Captain Nal and the Lucky Smile - Chapter 1
First chapter of some silly story I wrote! Feel free to let me know just what you thought of it, as the rest as coming very soon.
Grott whistled tunelessly to himself, his pockets jingling with the remaining coin that he had. The streets were mostly barren at this time of night, the area around the harbor crowded only with drunk sailors attempting to get back to their bunks. Despite his attempted good cheer, Grott was definitely worried no matter how much he tried to drown these feelings with drink. Pickings on the sea had been thin lately, and the crew was beginning to grow disgruntled with their shares. But luckily enough, as the captain he was entitled to enough shares to where he didn't have to worry too much about that himself. It was the grumblings about the crew he was worried about. Not that they'd ever try to do anything about it, all too cowardly and dependant on his leadership for that, of course.
The impressively built alligator was dressed in a heavy, battered looking overcoat to protect himself against the cold, his seven foot scaly form showing a bit of wear and tear from the years spent in a profession as dangerous as his, but was still quite the dangerous male. He had little to fear wandering among the streets after dark, be it from his dangerous reputation, or even the tales of what he did to those who tried to rob him or cheat him, most knew far better than to get in his way in Sardon.
And indeed, Sardon was quite the city. The Jewel of the Republic, it was called. Not that the people who called it that ever ventured into the places where Grott went. Dark, dingy taverns and rat infested whorehouses. They were low entertainments, but they were what the gator had grown used to over the years. Still, he wondered just what his crew was up to. He hadn't seen any of them at all; usually they were the first ones out to the exact same places he visited. Ordinarily the gator would have been more suspicious, but was tipsy enough that it didn't have quite the urgency that it usually would.
"Then we're agreed?" The voice sounded almost casual. The worried figures hunched, seated and standing around the small table exchanged wary glances before one of them spoke. The squirrel stood up, smoothing out his bushy tail and attempting to look more confident than he felt. "Yeah, but it's not all his fault! Ever since the Ranii started kissing the Empire's ass, it's been slim pickings for us. Damn hard to find a good undefended merchant. It's just a sign of the times, no reason to do anything like this." He sounded defensive and worried, but the others around the table nodded, acknowledging his point and letting the poor male sit down uncorrected.
The white furred wolf spoke up again, pounding the table with the palm of his paw angrily. "Don't make fucking excuses for him! Grott is an idiot. He loses half our shares at every port from the merchants cheating him on supplies. We didn't really care that much as long as he kept up with the loot, but with the Ranii out of the picture as far as targets go he should be coming up with better ideas! Or at least stop being so gods damned cautious and actually attacking a ship with an escort, not just getting drunker and leaving us devoid of coin!" Puffing himself up, he proceeded to make his final point, "And of course, as your Boatswain, I'm the natural choice to replace him. So theres no real need to even have a vote for that..."
The wolf was soon interrupted by the loud slam of an empty ale mug against the table, making everyone turn their attention towards the shouted curse that went along with it. The bear was a hulking, massive figure. Even sitting in his chair he loomed over the standing wolf, a looming threat to the wolf. "Complete bullshit. The sort of bullshit we've all come to expect from you, Ree. We all know the captains got to go, we can all agree with you on that, but Captain? I'd sooner trust the cabin boy with the position because at least he wouldn't stab me in the back at the first opportunity. Just because you raise your tail for every lonely male on the ship doesn't mean you get an uncontested vote to captain. I'm quartermaster on this shitheap of a ship, and I'll be damned if you ruin it even more than Grott has been doing."
Ree, rather predictably did not seem to agree with this evaluation of his character. His ears flattened back against his skull, and his teeth showed in what was most likely meant to be a threatening display, before realizing that the bear wasn't intimidated in the least. "Damn it, Sledge. I'm the best swordsman on the ship, so cut the shit. Ever since I became Bosun the ship has been running like clockwork. With me as Captain and a couple of good attacks we'll at least double the amount we get for each share!" Trying to convince him with words seemed like the smarter option, there was no way he'd beat Sledge physically, at least not without pulling steel. And doing that in these tight confines would be a dangerous proposition.
Unfortunately for Ree, Sledge was not so easy to convince. In fact, he seemed almost amused by the argument he was making, a small grin appearing on the big male. He had some sharp teeth as well, and showed them right off to the wolf. "Growing up with the rest of the rats in Van made you good at some things, wolf, but getting a crew to trust you sure as fuck isn't one of them. I guarantee you'd be dead in a week, either with the rest of the crew or alone. I don't want to be captain, but I'll serve as one. The rest of the crew will vote me in just fine, and I'll do my fucking job. Maybe not as flashy as you might have done, but we'll all be alive and we'll have some coin in our pockets.
Scowling, Ree backed down. He knew that Sledge was telling the truth. There was no way he could talk the crew into appointing him captain over the bear. Sledge was the most trusted member of the crew, and had saved most of them at one time or another from all manner of threats. He was far too cautious for his liking though, the thought of his shares shrinking even more made the wolf scowl, but he knew when he was beat. "Fine, but rest assured. Once we go a couple of month without any results, the crew will come crawling back to me! Count on it."
The rest of the crew sighed in relief. Most of them had bet on blood being spilled in the meeting. And there had been a lively set of bets about just whether Ree or Sledge would survive it. The few who had been optimistic enough to bet on both quickly became a great deal richer to the annoyance of their shipmates. The mood lightened then, and the men started to break up to go to their usual entertainments.
Nal was plotting. It was what he did best, really. Sheets and sheets of plans and sketched plans of attack for a variety of situations littered the small room that he shared with Jan. Every one of them for a different situation, a different way to get himself rich and powerful, and most of all: none of them having ever been put into use. The dilapidated little room now saw the ferret sprawled out across the battered couch that was the only piece of furniture his little hovel had.
The room was neat, but messy from the sheer amount of plans that he had scattered across the floor, with only a vague little path between the papers leading to the exit. He mumbled to himself as he wrote, putting the finishing touches on yet another masterpiece of a plan. This time though, this time he was going to do it. "Theres no way it can fail.." He mumbled, voice coming out muffled due to the pen that he instinctively chewed on when he wasn't writing with it.
The ferret himself was young. Still somewhere in his twenties, the distinctive brown and white furred mask wrinkled in thought, his clothing was tattered, but well mended. All in all the image of a poor young dock rat stuck in the slums of the greatest city in the world. He had plans to change this, but never seemed to really get them off the ground. This night was going to be different though, he could feel it in the air... That and the fact that he was a week behind on his rent and if he didn't go through with it he was going to be sleeping on the streets also helped his innate sense of procrastination out.
Finishing up his plan with a few stabs on the paper, he glanced up to the outfit that he'd picked out a couple nights ago. A little light burglary had managed to get him just the sort of outfit that he'd need to pull this one off. All he needed to do was stick to his plan and everything should turn out okay. Grott was in town, and he was perfect. Everyone knew that the Gator was a complete idiot, and scamming him out of his coin should be easy. It'd be more than enough to keep Nal on the high life for a good long time.
Of course, there were always those rumors about what Grott did to people who cheated him...but the day he couldn't outsmart and outthink a drunken idiot like Grott wouldn't come for a long, long time. He wasn't lacking in confidence, after all! Yup, everything was starting to look just fine for the ferret.
Luckily for Grott, the feeling of unease had soon gone away after copious amounts of drink, and he proceeded to enjoy himself as he usually did. The gator had managed to stagger his way over to his favorite taverns, losing his money as cheerfully as he made it. Though for the moment his coin reserves were running dangerously low, the alcohol making him even more carefree with his bets than usual. It was looking like this would be the last game of the evening for him, win or lose. The other occupants of the game had long since busted out, though their meager coin barely added to Grott's supplies.
The gator did perk when the ferret took his seat across from him, as the mustelid's coin purse jingled in a way that was very promising. The rest of the gamblers were quick to take notice of this as well. None of them would dare rob Grott, but this ferret would be easy prey if he managed to actually win. Not that he would be difficult to find in the dark streets of the docks. His brightly colored clothing was the latest style among the upper class Sardonese merchants and Senators. The bright purple plumed hat set at a jaunty angle and several feathers sticking out of it at various angles only helped to ruin whatever good taste that the clothing gave him. His gleaming eyes had interest only in the gator's own coin purse for the moment, his desire so obvious that if Grott hadn't been so drunk he would have easily figured out that something was up.
"Well... seems like I finally have someone who'll stay more than a couple of hands. Nice to meet you, ferret." Not even bothering to learn his name. "But we'll see..just how long you last against the mighty Captain Grott!" Grott was always pleased to throw around his fame. He was known around the docks as one of the more successful privateers, and he took great pleasure in whatever respect that gave him.
Nal was calmer than most would be in a situation like this, but he'd been stalking the Gator for a while now and had finally seen his chance to actually rob the scaly, the ferret leaning back in his seat and carelessly making his initial bet. "Sure thing, Captain. I'm already trembling in my seat from the terrifying poker skills of the mighty Grott. Or I would be if you weren't too drunk even to hold your cards straight." He started mouthing off to the male that had to be at least twice his size, while beginning to get his plan working. It wouldn't be a complicated one, but you didn't need one to trick a gator. They weren't that bright at the best of times, in his experience.
The first few hands went easily enough. Small bets were made, and both players won and lost, without too much coin exchanging hands. Grott was far too impatient to let this continue though, his bets growing steadily bigger and bigger. He also started losing more, but this only made him take riskier and riskier bets, which just made Nal smirk wider at each and every one. Finally, unable to take the smugness of the ferret, he just bet it all. Pushing every last coin he had remaining to himself in the middle of the pile. "Everything I've got..fuzzy." He panted, pausing only long enough to drain the last mug of ale he had. "Got the guts to risk everything?"
Nal had more than enough guts, and was quick to push in all of his coins as well. His plan was going perfectly so far, but there just needed to be one little push. "Sure thing, scaly. Just one little problem there though, our coins don't quite add up. If you want to bet with the big boys, then you'll have to cough up some collateral. Otherwise I don't really see much of a point to matching it." Grott was just drunk enough to do so, pulling out a couple of folded papers, receipts from the merchants for dried food and other stuffs that were needed on board a sailing ship, and proceeded to write out a few quick little lines, signing it with his usual flourish.
"There! How does a captain's share amount for the Lucky Smile sound to you, you damn weasel? Enough shares to be worth a triple share of all the loot that we grab." The ferret carefully inspected this, and indeed it did promise to sign over ownership of his shares over to the holder of the document. It could be worth a great deal of money...Nal carefully nodded and tried to conceal his excitement. This was far more than he had thought he could get out of the idiot! Now came the easy part, winning and taking all his money.
The crowd was hushed; but then again the large amounts of drink probably helped with that. Both players went through the motions of discarding, taking new cards, and then displayed them. "Full house!" Grott declared with a bright grin on his face, throwing down two aces and three jacks. "Lets see you beat that, weasel!" Nal just smiled, and showed his own hand. Five aces displayed to the utter astonishment of the crowd. Five aces, from a single deck. The sheer bravado was stunning, ferret so obviously cheating that the even more surprising thing about it was how calmly the gator took it. Grott just stared down at his cards in shock at his loss, evidently too drunk to notice the scam.
In a way, Nal saved his life there by cheating so blatantly. Winning in a subtler way would have opened him up to the many patrons of the bar to mugging him for his coins, or murdering him if that didn't work. All the patrons knew better now though, Grott was going to want to kill this one himself when he sobered up and realized what had happened. Any of them who took it out on the ferret ahead of time would end up as the Gator's meal instead for robbing him of the pleasure. Nal knew none of this, though. He hadn't planned further ahead than winning. It was pure dumb luck that he had done all this, but he knew better than to stick around for very long, sweeping all his winnings into hidden pockets among his clothing and slipping out the door before anyone could say otherwise.
The next morning, the Lucky Smile and it's crew had all gathered to prepare the ship for casting off. They were nervous, most of the younger crew obviously unsure about how to handle the discussion and plans of the last night. And no one was completely easy about it. This was the day, they were going to set sail, and Grott was going to die. Most of them knew it was the best plan. He was a harsh captain even at the best of times, and the lack of coin was the last straw for all of them. What good was loyalty when you didn't even have enough cash to get drunk when you came to port? Let along getting the ship fitted and supplied.
Grott was late, as usual. Sledge loomed next to the gangplank while waiting for their Captain to show up. He didn't look happy, but the big bear rarely did lately. There had been no need for him to go dragging off any of the crew from the prisons or alleys this time, since none of them could actually afford the drink, which was a lucky break for him... if only that idiot Grott would show up! They could get under sail and get things to a finish.
A figure finally did approach, though was far too small to be anything like Grott. Squinting, Sledge could make out the furtive movements that generally meant some type of weasel or rodent, and then caught a flash of his masked face. A ferret? What was a ferret doing coming up towards -his- ship? By the swagger in his steps the ferret was acting like he knew just where he was going. Marching right up to the bear, he swept off his hat with a flourish and gave a bow. "Captain Nal reporting for duty!"