The light of day gleamed in brightly through the window, flooding the spacious cabin with light. Dark panels of mahogany wood lined up against the walls, rubbed to a soft sheen that caught the amber glow of oil lamps swaying with the ships motion. Below them, were shelves filled with exquisitely detailed ship models, sleek frigates and galleons alike stood motionlessly.
At the centre of the room stood a massive desk, its surface cluttered with rolled charts, sealed letters and a half empty glass of dark rum. Behind it, captain Roswell himself lay fast asleep in his arm chair, tipped back just enough to be precarious, as his scuffed boots were kicked up on the desk.
It was quiet, with nothing but sounds of the sea echoing outside, and the snores of the captain himself. Atleast it was until two loud knocks banged against the door on the other end.
Jerking awake, Roswell quickly corrected himself while tidying up the messy desk, to appear more professional and upright.
'Blimey, these imbeciles can't do jack without me watching them all the damn time!'
Finished, he shouted to the other end of the room.
"Come in!"
The door creaked open slowly, as even more light from the outside flooded the room, filling it with a fresh radiance. Stepping inside before gently closing the door behind him, was a young man with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He wore a simple, open collar white shirt with it's sleeves rolled up, with a red sash around his waist hosting a sheathed cutlass, and dark brown baggy trousers.
Upon seeing him enter, Roswell's foul mood instantly calmed down. In it's place, a warm smile stretched across his face instead.
"Drewey! Didn't I tell you last time that you didn't need to knock? Its always a pleasure to see you."
Lightly bowing, he said politely,
"I'll keep that in mind next time sir."
The older man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as if this conversation hadn't happened too many times already.
"Didn't I say you could stop calling me that when we're alone too?"
Drewey straightened, visibly flustered,
"I'm sorry, father-in-law."
"..."
Only silence followed for a second, as the captain stared at him blankly. His mouth opened as if to respond, but then it closed again.
'What am I going to do with this kid?'
"So what's wrong? You came here for something right?"
The boy hesitated before walking up to the table. From inside his sash he produced and lay down a white folded envelope, sealed with red wax. Sliding it across, he left it in front of the ship captain.
The seal was imprinted with a particular symbol, that being the image of a dragon, identical to the one that was painted proudly on the ships flag.
"Ha.."
With a weary sigh, Roswell tore open the envelope, and began to read the letter hidden within. His eyes moved quickly across the page, then finishing, he put it back down with great care.
"It's just a notice about the quota. With this stock, we'll be able to make it this month."
As privateers for the war empire, they were required to fulfill a certain amount of tasks, such as collecting resources, transporting goods between fortresses, and other unsavoury jobs.
Another one of them was the collection of slaves. To meet this quota, they were required to bring numerous mundane, and atleast one awakened.
This time however, they had gone above and beyond that amount.
Roswell leaned back in his chair, a pleased smile tugging at his lips. Drewey then said,
"We'll get a nice bonus for bagging an extra one.. perhaps I shall buy Clea a gift?"
Seeing the boy think of his wife first, filled him with a strange joy.
'I'm so proud to call him my son.'
Wiping a metaphorical tear from his eye, he shook his head,
"No, we'll sell the boy elsewhere for a high price. The rest can be used to fulfill our quota."
The money they would get from selling an awakened on the black market, far surpassed the bonus they would receive from the war empire.
Drewey shifted slightly.
"What about the original one?"
Roswell paused.
"Ah... Her."
His expression hardened as he waved a dismissive hand.
"She can be thrown in with the rest of the mundane as planned. Selling her elsewhere will be troublesome, so we can make her the empires problem."
Pausing for a moment, he added,
"And besides.. I'm pretty sure those strange people like them a little violent anyway."
**
"Hugo, what's the plan this time?"
Azdin asked, his back laying against the docks wall. Even after eating that small portion of food, his strength didn't comeback at all, as the terrible hunger only persisted.
Hugo didn't even bother looking at him. He kept his eyes down on the cold wooden floor, listening to the distant echoes of endless partying above.
"Plan for what?"
Azdin let out a quiet, humourless laugh, rubbing his neck where the bangle of steel still remained.
"Our plan to escape of course. What else?"
There was a long pause. Hugo finally turned, his expression flat and tired.
"Azdin.. there is no plan."
For just a moment he felt his heart drop, as disbelief flashing across his face.
"What do you mean there is no plan??
Hugo exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair.
"I phrased that badly. I mean that there is nothing that we can do right now. Once we dock at civilisation, I'll break your restraints, and only then will we make our escape."
Breaking his own chains would be easy enough as they were mundane, but Azdins would take more effort. The metal clung stubbornly to him, dampening Hugo's own power as they sucked his essence just through contact. If he wanted to free him, he'd have to wait to steal his key from the worker that would come to undo them.
Hesitating, Azdin glanced towards the countless other people also held down, destined to become slaves of the war empire.
"What about everyone else?"
Hugo followed his gaze, his jaw tightening.
"What about them?"
After another long pause, his eyes widened as he came to a disheartening realization.
Hugo asked, with a slight hint of doubt in his voice,
"Did... you want to save them?"
He knew he had become a bit more righteous, but.. this was just mad. Preposterous even.
"What else? These people are being held here against their will. Just look at how they're being treated now, if we leave them behind, they'll die."
Azdin inched himself closer, chains clicking as he moved.
"We have power, we can do it. If it's the two of us, we can do it."
Hugo turned on him, with slight irritation flashing across his face.
"Azdin, there are atleast five awakened up there, and that's not even counting the hundred minimum battle ready mundane all armed to their teeth. If we want to escape with this number of people, we will have to fight through all of them. And then there's the legion of war empire soldiers that will come after."
He spread his hands, looking at his calloused palms. It was as if he were laying the bare reality in between them.
The numbers were heavily against them. Furthermore they weren't even fighting on home turf, their loss was all but guaranteed.
"Do you honestly think that us two.. can take them all on? Even if you're stronger then a normal awakened.. it's impossible! It's suicidal! We don't even know if they have Aspects too, it's simply far too dangerous!"
Heads were turning now. Murmurs rippled through the room as some careful prisoners strained to listen.
Azdin didn't care. He was supposed to be pretend to be non verbal, but he lost sight of that now. Everyone needed to hear him.
He shot back.
"These people are destined for a terrible fate if we leave them behind! If we can do something about it then we should!"
His voice cracked, not with fear, but with fury.
"If someone could've saved us back then, long before we were put through that torture, you'd beg them for help too, right?? Even if they couldn't, even if it looked hopeless, you wouldn't want to be left alone would you??"
Hugo's expression darkened, something raw surfacing beneath the anger.
"What we went through that day, and what the war empire has in store for them.. are not remotely similar."
He said coldly,
"None of the people in this room will ever even understand a thousandth of the pain I went through in those five years."
Azdin recoiled, but Hugo only pressed further,
"Don't talk to me like you know how I feel too. You've forgotten. You've been freed."
He laughed—short, bitter, and hollow.
"You'll never understand what I went through, and you for sure don't have the right to even speak like you went through it too. We're leaving these people behind, and that's the end of it."
Even if they were to make it to land, there was no telling what kind of dangers they would encounter there.
If his hunch was correct, and they were really going to end up in war empire territory, then laying low with this amount of people was simply impossible.
They'd end up captured and be killed. Maybe even worse.
**
Just like that, their short argument came to an unsatisfying end. Azdin found himself feeling even more exhausted than before, his chest tight with words he no longer had the strength to say, while Hugo turned away, jaw clenched.
Right then, while the murmurs hadn't died down yet, someone stepped forwards from the crowd.
Moving with a quiet confidence that made the chains at her wrists seem a little out of place, she swiftly reached the two.
"Greetings!"
Hugo's head snapped towards her, his tone sharp.
"What do you want?"
It was a woman, short in stature, with long strands of messy golden hair, contrasting against her dark skin.
She raised her hands slightly, palms open as a sign of peace.
"..well.. I, and quite a few others happened to over hear your.. very loud bickering."
He scoffed, instead turning away.
"If you have a problem, then beat it already. I'm not going bow down and apologize, I'm also in quite the foul mood right now."
The woman blinked, then smiled—small, calm, and unoffended.
"Ah! Of course not, heavens no! Actually.. it is the opposite."
She leaned in, just enough for them to hear, her voice lowering with intent.
"I desire to help you two."