Kail woke up to the smell of cooking fish. He hated that smell, though he liked how it tasted. It was light out. He was in his room. In his bed. What happened last night, he wondered. He went to stand, but pain shot up his spine. The memories of the previous few hours flooded back.
He remembered an old man; Butterfield. He remembered his sword fight with Pendola. That was the easy one to remember. The pain radiating from his back from being skewered was a constant reminder. And there was a woman... He uprighted himself to his feet and grimaced. Where was she?
He looked down and realized that he was naked. Normally this wouldn’t have bothered him, but now there was a lady on board. The same rules no longer applied.
He quickly gathered a pair of black pants, similar to what he had worn the night before, and a brown shirt that was stiff enough to light a match with. He grabbed his telescope from the rounded bedside table and made his way to the door.
Something didn’t feel quite right. Of course, he thought, my boots. They weren’t in his room so he assumed they were drying on the deck.
He still felt like he could not get his bearings straight. He wobbled to the door leading into his office. Foghorn beat him there and opened it from the other side. “Good morning Cap’n,” he teased Kail. “Good to see you out and about.”
For the first time Kail felt guilt over the mission, even if it was a success. He hesitated, but proceeded with what he didn’t want to ask. “How many men did we lose?” He waited for the bad news.
Foghorn smiled. “Well none as of yet.” Kail looked questioningly and Foghorn elaborated. “Terrence is in pretty rough shape but we think he’ll pull through.”
“What happened?”
“A Hawk got a lucky arrow in after they blew the doors off. Hit him the chest,” Foghorn explained. “Just missed his heart. May have been killed if it wasn’t for the thick prisoner suit he was wearing.”
Kail smiled. “Where is he? I want to see him.”
“Won’t do much good now. He’s sound asleep.”
“And the lady?”
A huge grin overtook Foghorn’s face. He could see the sudden change of expression in Kail. “You mean Selestia?”
At this Kail’s expressions grew even more excited. Selestia. What a pretty name, he thought. He tried to regain his usually composed demeanor. “Is she alright?”
“Oh she’s fine. Just a few scratches,” Foghorn assured him. “She is a tough one that girl. She was more concerned about how you were.” This made Kail smile again.
“And what about Butterfield?”
“Ha!” Foghorn snorted. “That man is resilient. He’s been pretty quiet though. I think Blabber should take lessons from him.” They shared a laughed.
Foghorn continued. “If you ask me, the one I’m worried about is Faber.”
Oh that’s right, Kail thought. I forgot about him. Ironic, as Faber was the reason for the mission in the first place, or at least that was what his crew believed. He wondered what could have happened to him that made Foghorn so worried.
