Karim's Storm (PAUSED)

16. Adieu to London

A/N: It's my first time working with a computer to draw, I'm not a big fan of it because it looks like a child's work. Just ignore the drawing and go back to reading.

Karim's POV

It's Friday, I'm not looking forward to going on this trip, I had to leave Helen behind with her friend, who apparently lived in the block next to ours.

He better takes good care of her.

Besides not seeing my little princess, I also wouldn't be able to see Patsy. Maybe that's for the best, I told her that I was going to stay away. I hope a distance of 1603 miles is enough.

The sun isn't going to rise in the upcoming three hours as I'm loading the luggage into the ship, Mr Ambrose has also arrived and is preparing the machine for our departure. The guns that I have packed are taking a big part of the room. We need them but there isn't much space left for our other necessities.

A high voice behind me puts me on alert until I recognise it "I know you really like those guns and we need them, but don't you think that we should also bring some food with us?"

"It's best to be prepared for anything." I grunt. Turning around to face the ifrit, i notice she dressed up as a man, in her absurd peacock vest. Surely just to please her employer. "Why won't we make a deal? You can take those three crates full of firearms with you and bring the other six back to the shore, don't worry, we'll use them as soon as we get back." Her bright smile was crushed by my glare. I already knew I had to carry a few crates back, she didn't have to point out the obvious. A continuing of the conversation wasn't needed so I took a hold on two of the crates and started heading to the exit.

Standing straight again, with a bit of stretching as I had been obligated to bend my head so I wouldn't scrape it across the ceiling, I put the crates back onto the solid ground. I took a few boxes with other provisions and made my way onto the ship. My eyes had to adjust to the lack of light as 'less candles means less waste of money', a figure of a small man, or a woman who eats too much solid chocolate. "What do you want again?"

"Oh, your manners are magnificent, you're way too kind, nobody would even think about it that your work consists of killing and torturing people." Not having the time nor need to use some of my swearing, I walk past her to dispose the burdens. "Anyways," she continued "I know it's kind of a late notice but it's important." It still didn't seem like it was something I should worry about, last time she said something was important she meant that she needed to lend some money for chocolates. It was 'an emergency'. "Ask the sahib for some money, you have to give mine back first."

It wasn't as if I am filthy rich and able to give all my savings away to some desperate ifrit.

She froze for a moment before answering "Come on, Karim, you know I'll return that, but that isn't what I was talking about. I need you to provide enough food for another guest who's coming with us, so make sure that we have enough for five. Mr. Ambrose hired a guide that will be waiting for us at the island, he realized we had a better chance at survival of 50% if we took someone with us who knows the place." Was she expecting from me to get another bag for the journey in less than two hours? Who thought she is possibly intelligent enough to be Mr. Ambrose's secretary? Our luggage had taken two days to arrive after I ordered it.

"Do it yourself." I grumbled, there isn't enough time to get everything, she would have to pay a lot more to have it delivered before our departure. She stomped her foot "Don't be so mean Karim, do you think I would come directly to you with this problem? I tried to do this myself, nobody takes me serious, you just have to glance at someone and they shake in fear! It's a lot more difficult if you're just a man that looks like he lives with his mother because he's scared of the world! I'm doing this for a friend, she needs this trip.

Her inner ifrit just showed itself, interesting.

"I'll do it, just take my place, try to store the boxes strategically. Don't mess this up and make sure to have everything packed when I come back." She would've just continued stalking and irritating me if I wouldn't have accepted it. I hope she won't make a mess while I'm gone, you can't underestimate her power of messing things up, she even made a mess of Mr. Ambrose a few times. Guess who had to drive him to a tavern every single time.

I came back an hour later, the crates that had to be brought inside were gone, but it was just way too quiet.

There were more people passing by as it wasn't that long until the sun would rise again. The ship on the other hand, looked like she had a deadly vibe around her. I narrowed my eyes and held my hand close to my sabre, maybe it was the filthy rat of London, Lord Dalgliesh, who dared to show his ugly face. Mr. Ambrose and I were sure he knew of our departure. There always has to be a spy to watch us, but there always was at least one close by him, too.

I thought about all the possible dangers that could be awaiting me as I approached the ship carefully. It could be Lord Dalgliesh but there are a few other possibilities. Maybe someone tried to steal something from Mr. Ambrose, perhaps the ifrit in Lilly had come out and there's also a small chance that there had been an accident. Well, I can't know anything for sure if I won't go see myself.

I get onto the ship in one step to make sure that I'd be quite. My body tenses with anticipation as I get into the dark room. A loud bang echoes around the ship and my pace quickens, the noise definitely didn't come from a gun, more like metal on metal. Another bang follows, I'm now nearing my destination as it's a lot louder now. But this was a different soun-"For heaven's sake, Mr. Linton! Put the pan down, I just asked you to say to your friend that she'll be helping in the kitchen. We're low on staff and she can't just sit on my ship doing noth-"

Bang- "Auw, okay, now it's been enough."

The air leaves my longs in a sight of relief, it's just the usual. I better not be interrupting, those arguments usually tend to end in the sound of a body being pushed hard against a wall. There are some noises of some wrestling and a metal object, probably the pan, falling onto the ground. I don't know how this woman survives, how can she argue with the businessman of London without being cut into pieces? Getting away was a lot more difficult than you imagine it to be, the argument wasn't verbal anymore, I could feel the temperature dwindling down from their glares. Everyone on the ship must've heard their captain arguing because you could hear a pin drop and that made my escape almost impossible.

Almost makes a big difference, I came onto the deck and let the men go back to work by intensely looking at them while holding my sabre with one hand. It always works, well except for when we're talking about the ifrit, it never listens, today's events proved that. My own tasks are also awaiting me so I go down to check what the ifrit has done with the luggage. There's almost no doubt about it that I'll have to reorganize it.

The sun is rising as we set out onto our journey, there's a danger we won't see our loved ones one more time, but when isn't there such a danger? Hopefully we'll come back, I hope each one of us will, I'll try to protect as many as I can, although it's not possible to save everyone.

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Hello,

I've made the chapter a tad longer as I haven't updated last week. Sorry, vacation made my schedule go down the drain.

Its not editet soo if You seE tat there some weird sentences ore pls commment.

Vote if you liked it!

XOXO

Hopefully till next week!