Drumwe Isles

chapter fifteen

(tw: mild violence)

Cael's heart was pounding in a fury as he weaved through the all too familiar streets. He knew who he was looking for and all of the more likely places they might be but he had no way of eliminating those options so he started from the most likely and worked his way down. When he burst through the doors of the bar there was a distinct weight in the atmosphere around him. He saw one of Niall's higher ranking officials and approached the boy with an unmistakable fire in his eyes.

The boy was hardly a year older than Cael and maybe two thirds of his size. So to have the younger boy looming over him and clearly enraged was, to say the least, intimidating.

"Bloody hell do you want?"

"Where's Niall?"

The boy looked Cael up and down disinterestedly. The brothers fought pretty often so upon hearing the question it made more sense and his fear dissipated.

"Down by the docks, seeing about a trade deal or something."

In truth, Niall was setting up a fence to help him smuggle opium to the large coast of Euridayl, an island to the south east of Drumwe. Of course, Cael didn't learn of that until later. The brother nodded at the boy and turned from the bar swiftly, storming out in a blur. The minion shrugged the interaction off and took another swig of his mead.

Cael ran the whole two blocks, not slowing his pace until he saw the ship sails down the way from him. By this point he began trying to steel his nerves, to calm down slightly. This was still his brother and perhaps Bronwen hadn't been truthful. It's not as though a woman had never lied to Cael before and he owed his brother the benefit of the doubt.

It was nearing evening now and the sun was sinking behind the horizon, ships lazing about the docks, and people's paces slowing down. Cities have a funny way of getting sleepy before nightfall. Cael persisted through the haze with a steady stride. He might've still been a boy but he had the frame of a man and of this he was well aware.

He strode along the many many ship stalls, scanning the heads for his brother. Niall was rather hard to miss, being over six feet tall and built like a bean pole. Not to mention both of the boys had similar flowing black hair. Niall's hair had grown to be about his upper back and he often pulled it back into a tie so it didn't become a nuisance to his vision. When he got to the fourth sect of Taudor's ship bays he caught glimpse of Niall Silverpelt and belted down the dock.

"Right, so there's a compartment beneath the Captain's quarters?"

The greasy man nodded.

"I think that'll do rather nicely. We can store the product there and-"

"Niall."

Nial' Silverpelt turned, irritated, towards the sound of his younger brother's voice. The sun highlighted the golden flecks in Niall's brown eyes.

"Cael, I'm in the middle of a business venture."

Cael turned to the greasy man in his dirt trodden tunic.

"Rather sorry to interrupt sir, might I borrow my brother for a moment?"

The greasy man nodded.

"Talk to your brother, I'm going to negotiate prices with the Captain."

Niall sighed and threw an arm around Cael's shoulders. The two of them began walking away from the ship bay. Cael made it a point not to ruin any potential business deals of Niall's. Afterall, he was building a sweet little enterprise and the benefits of such would extend to their children's children. They walked up the dock and found themselves an empty sort of alley which still held line of sight on the boat.