upset. I found out he has a date when we get back to the Cove. He didn’t want anyone to know about it.”
One of Perri’s eyebrows lifted. “Is this true, Kor?”
“Um…Well, I...That is to say, what I do IS my business while I’m off the ship. I was just asking her…What type of flowers a possible date might like.” He lowered his eyes, intentionally not looking at Charity.
The captain looked at Kor, then to Charity, then back to Kor. “You mean you wanted…no, never mind. It’s none of my business. Get this stuff stowed below, both of you. And no funny business.”
As the captain walked off, Charity fixed Kor with a glare that seemed to say ‘You’d better make this worth it.’
*********************************************
After seeing what kind of shape Khadija was in, and taking stock of what supplies had been damaged in the two fights, Perri decided that the crew should go ashore. The town nearby was small, and named Millerton. They were to go get some replacement supplies, including whatever Lorenzo needed to treat Khadija’s wounds. Of course, Khadija wouldn’t listen to the doctor, and insisted on going as well.
An hour later, the group came to an area that seemed perfect for an ambush. Tall grass to one side, a steep, boulder strewn hill on the other, and half a dozen tough looking thugs across the road.
The tallest one, a lanky looking fellow, raised a hand in greeting.
“You there!” he shouted. “We represent the Dema guild. We own these roads. 4 silver to pass by.”
“For that price, we can just take the scenic route and avoid the roads.” Charity answered.
“You could do that,” came the reply. “But you’d be a fool. They say the dead walk here.”
“What harm could come of us not using your road?”
“Try it and see.” He smirked. “Our price is only 4 silver. Or perhaps...” He looked over each of the women of the group. “A few minutes with each of you, and we’d waive the fee.”
“You’d have to take that up with the others. I’m not interested.”
“Maybe you’d better just let us by, We’d hate to have to mess up those nice cloaks of yours.” Dunstan growled.
“That was a mistake friend, the Dema guild does not take threats kindly.”
“We don’t have time for this!” Dunstan shouted, then drawing his axe, he charged the group.
Charity, on seeing that a fight was about to break out, dove into the tall grasses, and began to work her way toward the group of thugs. As a result, she couldn’t see what anyone else was doing. She heard swords being swung, and the leader commenting “Heh, you’re pretty good. Surrender, and we could make use of a tough guy like you.”
A moment later, one of the bandits shouted “Hey boss! They got the high ground!”
“Just stay out of the way of that thing, then. Now kill them!”
Based on the sounds of the voice, Charity had gotten behind the group, she took a cautionary look over the tops of the grass in time to see Aoife and Ren up on the hillside shove a large boulder off a ledge. It tumbled down and crushed several of the bandits. Charity chose that moment to spring up out of the grass and attack.
The bandit knew she was coming though, and turned to meet her as she re-appeared. He deflected her attack, and then used her momentum to knock her to the ground. He looks to his leader. “Can I?” he asks with a grin.
“Go ahead, we need to increase our ranks anyway.”
The bandit turned his gaze back to her, his grin widening. His mouth was full of unusually sharp teeth. He lunged at her, aiming to sink those teeth into her neck, and Charity rolled aside at the last moment. She kipped back up onto her feet, ducked his sword slash, and struck back, missing.
After several thrusts and parries, she realized that Lorenzo was flanking with her. “Once again, Ren?” she said smiling, as she dodged aside.
“Seems so.” He answered trying to finish one of the bandits.
Taking advantage of the momentary lull in her concentration, one of the bandits jumped, and she felt her shoulder chill as its teeth found its mark. The things face covered in her blood, it let loose an exultant howl. Charity found she couldn’t move. All she could do is watch as the fight continued.
It didn’t take long. Orange was also bitten, and frozen in place, but once the trick was out of the bag, no one else let them get close enough. Lorenzo was cut down, and then bitten. Eventually, though, Dunstans rage, and Aoife’s tricks hurt enough of the bandits that the rest retreated.
As the feeling slowly returned, and her body began to respond again, she haltingly went to Ren’s side. She didn’t know much about healing someone, but she knew that if he kept bleeding, he could die. She rummaged through his kit, found some bandages, and began wrapping his wounds. Nearby the others were doing the same.
Eventually, Ren awoke. He checked his bandages, then dealt with Charity’s wound. One by one, everyone was bandaged, and the sorry looking troop continued into town.
“Well,” Charity said. “At least we’ll have a good tale to tell the captain.”
As they walked, Charity felt flushed. She attributed it to the fight they had just had and didn’t think any more of it.
****************************************
As the group neared the town, a patrol found them, took them to an inn. There they were fed, cleaned, and given a place to sleep. It turned out that the Dema guild had been bothering travelers for weeks, and no one had been able to stop them. The group that they had just killed was the most anyone had accomplished since it all started.
Charity didn’t sleep well that night. Her temperature was up, and she was sweating too much. She was tired the next morning, when they bought the needed supplies and made their way back to the ship. It was nearly noon, when Ren laid Charity down on a cot in the sick bay and began watching over her.
She didn’t resist at all, and fell back into a fitful sleep.
“The captain’s going to be angry we were late.” Samson remarked.
“Let him be, we had bigger fish to fry.” Charity replied.
The captain’s ship was pulling alongside, grapples were flung across, linking the two, and gangplanks extended. On the far side of the ship, bodies were being tossed overboard. As soon as the two ships were joined, Captain Perri strode aboard. He headed straight for Samson.
“What the hell took you so long?” he demanded.
“Ease off, Cap. We had a tangle with something not far off.”
“Aye,” Orange agreed, “Ottoman, we think.”
“You fought Ottoman?” The captain’s disbelief was evident. “I suppose that would slow you up. It’s amazing you survived, then. Most ships this small are never seen again. How is everyone then?”
“Most of us are okay, Khadija over there got pinned by a trident, but I think she’s all right.”
At the bow of the ship, Charity and the others were going through the pile of loot they brought off the island last night. Kor, thinking he wasn’t seen, started to slip the tablet that one of the scholars had tried to escape with into his tunic.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Charity hissed. “We fought like hell to get that!”
“Shush girl!” Kor answered, looking over his shoulder to see how close anyone else was. “This is important. Give me time to look it over, we can work out the details later. If the cap gets it, he’ll just sell it. Trust me.”
Charity noticed that perhaps for the first time since she had met him, he genuinely seemed excited. He was wide awake, and desperately wanted to keep that piece for himself. He had never acted this animated before. However, before she could say anything, the captain walked up.
“What’s going on here?” he asked.
Charity looked at Kor, saw the panic evident in his eyes, and nodded slightly. “He’s just upset. I found out he has a date when we get back to the Cove. He didn’t want anyone to know about it.”
One of Perri’s eyebrows lifted. “Is this true, Kor?”
“Um…Well, I...That is to say, what I do IS my business while I’m off the ship. I was just asking her…What type of flowers a possible date might like.” He lowered his eyes, intentionally not looking at Charity.
The captain looked at Kor, then to Charity, then back to Kor. “You mean you wanted…no, never mind. It’s none of my business. Get this stuff stowed below, both of you. And no funny business.”
As the captain walked off, Charity fixed Kor with a glare that seemed to say ‘You’d better make this worth it.’
*********************************************
After seeing what kind of shape Khadija was in, and taking stock of what supplies had been damaged in the two fights, Perri decided that the crew should go ashore. The town nearby was small, and named Millerton. They were to go get some replacement supplies, including whatever Lorenzo needed to treat Khadija’s wounds. Of course, Khadija wouldn’t listen to the doctor, and insisted on going as well.
An hour later, the group came to an area that seemed perfect for an ambush. Tall grass to one side, a steep, boulder strewn hill on the other, and half a dozen tough looking thugs across the road.
The tallest one, a lanky looking fellow, raised a hand in greeting.
“You there!” he shouted. “We represent the Dema guild. We own these roads. 4 silver to pass by.”
“For that price, we can just take the scenic route and avoid the roads.” Charity answered.
“You could do that,” came the reply. “But you’d be a fool. They say the dead walk here.”
“What harm could come of us not using your road?”
“Try it and see.” He smirked. “Our price is only 4 silver. Or perhaps...” He looked over each of the women of the group. “A few minutes with each of you, and we’d waive the fee.”
“You’d have to take that up with the others. I’m not interested.”
“Maybe you’d better just let us by, We’d hate to have to mess up those nice cloaks of yours.” Dunstan growled.
“That was a mistake friend, the Dema guild does not take threats kindly.”
“We don’t have time for this!” Dunstan shouted, then drawing his axe, he charged the group.
Charity, on seeing that a fight was about to break out, dove into the tall grasses, and began to work her way toward the group of thugs. As a result, she couldn’t see what anyone else was doing. She heard swords being swung, and the leader commenting “Heh, you’re pretty good. Surrender, and we could make use of a tough guy like you.”
A moment later, one of the bandits shouted “Hey boss! They got the high ground!”
“Just stay out of the way of that thing, then. Now kill them!”
Based on the sounds of the voice, Charity had gotten behind the group, she took a cautionary look over the tops of the grass in time to see Aoife and Ren up on the hillside shove a large boulder off a ledge. It tumbled down and crushed several of the bandits. Charity chose that moment to spring up out of the grass and attack.
The bandit knew she was coming though, and turned to meet her as she re-appeared. He deflected her attack, and then used her momentum to knock her to the ground. He looks to his leader. “Can I?” he asks with a grin.
“Go ahead, we need to increase our ranks anyway.”
The bandit turned his gaze back to her, his grin widening. His mouth was full of unusually sharp teeth. He lunged at her, aiming to sink those teeth into her neck, and Charity rolled aside at the last moment. She kipped back up onto her feet, ducked his sword slash, and struck back, missing.
After several thrusts and parries, she realized that Lorenzo was flanking with her. “Once again, Ren?” she said smiling, as she dodged aside.
“Seems so.” He answered trying to finish one of the bandits.
Taking advantage of the momentary lull in her concentration, one of the bandits jumped, and she felt her shoulder chill as its teeth found its mark. The things face covered in her blood, it let loose an exultant howl. Charity found she couldn’t move. All she could do is watch as the fight continued.
It didn’t take long. Orange was also bitten, and frozen in place, but once the trick was out of the bag, no one else let them get close enough. Lorenzo was cut down, and then bitten. Eventually, though, Dunstans rage, and Aoife’s tricks hurt enough of the bandits that the rest retreated.
As the feeling slowly returned, and her body began to respond again, she haltingly went to Ren’s side. She didn’t know much about healing someone, but she knew that if he kept bleeding, he could die. She rummaged through his kit, found some bandages, and began wrapping his wounds. Nearby the others were doing the same.
Eventually, Ren awoke. He checked his bandages, then dealt with Charity’s wound. One by one, everyone was bandaged, and the sorry looking troop continued into town.
“Well,” Charity said. “At least we’ll have a good tale to tell the captain.”
As they walked, Charity felt flushed. She attributed it to the fight they had just had and didn’t think any more of it.
****************************************
As the group neared the town, a patrol found them, took them to an inn. There they were fed, cleaned, and given a place to sleep. It turned out that the Dema guild had been bothering travelers for weeks, and no one had been able to stop them. The group that they had just killed was the most anyone had accomplished since it all started.
Charity didn’t sleep well that night. Her temperature was up, and she was sweating too much. She was tired the next morning, when they bought the needed supplies and made their way back to the ship. It was nearly noon, when Ren laid Charity down on a cot in the sick bay and began watching over her.
She didn’t resist at all, and fell back into a fitful sleep.
