Captain James Murphy entered his cabin briskly, and regarded the sleeping form of the Lady Beatha with relief. Her coloring had returned, and he could see that she was no longer sweating from fever.

“Beatha.” She slowly opened her bright green eyes, and blinked a number of times before turning her head to stare at the Captain.

“What happened?” She asked quietly, her gaunt face blank as she stared at him.

“You collapsed in your cell. We took you here to sleep properly. Even without magic, your family’s blood means you recover quickly if given proper rest- at least that is what I have heard,” he moved closer to the side of the bed.

Aggie didn’t say anything as she continued laying down and staring at him blankly.

“Why are you doing this?” She hadn’t realized in her excitement at being alone in the Captain’s cabin, but her body was aching and weak. To be lying down on a soft surface warm, and dry, was enough to almost make her breakdown in tears.

“Taking care of you?” The Captained queried with a raised eyebrow.

“Why do you make us all participate in blood sport? Why do you risk my well-being when you get your money with the bounty?”

Without missing a single beat, James responded easily.

“Money.”

Aggie didn’t say anything, and instead waited for him to explain himself better.

“Do you know how gambling can work Lady Beatha?”

“Not particularly well, no.”

“I figured as much. I want you to think of every port you have stepped into, and fought in. I want you to think about every bet a person has made. Now, I take a portion of every single bet someone has bid. A small one, but with so many bids, it adds up.”

“So the bounty wasn’t enough for you? You had to make money on my being a sideshow attraction?” Aggie demanded slowly sitting up.

“The more money I have Lady, the more power I have. I’m receiving your bounty, I’m receiving the added bets and interest from you fighting, and I am a Captain of the Southern Kingdom. I track down criminals or beings of interest and deliver them for the monarchs. They also are giving me an added bonus for dragging you through the mud. All in all, I will have more than doubled the initial bounty on your head through these measures.”

The Captain shrugged and turned his back on Aggie to walk over to where his rum sat.

“So you get a lot of money. Then what?” Aggie asked running her hand through her hair that had grown considerably over the past few months, and now began nearing her shoulders.

“Then I can buy whatever I want, and retire in peace,” he sipped from a crystal glass, his blue eyes trained on her calmly.

“Why do you care about my Servicer?” Aggie decided to change tactics to surprise him, but even this he seemed ready for.

“You’re all out of allotted questions my Lady. My turn. If I threaten your Fey bitch, will you fight tonight for the Southern Prince?”

“What?! We’re here already?!” Aggie stood up hurriedly, only to make herself lightheaded once again.

The Captain watched her blankly as she immediately lost her balance and fell back onto the bed.

“The winds were with us and we arrived early. It would seem the Prince is eager to see our third best fighter.” James finished his drink and folded his arms across his chest.

“You… now?! You want right now?” Aggie’s heart was pounding.

“Yes Beatha. Now. Why is it so startling to you? You’ve been here long enough to know how this works.”

She felt her mouth open and close.

“I don’t care that you found your belongings Beatha. No need to worry about hiding them. That bell of yours is Fey made isn’t it?”

Aggie felt her fists clench as she slowly stood back up, not risking making herself light headed again.

“Yes.”

“It won’t work.”

“What?”

“The Fey that gave that to you most likely is tapped out of magic for the time being. I rang it and it made no sound. Normally that means whomever you’re calling cannot come.”

The Lady felt her hope from before melt away, and felt as she retreated back into her despair, she sunk somehow even lower than before.

“We are going to start with you against Lady Venom.”

“Why the first place fighter right away?”

“Gets the crowd’s blood pumping. She is already facing off against Gent as we speak. You will only do one fight for this evening, and then will start the line up tomorrow afternoon from the weakest back up to her. In total, you two will face off three times while we are here, then I’m sending you back into your Duke’s arms.”

Aggie was so angry she shook, and felt tears well in her eyes. As the Captain placed his glass back on the table he turned towards the door.

“You were bonded with Arlen’s mother. Do you want money to buy her back? Do you care about them because you are his father?”

James turned abruptly to Aggie, and took large steps over to her closing the distance to her immediately.

“She is one reason I want the money. Not all the reasons. Why in the world would you think that he isn’t a full-blooded Servicer? The Ruling Family slaughters half-breeds.”

“How did you know his name then? Why was Ida returned to the Ruling Family? None of it makes sense!” Aggie shouted staring up into the cold blue eyes of the Captain.

James Murphy’s lips were twitching as though he wanted to sneer at her, but his gaze is what made the Lady’s heart hammer wildly. He looked capable of horrible things in that moment.

“You’re his father, aren’t you?” Aggie whispered horrified.

James grabbed her by the upper arms, and slammed her back down onto the bed behind her.

“I am not his father, and don’t you ever breathe a word about this, or I will make you suffer in ways you cannot even dream. Not. Another. Word.” His face was millimeters from her own.

“So you’re just in love with his mother. Pathetic.” Aggie watched passively the horrific rage that crossed the Captain’s face.

“Did you know that she has twelve other children after Arlen, and is forever going to teach on the island? You won’t ever be able to get her back.” All she wanted was to hurt him- to make him feel as powerless and pointless as possible.

The Captain’s eyes bulged, a vein in his throat thickened.

“I warned you Beatha. I don’t care what condition Sean O’Farrell finds you in anymore,” his voice was eerily calm, and with a horrible twist in her stomach, Aggie realized she had in fact pushed too far.

Pushing his hand down the front of her trousers Aggie shrieked, but he covered her mouth quickly with his hand before drawing out her bag of belongings, and throwing them across the floor.

Aggie relaxed for a moment, but the Captain let out a sinister laugh at the obvious relief in her face.

“I just didn’t want to accidentally touch the Summoning Stone.”

Aggie’s eyes widened, and then, his weight was upon her, crushing her.

Despite her attempts, she was at the disadvantage, and Aggie felt her last shred of dignity disappear into an abyss she couldn’t see the bottom of.

*

The Captain had said something about her being introduced to his majesty in twenty minutes before he had left.

Aggie sat trembling on the side of the bed, ready to vomit up her insides.

He hadn’t done everything.

She would not be in jeopardy of bearing a monster’s child. She tried to console herself with that knowledge.

It didn’t help her much though as the feeling of his hands on her remained fresh.

Never in her life had she been so powerless.

Never had she not had a way out.

She touched her lips that were red and bruised from the Captain’s hand. At one point or another, she had bit her lip and it had started bleeding.

Aggie stared around the room desperately.

She needed to not feel.

She needed not to care anymore.

She needed to let go.

She couldn’t hang on to how she was feeling. It was going to kill her. Ines needed her still. Ines had survived worse for longer. She could be strong for the last while.

Aggie’s eyes landed on the amber rum on the table, and half stumbled half crashed into the table as she desperately grabbed the bottle.

She uncorked the bottle and took three, four, five drinks. The burning in her throat and belly took away from the pain between her legs.

The Lady was still standing at the table shaking when the three crewmen came in. One was first mate Ikes, another Aggie had never bothered to learn the name of, and the other one was Ian.

“Gods- Beatha!” First Mate Ikes barked, causing the trembling in Aggie’s legs to intensify.

“What did ‘e… First Mate… what’s wrong wit’ Beatha? Thought the Cap’n said she was better?”

Aggie continued gripping the chair in front of her, and took one last drink from the bottle before First Mate Ikes hurried forward and snatched it from her hands.

“I hope you now understand that there are consequences for insolent behavior Beatha,” he trilled as he stared down his nose at her.

Aggie slowly turned to stare up at the Beast Awares, unable to stop the shaking or the tears.

“Y-You’re all monsters.” Her speech was slurred, but as she stayed staring up at First Mate Ikes, she saw Ian shift uncomfortably behind her.

“I’ve been called worse by better people.” First Mate Ikes growled.

Grabbing her shoulder, he began escorting Aggie from the cabin, when she stopped and picked up the pouch the Captain had thrown.

Aggie wasn’t sure why they didn’t try to stop her from taking it with her, but as her surroundings spun, she didn’t care. Her brain was fuzzy, and lighter than before, and the spinning began to get worse as she stepped up on the top deck of the boat, and the warm breeze of the Southern Kingdom brushed her face.

Aggie was guided to the gangplank as she had at the previous ports she had visited. Only when her feet touched down on the sandy beach and she attempted to focus, she realized she was standing staring at one of the most magnificent sights she had ever seen.

The Prince’s summer palace was pure white in the night, with tightly trimmed hedges, and gravel pathways splayed artfully in its front.

Pillars had fires blazing atop illuminating the otherwise dark starry night, and revealing that they were at the end of the mountainous border.

“You’re going there Beatha.” First Mate Ikes pushed her towards a crowd that was standing a hundred yards ahead of them. As she neared, Aggie blearily noticed the Lords and Ladies in their gowns and glittering jewels all excitedly chattering while a battered Gent be escorted through them.

As she moved closer to the crowd, Aggie saw that she was approaching what looked like a large steel cage

It was probably normally used to hold dangerous animals, but now it held Lady Venom who stood as proud as ever despite the insipid gossip of the crowd of nobles.

No one even noticed Aggie being pushed through until she stepped into the cage with Lady Venom, and

once she stepped into the light of the surrounding torches, gasps and whispers began to silence the more rambunctious party dwellers.

“Your Majesty,” James Murphy’s voice carried over the crowd, silencing everyone, and drawing Aggie’s eyes to a young man seated a short distance away under a lucurious canopy. A man barely older than herself who had powdered his face comically white, had drawn a small mole along his left cheek bone, and wore a powdered wig.

The crowned Prince of the South.

“I present to you; a traitor to our Southern Lands. The scandalous runaway, Lady Agnes Beatha!”

Aggie’s breath caught in her throat as everyone unanimously gasped. Except for the Prince. He grinned at her, his eyes glinting.

Aggie wasn’t even sure where James Murphy was in the crowd, and she felt her stomach roil horribly with the alcohol.

“Oh please! Are you to tell me, that that gangly cretin is the real Lady Beatha?” Aggie turned to the speaker, and laid her eyes on an elderly man, who was perhaps a few years older than Sean O’Farrell.

“For those of you that do not recognize this creature, I believe in Lady Beatha’s hand there is a small leather pouch. If my First Mate Ikes could please hold it up so all you fine Lords and Ladies see…” Before Aggie could properly register what was happening, the pouch was snapped from her hands, and held up for the attentive crowd to see.

“Inside that pouch, you will find a string of pearls that once belonged to Lady Beatha’s own mother, Lady Farrah Beatha.” Everyone was still as First Mate Ikes carefully opened the pouch and with a single claw, withdrew the strand of pearls.

“Lady Farrah Beatha, could you please confirm that these were once yours?”

The Crowned Prince’s voice struck the air with a powerful ring.

Aggie’s eyes snapped up and sought out her mother. She found the familiar dark eyes of her mother, but the gaze was horrified. With her wild curly auburn hair piled high atop her head, Farrah wore a deep gold gown with black beading in the bodice, and a choker to match. A fine dress, but as everyone turned to stare at the Lady whose cheeks burned deep crimson, Aggie knew they regarded her as a joke rather than a woman of means.

The crowd burst out in giggles and whispers.

Aggie’s heart pounded as she wrenched her hand free from the First Mate and slowly, with heavy steps, neared the bars.

The whispers and titters had faded away to Aggie, but the shifting gaze of her mother told her that it was only louder to her. With trembling hands she gripped the bars, wishing her mother to look at her.

“Mother?” She called weakly, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Did you hear your daughter, Farrah?” A Lord to the Lady’s right with jet-black hair, and olive skin jeered at the Lady who wouldn’t meet Aggie’s gaze.

Aggie reached through the bars, extending her dirty hand with the bruised and scratched knuckles, tears falling down her face.

“Mum? Please,” she whispered. Aggie’s voice cracked, and she doubted her mother could even hear her anymore. “Please.”

Farrah lifted her chin at long last, and stared at Aggie. She breathed heavily, pursed her lips, then turned to the Lord who had addressed her.

“I have no daughter. Whoever this creature is is no concern of mine.”

Aggie slowly recoiled her hand back as the Lords and Ladies erupted into laughter.

She stared with silent tears falling over her cheeks as her mother pick up her skirts, and walked away from her daughter.

Aggie wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

She was oblivious to Captain James Murphy announcing the third best fighter, and her opponent Lady Venom. She didn’t even feel when First Mater Ikes left the cage and locked the door.

Aggie continued trembling as she finally turned away from the bars, and lifted her gaze to Lady Venom who stared down at her with her usual cold contempt. She took three stumbling steps towards the Beast Awares who was a massive being of eight legs and standing a head higher in height above an average man.

Lady Venom regarded her unfeelingly, but didn’t move away from her.

“Punch my stomach," Aggie uttered, her tone flat.

The Beast Awares eyebrows twitched briefly, and three of her black eyes blinked.

Yet, when a bell rang out into the night and the crowd began to cheer, the Beast Awares wasted no time in using one of her legs to give Aggie’s abdomen a sharp kick.

Aggie succumbed to the nausea immediately, and vomited profusely all over the ground as she collapsed to her knees.

That was the only favor Lady Venom would bestow upon her as from that position, she pushed the Lady onto her back with her other leg as the crowd cast their bets to James Murphy.

Aggie choked, then righted herself enough to vomit another small amount before the Beast Awares picked her up by her throat, and lifted her high above the ground so that her hair grazed the top of the cage.

She gasped for air and glimpsed the moon briefly as the crowd around her went wild.

Her immobilization was shortlived however. After studying the Beast Awares for so long, the Lady knew what was coming next.

Lady Venom began throwing her down, intending to slam her opponent unconscious on the ground, but Aggie had seen a certain Minkies woman in a similar position, and acted using that inspiration.

As her body began to be thrust to the ground, she gripped with her remaining strength the arm clutching her throat, so that as she went down, Lady Venome was forced down to the ground under her own force as well.

The crowd exploded.

Once Aggie regained her breath she stood, her back to the opposite corner from where Lady Venom now stood.

The Beast Awares straightened herself to her full height, hissed bearing her white fangs, then legs and all, charged towards Aggie.

With adrenaline pumping and overcoming the remaining of the alcohol in her system, Aggie waited until Lady Venom was within arms length, then nimbly leapt between her multiple legs.

As a result, the Beast Awares crashed into the bars, making several Lords and Ladies shriek and leap away from the cage.

As Lady Venom gripped onto the bars to launch herself away, Aggie stood to the side of her rear, reached up, gripped the spinnerets, and squeezed.

The silky web burst out as Aggie had hoped, which immediately caused an ear-piercing screech from her opponent.

She snatched the thick sticky web hastily as Lady Venom whirled around, her teeth bared. She reared up on her back legs, forcing Aggie to leap back or be stomped down. The Lady kept twisting the silk in her hand methodically, over and under as she carefully avoided being stomped on.

Lady Venom didn’t waste time recoiling as she rushed forward, pinning the human into a corner, and staring into her eyes with pure rage.

Aggie held her gaze, but with a flip of her wrist and hands knotted the web in her hands.

Lady Venom shoved her front leg into Aggie’s chest, shoving her back into the bars with a thud.

She leaned forward to once again grip the human woman by the throat, only when she was within reach Aggie pressed hard against the leg holding her back and neatly lassoed the web around the Beast Awares neck.

Startled, Lady Venom reared back, only as she did so, the knotted web tightened around her throat, and the more she tugged, the tighter it grew. Aggie continued to keep her firm grip on the web, knowing that if she let go, she would most likely be murdered instantly.

The crowd was gasping and shouting, but Aggie’s attention was wholly on hanging on to her end of the web as Lady Venom let out ear piercing shrieks, and pulledthe knot tighter and tighter.

The Lady watched as the gray complexion began to pale and Lady Venom’s arms stopped flailing around. Slowly the Beast Awares began to grow weak, and gradually collapsed onto her knees. With a final breath, she then careened over unconscious, making the crowd of royals began making a ruckus that rivaled the seediest of crowds Aggie had ever fought for.

She stepped slowly over to Lady Venom, and watched the black eyes carefully. Well aware that it could be a trick of sorts, but not wanting to kill her, the Lady bent down, and gently loosened the noose.

When she stepped back, and watched with relief as regular breaths began to return to Lady Venom.

Aggie’s shoulders slumped forward weakly, and for a single moment, her mind went blank as she stared at the collapsed Beast Awares in front of her.

The air around her reverberated with the din of dozens of Lords and Ladies, but she didn't notice until someone had grabbed her arm and pumped it above her head.

“The new champion!”

Aggie’s insides clenched as she slowly turned and stared up at Captain James Murphy’s face that regarded the crowd with a raised chin and a triumphant smile.

“My dear,” Aggie turned and found herself staring at the crowned Prince addressing her.

All at once, the crowd fell silent.

“It would seem you have gumption after all,” the royal smiled, his eyes cold.

Captain James Murphy released her arm and stepped back as the Prince entered the cage and approached her.

He wore a light pink coat, a black vest and a ruffled cravat at his throat with a large black diamond at his throat.

“I am glad to see your new status suits you so well.”

The crowd roared with laughter, but Aggie continued staring at him, her eyes as empty as her insides.

“Don’t you know it is rude to stare child?” He sniffed and lifted his chin.

She felt her fist curl at her side, and immediately felt James Murphy resuming his controlling position beside her, clearly seeing the violent urges she was experiencing.

“Captain Murphy, you act as though she is the threat to me?” The Prince and everyone chuckled again.

“With all due respect my Prince, I’ve seen what Lady Beatha can do given the opportunity.” James gripped Aggie’s wrist, and she immediately felt her inside begin to quake.

The Prince didn’t outwardly laugh, but the smug smile on his face filled Aggie with white rage.

“If you insist Captain.” The Prince turned to the crowd, but despite Aggie’s fear, she called out.

“Prince Raphael,” The Prince turned around, already preparing himself for whatever humorous threat the fallen Lady would make.“I already have to kill Captain James Murphy here. Rest assured, I will come for you shortly after.”

He snorted, and didn’t comment as he turned his back on the Lady and exited the cage.

“My Lord! You are going to allow her to speak to you like that?!” The same elderly gentleman who had questioned her identity from early blustered angrily.

“When the mouse squeaks, is it really worth answering?” He answered his hands clasped behind his back.

“Lord Murphy, shall we retire for cigars and games?”

Aggie’s ears pricked.

Murphy?

The same last name as the Captain…

She didn’t have time to consider the implications of the discovery as she was suddenly wrenched away from the cage, and pulled towards the looming shadow of the ship.

“Could’ve used less of your poor manners at the end. Though you fought well, and I made a small fortune just from your one fight,” the Captain mused as he forced her up the gangplank while keeping a firm grip on her arms.

Aggie’s insides screamed under his touch, and she barely registered being lead back down to the rest of the prisoners.

She was shoved into her cell, the door was locked, and with a flutter of blue coat, the Captain disappeared back above deck.

Allowing herself to finally succumb to her weakened knees, the Lady fell to the ground, tears immediately flooding her eyes.

“Ines? P-Please let’s get out of here and kill him together,” Aggie sobbed gently.

After a moment of silence, she turned to stare at the sleeping form of Ines on her cot.

Aggie stared at her friend laying motionless, and felt her heart drop to her stomach.

“Ines?” She scrambled over to the bars, and stretched her arm into Ines cell, her trembling fingertips inches from a gray dirty toe of her friend. “I-Ines? Ines? INES?!”

“She’s gone, lass.”

Aggie turned in the shadows to see Gent leaning against the bars of his cell, a black puffy eye and bloodied lip marring his face.

“Crewmate of the Cap’n was in the middle of his… needs, after ye’ collapsed. She just… stopped movin’ an’ breathin’ sometime durin’.”

Aggie felt fresh hot tears flood her eyes and her stomach clench painfully.

“S-She died while they were-”

“Aye.” Gent cut her off softly.

“S-She died alone and-” The words were choked from her as her throat closed.

Aggie let out a crying scream, and succumbed to the wracks of grief the twisted through her body.

Every prisoner present, stepped forward to the doors of their cells, and bowed their heads.

They knew that their own ends weren’t far behind.

Yet they still knew that of any of them, the kind and gentle Fey woman known as Ines had the least right to be amongst them, and so they hung their heads in silence for Ines the Fey.

Best friend of Lady Agnes Beatha.