Venom of the Viper

Stowaways

Eric was having an unusually unlucky day.

First, he didn't win anything at any of the gambling halls.

Second, Max nearly blew up the ship. Again.

And third, the worst and most terrible of all, the barrels of rum they had stolen a month prior were already empty.

"Are you positive Max?" he asked again, not believing it. "There were two full barrels down there and there's only three of us."

Max rolled his brown eyes behind the blacksmith's mask he wore. "I checked them this morning. I am positive that there is no more bloody rum on this ship."

Damn. They were going to have to steal some more when they docked at Danar.

Eric ran a hand through his hair, shaking out the small, tight curls. It was stressful enough being captain of a ship but when factoring in the scientist who has nearly blown up the ship twelve times and a sister that liked to use him for target practice, it was damn impossible to stay sane.

At least with the rum he had an excuse to act like a madman.

"What was it you wanted to show me?" he asked, turning his attention back to Max and the metal contraption that sat on his desk. It didn't look like anything really, just a cylinder with spokes poking out around the sides.

Max tightened a screw on the contraption. "This is a spyglass that tells you exactly where you are by the position of the sun or stars." He looked pointedly at Eric. "This way we don't get lost again because someone forgets the way."

Eric frowned, shaking his head. What was it with making good points this morning? "That wasn't my fault. You and Emmaline should have known not to trust me to find directions."

"You swore you knew exactly where to go so we assumed that meant we could trust you."

"I only told Emmaline that I would steer the ship for the rest of the day so she could get some sleep."

"When someone says they can steer a ship it is assumed that they know the directions."

"I knew the directions."

"Then why did we end up in Morth?"

"I don't know. Perhaps, you or Emmaline took a wrong turn somewhere."

Max shook his head, the metal mask clanking back and forth. "Just shut up so I can show you how to work this."

Eric laughed, leaning down to look at the spyglass. "I thought the crew was supposed to show the captain some respect."

"Fine. Captain Caraeso will you please shut your damn mouth so I can explain how your spyglass works?"

"I thought you would never ask Max."

Max began to explain his invention, but Eric tuned him out after the first few scientific terms. He decided to instead focus on the soft sound of the waves hitting against the Etoile and the familiar salty scent of the ocean that clung fiercely to the ship. She was a beauty, from the siren figurehead carved into the hull, to the grand sails that flew in the wind. The ship was by far his favorite thing he had stolen, he could still remember how humid the Bynd night had been, the bloodred bandana Emmaline had worn in her mahogany hair, and the exact feel of the loaded pistol in his shaking hands.

It was quite an impressive moment, when the fourteen-year-olds had sailed away from the harbor, the sky and sea wide and empty, free, and filled with possibilities. Those possibilities had decreased slightly when they docked ship at Haseri and found wanted posters with the twins faces on them. Eric was still upset that they spaced his eyes too far apart.