Dexter stared at the man a moment longer, then nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He turned and walked to the guards, who waited until he was out of the cell before shutting the door on those behind him.
“I’d like to secure the release of those two prisoners,” Dexter said, pointing at Jenna and the mysterious prisoner.
“You hit your head in there? You’ve got a record!” The guard that had spoken before said.
Dexter sighed, rolled his eyes, and looked at Kragor. The dwarf nodded and spoke, “I’d like to secure the release of those two prisoners.”
“Can he do that?” The other guard asked.
The first guard shrugged. “Come up top to sign the paperwork.”
“Go and get it,” Dexter said. The guard ignored him, however, so he looked to Kragor again.
“Go get it,” the dwarf parroted, clearly annoyed.
“I head back up them stairs I ain’t coming back down here today,” the guard said.
“What’s their bond?” Kragor asked.
“5 gold for the eunuch, and 50 for the elf.”
“50 gold?” Dexter protested. He knew they had inflated the prices to line their own pockets, but that was a ludicrous amount. Not only that, but he had no idea where he was going to get 50 gold.
“Here,” Kragor said, reaching into a pouch at his belt and counting out 55 gold coins.
Dexter stared at him, stunned. He looked at the guard who smiled smugly. He counted the coins and then tested a couple with his teeth before motioning for the other guard to open the door and let the other two prisoners out. The stepped out of the cell quickly and fell in behind Dexter.
“Right, you’re free to go,” the guard said.
“What about my things?” Dexter protested.
“Don’t I have to sign something?” Kragor asked, confused.
“Your things were part of your issue from the Federation, they belong to us, not you,” the guard said to Dexter, sneering.
“Now get out of here and hope I don’t see you again!”
Dexter hesitated a moment then nodded, walking down the passage towards the stairs and the fresh air of freedom.
* * * *
“What can you tell me to keep me from spilling your blood here and now?” Dexter said after he had slammed the nearly bald man into the wall of an alley not far from the Federation prisons.
“Aye, and why’d the guard call you a eunuch?” Kragor said, squinting one eye and widening the other to look mildly deranged. It was a good look for the dwarf.
The sudden captive looked back and forth between them while the elf woman, Jenna, prowled at the mouth of the alley to discourage anybody from showing too much interest.
“Gelded or not, no man gets away with blackmailing me!” Dexter said, tightening his grip.
“I’m no man.”
“What?”
“What?”
Dexter and Kragor looked at one another for their simultaneous questions. The stranger suddenly spun in Dexter’s grip, breaking free, and moved in a way that suggested a graceful and flowing dance as much as much as it did anything. Dexter turned to face the man.
“He’s a she, and she’s a half elf,” Jenna said from behind them.
As though they were twins, both Dexter and Kragor again repeated, “What?”
“Tis true, My name is Bekka, I am half-elf and half-human.”
“But you’ve got no hair!” Kragor protested. “No self respecting woman would cut their hair off!”
“I’m not a dwarf,” Bekka said.
“Aye, but…but…”
Dexter’s hand fell on Kragor’s shoulder, silencing his sputtering friend. “How about you tell me what you’re about.”
“My thanks,” Bekka said, bowing her head. “I heard what you said to her and I believe I have found someone that I have been looking for. Someone willing to look beyond race and parentage, to a person’s true worth. Am I right?”
Dexter looked at Jenna, who just shrugged noncommittally. Kragor was still trying to understand her chosen haircut, so he was of no use to the man either. Finally Dexter nodded. “Go on.”
“I can fight and I have some magic at my disposal, I would offer you my services if you would have me,” she said.
“Jenna, keep an eye on her please,” Dexter said, grabbing Kragor’s shirt and pulling him after him deeper into the alley. Dexter glanced back at Jenna but her eyes were glued to Bekka, like a hawk to her prey.
“What do you think?” Dexter asked the dwarf.
“What do I think? You’re daft, boy-o, that’s what I think! You’re hiring a crew straight outta the brig? Daft ain’t the word!”
Dexter waved him silent. “Trust me, Kragor, Jenna is a good pick.”
Kragor snorted. “She’s an elf, no trusting them. You mark my words, Dex, she can’t be trusted!”
Dexter sighed. “Okay, I’ll keep an eye on her. Now the other one. It’d be nice to have a spare helmsman, and better if she’s a wizard, she can help us get the Hawk’s Talon charged up!”
“I figured we’d buy a battery to get her enough juice to bring her to a dock,” Kragor offered.
“How’d you get so much gold?” Dexter asked, suddenly remembering the pouch full of gold at Kragor’s side.
Kragor grinned. “Been busy while you’ve been resting with your girlfriends. Brought the cat and the ballista back on the ant after I fixed her up and sold them off to some people I know. Then bought more supplies and did more work on the ship.”
Dexter shook his head. He clapped the dwarf on the back and turned back. Kragor frowned and spoke up, “Wait, I didn’t tell you what I thought of them.”
Dexter shrugged, “That’s okay, I made up my mind.”
The dwarf stood there for a moment, jaw open in stunned surprise. Dexter looked back at him and winked, “It’s good to be the captain,” he said.
Kragor spat on the ground and hurried after his captain.
“I’m not a wizard, I’m a sorceress,” Bekka said when they returned.
Dexter looked at Kragor, who just shrugged. “You hear a lot, don’t you?” Dexter accused her.
Bekka nodded. “Not as much as she does.”
All eyes turned to Jenna, who met Dexter’s stare with her own. “Well?” he asked her.
Jenna held his gaze for a moment then nodded. “It’s true,” she admitted, shooting a silent glare Bekka’s way. “Elves hear well. As for trusting me, I owe you my life, or at least my honor, until that’s been repaid you’ve naught to fear.”
“And then?” Dexter asked her.
“And then we’ll see how well we get along.”
Dexter stared at her again for a long moment, then nodded. “Fair enough.”
Kragor muttered something in his native tongue and yanked his beard in disbelief. Dexter’s hand patted him reassuringly on the shoulder to calm him down.
“Alright, Bekka, I’ll give you a chance. Try pulling what you did in that cell again though and I’ll bleed you then and there,” Dexter said.
Bekka nodded, smiling. “And the both of you need some equipment. Weapons we got; clothing we don’t. Let’s go shopping.”
“The Fed guards took all my money,” Jenna said, looking annoyed.
“Mine as well,” Bekka said.
“Aye, they do that,” Dexter said. “Consider this an advance on your pay then.”
“What is to be my pay?” Jenna asked.
Dexter had turned to leave the alley and head towards the merchants section, but the elf’s question made him pause. He turned back to face her and glanced at Kragor, who tried to subtly make a gesture with his hand: that of a fist with a thumb pointing down. Dexter chuckled.
“How do you want it?” Dexter asked. “Standard rates or a percentage?”
“Percentage?” Jenna asked, a little surprised. “Are you a pirate or something?”
“No,” he replied without hesitation. “But I’m not running a merchant ship either. From time to time
we will have some odd jobs and unusual fares.”
“So what’s the cut?” Jenna asked.
Another glance at Kragor yielded Dexter another less than subtle thumbs down, indicating the dwarf advised a low rate. Dexter smiled and looked back to Jenna. “Seven percent. More if you prove you’re as good as you claim.”
She nodded. “Fair enough.”
Dexter turned to Bekka. “You?”
Bekka just shrugged, something that unsettled him a little. “Whatever you feel is fair,” she said.
Dexter looked at Kragor, who stared at the half-elf with even more confusion than before. “I get the feeling you’re testing me,” Dexter said.
Bekka smiled mysteriously. “We’re all being tested every minute of every day.”
Dexter nodded. “Alright, then I’ll do the same for you.”
“What kind of ship is it?” Jenna asked, ignoring Bekka.
“It’s a trader class, with some personal modifications,” Kragor said, puffing out his chest proudly.
Jenna smirked, “What trader isn’t fixed up?”
Kragor glowered at her but bit his tongue. Dexter shook his head and sighed, wondering if he had too many personalities on the ship already. He turned and stepped out of the alley, glancing back at them to say, “You coming?”
They followed him as he made his way through the busy streets of New Haven. Jenna drew several surprised and often hostile looks, prompting Dexter to think that she needed something with a hood to hide her face. They ducked into the first store he found and tried to purchase just that, but the shopkeeper refused to do business with an elf present.
Dexter sighed and they went back outside. Rather than try another store Dexter asked her what she might require, then had Kragor tell him which dock the ant was berthed at and give him the belt with the money pouch on it. He sent them off, leaving Bekka with him to help him carry the goods he acquired.
Bekka received some strange looks, for only at a quick glance in poor light would someone mistake her for a man. Her features had a faint elven cast to them, but the lack of hair distracted people enough that no one made the jump to figuring her as a half-elf, even given her slight stature. That, and, for their current mission, Bekka served as a pack mule.
They returned well over an hour later to the ant. Dexter scarcely recognized it at first. Kragor had rebuilt the ant with lumber from the ruined dart and skiff, strengthening it and even improving upon it. The helm remained closed in the aft section of the ship, and the middle section was now open decking with only a railing around it. Not only was the mid-ship cabin removed, but Kragor had lowered the floor to allow the stowage of cargo in it, save for a two foot section around the edges for walking. The forward section, once built up into a small forecastle home to a light ballista, now was as flat as the mid-section with only a wooden railing about it.
The ant retained the six landing struts to allow it to land on land, and Kragor had gone one step further in reinforcing the resemblance to its namesake by building a set of pincers on the very front of it. Dexter had to chuckle at the dwarf’s attention to detail, even though he was sure the pincers served no purpose.
“That’s an impressive boat,” Bekka said as they approached it. Dexter nodded, silently agreeing with her. He mused that perhaps there was more to Kragor’s skill in shipbuilding than he had originally credited him with.
Jenna stood at the front of the boat while Kragor was rummaging around in the aft cabin, making noise but doing only the Gods knew what. Dexter climbed the ramp and surveyed the ship, nodding at how it still needed a lot of work to finish it off, but structurally it appeared to be quite sound.
“Kragor!” Dexter yelled, heading to the aft careful to avoid the three foot plunge into the cargo area. He told Bekka to head to the bow and give Jenna the items they had procured for her.
The dwarf emerged a few moments later, grinning foolishly. Dexter looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “What’d you do this time?”
“Made a funnel!” The dwarf said happily.
“A funnel?”
“Aye, for the long trips when you’ve got to use the head we ain’t got on here.”
Dexter groaned and covered his face in his hand. When he finally took it away he looked at his first mate and pretended he knew nothing of what the dwarf had just said. “The ant looks good, Kragor. Damned good.”
Kragor beamed with pride. “Aye, took some work but she’s better now than she was before, for what we need ‘er for!”
Dexter had to admit that the dwarf was right. “Needs some finishing up, but you earned your pay!”
Kragor chuckled. “Speaking o’ pay, how ya planning on doing that?”
Dexter stuck his head in the aft cabin and looked around. It had a small room set up with the helm in it, a larger room with three bunks and three chests, and a tiny final room with naught but Kragor’s latest contraption. He nodded appreciatively and turned back to the dwarf.
“You sold the ballista from here and the weapons off the Hawk’s Talon?” Dexter asked him.
Kragor shook his head. “Kept the one from the Hawk’s Talon, but moved it below. Couple people can carry it right quick and set it up to fire.”
Dexter nodded, that made sense. Possessing a ship weapon in Federation space could get a captain fined, or worse, but it might just be worth the risk. Of course a light ballista was hardly a threat to anything larger than the ant they stood upon, and even that could take quite a few hits.
“Is this all that’s left?” Dexter asked, tapping the pouch at his side.
Kragor shook his head. “Stashed some on the Hawk’s Talon, and a bit more under the bottom bunk over there. Pop up a loose board and you’ll find another 30 gold.”
“And back on that Hawk’s Talon?”
“40 pieces.”
Dexter nodded. “How much work to be done yet?”
Kragor stroked his beard while he crunched the numbers in his head. “Week or so, with the new help I’m reckoning. We’re awful shy on crew,” he pointed out.
Dexter nodded. “Aye, but we’ve got one more on the way.”
“Eh? Who?”
“Been meaning to talk to you about that,” Dexter admitted.
Kragor scowled. “What fool scheme you for now, boy?”
Dexter grinned. “We need a cook.”
Kragor’s eyes widened. He stared at Dexter and then looked to the ceiling. He continued looking around until he saw the lone bunk behind him, which he moved and sat on. “You really are daft,” he muttered before continuing. “Jodyne’s good with her knives. We go askin’ her that and she’ll put one in your eye and two in your chest ere ya hit the ground.”
“Not if we show her how much you can make doing this,” Dexter said, sitting next to him.
Kragor took a deep breath and blew it out. “You’re mad, I says.”
Dexter chuckled and clapped him on the back. “Maybe, but I got us a ship and a boat to lash alongside it.”
Kragor stroked his beard, which was all the proof Dexter needed to know the dwarf was thinking and would agree with him. He clapped him on the back again and stood up. “When you’re ready to go to her, come on out and let me know.”
Dexter left the cabin and headed to the bow of the ship, where he accepted a stiff thanks from Jenna as she examined the items he purchased for her. Nothing fine nor delicate, he got her a couple of cloaks and some loose fitting clothing. Bekka’s gear was much the same.
Kragor joined them a few moments later, looking none too happy. “You trust them here?” he asked, jerking his head towards Bekka and Jenna.
Dexter looked at them briefly and nodded. Kragor grunted and turned to the plank. “Let’s be off then.”
Dexter chuckled and looked at the other two. “We should be back in a couple of hours, if not… well, wait as long as you like.”
Jenna burned to ask for details, Dexter could tell, but she kept her mouth shut. Bekka just nodded and took the spare equipment to the back
so it was out of sight on the deck. Dexter followed Kragor down the gangplank and quickly caught up to his shorter legged friend.
The dwarf remained stoic and silent as they trudged through New Haven to the tavern where his wife would be cooking dinner. The smell of it reminded Dexter of just how hungry he was. He had spent two weeks eating swill in the prison, after all.
A new bartender was behind the bar and the tavern’s owner was nowhere to be seen. Dexter led the way to a table and, when one of the barmaids saw them she hurried over.
“You’re not to be coming here,” she hissed.
Dexter smiled disarmingly at her. “Not to worry, Kaytlin, we’ve gold to spend and stomachs that need filling.”
“Master Twinver’ll have my hide if I serve you!” The girl glanced towards the door to the office and bit her lip.
“I’ll not say a thing,” Dexter promised her, winking.
“You’re spoiling for a fight, aren’t you?” She asked, clearly suspicious.
“Not particularly,” Dexter said. “Now be a dear, Kaytlin, and fetch us a couple of ales and whatever Jodyne’s cooking up.”
Kaytlin searched his eyes and then the dour dwarf’s before finally shaking her head and walking to the bar to fill their order. Dexter slapped the table happily and looked at his friend. “See, things are looking up already!”
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