Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

[Arc 14] Ch.2 Kraken Prince

Vance finished off his drink and set the glass down. "An apt title for our new friend Captain Flint. He is not a man to make an enemy of, even if he weren't the crown prince of New Providence. He's far more dangerous than he seems." Vance's lips curled mischievously. "I like him."

"In that case your instincts were right, but our calculations were wrong, Lady Ulster." I said as I crossed my arms.

"We definitely needed more than three guards in here with us." She nodded looking more like a sad puppy than a noble lady.

I couldn't help myself as I placed a hand on her head and patted it. "This was a display of strength on his part don't get discouraged, learn from this event. The Pirates didn't grow a nation out of a flotilla because they were easy to deal with."

*

On the day of departure, I couldn't help but think of the flotilla again as I saw our ship at the dock. I'll readily admit that it has never seen a real battle and none of the paint is even smudged. The cannons almost had a layer of dust on them since they were only used during practice.

The pirate vessels were something else entirely. I wouldn't call them patched together that would disgrace the craftsmanship of the elegant repairs that covered them. Their hulls were a darker shade of wood native to a different country. They were longer and wider, obvious meant for long voyages out to the ocean rather than ours which was for sailing the rivers and seas that bisected the southern part of the continent diagonally from the upper left outlet by Galavan to the lower right inlet that separated the dwarven mines from the Dragons peaks.

The seas that separated the elven forest from the human kingdoms was one of the reasons that the greedy nations of humans weren't able to attack the elves as much as they were each other. That said because the rivers and seas flow north it commonly accepted for trader vessels to go all the way south and around the dragon cape whenever they needed to visit the inland human kingdoms and elves.

That was our route as well. We'd go south and around the dragon cape to get home even though it was a fairly straight shot from the Elkwood ports to Galavan. Luckily the currents going south along the Brillig were swift enough that it wasn't an inconvenience to make the longer trip around. There was a lake with and inlet around halfway there, but it was controlled by a nation that wasn't super friendly with Ardentwae and even less friendly with the pirates. Even if we took that way it would take another couple days by land through unfriendly territories allied with Vance's brothers. It was safest just to take the ship all the way around to Elkwood's port.

The only thing to worry about would be pirates. But since the Prince of Pirates is our personal escort, I can't imagine them being an issue this time around. Which means the only people we have to worry about are... Vance's brothers and who they might send.

Who knew what those two were getting up to.

In the meantime, I watch as the adventurers that the prince hired showed up. There were three of them a short one with fox ears, a tall one with blonde and red tipped hair, and a big muscular one with curly grey hair. They were wearing their signature masks. The first had a fox mask, the second had demon-like teeth with tusks, and the third had a dragon snout.

They saluted me, the shortest one, the fox, spoke to me. "My name is Alpha, the skinny one is Ace, and the big guy is Delta. We are the Hounds of Baskerville. You must be the Marquis Elkwood, it is an honor to meet you. His highness, the prince, instructed me that you are in charge of security, and to report to you."

"If I remember correctly there were more of you." I said looking for the others rumored to be in the team.

"Some of our members are on extended contracts but I am just about fully recovered from a tough job a while back. Luckily, Ace is our best swordsman, Delta has muscles to spare, and my magic is still as reliable as it ever was. And we have one more member who will be meeting us at the Elkwood adventurer's guild since he tends to get seasick." Alpha said.

Although he seemed a bit young for his reputation, Alpha still had an air of reliability to him. More so than his friends but any adventuring party had its share of rough faces.

"I have a room set up below deck for you," I said. "Get yourself acquainted with the crew for now and the students if you wish. For now, you'll be on standby for monster attacks during the day and join the rotation for night watches. Do you have any problems with your orders?"

"Standard escort mission, we got it. We'll stay out of your hair and do our jobs, no problem." Alpha answered.

"Good. Once again, my name is Marquis Benedict Elkwood. I look forward to working with you." I answered and shook hands with the adventurers.

Although it was a relief to have them aboard, I can't honestly say I was expecting clear skies and smooth sailing. But what we encountered at sea was outside all of our predictions...