When she breaks off the kiss, James is left breathless and a little flustered. “I’ll miss you,” she tells him.
“I’ll miss you too,” he says when he finally gets his voice working again.
She turns and begins to open the door when she pauses and says, “Goodbye James.”
“Goodbye Meliana,” he replies as he watches her enter her home and close the door.
Feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, he makes his way back toward Nate’s family estate. Visions of Meliana and the way her lips felt on his fill his mind until he realizes he’s already back to the door to his room. He doesn’t even remember walking back, he must’ve been on autopilot.
Opening the door, he finds Jiron snuggled in his bed with one of the serving girls he’s been seeing.
“How’d it go?” he asks from the bed, not the least bit embarrassed.
“It went well,” James replies. “Want me to leave?”
“Don’t have to if you don’t want to,” he replies. “We’re done anyway.”
James goes over to his bed and gets undressed in the dark and then slips under the covers. Thoughts of Meliana keep him awake long into the night before he can finally fall asleep.
Chapter Two
The next morning after waking up, James discovers the girl who had shared Jiron’s bed with him the night before had already left. Jiron is lying there sleeping so peacefully, he almost doesn’t want to wake him up. Almost. He and his girlfriend had awakened James up twice during the night and he’d found it incredibly difficult to fall back to sleep while ‘that’ was going on in the bed next to him.
He gets up out of his bed and walks over to Jiron’s with a mischievous smile upon his face. Grabbing hold of his mattress, he upends it, spilling Jiron onto the floor with a thud.
After hitting the ground, Jiron gets to his feet quickly with a knife in his hand. Looking around, he sees James standing there with the mattress still in his hand. “Get up,” James tells him. “We’ve got a ship to catch.”
“What did you do that for!” he yells, anger in his eyes.
“For keeping me awake all night,” he says as he replaces the mattress.
The anger quickly disappears and a grin takes its place, “Sorry about that. She was a randy one, she was.”
Returning to his bedside, he begins to get dressed. Jiron follows suit.
James notices him putting his new clothes inside his pack and asks, “Taking them with you?”
Jiron glances over to him and nods, saying, “Yeah, I think Tersa would like to see me in them. You?”
Shaking his head no, he replies, “Green just isn’t my color.” Jiron just laughs.
After they’re both dressed, they shoulder their packs and leave the room. James leaves the box of slugs, he already has enough, what with his belt filled as well as a small pouch of them within his pack. Out in the hallway, they turn toward the stairs and go up to Miko’s room. Finding it empty, they go on down to Nate’s room where they find him saying goodbye to his friend.
“Come on, Miko,” James tells him. “We gotta go.”
“Bye Nate,” he says to him as he goes over and gives his friend a hug.
Patting him on the back, Nate says, “You take care, now. Come back if you can.”
“I will, promise,” Miko says as he fights back tears forming in his eyes. The last week with Nate had been one of the best of his life. He really feels bad about leaving him.
“You take care of him,” Nate says as he looks to James.
“As best I can, you can rest assured,” he replies.
Jiron shakes Nate’s hand and then the three friends leave his room. Going back down the stairs, they make their way along the corridor toward the main door.
On their way, they’re stopped by Miriam who gives each of them a sack. “What’s this?” James asks.
“It’s traveling money,” she explains. “My parents thought it an ample reward for saving their son.”
“There must be over fifty golds in here,” Jiron says as he feels the sack.
“Actually, each holds seventy five,” she tells him.
“Thanks!” he replies as he puts the sack in his pack.
“You’re welcome,” she replies and then proceeds to give each a goodbye hug. When she gets to James, she says, “You better hurry, Captain Caril won’t like it if you keep him waiting.”
“I will,” he says to her. “Say goodbye to Meliana for me.”
“Next time I see her,” she says as she gives him a hug. She says goodbye to both Jiron and Miko before they turn toward the door and leave.
Walking down the street toward the dock, James says, “I hope this Captain Caril wouldn’t have sailed without us.”
“I doubt it,” replies Jiron. “He’s doing it for Nate’s family, so I think he’d at least give us the courtesy of waiting a little bit.”
“How long do you think it’ll be before we’re back to Cardri?” asks Miko.
“She said probably a couple weeks,” James explains. “We’re not going straight there, but are hitching a ride as they go along their trade route.”
“Oh,” he says.
Sails can be seen on the horizon as they near the docks. Once there, they ask the Harbor Master which ship is Captain Caril’s and he points to a two masted vessel, further down.
“Thank you,” James says to him as they proceed down to the ship.
When they arrive at the Foam Breaker, James hollers up to the ship, “Permission to come aboard?”
A man, obviously the captain by his dress, comes to the gangplank and looks down at them standing there on the dock. “You James?” he asks.
He nods his head. “That’s me, and this is Miko and Jiron.” he says, indicating the others standing next to him.
“Come aboard,” the captain says before turning and moving back away from the gangplank.
As they start walking up the gangplank, he begins shouting orders to his crew and the lines are cast off. Once they’re on board, the gangplank is pulled in. The mainsail gets unfurled and the ship begins to move as the wind fills it. The helmsman turns the wheel and the ship pulls away from the dock on its way to open water.
“We appreciate you taking us on,” James says to the captain.
“You’re welcome,” he replies in between barking out orders. Turning his attention back to them, he says, “There’s a room at the stern you can use while you’re aboard. There are some goods stored there, sorry about that, but it’s used as an auxiliary storage compartment.”
“Thank you,” James says. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Nodding, the captain adds, “Just stay out of the crews way and we’ll get you where you need to go.”
“Which ways the stern,” Miko asks.
The captain points to the rear of the ship.
They head in that direction and come to a door leading into the raised portion at the end of the ship. Opening the door, they find a small room, half filled with boxes and bolts of colored cloth. “They must keep this stuff here so it won’t be ruined by the rain,” suggests James.
“Probably,” Jiron says as they enter the room. Within, they find three hammocks slung one above the other, between the walls. Miko eyes them suspiciously when James informs him, “They’re for sleeping.”
Miko goes over to them and says incredulously, “You’re kidding!” He takes a hold of the bottom one and pushes it. He just stares at it as it swings back and forth.
“No, seriously,” he says as he sits down on the middle one and proceeds to lie down. “In tight quarters such as are on a ship, this is the only way to maximize space for the crew and still have plenty of space for the cargo.”
Eyeing them dubiously, he sets his pack down in the corner. He comes over to the lowest one and opens it up, sitting down on it. Attempting to lie down, he suddenly flips over and lands on the floor.
Jiron bursts out laughing at the sight.
James flashes him an annoyed look and he soon stops. Turning his attention back to Miko who had gotten up
