“Are they his apprentices?” Dexter wondered aloud.
Bekka frowned and shook her head. “I don’t think so. I can’t explain why, but they don’t seem to be practitioners, rather magic is a part of them.”
Dexter took a deep breath and let it go. He smiled his understanding, or lack thereof, and thanked her, then let her take over the helm while he made his way up to the main deck.
The stars moved slowly at first, then faster and faster as the Voidhawk reached cruising speeds under Bekka’s skilled guidance at the helm. Dexter paid little attention to them, however, instead he stood off the bow and stared into their future, pondering the nature of his current employer almost as much as he pondered the nature of his servants. Mixed here and there in his thoughts were questions about his cargo as well.
“Captain,” Jenna said, coming up beside him. It was a greeting more than a question or a prelude to something else.
Dexter sighed and let his unanswered thoughts slide. He turned and offered Jenna a smile. “How’re things running?” he asked her.
Jenna shrugged. “Kragor’s done a fine job with the ship… for a dwarf,” she said. “Rosh handles the rigging well, and everyone else chips in as needed. We’re running lean at tactical speeds, but doing well out here.”
Dexter nodded, her observations mirrored his thoughts as well. “I want to add a few more hands, I think,” he said rhetorically. “A couple more helmsmen would be nice, giving us spare hands on deck and let me get off the helm and be a proper captain.”
Jenna smiled. “I don’t know if there’s anything proper about you,” she said with a smile. Then she added, “Sir.”
Dexter chuckled and took note that she was wearing her studded leather cuirass, greaves, bracers, gloves, and boots that he had seen her oiling. She noted his interest in her body, or at least her attire, and smiled appreciatively, but did not comment.
“Figure out what our cargo is yet?” Dexter asked her, knowing her curiosity would have her poking around it.
She shrugged. “Something in a box. Bekka insists there’s magic about it, so I’ve been staying away.”
“I thought elves had a sense of magic about them?”
Jenna snorted at his question. “And I thought humans bred like rabbits and had no wits about them.”
He chuckled. “Alright, sorry, you’ve a point there.”
He looked at Jenna a little more closely, suddenly realizing something. “You’ve been talking to Bekka?”
Jenna shrugged. “Here and there. It’s a small ship, not much for conversation. Besides, Kragor’s and Jodyne are dwarves; you’re always turning me down, which is bad for a girl’s self-esteem; and Rosh is…well… Rosh.”
Dexter chuckled, Rosh was indeed Rosh. He could not help but like the big guy, however. His simple ways were not proof of a simple mind, as he had first thought. Instead it was just the man’s way of dealing with life to keep matters from becoming complicated.
Dexter smirked at his armsmistress’ response, but kept his thoughts to himself, lest he provoke her unnecessarily.
“What about that wizard’s whores?” Jenna asked, surprising him.
“His whores?” Dexter asked, the word somewhat uncomfortable in his mouth. “They are his servants, not whores.”
Jenna gave him a disdainful look. “The man kept all four of them in his cabin with him. You really think he wasn’t enjoying more than conversation.”
Dexter chuckled in spite of himself. He certainly could not blame the man if he was. In fact, that many beautiful women…
Jenna’s gaze narrowed slightly as she saw the grin on his face. She spat over the railing and walked away. Dexter watched her go, wondering what had bothered her so much. He found his gaze drawn to the way her hips swayed. He noted that they seemed to sway even more when she was angry, although why she was angry he did not know.
Dexter also noted that he desperately needed to bed a woman. Much longer without and he might even start finding Rosh and Kragor appealing!
His musings were cut short when he felt a slight shift in the Voidhawk’s momentum. He turned and looked about, seeing the velocity of the stars dropping sharply. They had entered the gravity field of another object, either another ship or an asteroid or planet.
“Ship ahoy!”
Dexter looked up to where Kragor was taking a rare turn in the crow’s nest and saw him pointing off the port bow. He turned and stared at it, then cursed. It was a Federation frigate.
“Come to port and bring us alongside, she’s heading straight for us,” Dexter called out to his crew. “Kragor, signal that we’ll stand down for boarding.”
The dwarf ran out the flag while Jodyne, Rosh, and Jenna scrambled about the rigging and tiller, making the ship turn to meet Dexter’s commands. They closed rapidly with the frigate, and before they knew it they found themselves receiving the ropes tossed over by the Federation sailors.
“Federation Captain Gedmun D’arcy requesting permission to come aboard,” a short man from the frigate said.
“Permission to come aboard granted,” Dexter said signaling for Rosh to help the Federation sailors extend the gangplank.
After it was secure and Gedmun made his way over, with a squad of ten well armed Federation sailors, Dexter greeted them and said, “I’m Captain Dexter Silvercloud, of the free trader Voidhawk. How may I be of assistance?”
“Captain, nothing personal here, just your bad luck to be run across. I’m afraid I have to inspect your ship for contraband,” Gedmun said, surprising Dexter with his realism.
Dexter smirked, “very well, my first mate, Kragor, will show you to our hold.”
Kragor shimmied down from the crow’s nest atop the mast, surprising more than one of the Federation soldiers with his speedy descent. He moved beside Dexter and looked up the short distance it took to meet the gaze of Captain Gedmun. “You’ll be wanting the cargo holds then?”
Gedmun nodded. “Aye, and the steerage and ballast.”
Kragor grunted. They had never been so full that they needed to take on steerage, they had no ballast either, for they stayed out of most atmospheres and only landed in small controlled water harbors. There were several two hundred and fifty gallon barrels of water in the bilge, as well as some spare wood for repairs to the hull should they be necessary, but little else was of concern.
“This should be a short inspection, Captain,” Dexter said. “We’re only transporting a single item of cargo, a box for a wizard to Sir Drayful the Wise, governor of Grafton. It’s magically protected and he insisted it only be opened by Sir Drayful.”
Gedmun frowned but said nothing. He nodded after a moment then said, “thank you, Captain. Kragor, after you.”
The dwarf nodded to Dexter then led the Federation captain and his sailors into the cargo holds. Curious, Dexter nevertheless remained on the deck with Rosh and Jenna. He knew the Federation and their rules, but he also would not put it past an overzealous Federation captain to try something special.
A quarter of an hour later Captain Gedmun returned to the main deck with a rather heated looking Kragor behind him. “Captain, your mate refuses to allow my men to open your cargo.”
Dexter tried, and failed, to hide his scowl. He had been afraid something like this might happen. Before he could reply they all felt a supernatural chill pass through them from feet to head. It was accompanied by a scream that faded away quickly. With scarcely a glance at Jenna, Dexter was running to the stairs and from there to the cargo hold from whence it had come. Jenna and Rosh were right behind him, as was the Federation captain and the three sailors that had followed him up from the hold.
Dexter cursed when he entered the hold. One of Gedmun’s men was on the ground, his expression one of horror. The other sailors stood away from the crate, terrified of it. Dexter knelt and checked the corpse, then had to make room as Gedmun knelt beside him and did the same.