Private Tales My Kingdom for a Smoke

[Gal]

There was a grim set to that pretty red mouth now, but Gal said nothing for a long while. No trust lost between them, but that was to be expected given the nature of the work and how they’d met.

She had a plan of her own forming in the back of her mind, slow to weave but difficult to stop once she got underway. No sense in having a betrayal only go one way, was there?

Two could play at this game.

“I’ll get it done,” she said, giving one shallow, final nod.

Before Djana could get another word in, Gal was out the door and in the street, gone as swiftly as the southern wind.

 

[Djana Mahin]

Djana turned back to her papers, glancing at the desk.

For a brief moment she wondered if Gal would kill the boy. It would certainly help her, though the work that came with it would mean she'd have to stay in Mantessa longer than she wanted. A frown touched her lips for a brief moment, her head shaking as she picked up another piece of parchment

What would be, would be.

The Great Lord had his plans for this world, and for everyone in it. If he willed the boy to die then he would die. It was that simple.

She would do what she had to in order to ensure that the seal was completed in this part of the world. There was no way around it, this was her duty after all. Why she had been chosen. Her lips pursed slightly as she read the document, taking a sip of tea as she weighed it's importance.

 

[Gal]

The next day passed her in nothing but preparation. There were men to assemble – rather, drag out of the Mantessan gutters – and put in action the plan that would paint her name upon the sky of piracy for ever.

She was pulled from her daydreaming by a throat being cleared in the door. Looking up, her black eyes settled on the man; on his shit-eating grin and his lively blue eyes. She smiled in turn, slow like a cloud of blood in the water.

“Ready to rob the North Liad Trade Company, Cerano?”

“Thought it was some big fat joke when Feyrie told me. But you’re fucking serious, aren’t you?”

Gal bounced her brows as she stood from the chair in her cabin and spread her hand over the charts on the table. “Like the Red plague.”

“Always meant to die with a whore bouncing on my cock, but I guess a round of Liad artillery’s the next best thing, innit?” He laughed at her eyeroll and joined her at the table, just as eager as his captain to score the treasure of his life.

 

[Djana Mahin]

The next day came swiftly, and Djana was up well before the sun rose.

Sleep had never been a necessity for her. The Great Lord granted her all the vigor she required for the passage of time. By the time dawn passed, the Councilor was standing among a dozen stone columns within Lady Arefall's manor.

Her husband had been alerted of her presence, though it appeared that the Lord was currently indisposed. His illness was striking harder than ever, and it appeared his death was all but imminent now. With the loss of the man things would quickly turn south for this family, something she was keenly aware of.

If the boy could be turned around that would change, though of course there was always the other option.

As she waited, Djana mused quietly to herself, looking around at the well armored guards.

At the same time the Docks of Mantessa were still thriving with life, dozens of sailors and guards wandering around. The Ship of the North Liad Trade Company had finished it's loading the night before, and was now only waiting for high tide in order to actually leave on it's journey.

 

[Gal]

All’Averizia creaked gently in the salty breeze. The street – if the drunken cavalcade of narrow stairs could be called that – beneath the sign was completely abandoned. Laundry billowed from cracked windows higher up the sloping walls.

Gal avoided a pool of something suspiciously sticky and stopped to rap her knuckles against the reinforced oaken door. The sliding window snapped open, revealing a pair of beady eyes under heavy eyebrows. One of them was shorn in two by a nasty scar, lending a fearsome name and countenance to its owner.

She gave a little wave and a grin. The suspicious stare immediately brightened. “Carmen!”

Latches and chains rattled for a few moments before the door swung open, revealing a broad belly before anything else. “E un po’ tempo passat’, ne? Avet’ nuove solde?”

“Quasi,” she laughed, clapping his hand as he let her through. His palm glinted with a generous sum of docatte when Gal released him, already intent on the room down the hall. “Avvi un bell’anoce, Sfreggio.”

Now there was only the small matter of cleaning out the young Arefall and catching up with her ship as it tracked the Liad merchant at a generous distance. A catboat and an unconscious, bound noble as her only company.

A fun day was ahead of her, indeed.