Pain, a hot searing knife through his skin, a scream. Seko shook his mind into form and blinked away the haze from his eyes. He was behind bars in the Pasongunan surrounded by a surprisingly unchained number of the Arc Team. Sunte stood over him with a heated knife on his leg and pressed it again to the wound.

"What," He croaked, "Don't get the Reeves treatment this time?"

"No point," She said, "you're not that bad."

"Right..."

She pulled the knife away and looked over her work. It wasn't magic, but the wound was cauterized and looked just as terrible as before. She pulled a bundle of tan cloth from a nearby bedroll, ripping it in the process, and bandaged the spot.

"There."

"See, she's the real Doc."

Reeves, Paz, Vel, and Cria stood by the door to their 'cell'. In truth, it was simply one of the many sections of the lowest deck, with doors on all sides locked to prevent exit. Or that was the idea anyway.

"Must have known we'd get out fast." Seko said

"We?" Vel asked

"Fine, you"

"What should we do now?" Paz asked

"Fight," Sunte said with a snarl

"Hide," Reeves offered.

"We take back the ship." Seko said. The room turned to him in surprise. "What?"

"Nothing," Cria said

"Just that you're not normally..." Vel looked away and let the words die. Seko stood and winced at the pain as he put weight on the new wound.

"That's my brother up there. I've no more interest in fighting him than I do much anyone else, however, I won't allow him to let his thoughtless actions injure myself or the others."

"So what do we do then, Captain." Reeves asked

Seko tried his hand at pulling from his well of energy, but found that he couldn't focus enough without a spike of pain slicing his concentration. He sighed and tried to breathe, to let the pain subside and try again. Still nothing.

"Can anyone cast?" He asked

"Of course," Paz said

"Pretty clearly," Sunte said

He raised his hand in apology, "Sorry, dumb question." He scanned the room, "where's Eado?"

"We don't know." Cria said.

Her wound had already been healed and treated, clearly a benefit of not having received the same treatment so recently. He cursed his poor luck, but ignored the annoyance. He'd have lost his leg otherwise, he could wait another few days before having this taken care of too.

"Good to see Reeves still has some life left,"

"Don't start," Reeves said

"This feels a little too easy, though, doesn't it?" Sunte asked, "I'm all for the fight, but we really did get through those chains quickly. Not to mention the door and no guards..."

"Too busy with the gold to care?" Paz offered

"Or really wanting a fight," Vel said, "In which case he'd have expected us to escape by now."

"What's the point of that?" Seko asked, "He'd have had a better time just killing us."

"I don't think that was the intention." Sunte said, "At least, not like that."

"We should see if we can find Eado," Reeves said, "He looked injured too."

The group fell in behind Seko and Cria, the two most prepared fighters, with Vel and Sunte just behind for support. The four decks of the Pasongunan were oddly raised by design. The two gun decks required one to be bent slightly in their walk, while the lowest deck gave nearly two extra feet of clearance. The original design had been made for the use of slaves, back when the vessel was Imperial and operated under their laws.

Seko pushed his way past a box and through a line of brass cannons, making sure not to strike any of the metal with his movements. They could hear the sounds of muffled voices and small motions above, so he gestured for them to move as slow and silently as possible. It took them nearly ten minutes to cross the second gun deck, but not a soul alive could have heard their movements.

When they reached the stairs up to the next deck, Cria stopped, she raised a hand to her ear and formed the age-old indicator of listening intently. He felt a trickle of energy filter from her on the air, his hairs sticking up as he neared his hand.

"What are you doing?" He whispered the question more forcefully than he'd anticipated, but such was the feeling. She was damaging their chance of sneaking up on anyone. Everyone could feel the vibration in the air, provided they were close enough to the source.

"I heard something,"

"What?"

"Eado, I think, maybe some others too."

"On the gun deck?"

His heart sank. Had Eado really betrayed them too? Was he now standing guard against their escape? Yan was brutal and vicious, but he'd never considered the man a brilliant negotiator. There was no way he'd have convinced Eado, right?

"Sounds like it." She peered her head over and stopped, "They're tied up."

"Who is?" Vel asked

"Eado, some other crewman."

"A month and you didn't learn their names?" Paz asked "really?"

"It's been a busy month." She said. "It looks like a dozen of the crewman all together. All tied up or injured."

They crossed the edge of the stairs and spanned the room until they came upon the group of tied up crew that Cria had mentioned. In truth, there were closer to fifteen, the height of the first Gun deck being slightly larger was a blessing here.

"Seko," Eado looked unharmed other than a strangely bent leg which the man paid no mind too. They cut the ropes of the nearest men, and the large Hiander embraced him like true family. "I knew you would escape."

"He didn't make it very hard." Seko said.

"We think he wants to fight us," Sunte said

"Are you hurt?" Reeves asked. He stepped beside the man and placed a hand on his bent leg. Eado grunted an acknowledgement.

For a minute, the air in the surrounding area seemed to grow thinner and thinner until it was nearly impossible to draw a breath. When air finally filled his lungs, again Eados leg was back in its right position.

"I will try to hold my surprise." Eado said, "But are we to face him empty-handed?"

"So it would seem," Cria said, "Unless you stored weapons..." She looked around in slow realization.

Within half a minute, the crew was armed with everything they could find. Rusted and aged swords they'd held only for emergencies, and ancient look Arcanarms that none would ever dane to force on their worst enemy.

"Took us when we argued on your behalf," Aithur said. "No fair fight in them."

"What happened?" Seko asked

"They took you all down here," Eado said, "But none wanted the duty of watching you. Said it was wrong what Yan did in so much as brutality."

"Some of the crew wern' too happy with ya cap," One of the crewman said, "Said yas was softer now."

"They were fine with you being gone," Eado continued, "So long as he did it the proper way. Stole you a ship and put you on it or marooned you."

"But instead he knocked us out and threw us in 'the brig'," Seko said, "I can understand the issue there."

"It came to a head after Eado was forced down here as well," Aithur said, "the Crew grew restless and most of them no longer wanted this way if it meant going about it so savagely."

"So they tried to stop him?" Seko asked, "That must have gone over well."

"About as well as you'd expect."

"He ordered men to be drowned or chained if they were so dissatisfied. A few hours later and most of the crew was either dead, here, or had sided with him."

"Lords…" Cria gasped

"I know it's asking a lot, but-"

"Whatever you need Captain," Aithur said, the others beside him nodded in agreement

"We need to retake the ship before he takes it into the portal, if he hasn't already."