He’d been sitting in the dockside bar for an hour now, listening to the talk, occasionally trying to nudge the conversation around him with a discrete question or a raised eyebrow. The ale was bad, green as hell but better than the water the gods knew. A loud clang drew his attention as the barmaid slammed her drink tray up against a drunk’s head and he used the distraction to swap his three quarter full mug with his neighbor’s empty one.
Stak signaled the serving girl, pointing at his mug. She nodded, a world weary smile pasted to her face that didn’t come close to reaching her eyes. Shorter than average, probably topping little over five foot tall, she was well proportioned although slight. But apparently that didn’t keep her from packing a hell of a wallop as the tavern’s thug grabbed the unconscious drunk by the hair and started hauling him toward the door.
A scrap of conversation caught his attention, “…bugger all gold on that ship I hear tell. And them sailors of theirs, never seen such a hard assed crew. You don’t hire a crew like that you ain’t hauling a assload of gold and you know it Sammi.”
Stak dropped a silver on the girl’s tray as she set down another full tankard of bad ale. For an instant a smile crinkled the corner’s of her eyes and she bowed in thanks before whisking away to fill another order. She glanced back at the wolfkin born ranger with an appreciative eye, making note to make sure his mug was full in case there were any other silver offerings.
At the next table, two older peasants, probably fishermen judging by the leathery skin and sun bleached hair and the out-sized knuckles on their hands although he noted hard callus on one was missing a leg from the knee down, callus you only got from wielding a blade. The other’s right arm hung bound in a sling. Casualties of a sea that life that didn’t treat kindly with those that dared it’s surface.
He picked up his mug and eased over to their table, “Afternoon gents, buy you a round? It’s a holy day for me, I made some extra silver and my god requires me to tithe by spreading it around.”
The two men eyed the ranger standing by their table, then the legless one shrugged, “No skin of my nose stranger. And if you’re buying why I reckon that gives you leave to sit as you like. Sammi, what do you think?”
The other one, showing a touch of shifter himself, nodded slowly, “Well Lonni, kinda hard to turn down free booze. Sit stranger.”
Stak took a seat, turning to see the serving girl watching him. He gestured at the other’s mugs and pointed to himself. A flash of a smile and she headed to the bar.
“So what tell god of this is yours that you have to waste your good money on the likes of us? Ain’t never heard tell of such.” Sammi asked.
“Family god neighbors, not good for much to be honest but he does sometimes pull out a minor miracle and it’s a miracle I’m alive and sitting here so I figure, why risk it, pay homage to the little shit and maybe I’ll keep on keeping on.”
“Need to watch that kind of talk friend. Gods is listening all the time. Figure that’s how I lost me leg, too drunk to remember to make an offering last year before we went out and first day, rope snagged me leg, cinched down and clean ripped it off, taking it over the side. Captain, he saw no point in coming back in, leg was lost so they just doused it in a healing salve to clean the cut up and we stayed out. Docked my pay 25 gold for it, left the ship 4 gold and half a leg lighter than I left with.”
“Last time I heard this story that there leg of yours it was fighting off three reavers in the rigging and single-handedly saving the ship.” the serving girl said as she set down a pitcher of ale. Â Â “You sure you wanna be buying these here lot ale?” She leaned one hand down on the table, ostensibly to give the table top a wipe with a rag while giving the ranger a magnificent view of her small, firm breasts in the low cut leather tunic. “A person might find summat else to be spending their money on is all I’m saying.”
Stak rolled two silvers over the table where she adroitly swept them up without looking down. “Something else like…?”
She grinned, her otherwise plain face lighting up rendering it pretty, “I’m just sayin. Come by toward high moon when we kick this lot out and send them home to disappoint their wives and mayhaps we might discuss it more private and proper like.”
A smile of appreciation curved Stak’s lips, “Perhaps I shall at that.”
Sammi chuckled as all three men watched the girl walk away, enjoying the view. “See what I mean stranger? You buy us ale to repay your god, your god repays you with that. Karissa she don’t cotton to many.”
The elderly fisherman’s voice turned hard of a sudden and from somewhere a large bladed gutting knife had appeared in his right hand. Eying his fingernails he started trimming one with the razor honed edge, then looked up, hard eyes gone flat, boring into Stak’s. “She’s a good girl. Lost her mam in childbirth, her da to reavers when she was just hittin’ marrying age and left her an orphan with no dowry. Fisherfolk look after each other but it’s hard times and she’s an independent cuss so she took to workin’ here. Some of us, well, we’d get a little put out she was to come into trouble or harm.”
Stak’s left hand, held below the table since he’d sat down twitched as Sammi made the knife disappear.
“Just a friendly warning, stranger.” Lonni spoke up, pouring his glass full from the pitcher. “Man sees storm clouds in the distance, only fair he let people know they may be in for rough water.”
“I see…” Stak replied, taking a sip of the awful brew in his cup. “Appreciate the warning then but you can rest easy. I don’t take what’s not freely given and I return it in better shape than I got it.”
Sammi smiled a tight little smile, “Then we should have no problems, me and you. Here, toss that whale piss out and fill it up with this. Now why don’t you ask us what ever it is you wanted to ask, we’re drinking your beer, you got that coming to ya.”
Stak couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head, “Right. I’m interested in that ship in the harbor, heard you saying it was filled with gold.”
Lonni glanced at his friend, shrugged, “Just bar talk friend. You know how it goes, someone says something, someone else repeats, soon it’s the truth as far as them is concerned. You don’t appear to be stupid or suffered a recent blow to the head so hear me then, that’s not a ship you want to be getting ideas on. Filled with gold or no, that’s a crew there that you don’t wanna be fuckin’ with. That lot’ll gut ya and feed your entrails to the fish without a blink I’m thinkin’.”
“Hard looking bunch then?”
“That’s how I read’em and I’ve been around the block a few times. That lot’ll have your guts out of ya and over the gun’sel as fish food before you could blink.”
Stak took a sip of his ale, paused at the fairly palatable flavor rolled over his tongue. “Now that’s not bad at all.” he said, saluting the two men with his mug. “So the ship, unusual for a ship to have that… experienced a crew?”
Sammi shrugged, “Depends on the ship and what she’s haulin’. Dangerous waters out there friend once you leave the pale blue. Tough buys you a lot of things. This’un though, she shows up, no cargo at all, riding high the way she is. Says she’s here to haul part of our catch away and I hear tell her quartermaster been talking to Garon and his flunkies about buying fish. I also hear she don’t wanna pay what we can get it for upstream but what with the gold being stolen on the way back them that has might best figure a fish in the net is worth two in the sea.”
“The crew ever come ashore?”
“Bits and pieces of them, never more’n a handful. They come ashore, get drunk, tumble a doxy or two, go back on board. Spreadin’ tales and askin’ questions they does. Most of which I done heard a hunnert times in me life, water folk tend to go on they do about things they may have seen, or mebbe dreamt up during a long night watch to use to cage a few drinks when they come ashore.”
Lonni spoke up, “That’s cause it’s filled with gold you old fool.”
Sammi snorted, “Hush up you, or I tell Lorri how you really broke that arm.”
“Bah, I ain’t scared a her.”
“Right… shut up and drink the man’s beer.”
“What kind of stories?” the ranger asked emptying the pitcher into his mug. He looked around and caught Karissa’s eye and signaled for another.
“Usual claptrap, sea monsters bigger’n a hundred ships, islands that belch fire or move about on their own, sailing ships that float through the air like a bird.”
“Huh, flying ship you say. I’d like to see that.”
“I hear tell there’s some what sez they escaped the slaver’s and come through Darkmith spreadin’ the same tales.”
Stak noted Lonni making the two finger warding gesture of Troe at the name of the ancient city. “I guess I don’t put much stock in what I haven’t seen with my own eyes.” He dropped several silver on the table, “Here have a round or two on me elders and I thank you for your time.”
“Any time you wanna stop by and buy drinks friend, you feel free now.” Sammi said, reaching out to stack the coins in the center of the table. “Any time.”
Stak headed to the door, brushing past the petite barmaid who murmured, “So… later?”
“Aye, barring end days coming early.” Stak replied.
She nodded and continued, swirling nimbly out of the way of a stumbling peasant, heavy drink tray held effortlessly out of harm’s way.
Pushing to door open, Stak stepped on the cobblestone street and headed back to the inn he was staying at with the others to let them know what he’d found out.
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