“You’re Theonis?”

“Yes, sir, I am.”

The lieutenant looked like he was trying to suppress a sneer as he looked over Theonis. Theonis folded his arms and squirmed a little bit. Everyone had been giving him the same look. He clearly wasn’t strong enough to work on a pirate ship.

“Well, I’m Achistas. You’ll be working under me for this trip.” His expression added a sarcastic, “Hooray for me.”

“I’ll do my absolute best,” Theonis promised.

“I expect nothing less from you. For now, just… go swab the deck for a while.”

Theonis nodded and walked away. Once he was out of hearing range, he sighed. Of course that’s all that Achistas thought he was good for. This was going to be a difficult couple of weeks.

They had only just set sail, but the deck was as dirty as if nobody had ever cleaned it. Theonis ran the mop back and forth. His mind was occupied. He had to stop the pirates from hurting his friends.

While he contemplated ideas, people would pass by Theonis. It never failed: they would always give him the same look. He did his best to ignore it.

“Doesn’t seem like much of an asset,” he heard a woman mutter as she passed by.

Theonis cringed. He’d always been smaller and weaker than other men. Smaller than most of the women who worked on pirate ships, even. And the Apositan pendant that he’d found had only made him even weaker. As much as Theonis liked his body now, it was going to make being here difficult.

“I’m only here for a few weeks,” he mumbled.

As long as he focused on that, he’d be fine. It didn’t matter what anybody else thought of him. He could ignore the stares. He could ignore the comments. Theonis would be out of here and back where he was happy before he knew it.

It was only the first day, but Theonis was already stressed. When he’d finally finished cleaning the deck, Theonis put the mop away and headed below. Being out of the sun felt good. He made his way to the canteen, which was already filling up with people. Theonis grabbed a plate and sat down at an empty table. His gaze drifted across the room as he chewed on his salted pork.

Then he almost choked. Sitting across the room from him was a tall and beefy pirate that Theonis actually recognized. It was Yoris, the pirate who had thrown him overboard the last time he’d been on a pirate ship, still with his silver nose ring. And he was looking right at Theonis as if he was seeing a ghost.

Theonis ran, abandoning his food altogether and running out of the canteen. He passed by confused pirates walking the other way. But he couldn’t slow down; Yoris was running after him. Theonis turned down a hallway and tried the nearest door. It was open. He closed the door behind him and pressed all his weight against it.

A moment later, Yoris turned the corner and passed the door Theonis was hiding behind. Theonis sighed and collapsed to the floor. That had been too close.

“Fuck me,” Theonis muttered.

His stomach growled. But Theonis couldn’t go back to the canteen. Yoris might still find him. Why was Yoris here of all places? Were his lackeys who had helped torment Theonis here too? If so, they could make his life utterly miserable. Actually, Yoris could do that on his own if he wanted. How was Theonis going to sabotage the rest of the pirates if Yoris was there making things difficult?

Theonis shook his head and stood up. He was going to have to deal with this obstacle somehow. And it was going to have to be soon if he wanted time to help his friends.

The next few days were difficult. It seemed like Yoris was always just in Theonis’ peripheral vision, keeping an eye on him. Occasionally, Theonis even actually saw him standing nearby and staring while Theonis worked.

Usually, he was swabbing the deck. At one point, he was asked to help clean the cannons. Since he couldn’t do a lot of heavy labor, Theonis spent a lot of time helping other members of the crew. He spent a lot of time in the galley helping to prepare food. The quartermaster often had Theonis help distribute supplies. Once Theonis had demonstrated that he could read maps, Lieutenant Achistas had him spend a lot of hours helping the navigator.

Almost a week into the trip, Theonis was carrying a navigational chart to show Captain Valenvara their projected course. Along the way, he passed two pirates coming in the opposite direction. Theonis tried to scoot by, but one of them deliberately shoved him as he passed by.

“Asshole,” Theonis cussed.

“Stay out of my way, next time,” the pirate sneered.

Theonis growled, but simply kept walking. He could deal with this. If it meant being able to help his friends, he could put up with this.

Speaking of which, he actually needed to get started on his plan. Theonis wanted to sabotage the cannons so that nobody on the Polaia would get hurt when the pirates attacked. But it was going to be impossible with Yoris constantly breathing down his neck. Theonis was going to need to get rid of him.

But it wasn’t just about that. Theonis wanted revenge against Yoris for what he did. But Theonis wouldn’t win in a straight-up fight. And even if he could, getting into a fight would bring a lot of attention to him that he didn’t want. Theonis needed a plan.

Theonis knocked on the captain’s quarters and waited for a response. After a few moments, the captain opened the door and peeked out. Theonis held up the navigational charts.

“I’m supposed to bring this to you,” he told her.

“Very good,” Captain Valenvara replied, taking the papers from him. “I’ll review them and return them when I’m done.” She paused. “You really do look a lot like your mother, you know.”

Theonis felt heat rise in his cheeks, but he couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment over how he looked or shame for betraying his mother.

“Thank you,” he mumbled, turning away.

Returning below deck, Theonis started making his way to the canteen. He kept his head down, lost in his thoughts. So Theonis wasn’t paying attention when he walked right into someone.

“There you are,” Yoris sneered.

“Fuck.”

Theonis tried to back up, but Yoris grabbed him by the arm and swung Theonis into the wall. He grunted and scowled. Yoris flared his nostrils.

“How did you get here?” he demanded.

“I swam,” Theonis replied, struggling not to smirk.

“I don’t know what you’re up to,” Yoris growled, “but I’m watching you.”

“I know. You’re too big to miss.”

Yoris pushed Theonis back, slamming him into the wall again.

He continued, “You don’t belong here, runt. And I’m not going to stand by and let you get in the way.”

“Hey!”

They turned to see a woman approaching and cracking her knuckles.

“Let the kid go,” she warned.

Yoris took his hands off of Theonis and stormed away.

“Did he hurt you?” the woman asked.

“No, I’m fine,” Theonis insisted. “He doesn’t bother me.”

Yoris was right: Theonis didn’t belong here. And he didn’t intend to stay here for very long. But he couldn’t sabotage the cannons with Yoris watching him.

The woman introduced herself as Koralina. Theonis tried to be polite, but he wasn’t interested in making new friends at the moment. Koralina accompanied Theonis to the canteen and allowed him to sit with her and her own friends. He could still feel Yoris’ eyes on him, though, and looking around Theonis was able to see Yoris sitting at a table and watching him.

“Everyone, this is Theonis,” Koralina said when they sat down.

“Hello,” he muttered.

Everyone seemed to recognize him. He was the pirate runt, after all. Of course they knew who he was.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“What are you doing on this ship, Theonis?”

He shrugged and replied, “I needed to get off of Stemini. This seemed like the best way to do it.”

“Being a pirate is hard. Are you ready to do what needs to be done?”

“I am,” Theonis insisted.

A loud clanging noise interrupted the conversation. Everyone turned to look at Lieutenant Achistas, who was standing on a table and banging two metal plates together. Once everyone’s attention was on him, he lowered the plates and scanned the room.

“Alright, make sure word gets out to everyone who’s not here!” he cried. “Our path is going to take us past an inhabited island tonight after dark. So we’re going to have to go completely dark to avoid being seen. When we call for lights out, that means all lights go out.”

Lieutenant Achistas got down from the table and Theonis stood up.

“I need to go real quick,” he told the rest of the table. “I’ll be right back. I need to ask him something.”

“Oh, sure,” Koralina said, blinking in surprise.

Yoris was still watching. When he noticed Theonis walking, Yoris stood up and made his way a little closer. Theonis walked slowly. He needed to get to Achistas before he was out of the room, but needed Yoris to hear what was happening.

“Lieutenant!” he called out, running up to Achistas. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yes, Theonis?”

“Can I be on watch duty tonight?” he asked.

“I… suppose so. If that’s really what you want. I’m sure one of the other guards will appreciate the night off. But I expect you to still be well-rested for tomorrow. You’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

“Yes, sir!”

Lieutenant Achistas walked out of the canteen. Theonis grinned and glanced over at Yoris, just for a second. Sure that Yoris was still watching, Theonis walked out the canteen. He could hear Yoris walking after him and picked up his pace just a bit before turning down a hallway and leaning up against it.

Theonis began muttering to himself. Yoris’ footsteps got close before he stopped suddenly nearby. He clearly didn’t think that Theonis could hear him.

“Very good,” Theonis said quietly. “Everything is in place for tonight. The darkness will conceal everything perfectly. This plan is going to work.”

Yoris’ footsteps picked up again, quickly fading away. Theonis grinned. That should keep Yoris’ attention. His heart was thumping in his chest. If this plan failed, Theonis could get seriously hurt. At the very least, it would prevent him from doing anything to help his friends before the attack.

Theonis returned to the canteen and took his seat at the table with Koralina and her friends.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “I just had to take care of something.”

“Not a problem,” Koralina replied. “But I think your food is cold.”

“I’ll be okay.”

As the sun began to set, Theonis made his way above deck. A lieutenant that Theonis didn’t know was up there with a small group of people. Koralina was also up there, and seemed surprised to see him.

“Good,” the lieutenant said. “Everyone’s here. We’re going to be in utter darkness tonight, but we still need everyone to be watchful of other nearby ships. Especially if we need to avoid hitting them. Everyone, take your positions.”

Theonis asked to be positioned at the bow of the ship. It was far away from everyone else. He watched the sun set, occasionally glancing over at the lights of an island in the distance. The only sound was the wind and the creaking of wood.

It was weirdly peaceful out here in the darkness. Theonis was sore and tired and could not wait to get out of there, but in the moment he felt okay. He was a little tense, though. While Theonis watched, he was also listening for the sound of footsteps.

Maybe an hour after the sun had finished setting, Theonis finally heard someone walking toward him. He turned and could just barely make out a silhouette approaching him. It was hard to even tell if the person was a man or a woman.

“Who is it?” Theonis asked.

The figure didn’t respond. Theonis’ stomach was in knots. Hopefully the silence meant that this was really Yoris. He only had one opportunity to make this work.

“There’s nothing to report,” Theonis said, struggling to keep his voice level. “No other ships nearby.”

The figure got closer. Theonis curled his hand into a fist and tensed his whole arm. His breathing was uneven.

“What’s your name again?” Theonis asked, raising his hand. “I don’t think I caught it earlier—”

As soon as the figure was close enough, Theonis lashed out and rammed his fist into the figure’s throat. They gurgled and stumbled back a few steps. There was a glint of light off of a nose ring, identifying the figure as Yoris. Theonis’ heart was pounding in his ears.

Yoris made a few raspy sounds, but wasn’t able to cry out. Theonis’ hand hurt a little from the blow. But he had to take advantage of the situation. Theonis ran forward and swung his other fist, hitting the side of Yoris’ face.

He had to do this quickly and quietly. Yoris swung his own arm, but Theonis was able to duck beneath it easily and thrust his knee into Yoris’ gut. The figure doubled over, but grabbed Theonis by the shoulders.

The two started to grapple. Not good; Theonis had the disadvantage. He took a few steps back, closer to the railing. Then Theonis shifted his weight, moving around Yoris. Soon, Yoris was standing with his back to the railing and Theonis started pushing.

Yoris started struggling. Something had changed: he wasn’t trying to fight Theonis, just to get away. Theonis took advantage of the opening to push Yoris even closer to the railing, until Yoris was leaning right up against it.

Theonis was exhausted. But he was almost done. With a loud grunt, Theonis let go of Yoris and reached down, grabbing on leg with both hands and pulling up. Yoris was knocked off balance and started to fall backward. He flailed and reached forward to grab at Theonis, but Theonis stepped back.

Yoris fell.

After another moment, there was a splash. Theonis sighed and finally sat down, breathing heavily. A grin spread across his face. He’d done it. Yoris was gone. Without the ability to cry out for help, Yoris would have no choice but to swim toward the nearby island for safety. And he’d have no way to get back to Stemini.

“Theonis?” came a familiar voice.

“Hmm?” Theonis asked, turning his attention to the new figure who had approached.

“I thought I heard a noise. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, fine. I just tripped and banged myself up. But I’m okay. Thank you, Koralina.”

“Are you sure? It didn’t really sound like someone falling.”

“Everything is okay, I promise.”

Koralina nodded slowly. Theonis couldn’t read her expression, but he imagined that she didn’t really believe him.

“Alright,” she said. “Just remember to keep an eye out for other ships.”

“Can do. Thanks for checking up on me.”

Koralina walked away and Theonis stood up. He scanned the horizon a bit, just checking for other ships, but his mind was elsewhere. This had been a pretty successful night.

QuillRabbit

Wow, what a stressful experience. But it turns out that Theonis' quick thinking was able to turn the situation to his advantage, along with a bit of what he learned from Kateni. He's definitely come a long way in a short amount of time.

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