Kragor stroked his beard while he crunched the numbers in his head. “Week or so, with the new help I’m reckoning. We’re awful shy on crew,” he pointed out.
Dexter nodded. “Aye, but we’ve got one more on the way.”
“Eh? Who?”
“Been meaning to talk to you about that,” Dexter admitted.
Kragor scowled. “What fool scheme you for now, boy?”
Dexter grinned. “We need a cook.”
Kragor’s eyes widened. He stared at Dexter and then looked to the ceiling. He continued looking around until he saw the lone bunk behind him, which he moved and sat on. “You really are daft,” he muttered before continuing. “Jodyne’s good with her knives. We go askin’ her that and she’ll put one in your eye and two in your chest ere ya hit the ground.”
“Not if we show her how much you can make doing this,” Dexter said, sitting next to him.
Kragor took a deep breath and blew it out. “You’re mad, I says.”
Dexter chuckled and clapped him on the back. “Maybe, but I got us a ship and a boat to lash alongside it.”
Kragor stroked his beard, which was all the proof Dexter needed to know the dwarf was thinking and would agree with him. He clapped him on the back again and stood up. “When you’re ready to go to her, come on out and let me know.”
Dexter left the cabin and headed to the bow of the ship, where he accepted a stiff thanks from Jenna as she examined the items he purchased for her. Nothing fine nor delicate, he got her a couple of cloaks and some loose fitting clothing. Bekka’s gear was much the same.
Kragor joined them a few moments later, looking none too happy. “You trust them here?” he asked, jerking his head towards Bekka and Jenna.
Dexter looked at them briefly and nodded. Kragor grunted and turned to the plank. “Let’s be off then.”
Dexter chuckled and looked at the other two. “We should be back in a couple of hours, if not… well, wait as long as you like.”
Jenna burned to ask for details, Dexter could tell, but she kept her mouth shut. Bekka just nodded and took the spare equipment to the back so it was out of sight on the deck. Dexter followed Kragor down the gangplank and quickly caught up to his shorter legged friend.
The dwarf remained stoic and silent as they trudged through New Haven to the tavern where his wife would be cooking dinner. The smell of it reminded Dexter of just how hungry he was. He had spent two weeks eating swill in the prison, after all.
A new bartender was behind the bar and the tavern’s owner was nowhere to be seen. Dexter led the way to a table and, when one of the barmaids saw them she hurried over.
“You’re not to be coming here,” she hissed.
Dexter smiled disarmingly at her. “Not to worry, Kaytlin, we’ve gold to spend and stomachs that need filling.”
“Master Twinver’ll have my hide if I serve you!” The girl glanced towards the door to the office and bit her lip.
“I’ll not say a thing,” Dexter promised her, winking.
“You’re spoiling for a fight, aren’t you?” She asked, clearly suspicious.
“Not particularly,” Dexter said. “Now be a dear, Kaytlin, and fetch us a couple of ales and whatever Jodyne’s cooking up.”
Kaytlin searched his eyes and then the dour dwarf’s before finally shaking her head and walking to the bar to fill their order. Dexter slapped the table happily and looked at his friend. “See, things are looking up already!”
Kragor rolled his eyes and remained silent. Kaytlin returned with drinks and then, a few moments later, meals. Dexter handed her a gold piece, far more than the simple fare was worth, but he had a point to prove. She could not hide her surprise and went away a little less suspicious than before.
After they ate Kragor took a deep breath. Dexter grinned and nodded towards the kitchen. “Alright, but remember I warned ya!” The dwarf said, hopping up off his chair.
As though he was a doomed sailor walking the plank, Kragor trudged towards the kitchen. He expected disaster at any moment. Dexter watched him, part anxious for his friend, part anxious for himself, and part amused. Kragor made a fine example of why a smart man stayed single.
Dexter sipped his ale cautiously, waiting. Kragor disappeared through the door into the kitchen several minutes before the first sound of a pan striking something — Dexter hoped it was the stove or a wall — could be heard. Less than a minute later the door to the kitchen flew open and Jodyne came stomping out of it, her red hair and beard a testimony to her fiery nature.
She stomped up to Dexter and glared at him. “Dexter Silvercloud, what’s this nonsense you’ve got my husband talking about?”
Kragor walked out of the kitchen then, a slight bit unsteady on his feet and a growing welt on his forehead where something cast in iron had crashed into him. Dexter could not help but laugh.
“What’re you for?” Jodyne demanded, hands on her hips. “Think you this is funny, do ya?”
Dexter held up his hands. “No, no, Jodyne, this is what Kragor told me to expect is all, I’m laughing because he was right and I was wrong.”
“You was wrong, was you? What did you say?”
Kragor looked at Dexter pleadingly from behind and was motioning frantically for him to shut up.
“Jodyne, please forgive me, I said you’d given up hope on him and that it was a waste of time,” Dexter said, his tone and expression apologetic. “I said we needed you for our ship, but there was no way you’d be agreeing to it.”
Jodyne glared at him and then turned to Kragor, who tucked his hands into his beard and stared longingly at her. “He don’t deserve me,” Jodyne said.
“Aye, that has the ring of truth to it.”
Jodyne whirled on Dexter. “And you neither!” she said. “You’re the one always pulling him off on one fool adventure or another!”
Dexter had the good grace to look shamed. He reached down to the sack of coins that Kragor had pulled from the loose board on the ant and tossed it on the table. “What you say is true, Jodyne.”
She stared at the bag as though her lethal glare would reveal the contents of it. It had made a resounding and metallic noise when it landed. “That’s some of what we’ve made so far, just the two of us without a crew. We’re putting a crew together now, and we want you on it.”
Jodyne snatched up the bag and opened it, looking inside to satisfy her curiosity. She handed it back to Dexter, amazed, and then turned to look at Kragor. “I’d never turn me back on you,” she said after a moment. Kragor smiled at her, hopefully. “You’re just so thick-skulled at times, it’s hard getting you to know what’s best!”
Kragor nodded and stepped closer to her. Dexter gave him a thumbs up and winked over Jodyne’s back. She stepped closer to him and gave him a hug, earning a round of applause and cheers from the growing crowd of customers and staff. Unfortunately this also brought the attention of Master Twinver and he walked out of his office.
“What’s this about?” He shouted. His eyes fell on Dexter and his cheeks flared red with anger. He moved through the crowd until he stood on the far side of the table from the source of his irritation.
“You,” Jodyne said, turning and pointing her finger at Dexter. Master Twinver’s open mouth issued no sound as the threatening voice boomed out of Jodyne’s mouth. “You’ll not be taking my husband off on any more fool- headed adventures… least not without me there to keep you boys to heel.”
Dexter nodded. “Yes ma’am,” he said. “Now come see what Kragor’s done, you’ll be right proud of him, I promise.”
She peered at him suspiciously then nodded, taking off her apron and tossing it to the inn’s owner. “You’ll be needing a new cook, Master Twinver.”
His mouth opened and closed as he searched for words. The three of them left the inn with him still trying to figure out what just happened.
