The water-wheels on the Ashen Bride could be converted into actual wheels. How the hell did that work?

  I mean, it was a rhetorical question, because I was watching the process right in front of me. But I still found the entire process baffling.

  The return trip from the cave where we had stashed the rest of the flotilla had gone well, and I’d been correct in my assumption that the wards were still functioning correctly. However they had done it, the Kawamarans had managed to create not only a ward stone capable of projecting moving wards, but one that could also be moved easily. I wanted to curse myself for a fool for not doing my best to decipher the secrets of the ward stone on my very own ship, but there was no time for self-recriminations.

  We were in the middle of our final preparations before we set out on our journey across the breadth of Velancia. Nyx and those I had left in charge of the beachhead encampment had done their jobs admirably while they waited for us to return. Using their APD’s linked to the ward array of the camp, they had not only managed to collect enough lumber from a nearby copse of trees, but they had constructed many simple carts to help in the transport. There was only going to be so much room on the Ashen Bride, and while most people were resigned to walking on the campaign, we still needed some personal transports. Thankfully, we’d forethought before leaving Blutstein that we had the pack animals to pull them. Each ship’d had its own complement of solid work-horses in their cargo hold to contribute; even the Astray had some I’d dropped off before leaving.

  Of course, the Ashen Bride always had its own team of horses. They were needed to haul the ship turned enormous cart in the first place. Ten massive, beefy draft-horses with bulging muscles and coats of a pale, shining gold. Suspiciously shiny, in fact. Something told me there was more to these beasts of burden than meets the eye, but the Gnolls weren't talking. I’d been assured they would be more than enough to drive the centerpiece of our burgeoning caravan.

  Even with most of our preparations complete, however…I still had one more thing to deal with.

  I stood with my arms crossed, looking out through the flap in the command ten, as teams of experienced Gnolls directed the effort to convert the Ashen Bride, led by Marcel. The conversion of the waterwheels, plus the construction and attachment of two more small wheels to the front of the ship, was genuinely a fascinating thing to watch. Normally, I would have expected such a thing to take a crew of workmen at least a week to finish.

  Marcel had assured me they could have it done within the next five hours.

  Behind me, the rest of the leadership were busy going over our planned route through Dwarven lands. Everyone was currently present, including my own Polaris Reach Captains. Bleddyn had been of surprising help, considering how he’d been leading a slave revolt across this land for nigh on a year by now. However, he wasn’t a native of the country of Velancia, so sometimes his input wasn’t enough.

  I was currently waiting on my solution to that problem.

  I stepped to the side as two Classers of the expedition dragged him into the command tent, bound in chains.

  Captain Giancarlo Bronzle, the only surviving member of the Dwarven fleet we had decimated. The Velancian marine Captain looked sullen and a tad defeated after his days spent in our brig. He’d been treated well, of course, as much as could be expected for a captured adversary. He’d been fed decent, if not somewhat bland, ship fare. He’d been allowed the occasional visit out into the open air and given time to use our Enchantment Disk powered portable showers.

  It was far, far more than was ever granted to the average Velancian Human captive, much less their slaves. Bleddyn in particular had wanted us to treat him a tad harsher, and I understood that. But we were better than they were, and I wanted him to know that.

  For all of the allowances he’d received, Bronzle still had a sullen, stubborn set to his jaw and shoulders.

  Dwarves.

  Contrary to the objections of some of the other leaders, I made sure the crew directed Bronzle to a small table prepared before hand and set off to the side. There, he was lowered into a chair, and his manacles chained to a hook in the beam of the tent.

  I don’t think he even noticed any of it. Bronzle was too busy staring at the meal laid out on the table before him.

  Real meat, grilled to perfection by our ship cooks, paired with crisp steamed vegetables, lay tantalizingly on a nice, real, porcelain plate. Steaming hot bread, fresh from the ovens of the Ashen Bride, and an impossibly frosty beer in a tall glass mug sat right beside it.

  Bronze stared at it numbly for a moment, shooting the occupants of the tent furtive looks, before he finally spoke in a rough tone. “What is this?”

  “What does it look like, ye stuntie bas-”

  I held up a hand to stop Bleddyn mid-insult, and thankfully, my old friend listened to me. Meanwhile, I gave the Dwarven Captain a nice, even, bland smile of my own. “A meal all for you, Captain Bronzle. Please, dig in. We have matters to discuss once you have finished.”

  Bronzle stared at me in deep suspicion, no doubt still remembering the monstrous form of my transformation from his interrogation. From across the tent, Bella snorted mockingly at his skepticism. “There ain’t no poison in it, fool. If we wanted ta kill ye, we wouldn’t waste good food doin’ it.”

  To underscore her point, the pirate Captain brushed her fingers against the hilt of her cutlass, always by her side.

  That seemed to get through to him, and the Dwarf immediately fell on the plate like a starving wolf. As the sounds of rapid chewing filled the tent, the actual wolf lying on his stomach near my feet folded his ears back. “Gross.” Fade muttered across the bond.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  When he had finished, the Dwarf let out a long, satisfied sigh and almost comically patted his stomach. “Alright,” He finally said. “What is it you want, Hart? I’m not stupid enough not to see this as the bribe it is. But I have nothing more to say. You got everything you wanted out of me.”

  I hid a smile at the obvious bitterness I could hear in his voice. “It’s quite simple, Captain Bronzle,” I said, folding my arms behind my back. “It’s not feasible for us to continue housing a belligerent for much longer, given our plans. You can consider that meal your last one.”

  Bronzle immediately tensed, looking like he was only seconds away from jumping to his feet and making a break for it. Only, he was stopped by two strong hands clamping down hard onto his shoulders and holding him in place. I had never dismissed the two Classers who had escorted him, after all.

  At the Dwarf’s obvious rising panic, I smirked at him. “As a prisoner, of course,” I said smoothly. “Instead, I would like it if we could enter into a more…beneficial arrangement. I’m of the mind to use you as a pawn, Bronzle. You see, my companions and I are in need of a guide, if you will.”

  “…what?” Bronzle blinked at me.

  “Some of us are familiar with Velancia, to varying degrees,” I said, pretending he hadn’t spoken. “However, considering the historic tensions between our two nations, our current maps are woefully outdated. As such, I believe we would benefit from a local who knows the lay of the land, so to speak.”

  The Dwarf clenched his hands into tight fists and outright scowled at me. “The audacity,” He growled, almost vibrating from anger. “First, you kill my men, and then you torment me. Now you have the temerity to ask me to betray my country for you? For what? So you can invade us and murder our allies?!” Bronzle spat off to the side, into the bare dirt of the tent. “You can take your offer to the hells, along with yourself.”

  Off to the side, I spotted Bleddyn. The werewolf had maneuvered surreptitiously into the Dwarf’s blind spot and was staring at his bare neck with a violent gleam in his eye. Feeling my eye on him briefly, my old friend gave me a plaintive look.

  Sadly for him, I gave the bloodthirsty revolutionary a brief, almost imperceptible shake of my head that Bronzle was too incensed to notice.

  Instead, Nyx stepped to my side to play her part in this charade. The Sculpted woman may not have ever spent time in an intelligence organization, but she was surprisingly canny. “That is not our intention, Captain Bronzle,” She said evenly, drawing his gaze. “Thanks to you, we are well aware of the Principality forces advancing on Rhoscara. We intend to intervene in this conflict for private reasons. Your reward for helping guide us to the city shall be the privilege of being our tool.”

  Okay, so maybe she was a bit more blunt than I had expected.

  At his outraged look, I picked up. “We’ll offer you up as ransom, to force the Principality Army into an open negotiation with us. You wouldn’t be betraying anybody in assisting us. In fact, you could say you were even helping your country. After all, you’ll be bringing an ‘invading force’,” I said, making air quotations as I did. “Straight to the largest mass of loyal Velancian soldiers on the continent. Why, if things go badly, you might even get another shot at us.”

  “Don’t you want revenge for your men?” Gustave mocked the Dwarf in a far more vindictive tone than I had thought the young man was capable of. He just smirked at the glowering look Bronzle shot him in response.

  Still, that seemed to do the trick with the Dwarf. He directed his gaze back over to me, rightly guessing I was in overall command. “And you’ll deliver me right into the hands of the Principality armed forces, if I cooperate? What guarantee do I have of this?”

  I let the slight, bland smile that had been on my lips finally fall away. In its place was a non-expression, utterly blank and without a single trace of emotion visible. In my experience, this did far more to intimidate people than any amount of shouting and scowling did. Judging by the minute shifting of the Dwarf, Bronzle was no different. “You have none,” I said bluntly. “You have only two choices, Giancarlo Bronzle. Either you accept the lifeline you have been thrown…or we kill you. Right here. Right now. On the sands of this beach.”

  My pronouncement echoed in the thin walls of the command tent, and to Bronzle’s rising panic, nobody gainsayed me. On the contrary, some people looked a bit interested in the possibility.

  Almost casually, Fade stood up from his resting position and opened his mouth wide in a canine yawn. I’m sure the fact that it revealed rows upon rows of wolven teeth had nothing to do with the Dwarf’s panic.

  Nothing at all.

  “Fine!” Bronzle eventually blurted out, self-serving to the last. “I-I’ll help you, if only so I can be free of you!”

  I let my previous smile return to my lips immediately. “Excellent! You’ll be provided a small bunk of your own, away from the brig. You’ll be guarded and watched, of course, at all hours of the day. You’ll receive standard meals, the same as the rest of the crew, and in return, we’ll be calling upon your…services, on our journey. Failure to comply with our orders in this manner will be considered a breach of our agreement, and we will proceed directly to the other option. I trust I am understood?” At Bronzle’s frantic, sweating nod, I nodded at the two Classers standing behind him. “Men, if you would? Escort Captain Bronzle to the prepared room aboard the Ashen Bride. Once there, you may remove his manacles.”

  “Yes, Marshal!” The two Classers saluted me and then hauled Bronzle to his feet. With their hands on his shoulders, they escorted the Dwarf to the flap of the tent.

  However, before the three of them left, Bronzle seemingly found his spine for a brief moment. He twisted in place in order to glare at me in indignation. “One day, you’ll pay for crimes, Hart,” He swore. “And I promise, my surviving men and I will be the ones to deliver justice.”

  That was all the Dwarf managed to get out before the Classers dragged him outside the tent.

  Leaving suddenly baffled silence in his wake.

  “Surviving men?” Gustave murmured in confusion, scratching his chin and coming to stand next to me. “Whatever could he mean by that? They’re all dead.”

  I snorted in self-satisfaction. “Ah, but you see, he doesn’t know that,” I said, crossing my arms a bit smugly. “With a little select memory erasure some time ago…Captain Bronzle believes his ship escaped the battle, with well over half his crew. I made the decision that it would be quite difficult to reach any kind of agreement with the Dwarf, if he still believed we had slaughtered his men to the last.”

  A slightly uneasy silence fell on the tent, then, as they absorbed my words. “That’s…something you can do?” Gustave asked me in a small voice.

  “With the right potions, yes,” Maria said quietly, coming to stand at my other side. She met my eyes unevenly. “I wasn’t aware you’d had that training, before…everything.”

  I met her gaze calmly. “I didn’t. I learned from someone else.”

  Thank you, Grey.

  Bleddyn broke the uneasy mood by dramatically sighing and approaching us. “Ye should’ve let me kill ‘em, Nate,” He almost whined. “Those Principality Captains, ye don’t know ‘em like I do. Not a one is ever selected who objects to their abomination. I’m damn sure he deserves to bleed out, cryin’ for his mama.”

  I think I surprised him when I nodded in agreement. “Oh, he does. I know he does. After all, I learned…quite a bit about Giancarlo Bronzle when I interrogated him. And, Bleddyn?” I smiled at him, feeling an old, old bloodlust rising within me. “I’m not going to let someone who personally owns a small, slave operated plantation of his own get away from me with his life. I promise you, Bronzle will serve a purpose, and then…”

  “He’ll be dealt with.”