Throne of Glass; The Task from Nehemia

The Merchant and His Boat

Celaena studied her captain, he was one of those people who fitted the phrase 'a man looks just like his dog' accept he looked exacty like his boat. She sniffed, and her nose wrinkled in disgust- he smelt like a pig stye, except Celeana thought that would probably be offensive to pigs as he definatly smelt a lot worse. The boat its self was in a better condiction than the man at least, but Celanea climbed on warily- worried it would suddenly sink under their weight. Bill Bridge picked his nose with a gnarled finger and showed Chaol and Celaena the passenger 'lounge',as he called it. However it was nothing more than straw and wood. Chaol gave the room a quick glace, his nose crunching up, before plonking himself down in a hay bale. Celaena watched, disgusted, and was about to tell Chaol she'd rather swim up stream, but Bill interupted her: "I hope everything is too your liking." He said, grinning from ear to ear before he disappeared up deck again.

"That little slime ball!" Said Celaena irritably, "What are we even doing on this pile of trash?!"Chaol snorted: "Slime ball?" He asked grinning.

Celaena sighed, "Never mind."

~

Trying to get comfortable was harder than Celaena excepted. Chaol made it easy, as he sat in his pile of straw grinning at Celaena as she paced back and forth in the 'lounge'. He sighed and lay down on the straw, his hands behind his head.

"You might as well lay down and get some rest." Said Chaol. Celaena grunted.

"It's disgusting in here! I would rather not." Retorted Celaena.

"Suit yourself." Snorted Chaol and started to snore. Now it was Celaena's time to sigh- Chaol hadn't let her bring a book and so she didn't know what to do. The ship which had been moving at a steady pace slowed to a stop and the whole ship shuddered as hocks pulled it towards the river bank. Celaena stood very still as she felt a couple of figures climb onto the ship. Voices sounded loudly and Celaena heard Bill shouting above the rest.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON MY SHIP!" He yelled in his high pitched voice.

"Shut up!" Snapped one of the people, "we are here on orders."

"Orders from who?" Sneered Bill. Celaena heard a lot of shuffling on the deck, which sounded a lot like armour. Celaena frowned.

"Oh, maybe the King." Said the soldier, his voice jeering at Bill. If Celaena had been on deck she would have said Bill's face drained of colour.

"Oh, t....t..hen you b..better come on..n bb..oard." Stammered Bill. Coward. Thought Celaena, her heart rate quickening. Could the King have found out Chaol and her were missing? She had to act fast.

A/N- sorry it took a long time for the next chapter to come out. Hope you like it!