The Juras Complex (Book 1 of the Darkfell Chronicles) #wattys2019

XI

Nightfall had already arrived when they left the Dancing Walrus, street lamps ignited to life as the streets of Stormfeld were flooded with orange and green light. The group decided to split off into three with Xander, Lyra, and Anwyn following Sheska and Carling, Vola and Seb staying at the tavern to get some rooms for them all while Myers joined Rel as they went off to find some rare books for her druidic studies. Carling led the group to the docks where her ship was moored and for the entire journey, she never took her arms off Sheska, despite Sheska protesting otherwise. It didn't help by the fact Sheska already had a bit too much to drink, drowning her sorrows over the fact she lost her ship.

Stolen. Anwyn corrected herself. It was stolen from her.

They finally arrived at the docks, walking past airships and a few sea vessels of varying sizes, dock workers yelled and shouted as they lifted cargo on and off the ships. One ship was bigger than the others, a mighty galleon with three masts. It was a Prosperium ship, made from dark redwood. At the bow of the ship, a wooden statue of a half-naked woman stood watch and at the stern, the name of the ship was engraved in neat cursive. The Disowned.

"Whoa..." Was all Anwyn could say. Carling turned to grin at her.

"Not too shabby, am I right?"

Anwyn nodded and turned to Sheska, curiosity getting the better of her. "What's your ship like?"

Sheska growled, her pointed tail waving angrily behind her. It seemed just mentioning anything about her ship made her angry. "She ain't as grand as Carling's over 'ere. The Nightcrawler was made for stealth." She began grinning when she started talking about the ship like a proud parent talking about their kid. "As black as the Abyss itself, you wouldn't even see her coming at night."

"You really love your ship, don't you?"

Sheska nodded. "Aye. I christened her myself, rallied my crew and started plundering."

Somewhere down the docks, a voice was calling Sheska's name, and a girl came running towards them.

"Captain!" She yelled again as she got closer. She was tall, and about Anwyn's age with messy, tawny hair and baby blue eyes. Her skin was a bronze colour like she spent most of her time outside and she had slightly pointed ears. She put her hands on her knees as she caught her breath.

"Thank the Ancients I found you!" She said. "Galen sent the entire crew out to look for you when you didn't come back and-"

She then noticed that Sheska wasn't alone and considered everyone with a nod but straightened when she saw Carling.

"Captain Carling. Good evening."

"Good evening, Kastor," Carling smiled at her. "I'm going to be borrowing Sheska for a few hours."

"But Galen said-"

"It's fine, Kas," Sheska told her. "It's for business."

Kastor narrowed her eyes at her captain. "What kind of business?"

Sheska rolled her eyes at her. "Normal business. My friends here need a ride to Arkos. I would take them myself but..."

Kastor nodded glumly. "Aye. I'll stay with ya then. To make sure you actually come back when you're finished. I don't wanna go back and tell Galen you're out drinking again."

"Is this Galen really that mad at her?" Anwyn asked.

"Oh, he's always angry at the captain. He's the quartermaster, it's kinda part of his job description."

"Can we hurry this up?" Xander snapped. He was tapping his fingers on the hilt of his sword like being surrounded by pirates made him physically itch.