Limitless Seas 2, Chapter 4.

Chapter 4.

“Hold, I don’t know who you are, but Shada is an officer aboard my ship. A ship, I might add, that is a privateer in the service of Stratwall Harbor,” Larson growled.

“Oh, let me guess, you didn’t tell the honorable Captain, whoever the hell he is, that you’re a wanted criminal in the Imperium?” Wrend said.

“Well, there is where your problem lies Sergeant Wrend, you are no longer on Imperium soil. Shada is an officer aboard my vessel and if you lay a hand on her, I’ll see that the lot of you are slapped in irons for a very long time,” Larson warned with confidence that he didn’t really feel. Laws were somewhat malleable things in Stratwall, and he was sure the leadership wouldn’t want to risk an international incident over one of his officers.

“Let me save you some trouble, me and my boys aren’t all that afraid of incarceration, no sir, we’re old hands at that, aren’t we lads?” Wrend boasted to his men, who chuckled. “Have a look at the lass’s shoulder and it’ll tell you part of the story, tattooed there is the same mark as on mine,” Wrend said, pulling back his armor to reveal the words Ignominia tattooed in red ink.

“Is that name supposed to mean something to me?” Larson asked.

“Maybe not, but don’t worry, old Sergeant Wrend is a patient man, and he don’t mind explaining how things is to an officer. You see, we’re a special group of soldiers, criminals one and all, given a final chance at life. Serve the legion, and your crimes will be wiped clean. We fight harder than any soldier, and take on any task, no matter the risk as it means our freedom. Shada here, well, she turned tail and ran when we needed her most. Not only that, but she also ruined the perfect record of our men, not until her has anyone deserted. Tell your new captain how your turned coward and betrayed your unit,” Wrend said. Shada squirmed in her seat before speaking up.

“Fine, I suppose he should know. Captain Larson, I did run, it’s something I’ll never forgive myself for,” Shada started.

“Ha, don’t worry, we won’t forgive it none either,” Wrend interjected.

“It was in a zone called Hayden’s Knoll, and my squad was temporarily attached to a garrison tasked with defending a transition point against the forces of the hypogean realm. We were outnumbered a hundred to one, with no chance to win. Our opponents…you’ve never seen such nightmares as the creatures they had in their army. My section of the wall was near the portal and when the enemy breached the gates, I saw my chance and took it, jumping into the portal to escape. I made my way across the land, as far as the portal would take me. Almost immediately I had second thoughts, I tried to go back, to stand with my unit, but the point had already fallen, and I couldn’t return. I wandered toward the coast and was eventually captured by pirates and taken as a slave, that’s where you found me, captain,” Shada said, tears of shame streaming down her face.

“Aww, look at that, she’s sad lads, really, the coward was going to come right back and help, just a momentary lapse in judgment was all she had,” Wrend mocked.

“Call her whatever names you wish, but since I’ve met her, Shada has served with distinction. Many of the crew would be dead without her help and I’ve never seen her shy away from a fight,” Larson offered. Shada was one of his best fighters, and if all these Ignominia soldiers were as good, he was in deep trouble if a fight broke out here in the tavern.

“Maybe she done right by you, but that don’t make what she did to us any better, now, does it? Once command finds out one of our own has run off, they might choose to have our unit disbanded, and if that happens, it’s back in chains, or worse, for the lot of us. I can’t have that, but we got a job to do here, and even though I got no room to haul around prisoners, we’ll gladly make an exception to bring Corporal Shada back into the fold,” Wrend demanded. His comment about a job gave Larson an idea.

“It’s none of my business, but what kind of job do you have? Maybe I can point you in the right direction and work something out to keep Shada on my crew?” Larson asked.

“It might be that you can help us but taking back our wayward soul is non-negotiable. I assume you’ve got a ship and all, given you call yourself captain?” Wrend asked.

“Aye, wouldn’t be much of a captain without a ship, it’s a privateer called the Sea Venom and we have a second support ship called the Lost Soul,” Larson advised.

“Me and the boys need a ride to a small speck of an island. We had a ride lined up, but they took off in the middle of the night with some of our gear still aboard, the filthy thieves. Can you get us here?” Wrend asked, pulling out an old leathery map. The writing on the map was in a language Larson didn’t understand, and just looking at it made him feel a bit queasy.

“What is that thing?” Larson asked, trying to blink away the headache that was building up behind his eyes after looking at the map.

“Ha, a right nasty piece of work, that is. We pilfered this from the corpse of one of the imps that invaded our zone. From what I hear, they use human skin to make these, and some kind of dark magic to protect it from folks they don’t want to read it. Our mages did their hocus pocus on the thing and while it can’t kill you by looking at it anymore, it gives you a right wallop of a headache if you just glance at it. It’s supposed to show the location of a portal to the Hypogean Realm, and that is a place that we don’t want no more visitors from. My unit was to find this place, and make sure the portal ain’t working by the time we leave,” Wrend advised.

“Give me a minute,” Larson said, trying to push past the throbbing pain in his head as he tried to focus on Wrend’s map, holding it in view just long enough for the information to transfer to his Salt-Stained Map. Once he was sure it was done, Larson handed back the cursed map to Wrend, pulling his own map from inventory and spreading it across the table, locating the island in relation to Stratwall Harbor.

“Here, if we head southwest, that island, which doesn’t seem to have a name, is about four days sail from here. I’ll make you a deal, we’ll transport you there and back safely, and you’ll pretend you never saw Shada,” Larson offered.

“Not a chance, I can try to scrape together enough coin to hire a ride if you don’t want to help, but I’m not giving up a coward and a traitor to the legion,” Wrend said. Larson tried to think about an alternative, which wasn’t easy given the pounding headache from the map.

“We’re at an impasse, it seems, tell me, Wrend, what is the regulation regarding desertion?” Larson asked, knowing the penalties were usually harsh.

“Hanging, beheading, the stake, flayed alive, whatever the commanding officer has a mind to do,” Wrend said, looking at Shada with an evil grin plastered on his face.

“Seems you don’t have an officer here, just a sergeant, you don’t have any authority, do you?” Larson told Wrend, mocking him a bit to bait a trap he hoped the sergeant would fall for.

“I’m here on independent command, I’ve got all the authority of an officer while on this assignment, I’ll have you know,” Wrend boasted.

“Good, if you have the authority of an officer, you have the authority to assign a mission to one of your soldiers, do you not?” Larson asked.

“Aye, I could if I needed to, what exactly are you getting at?” Wrend demanded.

“From what you said earlier, your commander doesn’t know you have a deserter yet, that’s something you want to keep quiet I would bet,” Larson said.

“Aye, and it will be kept quiet, old Wrend has lots of ways to keep people quiet, he does,” Wrend said, drawing a small, curved dagger that gleamed with enchantment.

“If you truly have the authority of an officer on this mission, I propose this, we help you with the mission, get you there and even provide support on shore if you need it. You’ll list Shada as being on permanent detached duty to keep a watch on this place to make sure the passage to this hypogean place stays closed. Everyone wins,” Larson offered. He could see the gears turning in Wrend’s mind, at least the soldier was considering it.

“I don’t know, I’m not one to let a coward walk, but it could save the unit a lot of trouble if we were just done with her. I wouldn’t even consider it if Colonel Raytak was still in charge, but our new commander just might fall for it, but I’m not sure if he’ll fall for the permanent detached duty thing,” Wrend said, mulling it over.

“If not detached duty, you can just list her as killed in action,” Larson offered.

“Nah, that would absolve her of whatever crimes she committed before joining Ignominia, and I won’t give a coward that satisfaction. I thought about listing her as killed in action back after the battle, but I had no way of knowing if she’d turn up again and quash my story,” Wrend said rubbing the stubble on his chin as he thought things over.

“How do I know you’ll keep your end of the bargain; you could dunk the whole unit if you show up in Imperium territory spouting off about our deal?” Wrend asked.

“You don’t,” Larson said bluntly.

“You’re not helping your argument none with that answer,” Wrend said with a chuckle.

“No, but it’s the truth, and something tells me you’re not the kind of person that wants to hear lies to make him feel better,” Larson added.

“I’ll give you that, and your offer does have merit. Why don’t we proceed on a trial basis? You get us to the island, help as much as you can, and if you perform as advertised, the deal is on,” Wrend offered.

“That might be acceptable, but what happens if you decide we aren’t performing to your standard?” Larson asked.

“We’ll kill you all and sell your ships for drinking money,” Wrend responded.

“Fair enough. How soon do you need to leave and how many soldiers will we be transporting? If you want to check out the ships, they’re at docks eleven and twelve,” Larson asked. Wrend motioned to one of the soldiers who ran off to check that there really were two ships docked where he said they were, and that they were Larson’s.

“Two squads plus a scorpion team. We lost the scorpion aboard our previous ship, along with some of our gear. It’s pretty much my boys with their weapons and a small assault pack each,” Wrend advised.

“That’s not a problem, my ships just got into harbor, and I’ll need a couple of days to sort them out before we leave. Do your soldiers have a place to stay?” Larson asked.

“We’ve been camping outside the city, most of our funds were with the baggage train the ship took off with. You see a garbage scow of a ship called the Leaping Lady, feel free to send her to the bottom, after you get my stuff back,” Wrend growled.

“We’ve got more than enough berths aboard the ships if you want to stay there, and as a gesture of good faith, I’ll have my ship’s engineer build a new scorpion for you,” Larson offered.

“I’ll take you up on that offer, can’t hurt to keep your ride where you can see it. Now, one other small detail to hash out, if that entrance to the hypogean realm is active, there might be some fighting, and sometimes, fighting means loot. My and my boys get any loot found at the destination,” Wrend demanded.

“Not a chance, we’re helping each other out here, so we’ll split any loot evenly,” Larson countered.

“I’ll not fight you over something that might not even be there, an even split for anything we find on the voyage will work,” Wrend agreed.

“Glad we could come to an agreement on this situation Sergeant Wrend, if your soldiers need any incidental supplies, I own a shop in town called the Privateer’s Provisions. Tell Lucian who runs the place that I sent you and he’ll sell you whatever you need at cost. While your men are aboard, even here in port, we’ll feed you as well. Our ship’s cook isn’t bad,” Larson added to the deal, trying to build some goodwill.

“Thanks, we’ll see how things work out, do right by us and we’ll keep our end of the deal,” Wrend said, sticking out his hand to shake. Larson shook the sergeant’s hand, and the soldiers took their leave, heading out of town to gather up the unit and get situated abord the ships.

“Thank you, sir, if you don’t want me aboard after hearing what I did and what I am, I understand,” Shada said. The confident ship’s surgeon looked broken down and defeated by the revelations about her past.

“As far as I’m concerned, you’ve proven yourself loyal to the ship, her captain, and her crew. If you don’t think you can continue on, you’re free to go. If you stay, I expect to see the Shada I know, the one who fights against pirates and makon without fear, the one who the crew respects, not this,” Larson said, gesturing toward the slumped over and tear-streaked Shada sitting across from him.

“Aye, sir, thank you for having faith in me,” Shada said, straightening in her chair and wiping away the tears with her shirt sleeve. Larson knew he could be a harsh man with little empathy, but it was who he was, and he could never coddle someone that he knew was capable of better.

“Any other dark secrets in your past I should be aware of, no avenging dragons or undead hordes coming to attack the ship because you’re aboard?” Larson joked, getting a smile from Shada.

“No, sir, you’ve seen the worst,” she admitted.

“Then let’s get back to work, we’ve got more crew to find and now we have an extra twenty-plus mouths to feed once all the soldiers are aboard. You get started on that, while I get the clothing for Lord Mox’s party squared away,” Larson said, leaving on his own to take care of a task that he dreaded more than fighting off a squad of Imperium soldiers.