The Red Woman

On the morning of the 5th day, the first mate, Grantt, told the crew that Black Betha will take to the sea in the afternoon for a routine patrol.

Kai was overjoyed. The prospects of getting Matthos' acknowledgment would rise if he were to do as good a job out in the sea as he was doing now. In the last two days, he had grown and learned so much that now his Abnormality Limiter kept flickering between 80 to 90, never truly becoming the normal 100%.

No longer was the crew looking at him as if he was a mere gutless, charming bastard of some high lord. Raul, the second mate, still hit him, smacking now and then, and sending him rolling on the deck. But his smacks lacked heart, and the laughs these hits brought out of the seamen were more admiring than sneering.

In just five days, the Blood Demon had made all forget that he was still technically a ship's boy. Such was his charm, his mastery of grasping all things, and his physical prowess.

Such was his fear.

Yes. Most of the credit for him enjoying himself without worrying about any bullying and interference went to the senior seaman, Jared. They had found him lying witless on the next morning where Kai had left him. Like all his victims, Jared had become a husk, a walking human skin. Without a soul, there was scarcely anyone who could be called a true living being, Kai had learned.

They had all wondered and shivered seeing Jared's lifeless eyes. Most sickened and terrified among all Black Betha's crew were five seamen who had gone off the ship the that night. They had seen Jared taking Kai in a dark, secluded corner, but at the time of interrogation, not one of them told anything to the first mate.

The Maester had then come out of pure curiosity, as Jared wasn't important enough to garner high lords' attention. Nevertheless, the fat seaman was one of the Ser Davos' crewmen, and thus, the case caught much more attention than it would have otherwise.

The fear on the five seamen's faces had become a corporeal mask when even Maester Cressen showed his inability to put his finger on Jared's abnormality. But on a ship, there was no such thing as a secret among the crew. The eyes with which those five crewmen had looked at Kai soon others started to look at him with those eyes too. Mostly there was fear, and in some rare eyes was admiration and apprehension.

It did nothing to Kai, other than solidifying his place on the war galley.

After getting the first mate's orders, the crew scampered off, checking on everything before the ship set sail.

Kai flinched, remembering the Soul Points given to him by Jared's soul, as he went to check on the stows. The Soul Points weren't even in two decimal places but in three. And Kai regretted not achieving this requirement in the Pokemon World itself.

'I could have devoured the young Latios' soul at least,' Kai thought, fastening the rope around loose casks' footing. 'I wonder how much he would have given me. An integer maybe?'

Kai was indeed disappointed. But the major reason behind his sullen expression wasn't his finding of inferior quality of souls in this world, but the world itself.

In the last two days, Kai's skills had earned him a place in late-night drinking and japery. The seamen were indifferent to him but hadn't shooed him away, either. And even without words, Kai had a way to manipulate and direct the conversation in a particular direction. A direction at the end of which lay the late Hand, Jon Arryn.

Kai recalled last night's jests as he ran to the lowermost compartment to check on the bilge water; the worst job on the ship, according to what Kai had learned so far.

'His wife rode him so hard that the old man had a heart attack,' one seaman, Tank the toothless, had mocked, as the other laughed out of their teeth. The speech hadn't been so elegant and comprehensible either, as the words had been exchanged in many slobbers and stutters.

'No, no,' another young seaman, Pryt, had rejected the statement brusquely. 'It was gas.' Kai's eyes had narrowed then. Maybe it was the Koffing's Smoke Screen they were talking about, he had thought, and then soon had found that he was wrong.

'Gas?' Tank had asked, booze spilling from the gap of his missing teeth.

'Yes.' Pryt had nodded with all the seriousness a drunken fool could muster in a clown party. 'The Hand had eaten some pie. He farted his ass to death. Haha...' One smack to the back of Pryt's head had shut him up.

Raul had stood over them, taking no particular notice of Kai. 'It's some stomach disease that took the old man,' he had added then, snatching the drink from Tank, and taking two big gulps, almost emptying the green glass bottle. 'King Robert has gone north. They say Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, will be the new Hand.'

Kai had listened to that with a stony expression. By the time Raul had marched off, Kai was sure that this wasn't the same timeline. There was no talking of any kidnapping, no story of murderous sewers.

After checking the condition of the pump, and making sure it was OK, Kai ran up to the deck and was about to climb the mainmast when Grantt bellowed as if a massive bull was roaring, standing on a cliff.

"All hands on deck!"

The shout made almost all seamen and the other officers leave whatever they were doing and gather on the deck. Even the rowers left their inspection of the oars and rushed to join the other crewmates.

Squished among the men, Kai wondered what could keep the first mate to put a brake on all legs just hours before they were supposed to leave the harbor.

The reason shocked the living breath out of Kai.

"In a few moments," Grantt said slowly, but clearly, "Lady Melisandre is about to join us on the ship, accompanied by Quartermaster. She has some questions to ask you all regarding Jared and his… strange state. You will answer her properly if asked, I tell you. Or whatever you might have heard of her, I will make sure it comes true."

All on the deck buzzed up with suppressed whispers. Kai saw many taking furtive glances at him, fidgeting like the lambs who were about to be slaughtered.

'Well, well,' Kai thought amusingly. 'Now, this is an unexpected encounter.'

Just as Kai had this thought, he heard the buzz becoming a stunned and scared hush. He saw a young man, most probably the Quartermaster, Matthos, helping a woman come up on the deck. A long red gown was adorning her from top to bottom, and a scarlet cloak bellowed behind her listlessly. Around her neck, Kai noticed the most fabled red gold choker, containing a ruby.

Item-M had told him about her and had also warned him to not even for a moment think of harming her. Otherwise, more often than not, she would have seen it in the fire beforehand.

Lady Melisandre, or the Red Woman, as all were calling her under their breath, had the beauty that couldn't be put on a paper. Words lacked in putting enough effort into describing her gracefulness. Her hair was the color of deep burnished copper, her eyes were unsettling red, and her skin was pale honeyed milk come alive. She was slender and almost a head taller than Kai.

He looked at her full breasts, her elegant walk, and her narrow waist, and Kai's throat became dry. He took a deep breath to steady himself. It was the long dry spell without sex and constant fighting that was making him lust for this woman, Kai thought, giving himself a hundred excuses.

Suddenly, her head snapped towards him, and Kai's heart skipped a bit.

More in terror than in lust.