Bittersweet Promotions

From Reydala

"Dead?"

Shutat was sitting at a table with Daved, after the inn had long been closed. Chairs were on tops of tables, the entire room had been swept, and even the scullery maids had finished cleaning the kitchen for the night. The only light was from a candle on the tabletop, set in a holder next to a rather large bottle of Master Gil's homebrew. The half-elf pirate nodded while he took another drink. "It was the damndest thing. We were in the middle of the sea, when all of a sudden an Imperial ship came out of nowhere, long guns firing. They knew we would be there."

"A traitor?" Shutat took another drink, himself. All in one evening, his entire life had been altered irrecovably yet again. Captain Dante (and a good portion of his crew) had died in battle with some King or another's ship. Daved shook his question away.

"We were all loyal, you know that. We just took too long getting away, this time. The Interceptor had the good luck to be in port at the time, and had enough crew to row after us."

The Jovenite slammed his fist on the table. "I always told you people! If you keep on indiscriminatedly pillaging and plundering, some day you would bite off more than you could chew! Stealing is one thing, but to attack a town..."

Daved took no response to Shutat's outburst; it was rather quiet, being in the middle of the night, and Daved himself had drunk more than half of the homebrew. "Well, you get a chance to show off that policy of yours. You're the new Captain."

"I'm a what now?"

Daved reached into his breast pocket, withdrew a sheaf of papers, and dropped them on the table in front of him. As Shutat reached for them and began reading, Daved went on. "The Captain's will. Apparantly, he had a couple families to support, so they get his wealth," Daved grinned. "It would seem none of them knew the others existed. So while they get to argue over who gets how much, the crew gets this load we just pillaged (minus the Captain's usual 20%), then you get his name, title, and ship."

Shutat glared over the papers at Daved. "Strange, it looks like someone's name was scratched out, and mine was written on top of it."

Daved gave Shutat a look of absolute innocence. "What are you implying?"

"You were supposed to inherit the ship. Why the hell did you saddle it with me?"

Daved was silent for a moment while he considered his glass. Swirling it, he took another drink, refilled it, drank that, and spoke. "I'll tell you the truth, because you're young and I like you. Being a leader's a pain in the ass. You have to look after everybody, everyone blames you if something goes wrong, and you don't get credit if something goes right. Plus, when you own the ship, you can't just leave if you decide there's something better, or if you're just tired of being a scoundrel. The responsibility's yours until the day you die." Daved sipped his drink, and sighed. "I had enough of that in the Army. After the Dragon War, I swore I would never lead anything again." The half-elf raised his glass, and tipped it in Shutat's direction. "So, cheers. The Shagohod is yours, Captain Dante."

Shutat gave a pained look. "But I can't be the Captain. I have responsibilities here. I can't just walk out on them. It's a matter of honor."

"It's a matter of you having the hots for that singer, and you know it." Daved glared at Shutat, while the younger man reddened. "I know full well that you started that fight, and intentionally broke all that shit just so you'd have an excuse to stay here to 'work off your debt' from now until Hell freezes over. How long have you been here? Five months? A couple shitty pieces of furniture isn't worth that much."

The two men sat in silence for several minutes. As the candle began sputtering, Daved stood, and spoke. "All right. You're young. Do whatever you have to do; I'll tell the men we're on vacation, for the time being. It'll do good to let them rest for a while, anyways. But make no mistake; the Shagohod is yours, Dante, whether you want it or not. Add that to your list of 'responsibilities.'"

Daved began walking towards the door. "We'll be in town. You know where." As the heavy door closed behind him the candle went out, and Shutat was left alone in the smoky dark with his thoughts.