Chapter 405: Maritime Negotiations

The summer warmth did not reach the frozen Northern Lands. Grey clouds blanketed the sky and snow fell in slow waves. The sun had already dipped below the horizon, taking with it the little warmth left in the land.

The drow blood coursing through Mary took the edge off the cold winds, but it did little to prevent the heat from leaving her body as she trudged through the knee-high snow. She usually wouldn’t be this far north, her patrol area ended a good twenty miles south, but after spotting the odd trio, her duty demanded she follow.

Mary had first seen them when they had stayed at a lodging in the village she was posted at. They had mostly kept to themselves. Mary had never seen them before and kept a close eye on the strangers. That was when she noticed the flick of a deep-blue serpentine tail from underneath the tallest of them. A lamia, she realized.

The recent reports mentioned a lamia companion of the Ebon Aspirant. After learning who the lamia was Mary had quickly deduced the identities of the other two, though why Callum Veres and a dwarven mage were traveling this far north she didn’t understand.

The Order considered the Ebon Aspirant a potential Class 1 threat and his companions to be a Class 2 threat until any further action. This was above her jurisdiction, but Mary couldn’t simply ignore the strangers.

For the last two days, Mary had been secretly following them from a distance, using the snowstorm and her black magic as cover. The trio seemed to move with purpose, only staying at village taverns for a single night before moving on the next morning. Their trail had finally led them to one of the port villages on the shores of Hoarfrost Bay.

As usual, the trio made their way straight to the village’s tavern. Unlike the landlocked villages, several taverns were lining the port. The Veres scion led his companions to the largest of the inns.

Mary followed from a closer distance, casting a shadow spell to hide her within the shadows of the buildings.

Over a hundred pairs of eyes stopped and looked at the trio the moment they stepped through the door. Sailors and dock workers stared at the cloaked strangers suspiciously, but made no move against them, and simply sipped at their drinks.

The Veres scion kept his head held up high and went to one of the open tables. The dwarf hurried behind him while glancing at the other patrons warily. The lamia loomed over her companions and her long cloak dragged behind her as she followed the others while trying to mimic a walking gait. All the while the other patrons watched them with an air of distrust.

Mary used the distraction to slip through an open window. She found a seat at the back of the tavern and quietly watched the night unfold from afar.

~~~

The hard wooden stools were a far cry from the usual feather-padded chairs Callum was used to, but he was grateful to have anything to sit down on that wasn’t cold and wet. He rubbed his hands together for warmth and breathed in, relieved.

“I can barely feel my fingers,” he chuckled with a tired but happy expression. “I feel like we’ve been walking in that blasted storm forever, don’t you?”

“Mm,” Kithina mumbled distractedly.

“Gods, I hope this place has a warm bath and maybe some hot tea. Yeah, I could really use some tea, with a bit of blood mixed in,” Callum sighed dreamily.

“You’re salivating,” Lysaila noted dryly.

“They're all staring at us,” Kithina whispered. “They usually stop staring by now.”

Callum wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve and took a quick glance about the room full of unfamiliar, possibly angry, faces. The tension felt palpable. “...They’ll stop, eventually… I think.”

“They’re only still staring because of that damn fancy cloak of yours,” Lysaila glared at him. “They think we’re some rich travelers.”

“I am rich though,” Callum said off-handedly and wrapped the thick fur cloak snugly around his shoulders.

“They’re looking to rob us, idiot,” Lysaila snapped. She turned to Kitty, “I knew we should have left the vampire in Hollow Shade.”

“Hey, I got us to Hoarfrost Bay, didn’t I?” Callum said. “And if they’re staring at us it’s not because of my cloak, but because you look so damn weird whenever you try to walk.”

“Would you prefer I slither around and announce to everyone in this place that I’m a lamia?” she quietly hissed at him.

“Maybe that would be best, it certainly would ward off any would-be robbers,” Callum said. “Of course, knowing you, you’d probably kill half of them just for fun.”

Lysaila narrowed her eyes, “Careful, Veres, there are no Gales around to protect you.”

“Let’s just stay on track, guys, yeah?” Kithina pulled out her map and laid it across the table. Her hand hovered over the bay at the northern edge of the realm. “So, where exactly is this island we’re looking for?”

“Should be somewhere about— here.” Lysaila put her finger at the middle of the bay, though there was nothing but water on the map in the entire area.

“Alright, that doesn’t look too far. Just a couple of days at sea,” Kithina nodded to herself. “All we have to do now is secure a ship and it should be smooth sailing from then on.”

“Nothing about Hoarfrost Bay is smooth sailing, especially its deep waters,” Callum said grimly.

“What does that mean?” Lysaila asked skeptically.

“If the chrome gate really is on an island at the center of the bay it’ll be hard to find a captain willing to take us there,” Callum said.

“I thought you said you could secure us a ship,” Lysaila said angrily. “You said it wouldn’t be a problem for a noble like you? What happened to all that ‘noble swagger,’ hm?”

“I can and I will get us a ship, it’s just…” Callum sighed. “Sailors avoid the deep waters of the bay for good reasons.”

“Like what? What’s out there?” Kithina asked.

“Besides pods of white eels as thick as your waist with razor-sharp teeth that will tear into your flesh if you fall into the water? Plenty of other sea fauna that will do the same,” Callum said.

“So just stay out of the water, easy enough,” Lysaila said.

“It’s not just the beasts,” he replied. “Thick fog covers most of the area and the deep waters are filled with large floating chunks of ice. It would be easy for a ship to ram into the ice before realizing what was happening.”

“...There was a lot of fog when we left the island,” Lysaila admitted. “Still, we never crashed into anything.”

“Then you had a good navigator,” Callum said.

“All that means is we have to make sure our captain has a good navigator too,” Lysaila said.

“Even so, there are stories… Sailors have seen things in those waters, things they can’t explain,” Callum said.

“All sailors have spooky stories they tell each other while drunk, it doesn’t matter the realm they’re in, sailors will be sailors. I wouldn’t give it much thought,” Lysaila said.

Kithina nodded, “She makes a point. If we choose our captain wisely and stay on the ship, I think we’ll be fine.”

Callum bit his lip, “The real danger isn't the mists or eels. It’s the sirens and they are certainly real.”

“Sirens?” Kithina’s eyes widened.

“What are they? Some other kind of fish with sharp teeth?” Lysaila asked.

“Sort of,” Callum winced. “They’re an elemental species of water and air. My family encountered them in the past back before Hollow Shade was built, when my House lived in the Northern Lands. The family records say how the sirens appeared like beautiful women and they lured the sailors into the water with their voices.”

“Elemental air magic,” Kithina said. “My Yellow professors told me about them back at the academy.”

Callum nodded grimly, “They may look beautiful, but when you fall into the water the sirens transform into aquatic beasts. Countless sailors have fallen into their watery graves because of them. It’s why ships stay near the shoreline nowadays.”

“Lysaila, did you really not encounter any sirens when you left the island?” Kithina asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. The island had some roaming beasts that the twins dealt with, but we didn’t really encounter odd while at sea—” she paused and her expression became thoughtful.

“What? What is it?” Kithina asked.

“It’s just, there was one odd thing. Crow, Marek’s spymaster, sat at the bow of the ship when we entered the mists. He sang in a strange voice the entire way, I didn’t understand the words, but they felt— dangerous. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

“Some kind of elemental spell, perhaps?” Kithina said.

“No, Crow isn’t a mage.” Lysaila furrowed her brow, “Then again, I could never tell if he was lying. His heartbeat was the only one that never changed, its rhythm was always a slow steady beat.”

“In any case, it doesn’t help us. It’s going to be hard to convince a captain to go into the deep waters of the bay,” Callum noted.

“So what you’re saying is you can’t do it,” Lysaila raised her eyebrow.

“I’m saying let me do the talking.” Callum called the barmaid over and slipped her a silver coin, “Hello, Miss, would you mind telling me which of these fine sailors are captains of their own ships?”

The barmaid quickly pocketed the coin and began listing off several names and the tables where they sat.

Lysaila crossed her arms, “This is a bad idea.”

Kithina glanced around the room full of gruff sailors, “Let’s give him a chance, he’s gotten us this far.”

~~~

Kael Greyson sipped his ale and smoked his pipe with closed eyes while the rest of his mates laughed at some stupid joke they had heard a dozen times.

The sound of a chair moving across the table caught his attention. The voices of his friends died down. Greyson opened his scarlet eyes curiously.

The vampire that had strode into the tavern like some far-off king was now sitting in front of him. A redheaded dwarf was standing next to him along with what Kael was pretty certain was the tallest woman he had ever seen. Her cloak hid her face, but it did little to hide her feminine shape.

Callum smiled in a friendly wide manner, “Evenin’ Cap’n Greyson.”

Greyson noticed the young man’s stunted fangs and he bared his own sharp fangs in response, “What the fuck do you want, hybrid?”

“To buy you drinks,” he said without missing a beat. Callum motioned the barmaid over, “A round of drinks for all my friends, please.”

The sailors at the table cheered in drunken delight.

Greyson inclined his head, “I’m listening.”

Callum rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward conspicuously, “I hear you have the toughest crew around these docks and the fastest ship to boot.”

Greyson took another whiff of his pipe, “What’s it matter to ya?”

“I wanted to enlist your ship for a short journey across the bay. I’d pay well, of course.”

Greyson scratched his scraggly beard in thought, “Hm, which village would we be heading to?”

Callum nodded at Kithina. She reached into her backpack and laid her map across the table. “Right here,” she said, pointing to the empty spot at the center of Hoarfrost Bay.

“It doesn’t look like much, but I have it on good authority that there is an island residing in that location,” Callum said confidently.

Greyson stared at the map for a moment then burst into laughter. “You want to take my ship and my crew, and sail into the deep waters of the bay? And for what? Some fairy tale you heard about? Are you fucking mad?”

The other sailors glanced at the map and laughed along with him.

Callum reached into his pocket, “Maybe, but we can pay you handsomely.”

“Don’t bother, hybrid. You don’t have enough,” Greyson said.

“But I haven’t even offered you a number yet.”

“I don’t care,” he shrugged. “Your hybrid coins aren’t enough.”

“What happened to ‘let me do the talking’?” Lysaila whispered angrily.

Callum smiled sheepishly at her. He cleared his throat, “Captain, please, if you just hear me out, I’m sure we can come to an arrangement—”

Greyson slammed his mug on the table. “Look, my men and I have had a long day. All we want is to drink and relax. We aren’t interested in the stupid fantasies of some mixed-blood brat. So, why don’t you just go away and leave the pretty ladies with us, hm?”

“Aye!” the sailors raised their mugs in agreement.

Kithina frowned uncomfortably, but Lysaila leaned in with a dangerous smile.

“Oh? Do you want to play with me?” Lysaila said coyly as her hood slipped off a bit, revealing her serpentine dark eyes.

The sailors stiffened in shock.

Greyson’s pipe slipped out of his slackened mouth. “Y-You’re a-a-a…! L-La—”

Callum tossed a pouch on the table. The pouch hit the wood with a heavy thud and a couple of gold coins spilled out.

The sound of coins ripped Greyson’s attention away from the terrifying lamia. He cautiously reached out and peered into the pouch. “It’s all gold,” he mumbled in disbelief.

“Think of it as an advance payment in good faith. There will be twice as much waiting for you once you deliver my companions and me back from the island safely,” Callum said.

“Twice as much…?” Greyson’s eyes widened.

“Or,” Callum swiped the pouch from the table. “I can go find another captain willing to have some balls for once. Don’t worry, I’ll leave my lamia friend here with you lot. You can try and ‘play’ with her but I doubt any of you will have fun, she definitely will though.”

Greyson stared at Lysaila fearfully. He swallowed hard, “Uh, that’s…”

Callum stood to his feet, “Come on, Kitty, let’s leave Lysaila alone to play with her new toys.”

“...Right,” Kithina nodded stiffly.

Callum grabbed his mug of ale and turned to leave, “Enjoy your evening, friends!”

“W-Wait!” Greyson called out panickedly.

Callum slowly turned back to them with a smirk, “Do we have a deal then? Or is my coin still not good enough for you?”

Greyson licked his lips and nodded hesitantly, “We set sail at dawn.”

Callum raised his mug to the sailors, “I look forward to it, Cap’n.”