Mutiny? (1/2)

“Well here ye be,” Harey Karey said, grinning, as she walked out from between the boxes. This was probably the first time he'd seen her smile this widely, and he noticed that she was missing a few teeth. “The hero o' the hour. Ye did a swell job on the engines, Miss, and I've been instructed to show ye to yer quarters. Shall we step lively now?”

Threadbare reached out and patted Jean's hand, where it was sticking out from between the bars—

—and unexpectedly, Jean's hand twisted and gripped his paw.

Jean's eyes widened.

“I'll see you later. Be careful,” Threadbare told her, and hoped, very much hoped that Renny's illusions had fooled her. But he didn't know how strong they were.

Confusion warred with despair in her red eyes, and then Jean turned away, folding her knees to her chest and clasping her arms around them.

“Lover's quarrel?” Karey asked.

“Not exactly,” Threadbare said, and folded her own arms. “And that's a bit rude.”

“Sorry. Didn't mean a thing by it. Pirates be a little more casual about intimate questions. Secrets be hard to keep among a crew when you're at sea.” Harey turned, and walked towards the doorway, glancing over her shoulder. Her spectacles flashed in the light of the glowstones, reflecting off her spectacles and making her eyes look solid for a second.

After glancing at Jean one last time, Threadbare followed. And Renny pattered along behind them, a few feet back from Threadbare.

The slim, black-haired beastkin led them through the ship, cutting through the cannon deck which now stunk of powder and heated metal, and up to the forecastle room. “Let me show ye the amenities,” Karey said, unlocking the door and bowing, waving Threadbare in with one hand.

Something about her tone seemed a little tense. “I've gone through here before. Stormanorm waas kind enough to give me a tour.”

“Ah, but I doubt he showed ye everything,” Karey smiled.

Threadbare took a good hard look inside. Nobody was waiting to ambush him, at least not that he could see. So he walked in, and slid to the side, letting Renny follow him into the open space.

Immediately after the fox walked in, Karey took the other side, and shut the door behind her, locking it with a few quick motions. Then she strode to the wall, flipped open a panel to reveal a sink and a toilet, and turned the water on from the tap.

“We don't be havin' much time,” she said, turning to Threadbare. “Let's talk, you and I.”

“All right. But I'm a little confused. Why couldn't we talk outside?”

“Because it's to do with secrets, and those be hard to keep on a ship. I thought I'd been over that?”

She was tense, but her face was smooth. Too smooth. She was concealing her feelings. This really didn't seem like an ambush, but Threadbare felt a stir of worry in the back of his mind. “What sort of secrets?”

“Like how I've caught that little wood fishman lookin' at things, or standin' like regular people do sometimes. Then he catches himself and slips back to actin' like any other golem. He's more than he seems, I'm thinkin'.”

Threadbare tensed. He'd been worried about that. Glub had good Charisma, but he wasn't always the wisest person around. And most rabbit beastkin were exceptionally perceptive. “And what do you think he is?” Threadbare asked.

“Don't know. But there's a brain in there. Could be ye had one of them soulstones that you used to make that golem. Could be ye watch through his eyes sometimes. I've heard tell Animators do that sort o' thing. Either way, it's something I should be telling me Captain about.”

Threadbare looked around the empty cabin. The curtains had been taken down. He willed his Scents and Sensability skill to activate, and took a breath or two. There were no unfamiliar scents here, unless a Sensate was hiding them with olfactory illusions.

“And what happens then?” he asked.

“Why speculate about something that might never happen?” Karey made an exaggerated shrug.

“You just said... ah, wait, there was a should in there,” Threadbare cocked his head. “So what would make this not happen?”

Karey grinned her gap-toothed grin. “Yer help, when the time comes.”

“I'm going to need more information than that,” Threadbare told her.

Karey grimaced, and knelt down, peering through the keyhole of the door. Then she covered it with her hand, and lowered her voice. “Mutiny.”

“Ah,” Threadbare said, as things fell into place.

“Don't think I've given ye anything by tellin' ye this,” Karey said, leveling a stern gaze. “She already knows I plan it someday. Just maybe doesn't know I've moved the timetable up some.”

“I've seen her fight,” Threadbare said. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“It's not a matter o' it being a good idea,” Karey said, eyebrows drawing together, anger flushing her skin under her thin fur. “It's a matter of it bein' that or death. Do ye know why we've lost so many crew on this trip?”

“This isn't normal?”

“Bah! Hell no it ain't!” She caught herself as her voice rose, and brought it down again, as she knelt to put her head closer to Threadbare. “The trip across the ocean, the journey inland, the fight with that dragon... y'know what it's cost us?”

“Lives?” Threadbare asked.

“Gold!” she snapped. “And THAT cost us lives.”

“Can you explain?”

“Ye know why Pirates be so greedy for gold? Tis because one half of our required job be Mercenary. And what do Mercenaries do with gold, or any coin really?”

Threadbare's mind flashed back to his first boss fight, alongside Garon. To how they would have died horribly if he hadn't gotten his hands on the treasure chest. “They use it to heal themselves. Instantly,” Threadbare said.

“Aye,” Karey said, and ran her fingers along the gaps in her teeth. “Three times she's shifted pain my way, this trip. Three times I had to burn one of me gold teeth to keep from bein' maimed or worse. But I'm runnin' low. And I was one o' the richer ones out o' the crew. We're all low. And she ain't givin' us time to scavenge up more. Even in the dungeon, we had to focus on them engine parts... she threatened death to any who got greedy o'er common treasure.”

“The crew took some of Midian's jewelry and things,” Threadbare pointed out.

“Some, aye. But a lot of those are magical. Blood is Gold only works on nonmagical treasure. The point is not only are we stretched thin, we be short of materials to keep us alive. And Anne is hellbent on finishing this job. So if she doesn't change, if she be bound to this course, we'll have to rise up or be slowly carved down to our gizzards.”

“When?” Threadbare asked.

“When I call it. Not before. Now. Be ye in, or do I go and have me a chat with Anne about your wooden poppet?”

“You leave me little choice,” Threadbare said, looking down. “But in return, I want a bit more.” This was a bargaining trick he'd learned from dealing with the Council. Concede, then add a condition to the concession.

“And what do ye ask, lady?” There was that gap-toothed grin again. But her tension had eased, just a bit.

“Protect him as well as you can. Don't let Anne throw his life away. I want him taken care of, or the deal's off.”

“Simple enough. I'd lose me leverage over ye if I didn't.” Karey shrugged. “Consider it done.”

They shook on it, and she left happy.

Threadbare was a bit less so.

“Can we trust her?” Renny whispered, a few minutes later.

“No,” Threadbare said, plainly. “This just buys us time.”