Chapter 15: The Ship

Darius wasted no time, rushing to the docks to make sure the Don didn't do anything to his ship and crew. the Don had a strange code of ethics that forbade him from lying, bad for business, but Darius also knew that he wasn't above half-truths. Plus, Kori's warning kept replaying itself in the back of his head. Luckily, right in dock 13 was one of the most beautiful ships he'd ever seen. Her name, Lion Khanum's Blade.

"Veronica? They must hail from Powercene. Hope I won't be dealing with a bunch of brutes."

The ship was named after the Lion Khanum Veronica Ulrich of Powercene. The wood looked smooth and sturdy, the mast tall and strong, this was exactly the ship he was looking for. Darius did ignore the occasional cannon hole horribly patched up, but what was unavoidable to look at were the sails. They were rolled up, but he could quite clearly see they were black. Most merchant and commuter vessels wore white sails. A blatant sign of piracy, but Darius didn't care, so long as they brought him where he needed to go.

The ship's ramp was let down, but it didn't seem like the crew was unloading anything. Darius suspected that they were expecting him. He chose to accept their invitation and walked onto the ship, where he was met with blaring music and singing.

He followed to where the music was loudest and found himself in what looked like a dining hall. In there were about 30 men singing, dancing, drinking, and fighting.

On the other side, at the head of the table, was man wearing clothes that looked slightly more expensive than the others. He had tanned skin, long brown hair for a guy, and had a gnarly scar over his left eye. Looking closely, Darius saw that eye was cloudy to the point of being almost completely white.

"Probably the captain."

Darius chose to let them celebrate a bit longer, leaning on a nearby wall. What he didn't expect was for the wall to give in, taking him with it. A few of the more sober pirates moved to see what the commotion was, headed by who Darius assumed was the captain.

The captain walked up to Darius putting on what he thought was his meanest scowl, or whatever his drunken mind thought was mean while asking, "Who miiiiight you be, com- coming abrd my ship un…un…vited?"

Darius chose to ignore his booze ridden breath, "I'm Darius, Don Klaus might have told you about me." At first glance, Darius was a bit worried. These were the people he would have to trust with his life to journey on the most dangerous waters in the world. These drunken souls would not have been his first pick had he been able to choose.

"Right yes. the Don did mention you, y-you're the guy who wants to sail through the Torrential Seas. Now, that's a real… dangerous job, but me and my men are willing to sail anywhere as long as we're paid well, and the Don pays the best. Alwight, my name is Killian James and right after we complete a few more jobs for the Don, we'll come back for you. Say in six months."

"Perfect now I can finally go- Wait what did you say? Six months? We should leave in no more than a month, it should only take that long to resupply for the next voyage."

"Didn't the Don tell you that he contracted us for another trip to Intelligion, Powercene, Devotime, and Superior. At best we can be back here in about six months."

Darius started to panic. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Wait! Maybe Don Klaus got it confused, he probably means for you to do my job before that one."

The room started to quiet down as Darius's panicked cries lowered the morale of the room. "Darius, the Don specifically told us to set out on this voyage first, I thought he would have told you, but I guess not, don't worry we'll be back to you soon. I swear on the name of the Lion Khanum's Blade.

A nicety probably said in an attempt to calm Darius down. One that only served to depress him. "That bastard cheated me, but it's not your fault Captain James. Just get back soon. We'll talk more then."

"Killian. We'll meet again soon enough Darius, just you wait." His face was stout and full of confidence, radiating brilliantly enough to make Darius actually believe him.

"Maybe so, stay safe out there. I'm not going anywhere if you guys get caught for being pirates."

Killian couldn't help but laugh, "They can try, they have tried, but no one is laying a finger on my ship. We'll be back before you know it." Darius and Killian shook hands; Darius felt that he might be able to be friends with this man.

"Same to you, now if you excuse me. I have a pressing conversation I must attend to."