Robin sat next to me and Rikaad, absentmindedly stuffing flowers into his mouth and making even more flower crowns out of those he didn't eat.

Rikaad stood up and looked towards the mountain.

“We should continue our journey after eating we still have some ways to go especially now that we had to flee from the Arachnids”

That much was true.

I had run a good distance away from those things and not in the direction we were headed but rather perpendicular to the mountain.

“Aw fuck but at least we know now how to avoid those critters at least”

Standing up slowly I picked up the flowers that weren't eaten and went over to Arthur, pouring the plants over him to which he reacted by sitting up abruptly and glaring at me.

“That's for stabbing me”

I went back over to the other two without a word.

Robin was laughing but Rikaad was looking rather displeased.

Fuck, i hoped i would not get murdered in my sleep for this.

He did not do anything else and instead turned away from the mountains and started walking back into the woods.

Arthur finally got up and went over to walk next to Rikaad, still glaring at me and tearing into some of the flowers I had tossed over him like an angry dog.

Robin ran up to me and motioned for me to pick him up again, so I once again offered him my hand to climb on.

Arthur did not look happy about it, he probably expected Robin to be scared of me now, honestly I was too so I was glad that it wasn't the case.

Cupping the ginger boy closer to my chest I tried to not walk too fast for the other two.

“You're lazy, ginger boy”

I quipped to the small human in my hands.

“I know”

He just grinned and lounged back against my chest.

The two that were walking by themselves kept looking at my hands, or more specifically the Rusthead that occupied them.

They were probably worried that I would do something.

I tried my best to not be offended and attributed it to what happened earlier instead.

It was a walk in silence for a few minutes until Arthur piped up.

“How long do you think we have to walk? Till we get home i mean”

It took a few moments before Rikaad responded.

“I would guess a few more days but i'm not familiar with the landscape here”

I was sure that as long as we went opposite of the mountain we couldn't go too wrong.

After all, the only thing we could run into would be the ocean if we somehow missed the Kingdom entirely so we would just have to walk along the shore to find civilization.

The redhead in my hands abruptly stood up and I tried my best to not let him fall over on the uneven surface.

“Maybe if Donovan held me over the trees I could see something?”

All of us looked at him a bit alarmed at his suggestion.

While not out of character for him to come up with such a dumb idea it might actually work.

I just wasn't sure how to go about something like that, What if I didn't hold him correctly and dropped him?

The smaller men apparently had similar thoughts as Arthur immediately bristled.

“That a dumb idea! And Dangerous too! What if you fall? You'll break your legs!”

Rikaad however seemed to mull it over.

“It might give insight as to where we currently are but i'm not sure if its a good idea, it might be dangerous if we don't find a way to do secure you this high up”

I looked down at the rusthead, trying to think of a way to hold him that would not result in him falling to the ground should he continue moving like a hyperactive mouse.

“I mean I could? I just would have to hold you i guess”

The Ginger boy nodded enthusiastically and sat down again, his legs straight out forward waiting for me to lift him over the trees.

Taking a few seconds to think of how to do it, I ended up grabbing his lower half in a gentle fist, leaving his arms and torso free.

I really hoped having his legs secure up to his waist would be good enough as he was a rather fidgety little guy.

Since it seemed alright like this I began to slowly lift him over my head, ignoring the death glare Arthur sent me and Rikaad’s icy gaze that lingered on me.

Having Robin so far over my head with my arm completely outstretched I felt like it was rather dumb looking but ignored it at his excited shout.

“I can see a tower! It's a good bit away still but i think we can make it today if we're fast!!”

He was pointing to a spot a tiny bit to our right and away from the mountain still.

That was weird, if anything I would have guessed that I'd be more to our left and farther away too.

How fast had I run away from those spiders?

Attributing it to adrenaline I slowly put Robin down to the ground again making sure not to go too fast to avoid making him dizzy.

He hopped off my hand as soon as he could and went over to the other two.

“I think we can make it today! If we go fast now!”

He grabbed both of their arms and began Dragging them along.

I slowly shuffled behind.

I felt weird over this piece of information.

I didn't know if I was sad or not about the fact that they all would be out of my life soon.

On one hand Robin was extremely nice to me and Rikaad seemed to at least tolerate me, but Arthur seemed to just plain dislike me completely.

Well I wouldn't have to worry about that soon as I couldn't go back to the City anyway, and Humans did not belong in the forest at all.

Slowly dragging my feet over the ground after them I was glad that at least one with Robin dragging them along it was a bit faster and I did not have to stop as much anymore.

It took a few hours to get anywhere close enough that everyone else could see the mentioned tower too, but something was off about it.

The tower looked well kept and clean, even the flags swaying in the light breeze that had warmed up the air since we ran from the spiders looked recently washed.

Wait a second the flags were wrong.

Instead of the yellow star on pale blue ground with the red ring around it it depicted two weird dark blue sickle moons on gray ground.

This was not Kamerasca.

We had walked all the way to the neighboring Kingdom Maringand instead of back to our own Kingdom.

Well this still wasn't so bad, civilisation was civilisation after all.

And the small humans could probably just hitch a ride on a traders cart or something.

Looking down I saw them looking rather confused, and Arthur looked downright frightened for whatever reason.

He probably thought he'd be home by now and realized that he had to walk even more through dangerous territory now.

Robin turned to look between me and Rikaad with puppy eyes.

“How do we go back to Kamerasca now? Donovan can't go through Maringand with us”

I kneeled down to be more at level with them, ignoring whatever Arthur was doing a bit further back.

“I'm Not going with you from this point anymore, i'm going back into the woods, i can't go anywhere near a city anymore as a Giant”

I stood back up as Robin tried to come up with something to say.

“But- but we-uh we are not in Kamerasca yet! You said you'd stay till we got there!”

That was not technically true.

“I said i'd stay with you until we got to a city not that it HAD to be Tunstead, besides only half of this group seems to not hate me so it's better if i just go”

I turned away from the small humans and slowly went away from them into the forest once again, but this time completely alone.

I was not sure what I would do now seeing as I only went Giant rather recently but would make due, I always did.

Having my back turned to them I suddenly heard the telltale CLACK of a bolt being shot from a crossbow.

Feeling it embed itself in my shoulder blade I turned around as fast as I could while ripping it out, thinking I had been betrayed by Rikaad as he was the only one with a crossbow.

As soon as I had turned completely a second bolt was shot straight into my collarbone and another was shot too quickly to have been reloaded into my upper leg.

Already starting to feel the effects of what had to be even more Sedative than last time I tried to figure out where it was coming from while falling to my knees once again.

Looking at a point behind the smaller men I saw an entire group of actual Guards, Guards from Maringand not Kamerasca, had surrounded us on half a side and with the Tranquilliser running through my bloodstream I could not do anything as I fell to the ground completely.

With my Vision Darkening from the edges the last thing I saw was Arthur shoving Robin in Rikaad’s direction before being tackled by at least five Guards into the ground as he tried to run away, now writhing like a man possessed under the heavier humans.

The last thing I heard was Robin shouting something but the words would not register in my brain.

Then everything went completely dark and I was left alone in Nothingness.

Some time passed, and then slowly there was something more than blackness… there was a slight sound… a very very distant thudding.

I frowned in my semi-consciousness… confused by the sound’s presence when just a moment ago there had been soft, fuzzy silence and comfort.

I knew I was lying on the floor, and the ground was a lot harder than the dirt in the forest.

My eyes flickered open to gray dimness, pupils immediately dilating and constricting to adjust to the scarce light, okay… so what was going on?

My thoughts were confused, and I didn't seem to have the capability to move just yet… So… That noise?

A little voice of reason in the back of my head spoke out, ‘That's your heartbeat genius’.

Okay… so i was alive then… or at least… I felt like I was…

Another couple of minutes passed before i regained the ability to move, and i sat up very slowly, putting a hand to the back of my head and rubbing my scalp, trying to recall what had landed me wherever I was now.

Then in a flash I remembered what had happened.

Oh Fuck.

Well one thing after the other, so where the hell was i?

Firstly I seemed to be in a circular room , the tower we had seen maybe?

Looking a bit more it seemed that the only light came from a window way up overhead.

I couldn't reach it even if I wanted to, but at least I had some light to work with.

A ray of dusty light came down all the way to one of the walls and I moved to sit in the sunbeam, there that was better.

Scanning the walls a bit there were small doors laid into the solid Brickwork, about three small ones and one larger one where I had to be brought inside through.

Looking a bit more up I saw the ceiling way way over me, This tower must be huge!

And on what I assumed was an upper floor there were balconies built, still out of reach for me even if I jumped as high up as I could.

So i was taken captive, fuck.

I wasn't sure what would happen to me now, would they keep me as a sort of twisted monster pet? Or would they toss me into an arena to be defeated by a gladiator?

None of the options running through my head were very appealing.

I wondered what had happened to the trio of small humans that I had tagged along with and hoped they were alright.

I knew at least Arthur had a problem when I got shot as the last thing I saw was him tackled into the ground by five soldiers.

Before I could dwell further about the whereabouts of the smaller men though, The smallest door opened for about five seconds and an unconscious person was thrown in.

The person was facing away from me lying in a heap and looking closer was wearing the Kamerasca tunic, all other Armour had been stripped away.

Getting slowly closer I recognized the Blonde hair and Identified him as Arthur.

Of all the people to be thrown into my cell it had to be the one that had an inherent dislike for me, of course.

Still I wanted to make sure he was alive as sharing a cell with a corpse wasn't something I was looking forward to.

And I didn't really believe he deserved to die even if he was an asshole to me.

Not to mention Robin would be sad.

So I gently shook the limp form of the Guard apprentice hoping to get a reaction.

The thing I got was a pained groan and his arms twitching a bit.

“Arthur? Wake up, are you okay? You're not dying on me here right? I don't want a rotting corpse in my cell”

My voice seemed to draw him a bit further out of his sorry state and he started moving to sit up.

I went a bit away from him to the opposite wall of the pit we were trapped in.

“Wha- whas goin onnn?”

He seemed to have trouble identifying where he was and I surmised he got whacked on the head or something.

“We got caught by Maringand dipshit”

He looked thoroughly alarmed by that for reasons that probably went beyond me, I hadn't really taken my time to keep an ear out for stupid politics when on the streets.

“Oh no oh no oh fuck I need to get out of here”

He was panicking and patting at the walls and trying to get the solid iron doors to open by rattling at each of them as hard as he could.

Did he have claustrophobia or something?

Well that wasn't really my problem and i didn't know what to do about it anyway.

He panicked for at least half an hour while I was watching in silence until he collapsed at the wall furthest from me to the ground, drawing his knees up to his chest, crossing his arms over them and burying his head into the hollow it made.

“What are you panicking about? If anything i should be the one to do that seeing as i'm a Bastard and you're not”

He looked over his crossed arms at me with a sour expression.

“You don't understand, they WILL kill me i know it”

Well that wasn't vague at all, i rolled my eyes at him.

“Yeah sure, i bet i'll die before you though seeing as i'm a ‘Monster’ “

He looked at me strangely.

“That's NOT what I mean, they're probably going to put on a show for your death, but mine….well it's gonna get painful i guess”

What the fuck was he talking about? Had he been in Maringand before? Before I could think to ask him about it he had a Question himself though.

“How are you so calm? You know you are going to die and yet you just sit there?”

At least it was a coherent Inquiry for once.

“Well i guess i always expected to be caught one day, after all i was a Bastard living in the streets and i'm actually really surprised i made it this far”

He slunk back against the wall even further hiding his face once again.

It was true though, I always knew I wouldn't die of old age and likely be killed or die of some treatable disease.

Despite sitting in the only available sunbeam I still felt like it was way too dark here and something kept nagging at me.

“Arthur? Do you know what happened to the others?”

I almost didn't dare ask, as I was honestly afraid of the answer, I sincerely hoped they were okay.

“I think they're alright, Maringand doesn't really have any negative relations to the Kamerasca Citizens”

The way he said Kamerasca Citizens was a bit weird, almost as if he didn’t count himself.

“So why are you guys locked up? I mean i understand that they put me in this ugly pit, but you guys aren't even actual guards”

He shifted uncomfortably against the wall trying to hide his face even more.

“I'm Not from Kamerasca”

The quiet admission did surprise me, I had thought with how he acted absolutely loyal to Kamerasca that he was born there.

“What the fuck do you mean by that? Are you a Criminal here? Did you flee to Kamerasca or something?

He still looked incredibly uncomfortable and slid down even further on the wall, this guy was flexible as hell i noted.

“Or something is close enough i guess, i'm the son of a high ranking nobleman that was killed in a coup to take over the entire nobility of Maringand”

Of all the things I had expected it certainly was not this.

“What? You mean to tell me that you're a nobleman?? And that's why these fucks put us in this stupid prison?”

He actually seemed guilty for what had happened and looked like he tried to melt into the floor, wincing.

“I know how this sounds, but believe me i'm telling the truth, though I expected to be dead by now”

He did not have any reason to lie about Such a thing, and why would he?

That’d be absolutely idiotic if what he said about the coup was true then that just meant he’d put himself in danger by telling such a thing.

“I don’t think you are lying, it would be stupid to make that up and just put yourself in danger”

He finally looked back up from his arms.

“Yeah it would be, besides i'm an absolutely terrible actor anyways, basically everyone can attest to that, i wouldn't be able to act to save my life”

I realized that this was only the second time I had talked to Arthur that didn’t end in the use of insults or screaming.

Though looking at the dejected form of the human slouched against the wall I doubted that he had the energy to do so, and neither did I if I was honest, the sedative still made me a bit sleepy.

Before either of us could say anything more a loud Bang came from overhead, like big doors being flung open.

Looking up I realized that the noise must have come from one of the balconies, was someone there?

“WHY HASN'T THE BEAST DONE ANYTHING YET? I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION!”

A loud nasally voice called from the platform, I couldn't see who the speaker was but I did hear other people speaking too albeit at a normal volume and I couldn't make out the words.

Glancing at Arthur I could see that he was looking up unconcealed dread, did he know the owner of the voice?

As I looked up again I could see a face leaning over the railing of one of the balconies. 

The most prominent feature I could make out even from all the way down here was a pair of thick bushy eyebrows that had grown together in the middle.

To the side I heard Arthur start to breathe heavily, he likely did know the owner of the voice then.

The eyebrow guy's gaze seemed to bore into me and I tried my best to remain calm. 

Just because I knew I would get killed here didn't mean I was going to accelerate my death by being an idiot.

“BEAST! TELL ME WHY THE MAN THROWN INTO YOUR CELL IS STILL ALIVE?”

What the fuck did this guy even want? Did he expect me to mindlessly kill whatever was thrown at me like a rabid dog?

Deciding to respond the best I could I also tried to remain as calm as possible.

I truly did not want to be seen as just another monster that they could put in shackles to do their bidding.

“I don't kill people, also where am I kept? I would like to leave”

I glared at him with a sour face making my disdain for the situation very clear.

The eyebrow guy did not seem to like that.

“WELL WE WILL SEE IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND ON THAT! YOU'LL NOT BE FED TILL YOU HAVE KILLED HIM BEAST!”

Before I could do anything else the loud man had already turned away out of sight and a few seconds later heard the door close.

“What the fuck dude, what do they expect? That I do what they want just cuz they don't give me food? Fat chance”

I huffed out and looked back to Arthur who had gone pale as a corpse, He was shaking and looking at me with fear in his eyes.

“You- you're not going to kill me? Why? You hate me”

I was a bit taken aback by this, had he really expected me to kill them the entire time? I tried to not let that hurt me but it still stung.

“No? Why should i? Just cuz i don't like someone doesn't mean i want them dead”

He curled up against the wall again, a sigh escaping his mouth.

“This is all my fault, i shouldn't have followed you into the forest i shouldn't have-”

“Shut up, its not your fault why the fuck would you have known what would happen?”

I interrupted him before he started swimming in self-pity.

He just groaned and put his hands over his face.

“I’m just glad that the others are fine for now, the Guards won't do anything to them seeing as killing Kamerasca Guards wouldn't look good for them”

I was relieved to hear that, but it still left the problem of being held captive.

“Do you have any idea how to get out of here?”

He looked back at me with a sad look on his face.

“No, these things were built to imprison dragons, so we don't really have a chance to get out unless someone gets us out”

This was built for dragons? Well it would make sense, seeing as the only window was way up in a gradually thinning cylinder that was likely underground.

“So we're stuck? Unless they actually let us out, which i doubt they would do”

He nodded, still slouched sadly against the curved wall.

“Maybe i can make a deal, ask them to let the others go and only kill me”

I looked at him a bit surprised, he'd actually offer his own life in exchange for letting the others free?

And would that include me too? I doubted it because he didn't like me, and even if he did try it was very unlikely that those aristocrats would agree to let a ‘dangerous Beast’ roam free.

“Are you sure about that? You are aware that dying is permanent right?”

“Of course I do! I just- I'm- This is just so dumb! I've been Terrified for like two years for exactly this!

And now I dragged my friends into it! I NEVER meant to do that!

I've been always on the lookout for anything that could kill me, and then later for anything that could kill my friends! And I failed! Twice!

I hate this! All of this!”

Oh… a few things suddenly made a bit more sense now, he wasn't really angry all this time, he was afraid, afraid to die or that i would kill him and his friends.

And as is Human Nature they don't want to be afraid, so they get angry instead, lashing out at whatever they could whether it was at fault or not.

I had completely misunderstood him the entire time, he hadn't been angry at me, he had been afraid of me!

And I didn't really do anything to help with that fear.

No wonder he was such a Grumpy dude.

Before either of us could say anything more a loud scraping sound came from one of the Balconies and a wooden construction held up with rope came into view.

A construction crane? Why would they have that here?

Arthur had gone pale again, looking up with dread as a dozen or so Guards appeared on the edges of the balconies, all holding mean looking Crossbows that were aimed at me.

Would they just shoot us both to death? They didn't move until a wooden platform was panned over the balcony hanging from the crane.

My first assumption upon getting properly on the boat was that I would indeed fit on the deck as an Ardua, three times even.

The second was that the ground wasn't as steady anymore.

The waves that gently swapped against the boat made it rock back and forth slightly, Arthur would probably have thrown up by now already.

I walked over the deck with Robin in tow, taking a closer look at the middle mast and the deck itself.

There were crates strewn about and some crewmates were tying them down to the ship with rope or lowering them into the ship itself through a hole.

Robin leaned so far over one that he almost fell in but I managed to snatch the back of his shirt before he did.

Having him on the deck properly again we went to search for Rikaad, if he was on board already he could tell us what to do.

I could shift into a giant, maybe I could help with the cargo somehow?

Thought that might scare people so maybe not, 

not to mention i was still hauling Robin's bag around with me while he had mine slung over his shoulder.

“Do you see Rikaad? Or even the captain? I want to now where to put our stuff”

The ginger shook his head.

“No, I don't even know who the Captain is! Ohh do you think he has an eyepatch? Like a pirate? Or a wooden leg?”

“No idea, I guess look for someone with the fanciest gear? Or like someone with medals on their uniform?”

I kinda doubted the captain would look like one of the pirates from stories, but then again I had no idea what to look for.

Continuing to look around we walked up a set of stairs, where we did find Rikaad talking to a man who wore a big dark red coat that had yellow accents and golden buttons.

Considering he was talking to Rikaad, that was probably the captain.

Rikkad suddenly turned around to face us,  as weird as it was that he knew we were there.

“There you are! Come here for a moment i'm going to introduce you to the captain of this vessel”

We walked over as instructed and he introduced the captain, who apparently was named Nemas.

Judging by his appearance, while still human, he wasn't native to Kamerasca and he had a face tattoo in the shape of a thorny rose stalk.

No wonder the ship was called Victory Rose.

“Welcome onboard! I hope none of you are prone to get seasick as we will spend a few days on the sea!”

Without missing a beat Robin replied.

“No, we left the one that gets sick back at home!”

the captain roared with guttural laughter.

“AHAHAHA good one! One less thing to worry about then,  last time I had a seasick guy onboard he fell in the water! Now then I'll have one of my crewmates show you your cabins later! We only need to tow the last crate and get all of the crew!”

He jumped over a railing to the lower part of the big deck and I could see from up here he was filling his lungs with air.

“GUYS! GET YOUR SHIP WIVES AND GET READY!  WERE ABOUT TO LEAVE HARBOR!”

That guy could yell loud, I should have held a hand over my ears, and what the hell were ship wives?

Whatever, I followed Rikaad and Robin down again to the deck where a sailor with a scarred throat mentioned for us to follow.

We did as instructed and the man led us to a bunch of cabins in the back of the ship, Rikaad got the biggest seeing as he was king.

Robin and I got one somewhat close and tossed our bags inside before going back on deck to watch the city get smaller and smaller behind us.

How weird, my entire life I had spent scared of being murdered in the city, and now I was on a ship to the trader islands with the king himself.

To Make sure I REALLY wasn't dreaming I pinched myself, yeah no, wide awake.

But still crazy to think about, so I just sat there for a while and watched Kamerasca get smaller and smaller. 

But I still made sure to keep an eye on Robin who clambered all over the place, ready to sprint after him should he even get close to falling in the water.

After a few minutes of that he joined me and we watched as Kamerasca slowly disappeared, talking about what details we could still make out.

At some point nothing of Kamerasca was visible anymore, not even the Castle and I had to admit this was a very fast boat despite its size.

Not that I knew anything about sailing though.

Since it was midday when we left it was only a few hours till dinnertime, I wondered what that would be like on the ship, did they also have a big table? Did that even fit in here?

Though maybe they would just hand out rations to the people and leave them to eat them on their own.

I did see a table in the captains quarter, though that one had been full of maps and other stuff I couldn't even name, Oakley would have had a blast with that I'm sure.

I decided to look around the deck a bit while Robin went and talked the ears of some sailor off about the boat and whatnot.

What I did find weird was that none of the sailors even batted an eye at me, considering my bastard status and pointy ears that was a tad strange.

I decided to talk to a few of the sailors out of curiosity.

As it turned out they just didn't care,  and had seen way weirder things on their journeys, they even pointed out the various injuries they had gotten from unusual creatures.

For example a missing finger from a horned wolf who had looked pettable for way too short and a chunk bitten out of someone's leg by a seadrake, as well as the sailor from before with the scarred throat.

The other ones told me he was mute which made sense given he hadn't made a single sound and the reason for that and the scars was that he got into a bar brawl with a tall and bumpy skinned guy that had possessed tusks.

Apparently the being aimed to rip out his throat with said tusks and I winced in sympathy, that must have hurt as hell! 

But he obviously survived, and when I asked how they told me their Captain had fought the attacker and cut his head off with the tusks still embedded in the mute man's throat. 

They brought him to a doc like that to prevent him from bleeding out.

What a wild story! And it was nice to know that according to them it was one of the least freaky things they came across.

They also told me they kept the tusks and they were somewhere in the captain's quarters.

These guys had quite the wild stories! And scars to match!

Suddenly a three legged gray cat with a blue bandana tied to its neck jumped up next to me and startled me.

The sailors laughed and told me the cat was named Smokey and supposed to catch rats and mice on the boat.

They had fished him out of the ocean in a bag and suspected someone tried to get rid of him like that.

The cat suddenly meowed with the most scratchy voice I could imagine, not even some of the hardcore smokers in the taverns of Kamerasca sounded like that!

No wonder he was called Smokey, not only did he have gray fur he also had a voice like he had gargled gravel.

“Mrechechech!”

The furball looked at me for a moment with weirdly yellow eyes before sprinting away to some crates.

“He's got good ears! Probably sensed a rat or something!”

For something with three legs he was pretty fast I had to admit.

Before anyone could say anything else a loud gong sounded from who knew where and the sailors all stood up and walked towards some carts that had been brought out by what I assumed were the cooks.

Suddenly I got tackled by Robin, who squealed in joy.

“They have a cat on board! And he has a job! Have you seen it? I wanna see it!”

I took a few seconds to recover from that, so he was aware of Smokey but hadn't seen him huh?

“Uh yeah i have, Smokey if i recall correctly? I think he went to hunt some mice? Maybe if you wait you'll see him?”

He pouted for a second before noticing the carts as well.

“Is that food on the carts? Do you think we are allowed to have some?”

Good question.

“Uhh lets ask someone first, they may have made extra somewhere for us so we don't intrude over there”

He nodded and we went to look for anyone who looked like they knew about such stuff.

Not finding one we decided to just knock on the captain's door to ask him.

He opened it with a sandwich in his hand that smelled strongly of fish.

“Ah hello there, can I help you with anything?”

He seemed confused,  probably thinking someone had already told us what to do.

Robin answered him faster than I could.

“Hi! Do you know where we are supposed to eat?  We can't find our group!”

His brain was all over the place once again it seemed,  but at least Nemas didn't seem bothered by the blunt question.

“Ah, I knew I forgot something! Sorry about that, I was busy with the maps! I think you can just go to the kitchen and ask, no wait you don't know where that is, eh, let me show you”

With hat he stepped out of his room and winked us to follow him,  fishy smelling sandwich still in hand.

I just shrugged and went after him with Robin right behind me.

He led us down some stairs not far from his door and showed us how to get to the kitchen.

It looked pretty much like a normal kitchen, aside from the fact things were bolted extra secure to the ground, like the tables and other working spaces.

Made sense, if bigger waves hit they would just slide around.

He organized us some bread and marmalade and then led us back to the deck. 

I silently thought next time we should just look for Rikaad.

We still thanked him and he went back into his own room, half eaten fish sandwich in hand.

How he could stand to eat something that smelled like that was beyond me though.

Deciding not to put crumbs all over the place we ate near the railing, only to have to flee to our cabins as seagulls appeared. 

So we ended up eating in our shared cabin instead, picking a feather out of my shirt.

The thing was still completely intact so I put it in the wooden box I took with me.

No idea what for but maybe someone would want it as a souvenir?

After eating we decided to unpack what we needed and I saw that the room had a bed and a hammock so we would have to choose who got what.

“Which one do you want? Bed or hammock? I'm fine with either as long as i don't fall on my face”

Robin shrugged.

“Uhh can I have the bed? Last time i went in a hammock i managed to get trapped in the fabric somehow”

Why did that not surprise me?

“Sure, take the bed,  but make sure that when we leave to check under it for your stuff”

He nodded and started searching for something in his bag while I hung my own on a hook on the wall and climbed into the hammock to test it out.

It was alright, it swayed with the motion of the sea which had a strangely soothing effect.

Grabbing my bag I fished out the medication Oakley gave me against the nightmares and took what he prescribed from it.

It was late and running all over the boat today had been exhausting, especially as I had to balance myself a lot on the unusually swaying ground.

Yawning and wishing Robin a goodnight I fell asleep pretty quickly.

I got woken up by Robin this time, which was worlds better than Nea as the only thing he did was poke my shoulder.

“Mhm?”

I blinked blearily at him.

“It's breakfast time! And this time I know where to go!”

Oh right, that was good, how long had he been awake for?

At least half an hour if he found that out already.

“Really? Good, gimme a minute i'll be right out”

“Okay! I'll try to find the cat! I really wanna see it!”

He nodded excitedly and weaseled out of the room, probably to go onto the deck.

Yawning, I stretched and then awkwardly climbed out of the hammock.

I really wasn't used to that huh.

Whatever, this arrangement wasn't for terribly long anyway.

I grabbed my shoes and slipped them on before following Robin up to the deck.

He was there staring up the middle mast with curiosity.

I went next to him and looked up as well to try and see what had captured his attention.

“There's a guy up there! What do you think he's doing?”

Looking up I could indeed see a leg stick out from a platform at the top.

Ohh what was that called again? Something Nest or so?

“i think that's the lookout, like the guy that informs people if there's land nearby or other ships”

He tilted his head like an inquisitive dog.

“Really? You think we could go up there?”

What? Up there? Quite frankly as interesting as that was, it seemed dangerous, especially for people that had never done this.

“I'm not sure if we are allowed to, besides that doesn't look very safe so id rather not, what if i fall? Or fall on top of someone?”

Falling itself was bad enough, falling on top of someone else was even worse as then I wouldn't even be the only one injured.

“Oh, you're right, and that does look pretty high up, so maybe not”

I nodded and he dragged me to where he last saw Rikaad, which turned out to be the same spot where he introduced the captain to us.

He was still there even, as well as the captain who apparently told some tale that happened to him sometime.

Man these sailors loved telling stories huh?

He was just about done with the story when we walked up the stairs though.

“Ah hello there boys! Hope sleeping with the waves moving the boat wasn't too bad for you!”

In my opinion it had been fine actually.

“Yeah it was pretty okay”

He saluted and then jumped over the railing onto the main deck again.

Rikaad looked after him.

“I do not think that man likes stairs”

Then he turned to us and before he could say anything Robin had tackled him in a hug.

To Rikaads credit he didn't even flinch, or even move a millimeter.

Instead of doing the normal thing and telling him to let go Robin was hoisted over his shoulder like a sack of flour.

Right, Rikaad was strong, so it was no wonder that he just carried Robin like that while he led us to an empty but pretty big cabin that had tables haphazardly bolted to its floor.

On the tables itself which had strange indents so the plates wouldn't slide off was some food, half of which I did not recognize.

And most of what i did not recognize was some sort of fish anyway, well it probably was the cheapest and most efficient thing to do.

Remembering the not so good smelling sandwich of the captain I'd probably leave that alone though.

While I tried to choose what to eat, Robin had already run around the tables and grabbed random things, Rikaad was nowhere to be found once again.

I went to a table that was in the corner away from the other tables which had some strange brown blocks stacked onto it.

One of the sailors was sawing a piece with a serrated bread knife.

Deciding to be bold i asked the man what that was.

“What is that? Some type of bread?”

He turned to me while stacking some of the crumbly stuff on his plate. 

“Hardtack! It's basically made from flour and water and some salt”

The entire thing only had three ingredients? No wonder it looked so strange, but then what was the white stuff? Wait did it move?

“Uhh why is it moving? What is that?”

“Oh that's maggots!”

Replied the sailor in a cheerful voice and scooped some of them onto his plate with the Hardtack before walking away.

I tried my best not to gag and instead went outside, As an Ardua I didn't need to eat as long as I had sunlight and I've never been more glad for that than now.

I really regretted asking now but there was nothing to be done about that.

No wonder that table was away from the other ones, but why the FUCK would a maggot infested salty flour block even be a meal option?

No, I didn't want to know, but considering it was made from only three easy to get ingredients it was probably meant for longer journeys where they couldn't stock up on fresh things.

Still, eew.

I didn't really want to go back inside so I walked over the large deck again, looking into the grid covered holes into the holding room of the ship.

Through the sparse light I could make out lots of crates tied to the ship and I wondered what was inside of it.

Maybe I could ask someone? Or would that be rude?

As far as i knew the cargo might as well be classified or whatever.

That and most of the people were still eating, at least the ones that weren't needed to keep the ship going where it was supposed to.

Looking up at the sunlight I kinda wished I could just turn into my Ardua form and take a nap on the deck.

But I didn't know if the ship would hold me or not, but maybe I could ask the captain? He did call the shots here after all.

Where was he anyway? Back in his cabin?

Since that was where he was last time I decided to check there, politely knocking on the door.

I heard footsteps on the wood and after a moment he opened the door, this time holding an entire smoked fish, who at least didn't smell bad.

“Ah hello! Do you need help with anything?”

He seemed quite confused, which honestly was fair.

“Uh, I just wanted to ask some things about the ship? If I'm allowed to?”

He winked me inside,  waving his smoked fish around and I followed him inside.

“Of course! I always love talking about my ship! 

It used to belong to my grandfather but I inherited it because my father would rather work a sawmill for whatever reason,  but hey if something here gets broken he's the best man to fix it!”

I felt like I was in for a not that factual rambling.

“Oh that's nice, I just wanted to ask some basic things really, like how much cargo can this vessel hold?”

He motioned for me to sit on a chair that was covered in maps, 

which I politely set on the ground.

As I sat down I spotted a weird set of coat hangers screwed into the wall and it took me a second to recognize them as tusks,  probably the same ones from that one sailors story.

So they weren't kidding huh?

“How much can it hold? Well if you're smart about weight distribution that can be multiple tons! Of course that does depend on the crate sizes and how heavy the things we transport actually are!

For example if we transport cotton that's a whole lot lighter and easier to distribute than like Marble blocks!”

He stopped gesticulating with the fish for a second, biting a chunk out of it.

“Oh wait, I think I get why you ask that!”

He did? What?

“You do? What?” He slapped the fish loudly onto a random plate.

“Your king has already informed you of the thing with the enemy ships and since my dear Victory Rose here has a very large and flat deck that can hold multiple tons he asked me to bring you guys there! 

He also informed me that one of his men could shapeshift, which is why they needed my boat and didn't take the Royal fleet!

So by that I'm assuming you're the shapeshifter? Do you really turn into a giant green lion?“

I was taken aback by that information, Rikaad had just told him that? Then again he did say he'd like me for the intimidation factor and doing that one a normal boat would just make it sink.

And informing the captain that I would eventually do that was probably the only option to not randomly get harpooned, so it did make sense.

I just wish he told me that.

“Uh, yeah, yeah I do turn into a giant ‘green lion’ though it's called an Ardua sooo…

Uh the thing i was here for was to actually ask if i could shift on the deck? 

Like if i do that i can just use sunlight instead of food and also showing what it looks like in a calm environment might be a good idea instead of suddenly having a giant being appear while in conflict with other ships?”

He clapped his hands loudly and I flinched back.

“Brilliant! What a good idea to demonstrate so my sailors don't get a heart attack! Having them distracted during a fight would be a bad thing! Especially since a ship requires a lot of things at once to sail properly!”

Huh, I was just rambling out of nervousness but he thought it was a good idea? Well I wasn't complaining.

He stood up abruptly and walked to the door, I followed behind him still a bit taken back by the waterfall of words he'd used.

He turned to me as he opened the door and strolled out backwards.

“Got any more questions? Oh since you don't really need to eat as long as you can shift have you even tried the food on the ship? If so, how'd you like it? The cooks I have onboard are from all over the known trade routes!”

That guy could talk a lot,  even more so than Robin who at least tried to stay on topic.

“Uhh, i did look at the tables? But I did go outside again after I was offered what one of your men called ‘Hardtack’.

I'm not a fan of eating live bugs and the stuff was teeming with maggots sooo…”

Alone the memory made me suppress a shudder, i didn't want to be rude but maggot infested flour block was not something i wanted on my plate.

“Ah the good ol’ Hardtack, it's for the longer journeys! And since it's only flour and a little bit of salt with water there aren't many nutrients in it!

Maggots on the other hand are full of em’! So like half the sailors started eating them with the hardtack when there wasn't much else!

I guess some of them came to like it and now they are eating them even when we got other stuff!

Also one of the cooks figured out how to fry them so they taste even better!

Though i guess to a landrat like you that seem rather unappealing”

Ah, that made some sense? Probably? 

If they got used to it they were not as squicked by it as others i guess.

And the captain really did talk a LOT, which i didn't find always necessary but whatever, as long as i understood what he was saying it was fine.

I started to regret asking as he led me to the front side of the large deck but there was nothing to be done about that now.

Ughhh and only because a bunch of maggots squicked me out!

To be fair the sight had briefly reminded me of what I had seen in the forest so long ago.

I had basically kidnapped Robin back then and walked aimlessly through the forest where some weird multi eyed fox deer with tusks rammed a maggot infested tree only to have magpies swarm down and eat them.

Not a fond memory, and I still had no idea what that even was about.

I didn't want to anyway. 

Captain Nemas led me to the front of the deck where there was enough space and told me to just hang out here while he informed the crewmantes.

Oh, that would mean they would stare at me, Now I really regretted asking.

But my rambly assessment that it was better to show them beforehand what the Ardua looked like was still valid.

I wasn't keen on having someone aim the ships cannons at me because they got scared or confused me for an enemy.

Also it was a little funny seeing him run around in his captain's coat and hat and tell his sailors not to freak out when a Giant ‘Green lion’ appeared today.

He was talking as unrelenting as the waves crashing against the boat and chatted to everyone about whatever they were doing.

That took quite a lot of time, during which Rikaad actually appeared, which made me wonder where the fuck he was staying on the ship.

“I have to say, informing them beforehand what an Ardua looks like is a good idea, less chance of anyone freaking out and losing focus should we clash with the Maringand Boats”

I numbly nodded at him, while it was the smart thing to do I still wasn't really comfortable having people stare at me.

I didn't even want to talk about that as I was sure I'd lose my nerves beforehand.

So I talked about the first thing that came to mind, which was still the Hardtack thing.

“I guess so, did you see that they have some sort of maggot flour block called hardtack? After i saw that i just went outside again”

His usually rather emotionless face cracked for a moment, and it was safe to assume by the face he made for a split second that he did indeed see it.

“I have, regrettably so, seen it and then left the room just like you did”

Glad to know I wasn't the only one who had a negative reaction to it.

“Well someone did explain why that was there,  but a warning would have been nice still”

He nodded in agreement and I had a feeling neither of us would go back there today.

Looking past Rikaad I could see captain Nemas still running around, which on the ever swaying boat was impressive as he'd not once fallen over.

By now he had informed the majority of the sailors,  some of which just continued working, 

apparently not thinking anything much of it.

Hoo fuck, but at least there were barely any people gawking as i was sure my nerves wouldn’t have been able to handle that.

As i thought Nemas was done taking his mouth off at the sailors and came back over, waving at us as he did so.

“Well! Now nobody should freak out! If you're sure there's enough space you can show what your other form looks like! 

I do wonder though why it's green? An animal isn't a plant after all, 

then again I rarely see either of those out on the ship anyway!”

Tuning out the captain talking on and on I stood a few paces away and turned the gem on the bracelet that let me shift.

In barely a moment I changed into the familiar giant form of the Ardua.

For a second i expected someone to scream or otherwise be terrified but as it was no one gave really a fuck.

These guys were weird, well so was i.

The only one gawking at me with curiosity was the captain, but he was mainly staring at my back, saying in the most confused voice I had ever heard.

“Are those plants? On your back I mean, and are those dandelions? aren't you a mammal? Not a plant?”

I loafed like a cat on the deck to get more stability on the swaying wood before answering him.

“Well, yes that's plants, but I'm still a mammal, they just grow there like hair, I think they are meant to help me absorb sunlight? Not sure though”

He came a little closer to examine it in more detail,  an almost childlike wonder in his eyes.

Well, he did imply to have lived on the ship for most of his life,  so who knew when he'd gotten to see field flowers closeup last time? 

Just then Robin walked out of the ship, a gray colored cat in his arms.

When he noticed me in my Ardua form his face visibly brightened and he walked over as fast as he could without tripping or dropping the cat.

Strangely enough the cat didn't seem to mind as Robin put him on the ground in front of me,  instead opting to brush up against my elbow and upper arm.

It was weird that cats weren't scared of me, they had every reason to.

Maybe it was because I somewhat looked like a big version of them?

“I think there's catnip growing on your shoulder and elbow”

Catnip? Why that? And how did Robin even know what that looked like?

Oh wait nevermind that last question, but still, catnip? No wonder the tiny Felines still came up to a giant plant lion thing like the Ardua.

It wasn't that they weren't scared, they just wanted catnip.

I felt kinda disappointed by that, I had hoped that I wasn't so scary even in that form but as it turned out they just wanted one of the plants that grew on me.

But that was still better than them being scared so there was at least that.

I stayed as an Ardua for the rest of the day, with Robin sitting next to me or using me as a pillow while cuddling with the three legged cat.

The cat himself purred at the attention, Which considering his voice sounded terribly scratchy and stopped at random intervals to pick back up stutteringly a moment later.

The sailors for the most part were only mildly distracted, not really caring somehow about the, who even knew how tall, Ardua next to them on the deck.

The only one that complained was someone that needed to move a heavier crate where I was in the way.

That was solved by standing up for a bit and letting me shove it through under myself.

While sunning myself I heard some of the sailors tell more stories, some of them even about sea monsters.

Huh, i wondered if there were any sea monsters in these waters, I hoped not.

Though it was really strange that no one batted an eye at me unless I was in the way, so I decided to ask Nemas the next time he came within earshot.

“Nemas! I have a question, could you come over here for a second?” He walked over to me at a brisk pace and tugged at his coat when it got snagged by the corner of a crate.

“What is it? Don't tell me you got seasick! That would be bad! Or is-”

I interrupted him before he talked even more again.

“No, I'm fine! Really! I just wanted to ask how you and your men are so indifferent? I guess? About a literary Giant with claws on your boat, i mean anyone else would be pretty afraid”

He tilted his head for a moment and I could see his tattoo in great detail.

“Well, we aren't afraid of you because you really can't do anything to us without also dooming yourself.

You don't know much about ships, and a big one like this needs many people to keep going, on top of that if you even where to destroy it then you'd be stuck in the middle of the ocean and drown.

So we don't really have any reason to be afraid, if you fuck us over then you're also absolutely screwed!”

Oh, well, he was right about that, if anything happened to the boat I'd just go down with it, and that would suck.

So really, they didn't have reason to believe I would do that, I didn't know shit about boats anyway.

Then Nemas pointed at the cat who was laying on top of a sleepy Robin.

“Also Smokey doesn't seem to have anything against you! And thus far he's always hissed at shady people!”

Huh, id better not mention the catnip then?

Probably better if I didn't. 

Though if their bar was, cant fuck us over without dooming themselves and the judgement of a three legged cat they might run into big trouble someday.

Though they also agreed to let us on board to fight other ships.

These guys were weird, though I had not much room to talk in that regard.

It wasn't too long after that the sun went down so I shifted back to the human sized one much to the dismay of Robin and the cat who now had no more catnip.

To be fair he had chewed a good chunk off my elbow so there was bound to be some on the ground.

I gave him a friendly pat on the head and then left for my quarters with a tired Robin behind me.

How he was tired after doing basically nothing was a mystery to me, though maybe he'd run around the inside of the ship while I had shifted.

Whatever, I went to my hammock and used the rest of the daylight to try and read something Rikaad had lent me to help me get better at reading.

It was a book about how to write neatly and legibly, of course he'd pick something like that for me.

The book itself was incredibly boring, so much so that I fell asleep before it got properly dark.

The next time I woke up was because I got flung out of the hammock and face first onto the floor.

What the fuck?-

“Ouch!”

The book that was previously on my lap landed on my head.

I tossed the thing to the side before standing up with a pounding head.

Only to fall over immediately again.

Getting my senses back in order I noticed that the entire floor was tilting left and right like mad, making balancing a nightmare.

Then I heard it, loud waves crashing against wood and the heavy pitter of rain.

A storm!

The ship tilted heavily to the left and I slid on the wooden floor into the table.

Ugh, good thing it was bolted down to the floor.

I looked over to where Robin's bed was only to find it empty.

What? Where was he?

I fell over again to the other side into the wall,  the book I had tossed earlier colliding with my leg.

Grabbing at the wall i stood back up again, trying to see if Robin was anywhere else in the small room.

He wasn't there.

Why? It had been late, He should be here sleeping?

Wait, his bed was anchored to the floor,  and thus would have noticed the crazy waves sooner than me!

He must have gone out to ask what was going on!

Oh no, oh no OH NO

I stumbled out the door and went along the little walkspace that led to the cabins, trying to get to the outside door without falling over too much.

At one point shortly before I reached the door the entire ship went sideways, making me slam into what was previously the wall.

That would leave bruises for sure.

Then the gravity went back again,  and this time I slammed into the actual floor.

I was now VERY glad they kept everything bolted down.

I managed to get to the stairs only to slam into them as the ship dipped forward, but I managed to catch myself with my shoulder instead of face.

Not bothering to stand up here as I would just fall again I crawled up on all fours, only stumbling twice.

When I reached the top I grabbed the doorknob, holding on for dear life as another wave hit the ship, making the door slam open and me into the adjacent wall while holding on like mad.

Swinging around I could actually look outside, well look was a bit much.

There was a LOT of rain, so much so that I could only make out what was there up to the middle mast of the ship.

Fuck, i hoped Robin was only on the other side somewhere and not in the ocean.

Maybe he was lucky and managed to shelter in the dining room.

I heard a strange strangled and scratchy yowl then, something that definitely wasn't human.

Looking around I saw nothing at first, and over the tosing water it was hard to make out where the noise came from.

Then I heard it again and managed to somewhat pinpoint where it Originated from.

It was the gray cat! He was tangled in a spare rope that had tied itself around the first mast!

Oh fuck! The poor thing!

Against better judgment and survival instincts I went out to the deck to try and get him.

I grabbed another rope that was used to tether a crate that was long since gone now and used it to not fall overboard when the ship tilted.

I slid around horribly and sometimes the waves crashed over the railing, dousing me and making it extremely hard to get to the cat.

I reached him eventually after a big wave drenched us both even more.

I untied him as best as I could in the ever shifting environment while I tried not to slide around too much while also holding onto the rope I had picked up.

I managed to untie him after fumbling around and he still clung to a part of the rope. 

I grabbed him with one arm and held him against my chest where he immediately dug the claws of his remaining front leg in.

That was fine, as long as I got him to safety.

I was thrown over on my ass as another wave hit the ship,  making it jerk suddenly.

While falling over I could see a bit more of the latter half of the ship as I was now closer than before.

My heart stopped for a second as I saw a familiar redhead hold onto another familiar form that was tethered by a rope to who knew what.

Why were Rikaad and Robin out here???  

I couldn't go over though, I still held the cat, so I got as close to the open door as I could and tried to stay steady, which was an incredibly hard task.

I grabbed the cat that was clinging onto me for dear life and then, as mean as it was, tossed him down the stairs into the ship so he wouldn't fall off the boat into the ocean in this storm.

I looked back again to where I last saw the other two, noticing there were some sailors as well struggling to close the main sail.

Oh, that's why there were people out, they needed to close the sail!

Another wave hit the ship, making me stumble.

I watched in horror as the rope Rikaad was tied to while holding Robin suddenly snapped, making them slide over the deck.

To my great relief Rikaad managed to hold onto the railing and Robin at the same time, now they just had to get away from there!

They tried to make their way inside, using the rail as an anchor to try and stay upright while they walked as water sloshed heavily over the boat, threatening to make them slip with each step if they weren’t careful. 

The floor lurched beneath them for a moment as another wave hit the side of the ship, but thankfully they were able to keep their grip on the rail while the sailors continued to try and pull the sail.

Then another wave hit and I was flushed over the railing in a rush of water, banging against the side of the ship as I dangled from the rope.

Only to be hit by another wave that transported me back onto the ship barely a second later.

that was terrifying as fuck, never again please.

There was a loud boom and lightning hit the middle mast, breaking it and making it tip over.

Right to where Rikaad and Robin were!

Oh no!

Without thinking I let go of the rope and sprinted over the deck towards them, not caring about the slickness of the wood.

While I ran as fast as I could I twisted the gem on the bracelet to turn into the Ardua form and dashed forward to stop the heavy wooden pole from falling on top of them.

Instead the thing crashed on top of me.

I slid from the sudden weight and when another big wave hit the boat I was swept over the side into the cold water.

I resurfaced only to have the broken mast hit me square on the head, dragging me under from the force.

At that point my body decided it had taken enough damage to warrant blacking out, which I promptly did as I sank under the waves.