ALPHA - IC - The Tone of Madness - Part 1

[RCgothic]

Ember watches the hunters disembark with a distinct air of wariness and forboding.

Why do I get the feeling they're going to be trouble? she thinks towards her companion Dakota, who sits primly alongside her.

You can admit you think you should have burned the boat to the waterline and let the sharks sort them out. I won't tell anyone Dakota replies, craning her head to look up at her adoptive older sister's face. Like Ember's parents before her, Dakota too had benefited too from the magical association with a dragon, the effect only becoming more pronounced as Ember's own abilities grew.

Ember purses her lips in a very human expression, a studied affectation. Unlike the others in the stern castle, Ember hadn't actually been confined, free to take the shape of a mouse or a squirrel, or a seabird and go about the ship as she pleased whenever she was felt a bout of cabin sickness coming on. She'd even masqueraded as the ship's cat, hunting successfully amongst the rats in the hold just to keep her paws in; memories of hunting in the forest in her younger days bringing feelings of satisfaction. Apart from her ventures out the trip had been pleasant enough. Morkhut was a solid and reassuring presence, soflty spoken and with an air of dependability. And for some reason she'd found it easy to get along with Qatan the Tauric. It was Yyrkoon she didn't fully trust, disapproving of the way he charmed others to do his bidding, although at least the manservant was well treated.

Maybe, but I suspect too many of them would have been able to swim, she replies jokingly. Besides, I like the ship's cook. A prolific ratter was indeed always a welcome presence in the galley.

"Well, we should probably get going," Ember says aloud after the others have thanked the captain. "I could fly us up to the clifftop, but I suspect we may annoy the locals that way. And I could do with an a opportunity to earn some gold along the way. I was in rather a hurry when I left Odonson and I don't think what I've brought is enough," she worries.