“Four gold,” the other one piped up, drawing a look from the first one. “Since you’ll be depriving our world of the work that she’d be doing.”
“It cost me-“ Dexter began, then stopped, realizing he was about to get in a fight. He took a couple of deep breaths then reached into his pouch. He extracted the gold coins, no doubt certain that more than half of it was graft, and tossed them to the guard. He dropped three of them and had to scramble to pick them up before they rolled off the dock.
“You done harassing my cook?” he asked the other one while the first was still scrambling.
“Aye, I think we’re finished up here,” he said, watching his fellow instead of the suspected smugglers as he should have been. When he looked back he found Dexter standing in front of him, so close that he jumped in surprise.
“If I were smuggling,” Dexter told him in low even tones. “I’d have you fools up here distracted with something like loading food. Then, with that happening, I’d be hoisting up the goods over the other side of my ship with some lines.”
The greedy guard came to his feet then, the four coins held in his fist. He saw his partner’s predicament and hurried to the rescue. “Hey you, stand back now! It’s against the law to threaten the Port Watch!
Dexter stepped back and glanced meaningfully at the far side of his ship, where two lines hung over the rail. In truth they were tied off to cleats on the ground. The ship stood no chance of floating off of a dry dock, like it might a port in the void or a wet dock. Tradition still bound that a ship was to be tied off when docked
The eyes of both guards followed his. They looked back quickly and said, “We’re finished here, but you’re still marked as suspicious!”
As the scribe backed away, his expression blank, the two guards hurried off. They could hear them talking between themselves in low voices, anxious to check out the smuggling potential he had identified.
The look on Rosh’s face made Bekka giggle. Far from being a man comfortable with big words, his expression spoke volumes for them. Dexter even had to laugh a little, and Jodyne’s expression softened.
Dexter flipped the boy a copper and grabbed up a bag in each hand before walking up the gangplank. Bekka and Jodyne followed suit while the boy scampered off with the now unloaded cart.
“Dex, where you want I should put her?” Rosh asked, coming up behind them.
“Crew quarters,” Dexter told him.
Rosh nodded and headed for the aft stairway. Dexter sighed. He was up another crewmate, even if she might not be able to do as much as the others. He shook his head and turned to help Jodyne carry her stuff down to the kitchen.
Slightly after dusk Dexter looked up from the charts he was musing over on the bridge when he heard a noise. The vision of Kragor was there, sitting on the vacant helm and waving at him. The noise, Dexter was relieved to discover, had not come from the insane hallucination he was suffering from, but rather from someone coming up the companionway.
Jenna and Xander stepped through the doorway a moment later. Dexter glanced over to see Kragor now watching them, a suspicious look in his eyes. Jenna followed Dexter’s gaze with her own.
“How was shopping?” Dexter asked, realizing he was going mad if only he could see the dwarf. He did his best to hide his agitation.
“Good,” they both said, then laughed in unison. It grated on Dexter’s nerves, hearing them laughing together so. For a moment he even felt a flash of anger and jealousy.
“I can get the elements I need to enchant your holds,” Xander said. “But not without cost.”
Dexter nodded. “How much?”
The number he responded with nearly sent Dexter to the floor with shock. He shook his head and sighed. “Looks like we’ll be staying as we are.”
“Dex, wait,” Jenna said, coming around the table to him. “We told the shopkeeper as much and he said we might be able to work out a deal. He was quite interested in the Voidhawk, I guess they don’t get too many of us ‘voidsailors’.”
“What kind of deal?” Dexter asked, suspicious.
“He took us to meet the merchant that owned the business. He was an Azmar!” Xander said excitedly. “Such a fascinating race, unlike many giant kin with their sophistication and intelligence.”
Jenna waved him silent and turned back to her Captain. “He said he would be willing to trade for it in exchange for some service.”
“Service?” Dexter said. “That don’t sound too bad. Depends on the service though, I suppose. He say any more?”
She nodded. “Lord Falson, that’s the Azmar, would like us to go north to where he is trying to expand his lands. His army needs some decent support, and his regular airships cannot go high enough nor are they big enough to offer it.”
“Airships and armies?” Dexter asked, baffled by the way things were unfolding.
“Yes!” Xander cried out. “They have airships here. Nothing as large, powerful, or complex as the Voidhawk… or anything that can travel in the void really. Still, they are capable of low altitude flight.”
“And he wants us to fight for him?” Dexter asked.
“Not really fight, survey. Scout and perhaps drop some barrels of oil or something.”
Dexter looked at his first mate, convinced he may not be the only one going mad. “You think this is a good idea?” he asked her.
“Think about it Dex,” she said in a quiet voice. “We are bigger, faster, and can go much higher than anything they’ll send against us. We stay out of harm’s way, drop a few barrels, report their movements, then we pick up the spell components and we’re done!”
“Just like that,” Dexter said.
“Sure, just like that!”
Dexter shook his head. “Jenna, you know war is never easy. Things never go right, and they never end when you want them to.”
Jenna shrugged. “Maybe, but Dex, this is a chance of a lifetime! It would take us five years of hauling cargo to save up enough for this otherwise!”
Dexter looked at the wizard, studying him. “Xander, what’s your take?”
Xander looked a little surprised that Dexter was actually willing to listen to him. He opened his mouth to respond then closed it, realizing he needed to be certain of what he was saying and also realizing that he had to be right, otherwise he might never have the chance again.
“Captain, I-“
“Cap, that priest’s here!” Rosh said as he burst down the stairs and rushed into the room. He pulled up short when he saw the other two, then shrugged and continued in.
“He brought along some friends too.”
Dexter sighed. “The other new crewmate,” Dexter said, realizing he had forgotten about him.
Xander stood in the bridge as the others filed out. He shut his mouth and stared after them, denied his chance to speak his mind yet again. Scowling, he stormed out after them, leaving an unseen and unheard laughing dwarf behind.
“I never caught your name, Father…”
The priest smiled at Dexter and reached out to shake his hand. “Father Dooligan,” he offered.
He turned to the man that accompanied them. He wore a holy symbol much like the priest did, save that both it and the chain it hung on appeared to be pure silver. Silver bracelets adorned his wrists as well, and from the looks of things he found them offensive. His skin was raw on his wrists and, by the way his feet kept moving and rubbing against one another, Dexter suspected he had silver anklets as well.
“This is Logan, the man we spoke of.”
Dexter nodded. “I’m Dexter Silvercloud, Captain of the Voidhawk here,” he said to him. “The life of a sailor is no simple life. We run mostly cargo from one place to another, picking up work where we may. Sometimes it’s a bit more exciting, you understand, and there’s always the threat of pirates.”
“We can use the help, and all the more if you’ve any skill in healing… magical or otherwise,” he continued.
