Lives and Limbs

Nothing happened.

Serenica waited for the corpse to move, she waited for the sea to swallow her, for water belonged to the dead and the dead had been disturbed. No, the corpse did not move, it appeared to her that the dead man wasn't the least bit disturbed.

Now a more pressing concern appeared in her frantically panicking mind - the thought of losing to the speed of the corna smuggler meant they would have to face a much more powerful and stimulated Kinley in Neul. This idea was bothersome enough that Serenica wished against her reason for any movement at all.

A bubbling, gurgling sound came out of the destroyed throat of the corpse.

Serenica screamed.

The mouth of the dead man was gaping, but slowly, as if with great effort, it began to close. It was not a natural sight, nor a pretty one. The corpse had no muscles to contract. The force moving its mouth was not of this world.

Spade jumped up, even though he had a corpse candle to look after.

"Where will he be?" he asked. "Where will the corna smuggler be? Give me the coordinates and I will let you rest."

The dead man gurgled unintelligibly.

"Sorry, I didn't quite hear you!" the captain yelled.

His eyes were blazing again and he was baring his teeth, some of which were golden.

Serenica was more afraid of him than the living corpse.

"O..br..."

Now, half a syllable here and there could be heard, but the gurgling was still just gurgling.

"This is hopeless," Spade said, scratching his head. "It's so completely destroyed."

The corpse jumped up in a sudden fit of rage or some emotion like that. It screamed, and the scream was an unearthly, hollow sound, something straight from the worst nightmare Serenica had ever had. She had an uncomfortably close view on the chest of the decaying body, the blood given to it spilling through the ribs, and the open mouth wasn't much prettier. A semblance of a rotting tongue could be seen with the paper still inside.

"Quick, for heaven's sake! The candle!" Serenica yelled.

"The paper!" the captain yelled back at her and made an impressive leap towards the box of matches.

Serenica punched the dead body in the mouth. As it fell, too weak to resist even the boniest of women, she grabbed its head.

The neck snapped in two.

Serenica forced the jaws to stay open and fished out the piece of paper.

The dead man was now immobile, the head severed, and the corpse candle was burning, illuminating the cabin with its ghastly glow.

Serenica drew a slow, deep breath and threw the head into the tub, where it met the rest of its former body with a sad splash.

"You are a treasure, you know that?" Spade asked.

Serenica didn't answer. She had something on her mind. The coordinates.

She wanted to kill and rob Kinley so bad. She had come so far. Too far to just give up. When she remembered that pale, ethereal woman calling her a servant, grinding to dust her work, her home, her life, she didn't even fear death. It was a funny emotion, that vengeful bravery. Slaughter and gold was what she was after. She was woman enough to admit that. Still, there was something more.

She could make Neul a better place for the downtrodden. Perhaps she could even change the world.

"O and br, but what does that mean?" she pondered. "What kind of coordinates are that? Wait..."

She looked at the captain, realizing at once what it was all about.

Oathbreaker's Cove.

Spade was grateful. A bit too grateful, in fact. He wanted to practice bloodsight later that night.

He revealed he was feeling a little dizzy.

"Why is that?" Serenica asked.

"I've lost a lot of energy. It takes a toll on you. You will not notice anything the first fifty times. It'll creep up on you. Just let me rest and eat a bit and come back to me later."

"I would rather see that you are all right," Serenica replied.

"Then take a box of sweets from the big chest. Feel free to have some. I wish I had something more to give you, but we were honestly looking for fox bollockwort and I have not put any thought in rewarding you, let alone myself."

To look for fox bollockwort was to search for something extremely valuable. The saying was usually presented as a denial - not looking for fox bollockwort here meant that enthusiasm was not needed. Here, though, the choice of words was justified.

They had been looking for fox bollockwort inside a dead man's mind.

Serenica felt her heart thumping away, slowly coming back to its senses. She dug out another box of the sugary cubes that everyone loved despite their neutral taste.

She gave her deadrouser friend a handful of them. "Are you starting to respect me now?"

"You had me the moment you told me you robbed Swordly," the captain confessed.

"He's a complete two-faced wretch and he has awful taste in materials," Serenica said, just to please Spade.

"He is. If you want some coffee, you can go to the kitchen."

Suddenly things looked better than ever. They had a chance to send Kinley into a deep slumber that would be most unfitting for any magic, offensive or defensive. The woman would not be at her best, crashing hard after perhaps even weeks of not sleeping at all, suffering from withdrawal symptoms and unable to get anything to alleviate that state. Spade was powerful. He was probably well versed in hexes, curses and all forms of harmful witchcraft. Serenica, she just had to avoid getting killed. She was a healer, not a fighter.

She was infinitely grateful for the support the pirates gave her.

"I love you people," she blurted out without meaning to be so bold.

An instant wave of shame washed over her, but the captain glanced at her, lazily, like a cat, and asked her:"How do you think the men and me feel like about a woman who can save our limbs and lives?"