Year 765 Hippocampus Rush

He came back to his ship; night was finally over their heads, so he was not surprised to see both a yawning Trevor and a worried Gash.

“Capt yer back!”

“Yea...what took you, captain.” Trevor was a dark-haired with equally dark-eyed individual. His last profession as an executioner earned him his very apathetic nature and insomnia. He now serves the ship as the night guard, which is a funny turn of events considering how the three of them first met.

He is perfect for Connor’s darker side of pirating. This time he didn’t need Trevor for those things, guiding them both to the helms deck to talk. Gash is his right hand; Trevor is a very close second, considering how close they had to work together for unorthodox means.

He didn’t need to hide this.

“It’s been a long day. I’ll start with the woman.” He explained from the beginning where he met Rhea. Then led the conversation to this Ranko lad. The more he shared, the deeper the wrinkles on Gash’s face had gone.

Trevor had little to no reaction, scratching the back of his ear. “Not shocked....that you enlisted a child and a woman to do your bidding.”

Connor took what he said as his attempt at sarcasm. For good measure, he pointed a strict stare at Trevor. Not even commenting.

Gash did all the commenting, the concern riddled in his body posture. “Capt. This dun’t sound safe.”

“You’re worried about a few weak-minded scoundrels.” Connor prodded at Gash, trying every which way to shrug off his concern. That seems like all he is doing lately, being a concerned old man. Connor moved towards the railing, watching the movement of the night. The regulars of the pub and inn laughed and danced their way into these places. A rather joyous occasion if you are just living life day by day without any qualms. Connor had nothing but qualms filling his every breath, his show of confidence was to keep his crew from questioning his authority. Gash has seen the side of him with doubts already, Trevor has seen his darkest side.

There was nothing to hide here. Yet that is what he does anyway, finding comfort in this façade of confidence.

“It’s not the scoundrels that I worry about. I worry that yer disregarding what these two people are capable of....Especially the Krax.”

“A vengeful, free-minded Krax would more or less flip a town over if they could.” Trevor added his experience rarely, sitting on the railing and fiddling a knife in his hand. “Had to put a Krax down after setting the animals free and using them to trample the villa to the ground.”

“That’s ridiculous and you know it.” Connor won’t condone falsified claims about the Kraxxian-kind. He had met some great Krax in the past. It wasn’t their fault that slavery was something forced on them the moment they showed up in these villages. He has seen a fair share of them broken from the abuse or burning to revolt.

“Suit yourself...captain.” Trevor wasn’t trying to defend himself, which made it harder for Connor to believe the claims. Yet Trevor isn’t the type to waste much of his energy on testifying about his legitimacy, so it’s hard to tell what the truth is.

“Crazy story aside. If yer in need of assistance, please take one of us instead.” Gash pleaded, crossing his arms next to Connor.

An honest and good suggestion, and he really did mull over it. Then he recalled the look of utter distrust in those silver eyes, the wild fire that glittered in them. Those eyes promised to cut ties over the littlest of discomfort or mistake. Connor can’t possibly involve his crew lest he intends to break this shaky partnership. She’d make things difficult. “I’ll have to decline.”

“Hm...interesting.” Trevor side-glanced at him, picking at his nails with the tip of his blade.

Connor carefully gave Trevor another pointed stare just in case he was trying to question him.

Trevor tends to be hard to guess. But Gash was willing to fill in the blanks. “It is...yer wouldn’t bother to do things on yer own with strangers unless yer plan to recruit em.”

Trevor nods, agreeing with Gash’s diagnosis.

Connor would never recruit such a volatile woman! She could barely even understand the difference between a pirate and a gang member.

She’ll more than likely sap his energy with all the anarchy. He can’t. He won’t. Not if he wanted a couple more years with color still in his hair.

Plus, she would do better at the orphanage. She can never walk the town streets without an escort, but at least she’ll live a life of peace. The peace she would never get on this ship.

Connor glared at both of them equally, “I think it’s time to end these comments.”

He would have left it at that, except he couldn’t possibly end his night yet. He saw a keldio galloping from one end of the pier to another. Keldio’s are beasts used constantly on this continent, either for modes of transportation, battle, or cargo. This quadruped beast is white furred with a thicker gray mane covering its long neck. Tusks protrude from its long white face, beady eyes set to each side. Two corkscrew horns behind its upright twitching ears. It roared through the crowd, disturbing the festivities. It kept galloping with its slender legs, three-toed hooves clapping against the rough floor. No matter how hard people tried to catch it, the beast charged around. On its back is some sort of covered cargo.

Connor gave his quartermaster and guard one very heavy look, then bounded towards the pier. He intended to stop the beast from hurting anybody, plus he was curious about what was on its back. Trevor and Gash helped.

Connor served the best part in antagonizing the beast. Trevor moved outdoor furniture around to disorientate the beast.

Gash used rope to wrangle it still. Eventually, the keldio was forced to calm down and chuffed excitedly when Connor offered it a piece of fruit.

“Capt...look at this.” Trevor muttered to him, blinking slowly. But he pointed at the package on its back.

Connor removed the blanket, exposing the contents for everyone to see. Expensive potteries were strapped onto each other, heavily gemmed jewelry even filled the belly of the vases. A box which appeared to have paper money, a heavily decorated sword, and a few other stuff. So much high-value stuff was strapped to the back of this Keldio beast.

Who does this belong to?

Then he saw it, the unmistakable sigil of a twisted line. The very same marking was tattooed on Ranko’s face. The markings of the Death Twisters Gang.

“I need to hunt.”

That crazy woman. Connor gritted his jaw, but everything in him found this amusing. At least just the fact that a gang is being outsmarted by a woman Krax. There’s another side to this feeling. She can’t go into hiding after pulling a stunt like that. She’s now a target, and a gang leader like the Death Twister will make certain that everything and everyone associated with her will burn before her. Once she breaks, she will be the next on the chopping block.

This is the opposite of helping. Connor should have tried harder to follow her when he had the chance. He misjudged how reckless she could be. Never has he met a human this reckless... No one would dare such stupidity.

“Capt...” Gash ripped him out of his mind, petting the Keldio on its neck. People murmured and surrounded the three, all of them recognizing the sigils.

“Why would the Death Twisters strap valuables on this steed?”

“It’s insane how the Keldio even got here without no one noticing!?”

“What are those hooligans even thinking?”

“Where’s the knights when we need them?”

Connor clenched his jaw. There weren’t enough knights in this town to get involved with something like that. The tail snakes are obviously being bribed as these town idiots whisper away.

He approached Trevor, ignoring his temptation to keep the valuables all to themselves. These things are tainted with the markings of a gang; unless they get rid of the gang there is no way they can house the valuables without sacrificing their immunity. Besides, the whole town watched their next actions. Anyone of them could be in cahoots with the Death Twisters.

“Trevor...get rid of it and tell me what you learn.” He commanded beneath his breath. Trevor gave a curt ′aye, aye’, taking the reins from Gash and ambled off. The right thing is to return it straight to the Death Twisters, but Connor doesn’t see how that will end well for any of them. The Death Twisters could suspect them of being involved. After all, their first assumption wouldn’t ever imagine one female being able to achieve something so grandiose.

Trevor would do his best to bring the keldio straight to the very knights Connor hates. The authorities here won’t get involved with the Death Twisters. It was obvious from their absence. Death Twister won’t suspect the knights. A perfect neutralizer.

“Capt...what are yer gonna do now?” Gash saw through his silence; Connor would always have a backup plan for his backup. He thinks two steps ahead of anyone.

He’s a master tactician in mind and soul.

This woman is making him stumble to keep up, dancing a grub on string to get him to keep biting. The embodiment of a loose strand fighting to unravel the mental path he laid down, he’d try to patch it up, but it was always wiggling out of the expectancy. It was extremely aggravating ...and yet here he is falling into this new madness. There really is no safe reason for him to be intrigued by this Rhea individual. No good will come of getting involved. He wasn’t a kind and generous soul to help the needy. He’s a selfish...good for nothing pirate captain. He won’t waste time on people that hold no benefit to his crew.

These are all things he strongly believed about himself. Yet...

“I will wait for Trevor...then leave by morn. Find out more about the Death Twisters.” And interrogate a crazy Krax