Pirates of the Hard Nox [Open]

Emer nodded solemnly.

"The air is thick, and blood well ready to boil."

She seemed to notice his reservation, but didn't speak on it, instead hovering back a bit and wringing her hands.

"I don't like us in disarray like this, with Solomon's men about. I - ran into their vampire when looking for Caleb."

Her cheeks tinged blue at the thought, feathers ruffling.

"He froze my feet to the ground. He did not - hurt me, but the way he looked at me, the way he touched - he is not a friend. He is not an ally. I do not feel safe with him around, and the sooner we can stand as one again, the better I will feel. We cannot be divided with danger still in our midst."

Emer placed a hand on Emryk's chest.

"I do not know, Baron. That man is a shadow."

She moved a bit closer to him, now, closing the distance of her arm, until both her hands rest against him.

"I am not asking you chase after him. I am asking you be wary." She looked up at him. "Caleb - suggested I stay by you, at least while we're here. I think - it is a good idea, and I do not much fancy the notion of being alone in this place. Let us find somewhere to rest for the night."

She lay her head against him.

"Please."

"I am tired."

It was a simple sentence, but simply admitting it let the full extent of her weariness come to sense. Her feet ached, her body was stiff, her mind was sluggish from thinking so many racing thoughts. She had cried enough that her eyes felt dry, and her throat still held a lingering hoarseness. This day had been a lifetime, and she was old of it.

She tilted her head back to look up at his face.

"Lay with me. Please. I do not - think I could sleep, otherwise."

His eyes opened to Alys with her face turned away from him, golden hair spread over the midnight blue sheets. Her shoulder moved up and down at the rhythm of her breath - slow, even, unbothered - and Caleb reached his hand forward, running his fingers through her shiny, untangled hair.

“Caleb!” Emer screamed from the other side of the wall. He didn’t want her to wake up so he jumped out of bed, opening the door before the wisewoman could disturb the fae’s sleep once more. She smiled, amused. “We are all waiting for you.”

He followed her to the main deck, but stopped on his track when he saw the blonde woman strapped to the pole with her torso exposed, with the exception of what was hiding behind two pennies. The entire crew was there with the notable exception of Emryk, and they all looked at Caleb, as if waiting for him to do something.

“Take the knife.” Nessa said, appearing by his side. It was just then that Caleb saw the knife laying on the floor, a strange black symbol carved on the blade. “Go on, take the knife!”

“Take the knife, Caleb.” His heart froze. The mockery on her tone, he didn’t think he’d hear it ever again. “What’s wrong? You’ve been waiting for this, do it.”

Caleb wasn’t sure if he reached for the knife or if it jumped to his hand. It was just him and Sinead now, but the ropes were no longer restraining her. She stepped closer.

“This is my ship. My crew.” She said, taking his hand and moving it close to her stomach, guiding the tip of the knife to poke against her skin. Right where he had left it. “You are a bastard and a thief, and this is all you’ll ever be. You don’t even have the guts to be a murderer.” Caleb pulled back, releasing his grip from Sinead’s and stumbled a few steps. “But she does.”

A gunshot and Caleb turned around, seeing Alys with a smoking gun pointed at his chest. He didn’t feel any pain, but he could feel the floor tilting beneath him. He tried to fly but his wings weren’t there - they were on Sinead’s back. Caleb looked up at the Nox and the two women floating above him as he fell…




There was sweat, and then an acute pain on his hollow stomach. Caleb woke up hyperventilating against the wall of a corridor that he realized wasn’t actually empty when he opened his eyes and saw a blond man standing across from him, with arms crossed over his chest. Caleb’s hand instantly reached for the knife and he tried to pull himself up but gave up when his entire body protested against the idea of movement.

“It didn’t look like a good dream, I was wondering if you’d wake up.” Naveen said, and sighed. “Are you afraid of me, captain? Don’t be.”

The panic that had started during his nightmare only increased as Caleb wondered for how long he’d been out. After telling Emer to stay with the baron he’d decided to spend the night outside Alys’ room as he didn’t think he’d be able to sleep after everything that day anyway. How long had he been out?

“Why didn't he take you with him? Tell me why we shouldn’t tie you up and leave you in this ice pit.” Caleb remembered the poppy’s milk in his pocket and wondered if it’d be enough to put down a vampire if he ever managed to get to him. It didn’t seem likely, not in his current state. Naveen laughed.

“First, because you can’t. If I wanted to I would’ve killed all of you, you guys are wrecked!” He kicked the wall behind him, walking over to the fairy’s side. “I was busy protecting you. You’re welcome.” Caleb looked around to see what he meant. The hallway was only half the size compared to what he’d seen earlier, a thick ice wall kept them apart from the rest of the house. Naveen seemed to have noticed the worried glances at one specific door, for he added: “I didn’t touch her.”

Caleb wanted to tell him off, but it was undeniable the power imbalance. Naveen was an immortal being, fuck knows how old, and Caleb was… Caleb was fucked.

“Alright, so what’s the deal?” He asked, letting go of the knife. There was no point pretending he wasn’t completely harmless. He raised his hand. “And what the fuck is this shit?”


***

Naveen recognized the symbol in Caleb’s hand; it had been developed by Solomon King himself.

“It’s a pledge of allegiance, so to speak.” Naveen said, taking a knife from his scabbard, a pretty thing he had found laying in the snow. He couldn’t help but notice Caleb seemed to have recognized it. “Not all of us need it, some of us are loyal.” The choice of words was deliberate. He sighed again, putting down the blade. “It’s a tough job, taking down an empire. It’s not like the good captain to work with mercenaries, but you gotta work with what you’ve got.”

The wall began to unfreeze, leaving no trace of itself behind much like the enchanted walls that had taken them to the cave when Juniper had melted it. Naveen began walking away, but stopped halfway to give Caleb another glance.

“I’m not the vampire you have to worry about."

It was early when Leo woke, or it seemed early, as the city itself didn’t seem to understand the relationship between light and time. It had been silent when he rolled over, though, and he was accustomed to being awake when the rest of the crew were still snoring in their bunks. He tied the shield to his back, a cracking and a warmth around the jagged line that Charlie’s teeth had cut into his arm eliciting a small wince from him as he did. The wound wasn’t as deep as it could have been, but sleeping in the dust and his own filth had done nothing to help it heal. The flesh around the scab was pink, and though Leo knew very little about medicine he had been wounded enough times to know it needed to be cleaned before it would heal properly.

The only source of water he could think of, however, was back in the cave where Charlie’s half rotted body lay; the frozen lake that had held a thousand flying corpses. He pulled the sheet from the bed, snapping the fabric to shake loose any remaining dust before rolling it into a tight ball and tucking it under his arm. His sword was slid between the shield and his back, and with those preparations made he slipped back through the hidden door in the back of the lavish room to make his way back to the ground floor.

He was surprised to find, as he silently entered the room where they had all gathered the previous night, that he was not alone in rising early, if the sanguine stranger had even slept at all. They crouched in front of the fire in a familiar position that Leo hardly expected someone covered in blood to assume, containers of water laid before them and a small patch of grimeless space between. Leo cast a glance to the door, his plan to wash in the lake broken by both their presence and the presence of the containers of water.

His footsteps were the quiet shuffle of a slave, meant to be neither seen nor heard and resurrected by the unfamiliar familiarity of the mansion they occupied. He hadn’t been trying to sneak up on the stranger, had only intended to cross the distance between himself and the cleansing water he needed, but old habits seemed to be ingrained into him despite the unsavory origin. The stranger hadn’t looked to him, hadn’t seemed to notice him until he was practically on top of them.

”Scrubbing floors is my job,” his voice felt unnaturally loud in the dead silence of the manor, and he softened his tone to a roar of whisper as he added, ”But I guess this place is big enough we could both clean it.” He somehow doubted that any of the rest of the crew would want to remain here long enough for such a task to be necessary, though. ”May I?” he asked with an uncharacteristic politeness as he reached for one of the containers.

The rest of that night had been mostly normal for Juniper, considering the circumstances. Once Emryk had left, they were alone with their thoughts, free to reflect on what the baron had said, and everything that had come before. They weren't sure of what to make of all of it, but... it was nice. The affirmation that they weren't just stealing from everyone else, as Friend had said. Still, they knew not everyone would hold that opinion. Lying was common amongst pirates, but not to the degree of being able to entirely change their form.

Between their thoughts, they took time to search the surrounding buildings. The first they had chose obviously had not contained what they were searching for, but eventually, their persistence paid off. A greenhouse, back near the manor, clearly taken care of in its time. Most of what had been kept here, centuries ago, had died due to a lack of care, but some of the sturdier vegetation had held on, thanks in part to the fog that permeated the city.

Juniper didn't have much experience with gardening. It hadn't been part of one of their many lives they'd lived to this point, but grabbing a few potatoes was easy enough. They gathered what they could, with one functional arm, and stuffed their pockets with what they couldn't carry. They were starving by this point, but it was late, and they were simply beyond the point of exhaustion.

Preparing the food came the following morning. They left the bed they had found for theirself, however regretfully, almost entirely motivated by the prospect of their findings from the night before. As they arrived back in the main room they had all met in the night before, they found the fire alive, Vena melting snow and ice for water, and Leo speaking with them, the two... cleaning the floors? It was odd, but not the strangest thing they'd seen to that point. "G'morning..." they mumbled, still rubbing their eyes as they entered. The food had been placed upon the table Beck emptied her rations on to. They collected some, and moved back to the fire. "Do... mm, do either of you have something to hold water?" they asked, stoking the flames a bit with their magic, some of which had returned to them overnight.