Quill spread his clawed fingers again. “Possibly. Possibly not. That’s the problem. No one’s seen the culprit clearly. Whatever it is, it’s fast and smart enough to keep its distance until it strikes.”

Aethe glanced at Marco. “That’s not nothing.”

“No, and we don't know if it will attack us,” Marco added. “How well do you understand the line where a ship gets too strong to get attacked by this monster, or whatever it is?”

"Not well. But, very frankly, you are weak by this island's standards for now. You have a chance of encountering it."

Elisa nodded slowly. “And if we refuse?”

Quill’s eyes stayed on Marco. “Then you refuse. I don’t force willing guests into service. But you’ll understand if I offer the job to someone else.”

Marco considered the unspoken warning. “All right. Give us the night to decide.”

“Of course,” Quill said, rising. “You'll find your room and meals are paid for in advance tonight, and I'll send my men to ask for your decision sometime tomorrow morning. I look forward to your answer.”

The walk back to the inn was quieter than the walk out. The brothers escorted them only as far as the town’s edge before peeling off with a short word and a wave, leaving Marco and the others to pick their way down streets that were rapidly becoming familiar. The air felt cooler now, the warmth of the day bleeding away as the sea wind rolled in.

It was Riv who broke the silence first. “He’s hiding something, right?”

“Obviously,” Elisa said. “The question is whether it’s dangerous to us or just to someone else.”

Marco breathed a sigh of relief. He had been trying to figure out a way to say the same thing without seeming crazy. There hadn't been so much as a word or a look off during the entire conversation. Quill was, to all appearances, a concerned governor taking care of his island the best way he had known how. He was polite. He was a good host. Something was still wrong.

"I don't know whether I'm paranoid because he could profit from killing us or if he's really bad."

Aethe’s voice was low when she spoke next. “It’s both. The way he kept circling around the job was more than just cautious. He’s worried about more than this ‘threat’ east of here.”

Marco kept his eyes forward, trying to look like their conversation wasn't worth listening to. “He’s worried about us too. He was trying to learn what he could about us, during that conversation. Aethe, you stopped that, but now he's sending us on a combat mission.”

“You think he was fishing for more than the job pitch?” Riv asked.

“Yes,” Marco said. “And I don’t think we gave him as much as he wanted. Which is good. If we complete this mission and come back healthy, he probably won't learn much more. But it will put a floor on how weak we are. He'll know more than he did.”

They passed a small square lit by hanging lanterns, the light pooling gold on weathered benches and shuttered market stalls. Marco slowed, letting the others come even with him. They were close to the hotel now, and he didn't want to talk about the more sensitive parts of the day in an environment someone else controlled.

“Until we know exactly what game he’s playing, we stay close. We work if the work is good and not aimed at someone who doesn’t deserve it. But we don’t show any cards we don't have to. Not yet.”

Elisa’s eyes narrowed in thought. “Clean work narrows our options. He might offer something we don't want to take.”

“Which gives us information,” Aethe said. “So long as he doesn't attack us outright the first time we say no.”

They reached the inn’s street, the open doors of the small hotel promising food and rest. Marco slowed again before stepping inside, feeling the weight of the day settle heavier on his shoulders. There was a nagging sense in his chest that he’d missed something important. That he'd passed some detail in Quill’s tone that would have explained the mayor’s real concern.

But whatever it was, it remained just out of reach, like trying to recall a dream after waking.

Inside, the innkeeper greeted them with the news that their rooms and supper had indeed been paid for. They filed into the common room, the smell of roasting meat and fresh bread filling the air. Still, as they took their seats and the first platters were set down, Marco found his gaze drifting to the door.

He didn’t expect Quill to walk in for any logical reason he could think of, but every moment it felt like he might anyway.

“Close and careful,” he reminded the others before the food arrived. “At least until we know who we’re really dealing with.”

The rest of the night was uneventful. They all avoided alcohol, agreeing without much discussion to keep their wits sharp. Shifts for the night were split evenly, two sleeping while the others kept watch in rotating turns. The inn was quiet, and the locked hallway door made the job simple.

By dawn, they were all awake. Breakfast was hearty: fresh bread, eggs, and smoked fish. They had just finished clearing their plates when Bhul and Tauncy arrived at the door.

“Well?” Bhul asked. “Do we have an answer for the mayor?”

Marco nodded. “We’ll take the job. If it’s as you said, we’ll see it through.”

“Fair enough,” Tauncy said. “It’s a few days’ sail east. The waters between here and there are clear, at least of anything big that we know about. You’ll have to keep an eye out for smaller threats, but that’s the same anywhere.”

“Directions?” Aethe asked.

Tauncy recited them carefully, including currents, prevalent winds, and the safest approach to the affected area. Elisa committed them to memory immediately.

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With that, the brothers took their leave, and the crew made their way down to the docks. The Foolish Endeavor waited patiently, rocking gently in her berth. They went through their usual checks, finding the rigging secure, sails in order, powder and shot stowed properly, and their provisions ready for several days at sea. Aethe demanded to be allowed to feed the chickens and smiled softly at them as they clucked and pecked up the grain.

When everything was in place, Marco gave the nod and the ship eased away from the dock. The morning sun glittered off the waves as they turned east, leaving Quilton behind and setting out toward whatever waited for them.

—

It was a day's sail and a full night's sleep before “clear of anything big that we know about” turned out to be something pretty big indeed.

The whole morning before the attack was pretty good, as days sailing went. Marco's new upgrades felt like they were settling in, something he hadn't expected to take time but that really seemed to. As time went on, either his body or the ship was getting used to the new speed of energy transfer, and it felt like the ship was going faster and faster with every moment.

In the meantime, he could also feel more. The last few times he or the ship had a big upgrade, it seemed like it was more a part of him, like the barrier between what the unfeeling ship felt and him was slowly eroding. Even now, it was a primitive sort of sense. He knew a little better how fast they were going. He could feel a little bit more or knew a little bit more about the condition of the water somehow. It was like he was growing a third arm that was just starting to generate nerves and had a vague, numb sense of feeling around it but nothing more.

It was just enough to feel a tinge of something-is-happening warning before Aethe confirmed the instinct.

“The water is bubbling, Marco,” Aethe warned.

"A whale, maybe?"

"Not unless it's a lot of whales." Aethe pulled her bow. "Everyone! Heads up!"

The warning gave Elisa and Riv just a moment to get ready, but the moment counted. A second later, when ten scaled, vaguely human-shaped fishmen jumped out of the water, Riv's club was in his hands and Elisa's electric powers were fully extended.

The first group of the fishmen arced through the air, riding the momentum from their underwater sprint up to the ship. They came down near the back of the boat where Elisa and Riv were standing, but not intact. Marco's gun went off again and again in his hand, catching various fishmen with shot and making little pocking noises again and again. It was a much faster firing rate than he was used to, but there was no corresponding downside to his aim. He figured he hit about ten times before they hit the deck, taking one of the attackers out of the fight completely and leaving a few others wounded.

Fast as he was, he had nothing on the sheer ranged destructive force that was Aethe. Her arrows flew out rapid-fire, one after the other, punching harder with every hit than Marco could have dreamed of accomplishing with his pistol. She fought and killed and destroyed, drawing an unintended whistle of appreciation from Marco as she won most of the first round all by herself.

Other fishmen followed, but by the time the first of the six or so survivors hit the deck, Elisa and Riv had plenty of time to set up for them. From a safe distance, Elisa drew a line of whip lightning across the air above the deck, freezing three or four of them that had landed in a group more than long enough for Riv to take a long, powerful step and swing his club. The weapon barely slowed down as it smashed through everything, creating a chorus of cracks as it sent all three of them pinwheeling back into the ocean, limp and disabled.

He got one of the remaining fishmen with his next swing, and Aethe got the others. It didn't even seem hard for them. Marco let go of the wheel as he moved to the middle of the deck, sword drawn and ready to see how the rest of his upgrades sat. He finally took a moment to see what they were dealing with, since they seemed to have plenty of time to spare.

The next group was twice as big, but they were more ready for them now. Elisa's lightning whipped through the air as she stepped forward behind the protective cover of Riv's big club, shocking the fishmen mid-air and ruining their landings. Aethe was firing arrows, but Marco paid them no mind no matter how closely they whizzed by. Aethe wouldn't hit him. The greater question in his mind was if all the Charisma he had packed into his gear had left enough room for the other improvements to shine.

They did. He jumped into the fray as the fishmen started hitting the deck, shooting and stabbing at anything that was still alive. His skills kicked into action then, legitimately improved by the higher quality of his gear. Every strike with the sword reached further, hit faster, and felt better aimed. His footwork was cleaner. He was clearing a fishman a second, running up, stabbing, and shooting until they went limp.

It wasn't the test he had hoped for, given that everything about it was under control. By the end of the fight, though, an hour had passed. The fishmen kept on coming, making suicide runs at the deck that were over and over again repelled, never getting in so much as a swipe on any of the crew as they were absolutely slaughtered. If it wasn't for Aethe keeping most of them from hitting the deck and Riv batting away most of them once they did make it to the ship, they would have run out of room to fight.

"Last one," Riv said. "Can I try the thing?"

"Sure," Marco said. The fishman stood up, woozy from lightning and looking for targets. "Have fun."

“This is twenty percent!” Riv said. The Tyrant Club lit up gold as he ran up on the swing, hitting the fishman at a slight upward angle. A meaty thunk filled the air as the fishman lost all recognizable aspects of its anatomy at once, lifted off the deck, and flew into the distance like a ragdoll before plopping into the water with no attempt to control its own movement.

Riv screamed in joy.

"Ooooh yes!" he yelled. "Riv's strong, friends! Riv is the strongest!"

“Careful,” Aethe said. "They'd almost mistake you for a combat class."

"I almost feel like one! I can't do that all the time, but considering Elisa has a crowd control class, I should be able to do it pretty often."

“Only when needed, Riv,” Elisa said. "You feel pretty weak now, right?"

That, finally, took some of the wind out of Riv's sails.

"A bit."

“Right. It's fine and you needed to test it, but if something else attacks us soon, we'll be at a disadvantage. But, I can help with that. I'll tell you when to use your strong attacks.”

"That’s with your new gear? The tactical notebook? Used it this fight?" Marco asked.

"Yes," Elisa said. "Though we hardly needed it. I mostly just used it to aim my lightning. Next time, I'll bark out orders. And, on top of all that, we learned something."

"That Aethe can blot out the sun with arrows?"

"Besides that. Remember the directions the brothers gave us before we left? They weren't exactly in a straight line. They said it was about zigging and zagging, getting the right angle of safe approach. We went through our first planned turn and then hit that group."

"You think they sent us into their territory?"

"I do." Elisa looked out to sea, putting the ship's spyglass up to her eye. After ten seconds or so, she seemed satisfied. "What we are going to do to retaliate for that is never talk about these enemies again. A fishman? We've never heard of fishmen. Got it?"

"Got it," Marco said. "And also, you should know about something."