The Threat

"You must wonder what I have against all other healers who have seen my body," Myorka said and unwrapped her luxurious robes. "Nothing, nothing except –"

And this was the moment Serenica saw her nearly naked, now becoming a little afraid of her.

Myorka was beautiful, perhaps even more so than Helen, and she had two scars running from her hips towards her waist. For an unknown reason she also let her hair loose. Perhaps it was merely to be theatrical. Perhaps it was to demonstrate her general condition. She was wearing red underwear, very similar to Gadfly's, but more tasteful.

Serenica felt herself overpowered. The woman had taken her to a hidden location, which meant she did not want her crew to see her undressed. Serenica was somehow special. She was a woman. She was different.

"I understand," Serenica said, regaining her composure. "What do you have a problem with? You look healthy to me. Unless it's something internal, like a reproductive issue."

"You hit the nail on the head," Myorka said with a sad and ironic smirk. "I can't conceive. Gods know I have tried – we have tried."

"Are you certain it's not him?"

Serenica realized what a compromising situation this was. Her alone with the captain's wife who happened to be almost naked. She dreaded the possibility of Spade finding them. She didn't want to imagine all the ways that man could kill her.

"No, I'm positive it's not him."

Serenica swallowed.

"Don't look so sad. My point was, it's me. It's always been me. There is something wrong with my womb."

"The scars?" Serenica asked softly.

"I was sold into slavery when I was young. I don't want to talk about it much longer, but they did something to me. They drugged me and ever since I have not bled."

A cage shut itself around Serenica's heart, dreadfully reminding her of all the horrors people had to suffer under the former slavery laws.

"I am sorry."

"Don't be. The people who did this to me were very sorry. It didn't do them much good. Spade held them still as I slit their throats."

"Good," Serenica said, thinking that she did not regret killing Murdon half as much as she should have. "What do you want me to do?"

"You're a bit thick in the head department, aren't you? I think it's rather obvious what I want you to do."

Fearing the bookkeeper's wrath the healer instructed Myorka to sit down on a moderately comfortable rock. Serenica knew of places other than the womb that were just as essential to fertility. It was hidden knowledge, the kind of thing that had been passed from woman to woman for generations. She felt the bookkeeper's stomach.

"This will get intrusive," she warned Myorka.

"Then let it. I am not messing around. I want a family."

Serenica pressed two fingers on the place where she thought any abnormalities would appear, just below the bookkeeper's navel.

She tried to feel the area for anything out of the ordinary with little success. She withdrew her fingers and looked at the scars.

"Do you have any recollection of what –"

"No. If you ask about it one more time I'll have you keelhauled. See if there is something wrong with my organs. That's what healers do, am I right? To see if there is something unusual?"

"Yes, yes, you're asking quite a lot of me here," Serenica said, unable to hide her frustration. "You're not dumb. You know what this might look like if someone comes."

"Do it. I will pay you handsomely."

Serenica did as Myorka wanted and pressed really hard against the softness of her belly. While the woman had an ideal amount of subcutaneous fat, something near the scars stood out on either side.

"There is something," she said and intended to go on, but a noise from the jungle behind her startled her.

"I can see you're testing our new healer," Spade said nonchalantly and sat down on the rock next to Myorka. "Do you have to be so damn hard on her?"

"This is why we wanted a woman," the bookkeeper said, raising one perfectly plucked eyebrow. "You wouldn't ever feel safe with me in the hands of a male."

"I have my doubts whether Ingram is safe, but you're right, she's a woman."

"And perfectly professional," Serenica added. "I've seen plenty of infertility in Neul. I have loads of experience."

"That'll do for now," Spade said. "Come with me, perfect professional. I have something to talk about before we leave."

"What was that something?" Myorka asked. She was putting her robes back on.

Serenica thought about it. "There might be something foreign in your body. That'll take plenty of work to figure out."

A quick expression of fear flashed across the woman's face.

Spade took Serenica's arm and led him towards the beach.

Spade sat her down in a quiet spot as the crew was preparing to lift the anchor.

"We have a moment, and I intend to be direct, young lady," the captain said in a hushed voice full of silk and velvet that somehow made him even more terrifying. Spade had a tendency to physically dominate whatever space he was in, not on purpose, at least it didn't seem purposeful.

Nevertheless, Serenica felt like she was in danger. That wasn't new. She had been in danger for as long as she could remember, and her memory had been cut short. Neul seemed like fiction already.

"I am fine with you building a professional relationship with my wife. You might be thinking I will kill you if you push the boundaries."

Serenica waited for the catch. Surely there was one. Spade couldn't possibly submit himself to being cheated on. Not that Serenica wanted anything to do with his terrifying wife, but all kinds of suspicions could arise around her and Myorka if this continued. Or maybe she was just paranoid after being given plenty of reason to fear everything.

"No, if you will take her to bed, I will kill myself," the captain said, looking her straight into her eyes, without a hint of irony.

"You will…kill yourself? Not me? Not her?"

"I see it as a personal failure if my woman seeks for warmth elsewhere. If I am the most feared captain on all known seas and still can't satisfy my wife, then what am I doing all of this for?"

Serenica examined his body language, she felt the cold that radiated from him, and she knew he was serious.

She shouldn't have felt so bad about it, but a lump dropped inside her throat and she thought that in a way, the captain was threatening her through threatening to harm himself.

"You shouldn't do that," she said with sadness in her stomach. "I don't want you to die."

"Then don't seduce my wife and we'll be all good. Are you intending to seduce her?"

"No! I am not – I can't!"

"Is there an inbuilt need in you that would keep you from doing so?"

"I love money," Serenica said. "If you were dead, it would harm my financial prospects."

"How come are you so good and so broke? Something doesn't match here. You're walking on a razor's edge, Ingram."

Serenica told him her story as shortly as she could. It was still quite an adventure, but Spade didn't rush her or interrupt.

When she was finished, he got up and looked around.

"Let's get you aboard. I have something to share with you and the whole crew."

There were few things as intoxicating as being aboard a proper sailing ship. The smell of tar from voyages long ago mixed with the heavenly spray that sea wind brought from the waves, the rocking that changed from gentle to violent in seconds, and most of all the water all around. The feeling of freedom was something Serenica always missed on land. Of course water belonged to the dead and now she was in the middle of their realm. She had no idea how many traitors rested in the bottom of the Oathbreaker's Cove.

Soon, though, they left for the open seas, Gadfly finally getting his moment to shine as he organized the little details of a hydrodynamically perfect departure.

Serenica finally caught a sight of the Admiral and William. They were the same person. Gadfly said he was actually a real admiral of the Navy of Sennas, or at least had been. He was easy to recognize as he was still wearing a blue coat from the Navy. He was tall, taller than Spade, and in his soft movements Serenica sensed an unique danger. He did not seem to fear the captain, on the contrary, Spade seemed to fear him.

Serenica didn't fear him, though. He gave her a small handful of very fine pipe tobacco. He said he was a smoker himself, so they grabbed their pipes and smoked as the captain foamed at his mouth about some booty yet to be collected.

When Spade mentioned the name of Mariana Kinley, Serenica perked up instantly.

"Our new healer has been so cruelly discarded from her own city by this hag, it's likely she's been robbed, too. This woman – if I can even call her that – has stolen items of irreplaceable value. I had been suspecting such heinous crimes, but the targeting of witches that I have recently heard of, thanks to Ingram, has solidified my belief. Her loot is worth several ships of our usual prey."

"Hold on a second," Serenica said. "What is this about?"

"Kinley has magical objects. We hunt magical objects. It's a perfect fit," the captain said, smiling, all suicidal intentions gone from his face.

Serenica had guessed correctly. These weren't ordinary pirates. Magical loot was the most lucrative and most dangerous. Serenica knew this from the insane price of certain items she'd come across.

"It's pretty dangerous to have her as an enemy." She shook her head, looking at Spade, trying to utilize her long lashes. Perhaps, if she only sounded sincere enough, this madman would see the light and realize Kinley would eat him alive after stripping the fat from his flesh.

"Aye, perhaps to one woman. But a crew of elite pirates?"

"Your elite pirates can't –" Serenica was about to say something inconsiderate but changed her mind. "You know what. It's not my business. I have the option to refuse the job offer. No way am I going to face that woman again."

"Again? You've seen her naked and you fear her?"

Serenica was anxious. She had to get out of Neul. With the money Gadfly had so graciously given to her, it was possible to stay for a while, even though she needed to stay undercover. This job would have been perfect, though.

"You've got to make a choice right now before I tell you more incriminating details, lass."

"All right." Serenica held her right hand up, as if swearing an oath. "I'll come with you people. But this madness – do not blame me once she destroys us all."