Caleb let out a gasp as he woke.

The long spiral of a unicorn’s horn retreated just as he sat up. He looked around wildly, taking in the familiar sights of his great cabin, his bed (now empty of both cat and alloy dragon), and the golden-sheened form of his First Mate.

He lay back with a groan. The familiar scents of coconut, wood, and salt water filled his senses. The dim sunlight filtering under the door provided mute testimony that the gale had blown itself out.

“Let me guess,” Caleb sighed. “I was having a nightmare again.”

“Or something rather close to one,” Tavia said. “I was trying to use my magic to calm you. This time, I was ready to move my horn out of the way in case you woke up suddenly once more.”

“It’s appreciated, believe me. Took a week for the bruises to go away the last time I sat up and plowed my midsection into your horn.” He pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing. “Sometimes the memories that return…they’re intense. I dreamt of…well, at the end, I bumped into someone very bad. We called him Deacon Love. He was…someone who killed people without remorse.”

“But he didn’t kill you,” Tavia pointed out. “You survived the encounter. From what you told me, before being resurrected in Avalon, you died while out at sea.”

“That’s right. In fact–”

He gave the unicorn a sharp glance.

“How did you know that I didn’t meet Deacon Love at sea?’

The mare looked uneasy at that. She cleared her throat delicately.

“Caleb, there are times when your dreams, your memory dreams, get extremely vivid. When I use my Light magic to calm you, it grants me the ability to see in part what you have seen.”

He took a moment to absorb that as he got out of bed. Though he already felt more than a little wrung out, his emotions swing to and fro as he thought about it. Finally, he threw up his hands.

“I don’t know how to feel about that,” he admitted. “In a way, it feels like you’ve just violated my privacy.”

“I didn’t mean to–” she began, but he put up a hand.

“Wait, let me finish. When it comes down to it, there’s no one else I’d trust to see those memories. Whatever you’ve seen didn’t send you running away from me. Nor did it require you to speak with Kirren to cleanse yourself after seeing my less-than-paladin-like behavior.”

“No, it didn’t,” Tavia’s tail flicked back and forth as she considered things in turn. “In truth, your world fascinates me. Boats that can move under their own magical power, without sails or oars. Snow-white powder that grants infinite pleasure to those who take it, and infinite power to those who sell it.”

I suppose that’s one way to put it, Caleb said to himself.

“Yet above all, it strikes me that no matter how flawed, you have some decent elements,” she concluded. “I wish I could have seen how Deacon Love knew what you did before you arrived at the dock. Or what happened to the women after Deacon Love appeared. Whether you did succeed in rescuing them or not.”

“I don’t know,” Caleb admitted. “Perhaps I’ll find out in another dream.”

“Perhaps we shall.” Tavia snorted and flicked one equine ear. “I wish that my memories would come back at the same measured pace. It’s taking me a lot longer to gather them after they were scattered by my arrival in Avalon.”

“Fingers crossed, then. Where is everyone?”

“Grimshaw took off an hour ago to do some reconnaissance. Donal’s at the helm, Sienna’s checking on something with Doc Harper. Daffodil and Breena vanished at dawn, suspiciously close to the time that Evie O’Breen announced that breakfast was being served in the forecastle mess. I believe that should sum it up, Captain.”

“Yeah, I’d agree with that.” Caleb stretched and heard something in his back pop. “I’ll be out on the quarterdeck shortly.”

Tavia heard the quiet dismissal in her Captain’s statement. She bobbed her horn and left. Caleb went over to his wardrobe and changed into a new set of clothes. Like everyone on board, his selection was still quite limited. His outerwear was still mostly blue or black, evidence of their confiscation from the Myrkur or Sea Vipers.

That made him realize something.

I’ve been puzzling over how my Corsair abilities have stopped working. But between the fight with Delacroix, the Gilarskans, being in the infirmary overnight, and the drama relating to Daffodil, I’ve never really delved into it.

“And the way to diagnose the problem’s been with me all along,” he murmured to himself. “I’ve been shortchanging myself my limiting what I’ve been looking at.”

In his mind, he thought back to when he’d reached Level Fourteen. He reached out and used his index finger to flip over to the abbreviated updates to his Character Sheet. He’d received minor but significant upgrades to his skills.

But he hadn’t looked at his full character sheet. Not then, not since his abilities had gone AWOL.

He brought it up, this time without flipping over anything.

Name: Caleb Ledger Level: Fourteen Class: Wizard / Corsair Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Individual-Specific Specialty: XP Edge - Enhanced 40% Wizardly Sub-Specialties: Weathermancy, Craft with Iron Corsair Sub-Specialties: Charisma Boost, Dead Reckoning, Piratical Flair, Depth Sense, Bluff Assist, Swap XP for Gold Existing Buff / (Debuffs): Innate Charisma increased 9%. (Corsair abilities reduced by 95% due to the wearing of inappropriate attire for an extended period.) Potential Buff / (Debuffs): (Corsair abilities shall continue to decrease in an individual who does not conduct himself properly.) Unspent XP 925

The new text under the Existing Debuffs instantly caught his eye. He put two fingers on the screen and enlarged the words to make absolutely sure that he was reading it correctly.

(Corsair abilities reduced by 95% due to the wearing of inappropriate attire for extended periods.)

He let out an explosive curse. Then a string of four-letter curses.

“Myr take all!” he swore, as he tried to master his temper, “I’m being penalized…for not dressing the part? Danu, you can take this universe and shove it up your–”

Caleb heard a knock at the door. He took a moment to force himself to breathe, and expelled the last of his curses. For now. Then he went to the door and opened it.

Sienna waited outside. She made a quick Avalonian salute.

“Pardon for bothering you, Captain,” she said. “Shaw’s returning from his patrol.”

“Well, that’s good,” he replied. “But until he gives us his report, there’s no need to announce–”

She grinned. “I thought you might want to see what he’s bringing back.”

He walked out onto the quarterdeck and took in the view. The sun flitted between blue sky and dark bands of cloud. The deck and railing glistened with a hint of moisture from a recent shower or rain. To his surprise, Tavia and the dozen or so crew on deck were all looking up and out to steerboard.

Caleb’s eyes went wide as he caught sight of the griffin as he flew towards the ship.

Shaw had a fourteen-foot long shark grasped firmly by the midsection in his beak. The fish didn’t like the experience one bit, and it thrashed its tail in protest. Jaws crammed with razor sharp teeth pistoned again and again.

“Clear the deck!” Sienna shouted, and the crew scattered.

Shaw brought his quarry in, his fur and feathers still dripping with brine. The griffin dropped the shark on the deck as soon as he landed with a thump. It thrashed madly, slapping its tail and snapping at its captor.

The drake drew back one leonine forepaw. He gave his prey a percussive smack! along the side its head. The fish dropped, twitched once more, and then went still.

The crew let out a cheer. Evie O’Breen emerged from the forecastle. The old woman hobbled over to where the shark lay still, and gave it a poke. Then she looked up at Shaw.

“As Lir and Danu are my witnesses, did you bring this back for me?” she demanded.

“Oh, aye!” Shaw enthused. “‘Tis especially for you!”

“What do you expect me to do with a beastie like this?”

The griffin blinked. “Mayhap…to cook it?”

“Oh, really? Just like that? Do you have any idea how I’m even supposed to get that into the galley, let alone over a cooking fire?”

Tavia, who had remained off on the larboard side of the deck, let out a whinny that Caleb now recognized as an equine laugh.

“In truth,” she said, “We do need to cut it up.”

“‘Tis of no great matter,” Shaw assured Evie O’Breen. “Mine own claws and beak should be sufficient to the task.”

“Belay that,” Caleb called down. “Shaw, I need you to come up and report on your patrol. Sienna, assign a work crew to cut that fish into usable chunks.”

“Aye, Captain,” Sienna raised her voice. “Looks like we’re having fresh shark steaks tonight! Who here last saw the ship’s hatchet?”

Aiden, one of the young lookouts, slid down the larboard mast lines and landed on the deck before answering.

“I did, Quartermaster! It’s in the workshop. I’ll go fetch it.”

Caleb shook his head as Sienna set up the work party. We still only have one ship’s hatchet? Next ship we pillage, I’m making sure we get a spare.

Shaw shook himself, spraying salt water across the deck as he fluffed out both fur and feather. Then the griffin made his way up to the quarterdeck with both Tavia and Sienna in tow. He snapped his beak excitedly before he spoke.

“Mine own patrol hath been completed for all points of yon compass. Thou hast no threats incoming.”

“That’s good to hear,” Caleb said. “Sounds like an all-clear to me.”

The griffin cocked his head. “Thy term is not familiar to me.”

“Well, there’s no threats. I take it to mean that there’s no other ships out there.”

“Nay, t’was not my meaning, Captain! In all truth, thou hast something passing strange out towards the north and east.”

Passing strange? All right, it sounds like Grimshaw’s seen something unusual.

“Go on,” Caleb urged. “What did you see that was ‘passing strange’?”

“Beyond the horizon to the north and east, I espied a sloop, one roughly our size, and flying the Myrkur flag. The vessel doth progress due east, though it makes slow progress ‘gainst the wind.”

“That’s directly back into Myrkur waters,” Sienna put in. “At least it shouldn’t be any worry of ours. We’re heading northwest, and wind’s favoring us out of the west.”

“In that we are agreed, there is no worry. Unless a fight for glory is wished, we shan’t cross that sloop’s path.”

Caleb frowned. “Then what was passing strange? The shark you brought back?”

The drake let out a deep chuckle. “Nay, unless it proves to be an especially tasty one. It was the gathering of sharks that tickled mine own interest.”

All of a sudden, the hair on the back of Caleb’s neck pricked up.

“Go on. I want to hear about this.”

“T’was an entire line of sharks, heading west to east. Following the Myrkur vessel.”

Caleb inhaled sharply. He thought back to when he’d met Danu. The goddess had spoken in a ringing voice of a gale, one which carved her words into Caleb’s mind. Her first verse came into sudden focus.

Seek a purpose where the sharks gather.

“Donal,” Caleb ordered, “Get Noack up here to spell you on the helm. I want all my officers in my quarters immediately.”