We continued this training regime for the next two nights as well. Training and sparring in the morning, braving the darkness and the Nightmares as night fell. Levels did come, but they did not come in leaps and bounds.

We had no real knowledge on how mortal classes and leveling worked exactly. I had gotten my Essence for killing blows, I assumed. Mortals seemed to function differently. All of them were able to level, even just through the sheer exposure to the danger and the survival of the event, at least for the lower levels. But it was not like only the one with the finishing strike could level.

Especially as the [Harponeers] leveled a few times, and they had killed not even one because they opened the fight and worked on restraining the enemy the rest of the time. There seemed to be some sort of system in place that judged the participation of combatants in a fight. I was sure that somewhere in the academies and libraries of the world, people had researched all of this, but of us the most learned man was Thimotheus, and even he was not a [Scholar].

It was one of the reasons I had begun searching for a place of knowledge in Limbo, knowledge was power, after all. We knew how to get classes and Skills on the sea. It was part of the education every [Naval Officer] and [Captain] received. For example, we knew that to get your [Sea Legs] early, you had to spend a week on water without touching dry land once. It was not a guarantee, but the System often rewarded Skills fitting the training and circumstances. Fighting classes on land must have been even more well researched. But we had no expert. Maybe I could get the information where the gods mingled to learn.

A couple of fighters and [Harpooners] had gotten Skills fitting the nightly fighting we had been doing. [Big Game Hunter], [Might of the Small], [There She Blows], [They Can Bleed], [Night Vision], [Swarm Tactics]...a few were common, a few no one had heard of before.

But the levels and Skills were not the important part, although certainly most welcome. They learned to trust, they learned to work together to bring down foes mightier than them, they feared and overcame the sensation with the help of their fellows. They learned that they were not the hunted anymore.

And the people watching every night lined up on the decks and railings of the Wreckage...they learned what safety meant. Moral soared high, these couple of days.

Until we did not know what to do with the pile of bodies -despite our Dragonamber we still did not want to eat Nightmare flesh - and we began dumping them into the waters. Oh, the Scavengers came to the feast, alright.

The amount and sheer size of the shadows and forms that moved under the water, ripping the flesh off the carcasses, dying the bay scarlet red, was sobering. We had known that there were predators in the waters, we were looking out on the bay for close to three weeks now. And it had not been the first bloody meat entering the waters. But on this scale it had.

I had been uneasy before, whenever I had looked upon the endless waves of the ocean. The big mystery. The unknown depths. The endless space for horrors to lurk in the dark.

But the...meat grinder we saw on that day added another entry to the list as to why I did not like the ocean.

I immediately went to my ship and wove the Skill [Hold Breath]. It would not help me one bit in a situation like this, but I had to do something to ease my mind, something to prepare myself, as unhelpful as it might turn out to be.

We started culling the creatures in earnest. Throwing Nightmare flesh into the waters, waiting for the scavengers to arrive and letting the [Harpooneers] do their job, throwing their weapons with ever-increasing accuracy, then pulling the creatures onto dry land, when they had exhausted themselves against the ropes and pulleys we installed.

We needed the food source, so we did not dismiss the creatures of the bay outright, although a couple of them looked like something a bigger creature had already eaten and vomited out afterwards. We dragged them to the Wreckage, after finishing them off on land, letting the best we had in cooking, butchering, and fish cleaning have a look at them. If they were edible, they would be a great addition to our diet, especially in the winter.

I also had woven [Sense Corruption] while we were at it, testing everything that came out of the sea, just to be sure. Nothing ever was corrupted.

We had normal sea creatures, just with exaggerated proportions and ...extras. Like the sharks that were stout and burly, covered in horn plates, and as big as a man. Or the squids with the barbed tentacles. Or the giant snake-like reptiles we called sea drakes.

But we were very aware and very careful with our fishing, never going too far out onto the pier, only baiting them out in the shallows were only the smaller scavengers and predators could swim. Because we knew that something big was out there. Waiting.

Blood washed over pier and shore and the smell, and the birds who came to the feast were everywhere. Giant clouds of seagulls, screaming and circling the bloody sea, while we went about our grisly tasks.

But progress was happening. Slow but steady we acclimatized to our new home. Conquered the unknown and the dangers. But the best progress I learned about was the recovery of Veneir. He would have a hard time getting up to my ship, climbing with one arm only, so I met him on the ground level, walking around Ravenport and showing him what we had achieved so far.

Someone had sewn and washed his clothes and found a veil for him that gave him just that little bit more dignity. It was me bringing him up to speed, which made most of the conversation, but finally, I just had to ask him. There was not much doubt in my mind, as far as he was concerned. Not much.

”What happened that day? As you snuck out of the camp to search for him?“ I asked him out of the blue.

He sighed deeply, his breath rushing through his veiled mouth. It was a disgusting sound, but I was used to it by now.

”Could I have talked to you? Maybe. I had not much time to think about my actions. I just had to go. I knew he would let me come back to him. I was nothing to him. Not even an ant worthy of being stomped to death. The most attention he gave me was using me as his abacus or...for his...when he...“ He stopped talking, his eyes wandering away from me.

”Then why did you do it?“

”Because I knew you were going to your death. You and all the others. I saw one way out and I took it. Look at me. My death would have been a welcomed surprise. I think the others felt the same. Manus and Zora are smiling now, wherever they are.“

”One last question and we will stop, never to bring it up again. How did you know? About the amulet and what it would do to him?“

He shrugged. ”I have been with him for months. I knew it to be a catalyst for his power, to some degree. There was no way I could have foreseen what happened. And I clearly had not known what it would do to me.“ He looked at his stump with a pointed look.

I nodded. I believed him. There had been a chance that Veneir had returned to Barak Bloodbraid with the intention to rat us out, to betray us. And maybe he had. But at the most important moment of all, he had chosen his side. Us. The rest was irrelevant.

And he was needed, he truly was. A calm and calculating mind overseeing the whole of our little operation here. Not a leader, but a quiet organizer and one with a clear mind for the details and the bigger picture. And his experience as a merchant would be invaluable if we ever had the chance to leave this bay for the markets of the west.

Cheers went through Ravenport as the sails and flags of the Albatross rounded the entrance to the bay. Most people present, all of those that were not busy working in the Broken Lands or at the stairwell to the chasm, dropped what they were doing and crowded around the shore and pier, to greet the frigate and to wave and cheer as they saw what followed the proud warship.

Two smallish and bulky transport ships, one mast each, with torn and tattered sails and obvious signs of fighting on their hulls, swam in formation behind the frigate. Blackened by fire and lightning and splintered under the force of ballistae bolts, but they carried the men just as well who stood atop the deck with eyes wide in wonder. Slaves and sailors, a couple of dozens, not believing their eye as they laid them upon Ravenport for the first time.

As they saw the people cheering for them, welcoming them, they truly broke out in joy and happiness, falling into the arms of one another, raising their voices and joining in the songs and laughter that started then and never stopped that day.

The ships were carefully pulled onto the pier by a couple of rowed dinghies, the wind was treacherous so close to the mountains, and as the sailors and freed slaves poured over to the dry land, they kissed the ground they landed on.

The Albatross took its time, slowly docking to the part of the Pier that had been deepened and straightened for the big ship, only drifting under the force of a single foresail, until the sailors jumped over to fetter the ship. I waited for the ships piper to trill his little tune and shook the hand of Captain Locksley as he properly descended from his ship over the gangway. I was waiting at the pier with Higgins, who stood at the ready by my side, smiling up to his crewmates.

”Lord Protector,“ he greeted me formally, ”I am happy to report that we took two transports of the Snake Clan as a prize, without many casualties among the freed slaves and enslaved sailors. We bring 67 new members to Ravenport’s family, sir.“

”Well done, Captain!“ I grinned, holding myself back from clapping him on the shoulder. That was a glorious day.

”So what was that about the rumor of a creature dwelling in my anchorage, my lord?“

”That can wait for later. I am glad you are back, successful no less. We can talk about your desire to go on a fishing trip over dinner, Captain. We had a sudden influx of seafood you will appreciate, I am sure.“

With a fully armed and manned warship on our side, the dark waters of the bay suddenly did not seem as large and dangerous as they had been just a day prior. The Albatross was back and with it the key to safety in the bay.