Excalibur's Seven | ✓ [LGBT]

~ 12 ~

THE CREW TOOK FAR longer to be done with them than Eurion would've liked. When they were all finally allowed to go to bed, she let out a breath of relief. She hoped the others could provide a proper cover despite the crew wearing them to exhaustion, but Selene's red eyes and Kit dozing off the moment he hit the bunk bed made her nervous.

The faeries didn't seem to have an issue, though, and Chalice was holding up. Eurion hoped they would be enough, but without the real fighters, she just had to rely on the others' ability to outsmart one of the trickiest sailors on the sea.

Eurion had already gotten a good look at the ship earlier when she was sent to fetch a broom. She took the opportunity to find where the stash was likely to be, and she was certain she found it.

She stepped out of the room they were staying in, looking around the ship for any sign that someone was there. The coast was clear, so she carried onward, opening a latch on the floor. The door squealed as it opened, but nothing happened. No one heard it, thank the Gods.

She slid down into the cellar, holding up her dim lantern. She didn't know where to start. There was a large chest at the back of the room, it would have to do.

She tried to pull it open, only to realize she didn't have a key. Right. She did, however, have two pins from Selene. She fussed with the lock, struggling to get it open, until finally she heard it click. But she didn't get the chance to lift the lid.

"What do you think you're doing in here?"

Eurion stiffened, turning to find Conrad standing in the entrance of the cellar, blocking her only exit. She had no way to escape.

"It's not how it seems, Conrad. See, there's this faery—"

"I don't care what it is, no one is allowed in here but me." He got closer, pulling out a blade. Eurion had no way to escape him, no way to get out of this without a miracle.

As if on cue, a rope wrapped around Conrad's neck, yanking him up from the cellar and causing him to drop his dagger. Eurion took the opportunity to grab it, jumping up to see Selene wrestling with the captain.

"Eurion, hurry and find it. I can't keep him like this for long."

The captain stopped struggling, then started to laugh. "Are you looking for this?"

He lifted up his shirt, revealing something sharp and metallic strapped across his chest. Somehow Eurion knew with certainty that this was the shard.

She lunged for the sailor, but her arms were yanked forcefully behind her back. Neither her nor Selene saw the crewmen sneak below to help their captain, but she knew she should've expected as much.

Men attempted to apprehend Selene, but she fought them off swiftly, leaving them a bloody mess as soon as they got close to her. There were more men, though, enough to overtake her eventually. Soon she and Eurion were bound in rope, taken up to the deck, where the pale moon shone bright against the sea, faintly illuminating a now livid Conrad.

It only took a moment for the rest of them to be tied up and brought to the deck as well. Morgana's lip was split and bleeding and he looked like he was an inch way from fainting, and Kit had a dozen cuts on his arms and face. Giselle was the only one relatively unharmed, Eurion assumed she didn't resist.

Chalice was nowhere to be found, but no one seemed to notice.

That was the only thing Eurion was banking on now, tied up and overpowered by the man who had the shard.

"How the hell do you know what that is?" Eurion spat.

The dagger was back in his hands now, and he spun the tip of it against his forefinger. "Oh, Eurion, you of all people should know that men of the sea know about anything worth a damn."