Payment
Roleplayed Short Story / Written 7/11/04 / Rated PG-13

A Roleplayed/Collaboration piece between me and Chesh. My written parts will be done in green and hers will be done in magenta. They will also be separated by small breaks so you'll be able to tell which writer was writing which part. Drev happens across a young girl who annoys him to the point of offering her as payment to the pirate captain that has enslaved him. This story takes place before, during, and after his first visit to Ainad's house.

Drev flapped his wings a few times to keep him from sailing right into the ocean. He wasn't used to these wings yet, and they were giving him some managing trouble. It was probably stupid of him to set out across the ocean in the first place and it would be his own fault if he drowned.

He struggled to stay in the air and tried to think happy thoughts about how he had finally been able to transform after ten long years of waiting. First thing he had thought to change into was the creature that had been following him around, a ghost Gargoyle. He had been so overcome with pride by finally transforming that he had impulsively decided to fly across the sea to the next island... just to see if he could.

He was almost there, but his wings were starting to tire. He had forgotten that smaller creatures lacked the endurance of larger ones. He looked worriedly towards the coastline and saw there were several plants right there. He knew he could make it if he held out a little longer... he didn't know about a landing, though. He hadn't thought about that. Maybe one of the bushes would make a nice, soft landing if he hit it just right.

He slowly started a wobbly decent, aiming his best for a cushy bush and hoping for the best. Unfortunately, his aim was a little off and rather than the comfortable landing he had envisioned, he had instead tumbled into the bush, getting scratched and scraped the whole way down only to end up getting stuck in the branches.

This is just great. he thought as he struggled wildly to wriggle himself free. One foot was caught between two branches and his wings were both hung up on a few twigs. He continued to struggle desperately, knowing there was no way he'd be able to transform back to his regular size while caught in a bush.

After a few minutes of trying, he let out an exasperated howl and slumped to take a break. He was now fully worn out and it looked like he wouldn't be going anywhere soon. Now would be a good time to punish himself mentally for having such a stupid idea in the first place.


Drev was not the only thing in the sky making a not so graceful landing at the precise moment. Celebrian had just emerged from a cave near the peak of the mountain, muttering something about being too good to sleep with stinky boys in a stinky cave. Being still unsure of her capabilities with flying, she decided to just jump and parachute down...with her eyes closed.

This ended up being a very bad idea indeed...as she ended up hitting the side of the mountain and toppling down the side quite a ways, hitting the ground, and knocking the wind out of her. After a few minutes of gasping for air and wheezing, hot tears welling up in her eyes, but not crying as she wasn't sure Deth was unable to see her, she opened her eyes to be greeted with darkness, and a slowly rising moon. She was also greeted with the sounds of rustling and panting, and suddenly a howl.

Celebrian, being...Celebrian... went off with new found fervor, suspecting to find something she can later brag about to the others.

"Hellooooo? Where are you? Mrf... stupid sand spurs..."

She paused in her reckless galloping as she stepped into a spur patch, the little seeds painfully pressing into her paws as she paused to brush them off again.


Drev paused once her heard a voice. He couldn't be found like this! He was too vulnerable! Anyone who found him like that could kill him in a heartbeat. He began to struggle desperately to try and free himself again. Eventually, he managed to break his leg free only to fall forward and get his hind leg trapped in another branch.

By now, he was more annoyed than worried and had started to gnaw on the branches, hoping to chew them free. He didn't realize how loud he was being, or how much he was causing the bush to tremble as he bounced around inside it, trying to free himself.


Celebrian froze and listened. Whatever it was that she was trying to find, seemed to be hiding in a bush about 10 feet from her. Thinking back to the day Deth first taught her how to hunt. She laid low to the ground, suppressing her glee at having found something she could brag about. She slowly and steadily stalked over to the bush, as silently as something her size could.

The bush continued to shake and grunt...grunt? Well it sounded like that at least. A few more snaps, a loud crack, and a slight squeal and whatever the thing in the bush was, fell slightly into view at the bottom of the bush, near the base.

"OH! Oh you poor thing!" Celebrian leapt out of her stalking stance and hurried over to help the gargoyle which was apparently stuck, and not at all hiding. "Oh... darnit...I thought you'd be something interesting to show the others..." She spoke as she clawed at the troublesome branches "gargoyles aren't very rare... maybe the others haven't seen one... maybe I can lie and say he's something else!" One final swipe, and Drev crashed to the ground, and Celebrian started to stare off towards the cave again... "Deth might believe it..."


Drev finally broke free and fell hard to the ground, hitting his head rather squarely on the forehead. He was both enraged and humiliated that it had been some... little girl who had saved him, so once his eyesight stopped swirling, he stuck his pudgy nose in the air and made to march off with whatever dignity he had left before the girl could show him to her friends.


As Drev stalked past her, Celebrian all of a sudden remembered where she was.

"HEY! WAIT UP! Ah come on, you owe me!" She bounded after him, easily keeping up as he wasn't moving very quickly, and her legs were much longer. She jumped in front of him to block his way. "Come on! All you have to do is sit there and then you can go away." She lowered her head to be level with his. "I won't hurt you or anything... I just need something to show off is all.... What am I doing? It's not like this thing's going to respond..." Deciding that reasoning with Drev was pointless, she moved to pick him up around the waist, to fly him back up to the cave entrance.


Drev arched his back threateningly and growled. If she comes near me, I swear I'll... wait a minute... I'm not stuck in the bush anymore!

In a split second, his scales had flipped and he had returned to his normal self, still feeling a bit scratched and bruised, but relieved to be back to normal at least. "I owe you nothing." he said stiffly. "I would have been out of there on my own after a few minutes." He snorted to accentuate his point and turned to leave.


For a moment, Celebrian looked absolutely horrified. She froze in place, her jaw opened slightly, her muscles tensed, the fur of her mane raised a bit, and her eyes bulged...

"....COOOOOL! OH COME ON!!! You'd be perfect! Can you change into anything? Is it just a gargoyle? Can you change into something really strange and cool that I can show Deth and make him all jealous about? Can you please stay? Comeon please? Pretty please? Please, Please stay? Please? I'll give you something if you do! Please please please? Do you live here? What are you? Are you visiting? Are you hungry? Do you need a place to sleep? Do you have a house around here? What's your name? Do you have a name? Do you know anything about this island? Have you ever seen an elephant-" Gasp- "CAN YOU TURN INTO AN ELEPHANT!?!?! OH! That would be perfect! OH come on, will you please!? An elephant, if only for a second. HEY! And will you play like I killed you or knocked you out!?! PLEASE! OH COME ON! PLEEEEAAAAASE!?!?!"

...Somewhere in there she must've breathed, but it wasn't immediately obvious where. She had also advanced on Drev and had latched onto his tail and was now hugging it lovingly like she found a new best friend.


Drev stopped walking and winced once she started to talk. But when she didn't stop talking, he turned around to stare at her in disbelief. What kind of nightmare had he gotten himself into...?

A steady twitch in his right eye had started up about the time she asked if he could turn into an elephant. He would have just left straight away, but he seemed so shocked by her lack of fright towards him, that he couldn't seem to budge.

This was a mistake, of course, once she made for his tail and began to (of all things) hug it. He was mortified.

At first, he didn't even know how to react... he would have beheaded her right there, but when he transformed, he left his weapons back on the other island. He didn't want to run away as relieving as that sounded, because that was just cowardly.

He finally settled to wrestle with her grip and try to get her to let go of his tail. "Do you MIND?" He growled as he tugged on her forearm. "I have places to be."


Celebrian shifted her grip to his arm, and began to cling to that now.

"Be somewhere? Where? Can't it wait? It's very dark out, it'd be much safer to travel in the morning you know." She had begun to shimmy up his arm towards his back to "piggy back" like she did with many other dragons large enough to support her. "Dedo wanders around at night though, and he's all right... Are you a ghost too?" She tried to inspect his body as best she could. "You look very solid. Can you see in the dark or something?" She looked up again at the landscape. "It's veeeerrry dark out there..." She yawns. "Trust me...it'd be better to sleep tonight, and then you can turn into an elephant for my friends, and then I'll show you around and introduce you to everyone!"


Drev growled and attempted to shoo her off his back, but she was climbing quickly and he was having a hard time aiming his swings. "I've..." he started as he took another swing behind his shoulders. "I've got somewhere to be tonight and.... WILL YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!?!?! I don't want to meet your little friends and I don't want to be on this stupid island any more than I have to be." he said as he made for another attempt to knock her off of him.


Celebrian seemed to be off in her own little world, still rattling off things they could do if he stuck around.

"And I can introduce you to Dedo, and Khirit, and Acan, and Arkiony, and Tsugi, and Koarai, and Ainad, and Pinky, and Nixal, and Seph, and Deth, and Kallden, and Cilensia, and Arin, and..."


Drev paused, "Yo.... you know an Ainad?" He wondered if there was more than one Ainad in the Draik Clan... but either way, maybe this kid knew something. Maybe she could help him find Ainad...

He had come this far, but he honestly had no idea where Ainad lived. And the Draik Clan was so big, he could be searching for days. Maybe he could put up with her long enough to pry information out of her...


Celebrian paused mid ramble. "Ainad? Oh yes, I know her very well. She used to baby sit me, and I used to go to her parties, and Dedo's always hanging around her, and then she had babies, and she said I could baby sit, and she makes the best pumpkin cookies...but I can't eat them because I'm allergic, and she lives in this little cottage where everything's pink so it's real easy for me to hide." Apparently seeming satisfied with her response, she finally stopped and took a deep breath.

"Hey, is that who you're here to see? How do you know Ainad? Where did you come from? Why are you here so late? Is she expecting you? Is this a surprise for her? Is it her birthday? Are we having a party? Did you bring presents? Do you cook as well as Ainad? Did you teach her to cook? Do you know how to get to her house? Were you going to sleep there tonight? Are you going to stay long? Do you know Dedo too? Do you know Koarai? Did you know about the twins? Are you here to see the twins? Did you bring presents?..."


Drev did his best to pay attention and appear not interested at the same time. But once she started asking questions, he got a little nervous.

"Umm... I don't know who you're talking about." he said as he looked around cautiously as if to make sure no one had seen him. "Nope, doesn't sound familiar at all..." His voice kind of wavered a bit on the last part and he looked extremely uncomfortable. Maybe he should get out of there before she could associate him with Ainad anymore than she already had...


"Don't lie! You recognized her name, you said 'you know Ainad?' and I said 'Ainad? Oh yes, I know her very well. She used to baby sit me, and I used to go to her parties, and Dedo's always hanging around her, and then she had babies, and she said I could baby sit, and she makes the best pumpkin cookies...but I can't eat them because I'm allergic, and she lives in this little cottage where everything's pink so it's real easy for me to hide.' so you obviously know who Ainad is. Ooooh...you must want to surprise her. Do you need help finding her? I know where she lives, I can take you to her in the morning, it's southwest from here, in a forest. It's very nice over there... I can't wait to introduce you to everyone! Why are you here to see Ainad anyway?"


Drev was beginning to get angry, what if this girl ran off and told these people he was here... He was pretty sure Ainad would know exactly what to think if she heard a large dark green Draik was looking for her house to 'surprise' her...

"I TOLD you." he said angrily. "I don't know who you're talking about. I'm not even staying here for that long. I don't know anyone here."


Celebrian dropped down off his back and circled around to face him again, blocking his immediate path. "You don't know anyone? That's so sad! You can stay with me and be my friend if you want! I don't really have a home though, but you said you aren't staying very long anyway. HEY! You can stay with us up in that cave up there! Here, I'll call the others down and we can all go back up together! DEEEEE-"


... but before she could finish, Drev had frantically wrapped one hand over her mouth and had cleanly knocked her over the head with his other fist. She slumped in his arms and he panicked, Oh my God.... I killed her....

He quickly scanned the area just incase anyone had seen or heard her. Quick... what do I do now...? I can't leave her body here, those friends of hers could find it and... he felt her breathe slowly and relaxed. Oh good... I guess she's only unconscious. But then again, I can't just leave her here... she knows too much! She'd say something to someone and then they'll come looking for me before I even get a chance to look for Ainad!

He was now dragging her around like an overly large stuffed animal. I've got to get her out of here... somewhere where she won't bother me. I don't want to kill her, though...

Then he got an idea, The ship! Maybe the captain would take her as another cabin girl! She could help Calvanta with the chores and stuff... his mind was racing as he quickly pieced together a plan. I'll take her back to the island and get my stuff, then I'll take her back to the ship and .... ooooohhhhhh....

He was suddenly hit by inspiration, Hmm... a spirited, young Draik... maybe I could use her as payment! He grinned evilly, feeling thoroughly proud of himself for coming up with the idea. And the captain can't refuse her because she's all I have... There's no way I'll make any money any time soon...

He hoisted her up again as she was beginning to slip out of her arms and finally jumped into the night sky to carry her off to his own island. The flight wasn't hard at all, considering she wasn't that heavy, still being rather little. He was awkwardly carrying her looped under the arms, so she was dangling weirdly from his grip.

He landed on the same beach he had left from and lay her on the grey sand to take a moment's rest.


The last thing she remembered was her skull accepting a hard blow and searing pain causing her to close her eyes and faint. Consciousness slowly began to trickle back as she was dropped on cold, soft land. She kept her eyes closed, listening and trying to remember what happened. She could taste blood in her mouth, on further inspection she found that she had bit her bottom lip, probably from the blow to the head, causing her jaw to shut down hard and unexpectedly. She took a deep breath, trying to stay somewhat still, this wasn't the same place she was before. She could still hear the ocean breaking on the shore, so she must be on a beach somewhere.

She opened one eye painfully, her body felt limp, and too exhausted to move. Her sight was blurred and everything seemed to be spinning, but slowly something came into focus, the same dragon from before, further away. Had he saved her? or did he attack her? What was going on? She tried to move again, but her body felt too bruised and she was still too dizzy to will herself to get up. She instead let out a little whimper.


Drev looked around the beach wondering where Kuive had run off to. Maybe he went back to the cave... he thought. He did look a little freaked out when I morphed into him. he snickered to himself but stopped once he heard the girl moving. And stood up quickly to explain himself.

"Careful!" he said, "It's not what you think... I'm..." he searched for some kind of excuse. "You fell and got hurt... I'm taking you to a friend." Who was he kidding?! He was kidnapping her to sell her to pirates... all he had to do was get her to believe some story so that she'd follow him without asking too many questions. If that didn't work, he'd just hit her over the head again.


Celebrian has never been given a reason not to trust anything an adult told her. The dragons and dragons in the clan who were genuinely spiteful and evil were very straight forward about it, and the others who were usually kind and sweet to her never hurt her before. So of course she was quickly relieved, but was also in a great amount of pain. A lump in her throat had been forming and she just suddenly lost it. She didn't feel like talking, she didn't want to explore anymore, she could care less about elephants, or making the other kids jealous, she just wanted a hug and to go to sleep. Tears started streaming down her face, still whimpering every now and then, she forced herself to curl up into a tight little ball, her wings draping over herself like a blanket, and her tail wrapped around her body. She didn't say anything, she nodded slightly, but there was no telling if Drev actually saw this, and cried.

But at least she was with someone who would look after her and help her.


Not having much experience with children, Drev wasn't really sure how to react to seeing her so subdued... was she really hurt? "I've got to go around to the other side..." he said. "Can you walk?"


Celebrian stayed on the ground, pain still there, but edging away, though slowly, every second. Through strained words in between whimpers, she managed to say "Don't wanna."

Despite her efforts it was hard for her to deny that she was tired, and with the options of going to sleep to ignore the real world, or staying awake and dwell on her wounds, she was openly inviting sleep to take her...


Drev sighed heavily. If she was going to be difficult, that was her call. But it was already dark out and if he wanted to get her to the captain before midnight, he might want to hurry. "Fine." he said as he stooped to loop her around the waist with one arm, carrying her like dead object rather than a living creature.

He marched along the shoreline, using the moon's light to see where he was going and eventually ended up on the other beach where his cave was hidden. He dropped her on the ground a little more roughly than he should have and gruffed, "Stay here." before disappearing into the cave to retrieve his things. He was followed out by a glowing ghost Gargoyle who stopped at the entrance to the cave and sat to watch Celebrian closely.

"I'm guessing you can't fly either?" he said in an annoyed tone as he made sure all his things were secured in his bag.


Celebrian's wings fell back and she sniffled. She probably could fly if she forced herself, but she was tired and hurting. She closed her eyes and didn't answer...maybe thinking she'd play it off like she didn't hear him or something. She didn't pay attention to the gargoyle, she had enough of gargoyles tonight.


Drev gave an exasperated sigh. He wasn't sure whether he liked the squirmy, annoying girl or the sluggish, lazy girl better... He hoisted her up again, this time leaping into the air to take off towards the captain's island.

Once he had flown for quite some time, he recognized the captain's ship anchored near the island and slowly made his way down towards it. He landed on the deck right in front of the captain's quarters and knocked loudly thinking this was probably the most likely place for the captain to be, Celebrian still in his arms. "Captain?" he asked, "I've brought payment."


Celebrian had fallen asleep soon after taken flight, and she did not awake again until they touched down on the ship, the slight impact stirring her, but she fell back asleep seconds later.

~~~

The loud knock caused Val to jerk his hand sideways in the middle of a sentence he was jotting down into his journal. He was about to go rip someone's arm off when he heard the word "payment." Val jumped over his chair and threw open the door.

"ANDREVLIN! Ah, that was fast, good man. So, what have yo-" Val's eyes fell upon Celebrian laying limp in Drev's arms. "What's that? Someone snooping around the islands?"


Drev looked helplessly down at Celebrian's sleeping form. "Snooping is right... I don't think it'd be safe to leave her here with all the stuff she might have found out." He was hoping to twist his words a bit so that it sounded like she had been spying on the pirates... that way the captain might be more likely to accept her. "I thought you could maybe take her and use her as another cabin girl around the ship?" he shrugged.


Val had suddenly acquired a nervous twitch, and a vein was slowly becoming visible just over his eye. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that last part. Are you suggesting that I take yet ANOTHER burden on my ship!?" Snarls of discontentment. "This payment of yours better be worth it." After a few moments of silence, where Drev didn't immediately offer a true payment, Val pieced together the situation. "...Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me."


Drev was now beginning to feel slightly embarrassed.... it had seemed like such a good idea at the time. "Well, I..." he started, "I don't have any way of making money to pay you back - there's not really much else I can do... She seems pretty smart and she's a good acrobat so she won't be much of a bother that way..." He wasn't very good at explaining himself out of situations like this.


Val looked from Drev, to Celebrian, to Drev again, and sighed. He would keep his word after all, he couldn't just not accept payment, as that would mean he got absolutely nothing in return, and if she truly was snooping around, the only other option would be to kill her.

"Very well." Val grabbed Celebrian out of Drev's arms by the scruff of her neck, and dropped her to the deck as she awoke, and landed on her feet.

"Wh-Hey!" Celebrian was torn between anger, sleepiness, and pain and she hit the deck, realizing that she's moved yet again. She yawned again, and remembering what Drev had said about taking her to get help, she curled up on the deck and closed her eyes again, assuming she was now in safe hands.

"GET UP!" Val once again bent over to grab her by the scruff of her neck, and pulled her to her feet. "If you're staying on this ship, you won't be sleeping until I give you permission to!"

Celebrian blinked confusedly at Val, sniffing him cautiously and curiously.

Val surveyed Celebrian, grabbed her by the scruff again, lifted her up on two legs, dropped her and she resettled again on four. He did it again, picked her up by the scruff, dropped her, she landed on four. "That'll have to change."


Drev was torn between feeling relieved that the captain would accept his payment or feeling guilty that he was leaving the little girl in such... bad hands...

He tried to ease off his guilt by assuring himself that she and Calvanta would be better off with each other. Girls were more social with each other, weren't they? He shrugged and started to edge away before the captain could think of another reason to be angry with him. "Erm... I'll just be off, then..."


Val was only half paying attention to Drev, trying to figure out a good use for Celebrian who was becoming increasingly annoyed that she was being picked up and dropped repeatedly.

"Right...right... if you happen to come across a better alternative to...this... We can always leave her on an island somewhere."


Drev nodded, "Sure, I'll do that." Though he was pretty sure he wouldn't be finding any money any time soon... unless Ainad had any...

"Well." he said apprehensively, "I'm going, then." He had been waiting for this moment forever, but now his nerves had finally caught up with him. He almost wanted someone to stop him... but he had made a promise to himself and he had to keep it no matter what.

With a heavy sigh, he headed towards the end of the ship and leaped off of it, taking flight towards the main land mass of the Draik Clan's territory.


Val continued to ignore Drev as he took off, still trying to decide something to do with Celebrian. After a few moments, he beckoned her to follow him into his cabin, and closed the door behind her, where Val gave Celebrian the same speech he gave to Calvanta, seemingly so long ago.

~~~WOOO!!! TIME LAPSE! *does the time lapse dance*~~~

The next morning, Val emerged as usual, only instead of having Vane perched on his shoulder, he had the dog at his side, which bounded off to explore. It would seem he's actually taken a liking to the beast. Celebrian was no where to be seen...immediately.

It had been decided by Celebrian the night before to join the crew, having no previous experiences with any crew members to make her not want to, being too proud to be a "servant", and too adventurous not to. She was not immediately seen because she had changed in appearance. Val was wandering around on deck, and had to take a second glance at a new crew member.

~~~Yay, more time lapses because I'm too lazy~~~

The sun was now setting, and Val was nowhere to be seen, he had popped on deck every couple of hours just to leave again with large sacks slung over his shoulder. Celebrian paused near the edge of the ship one time to watch him load up a small row boat and head for a cave that faded off to pitch black near the mouth, so she was unable to tell anything more than ...it was a cave.

Being on deck all day, with the captain not around, it didn't take Celebrian very long to pick up a few new bad habits... like gambling for one. Since she was still a kid, she couldn't resist the urge to play a game when openly invited... being an illusionist, the fake gold she used to play with would probably come back to haunt her...

Since she was the only female "pirate" at the moment, she also attracted a lot of attention, some good, some bad, she ended up just talking back to all the snide remarks she received, making some of the others laugh. One pirate in particular followed her around most of the day, since he was a little on the younger side too (about 18), his real name was Juan, but on deck, they had nicknamed him "Calico John", given for his tricolor markings, but most people called him C.J. He and Celebrian had taken to the stern to work on swords play (since she's never used a sword before), when the captain finally turned up after the moon had risen, showing that it was now about 9:00pm.


Much had happened to him since Drev had left the ship. He had spent the majority of the time roaming around Clan lands trying not to be seen. He was spending most of his time as the Gargoyle again, since he was now getting used to the wings and weight positioning and he had actually become quite skilled flying in this form. But time was running out to "use" it and he STILL hadn't seen a pink house...

It was just starting to get dark when he noticed something below, a small forest bordering a lake and there was a steady column of smoke trickling up through the trees. It sparked his interest and he thought he'd swoop down to check it out.

It wasn't from a campfire like he had thought, but more of a... cottage. He was disappointed when he saw it wasn't pink... but he wanted to check it out anyway. What was such a domestic setting doing in the middle of a forest? He swooped downwards and landed in a small garden, squishing a few tomatoes. He just smirked and trotted over to a window with a light showing through it. He flapped his wings a few times and lifted himself to look through the window. What he saw was completely unexpected and caused him to fall out of the air and land in a pumpkin.

Sure enough, he recognized that face... he hadn't seen Ainad in so long, and she had changed a bit, but it was still her. He caught his breath and crept out of the garden and around the side of the cottage where it was a little darker now that the sun had gone down. He slowly morphed back into himself and remained flattened against the wall and grass, trying his best to think of his next course of action. It was too much, though... especially after all this time waiting and before he even knew what he was doing, he had crashed through the window and grabbed her around the neck. It was felt the monster that had been locked away had finally been released...

But things didn't go as he had planned at all. While he would have liked to just kill her and be done with it, he also had a few things he wanted to say to her first. Unfortunately, while that was played out, he had discovered something he had not counted on - she had finally grasped a hold on her magical powers... so ever getting close to her or her family again would be harder than he had expected.

He had fled, hoping to gather his thoughts, but, to his horror, he had ended up being chased out of the forest by several Draiks who had shown up to help her. He managed to leave with the most dignity he could and took off into the skies.

As he was flying away, reality began to sink in. He had come so close to being killed and he didn't realize it. Or worse, what if they had caught him and ordered to lock him up somewhere instead? He had absolutely no idea what he was getting into; what he had already gotten himself into. They could be hunting him down right now, spreading around, and telling people what to look for. He had to escape; he couldn't re-attack empty-handed or alone again.

He was reaching a severe level of panic as he made his way back towards the islands. He didn't know anyone. No one in the Clan would lend their help to a newcomer intent on causing trouble, would they? What if they all sided with her? He was shaking tremendously as his eyes frantically roamed the islands.

He had no other choice. The only person he could think of to ask for help was the captain... and that would be stretching it for sure. He'd be lucky if he could even get the captain to even consider taking him back. He spotted the ship and directed himself towards it, flying a lot faster than he should and landed on the deck solidly before toppling over stupidly. He didn't even notice any other pirates on the deck or their reaction to his sudden arrival, his mind was so preoccupied that he simply scrambled to his feet and paraded across the deck, searching frantically for the captain.

With luck, he saw the captain's cabin door open and the captain just barely visible inside. His heart skipped a beat and he stormed inside. "CAPTAIN!" he choked out of desperate relief. "Please help me, Captain..." he begged, his voice wavering slightly, "I've... I've made a big mistake and I don't know what to do now..."


Val was jotting down notes into a leather bound book at the desk in his cabin. Drev running in and begging for help caught him so off guard that there was now a thick, black, runny smear across the page.

"BLOODY HELL! DON'T YOU KNOCK!" Val wheeled around to glare at Drev, depositing the quill back in the well. "Why are you back here? I kept my part of the bargain, I don't owe you anymore. Your mistakes are your business! If you're bringing trouble with you, I don't want it!"

Val was slightly more agitated than he would be simply because he was startled, but there was still truth in his words.

"Get your scummy tail out of my cabin!"


Drev gulped and stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over a chair. "But I've got no where else to go!" he pleaded. "Please just take me with you again! I'll pay you back!" he added quickly, hoping to spark the captain's interest with a deal. "Anything! Anything you want and I'll get it for you!"

He paused for a minute, regretting what he had just said and added, "As... as long as I don't have to kill anyone or get in too much trouble..." He looked desperately at the captain, praying he'd accept the deal - or at least kill him and put him out of his misery.


Val considered it for a minute, he could be risking a lot by allowing Drev back on the ship if he truly was in trouble...but he just can't pass up the prospect of getting paid more.

"I think we might be able to work something out. Don't worry about killing anyone, if anyone's going to shed blood for my pleasure it'll be me. No, no, I want payment again, and this time in cash."


"I'll get it." said Drev confidently, even though he had no idea where to even start earning money. "I will pay you back and in cash." he assured. "If there's any way I can work off the debt or anything..." he added, thinking a few small chores to help minimize his debt might be a good idea. "I've just got to get out of here as soon as possible..."


Val nodded. "Very well, we're setting sail tomorrow at dawn. You know the drill." Val had now seemed to have lost interest in Drev and was looking past him at CJ and Celebrian. "I do believe I've found a use for her, I'm not completely sure yet though. We'll see after tonight." He walked passed Drev and started heading towards the two "Quesse, might I speak with you in private? I have some questions I want answered."


"Who..?" asked Drev dumbly as he turned to see the captain walking towards one of the pirates and... a girl he had never seen before. He squinted his eyes and tried to remember if he had seen her anywhere before. He didn't remember so... unless she was at the pub that night and he just didn't remember her. Was she old enough to be at a pub, though?

He was just listing off other possibilities of where he might have met her when he remembered: the little Draik on the mountain island! His jaw dropped confusedly as he watched the captain approach them. Why did she look different... was she a shape-shifter too?? He stood in the doorway of the captain's cabin watching awkwardly.


Celebrian turned around as Val called, looking rather pleased that he's using the fake name she gave him. "Yes captain?"

Val approached and shot a piercing glare at CJ "GIT back to yer own business yeh slimy dog!-" CJ runs off- "Quesse, I notice that you somehow changed your appearance quite quickly over night-"

"You noticed?" Celebrian's eyes brightened, she enjoyed being the center of attention and also loved it when people commented on her "work".

"-er...Yes. I was curious as to how you managed it though?"

"I used a pretty strong spell." She grinned, "I've never tried one like this before though, and I'm afraid I messed up. The illusion was supposed to have faded by now, I think I'm...I'm...stuck."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. This illusion of yours, can you only use it on yourself?" Val waved his hand ignoring everything else she had said.

"Myself? Oh, usually I don't use spells on anything...I just create them. I think that's where I messed up, instead of creating a cloke, I-"

"So you can use it on others?"

"I don't see why not, bu-"

"Come with me."

Val turned around and headed back towards his cabin where Drev was still standing and watching, Celebrian quick at his heals.

"Move outta the way yeh filthy maggot!" Val shoved Drev out of the way and Celebrian followed, pausing to glance up at Drev and wave cheerfully first though.

"SIT YER BLEEDING ARSE DOWN!"


Drev shuffled out of the captain's way, feeling severely disappointed that he didn't seem interested in him any more. Maybe he could get the girl to tell him what the captain was up to later... for now, he was just going to go off and sulk in the bunks again - maybe he could bully a few pirates if he felt like it.


The End



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