Chapter 16

  The sun was getting low in the sky, and the smell of the fisherman’s catch was just starting to catch in the air when they stopped outside a nondescript shack near the docks. The name “Pavlov” was etched over the door.

  Inside, the scent of potent herbs and chemicals hung heavy in the air. Pavlov, an extravagant man with vivid purple hair and a voice to match, greeted them with a flourish. “Welcome to Pavlov’s, purveyor of fine potions and poisons. All products are conditioned to your specific needs. How may I, Pavlov, your humble servant, be of use to you fine gentlemen and gentle ladies, today?”

  Thayer had explained most of his plan to Jonathon on the way down here, but, seeing as it was still his idea, he looked to Thayer to begin.

  “Aye, Mister Pavlov. We’ve need of some of yer most potent poison. And a lot of it at that,” Thayer said.

  “Oh dear me,” Pavlov responded, grasping his chest with his hands and elongating his words dramatically. “My most potent poison, you say? And what could four upstanding citizens such as yourselves possibly need with this poison?”

  “We’re going huntin,” Thayer responded simply.

  “Oh my! Hunting?” Pavlov said, his voice laced with emotion. “Surely you must know that the poison I could offer you would taint the very meat of the creature you’re hunting, making it ill-suited for consumption. Mayhaps I can offer you a more, hmm, palatable poison that has minimal effects on the meat?”

  “We’re not plannin’ on eatin’ the game I’m ‘fraid,” Thayer said. “Not even sure we’ll even encounter it, but we’d best be prepared. We’re preparin’ to kill a kraken.”

  The man’s eyes widened and a large smile spread across his face as he became even more animated and enthused. “Ohh, such a large and fearsome creature you plan to hunt. Such a creature would require oh so many barrels of poison. I’d say at least ten full barrels of the stuff.”

  “Ten barrels?” Jonathon asked incredulously.

  “Indeed, my good sir. Ten barrels. Now, typically, that much poison would run you around five hundred gold pieces, but, seeing as you’re ordering such a large amount and going after such a dangerous creature, I’ll cut the price down to four hundred gold. Just. For. You,” he finished in a sing-song manner. The enthusiasm on the man’s face made it difficult to tell if he was genuinely excited for their plan or for the potential sale. It also made it difficult to tell if the man was being forthcoming about the price of the poison.

  Jonathon pulled his cook aside. “Thayer, are you sure about this plan? That’s more money than we’ve spent on everything today,” he asked, concerned. “Are you sure we need this poison?”

  Thayer’s brow was upturned with concern. Jonathon could tell he didn’t expect such a large price. He turned back to Pavlov. “Sir, that seems a mite expensive, even at your discounted price. Are you sure you can’t do with, say, three hundred gold?”

  It was Pavlov’s turn to furrow his brow. “I am quite sure, good sir. If you need poison that is potent enough and effective enough to take down a creature as large as a kraken, you need what I’m offering. It’s strong and fast acting, a combination that is an unquestionable prerequisite for your plan. The cost of materials alone is close to two hundred and fifty gold pieces to acquire, given their rare and deadly nature. When you factor in the fact that it will take me nearly a week to complete such a large order, four hundred gold is more than fair. In fact, you’ll find I’m barely making a decent profit as it is.”

  Jonathon was about to respond when the door to the shack swung open and five men entered. Scarred and grizzled, Jonathon could tell immediately that these were likely closer to the type of clientele that Pavlov was used to. The man in the center, who was clearly the leader, was tall with shoulder-length brown hair, a stubbly shadow, and multiple scars across his face, one of which being the apparent cause of his opaque left eye. The two closest to him had hair cut short to the scalp with similarly stubbly beards. One also had a few scars showing the evidence of his experience; the other had half his face covered in burn marks, and almost no ear to speak of. The remaining two had shaved heads and faces to match. There were fewer scars on them than the others, but the contrast almost made them appear more dangerous. As they entered, Pavlov’s enthusiasm disappeared briefly before returning with a much more forced feeling.

  “Oh, good day, gentlemen. If you’ll allow me to finish with these customers, I’ll be right with you,” he said casually. Jonathon noticed a slight upturn in the man’s brow that made him question the sincerity of his casual response.

  “They can wait, Pavlov,” the man with the long hair said. “It’s sundown, and it’s been three days. We won’t wait no longer.” He smiled viciously at the purple-haired man as he pulled back his coat to reveal a long hunting knife attached to his hip. “We would ‘ate to see anything happen to you or this shop again, now wouldn’t we?”

  Jonathon quickly turned to look around at some of the other goods the man offered in his store. Whatever problems this man had, he wanted no part of it. Cassie and Thayer quickly occupied themselves with the shelves as well. Ideally, Pavlov would pay whatever it was he owed these men, and they would leave.

  Jonathon was working on a way to convince the man down on his price when a familiar voice said, “Excuse me, sir. You are not threatening this man with violence, are you?”

  Jonathon’s stomach grew heavy, and his groan was almost audible as he turned to see Naomi standing between the two men.

  “And what’s this then?” said the burned man. “D’you hire some slave girl to work for you, Pavlov? If you have enough to buy help, I hope that means you have enough to pay us.”

  “What?” Pavlov started. “No, no. Gentlemen, please do not misunderstand, this girl is not…”

  “Pay you five for what exactly?” Naomi asked, temper rising in her voice.

  “Not that it’s any of your business, girl,” said the long-haired man, “but Pavlov here owes us for the protection we offer him in this dangerous part of town. We make sure that no one hurts him or his store.”

  “You mean, aside from you if he does not pay for your extortion?” Naomi continued, either unaware or uncaring of the danger she was creeping ever closer to. “In my village, we protect the weak, not exploit them.”

  The long-haired man’s leer turned dark. “You think I care what some jungle girl thinks?”

  Jonathon didn’t like this. Whatever this Pavlov was involved in was his own problem. He didn’t have the time or the reason to risk his or any of his crew’s necks for him, but Naomi was quickly making that harder and harder to do. He clenched his jaw, torn between admiration for Naomi’s boldness and the cold reality of their situation. Her actions, though noble, jeopardized their own safety. He admired her courage, but he couldn’t afford the consequences of her naivety.

  As he was contemplating the best approach for this, Cassandra stepped in, “Excuse my friend here, gentlemen. She is new to this area and is as of yet, still unfamiliar with the way things work. Come, Naomi, let us leave these gentlemen to their business.”

  As Cassandra went to grab Naomi’s arm, the scarred man to the left of the leader grabbed it instead. He twisted it upward, causing Naomi to wince in pain as he said, “Well, if she’s ‘as yet unaware’ of the way things work down ‘ere, mayhaps we should take her and teach ‘er a lesson. Mayhaps we won’t even charge the bitch for it.” He said as he looked Naomi over and licked his lips, his eyes consumed with lust.

  Jonathon could see fear and understanding dawn in Naomi’s eyes as Cassie spoke calmly, “Sir, I do not know who you are, nor do I care. I do not care what business or arrangement you have with the owner of this establishment. However, you would be wise to remove your hand from her wrist this instant before I remove it for you.”

  The fire in Cassie’s eyes left no room for misunderstanding as the man holding Naomi let her arm go. The same level of awareness could not be said for the man on the far left of the group, however, as he grabbed Naomi instead, saying, “Gods Allen, you’re such a pussy. You gonna let some bitch sca–”

  The man’s words cut mid-sentence as he stared down at the arm that had grabbed Naomi, or rather, the stump. Faster than anyone in the shop had realized, Cassie had drawn her sword and cut clean through the man’s arm. The man screamed as the stump began squirting blood all over him and the shop. He fell backward onto the floor of the shop as he quickly rushed to tear parts of his clothes off to staunch the flow.

  Cassie turned and spoke to the remaining four men whose anger was now solely focused on her. Her voice was calm and firm, but her stance and eyes screamed the danger the men had found themselves in. “I will say this one more time. I will allow you to complete your business with our friend here. I will even overlook your recent actions against us and allow you to leave with your lives, but you will leave us out of this.”

  The long-haired man stared daggers at her, contemplating her words. He then looked at Naomi, Thayer, and finally, back at Jonathon before laughing and saying, “You’ll regret that, you bitch.”

  He grabbed his knife and quickly slashed up towards Cassandra. The two on either side of him lunged toward her while the one on the far right grabbed for Naomi. Thayer, who had been trying to stay quiet, rushed the fifth man, using his weight to easily knock the man back into several shelves, where he remained, his eyes staring into nothing, an errant shard of glass poking through his neck. Thayer quickly grabbed Naomi, threw her over his shoulder, and ran out of the shack, nodding to Jonathon as he left.

  Jonathon quickly looked back to Cassie. The stumpy man was still on the ground trying to stop his bleeding. Of the two men that lunged for her, one was lying on the floor with a large slash across his chest, his shirt quickly filling with hot, sticky blood. The other had managed to grab hold of her and was managing to stay just out of reach of her sword, able to get in some punches to her side while she was busy deflecting the long-haired man’s advance.

  Jonathon could see the long-haired man was quickly beginning to gain the upper hand fighting his grappled quartermaster. He quickly drew his saber and swung toward the man himself. Unbelievably fast, the long-haired man brought his dagger back to block Jonathon swing and turned his attention to him.

  “If you think I got to where I am today without knowing how to smell an attack from behind, you’re sorely mistaken, boy,” he said, his opaque eye staring through Jonathon.

  Jonathon flared with rage. What was it with all of these people calling him “boy” lately? He had never had this problem in his entire life, and yet, he had now had to tolerate it from two separate people in the past two weeks. Well, tolerate it from one, anyway; this man was quickly going to learn the difference between a boy and a man. He struck out again with his saber. The long-haired man deflected his blows but never seemed concerned. He continued to bat away Jonathon’s swings as though they had been choreographed. Jonathon's anger flared even more. He was by no means a master of the sword, but he was no novice either. He wouldn’t be bested by this man.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Jonathon could see Cassie finishing off the other man. He made a few swings in an attempt to back the man in her direction. When he was close enough to her, she lunged viciously, only to be parried away by a second knife the long-haired man pulled from somewhere in an instant. The momentum of her attack sent her lunging past the man and almost into Jonathon. She quickly recovered and the two attacked the long-haired man. He continued to deflect their attacks for a few more rounds before he changed his style and began lashing out. He was at a disadvantage given the length of his blades, but it didn’t seem to make a difference to him. His attacks were precise, hitting their blades at just the right spot to send a jarring amount of force through the entirety of Jonathon’s arms. The man was slowly pushing them back to the opposite side of the shack when he hit Jonathon’s sword differently. The strike sent Jonathon’s arm shooting into the air. In an instant, the man ducked under either of their swords, wrapped himself around Jonathon like a snake, and held one of his knives to Jonathon’s throat, his other arm holding Jonathon’s sword arm in the air, the blade in its hand threatening to separate Jonathon’s own hand from the rest of his body.

  Cassie’s attacks stopped mid-air, and the long-haired man, who Jonathon could hear was panting much less than either of them, said, “Good girl. Now, drop the sword, or this man will not live long enough for you to make another attack.”

  The sword clanged to the ground, and the man smiled. “Good. Now–” there was a gurgling noise as the words stopped. The man’s grip on Jonathon loosened, and he quickly pushed himself free. He turned to see Naomi standing behind the long-haired man, her dagger sheathed inside the man’s throat.

  “You are lucky your death came for you as quickly as it did, you vile man. In my village, were you to threaten a Banshee and attack her comrades, your mistake would be one which took much longer to pay for.” She quickly unsheathed her dagger, and the man crumpled to the floor.

  Naomi turned to the only conscious member of the group, still gripping his severed stump, and said, “If this was your leader, you will leave this store and never return. If this man was just one of your leaders, you will return to your tribe and tell them that all attacks on this store are to cease immediately. This man is under new protection now, and if I ever return to find anything has happened to it, I will personally hunt you and your men down, and I will show you what the death of a Banshee’s enemy feels like.” She finished her threat with one of her screams. If the man had not been convinced before, he certainly had been now. Tears in his eyes, the man fled the store faster than a starving man with food.

  “So much for sensing attacks from behind,” Jonathon muttered to himself as he sheathed his saber and rubbed his wrist. After taking a moment to catch a breath, he quickly turned on Naomi and said, “What exactly did you think you were doing, Naomi?!”

  Naomi met his gaze, unflinching. “I was doing what was right, Captain. Is that not why we are here? To fight for what is right?”

  Jonathon’s temper flared. “No, Naomi, that’s nowhere near why we’re here! We’re here for our crew and we’re here for ourselves! We are not here to save every damned shopkeeper and street rat we meet!”

  Naomi held her ground. “Then perhaps it is you who does not understand the value of honor, Captain. In my village, we do not turn a blind eye to suffering.”

  Jonathon’s eyes flashed with fire and he felt his heart rate spike even higher at the accusation, his hands tightening with rage at the young woman’s disrespect and petulance. “Well for starters, we aren’t in your village anymore, we’re in the real world. Secondly, this has nothing to do with honor and everything to do with reality.”

  Naomi’s gaze was steeled as she defiantly said, “Excuse me, Captain, but these men were going to extort this man for money simply to not harm him.”

  “And?” Jonathon asked, incredulously.

  “And what, Captain?” Naomi responded, maintaining her temper.

  “And why do we care about that, Naomi? That’s none of our business. You almost got me and Thayer killed. More importantly, you almost got yourself and Cassie killed!” Jonathon screamed at her.

  “But you did not die, did you, Captain?” Naomi replied simply. “None of you did. And now, we have saved this man from being extorted.”

  “That is not our job, Naomi!” Jonathon said, unsure what it was about this that she was not understanding. “We take care of our crew. That’s it! It’s not our job to take care of everyone else.”

  “But what about–”

  “I don’t want to hear anything more about it, Naomi,” Jonathon said, cutting her off. “Don’t make a move like that again without my permission! Not only did you risk our lives in this foolish attempt at heroics, but you’ve also risked this man’s life as well!”

  “How? I have saved him from these villains, and I have told them that he is under my protection,” Naomi responded stubbornly.

  Jonathon was incredulous, “Oh you did, did you? And how exactly do you plan to back up that statement, huh? Please, tell me. Do you think that this group will look at a shop full of their dead men and not retaliate against this man? Do you plan on staying in this man’s shop until either you or he is killed? This man will be lucky to last the remainder of the month!”

  Cassie stepped forward, placing her hand gently on Jonathon’s shoulder. “Captain, if I may?” Jonathon looked at Cassie and turned away, throwing his hands in the air in defeat. Maybe she could handle the problem. “Look, Naomi, I understand your reasons for standing up for this man, but unfortunately, that is part of the world that we live in. This man has a dangerous business dealing with dangerous people. He takes on these risks knowingly. Similarly, as the captain has said, even if we wanted to help, we couldn’t. We don’t have the time to protect this man full-time from people like this. And if we did, we too would have to charge him for our protection. I understand your frustration, but this is the world we live in.”

  Naomi appeared on the verge of tears from frustration. Beginning to understand the danger she caused the man from her intervention, she said, “But I was helping him. He was in trouble, and we helped. How is that wrong? That is not the way we were taught to treat others.”

  Cassie looked at the girl warmly and said, “I know. It’s a sad reality, but it’s one we have to live with.”

  Naomi’s eyes darted back and forth around the room, searching for an answer. Finally, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and said, “Well, what is done is done. I cannot change my actions. I cannot change that we will be unable to protect this man once we leave, but the man said it would take him a week to complete your order. I will stay with him during this time and protect him. It is not much, but it is what I must do.”

  Cassie looked to Jonathon for approval on her idea. Jonathon shrugged and said, “Sure. Fine. Whatever. But we’ll have to send a couple of others from the crew with you. If these men were part of a larger group and any indication of that group’s skill, you’ll be dead before the week’s end.” He turned to Pavlov, who had slowly stood up from behind the counter and begun dusting himself off. Normally, he could have turned this situation into getting him a better price, but seeing as Pavlov had heard their whole conversation, there was really no spinning it now. “Pavlov,” he said, turning to face the man, “I sincerely apologize on behalf of my crewmate here. Will you accept her offer for protection while you complete our order? I will also accept the price of four hundred gold.”

  Pavlov, shaken from the event of the last few minutes, slowly recovered his elegance and said, “O-of course, sir. It would be my honor to fulfill your request, though I may have to move after this is all said and done. Maybe they have needs of a purveyor of poisons in Silvercove Harbor,” he finished to himself.

  Jonathon nodded to the man. “Again, I’m sorry for the trouble my crewmate has caused. I will return in a week’s time for my order. In the meantime, Naomi and a few members from my crew will be nearby should you require any more protection from her actions.” He placed a pouch on the counter in front of the man. “Here’s half the payment now. The rest will be paid upon delivery. Come, Naomi, let’s go.”

  “I am afraid I cannot leave, Captain,” Naomi replied simply.

  Feeling as though his head was going to explode, Jonathon turned to her and asked, “Why not now, Naomi? You’ve gotten what you want. What more could you possibly want from me?”

  “Nothing, Captain,” she replied, “but I must stay here. If what you have said is true, this will be a very dangerous time for this man. I assume the closer to the event, the more likely the retaliation. Thus, I must stay with him during this time. I would ask, however, that when you send your men to back me up, to please send them with my spear. I am not as effective with my dagger as I am my spear, even in close combat.”

  Jonathon sighed and looked at the man behind the counter, “Is this okay with you? Do I have to worry about you trying anything funny while alone with her?”

  Pavlov’s smile returned as the man continued to recover from the incident, “Of course not, dear. If her display of self-defense were not enough to sway your concerns of any lecherous behavior on my behalf, perhaps you can take solace in knowing that lecherous behavior is not inspired in me by her.” He paused, looking Jonathon over. “You, on the other hand, I would certainly have to watch my behavior around.” He smiled as Jonathon realized what he meant and laughed, “I tease, sir. You’re not my type either, I’m afraid. Still, you have my word as a gentleman that no harm will befall this wonderful breath of fresh air in this dank area of town.”

  Jonathon sighed, suddenly exhausted from the day’s activities. “Very well. Naomi, be safe,” he said waving one hand in her direction as he rubbed his eyes with the other. “I’ll send some men and your spear when we get back to the boat. Come on, Cass, let’s find Thayer and head back. Our work is done for the day. And I need a drink.”

  “Yes, Captain,” she responded. She gave Naomi’s hand a reassuring squeeze and followed her captain outside.

  They found Thayer sitting outside, his legs hanging off one of the nearby docks. He stood up and said solemnly, “Cap’n, I hope ye’re not mad with me for me actions. I’ve not been in combat since that day, and I figured I’d be more hindrance than help to ye. I did try to get the lil’ miss out though.” He looked around, noticing her absence, “Where is the lil’ miss? I know she went back in to fight? Did she…not make it?”

  The man’s voice began to waver, and Jonathon could see guilt starting to build behind his eyes as he held up his hand. “Don’t worry, Thayer, she’s fine. She actually saved our lives. She’ll be staying with the man for the time being to protect him. You have nothing to feel guilty about. And you made the right call ensuring Naomi and your own safety first.” He could see the relief beginning to fill Thayer’s eyes. “Besides,” he added, grasping the man’s shoulder reassuringly, “don’t sell yourself short, you took out one of them for us on your way out. You’re a good man, Thayer, and you did a good job.”

  Thayer smiled widely at Jonathon, tears of gratitude replacing the ones of regret that had been forming. “Thank ye, sir. Means a lot.”

  Jonathon smiled back at the man, and the three turned and began walking back towards the ship.

  ~~

  As they approached the gangway to the ship, Jonathon said, “Thayer, this order will put us back a week. Based on what you said prior to us leaving, we should still be well set enough for food, but let me know if we need to make any more trips into town before we leave.”

  “Aye, Cap’n,” Thayer nodded before heading up the ramp, stopping to help some of the men who were still loading the day’s purchases.

  Cassie stopped Jonathon before he could follow, “Captain, what about the men and shore leave? Am I to tell them to stay aboard the ship?”

  Jonathon thought for a moment. They didn’t usually spend much time in Brightstone, so he wasn’t sure how much of their tomfoolery the town would tolerate, especially after Thayer’s prior stunt. But he also cut their shore leave in Gravenfair short, and they had already had to wait on the boat during their expedition into the jungle. If he wasn’t careful, the men would get restless and irritable.

  “Tell them they have limited shore leave,” he said. “They are allowed to stay near the docks, but they are not allowed to fully explore the city proper since we are simply docked while we wait for an order to be completed. Also, tell them that part of the cost for their shore leave will be protection of Pavlov’s store. Tell them I want at least three men with eyes on that store at all times. Either they or you can work that out amongst themselves. I don’t care so long as it gets done.”

  She nodded. “Yes, sir. I–”

  “Excuse me, miss,” came a small voice from behind them. They turned to find a young boy standing on the dock with a letter in his hand. A courier, by the looks of it.

  “Yes?” Cassandra said hesitantly to the boy.

  “Are you Miss Cassandra Reeves?” he asked.

  “I am,” she replied even more hesitantly after hearing her full name.

  “I ‘ave a letter for you,” the boy said as he handed the letter he was holding out to her.

  Cassandra took the letter and handed the boy some coins. “Thank you.”

  She looked at the writing on the envelope and quickly shoved it into her pockets.

  “Everything okay, Cass?” Jonathon asked.

  “Fine, Captain,” she responded quickly. “It’s nothing you need to be concerned about. I’m going to turn in for the night if it’s all the same to you.”

  “Of course,” Jonathon added slowly, his own curiosity piqued. “If you need anything, let me know.”

  She nodded and walked away. Jonathon watched as she followed Thayer up the ramp. His curiosity was eating him up inside, but he knew Cass better than to pry. If she wanted to tell him, she would.

  He looked around, but the courier boy was already gone. Jonathon shrugged and walked over, grabbed one of the many crates still sitting on the dock and walked up the ramp.