Chapter 13: Rum Soaked

Jos sat for several long moments, staring at the door. How dare she? How dare she come aboard my ship and try to lecture me?

Thinking back, she tried to remember a specific point where Elaine had been lecturing her, but she couldn’t pick one out. The fog of the rum made it hard to pick out anything specific. But she knew it was there, damn it. And that was enough for her irritation to grow and fester.

A thought popped into Jos’s head. Elaine wasn’t the only one she was irritated with. Elaine may have come aboard and been all judgy, but it was that scrawny little imp of an asura that brought dangerous cargo aboard.

Okay, Jos didn’t know for sure if it was dangerous, but the crate rocked back and forth on its own. That had to mean it was dangerous. 

Craning her neck, Jos stuck her head out one of the side portholes just in time to see the Fury of Tyria turn and head away. Good!

Jos jumped out of her seat and headed for the door. Nearly falling against the wall, she stumbled across the room as the deck pitched under her feet. It took her three tries to grab a hold of the door knob, the damn thing kept moving.

When she threw open the door, a fresh blast of sea air hit her in the face. Jos stopped and revelled in the cool, briny wind. She kept her hand on the door’s casement to steady herself amid the ship’s rolling. 

Finally, she tore herself away and stumbled out into the sunlight. “Danni! Danni!”

Jos scanned the deck and the crew for any sign of her guest passenger, but couldn’t find her. She did find it odd, though, that no one else seemed to have any difficulty standing still. Nexx started for her, and Jos’s mind snapped back to Danni, her concern over the moving ship lost to the depths of her inebriation. 

“Nexx!” Jos put a hand on Nexx’s shoulder and pulled him close. “Nexx, buddy. Have you seen our little guest? I’m trying to find Danni.”

The first mate gave her a confused look, sniffed the air in front of Jos’s face and sighed. “No, Captain. I have not. Perhaps you should—”

“Shhhh…” Jos put one finger over her mouth and did her best to keep a straight, stern face. “Danni’s in trouble. She brought some dangerous stuff on my ship. We gotta get to the bottom of this.”

She snorted and laughed. “Ha! Get it? Bottom? Cause the cargo is on the bottom of the ship? No? Whatever.”

Nexx pried himself free from his boss’s grip and stepped back out of reach. “She’s busy, perhaps you should go relax and let some of that rum wear off.”

Jos shook her head. “No no no no no. I gotta get t’the bottom a this. Iss a mystry.” She patted the top of Nexx’s head and stumbled off. 

Danni turned out to be down in the cargo hold, inspecting the crate again. Jos crept down the stairs, trying to catch what the asura was mumbling to herself. 

“What’r you doin’?” 

The young asura yelped and jumped into the air. With her hand on her chest, she glanced at the Captain but kept her gaze locked on the crate. “My ears, Captain, but you startled me.”

“I said, what’r you doin’?”

Danni let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Well, I was concerned that the perturbations and violence of earlier might have disrupted our cargo, so I decided to verify the subject’s stability and safety.”

Jos stepped off the stairwell and leaned against one of the support beams. With her elbow against the wooden beam, she did her best to look casual, despite the rolling deck. She wondered how Danni could look so stable, especially for someone who’d hardly ever even been on a ship before.

“Subject, huh? Makes it sound like an ani—” A belch bubbled up in Jos’s throat and she covered her mouth. Once she had squashed the urge, she continued. “Like an animal. Or a person.”

The asura froze. “What?”

“Wha’s in da box, Danni?”

Danni moved around behind the crate. “I—I don’t know.”

“You’re lying.”

“No. I mean it, I’ve never seen what’s inside. Besides, what does it matter, isn’t the council paying you well enough?”

Blinking a few times to try and clear her head, Jos shoved off the support beam and stumbled over to the crate. “I s’pose that entirely d’pens on wha’s in da box.”

Jos leaned over and popped her head around the corner to stare at the diminutive asura. “So, as I said, what’s in the box, Danni?”

The deck shifted and Jos’s hand slipped, nearly sending her sprawling. As soon as she righted herself, she found that Danni had moved around behind the crate again. 

“I—”

Turning around, Jos leaned with her back against the wooden container. “Ye know, mos’ a da time, I’m a pretty happy drunk. Rum makeses me happy. But I have been known to be not s’nice.”

She slid her pistol from its holster and pulled the hammer back, making sure to make it as loud as possible. Jos stepped around the crate and stared down at Danni. The asura’s wide eyes flicked from Jos’s face to the pistol and back. Then they went even wider with fear.

“Captain, I—”

“Danni.” Jos took a step closer. “Is my ship in danger from that box? What am I going to find when I crack it open? Some rabid dragon minion? A corrupted Watchknight? A new steam creature?”

“No. No, of course not!” Danni stepped back, shaking her head. “It’s just—”

Lowering her voice, Jost inched closer again. She hefted her pistol up to her shoulder. “Then why did it move on its own? How is that possible? And why did it react to just being near the Risen?”

“I—I—I don’t know.” Danni looked around as if she was trying to find an escape. “It shouldn’t have.”

Jos loomed over her.

“Captain!” Nexx’s voice burst out from the stairwell. “May I see you for a moment?”

Keeping her gaze locked on Danni, Jos leaned back. “Yep.” 

For a few seconds, the captain didn’t move, and neither did Danni. Finally, Nexx called out again. “Captain?”

“Comin’.” Jos angled her chin at the young asura and her looked up and down. “Jus’ s’you know… If there’s a ques’n ‘tween ma’cargo an’ ma ship… I mean, ma ship an’, no wait. Das right. If there’s a ques’n ‘tween ma’cargo an’ ma ship, ship come’s firs’. ‘Cause yer jus’ cargo.”

After a second, Jos nodded and stumbled up the stairwell.