Monstrum, July 23rd
Somehow Jenos took our lies easily. Believed us without a doubt.
I did meet Mabilia four days ago at the Clover Tavern, but the truth ends there. I know her father, Athair Farnworth. He said he wanted to meet with me in Forsythia. When I got there I was informed that Darius Oakheart, a love of mine, had been murdered. Athair knew who killed him. His name is Draven Nightshade. He is known as a high mage. I highly doubt that. I've seen many things in my 46 years, but never magic. Whoever this man is, I will kill him. Most recently he was seen in Sequoia, Pelagus, but that was weeks ago. And just our luck, Pelagus is the largest continent in the world, and Nightshade could be anywhere in it right now.
I'm brought out of my thoughts when I hear a knock on my door.
"Come in" I allow, covering my notes.
Jenos walks in, an ill-tempered look on his face.
"Monstrum, I know you said not to question you, but I need to know what's going on. You've been off for weeks, and now you've invited some random person into our crew?" He questions. His brows are furrowed, and he refuses to meet my eyes.
"Jenos, do you trust me?" I ask quietly.
"Yes, sir, I didn't mean to imply that I don't trust you but I dont-"
"If you trust me, then you will follow my orders and understand that I may have motives that you do not understand. Sometimes it's better not to know everything." I affirm. I need Jenos on my crew, but I cannot risk giving him any details.
"but we're supposed to know everything, that's how it's been for at least as long as I've been here" He demands, his voice heightening.
"You aren't listening, Jenos. I would tell you what's going on if I could, but I just can't. You need to trust me." I order.
Jenos huffs and walks out of the room, his eyes glued to the floor as he creaks the door open. He pauses for just a moment, and I think he'll say something else, but he doesn't. The room goes silent, the only noise being the light crash of waves hitting the ship.
"Monstrum?" I hear Mabilia call only moments after Jenos leaves.
"come in" I say. Mabilia walks in and immediately sits down across from me without hesitation. Her face is dull, various strands of her auburn hair fallen in front of her face. With one swift motion, she brushes them back away from her eyes and begins to speak.
"What's our plan to take on Nightshade?" she questions. I'm unsure how to respond. In my head, I've killed Nightshade a thousand ways, all of them long and painful, but I hadn't actually thought of any plans.
I stay quiet, trying desperately to think of anything that won't make me sound like an idiot. "Well, it's far too soon to make a plan, don't you think? Our plan will have to depend on where he is, who he travels with, we don't have anything to go off of for the moment being."
Mabilia nods, but she has more to say, I can tell.
"You have experience in combat with a mage, do you not? I can't say I ever have, and it would be a valuable skill, I'm sure." she comments.
"You can't be serious" I say, taken aback by her words, "magic is not real, you know that, don't you?"
"What? Of course it is" she retorts sharply, "Nightshade is known as the high mage"
I can't believe what I'm hearing. How can Mabilia believe in magic? Anybody with common sense knows that magic is not anything more than children's stories.
"This is ridiculous" I say quietly to myself. Before I can say anything else, Mabilia stands up, her tall figure looming over me. The woman must be more than 6 foot.
"Ridiculous? This is serious, even if you don't believe that he is a mage, you must be prepared for all scenarios. My father told me that you were the best captain on the sea, a mastermind he said. If this is how you go about an extremely dangerous and important mission, then why am I working with you?" her voice sounds furious . I quickly realize I've struck a nerve.
"I apologize," I tell her "You are right, we must be prepared for whatever does happen when we take on Nightshade. I know I'm supposed to be the mastermind here, but maybe some advice from the newcomer?" I offer, hoping to soothe the tension. If I've learned anything from being a captain for so long, it's that having unresolved tensions among your crew will wreck the team from the inside out.
Mabilia agrees, composing herself. We talk for a long time. Before Mabilia left home, her father informed her on everything he could learn about Nightshade, whether it was undeniably true or completely theorized. Supposedly he is a necromancer, and a powerful one. It's been said that he can raise an entire undead army within minutes. Other theories state that he is not a mage, but a viking who's conquered millions of lives. Some say he isn't even a warrior at all, just some random traveler making up stories about himself. This is the problem-we have no idea what he truly is, and therefore, we have no strategy to fight him.
When Mabilia leaves, I go and make sure we're on route to Sequoia. We are, of course. I have plenty of experience in navigation, but I check every few hours anyways. Since everything is sound with navigation, I make my rounds, check that everyone is working. Jenos is staring at a map, one with circles all over it. Jenos is looking for any possible missions around.
"That won't be necessary," I tell Jenos, "We are going straight to Sequoia."
"Sequoia? But we're so far away from Sequoia, we'll surely starve before we get there." He complains.
"Don't be dramatic, we have four days at most before we reach Sequoia. We'll survive until then." I say. Jenos ignores me and goes to work on something else. I could tell him off for his attitude, but I don't.
I go to see Rusticus, and, of course, he's asleep.
"Rusticus, for god's sake, get up." I yell.
Rusticus jumps up "Yes, sorry sir." he says.
"There's plenty you could be working on, and even if there wasn't, it's nearly noon! You should be up by now. Go do your work." I order.
"Sorry sir, won't happen again." He assures. That's not true of course, I'll be surprised if it doesn't happen again tomorrow. Nevertheless, Rusticus obeys and goes to do one of the many tasks on our ship. At least he isn't drunk. Just in case he decides to change that, I go and clear some of the alcohol from the ship, putting it in my cabin.
When I leave, I see a ship in the far distance. Nothing I recognize, and nothing large. I don't foresee them attempting an attack, but I ready the crew anyways. When they get closer, they put an anchor down. We don't attack yet, not until we know. A man, whom I can only assume is their captain, walks toward us.
"Have you seen this woman? She's a criminal." the man says. He holds up a drawing, and I know the woman depicted. It's Mabilia, unmistakably. I suppose it's no surprise, her being an assassin and all, but it does catch me slightly off guard.
"No sir, never seen her." I affirm, my voice steady. The man nods and the anchor is pulled. The ship drifts away calmly.
Once the ship is far enough away, I go over to Mabilia and pull her into my cabin.
"I thought you'd never been caught." I say.
"I haven't." she says, "I've been seen, not caught. Witnesses describe me, somebody draws me, and now there's a bounty on me, it's not that big of a deal."
I look to the sky, silently pleading with the gods to kill me now. Knowing Mabilia, she won't get caught any time soon, but the thought that it could jeopardize our mission makes me want to spill my guts.
"You are to be disguised any time that we are on land or even close to land." I order.
"oh come on, really?" she combats.
"Yes, really, I can't take any risks." She rolls her eyes slightly and nods in agreement. She knows how important this mission is. If we get caught, we will be killed. There is not a doubt in my mind. Being caught is not an option.
With nothing left to do, I sit down for a minute, finally getting a break. Or at least that's what I think
And then I hear it. The guns of Lauderdale. These guns are not meant to attack, but to signal. We are about to go to battle. Great. Just great.