The armour plating protecting Rag’s body segments was already as hard as iron, and Drake had been assured that once the little monster reached its full maturity – and its full six feet in length – the armour would harden even further, and the beast’s venom would become lethal. Thankfully, its voracious appetite would lessen. The creature had already explored the ship from top to bottom, giving Luter a shock up in the nest, and had decided, much to Drake’s approval, to call the captain’s cabin its home. The closer the beasty got to him the better. He wanted it as loyal as Rhi had been, and as dangerous too. Already Rag had taken to using Drake’s body as a climbing frame. It wasn’t entirely comfortable, having a foot-long monster wrapped around his body, but he appreciated the protection having a creature like that at striking distance of his enemies might provide.
For now, Rag was curled up in the corner of his cabin, wrapped around itself, and Drake couldn’t be sure whether it was sleeping or watching the door with its pitch-black eyes. He wasn’t even sure if the little monster did sleep.
A knock sounded on the door and Rag chittered, its legs tapping against its armour, but the creature didn’t move. Drake rolled out of his bed, wondering how it had been so long since the sheets had smelled of a woman. He crossed to the door, still fully naked, and pulled it open, only to be reminded just why it had been so long. Arbiter Beck stood on the other side of the door with an apprehensive look on her face.
“Is it still in there?” she asked, her eyes fixed on his face. She didn’t get on too well with Rag, though the centipede seemed to like Beck well enough.
“Aye,” Drake said, purposefully scratching at his stones in an attempt to draw Beck’s gaze downwards. “Seems to enjoy being near me.”
Beck grimaced. “Captain Khan is here to see you.” She turned away, never having reacted at all to Drake’s lack of clothing.
Drake shut the door, disappointed, and started pulling some clothing together. He’d been chasing Beck for too long, and if she wasn’t about to slip into his bed and let him slip into her, then he’d have to find some other release. He briefly considered a visit to the Dragon Empire. The Empress was always wet and willing for Drake, but he doubted Rei would let him leave without a few good months of service.
Captain Khan was standing at the bow of the ship, staring out at the town of New Sev’relain. Drake stepped up beside the giant pirate and cleared his throat.
“An impressive feat, building a town from nothing,” Khan rumbled.
“Ain’t from nothing,” Drake said. “Towns are never built from nothing. They’re built from people. Folk with a will and a need and…”
“Money.”
“Aye, that too. Ain’t much gets done without pay or promise.”
“You are taking Poole and Stillwater to see Captain Black,” Khan said, dispensing with the small talk. “Why not me?”
“Because I don’t expect a fight, and I reckon that’s where your strengths lie. Look, Captain, I’m taking those two because we all got history with Tanner, some of it good, some bad. But we all know each other. I also need someone trustworthy to stay and look after the town.”
“I’m not much of a governor.” The giant’s statement came out almost as a growl.
“No. But you got a code of honour, and that makes me trust you. That, and I know where you come from. Folk north of the Five Kingdoms like you are raiders and devilish in a fight. You’re also protective of what’s yours. Well, New Sev’relain is yours. It’s yours and mine and Stillwater’s and even Tanner’s. It’s also all of theirs.” Drake pointed out to the town. “It belongs to everyone that calls the isles their home, and those bastards from the Five Kingdoms want to burn it down.”
Drake glanced at the other captain to see his jaw clenched and grating, and he knew he’d hit the right nerve. “I need you to protect it while I’m gone.”
Khan grunted. “The bastards will not take another home from me.”
After Khan had gone, Drake called Princess over. “How long ’til we can sail?”
“Loading supplies now, Cap’n. They ain’t good though. We’ll have just about enough to make it there and back, and we best hope the town gets resupplied whiles we gone.”
Drake looked upwards; the sky was grey and dark and the season was turning. The Pirate Isles never experienced a true winter, but the temperature would soon start dropping, and with it would come the storms.
“First light,” Drake said. “We sail tomorrow and hope we arrive at Ash before Tanner.”
Chapter 48 - North Gale
T’ruck stretched his big shoulders back and squatted down on the railing. Then, holding onto the rigging with one hand and keeping his cock out the way with the other, he pushed, grunted, moaned, and finally relaxed into a contented sigh. Some men preferred to shit on land when they could, enjoying the privacy of a shed with a hole in the ground. T’ruck had no such qualms, and was more than happy to drop his turds over the side of his ship as he always did. He liked to think of it as giving back to the ocean the same way a farmer might spread manure on his field.
There was a ship sailing into the bay, one T’ruck didn’t recognise, and no doubt the entire crew had a wonderful view of his arse. T’ruck didn’t care; he’d often been complimented on the shape and musculature of his arse.
Berris Dey was written along the new ship’s side, and it was written in red. T’ruck pulled up his trousers and waved for his crew to lower a boat into the water. Drake had charged him with looking after the town in his absence, and T’ruck took his duties seriously, especially when they involved protecting his home.
His crew rowed hard and T’ruck was soon standing on the beach, awaiting the arrival of the newest visitors to their little town. Little but growing. T’ruck would be proud once New Sev’relain could call itself the largest town in the isles. Until then he wouldn’t be happy. He was a firm believer in the mantra of bigger being better, and he applied it to all aspects of his life. He liked his meals large, his ships huge, and his women big, although he’d made an exception for the daughter of Tanner Black, and she’d proved to be as wild and forceful as the biggest of women.
Indeed, T’ruck was of the firm opinion Elaina Black would have made an excellent third wife back home. Her hips were far too small for a first wife; she would never survive that many child births. He doubted she knew how to make a home, so she would never do as a second wife. But the third wives were for fucking and fighting, and Elaina Black could do both. The claw marks T’ruck had proudly worn for days were proof enough of that.
Not for the first time, T’ruck considered making New Sev’relain his home proper. It would be an easy thing to order a house built, and he would have little issue finding himself a new set of wives, breeding himself a new litter of pups. Ties were important, and family ties were the most important of all. If there was one thing he could say his life had been missing since leaving the mountains, it was family.
“Captain,” Zole said with a tap on T’ruck’s shoulder. “That dirty Riverlander is coming.”