“Oh, shit.” Were the only words Gareland could muster as they were all made abreast of the situation.

  “... And, as I was saying, the ship’s been impounded.” Serpacinno finished, annoyed.

  “So…” Sally said, tapping her feet, “I can’t be the only one who’s wondering what to do?”

  “I’m planning on scoping the place out, personally.” The first mate responded, only to be met with silence, “Look, you know he feels about it. You want to leave? Fine. But I owe it to him.”

  “Well, I’m not gonna argue.” Lonceré said, “I’ve known him for too long.”

  Sally thought for a few moments, drawing nothing. She, truth be told, did not feel as grateful to the Captain, although if nothing else he did give her a free ride, and Scaular wasn’t a Union-aligned country, so it’s not like she’d be an international criminal, “Alright.”

  “Yeah.” Tariq and Gareland confirmed when they saw all eyes were on them.

  “Don’t you work for some organization?" Serpacinno asked her, “Can’t you find some people to help us?”

  “I would hope that Paracelsus would be smart enough to realize it’s best not to owe my boss anything.” The fairy scoffed.

  “Surely he can get out himself?” Tariq asked, “I mean, he’s managed to move walls before, right?”

  “I left a lot of my things on the ship.” Sally said, her lips falling into a frown, “Very important things.”

  “That is exactly what I’m getting at.” Serpacinno stressed by chopping her left hand with her right, “We have to go see what kind of security the dock has.”

  —

  “Why did you do it?” A large, burly man had Paracelsus’ hair in his fist, and he pulled his other fist back, while Federico stood at the Captain’s starboard flank, “Who are you working for?”

  Paracelsus wheezed, his nose was long-since broken, and his head was throbbing something fierce. He rubbed his mouth on his shoulder to wipe a bit of blood away.

  “I’ll tell you, and you alone,” He said, trying to remember his name, “Se?or Almarés.”

  The heavy was about to punch him again, but Federico held up his hand at the last second and the large, brutal object stopped just before striking Paracelsus again, “Revisa las cuerdas.”

  When the larger man gave a thumbs-up, the widower nodded toward the exit, and he was soon alone with Paracelsus. He crouched down to look him in the eye, and sat inspecting his face for quite some time before he decided to break the silence, “Why did you do it?”

  “I’m a Paacist,” The Captain said, “I can’t say it aloud, come closer.”

  When his instructions were followed, he used his gift to turn the ropes into a small dirk, and pressed the very tip to Federico’s stomach, “Don’t move. Don’t scream. I don’t want to make this an incident any more than you do. Nod if you understand.” While the heir stood there glaring, Paracelsus returned with his own determined gaze. Neither seemed ready to break, but eventually, the taller man nodded.

  “Alright, then.” Paracelsus pulled the blade back an inch or two, and Federico let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in, “I didn’t do it.”

  “Bullshit!” Federico shouted, before he found the dirk at his throat.

  “No screaming.” He said, “I’m a simple tobacco farmer from Arendtone.”

  “And what? I just take your word for it?” The taller man gulped, “Should I just let you out while I’m at it?”

  “I realize this is difficult to believe,” He sighed, “But it’s true. My name is Paracelsus. Believe me when I say that I would prefer to keep the bloodshed to a minimum. You can check my ship - you’ll see I have twenty-five crates of tobacco.”

  “And enough provisions for twelve men for fifty days.” Federico argued back, “Where’s your crew?”

  “There are only six of us. We had some passengers, but -” The Captain explained, “I can’t tell you their names.”

  “What are you expecting me to do, then?” Federico asked.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Shit,” Paracelsus hissed, “Does the water behind this cell lead to the ocean?”

  “Yes… why?” The widower asked, getting more annoyed at the holdup.

  Instead of answering, Paracelsus slowly walked the two of them over to the window, rapidly flitting his head between watching the other man and creating a fishing wire and a gold ring that he slowly fit between the bars of his window.

  “What are you doing?” Federico gritted his teeth. It seemed he was close to throwing caution to the wind and attacking him regardless.

  “Technically, there are seven of us,” Paracelsus said, “I’m contacting one of my crew.”

  “What?” Gru’lya said, popping her head out of the water, “Oh, it’s you.”

  “Hello, Gru’yla,” Paracelsus said, beckoning Federico to watch, “I need your help.”

  “You only call me when you need something?” The mermaid crossed her arms with a huff, but didn’t leave.

  “I’m sorry, please try to bear with me.” He gestured to the man next to him, “This man’s wife is dead, and he believes I’m responsible. I need you to pass along a message to Serpacinno - please.”

  She leered her eyes, which was extra creepy given the fact they were pitch-black, but relented, “Fine. What do you need me to say?”

  “I want her, alone, to meet with this man’s men as soon as possible at…” The Captain looked to Federico for a location.

  “La campana de la libertad.” The heir answered, “It’s a few miles east of here, atop a hill along the main road.”

  “Go, Gru’lya,” Paracelsus said, “I’ll finish things here.”

  With a roll of her eyes, although she was reluctantly glad to be involved, she dove down, splashing the window, and the Captain swore he heard some kind of creeping, or shuffling noise from the heir.

  “All I can say is thank you,” He threw the knife out the window, “And I’m sorry - for your loss, and for threatening you. You’re quite reasonable.”

  “Make no mistake, Paracelsus,” Federico spat, glaring at him again, “If anything goes wrong, or if I think you’re lying, I will kill you.”

  “I completely understand,” The Captain said, sitting down on the bed, “But I assure you, once they trust you - which I will ensure they do, they will help you find whoever did this.”

  “One more thing,” Federico snatched Paracelsus by the neck, and the shorter man sword he had some kind of spikes on his glove by the way his throat was being dug into, “Never pull a weapon on me again. Nod if you understand.”

  —

  It took quite a while for the mermaid to find the swordswoman, mostly because of her rather limited ability to listen out for a target on land while she was restricted to the sea.

  “Snake…” She whispered when she was finally within range, “Snake!”

  “You?” Serpacinno got down on her hands and knees, “We’re a little busy at the moment.”

  She wasn’t lying, they had made it to the impound lot and found quite the sight. There was a large, warehouse- like building, the only exception being the addition of a large sluice gate that held nearly a dozen or so ships within its walls. Serpacinno and Tariq were on the north end of it, towards the gate’s location and she was currently looking to see if they would ever open it for maintenance.

  “I talked to him,” Gru’lya said, adding an “Idiot.” for good measure.

  “What?” She asked, “How?”

  “He’s being held in a mangrove not far from here,” Gru’lya said, quite self-satisfied, “And he told me to pass along a message: You need to meet someone at… La campana de la libertad. He wants you to go alone.”

  “La what?” She asked, “What the fuck did you say?”

  “It’s east of here, on a hill.” She explained.

  As Serpacinno stood up and thanked the mermaid, Tariq put his hand on her shoulder, “I’m coming with you.”

  “What?” She scoffed, “You heard her. Parace said I should go alone.”

  “I think you’re forgetting something.” The younger boy cloaked himself.

  “Fine, let’s -” Serpacinno snapped her fingers as an idea came to mind, and she turned to Gru’lya, “Can you dive under that gate?”

  She peeked her head below to water to gauge the depth, estimating it to be about thirty or so feet before there was a passage underneath it. Just before she surfaced, she paused for a few seconds to make it appear as though it were deeper, but the subterfuge was ineffective seeing as the water was clear, and she could easily be seen.

  “What if I said I could?” She answered, squinting.

  “Then I’d say wait here -” She started walking south, “I’m gonna go get the cook.”

  —

  It was the golden hour in Scaular, and the yellow rays of the sun peered through a set of old, wooden slats that obscured the window they were housed in. In the room this window led to was an old, dusty table, stacked high with charts, charters and all manner of documents that could reasonably be expected to be found on a table. While the conversation that follows was spoken in Scaularese, for the convenience of the reader, it has been translated.

  “Miguel?” A woman, in her late twenties at least, sounded out, brushing some of the dust off of the table, “Are you here?”

  “Hello, Rosa,” Miguel stepped into view, joining his sister in sitting down, bringing with him glasses and liquor, “It’s done.”

  “So then, Diego has shot our sister-in-law?” She asked, taking her shot with gusto.

  “Indeed,” Miguel was more deliberate in drinking his drink, allowing the liquor to swirl and give off an aroma before he indulged, “Now, with any luck, Federico will be too heart-broken to run the company.”

  “So…” She lowered her eyes and clasped her hands on the table, “What about Diego?”

  “What’s there to say?” He responded, “We kill him.”

  “And the man he framed?”

  “We kill him, and his crew.”

  They both raised their second glasses in toast as the sun set on the Current company’s first day in Scaular.

  —

  “For the record, I am completely against this.” Lonceré said, doffing his shirt and trousers, “Not that I’m scared of the water - I just never learned to swim.” He paused for a moment realizing just how bad this could go, “You swear you’ll keep a firm grip on me?”

  Instead of answering, Gru’lya just rolled her eyes and snatched him, shouting, into the water, dragging him along with eyes closed tight and breath stingily conserved until he resurfaced again, inside the inside of the impounding marina. When he surfaced, it took him a few moments to realize he was once more surrounded by dry, safe air and open his eyes. Conveniently, he had been let out near the wet steps and climbed them, eager to spend as little time as possible in the ocean.

  “Damn it’s dark in here!” He groped around the walls, looking for an unlit torch or anything to light his path. Finding nothing, he kept one hand on the wall as he carefully stepped around, seeing a bit of moonlight pouring in from the opposite wall.

  “Do you see anything?” The mermaid asked from the water.

  “I can’t see shit!” He replied, making his way to what little light there was. When he got there, he saw a barrel, “Wait a minute, I see something…” Taking the top off, he found something, at least. He’d read about these, or more accurately Paracelsus had read about these and relayed the information to him, once - small stones that glowed in the dark, “Aha!” He struck two together, figuring that was how to light them, and was proven correct.

  Taking another sweep of the building, he saw both the number of ships, which was about fourteen, as well as the winch mechanism to lower and raise the gate. Deciding that now would be a poor time to try anything, he instead decided to climb the ladder leading upward at either corner, lifting the trapdoor to get a peek outside.