Private Tales Hoist the Colors

[Silas]

"You owe me, Evander." The words were strong, no patience, not a single width of wiggle room.

Any man who heard those words would have found them impossible to argue with. They were spoken with such conviction, such power, that it might have come from the heavens. It was said in such a way because it was true. The assurance was based in stone that had been written a long time ago, a bargain reached years before.

"I'm calling in my chit." The voice continued sternly, heard evenly through the door. "Either give me the girl, or come with me yourself. I don't give a fuck which."

The Righteous Call was hardly anything to write home about.

A merchant ship, least the Captain claimed that it was, with the same drudgery as a thousand others in the world. It was little bigger than your typical frigate, a grew of nine and then room for some passengers. Not exactly impressive, but a fitting enough vessel to cut through the north seas and get them to their first port of call.

"What'd you say your name was?"​

"I didn't." Silas said plainly to the Captain, his head turning away from the man.

He was a shit excuse for a Captain. Resentful of his men and barely able to navigate the seas, but he'd taken coin and Silas had taken the measure of him. Enough gold in his hand and he'd do pretty much anything, and the one thing Silas had left was gold. That, at the very least, was simple enough to bandy about. "And I paid you enough not to ask."

The old Pirate said, the other man flickering a smile.

"Just...just curious."​

Lips thinned. "Don't be."

He said, turning away from the Captain and slowly heading towards the prow of the ship. There the girl stood, likely still wondering what the hell any of this was about.

 

[Katja]

Katja hadn't said a word since she'd finished screaming at Evander. It was just another choice that she was so nonchalantly reminded that she didn't have. An apprentice, he'd called her, when what he'd apparently meant was some object of property that he could order around as he pleased. She hadn't wanted to be there with him as it was but he had insisted, tried to sweet talk her into believing that he cared for her, that she was special to him and that the only reason he'd sent her to find the Fae realms was because she was the only one he'd trusted to survive it.

It was all bullshit of course, and now she was being sent away again to be something of use to someone else. She had nothing to say to Silas. She had nothing to say to anyone, and so when she saw the man coming her way she folded her arms and turned to focus her attention on the choppy waves with the sneer of a defiant child.

She should never have gone back. Had she been able to remain in the fae realms to be forgotten, she'd have done so. Sadly, most things there wanted to flay her living. Now all she felt was bitterness that she had gone back to him only to be passed over like some fucking borrowed utensil. Some of the crew seemed to have considered the possibility of putting her to use too. Katja wouldn't cry though. She was simply too fucking angry to cry.

 

[Silas]

Silas kept his expression utterly blank as she drew himself into place besides Katja.

Her face was one of barely masked rage. The air seemed to seethe with anger around her, fuming as though it were made manifest.

They were emotions that he could relate to. Feelings that he had seen on more than one soul that stood aboard a ship. They reminded him of some of his old crew, men and women both who had found themselves as little more than pawns in a game that they could not understood.

That was what she was afterall; a pawn.

He would not deny it, not for a second. Katja was here as a piece of the board, something he would use and spend until there was nothing more. If it meant regaining his throne, avenging his crew, he would see it through even if she ended as little more than a husk.

Silas would not have denied that fact had she asked.

"Many thousands have found their freedom on the seas." He remarked. "You might join them."

Head slowly turned towards her. "If you choose to."

A slow, baited hook cast outward.

 

[Katja]

Katja's lashes lowered as she watched the choppy waves below, a sharp huff escaping her nose as he spoke to her. "Freedom? Or death?.." he sneered with a shake of her head.

"I'd rather you didn't assume to know anything about my situation, in fact I'd rather you simply didn't speak to me at all. Just tell me what it is you need me for when you need me, and otherwise kindly fuck off and leave me alone."

 

[Silas]

Silas reached up and scratched at his beard. "Rather difficult to tell you what I need without speaking to you."

The Pirate Lord remarked.

"Did meet a young pirate once who communicated with flickers of his fingers, but I'm afraid I didn't pay enough attention to learn that particular trick." He had been a rather impressive young man though, the lady with him even more so. Though a tad bit...fiery.

"Not that I don't understand your position." Silas continued, entirely ignoring her contention. "Not exactly easy having your leashed tossed to someone else."

He mused. "Not exactly easy wearing a leash at all."

That, he knew for a fact.

 

[Katja]

"I said I'd rather you didn't. Not like I have much of a choice though is there?" she picked at her fingernails as she spoke to him. She was hell bent on trying to ignore him from then on out, but at the mention of a leash her head whipped around to look at him with scorched anger in her glassy eyes.

Her mouth opened, but everything she wanted to yell at him crashed together in her mind and failed to make it past her lips and so they fastened again. The mask of rage that she wore over the hurt and offence was paper-thin and she knew it, which was why she turned her back on him and stood with her arms folded tightly across her chest.

"I don't know who you are or what you want, and I don't care what you think you know about my situation. But I'd have thought it obvious that I'm in no mood to chat.." she said quietly, her voice far too soft to hold the amount of anger she felt without it cracking.

 

[Silas]

No expression carried on his features as she bit at him, her tongue lashing in an offense that would have made most slavers offer a beating.

"Ah, is that so?" The former Pirate King said, shaking his head. "I've never much been good at reading people."

A lie that was so easy to seethrough that it might as well have been glass. "But then it might also be that I'm surrounded by boring people."

Silas said with a loud sigh.

"Sailors and merchant sons. Fools who think they'll find greatness." His head shook. "Much more enjoyable to talk to people who don't want to be here."

He contended. "Even if I'm the one who brought them here."

A moment passed, a flickering second, and then Silas cut further. "Evander said you were rather spirited, I thought you'd at least perk at the chance of bucking his chains."

 

[Katja]

Katie took a moment to swallow down the building bile of rage that she felt as he persisted in talking to her. She was certain that getting a reaction from her was what he no doubt wanted, and she didn't know yet what sort of man he was. Some dealt in discipline more severely than others, and though she told herself she didn't care right now, she wasn't looking for a beating..

She just wanted to be left alone.

Bucking his chains?...

Her grey eyes narrowed as she turned her gaze on him again, her jaw clenched so tightly it hurt. "I wear no chains." she answered, her words venom-coated. She looked him over now, her eyes burning with sheer hatred. If she had the nerve to she'd have hit him, or tried to, but she was already humiliated enough.

Her lips parted and she drew breath enough to speak before thinking better of it and her mouth shut tight. She wasn't about to explain herself to him. She may not have wore physical chains he was right of course, and they both knew it. Evander held a heavy weight over her head, thus removing her choice to leave. That was bad enough, but now he was renting her out to fucking pirates.

Katja huffed sharply and turned to walk away from him, since he refused to leave.

 

[Silas]

"Ah, my mistake." Silas said, his voice as droll and bored as could possibly be. "You're here by your own choice, I forgot."

He knew, of course, exactly what he was doing.

Silas hadn't built his crew by being nice. He hadn't put together the meanest, strongest group of bastards by treating everyone like kittens. He had built what was his through violence, fear, and most importantly; respect. He was used to poking, prodding, digging.

That was how you got the truth.

How you got the person that was laying underneath, the one that actually had potential.

Silas had gone to Evander because he knew what the bastard possessed. Had known that Katja was useful, but the truth was she would be little more than a pretty parlor piece unless she actually saw a chance in this for herself. "We have a few days still!"

He called out to her. "Maybe you'll come calling when you realize the chance sitting in front of you."

 

[Katja]

Katie didn't come calling at all. She was too proud for that, and though his offer had niggled at her mind, each time it did she told herself she knew that it was nonsense and there was nothing to be done. If she wanted to see her family again, she had to convince Evander that she would stay with him regardless. Only he knew where they were, only he held the key to their memory of her..

It wasn't easy keeping ones self to ones self at sea, she found. She also found that the choppy waves didn't quite agree with her stomach, and she spent most of her time hanging over the side evacuating her stomach when the weather kicked up.

On her second night aboard however, the water was still as glass reflecting the clear night sky of crushed diamonds spread across deep blue so clearly that it was difficult to see the horizon at all. She sat alone at the bow of the ship, appreciating the stillness of the boat, her mind, and her stomach.

 

[Silas]

Teth was getting closer. So was the time for a decision.

He knew three names. Three people who had crossed him, but none of them were brave or smart enough to create the plan that had come to fruition. He knew the trio were a simple pack of stooges. Men who had crews and power enough to at least throw a rope around him.

They had been the ones to move, but they had most certainly not been the ones to bring him down. Not the ones who started it, who were the cause of all of this. Fingers scrunched slightly on the map on the table, lips thinning. "Markus wouldn't...nor would Tirell..."

"Aye, well, perhaps you-"​

"SHUTTUP!" Katja would hear Silas' voice boom out from behind the door to the Captain's quarters. "I know what you are Captain, and I know you'll sell me out the first chance you get."

Knuckles drummed against the table. "So let's not pretend your opinion matters, eh?"

Silas said bitterly, rolling up the map and stepping out of the Cabin.

 

[Katja]

The conversation had been a low din of sound that she'd ignored until now, but the raised voice drew her attention as it shattered the calm. She watched Silas as he stepped out, glancing at the map he was rolling up and refraining from allowing her curiosity ruin her well practiced 'uncaring' demeanour.

She was curious though, she always was. She wasn't used to travelling on a ship with a captain and crew but it didn't seem like yelling at the captain of the ship would normally be the done thing. It certainly seemed to her that Silas was in charge, and so now confusion caused her brow to furrow.

Sell him out?

She still had no idea what she was doing here. What favour she'd be doing for this man on Evander's behalf. The thought still sent a shudder of angry adrenaline rippling through her, and she tugged the blanket she was currently wrapped in a little tighter around her shoulders with a huff.

"Trouble in paradise.." she murmured as she turned back to the sea.

 

[Silas]

Silas shook his head as he stepped out onto the deck. "Fucking smugglers."

The Pirate King said, knowing that many had cursed him and his in much the same manner dozens of times over. A long breath filled his lungs, and slowly he stalked up the length of the ship.

Sailors still on duty looked at him.

He was sure that a few of them were whispering about who he might be, what they were doing transporting him. None would know for sure of course, but Silas was sure they were beginning to suspect. After all, his name had once rang out wide in Teth.

Slowly he stepped up besides Katja, still bristling with anger. "It'll be another day."

He said, his voice gruff.

"We'll see Teth's lights after dusk tomorrow." The way he spoke changed almost as soon as he said the cities name. A wondering to the words, a longing. "You'll never have seen a place of it's like."

 

[Katja]

Another day? Katja leaned forward, her arms crossed over the railings as she stared out at the blanket of stars, sighing quietly to herself.

Her eyes shifted sideward as he mentioned Teth, the admiration in his tone drawing her curiosity, but her pride still played a part in the way she spoke to him.. "Never heard of it." she said quietly, lifting her chin.

"What's there?.. Or are you planning on keeping my purpose in being here a surprise?.." she asked dryly.

 

[Silas]

"Freedom." He answered quickly, ignoring the jab she had offered just a few seconds after her question."Destiny."

Silas added, then smiled. "Anything you want."

There was a sort of reverence within his words, as though he were in the midst of some dream. Eyes closed for a moment, and he took in a long breath. He let the sea flow through him. The scent of it, the freedom that it offered.

"Teth is like no place else in this world." The Pirate King said as he turned to Katja. "It is a cacophony of chaos, disorganization, and wondrous uninhibition."

His head shook. "It is a place where a King is nothing else than a man, and a man can be a King."

There was true appreciation in his voice as he spoke.

"As for what our purpose there?" He chuckled. "All I want is my seat at the table."

Then slowly he looked at her. "You? That's your choice."

 

[Katja]

"Hmh.. Well I don't know any kings, and I hate men, nor do I enjoy disorganisation. It sounds like hell." she muttered and puffed a few strands of blonde hair from her face.

"Choice?!Ha! I don't want a seat at anyone's table, I'd just rather be left alone. So forgive me if I still don't see what this has to do with me.." she scowled.

 

[Silas]

Silas chuckled. "One man's heaven is anothers hell."

A statement he had found true enough more often than not. He mused for a moment, letting her bite and bile settle in the air as he leaned back against the railing. There was no tension within whatsoever, even as she offered him a glare that would make steel melt.

"Evander holds your leash." Silas stated blankly. "Even here, now."

He gestured to the sea around them. "It's still wrapped around you, no?"

Silas knew next to nothing about magic, not even really about his own Knack. But the old wizard had explained some of the situation to him before. Enough for him to use it to his own advantage anyway.

 

[Katja]

Katja's frown deepened as Silas spoke, a muscle feathering in her jaw. "I'm not a dog." she muttered. Even used metaphorically, the word leash was just outright degrading and she didn't appreciate it in the slightest.

"Nor am I a slave. But, yes, my life belongs to Evander and apparently he's taken to lending out his property." she said, her gaze straight ahead rather than look at the man next to her as she spoke. "As you can probably tell, I'm not taking it very well, and I'm sure you're simply wonderful but unless you're going to tell me what it is that you want from me then I have nothing else to talk about - especially not Evander."

 

[Silas]

Silas listened carefully.

A practice he had come to learn over the years was the most important quality of a Captain. It was all fine and dandy to be a fearsome warrior, a master of the sea, all of that didn't matter much if you didn't listen to the around you.

Everything mattered, the smallest details. Through them one could conquer a nation, and Silas was sure that many had. "Fair enough."

The Captain said with a brief smile. He could see that spark within Katja, the rebellious line that she was slowly toeing. There was no doubt in his mind that he could use that, would use that by the end of this. For the second he had long ago learned; it was better to have a friend, than an enemy.

"Some people took my seat at a Table." Silas started, then looked at the city ahead of them. "We're going to take it back."

 

[Katja]

"Yes but h--" she stopped herself and growled quietly, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Whatever. All this for a bloody seat." she huffed and turned, flicking her hair.

"I'm going to bed.." she muttered at him as she stormed toward the stairs.

 

[Silas]

Silas chuckled, shaking his head as Katja stormed off.

His eyes remained on the skyline ahead, the flickering lights that could barely be seen through the darkness of the night. A small smile touched his face as he looked out across the sea, as he thought about that seat at the table.

"Well." The once pirate lord muttered to himself. "It is my seat."

He chuckled.

It was only a few hours later when dawn came that the ship drew into Teth. It's approach was slow, as it always had to be for nearly a hundred vessels surrounded the great floating city. Pirates, smugglers, and bent merchants all planted themselves within the makeshift harbor.

Even before they got anywhere near the pier, the din of a crowd began to call out. Dock workers slamming crates, fishermen drawing in their catch, drunken pirates shouting at who had the bigger mast. It was a raucous sound, impossible to ignore.

It sounded like home.

 

[Katja]

She woke with a growl to the sound of slamming and yelling and drunken laughter. Men... She snarled to herself and held her pillow to her ears, trying to drown out the sound for a few more minutes of sleep, but it was hopeless.

At least they were here, and she could be done with this business and return home... She frowned at the thought. It was a hollow one, and Silas' words skittered through her mind which only made her mood sour further.

She dressed in a fresh shirt and leggings, and a warm wool coat with a fur trim. One of Evander's many gifts. She'd have burned it if it hadn't been so damned cold.

Katja watched as the harbour grew closer, her brows rising at the sight of so many ships and her mouth opening as she realised that the entire thing was made of them. Hundreds, thousands even, all built into an entire island city.

"He wasn't kidding.." she muttered quietly to herself.

 

[Silas]

Silas came up on deck only a few moments later. He looked just as he had the night before, no worse for lack of sleep or drink. There was a bright beaming smile on his face as the sight of Teth fell upon him.

”Ah there she is!” His voice bellowed out loud enough that even some of the crew turned their heads curiously.

The Former Pirate King seemed to beam as he stepped forward. There was now something to the way he moved. An extra slash of confidence, determination. It was as though he were a creature stepping back into it’s own element. A chameleon taking on the colors of what lay around it.

”Teth!” He declared as the ship crept closer towards one of the piers on the south side. ”Greatest city in this world.”

Silas said as he stepped up besides Katja. ”And I’ve been to a lot of them.”

As he spoke his eyes began to wander. The ship inched it’s way towards the pier, ropes were cast over the side. Within seconds the vessel would find itself safely nestled in one of Teth’s many harbors. Yet it was not that which Silas gazed at. Instead his focus seemed to be on the wharfs and docks.

His eyes searched carefully through the crowd, looking for something even as he continued to speak. ”You can find anything or anyone here, as long as you know where to look.”

 

[Katja]

It was certainly a spectacle to behold, and she found her eyes and ears quite overwhelmed by everything they tried to take in.

She glanced to Silas as he stepped up beside her, and followed his gaze back across the crowd.. "Is that right?" she asked rhetorically, doing her best to appear disinterested..

The gangplank was lowered to the dock as the ship was tied off, and she stared over at it with a frown as a thought crossed her mind..

"You aren't planning on leaving me here, are you?" she asked and turned back to him to fix him with a look of scrutiny.

 

[Silas]

Silas scoffed, a small flicker of amusement running over his features. ”No, no I do not.”

Though, at this point it probably would have been a boon.

Katja could have found her way off Teth easily enough. There were a dozen brothels run by den mothers who would gladly take in girls and see them sent back home before being stuck amidst a band of pirates and smugglers. Not to mention the amount of crews that would take on any sort of mage.

”Besides.” Silas said as he motioned towards the gangplank. ”We’ll only be here for a day or two.”

Just enough time. ”Come on, time to get the rest of the crew.

He flashed her a smile, and then headed towards the docks.