Some of the officers of The Pointy End discussed our plans and confirmed that we would send Sandara and a small prize crew to anchor our captured ship in a sheltered cove and watch over it. Meanwhile, Tektek and I cleaned up the space where we were keeping our prisoners. I made sure that the prisoners were supplied with food, drink and playing cards. As we journeyed towards Bloodcove, I spent much of the time with the prisoners, playing card-games with them and trying to learn more about them.
We spent two nights and one full day docked at Bloodcove, a small city built on platforms among the mangroves. Dharak urged caution during our visit: “Yes, we’re pirates. What I’d like to be one day is an older pirate.” He went into the city to sell some of our loot and perform at taverns in an attempt to boost our reputation. He also purchased a hat of disguise so that he could take on the role of ‘Derek the human’ when necessary.
Valanthe negotiated the sale of our plunder and hired some new crew.
Jonas went into the city to purchase more livestock, including a goat, pigs and chickens. “Can we get more rats?” Tektek asked. “We’re about to run out.”
Tektek then recruited some new tengu crew by offering a free rat to anyone who passed a test involving simple shipboard tasks.
Valanthe asked Bismatarinia and me to find a broker who could manage the ransom for our prisoners. We knew that some brokers would sell hostages as slaves if a ransom could not be arranged, so we visited the broker who had the best reputation. He seemed polite and professional (although occasionally confused by Bismatarinia’s questions), and he claimed that he tried to resort to selling prisoners to slave-traders as rarely as possible.
At that point, I went outside, leaving Bismatarinia to continue the negotiations. I needed time to reflect on our situation.
It took me approximately four seconds of reflection to conclude that I could not allow our prisoners to be sold to a part-time slave-trader, even if it seemed likely that the Aspis Consortium would pay for the return of its employees.
The broker offered a reduced price to Bismatarinia because of the delicate approach he would need to take, given the Consortium’s strong presence in Bloodcove.
When Bismatarinia and I returned to The Pointy End, Valanthe was ordering our prisoners to unload the plunder from our ship, despite their grumbling protests (the harbour-master’s quote for unloading fees had been exorbitant). I volunteered to help, and various other crew members joined me in the task.
Valanthe and the rest of the crew were ready to accept the offer that Bismatarinia relayed from the broker. So I made a counteroffer: I would recompense the crew with payment matching a standard going rate for each of the prisoners (at a total of one thousand two hundred gold), on condition that they would be freed rather than delivered to a broker. The crew accepted my offer.
The prisoners could not be released until we were about to leave, because the Consortium would probably try to take action against us as soon as they learned of the capture of their ship. So I spent another evening in the prisoners’ company, playing cards and drinking rum.
We knew that the Aspis Consortium sometimes dealt in slaves. The fact that I had paid a significant amount of money to liberate slave-traders seemed easier to cope with while I was drinking rum.
I had a headache the next morning when it was time to release the prisoners. They seemed surprised and somewhat (but not very) grateful to be set free rather than being delivered to a broker. It was now time for The Pointy End to make a quick departure from Bloodcove.
