Well, that threw Ed off balance. Throw her into the ocean? Sell her? Again? When had he sold her in the first place? They had only known each other a few weeks and he had never sold anyone… Ah. Thinking back to the events in that back alley casino, he tried to put himself in her position. What if they had never explained anything to her? Never told her what had actually happened? Well, what actually had happened? He had gambled her away without even knowing. He ran fingers through his beard and took a deep breath. He had sold her. It didn't matter that it had never been his intent. It didn't matter that he had been tricked. He began seeing things in a whole different light. Without any explanation, what must it have looked like to her? He hadn't been able to help her. He hadn't caused a scene. He had had his reasons at the time. All these weeks… All these weeks, she must have been thinking the worst. Thinking he had betrayed her. He had taken so much for granted. He had gone to save her and thought that much would have been obvious, why else would they have met on that beach? But she had already been a slave for weeks by then, and that had all been his fault. All those times on the ship when he had approached her and she had found reasons to leave… Excuses, he could see that now. Excuses to get away from the person who had caused her suffering. Well that was a massive blow to his ego. This whole time he had been blind to it, acting the ass. He blew out his breath in a sigh and looked around the room, looking anywhere but at the girl. His eyes finally settled on the kobold, Celeryx, who was doing a very good job at pretending he wasn't involved in the awkwardness. He hadn't really thought about it, but whenever the kobold wasn't working he was glued to the girl's side.
"Well girl, if we threw you overboard then Cel here would just drag you back. Selling you won't work either… No market for small mages these days. Height limits, you know? No… We're going to have to keep you around I'm afraid. Unless you're sick of us and want to leave, in which case you'll be free to go at the next port, just like everyone else, with pay for your time aboard." Ed took another breath, finally turning to look at the girl properly.
"But… I would rather you stay. You joined my crew and agreed to pull that heist with me. We still need to go back, finish what we started. I don't want to pressure you, but I for one would like to get revenge on those slavers." ***
Peabody leaned against the rail, pipe clamped firmly between his lips as he watched the two giants disappear. They had grown too small for him to make out much of what had happened, especially in the dark. There were flashes of magic, but not much. He didn't bother with the looking glass that hung from his belt, he wasn't truly that interested in the outcome of the fight. At the speed they were traveling now, he only had to fear the dragon catching them now. But what reason did a dragon have to attack them? What reason did a dragon have to appear through a portal and save them? What reason did a mage have to appear through a portal on the deck of their ship and disappear again? There was something there, something he was missing… He just couldn't put it all together. They had assumed the mage had been with the slaving vessel that had been following them. But… How had the slaving vessel been able to follow them? That mage, too… If they were able to get a mage onto the ship through a portal, they could have easily sent in a force to attack them. It would have been easier than chasing them. So what did that mean? The mage had not been with the slavers? He drew on the pipe but realized there was nothing left. Turning away from the figures, which had disappeared completely by that point, he reached into the pouch of leaf and came out with nothing. With a weary sigh he put away the pipe and set out to check on the crew. He was going to be like a bear with a soar head if he couldn't get his hands on a smoke soon. Had there been any on the ship that had turned up during the inventory? He would need to review it, or beg the captain to use a little magic to find them some. Before that, the crew.
Peabody gathered everyone onto the deck, even those with injuries. There were three that he left where they were, the captain, the girl and the kobold. After everything that had happened the girl needed time to calm down, and if the other two could help her do that then that was fine with him. Fieri stood off to one side with Twinkle, who was doing her best to keep the ship going in the right direction. Before he had started watching the giant and the dragon he had done his calculations, worked with the maps and charts and given her a heading to aim for. She now had her eyes fixed firmly on the compass that was clutched tightly in her small hands, all while doing whatever it is she was doing with magic. Including himself, and the three below deck, and them that was six. That left the rest of the crew. Seventeen in all. They had lost one to whatever had attacked Celeryx, and two more during the storm. Of the seventeen left they had too many injured and exhausted. Until they got sleep he didn't think he could scrape together ten fully functioning people from those gathered before him. He took in a deep breath and looked each of them in the eyes.
"I know that this voyage has been tough on all of us. We've lost people. We've asked too much. Some of you are only here because you were hired to complete a task, and you completed it. You didn't ask for this. Others are here because you followed the captain. Again, you didn't ask for this. Nobody asked for this, and yet here we are. We all need rest, and you will all get a chance to. For now, though, I need volunteers for the first shift. I don't know how long the mages can keep us going at this pace but until the magic stop we can make do with six people. The rest of you need to focus on resting and healing. We will get back to regular shifts soon, but until then, who is still able to stand?"
Peabody got his volunteers and sent the rest down below to sleep. He gave his orders, told them what to watch for, what to do. With magic doing the brunt of the work, though, there was little to do. It was mainly just a watch, keeping an eye out for trouble. With everything that had happened, they needed the watch. He wasn't a pessimistic person by nature, but he knew it was better to be safe than sorry. There were a few ropes that needed adjusting, a little maintenance. Inspections to be completed. From reports, he knew that if they planned on keeping the ship they were going to need a carpenter, an essential member of the crew on ships. Along with a cook, and a surgeon, and a trusted officer or two. He could dream, he supposed, of everything he would do to turn this ship into something beautiful. Who knew what the captain would want to do next, though. Or whether the crew would stick around. Even if they did, they would need a larger crew, one that was actually trained. They could sell the goods in the cargo hold to fund hiring on a crew… But what were they really going to do with a ship? Peabody had a feeling that the captain would be more inclined to follow a life of piracy. Was that really something he wanted to be involved with? He fetched out his pipe and reached for the pouch of tobacco, remembering too late that it was empty. All these thoughts were pointless right now, he supposed. They had to make port before anything else. He stowed his pipe, stretched, and turned back to the ship. If he was right about their location, they were close to Abed, which meant they were going to arrive at their destination in just a few more days.
OVER A BARREL: END