Where Loyalties Lie

Chapter 48 - North Gale

T’ruck stretched his big shoulders back and squatted down on the railing. Then, holding onto the rigging with one hand and keeping his cock out the way with the other, he pushed, grunted, moaned, and finally relaxed into a contented sigh. Some men preferred to shit on land when they could, enjoying the privacy of a shed with a hole in the ground. T’ruck had no such qualms, and was more than happy to drop his turds over the side of his ship as he always did. He liked to think of it as giving back to the ocean the same way a farmer might spread manure on his field.

There was a ship sailing into the bay, one T’ruck didn’t recognise, and no doubt the entire crew had a wonderful view of his arse. T’ruck didn’t care; he’d often been complimented on the shape and musculature of his arse.

Berris Dey was written along the new ship’s side, and it was written in red. T’ruck pulled up his trousers and waved for his crew to lower a boat into the water. Drake had charged him with looking after the town in his absence, and T’ruck took his duties seriously, especially when they involved protecting his home.

His crew rowed hard and T’ruck was soon standing on the beach, awaiting the arrival of the newest visitors to their little town. Little but growing. T’ruck would be proud once New Sev’relain could call itself the largest town in the isles. Until then he wouldn’t be happy. He was a firm believer in the mantra of bigger being better, and he applied it to all aspects of his life. He liked his meals large, his ships huge, and his women big, although he’d made an exception for the daughter of Tanner Black, and she’d proved to be as wild and forceful as the biggest of women.

Indeed, T’ruck was of the firm opinion Elaina Black would have made an excellent third wife back home. Her hips were far too small for a first wife; she would never survive that many child births. He doubted she knew how to make a home, so she would never do as a second wife. But the third wives were for fucking and fighting, and Elaina Black could do both. The claw marks T’ruck had proudly worn for days were proof enough of that.

Not for the first time, T’ruck considered making New Sev’relain his home proper. It would be an easy thing to order a house built, and he would have little issue finding himself a new set of wives, breeding himself a new litter of pups. Ties were important, and family ties were the most important of all. If there was one thing he could say his life had been missing since leaving the mountains, it was family.

“Captain,” Zole said with a tap on T’ruck’s shoulder. “That dirty Riverlander is coming.”

T’ruck glanced over his shoulder to see Deun Burn striding down the beach towards them, his skull tattoo a stark white against his sun-darkened face and his swagger setting his cloak swaying and the axe attached to his belt swinging. Many folk hated the Riverlanders, considering them vagrants and thieves even among the isles. Some even believed they carried diseases wherever they went and infected water supplies with their mere presence. T’ruck didn’t entirely believe the stories, but it was plain as the sun in the sky and the water in the sea that Deun Burn didn’t like T’ruck Khan.

“Admiring the ship?” Burn said as he closed in. T’ruck had hoped the man would simply walk on by, but hope, like happiness, often turned to ash.

“She is small,” T’ruck rumbled. It wasn’t entirely true, but Berris Dey was smaller than North Gale, and that was all that really mattered.

Burn made a sound between a click and a sigh. “Riverlanders believe it is not about size, but where you stick it.”

T’ruck snorted. “Your sister thinks otherwise.”

Burn snarled out some incomprehensible words that were likely an insult. T’ruck had no interest in learning the Riverland’s guttural-sounding language and even less interest in knowing what the fool had said to him.

“Your mother too,” he said with a smile.

Burn hissed out some more gibberish, followed by a tug of his earlobe. T’ruck yawned and burped at the smaller man.

“They were glad of a real man after all you” – T’ruck glanced at Burn’s crotch – “little Riverlanders.”

Deun Burn looked set to pick his axe from his belt and make the last mistake of his life, so T’ruck decided to spare him the death. “Oh, it appears we have a boarding party, and… fuck!”

Burn’s snarling hisses turned to smiles as T’ruck realised the new ship, Berris Dey, was filled with men and women whose faces were covered in tattoos.

“I should let me do the speaking, barbarian,” Deun said with a sneer. “They won’t care for your language, or your face.”

T’ruck grumbled, but the man running from the Berris Dey towards them looked like he was in a right hurry, and the scales painted on his face did little to hide the fear there.

“Friend of yours?” T’ruck said.

“We Riverlanders are all family,” Burn said, his voice cold.

As the newcomer drew near, T’ruck could see that the tattoo seemed to go all around his head, even under his hairline. The man almost looked like a snake, he was so scaly; not to mention his nose was so small it seemed to disappear amidst the inked lines.

The two Riverlanders started to hiss, screech, snap, and click at each other. T’ruck was sure it was actually some form of language, but the sounds the men made were so ugly they actually hurt his ears. To distract himself he wondered if the Riverland’s women made similar noises while they fucked, and how off-putting that would have to be to the men fucking them. It was likely why there were so few of the people. Sex should rarely involve bloody ears. Although there was that one time with P’elpy, his first wife, which had involved bloody ears, nose, lips, and cock.

“Khan,” Burn snapped.

“Huh?”

“Flen spotted a fleet just five days ago. He says four ships, including the largest he has ever seen.”

“Did they chase him?” T’ruck was already intrigued by the mention of a giant ship.

Burn babbled some words at the scaled Riverlander, who prattled some nonsense back. “No. They ignored him.”

“Then why should we care? There are fleets all over the world these days.”

Again Burn hissed and clicked, and the other Riverlander responded.

The skeleton of the Man of War, still sitting on the beach, caught T’ruck’s eye. It was a giant, a behemoth. He wished he’d seen it before it had been stripped to build the town. He wished he’d been the one to take it.

He turned back to the two men. “How big was the ship?”

Burn and the other Riverlander ignored him.

“How big was the ship?” T’ruck shouted. “As big as that?” He pointed to the bones of the Man of War.

The scaled Riverlander waved his arms emphatically, and T’ruck didn’t need Burn to translate. The new ship in pirate waters was even bigger.

T’ruck grinned. “Ask him where it was going.”