Page 25 of Take No Prisoners
"Captain?" Stan asked, peeking his head around the furthest crate. "Are you ready for the next one?"
Efren waved. "Bring them in."
The next dozen or so suffered the same fate as the first. Efren lost count of their names and faces as Vadim sentenced each with a single word.
Finally, he relented. "The rest are innocent." He glanced down at Klaus. "Agreed?"
Klaus nodded. "Thank you."
"We should still inquire if any are loyal to Coryn," Efren said. "I don't want any traitors in our midst."
Vadim nodded. "As you wish."
Stan brought them before their triumvirate, but to a person they agreed they wanted out of Coryn's navy. The air weavers were all male-presenting, but the earth and ice weavers had more gender variety. Efren asked them their pronouns to be sure, and he was pleasantly surprised when Vadim was able to answer for them, as well.
"I told you so," Vadim said after the last person was led back to the mess for a meal. He stepped out of his new crate to gaze down on Klaus, who was once again seated with his knees up in the first crate's opening. "You'll be safe now."
Vadim straightened his shoulders and walked out of the hold like he was the one who had wrecked Efren's ship and taken Efren and his crew hostage. He never looked back.
Though he'd been in plenty of tavern brawls over the years, Efren had never wanted to punch a man so much in his life.
∞∞∞
Niall
Niall helped Stan and Tovey dump the bodies overboard. After the first splash, he thought he should feel something. The sailors' lives had been snuffed out like candles by the raising of a death weaver's hand. He had feared Vadim since the day he'd watched his parents hang, but this was different. These men had signed their lives over to him, and then they'd hurt Klaus. As angry as Niall was with his friend, he agreed with Vadim's decision to kill anyone who hurt him simply because they could.
He remained numb until first Stan, then Tovey, tried to pull him into conversation. Soon, he was laughing with them as though he were one of the crew.
He thought of them as Stan the tall, dark, and handsome, and Tovey the gorgeous golden statue. Niall recognized conventional beauty from his study of the great sculptors. However, Niall wasn't attracted to them, though Niall wasn't attracted to most people.
He wished he understood why, or even what about Efren turned him on, but he wasn't about to squander the chance to find out. If he were lucky, he might finally experience why his friends raved so much about sex. He'd always been so confused when they coupled up in the pleasure houses or even on the street, groping and moaning until they found shared release. The one time he'd tried to experience the same, he'd been so embarrassed at his body's lack of response that he'd run away. Now that his entire being was completely on board with whatever Efren had to offer, he felt he had to act before it betrayed him again.
Tovey jarred him from his reverie and dragged him to the stern. "You'll want to see this."
"There's nothing to see." Efren waved his hand in the direction of the pile of bodies still sinking beneath the waves in their wake.
"Yes, there is, if you watch closely." Tovey tugged Niall to the railing and jutted his chin toward the water below.
Two gray streaks shot out from beneath the ship. There were ripples from all directions, following breached dorsal fins.
"Sharks?" Niall asked.
"Among other things." Efren sagged against the railing, resting his arms on the thick plank as though he were enjoying the show, but the way he twisted to crack his neck and his back said he would be better off in bed.
"It takes a strong water weaver to call marine life to do their bidding," Tovey said. "If I tried to call birds, they would laugh at me."
"Can some air weavers do that?" Niall had heard the horror stories of waterspouts, dust devils, and tornadoes from nowhere, or winds powerful enough to knock down city walls, but he'd never heard of other air specialties, like blowing holes through ships.
"I think it all depends on how much you like birds." One of Tovey's dimples popped as he smirked. His laugh was infectious, and Niall found himself caught up in it, especially when a seagull landed on the railing beside them and Tovey made another joke about calling it.
In the distance, Niall could no longer see the bodies for the swirl of gray beneath the surface. And blood. The water was red with it.
Niall scooted closer to Efren along the railing. Even when he placed a hand on the captain's shoulders, he didn't turn, and when Niall leaned over the rail again to get a better look at his face, his eyes were closed.
"Does your captain always sleep on his feet?" Niall asked Tovey.
"Only when Vadim keeps him up all day." Tovey winked. "You should probably get him to bed before he falls overboard." Tovey leaned over the deck to examine him, as well. "Come on, Captain. We're walking you back to your cabin."
