“We were attacked by raiders,” Doreen finally answered. “A large force, accompanied by a variant of the Ogre Shape that I’ve never heard of before. W… the Forresters weren’t ready for an attack, and didn’t have the forces to stop them.”

The girls took turns telling the story, with Doreen talking about the raiders’ forced march to the ruins and the warping tanks, and Mable taking over for the Swift’s arrival, chasing the attackers and the attack on the ruins which resulted in freeing the townspeople.

“…After which we took them to a safe flying island,” Mable finished, making sure not to mention the Swift ranking up and taking the passengers aboard. “But they only have enough provisions for a couple of weeks, which is why we came directly here. We need food to last them for a while, and seeds so they can grow more for themselves.”

“That’s quite the story,” Simon said once the two fell silent. “The idea of a raider force working with a kingdom Shaper family is bad enough, but the thought of them having access to that kind of old-world technology is much worse. Not to mention them forcibly warping people. Both the ability and the purpose behind those are deeply disturbing.”

“You can say that again,” Doreen agreed. “And added to what you’ve just told us, whoever it is on the kingdom side is important enough to get the capital to act so quickly.”

“Which probably means that they also alerted every other city in the kingdom, which means we won’t be able to find anywhere to resupply,” Mable added. “We’ve got enough food for now, but the people up in the island need just about everything else, from blankets to cooking pots.”

“That, at least, is something I might be able to help you with. I’ve got a few Horses and enough humanoid Shapes to outfit a small caravan and get your supplies to someplace you can pick them up from. For a small fee, of course.”

“Of course,” Doreen nodded. “But while I appreciate the willingness, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with telling you where the Swift is going to be.”

“Come now, Miss Swift. If I wanted to harm you, I could have had my Marksmen attack at any point.”

“Sure, but that wouldn’t get you the rest of the crew, or the ship itself.”

“The rest of your crew spent more than a week running after an overwhelming force for the small chance that they’d be able to rescue practical strangers, and a single estranged brother. I’d say that there is a high chance of them coming to your rescue if I were to hold you prisoners. But it’s really no skin off my back if you don’t want my help with this.”

It took me a moment to realize that while Mable had mentioned Richard during her part of the story, none of the girls had actually said anything about Marjory’s brothers being taken as well. Which did paint us in a somewhat more altruistic shade, and as the kind of people who would indeed try and rescue captive crewmembers. Not that I would leave Doreen and Mable behind if Simon did decide to hold them.

“We could arrange a dead drop,” Mable suggested. “You could bring the supplies to one of the abandoned farms, and we’ll come in and pick them up after your Shapes leave. We can use the Hawks to ensure that the coast is clear.”

“That… Might work,” Doreen mused. “I’ll have to insist that you don’t send any Marksmen, Snipers or Bowmasters with the caravan, but otherwise that’s a very good idea.”

“I can’t send any of those anyway,” Simon shrugged. “Nobody would notice if I send out some low rank Shapes, but I have few enough of the tier IIIs that my family would be sure to ask questions I don’t want to answer. My main issue with this is how you’ll get me the money.”

“We can send a Deckhand with it to meet your own Shapes on the way back.”

“I’ll have to insist on getting it up front, I’m afraid. I’ll have to pay for the supplies from my own pocket anyway, and between Gerald’s Rest being gone and the abandoned farms, there’s no way to know in advance how much things would cost. I’ll leave whatever is left with your supplies.”

I didn’t really see much of a choice about this. Between Mable, Doreen and my Marine, we might be able to get enough food for the four of us, but we’d never be able to carry everything Mable wanted for her galley, and we’d certainly not be able to carry enough supplies for the warped townspeople.

“You’re not leaving us with much of a choice, are you?” The Swift’s purser grumbled, obviously thinking along the same lines as me. “Fine. I don’t much like it, but we don’t have too many options.”

There wasn’t much else to discuss after that. Simon brought out a map of the area near Whitecliff, and Mable decided on a location for the dead drop and handed him most of our money. Simon promised to send the supplies out by the next morning, and to keep an ear out for whatever he could find about the people behind the raiders. I wasn’t sure how he’d pass that information to us, but it was still our best option for getting information from inside the kingdom.

With the resupply hopefully taken care of, even if I was sure that Simon’s ‘small fee’ would prove to be anything but, the three of us left the Rukh and headed over to the market.

“I think we got fleeced good on that one,” Mable muttered.

“No doubt about it,” Doreen agreed. “The Whites are traders first and foremost, even if being Shapers is a close second. It’s very typical of Simon to take advantage of us like this. On the other hand, he’s not likely to betray us on this. There’s nothing a White loves more than a repeat customer.”

With our shopping list in Simon’s hand and the knowledge that we were now wanted pirates in the entire kingdom, there wasn’t any reason to remain in Whitecliff anymore. We made our way down the cliff and out of the city, still isolated in our bubble of distance, and about half an hour after we left, when it became clear that there was nobody following us, I instructed the Marine to follow the girls’ orders and returned my awareness to my own body.