Chapter One:

I tugged at the collar of the dress shirt I wore, “You are sure I should be coming?” I asked uncertainly.

“Aye.” he replied to me with finality, as if just because he said it was it became true.

“Alright,” I said with a shrug, “but if the nobles give me wary eyes I’ll blame you in a millisecond.”

"I am fully aware of that.” He responded while tugging me through the entrance.

The splendor that filled me when I finally saw the inside of the hall was indescribable, it was like- it just was. The walls were covered in silks so fine you could see hints of the majestic tapestries that lay below them when they fluttered in the playful breeze. The bottoms of the dancing silks kissed the black marble floor speckled with gold and silver that reflected the candle light from spun gold chandeliers like thousands of stars in a mass of dark oblivion.

"I shouldn't be here." I mumbled to myself while glancing around the room yet again. But the Captain was the Captain and I had to obey. I adjusted my mask again and tried to mingle. I've never been a good mingler. Lady Orodra cast me a brief glance but otherwise that was the sum of my social interactions for the party. Well, until she arrived.

Her flowing gown seemed to float about her like moon beams caressing a lake on a hot summer night. Her hair flowed down her shoulders like a waterfall of jet and her skin was sun kissed. Her face was hidden behind a mask of opal with a smile that seemed to say everything and nothing all at once. I wiped my palms on my pants and looked away from her, a glance should only last a second. A stare lasts twelve minutes and thirty-three seconds.

I sighed and walked towards the refreshment counter. The girl was no longer in my sight, just the ale I felt I needed and nothing else.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

"Ahhhhh!" screamed a woman in fright as the room we were in exploded in a mass of flames. Where was the Captain? Where's that fairy-girl? Where are my pants? I pushed the clingy woman away. She wrapped herself in the sheet. The heat was unbearable. I looked out the window, it was daylight. Cursing, I looked down to see how high up I was. Too high to jump. I glanced at the flames and cursed again. I removed my clothes and grabbed the vase nearby, after soaking the clothes I put them back on. Grabbing the sheet I took the wash bowl and soaked it before wrapping it around myself. The wench was crying in the corner. I grumbled and took the rest of the sheets and began to tie them all together before soaking them in what was left of the water and dangling them out the window.

I had grabbed the wench and tyied her to me with the soaked sheet while she futilely tried to cover herself. The bells were ringing and I had to get out of here so I climbed out the window. She was heavy. Very heavy, but the little integrity I had left refused to let me drop her so I continued to climb down the sheets to the water below. A sizzling caught my attention and I cursed for the third time that morning, the sheets were burning. I had to move faster, much faster. First the water was approaching and then all of a sudden the water was approaching much too fast. The sheet had ripped and we were falling. This was the first time I'd killed someone innocent. Well it wasn't really killing; it was just either her or me. I shifted in the sheets so that she was below me. I'll never forget the look on her face, or the sickening crack that resounded when we hit the water. She died instantly but with her below me to break the surface I managed to survive and escape.

"You are lucky to have survived Entu; you knew we were destroying the manner in the morning why did you stay?" Inquired the Captain much too formally. Entu wasn't my name; it was the name he gave me.

I looked up from my soaking mess on the deck to the Captain's eyes, "I got drunk and slept with a wench."

The Captain laughed, "That is my boy for ya boys! Groin before neck anyday!" I tried to laugh with him, I tried so hard to laugh and I hoped it didn't look too forced. It must have passed for acceptable because I was ushered below deck to clean myself and change. What a nice way to begin a journey eh?