When the meal ended, the captain made a toast. It was odd, because no one else except Victoria had a glass of wine to acknowledge the toast. They hadn't even served ale to the crew. That really struck me as odd, mainly because at the Henrietta Family main mansion, they always stocked barrels of ale for the work crews and the house staff. Helena copied the practice and the staff loved us even more for it.

Victoria stood up and made her excuse to leave, so I made my own excuse to the crewmen around me and walked over to her. She gave me a very odd look before she allowed me to assume the escort position and took my arm. We left the room and walked in silence all the way to our room. I shut the door to the cabin and in the next moment, her eyes were pouring tears down her face and she had wrapped her arms around my neck.

“David! I'm so sorry that you had to go through that!” Victoria sobbed and held me tightly. “You poor, poor man!” She cried and wept on my shoulder. “The captain told me it was... a common joke they played...”

“I'm glad they didn't try it on you. I would have had to deal with them.” I said.

Victoria's crying slowed and she eased her tight hold around my neck as she leaned back to look into my eyes. “You would have? Why? Why only for me and not yourself?”

“I've eaten much worse things than squid and shellfish.” I said. “At least it was cooked well.”

Victoria's face was a mess from her crying, so I pulled out my handkerchief and wiped at her face for her. By the time I was done drying it off, she had a smile and had laughed softly.

“I'm supposed to be comforting you after all that.” Victoria said.

“You are still hugging me and pressing your breasts against me.” I reminded her and she laughed again.

“Oh, David. You are a delight.” Victoria said and her eyes went to my lips.

“Just a moment.” I said and put several drops of healing potion on my handkerchief and then I dabbed my lips and sucked a bit into my mouth to swish it around. “All right. Now you won't taste it.”

Victoria gave me a seductive smile and then briefly touched her lips to mine. “Thank you.”

“I think the captain would kill to have been me in that instant.” I said, which was exactly what she wanted to hear. Her face flushed red and she acted a little shy as she ducked her head.

“We should get changed for bed.” Victoria said and let me go. She seemed a bit reluctant to do so.

We went to the closet and we opened it after deactivating all of the safety features we had used, then she went to the bed to change and I went to the table. We kept our backs to each other, just like we had to get dressed, and I put my bag back into the closet. I kept my bandoleer and my knife in its sheath with me, however. There were no personal vaults or any other safe place for me to leave them, so they had to stay with me.

As a last thought, I transferred a lot of the heavy things she had in her pack to mine. Victoria didn't object. She moved her now much lighter bag to the side of the bed and turned to show off her long night dress. It barely blocked anything from sight and as the light hit it as she turned, I could practically see through it. She had kept her panties on, at least.

“You wore that for me?” I asked and she nodded. “Thank you.”

Victoria blushed slightly and then climbed into bed under the blanket. She didn't have to ask me to join her or pat the bed, since there was nowhere else for me to sleep. It was a big bed and I had no trouble sliding in beside her. She turned onto her side, her breasts moving unrestricted, and she looked at my face.

“You're not going to complain that we have to share a bed?” Victoria asked.

“We're going to be sharing a small tent for the whole weekend while sleeping on our bedrolls. Sharing a full size bed is nothing in comparison.”

Victoria smiled and reached out to rub her hand over my short hair. “Are you saying this is going to be less of a temptation than what you are expecting it to be?”

“Of course it is.” I said without looking at her. “We're going to be sweat covered from exertion during the day and as soon as we're inside the enclosed space of the small tent, all I will be able to smell is you.”

Victoria shivered at my words and she moved close. “Am I really that irresistible?”

I remembered what Mage Marks said when I asked her the same thing. “Unbelievably so.” I responded. I couldn't repeat what she told me past that, though. It was specific to me and wasn't applicable to Victoria.

Victoria lightly kissed my cheek and moved back. “Goodnight, David.”

“Goodnight, Victoria.” I said back.

Time seemed to pass quickly, almost in fast forward. I didn't sleep much, thanks to my need to guard my things, and I had been sorely out of practice of sleeping lightly. I would need to make something that I would be in constant threat off at night in order to regain my edge. I was getting lax in that area. Of course, this weekend should be just the thing to kick start my brain into the proper survival gear.

The morning arrived and I was up just before dawn. I left Mage King...Victoria... in the bed and changed into work clothes. I donned tight pants, a sleeveless shirt, and forwent the tie. I wasn't going to impress the crew by looking like a noble family's retainer. They were going to want me to work and the tie would only get in the way.

I left the cabin and cast Lock on the door, just in case. As I passed the crew cabins, all of the doors opened at the same time and the crew filed out and filled the hallway.

“Ha! There you are!” One of the burly men said and clapped me on the back. “We thought we would have to storm your cabin and drag you out by the ankles while you were still asleep! Ha ha!”

“I couldn't let that happen. You would have enjoyed that too much. This isn't a pleasure cruise.” I said and that made them all laugh.

“Right you are.” Another man said. “This is a working man's ship. Lots to do and lots to get done.”

“Let's do it!” One of them shouted as we went up on deck and they all cheered.

“You're with me fer the first hour.” The man I arm wrestled said and we went over to the main sail rigging. “Do you know what that is?” He asked and pointed to a rope and pulley.

“The main top sail's tension rope.” I said and he gave me a surprised look. “I had a tour on a dreadnaught by a master rigger last week.”

The man's smile nearly split his face. “Boy, we're gonna be good friends! Let's get to work!”

“Sir.” I said and he laughed as we manhandled the ropes and deployed the top sail. There was a snag, as there usually always was with so many ropes crisscrossing each other. I didn't wait for him to holler to someone else as I scrambled up the rope ladder to get to the top sail. I yanked on the snag and saw that the rope was frayed a little from slipping on the pulley.

“We'll need a new tension rope! This one's going to break soon!” I pointed to the fray and a few of the men looked up at me.

“Good eye, lad!” The man I was working with said and turned to the crew nearby. “I need a rigger over here and a fifty foot rope!”

“I gotcha!” One of the skinny men said and hefted the rope over his shoulder and climbed the rope ladder even faster than I did. “I'll feed it to ya to put through the same pulley on the right track and you pass it down.”

I nodded and he cut away the old rope and then threaded the new one through several pulleys and slid down the deployed sail to tie it off on the bottom cross mast. He took up some slack and tossed me the bundle. I quickly passed it through the pulley on the right track and then passed the rest down to the man I was working with.

“Yep, good friends!” The man said with a laugh and lightly slipknotted the rope over the holding post. “Now git yer ass back down here and stop lazing around!”

The rigger laughed and hopped from the sail to the rope ladder and I followed him down to the deck.

What followed was a full day of how a fully crewed ship was run. I was passed around to different men on different jobs and had the full experience of what they all did. The last thing I did was scrub the deck after a day's work. We used big brushes and a mop to clean everything.

“Boy.” The man I arm wrestled said as the ship came to a stop in the middle of a large waterway. There was no dock for us to land on. “I can't tell you how happy we all are that you didn't complain once about how hard we worked you all day.”

“What would I complain about? I learned a lot.” I responded.

He and the crewmen around us exchanged looks, then several hands took turns gripping my shoulder. “You better get to your cabin and change.”

I nodded and left the little gathering to do just that. I entered the cabin and Victoria stood there, her face flushed slightly red. She didn't say anything to me, so I went to the closet and changed into what she termed was an adventuring outfit. It matched hers and I hefted my pack onto my back. I walked over to her and helped her put hers on. Since it was much lighter, she didn't have to struggle with it at all.

“I was a bit worried last night when you took the heavy things from my pack.” Victoria whispered. “I didn't want you to think you had to carry my burdens for me. This is my expedition after all.” She reached over and touched the straps on my pack. “I watched you working all day today.”

“I know. I could feel it.” I said and she smiled demurely.

“I'm not worried anymore about you carrying so much weight.” Victoria said and pat my shoulders. “We need to get to the boat.”

I led her from the cabin and up onto the deck to where the small boat was lashed to the side of the ship on pulleys and had two men in it to row.

“Mage King, it's been a supreme pleasure to have you aboard my ship.” The captain said and gave her a bow. “Are you sure you can't stay for supper?”

“I'm afraid I can't. We need to get moving or we'll lose the time your fast ship has gained us.” Victoria complimented him and let the captain take and then kiss her hand. “Thank you for delivering us promptly and safely.”

“Please continue to be safe.” The captain said. “Are you sure that you don't need to be picked up?”

“I've made arrangements with someone else for the return trip, so you don't have to ruin your shipping schedule, captain.” Victoria said with a smile. “Until the next time we meet.”

“I look forward to it, Mage King. I truly do.” The captain said and helped her into the boat with the hand he still held.

I stood there until she was seated and then held my hand out to the captain in the same manner to be helped. The entire crew burst out laughing and stomped their feet on the deck like applause.

The captain laughed as well and lightly slapped away my hand. “You've adapted to the crew already, you scurvy dog!”

I nodded and hopped into the boat without his help.

“Have fun, boy!” The man I arm wrestled said as he and another man lowered the little boat into the water. “We'll see you again some day!”

I waved to him as the boat hit the water and the ropes were let go. The two men quickly turned the boat expertly with their oars and then rowed at the same time to give us tremendous speed. We reached the shore only a couple of minutes later, deposited without a word, and then the little boat was gone. We stood there and watched the boat get back to the ship even quicker than it had dropped us off, then it was up and out of the water and the schooner was on its way.

We turned away from the water and started to walk up the bank near the water and towards a barely maintained road there. We followed it to the small town that was there and the horse and cart was waiting for us. The driver was happy that we had shown up on time and we climbed in and were off. It was a fast horse that must have been used to hauling a heavy load, because it made short work of the three hour ride to the drop off point.

“Miss, are you sure this is where you want to go?” The driver asked as Victoria paid him.

“It's perfect, thank you.” Victoria said and handed him a few more coins. “Please go to the agreed upon spot at the appropriate time.”

“Miss, I'll camp out there the night before, just to make sure I'm there in the morning to get you.” The driver promised with a grin.

“Thank you.” Victoria said and took out a compass. “David, we're heading that way.” She said and pointed. It looked like rough ground to cross into a valley, especially wearing a pack on our backs, so I held my hand out to her. She smirked at me as she took my hand and then we started walking.

Next stop, Barkilan Forest.