Dungeon Sniper

One of my rarely functioning Perks, Premonition, could only work when I had even the slightest hints of what was about to happen. I had been expecting Nasty's ambush when his pebble nearly bored a hole on the back of my head. I had been expecting the Elves from a former slaver city of Deltaris were coming after me. Aside from those only two occasions in which the Perk activated properly, I was either processing things too slowly or blindsided the whole time.

I knew I had become something of an icon of letting things happen to me twice, even thrice, but not this time. I might be prone to forced imprisonments and clueless backstabs, but if I only had more time to look back and analyze the situations, things would have been different.

And so my wish came true.

[Perk upgraded: Prolonged Premonition]

.

.

.

Things slowed down for me to go over the facts... and doubts in the past couple of weeks.

'Captain Laracroft has offered that as a token of gratitude for such a generous price, she would like Captain Baha to take in the Human as well, free of charge, but only if the captain is willing,' the auctioneer at the slave market had said. It was not about what the greedy-faced Reptil had said. It was the snide smirk Captain Laracroft was making at the moment when she offered her 'generous' offer.

'He knows it's his last voyage too.'

'How, Cap? No one's ratted that we'd leave him after this sail.'

'A seasoned sailor like him can feel the turbulence in his ship like smelling the land from a hundred miles away.'

I thought I was looking at a group of disgruntled crew members and a stubborn, inflexible captain when I had first met them. I just figured they would all turn in their resignation letters at the same time without notice. Understandable, although the way they said 'ratting out,' the genuine looks of panic on Liamesh and Paterpen... and most importantly the way Lieutenant Captain 'Cap' Shef put on a sad face all too quickly, too timely...

'Don't shorten it. You only call rookie captains Cap. Address me as Captain.'

'You idiot, you told the captain—'

'Because we wouldn't want to let Captain Baha hear that we're jokingly calling our lieutenant captain, a captain. All jokes, all for a laugh.'

... A harmless inside joke, or a reference to something else? Something imminent, dangerous, and immoral...

"Beta, go get the captain."

Hermana looked edgy and nervous. I nodded and dashed toward the lower deck, glancing at the other crew as I passed them.

Liamesh and Paterpen were smiling. They were not even trying to hide it. Qeeqa, on the other hand, was staring down at the floor, his broad shoulders drooped with what indubitably gave off the sentiment of 'guilt.'

"Captain, you have to come out to the deck."

I did not know what face I was making when I told him that, but Captain Baha looked up from his parchments and grasped the urgency of the situation above our heads.

Captain Baha and I came out to the deck at the same Shef showed himself from the other trap door.

"Good. They're on time," said Shef leisurely as he walked over to the ledge and waved a white flag toward the approaching pirate ship.

"Care to explain, Lieutenant?"

Captain Baha's eyebrow twitched irritably.

"In time. In time. But first, we have to greet our guests."

"I have not given them permission to get aboard yet, Lieutenant," the old captain emphasized the last word threateningly.

"You don't need to. In fact, you don't get to. Not anymore."

Shef turned slowly, his face cold and calculative. Only then I recognized who he had reminded me of during our first meeting. I mistook his fake decorum with a dear friend. But that smile, that condescension of a megalomaniac... the resemblance was all too clear now.

Shef was just another Oren.

"... Damn it, Shef," grunted Baha.

Shef was putting on a triumphant smile when he locked eyes with mine. As soon as he caught my gaze, I blurted out. I had to. I had to know.

"So this was all prearranged? Laracroft gave me away so she could reclaim Elysia and me in one place when the right time came?"

The right time as in 'right now.' Suddenly, the old Reptilina's sly smile was making every sense now.

Shef shrugged lazily as if I were the least of his concern at the moment.

"I don't know. You'll have to ask Captain Laracroft yourself. You'll have all the time too. I've heard the Floating Salamanders treat their assets gently, but you'd know that already, being a two-timer on their ship in such a short span. An adventure worth telling, I'm sure."

And there it was again: the sickening, arrogant smile he had hidden behind the polite, handsome visage, a veneer that could fool anyone except a fellow Elf. Elysia never seemed at ease with Shef. Now I knew why, and too belatedly.

Shef read the regret in my eyes correctly as he looked around the deck.

"The other one, is she still in her bed?" he asked toward Liamesh and Paterpen, his loyal accomplices.

"Yes, Cap," answered Liamesh promptly.

"Go get her. Laracroft hates waiting around."

Liamesh nodded and shuffled his scaly feet away from the deck. I stared at his back, turned away past Paterpen's provocative snickering and Hermana's clenched fists on which the knuckles turned dangerously white and finally settled on the clearly dejected Orc-Human halfling.

"You too, Queeqa?"

I could not help but sound accusatory as I asked those words.

"... They promised to help me open up a restaurant... Sorry, Beta. Sorry, Captain."

Captain Baha did not say anything as he had his fierce glare fixed on the nonchalant, duplicitous Elf.

Liamesh came back out with limp Elysia in his arms. It pained me to see her so pale and helpless, but her keen eyes were already scanning the scene to take in the situation.

Meanwhile, the gigantic Drowning Salamander lined up next to our smaller ship and came to a slow, lazy stop. Fifty or so Reptil pirates were towering above us and staring down at us silently, with flintlock pistols and swords on hands, waiting to jump over at any moment.

"Welcome, friends. How was the storm down under?" greeted Shef pleasantly.

The crowd above us dispersed and Captain Laracroft came into view.

"Still cold, but better than soaking wet. Let's make this quick, Shef. The storm's moving fast, and the eye is going to disappear soon," snapped Laracroft impatiently.

"Your assets are here, as promised," Shef gestured toward Elysia and me.

"And the cranes," Laracroft's eyes flashed greedily.

"Yours as well."

"And Baha's papers. His entire study, actually."

Shef blinked. I guessed that part had not been agreed in prior.

"Come on, Shef, you'll start new, and those papers will only be a burden. I'll take care of them for you, for a price," coaxed Laracroft.

"... Fine, then," Shef nodded grudgingly.

"Over my dead body!" yelled Baha in fury.

Shef turned slowly to Baha and smiled coldly.

"Ah, that's in order too. Don't worry, old man."

Yup. They were going to kill Captain Baha. Leaving no loose end, I was sure.

HERE—

The voice again. Well, not a voice, but more like a tune, a vibration.

HELP—

I shook my head even though I knew I was not hearing it through the ears.

DOWN—

Whatever it was, it had to wait. Things were really tense on the deck.

"So this is what you meant by the 'last voyage?'"

"Wow. Do I really need to spell out the words? Make you more depressing and pathetic than you already are? How thick do you have to be, and to the last minute too? Just, unbelievable!"

Shef, a palm on the face, laughed and laughed, but no one followed suit. It was strange laughter. It sounded maniac, but understandable too. Years of repressed anger, disappointment, self-conflict reverberated in the empty, howl-like cackle of the conspirator, the traitor.

Finally, Shef stopped laughing, too abruptly, too unnaturally.

"This is a mutiny."

The circular, clear sky had long disappeared by now. The eye of the storm was no more, and we were s.u.c.k.e.d back into the dark, dreary storm once again.

It began with drizzles, which looked like tears on Shef's vacant face.

"And by the law of the sea, the dethroned, deranged captain is sentenced to death."

Shef drew a longsword from the hilt and pointed at the old ex-captain ceremoniously. Baha did not stir. No one else moved, except for Queeqa who turned away from the scene in silent anguish.

The rain started to pour down, and Shef's perfectly sinister lips hung for a moment, waiting to deliver the final verdict.

The world had gone dark, and only Shef''s longsword glinted dangerously in the feeble light from the lamps nearby.

"May Lord Cephalos keep you company in your dying breaths," concluded the successful mutineer.

A distant thunder rumbled ominously.