hold.
“What’s wrong with her?” Rosh asked, confused. Dexter just shrugged, equally lost.
“Let’s help them cast off, then we’re to head back to Port Freedom and get this taken care of,” he ordered, heading towards the main deck himself.
With Jenna nowhere to be found, they released the lines holding the ships together and bid the Federation ship safe travels, though the Federation Captain was similarly nowhere to be found.
Several hours later, Dexter had scoured the ship and found no sign of Jenna. He went to the last place she could be, which was also the most likely place he expected her to be, in her cabin. He knocked on the door and was again greeted with the question, “Who comes?”
“Dexter,” he responded.
She was silent for a long moment before saying in a softer voice that he barely heard through the door, “come in.”
Dexter opened the door and stepped in, absent mindedly wondering if she was going to be partially nude again. His life had become complicated enough that any pleasure he might have derived from the thoughts was missing. Well… almost.
“It’s your ship, Captain,” she said once he was in her room. “I told you the door’s always open for you.”
Dexter nodded. “So you did,” he admitted. “Everyone deserves some privacy though.”
She nodded. “It’s appreciated. What can I do for you, Sir?”
Dexter frowned. He took a deep breath and let it fly. “What’s your bother? I need you on the deck when we’re in a situation.”
Jenna’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed angrily. She ground her teeth together then nodded. “Yes, Captain, won’t happen again.”
Dexter groaned and threw his hands in the air. He turned to leave and then turned back. “No, damn it, what’s the problem?”
“No problem, Captain,” she said in clipped tones. “Happy to be here.”
Dexter shook his head and wondered what he could say to bring her out of her funk. Ultimately he could think of nothing so he just left a peace offering on the way out, “alright, my door’s always open too, if you want to talk.”
Dexter barely heard her parting comment as he headed out of her passage, “I’m sure Keshira’ll be bending your ear a-plenty.”
Barely back up on the deck he walked past Rosh, who was showing Keshira, per Dexter’s orders, how to work the rigging of the ship. She had changed from the dress she had been wearing to a more functional tunic and pants that were baggy on her. She still looked beautiful in spite of her poor fashion.
“Captain!” Rosh said, getting his attention.
Dexter stopped and looked at him, then nodded for him to go ahead.
“She’s amazing, Captain,” he said honestly. “Stronger than…well… the strongest man I know!”
“Who’s that, Rosh?” Dexter asked, already knowing how powerful the man was and promising himself to never run into the man Rosh considered the strongest man alive.
“Well, me, I guess,” he said, scratching his scruffy chin. Dexter laughed, unable to stop himself.
“She learns fast,” he continued. “I show her something once and she’s better’n me at it!”
Dexter grunted, offering a half-hearted smile. It did him little good to hear that she was as promising as she sounded, since he planned to be rid of her as soon as they returned to Port Freedom.
“Well, keep at it, we’ve four days to return to Port Freedom, no telling what we might run into this far out,” Dexter said.
“Wait, Captain,” Rosh said, looking around and lowering his voice. Dexter paused for Rosh to continue. “I hear you’s looking for more helmsmen?”
Dexter stopped, not sure he heard him right. He nodded after a moment and Rosh finished his request. “I’d like to learn me how to fly a ship… Sir.”
“I’d still work the rigging and deck off shift,” he hurried to add.
Dexter cocked his head and thought about it, after only a short moment he shrugged and smiled, surprising his anxious deckhand. “Alright, we’ll try it out.”
Rosh grinned ear to ear, then clapped Dexter on the back, which sent him staggering. He straightened and smiled weakly before turning to leave.
“Um, Captain… one more thing.”
Dexter turned, “yes?”
“I know that Fed wizard said she was belonging to you and I was wondering if I, um, if I could, ya know, borrow her?”
Dexter’s eyes widened and he fought the urge to laugh at the incredible request. “Rosh…I,” he paused, then shook his head, unable to find words to say. “No, Rosh, I don’t know what she is but while she’s on my boat, she’s nobody’s property.”
“Yes Sir,” Rosh said, nodding and turning back to his work quickly, his cheeks already flushing red with embarrassment at the rejection.
Kragor found Dexter on the forecastle, staring at the stars. Or, perhaps, he was trying to see into the future, the dwarf could only guess.
“Dex,” Kragor said by way of greeting, leaning against the railing beside him.
Dexter offered the dwarf a smile. “Hell of a day,” he replied.
“We need a bigger crew, boy-o,” Kragor said.
Dexter nodded. “I’m working on it,” he said. Then he chuckled before adding, “Can you believe Rosh wants to learn to be a helmsman?”
Kragor shrugged. “Who ya think told him to ask you?”
Dexter looked at his first mate and long time friend and then chuckled again. “Figures,” he said. “And Jodyne thinks I’m the troublemaker!”
Kragor could not hide his grin. He did, however, glance at the deck to make sure his wife was not on it and able to hear him. His eyes fell on Keshira and he watched her work, her strength amazing as she worked the ropes that Rosh showed her.
“She’s a sight,” he offered.
Dexter turned to look at her and sighed. “That she is… and it makes sense now. All of Ormitor’s servants… they’re like her.”
Kragor nodded. “Aye, I was thinking as much. Strong, beautiful, and not alive. I’m for guessing he’s not a man to be on the wrong side of.”
“Wizards,” Dexter grumbled, to which Kragor agreed by way of spitting over the railing.
“Reckon we’ll be on that side when he learns she didn’t make it to Grafton,” Dexter said.
“Aye,” Kragor acknowledged. “We could run. Hide, stay clear o’ this part o’ the void for a bit.”
Dexter gave him a look that confirmed what the dwarf already knew. He missed the old Dexter, the mischievous man that would poke fun at anyone he could, especially if they were bigger, stronger, and more powerful or dangerous — so long as he had a hole to bolt to. The new Dexter was responsible for a ship and crew, and he knew it and acted it. While Kragor missed the old Dex, he admired the man he had turned into even more.
“I’m not for wanting her, old friend,” Dexter said. “I’ll have no slaves about me.”
“You heard the wizard, she’s not alive! She’s an object… a thing,” the dwarf said. It was a bit eerie, he supposed, but she looked to be able to do the work of two men.
“Look at that,” Dexter said, gesturing at her with his chin. “She look like a ‘thing’ to you?”
Kragor stroked his beard thoughtfully, trying to come up with something to shore his argument. He could not and grudgingly admitted as much, “guess not. Them others din’t seem like her, them was more… lively.”
Dexter looked at Kragor, realizing the dwarf had just pointed out something that bothered him. Why was Keshira less lively? She behaved like a child, soaking up everything around her, but unlike a child she had no personality. Jarnella had been full of personality, or at least it seemed like personality. Perhaps it was just part of her conditioning, to be a sultry seductress.
