“It’s good to be the captain,” he said.
Kragor spat on the ground and hurried after his captain.
“I’m not a wizard, I’m a sorceress,” Bekka said when they returned.
Dexter looked at Kragor, who just shrugged. “You hear a lot, don’t you?” Dexter accused her.
Bekka nodded. “Not as much as she does.”
All eyes turned to Jenna, who met Dexter’s stare with her own. “Well?” he asked her.
Jenna held his gaze for a moment then nodded. “It’s true,” she admitted, shooting a silent glare Bekka’s way. “Elves hear well. As for trusting me, I owe you my life, or at least my honor, until that’s been repaid you’ve naught to fear.”
“And then?” Dexter asked her.
“And then we’ll see how well we get along.”
Dexter stared at her again for a long moment, then nodded. “Fair enough.”
Kragor muttered something in his native tongue and yanked his beard in disbelief. Dexter’s hand patted him reassuringly on the shoulder to calm him down.
“Alright, Bekka, I’ll give you a chance. Try pulling what you did in that cell again though and I’ll bleed you then and there,” Dexter said.
Bekka nodded, smiling. “And the both of you need some equipment. Weapons we got; clothing we don’t. Let’s go shopping.”
“The Fed guards took all my money,” Jenna said, looking annoyed.
“Mine as well,” Bekka said.
“Aye, they do that,” Dexter said. “Consider this an advance on your pay then.”
“What is to be my pay?” Jenna asked.
Dexter had turned to leave the alley and head towards the merchants section, but the elf’s question made him pause. He turned back to face her and glanced at Kragor, who tried to subtly make a gesture with his hand: that of a fist with a thumb pointing down. Dexter chuckled.
“How do you want it?” Dexter asked. “Standard rates or a percentage?”
“Percentage?” Jenna asked, a little surprised. “Are you a pirate or something?”
“No,” he replied without hesitation. “But I’m not running a merchant ship either. From time to time we will have some odd jobs and unusual fares.”
“So what’s the cut?” Jenna asked.
Another glance at Kragor yielded Dexter another less than subtle thumbs down, indicating the dwarf advised a low rate. Dexter smiled and looked back to Jenna. “Seven percent. More if you prove you’re as good as you claim.”
She nodded. “Fair enough.”
Dexter turned to Bekka. “You?”
Bekka just shrugged, something that unsettled him a little. “Whatever you feel is fair,” she said.
Dexter looked at Kragor, who stared at the half-elf with even more confusion than before. “I get the feeling you’re testing me,” Dexter said.
Bekka smiled mysteriously. “We’re all being tested every minute of every day.”
Dexter nodded. “Alright, then I’ll do the same for you.”
“What kind of ship is it?” Jenna asked, ignoring Bekka.
“It’s a trader class, with some personal modifications,” Kragor said, puffing out his chest proudly.
Jenna smirked, “What trader isn’t fixed up?”
Kragor glowered at her but bit his tongue. Dexter shook his head and sighed, wondering if he had too many personalities on the ship already. He turned and stepped out of the alley, glancing back at them to say, “You coming?”
They followed him as he made his way through the busy streets of New Haven. Jenna drew several surprised and often hostile looks, prompting Dexter to think that she needed something with a hood to hide her face. They ducked into the first store he found and tried to purchase just that, but the shopkeeper refused to do business with an elf present.
Dexter sighed and they went back outside. Rather than try another store Dexter asked her what she might require, then had Kragor tell him which dock the ant was berthed at and give him the belt with the money pouch on it. He sent them off, leaving Bekka with him to help him carry the goods he acquired.
Bekka received some strange looks, for only at a quick glance in poor light would someone mistake her for a man. Her features had a faint elven cast to them, but the lack of hair distracted people enough that no one made the jump to figuring her as a half-elf, even given her slight stature. That, and, for their current mission, Bekka served as a pack mule.
They returned well over an hour later to the ant. Dexter scarcely recognized it at first. Kragor had rebuilt the ant with lumber from the ruined dart and skiff, strengthening it and even improving upon it. The helm remained closed in the aft section of the ship, and the middle section was now open decking with only a railing around it. Not only was the mid-ship cabin removed, but Kragor had lowered the floor to allow the stowage of cargo in it, save for a two foot section around the edges for walking. The forward section, once built up into a small forecastle home to a light ballista, now was as flat as the mid-section with only a wooden railing about it.
The ant retained the six landing struts to allow it to land on land, and Kragor had gone one step further in reinforcing the resemblance to its namesake by building a set of pincers on the very front of it. Dexter had to chuckle at the dwarf’s attention to detail, even though he was sure the pincers served no purpose.
“That’s an impressive boat,” Bekka said as they approached it. Dexter nodded, silently agreeing with her. He mused that perhaps there was more to Kragor’s skill in shipbuilding than he had originally credited him with.
Jenna stood at the front of the boat while Kragor was rummaging around in the aft cabin, making noise but doing only the Gods knew what. Dexter climbed the ramp and surveyed the ship, nodding at how it still needed a lot of work to finish it off, but structurally it appeared to be quite sound.
“Kragor!” Dexter yelled, heading to the aft careful to avoid the three foot plunge into the cargo area. He told Bekka to head to the bow and give Jenna the items they had procured for her.
The dwarf emerged a few moments later, grinning foolishly. Dexter looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “What’d you do this time?”
“Made a funnel!” The dwarf said happily.
“A funnel?”
“Aye, for the long trips when you’ve got to use the head we ain’t got on here.”
Dexter groaned and covered his face in his hand. When he finally took it away he looked at his first mate and pretended he knew nothing of what the dwarf had just said. “The ant looks good, Kragor. Damned good.”
Kragor beamed with pride. “Aye, took some work but she’s better now than she was before, for what we need ‘er for!”
Dexter had to admit that the dwarf was right. “Needs some finishing up, but you earned your pay!”
Kragor chuckled. “Speaking o’ pay, how ya planning on doing that?”
Dexter stuck his head in the aft cabin and looked around. It had a small room set up with the helm in it, a larger room with three bunks and three chests, and a tiny final room with naught but Kragor’s latest contraption. He nodded appreciatively and turned back to the dwarf.
“You sold the ballista from here and the weapons off the Hawk’s Talon?” Dexter asked him.
Kragor shook his head. “Kept the one from the Hawk’s Talon, but moved it below. Couple people can carry it right quick and set it up to fire.”
Dexter nodded, that made sense. Possessing a ship weapon in Federation space could get a captain fined, or worse, but it might just be worth the risk. Of course a light ballista was hardly a threat to anything larger than the ant they stood upon, and even that could take quite a few hits.
“Is this all that’s left?” Dexter asked, tapping the pouch at his side.
Kragor shook his head. “Stashed some on the Hawk’s Talon, and a bit more under the bottom bunk over there. Pop up a loose board and you’ll find another 30 gold.”
“And back on that Hawk’s Talon?”
“40 pieces.”
Dexter nodded. “How much work to be done yet?”
