The trip over sea was uneventful. Jay was fed and watered, if you could call the hard and tasteless strips of meat he had been given food. After half an hour of complaining, the other driver shoved a sloshing leather bag and a fistful of jerky through the bars at Maude, threatening to cut her tongue out if she didn't quiet down. The woman didn’t thank him; she just grinned in that half crazy way she had, taking a long swig before passing the water on to Chatri (who wrinkled his nose, but took it without complaint). The prisoners seemed unwilling to talk to Jay in the presence of the guards, which was both smart and frustrating, as there was nothing for him to do but stare at the scenery otherwise.
They had been sailing for hours, now; the sun was starting to set over the horizon, the waves beneath them changing from blue to yellow to pink. The water was clear enough to watch schools of fish beneath the waves, which darted away from the ship in flashes of light and color. There were even darker shapes below, things that Jay couldn't make out (and didn't know if he wanted to; being lunch for a magical sea creature was absolutely not on his bucket list). Jay sighed, watching the sunset with his head in his hands. If I were here for any other reason, this would be beautiful. Actually, it’s still beautiful, I’m just really not in the mood to appreciate it right now. His skin had already started to turn pink from a day out in the sun; he had tried to use his jacket (fresh from his inventory) as a sun shield, with mixed results.
The people in the cage next to him had fallen silent almost immediately after being fed. Eid and Maude had fallen asleep side by side, shoulders touching; the older woman was snoring loudly, which didn’t seem to bother Eid at all. Deacon and Chatri alternated between sitting and standing, obviously not used to the discomfort of their current situation. Jay could sympathize: he came from a land of heated car seats and memory foam mattresses, and the jarring transition to unforgiving wooden planks made his entire body hurt.
Azun had not moved since their conversation with Jay. They sat cross legged, arms in their lap, eyes closed, as if they were meditating. The others did their best to put as much space between themselves and the orc, Jay noticed; all four tiptoed around them like they were a wild animal. And it wasn’t just them. Raul and the other guard kept their distance from the side of the cage that the orc had chosen to sit on, even climbing around the ship’s rigging to avoid coming within grabbing distance.
Jay found his eyes drifting back to Azun as the day went by; every time he felt himself staring, he forced himself to look away, but when his mind wandered, they would settle on the orc again. I wonder what their story is. If everyone is so scared of them, how did they end up in prison? Why are they here now? I wish that those two would go below the deck again so that I could ask, but I guess we have all the time in the world once we get to where we’re going.
The night brought with it an unfettered view of the sky above, which was heavy with stars. It was the only part of the trip that Jay enjoyed; he lay flat on his back in the cart, the rope harness rubbing uncomfortably on his back, and stared with wide eyes at the beauty above. If we had a sky like this at home, I wouldn’t have stayed inside and played video games all the time. He immediately amended the statement. Okay, I would have done it most of the time, but I definitely would have come outside more often.
From across the way, a hissing whisper reached his ears. “Hey, Outsider. Anything good in those crates?”
He propped himself up on his elbows, craning his neck to see who had spoken. Chatri raised an eyebrow from behind the bars, his gaze flickering from Jay to the front of the carts, which were empty. Raul and the other guy must have gone below again when I wasn’t looking. I really should pay more attention to that kind of thing. Chatri spoke again, more impatiently this time. “Hey, are you deaf? Check the crates, see what we’re working with here. We don’t have all night, they’ll be back eventually.”
Jay stood, wincing at the pain in his back, and examined the closest crate, which was made of tightly assembled wooden planks. He pried at one of the edges, but gave up when nothing budged. Running a hand over the wood explained the problem; there were shiny circles of metal embedded in the wood around the corners, sealing the crate tightly shut. “It’s nailed down, I can’t get it open. Hold on.” He searched the front of the cart, where Raul usually sat, but found nothing he could use to pry the nails out. Chatri huffed in annoyance, but behind bars he was unable to help. Instead, he snapped, "Hurry up!", and gestured impatiently with his hands.
"I don't know what you want me to do, buddy; I'm not the Hulk, I can't just rip these open," Jay hissed back, and Chatri rolled his eyes, undeterred by the reference that he had no hope of understanding. Fuck, I wish I had managed to take a few more things into my inventory. A hammer would be really useful right now. Jay drummed his fingers on the edge of the cart, trying to think of a way to get leverage. He stopped when an idea occurred to him; what if he put the crate in his inventory? Would it tell him the contents? There was no way he could lift the bigger ones, but surely one of the smaller ones wasn’t that heavy.
He turned, searching for a crate that seemed doable. Most of them were too large and unwieldy to risk lifting; if he dropped it, the guards would definitely hear. Fortunately, one or two were small enough for him to get his arms around, and when he flexed his knees experimentally, it came off the ground without much trouble. With a thought, it disappeared, and he grinned into the darkness, clicking open his inventory screen and hovering over the new entry that had appeared there.
Small Shipping Crate, 50/60 capacity reached. Contents:
-Dried Sweetfruit, 20 capacity
-Dried blueberries, 10 capacity
-Sugared plums, 20 capacity
Jay clicked out of the screen, calling out softly across the short distance, “This one has dried fruit, and sugared plums.”
Chatri squinted at him through the bars. “Are you sure? That seems kind of fancy for where we’re going.”
Jay shrugged, just as stumped. “Maybe they had to grab whatever they could find because it was such short notice? It hadn’t even been a full day when we left.”
The other man nodded thoughtfully. “That's actually a good point. You’re smarter than you look.” Jay tried to take this as a compliment, but his face must have given him away, because Chatri waved a dismissive hand at him. “Oh, don’t be like that. You yelled at the queen, your intelligence was always going to be in question. Now what’s in the other ones?”
The second smallest crate was a bit harder to lift, but not heavy enough that Jay had to strain. Whatever was inside clinked and shifted as he brought it to chest height before banishing it into the void (or wherever this stuff went).
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Small Shipping Crate, 65/70 capacity
-One hammer, 5 capacity
-One bag of nails, 5 capacity
-Three knives, 10 capacity
-Two half saws, 15 capacity
-Three cooking plates, 20 capacity
-Five small bowls, 10 capacity
He relayed this inventory to Chatri, who nodded in satisfaction. “So they’re not completely abandoning us to die. Good to know. You should put those back before those idiots come up again; they’ll be back soon.” He withdrew to the other side of the cage, talking to Deacon in a quiet tone that Jay couldn’t hear. Jay sighed, but admitted to himself that it was a good idea, and when Raul and the other guard came back topside, everything was in its place.
---
It was only a little while later that they docked at another port.
This one was much smaller than Hydrena’s had been; theirs was one of five ships, though there were quite a few more spots for vessels. The empty space made the port feel almost abandoned. There were only a few people moving cargo and doing repairs; they looked tired, their clothes worn. Jay noticed that Raul and the other guard kept their hands close to the knives on their belts, eyes never still as they hooked the horses back up to the carts. It didn’t take long to disembark (the horses were much more eager to leave the boat than they were to get on it), and when they had fully regrouped, they set off without delay, plunging into the streets of the new town at a trot.
If Hydrena had been the seat of summer, this place felt like late fall; the night air had a bite to it as it swept over the cobblestone road. There weren’t many trees, here, and the buildings were made of mostly stone and brick, all built in the same style. They stood tall and dark, seeming to loom over the carts as they passed by; lamps swung from their perches on the buildings, but many of them were broken, and the ones that were lit glowed only faintly. There were no people on the road, and many of the houses and storefronts were dark and shuttered; it felt run down and tired here, like the place had fallen on hard times.
There was a stable not far from the port, next to an inn whose open door was the only source of light on the street. Their guards wheeled the carts into the open part of the stable, which was blessedly warmer than the outside (Jay had thought about changing his pants, but his lack of underwear was a problem). The two men uncoupled the horses from their harnesses, and they were given a shared stall and some hay for their hard work. Jay, on the other hand, was not removed from his harness; Raul gave him a little wave as he and the guard sauntered towards the inn, closing the stable doors behind them. “Don’t get into any trouble, now. We’ll be back for you first thing in the morning.”
Maude, now awake, blew a raspberry in their direction once the doors were closed. Chatri muttered, “Good riddance,” to which Deacon and Eid nodded in agreement. When it was obvious that the two were gone, everyone clustered at Jay’s side of the cage, and Maude and Chatri immediately started to argue about what Jay should do while they weren’t under supervision. The older woman thought that he should steal anything that wasn’t nailed down; the young man was firmly against it. Eid and Deacon seemed content to watch the two of them argue, seeming used to not getting a word in edgewise.
“Make sure to take a pitchfork, and whatever food you can find—”
“That’s stupid, he’s going to get caught if he tries sneaking around here—”
“Some rocks, too, we’ll be able to give ‘em a right beating when we get out of this thing—”
In the corner of Jay’s vision, his quest book started to blink. He clicked on it immediately, hope rising into his throat as he read the new entry there.
New Quest! Land Pirate.
Escape your bindings and explore the stable, acquiring a few goods along the way. It doesn’t matter what you take, really; quantity over quality is a real pirate’s mantra. That being said, keep an eye out for some not-so-obvious loot. Don’t get caught to earn extra EXP! Just remember: a good pirate always double checks his ropes.
Main Quest progress: 0/20 items stolen
Optional Quest: Find the hidden stash in the stable (+30 additional EXP)
Optional Quest: Complete the main quest without being caught (+10 additional EXP)
Reward: 30 EXP
Jay quickly totaled the maximum amount of EXP in his head. 70 is just enough to level up; I wonder if the system did that on purpose? Can it do anything on purpose? Whatever, philosophical questions later. What the hell is that last line? Checks his ropes? I haven’t tied anything—wait. The harness!
He looked down at the ropes looped over his shoulders and knotted tightly at his waist. The knot wasn’t one that he recognized; it looked fancy, more than the typical over-under that Jay used to tie his shoes. The knot that secured the rope to the driver’s seat was even more intricate. In the half darkness, there was no chance that Jay could recreate something like that. Even if I tried to tie myself back up after getting out of this, they would know that I had escaped just because of the way the rope is tied. Is that enough to make Raul hurt one of those five? He grimaced, remembering the toothy smile the driver had given him before the stable doors had closed. Yeah, I would bet that it is. So how am I going to be able to complete this quest?
Azun’s voice cut through Maude and Chatri’s low decibel argument, startling Jay out of his own thoughts. “You must rid yourself of those ropes, Outsider. It will be the only way you can move freely.” The orc towered over the four humans, who shuffled out of the way as the tall creature moved to stand at the bars of the cage. They did not shove or threaten, but the fear on everyone’s faces (even Maude’s) told Jay that there was context here that he was missing. Orcs in fantasy are usually bloodthirsty, but that’s just a stereotype. Real people aren’t stereotypes. Just because the crew is afraid of Azun doesn’t mean that I have to be; they’ve treated me with nothing but respect.
Jay met the orc’s eyes, but there was no violence there, only focused intent. They figured out what needed to happen on their own, while I needed a hint from the system. Whatever the others might think, Azun is smart. I would be stupid to discount them because of prejudice. He nodded, gesturing to the harness restraining him, and whispered, “I don’t know how to tie any of these knots they have me in. If they realize that I got out, they might hurt some of you, and I don’t want that to happen.” The orc’s eyes, bright blue and piercing even in the low light, swept over Jay’s bindings. They grunted, making a gesture of ‘come here’, and Jay hesitated for only an instant before he walked to the edge of his cart, managing to sit on the side panel before his lead went taunt.
The area that the guards had parked the two carts in was small; consequently, Azun didn’t even have to fully extend their arm to touch Jay from where they were standing. They ran an expert hand over the knots at his waist, tugging gently on each strand of rope until they were satisfied. “I can recreate these easily; they are simple things. Your trial will be the horses. If you disturb them, they will alert our captors, and their suspicion will cause problems. Be quick and quiet, Jacob Holtz, and we may yet gain an advantage here.”
They gave a small yank, and suddenly, Jay was free.
Maude and Chatri immediately started back up, hissing orders through the bars, but Jay tried his best to ignore them, sliding off the edge of the wooden panel and onto the packed straw below. He bounced on his feet experimentally, seeing if his steps would give him away, but it sounded like new straw hadn’t been put down for some time (finally, some good luck!). He took a moment to get his bearings in the light of the single dim lantern overhead, slipping out of his sandals as he did so. These will only slow me down and make more noise. Alright, now, where to start?
