Brahgen narrowed his eyes. "Impalement is when you sharpen the stake and drive it up a man's…"
"Yes," he answered.
"Until it comes out the…"
"Indeed."
"Well then." The dwarf coughed. "I’m learning a little of what you're capable of when angry."
"Aren't you glad you're my friend?" he asked. "And that I did not take it personally that you tried to rob me when we met?"
"Yes…and yes." Brahgen grinned.
Skharr nodded and turned his attention to Graves. "How seaworthy is the Redress?"
The captain looked like he had dreaded that question. "Seaworthy might be putting it kindly. When that fucking kraken tried to mount her, it caused all kinds of damage that even I won't be able to fully determine until I see it for myself. We have holes in the hull that need repair and the rudder is damaged, which means we'll limp to the nearest port to see to those problems."
"I see." The warrior looked thoughtful for a moment. "And where is the closest port of call?"
"The Dragon Followers have established a small town at the cape that should be a decent enough haven."
"I'm sorry—the Dragon Followers?" Brahgen asked.
"Nothing like what you're thinking," Skharr interrupted when he realized where the dwarf's mind was headed. "They're a raiding group that works with pirates—brigands with a small fleet and every boat has a dragon's head carved into the bow. They attack fishing villages and the like up and down the coastline."
"Well then." Brahgen nodded. "I suppose that's our next stop."
"Right." He sheathed his sword. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to feed Horse a few apples."
Graves sighed and shook his head. "Of course he smuggled his horse onto my ship as well."
Chapter Twenty
"Why won't the empire simply come in and deal with the fuckers?"
Skharr looked at where Brahgen still clung to the side of the ship, ready to hurl whatever food he had eaten during their morning meal. He had tried to tell him that he needed to continue to eat, even if he threw it up. It was simple logic. He would need any sustenance he could manage and not everything that went down would come up.
The slower movement of the ship and the comparatively calm waters certainly helped, but there was no immediate solution for the green hue that had suffused the dwarf's face. He wouldn’t be comfortable until they were on dry land. While the barbarian felt bad for him, there was little he could do to help him.
"Well?"
The question pulled him from his thoughts and he tried to not smile at the way his companion clung desperately to the railing.
"Did you say something?"
"I asked why the empire won't come in and deal with the raiders and pirates once and for all."
"Why do you think the raiders and pirates settled in this location in the first place?"
Brahgen shook his head.
"This is about as far away from the imperial city as they can be," Skharr explained. "Most of their troops are committed to wars in the west and the north, which leaves this little corner of the empire to practically govern themselves. I doubt that a tax man has been through these parts in the last decade or so. As such, with nothing to hinder them, the criminals found a place where they could continue their actions without having to deal with imperial troops at all. And if the troops were to arrive, they would simply climb into their ships and sail to where the soldiers aren't."
The dwarf tilted his head, rolled his eyes, and looked a little less sick than he had a while before. "I will assume you know so much about it because you read a great deal during your travels. While you were saving innocent travelers and keeping the virgins pure and the monsters at bay."
"The…virgins were not kept pure," Skharr admitted. "But in my defense, they were not pure in the first place. And they asked me to…" He shrugged
"I see," Brahgen muttered. "You were one of these shits—raiding, killing folk, and transporting people to be killed."
"I wasn't like them," he muttered. "I was considerably worse. They don't call folk who are like the others anything other than a pirate like the rest of them."
"What made you stop? Why do you fight for the gods now?"
"I was…in an emotional state. When that passed, I realized I was taking my pain out on the rest of the world. From that point forward, I decided I would be a farmer for the rest of my life and grow things instead of killing them."
Brahgen looked around the deck and chuckled. "I'd say you're one shit farmer."
"Shut your hole, dwarf. A god meandered along one day and told me he wanted me elsewhere. I doubt either of us thought I would survive a dungeon with a fucking lich in it, but I did and…well, I've tripped into one fucking pile of horse crap that needed fixing after another."
He didn't like being in the region any better than his companion did, although for vastly different reasons. Old memories of what he had done while sailing through these waters were unpleasant to think about. That time was truly as low as he'd ever been.
And the way the crew looked at him didn't help. Something almost like reverence gleamed in their eyes alongside the fear. They expected the Scourge to turn them into a story that was told by drunken sailors at the end of the night when all the good wine was gone.
"We are approaching the Dragon Followers, Captain," one of the crew shouted.
Skharr turned his attention to the small bay that had carved into the coast where a river finally delivered its water to the ocean. It was easy to miss, the kind of nondescript feature that blended into the landscape. More importantly, with cliffs rising from every point around it, the sea was the only way to approach it. Old imperial ballistae had been positioned on the rocks to turn any ship approaching into a smoking wreck. A determined attack would get through but not before the denizens inside had time to sneak away.
He'd always been of the opinion that the Dragon Followers had started as a small imperial fleet that decided to turn pirate, but over the years, so many of them had been killed that even their history was lost.
"The area is appealing," Brahgen muttered. "I could see myself living here after a while."
"I'm sure you could," Skharr responded. "Although they would ask you to repair their weapons, given that you're a dwarf. I doubt they would let you do much of anything else."
"Ah. I'd avoid this particular location, then."
"Good lad. Clever thinking."
The Redress still limped along, and it took effort to turn her into the inlet. It inched painstakingly slowly through the calm waters to where a group had begun to assemble on the white beach surrounding the village. The settlement looked fairly simple and there were many similarities between it and most military camps.
With that said, it looked like the original camp had been in place long enough to grow roots. While more than a few temporary-looking tents were in evidence, buildings had been erected on tall stilts to avoid the rising tide waters. Dozens of trees grew in the expanse between the water and the sheer cliffs above them, but their roots also acted as stilts.