"We bear witness to your blood and your words." Captain Morris said solemnly as he stared unblinking at Nathaniel.
"We bear witness." echoed the first mate and half a dozen of the Old Singing Hound's crew gathered around the desk in Captain Morris' quarters. Nathaniel took his dagger drew his dagger across his palm. He flinched but kept his composure as Captain Morris continued:
"This is but a taste of what awaits you, should you reveal any of the secrets of your brothers and sisters."
He spread blood across his palm and pressed it against the parchment laid before him, leaving a bloody hand print above his signature.
"You are free from service, but no man of this crew will rest until you suffer the fate of traitors should you cause harm to any of us." Captain Morris concluded. Nathaniel nodded and turned away. Soon the ship would be moored at Robert's Anchorage and he would step off the Hound for the last time. He bandaged his hand as best he could but knew his hand would be in pain for many days. That was part of the point of the departure ceremony, to make leaving unpleasant and to impress upon the mind of the departing sailor that far worse suffering would be in store for them if they betrayed their former crew.
Nathaniel had seen 'the fate of traitors' only a handful of times in his fifteen years among pirates. Those who are simply run through and left to bleed to death in a gutter are fortunate. If possible they are captured and brought aboard a ship where their deaths made as gruesome and drawn out as possible as a warning to all who witness it. The first time Nathaniel saw it happen he had nightmares for weeks, his dreams haunted by the screams of a man flayed over the course of a week.
The Old Singing Hound maneuvered into position, her Aether bags cooled until she floated only a few dozen feet from the ground and lines tied her securely in place. Nathaniel was lowered down on the lift with a dozen of his former crewmates and he walked off in silence as they began to prepare to unload their cargo.
The streets were crowded and the din of the city filled Nathaniel's ears. He made his way past warehouses, factories, and multistoried apartments while slipping between workers and avoiding horse-drawn wagons loaded with goods. He kept a close eye on his pack, especially when children would run past, laughing and chasing each other. Nathaniel knew how often they were used as distractions for thieves. He had hid his valuables deep, and no one could know how much he was carrying, but just having so much money on him made him feel afraid, as if thieves could sense his wealth.
Nathaniel had more money on him than he ever had before. The family he and the crew had robbed had a small fortune hidden away with them inside their secret compartment. Enough money that, even split among the entire crew of the Hound, Nathaniel's share could allow him to live comfortably for nearly a year. Longer if he budgeted carefully. The money disgusted him, though, and part of him wanted to spend it as quickly as possible. Killing in combat was tolerable. Killing men he could stomach. But prying shrieking children clinging to their sobbing mother so they could be thrown overboard was too much for Nathaniel to handle. Even if the pirates had not found any money he would still have given the oath of the departing and left.
With the money, however, he might be able to convince Tabitha to leave Madam Vivienne's house of entertainment with him. Nathaniel had met her a couple of years ago while on ground leave from another ship and was immediately struck by her beauty. Wavy red hair, blue eyes, and fair skin almost unmarked by blemishes of any kind, but what initially drew Nathaniel's eye to her were a pair of elaborate mechanical legs that she danced with. A night with her was more than he typically paid for companionship while on leave but her beauty and her dancing fascinated him and he thought nothing of the price. Nathaniel sought her out every leave he had in Robert's Anchorage ever since that first night. Sometimes he would hear her voice and her laugh in his dreams instead of the screams of dying men and he would actually wake feeling rested instead of drained by his nightmares.
Madam Vivienne's house was just starting to get busy when Nathaniel arrived in the late afternoon. A former warehouse, it had been purchased decades ago and transformed into a place where all manner of entertainment could be found. Food, drink, games of chance, a dance floor, even a library for those capable of reading but unable to purchase their own books. A large stage was frequently home to musicians, dancers, comedians, and illusionists.
The back of the former warehouse was filled with rooms where travelers could rest. The furnishings were modest but to a sailor who had spent weeks sleeping in bunks aboard a vessel being blown by the winds these rooms were as good as any of the bedrooms in a royal palace. Even the sound of the rowdy crowds hooting and jeering was a welcome change from the screams of the wind or the engines turning the propellers. The main draw of these rooms, however, was the companionship that came with them. Inns deeper into the city might be cheaper and quieter but for a sailor who had been craving a woman's touch for months there was no better place to find it than at Madam Vivienne's.
