Sal-Kaeron 1

To say that the rickety inns and taverns of Salt Town were rumor Mills would be doing them a great disservice.

That would be like comparing an average shipyard to the Arsenal of Braavos. The Stepstones were where East met West, North met South, and trade flowed through them like an endless don't of fresh blood.

As Sal saw it, the pirates that frequented the islands were merely the mosquitoes, a natural result of such obvious wealth. But then, that was a discussion for another time.

Anyhow, the Captain's Rest was the highest class of the numerous establishments I'm the city, owing to its exclusive clientele. That being pirate Captains of "good" repute.

Not that it's class was particularly high at all, compared to what more civilized folk liked, but the floors were clean, the tables stood up straight, the ceiling was two inches higher than usual, and most importantly, the whores were pretty.

That last fact was most attractive to him today, as the fact that he was currently the only captain in the place was earning him a good bit of attention from the aforementioned women.

One to either side and another across the table, all showing more flesh than they normally would.

'It pays not being an idiot, sometimes,' he chuckled to himself.

As aforementioned, the Stepstones were the kingdom of rumors, and their denizens had known of the oncoming invasion from the moment the Storm Prince of Dragonstone had started putting together his navy.

For most of the morons who called Salt Town their home-port, this prompted two responses.

The smarter of the lot fled south, towards Sothoryos and the Basilisk islands. Pickings were slimmer there, and they'd be slimmer still once all the cowards got there. He'd give it a year before they were eating each other alive, perhaps less.

The true morons dug I'm their heels or went to ground, preparing to try to fight a proper navy with their rickety old tubs.

He grinned at their inevitable dates as he gave Matilda's ass a satisfying squeeze, eliciting a pretty, but obviously fake moan from the comely and beautiful lass, and prompting her to drop her blouse a little lower.

The view was almost as good as the schadenfreude of seeing the bloodthirsty morons amongst the isles having their ships sunk or captured, and their heads soon put on pikes no doubt.

He had other plans.

After all, only an idiot would think to even bother fighting the Dragonstone fleet, to begin with. What would the point be should you be victorious? The pirates involved would lose crew and gain nothing.

Meanwhile, he would be sitting in port, having broken up his crews and sold his second ship off, (In that order, no reason to share the money with the help). He had enough gold on him to last long after the Fleets arrived, and presently he had no intention of engaging in piracy.

After all, the mummer's songs about the Prince said that he hired near everyone he ever met, and even seduced an Ironborn princess, so why not a veteran sailor such as himself, one who even brought his own ship to the bargain, albeit lacking a money-grubbing crew.

He thought it was a pretty fair sails pitch personally.

Besides, worst come to worst he would have lived the life of a daring and romantic pirate captain who spent his last days whoring before being rescued by a boy everyone had decided was some sort of mythic hero before his balls even dropped.

There were certainly worse ways to go, and dying happy in old age was not the expected result of his chosen profession anyhow.

More likely to die of scurvy anyhow, this way sounded more heroic.

"And besides," he chuckled aloud, "who would keep you fine ladies company if I were running off to the Basilisk isles like the rest of the Captain's?"

"Oh, I'm sure we could find some stableboys," Mol giggled in his ear. "But they wouldn't be near as handsome, nor as… well equipped."

"I don't know Mol" loopy made a show of wondering across the table. Her fingers playing through her enormous earrings "I've heard stable boys take after their horses."

"Perhaps" Sal conceded laughing. "But sailors take after leviathans don't you know?"

"Oh we know," Laera said behind him as he took another hit of his rum. "You've had us all before haven't you?"

"True true" he laughed heartily, "but never the three at once before." He glanced about the woman, still laughing. "What say we move this to a more… comfortable location ayy?"

As he walked with the girls towards what was sure to be an excellent night, he smiled.

'ahh, the pleasures of having both brains and balls In working order.'