The King's Messenger

Chapter 14

Messenger continued investigating the atmosphere in the following days, finding similar results. The Dancing Fish was a hot topic, with his own and Eden's involvement a quieter undertone. Lias and Kalis had done their job. Messenger just needed to make a bold gesture with the job he had signed on for, and news of their work would spread.

The night of the job came swiftly. Messenger arrived at the docks where the Seafarer was promptly at sundown, one of the earliest thugs to arrive. Leben hadn't arrived yet, nor any other superior, from what Messenger could tell. The rest trickled in over a fifteen minute period, a group of mostly brawny, surly men, and Leben arrived five minutes after.

"Everyone's here? Good," Leben began. "We'll bring the cargo now. You all will help load the ship; we set off in an hour." He signalled to someone in the distance, a man at the doors of a warehouse, who began opening the doors. "Go on, then," Leben prompted. The group of sellswords trudged over to the warehouse, where a line of chained, blindfolded captives began shuffling out.

Messenger eyed the nearest guard house. It wasn't even full dark yet; it was more than likely that the guards had an excellent view of the proceedings, yet no shouts nor aid came for the human cargo. Bribed, then. Or they really just didn't care, though Messenger doubted that; even if they didn't care about the people, they'd care about lining their pockets.

As he walked, he took stock of his targets. He'd have to deal with each of the fighters if he wanted to take control of the ship again. There were ten- no, eleven enemies, most bulkier and taller than Messenger. He'd have to be fast; one hit, even if not from one of the blades they each held, could put him out of commission.

There were fewer slaves in the line than on the Dancing Fish, about fifteen. That wasn't ideal. Counting the sailing crew, Messenger would be outnumbered here.

The sellswords reached the line and took over, prodding the captives and nudging them toward their own sale. Without any option, they did as commanded, bent-backed and with trudging feet.

Once on the ship, the slaves were pushed toward the lower decks, locked up in the cargo hold. Unlike last time, there was no rowing gallery; the Seafarer was a smaller ship, and it looked like it would depend solely on wind power. In return, the slaves could be held more securely and watched over by fewer guards, freeing up more sellswords to watch the deck.

Leben followed the procession to the cargo hold. "Nell, watch the hold. All you rest, back on deck." He led them up. "Listen up. You're to watch the water, look for any ships or boats or whatever else getting close. If anyone boards the Seafarer, you put 'em down, no questions asked. We've had one disaster already; we don't need another. Anything happens to the cargo, nobody gets paid. Nothing happens to the cargo, everyone gets paid. Handsomely," Leben added, rubbing his fingers together. "Got it?"

There were a few scattered ayes from the sellswords.

"Good. You'll need lanterns-" he gestured toward a few hanging from the railing, unlit. "Not enough for all of you. Work it out yourselves."

Messenger didn't get a lantern, but five others did, and Nell had light as well, down in the hold. It was better this way; his night vision wouldn't be ruined by the light, and he wouldn't have a beacon on him displaying his location at all times.

Mirk and Leben had a short conversation a distance away. Even with the earrings, Messenger could barely make out what they were saying. In the end, he could only distinguish a few words: profits, damage, can't, Eden, Virrik, Lord. He furrowed his brow. He couldn't do anything about it now, but it was worth mentioning to Eden when he got a chance.