Thankfully, the Princess’s vows did not prevent her from accepting rides from others. She couldn’t buy or own a horse, but if someone offered to loan her one, or let her ride with them, then that was another story entirely. She couldn’t own a tent, but could sleep in someone’s home if they let her. She couldn’t own magic items, but could drink a potion given to her.

There were a bunch of seeming contradictions, but, as I understood it, the vow was about humility, and not burdening oneself with possessions, not about being a complete moron. Granted, the idea of someone from a royal line taking such a vow was pretty insane. Even more so when she was the Crown Princess.

As Vestele let the princess up on the seat of the carriage with her, so they could head to the nearby church of Ilmater, the rest of us decided to be a bit more productive. Leading the way up the gangplank, I made my way onto our new ship. The crew just needed to be informed of the change in ownership. If there was a crew, that is. Could never tell when dealing with mages.

“Who goes there?”

The sight that met me as I came up on deck was… not what I had been expecting. Thirty figures stood on deck, each armed and armored, in the style of seaborn raiders. In fact, I would be hard pressed to find a description of them that did not involve the word ‘pirates’ somewhere before the end.

But these were no normal pirates. They were skeletons. It figured that a Necromancer would have a ship crewed by the dead, but using actual skeletons for it was an interesting choice. After all, the typical skeletons were mindless creatures, incapable of carrying out complex tasks, like navigating a ship at sea.

But these were not typical skeletons. For one thing, they all stood like they knew how to use the weapons in their hands. And for another, the one in the middle, who was dressed like a pirate captain, had actually SPOKE. This, naturally, was not something mindless undead did.

I took a breath, and said, “I am Melinda Rimedancer, and I claim ownership of this vessel by right of conquest. Any who dispute my claim may die, or be returned to death as the case may be, by my hand. Are you the captain?”

The skeleton captain nodded. “Aye, that’d be me. And what might ye be about, lass, to be going and claiming things by conquest? Don’t think we didn’t see that fight down on the docks. We may be dead, but we’ve eyes, after a fashion.”

I shrugged. “It is simple. We needed a ship, and so we found one that the locals would not be missing overmuch, and decided to take it. It isn’t like there is anyone in the town who could stop us, after all.”

“Can’t say as I disagree with ya, lass. But what now, then? Seems there are only a few of you, too few to be running a ship like this without crew, even if you all knew your ways about a ship. And you lot look like adventurers. Lots of skills, very dangerous, but like babes when it comes to running a ship. Or do I miss my guess?”

I chuckled. “You’re not far wrong. And I know what you’re thinking of. Will you and your crew serve under me, as you did the necromancer we just killed?”

The captain looked hard at me. “As we did her? No, we’ll not be slaves again, living or no. You be thinking of doing that, and you best kill us all now. We’ll not take that lying down.”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not into slaving, even with the undead. If people follow me, then they do it of their own accord. Only exception I’ll make will be for when I lead others in battle, and the spoils of war.”

The captain nodded slowly, and looked to his crew. There was a series of nods all around. Turning back to me, the skeleton said, “Then, if ye can promise us plunder and glory, then we’ll be following you, aye.”

As he spoke, the Captain stomped his foot on the deck three times, and the ship… changed. What had been a one-masted ship now revealed three masts, with square rigging and black sails. The deck, the railing, and likely the hull itself all turned black, or shades of grey. What had appeared to be a slightly different merchantman was now a different beast entirely.

“Well, then, welcome aboard, missy. Captain Jack Dawson’s the name, and this beauty is the Black Wraith. Not so pretentious as the ‘Nights Damnation’, like that stuffy necromancer wanted, but there’s more than one ship at sea that’ll think twice before trying to start trouble with us, I promise you that.”

I chuckled, and nodded my head. “Well, Captain, that’s good to hear, because I believe we have stirred up some trouble for ourselves. Or it will be stirred up, come morning, when people start wondering where the Lord Mayor has gone. But that won’t be for hours, yet.”

“And good riddance, to him and his cousin, too! Damn bitch made us, but she didn’t want ‘simple’ skeletons, and said that ghouls smelled too bad, so she went and made us what she went and called ‘Greater Skeletons’. Been stuck slaving for ‘er ever since.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Greater Skeletons? I haven’t heard of those before.”

“Not surprised, seeing as you ain’t a necromancer, near as I can tell. Basically, only difference between us and the kind you’ve heard of, or seen, before would be that we keep our minds, and our skills, and all that. Makes us more ‘useful’ than the normal lot, see.”

“Well, as you’ve noted, I’m no necromancer, and I have no intentions of going around and raising others to join your crew. But I do intend to make use of you, since you’ve seen fit to follow me, for glory and plunder. But before we get to talking about that, why don’t you tell us about the ship, hmm? I’m sure she’s more than a little different from your normal ship.”

“That I can do. Are we waiting on any others? I’ll have one o’ the lads run up the mast to the nest, keep an eye out for them.”

“Yes, the wagon that you no doubt saw earlier is off on business, but it will be back soon enough. It’ll need to be loaded, along with the horses. And the unicorn will be with us, too.”

“That’s fine. We’d planned on setting sail with the dawn, and getting to open water before we took things a bit faster.” As he spoke, Dawson led the way up to the quarterdeck, where the wheel was. There was a large skull gracing the center of the wheel.

“Why the skulls, Captain? Not that I mind, but it does have a certain ‘feel’ to them.”

“Ah, that was the original design, when the Black Wraith first be built. This beauty’s been hunting the sea for almost a hundred years, at this point, handed down from captain to captain. Last thirty, she took to the air, as well, and not a soul could catch her. Terror of the Shellnigan Sea!”

He sighed, and rubbed one skeletal hand along the ship’s wheel. “But then that bitch went and found us. Her rotting clan used a spell, charmed us and tricked us into drinking a potion that put us into a deep sleep. When we woke up, we were like ye see, and forced to obey our ‘Mistress’, may Umberlee drown her soul!”

I nodded. “So, this ship can fly?”

“Aye, the necro cunt used my Blackie to go and steal some other airships from Bliydan’s naval base at Mythgrave. Not sailing ships converted over to be airships, like the Wraith, hear, but ships designed from the keel up to sail the skies. Wouldn’t let us keep the ships, either. Just passed them on to other high and mighty types in return for some upgrades to the Wraith.”

“Oh, what kind of improvements, Captain?”

“Only good thing the cunt ever did by Blackie. She can now hunt across the planes, her sails are always full, no matter what the wind might be doing, and those two ballistae hit like an angry storm giant. She’s a damn sight deadlier now than she was when we were living, I’ll give the bitch that much.”

Well, that was interesting. An airship that could cross the planes, and fly against the wind? I was loving the Black Wraith more and more. “Any improvements you would make to her, if we find a port that can be trusted to make the repairs?”

“Well, the ship might be able to go across the planes, nice and easy-like, but that don’t mean it will survive the other side. Same as with any planar travel, understand. Going to the Plane of Fire would be decidedly unhealthy for her, and just the same for the Plane of Water, unless one had spells or magic items to deal with the way those planes work. And that ain’t even counting the ones that go towards that energy what makes up a priest’s healing and hurting magics, or the ones that get all touchy about good an’ evil.”

I nodded slowly. “Yes, I can see how that would be a problem. So, if we could find something that allowed the ship, and its passengers, to ignore, or at least lessen, the planar effects on the other side when we cross the planes, that would definitely be something to get our hands on. Until then, we’ll keep off the planes that will want to rip us a new one just for being there.”

“Aye, that’d be much appreciated. Might not have asked to be as I am, but I’m in no hurry to go meeting the Queen of the Depths, nor are any of the crew.”

I nodded once, and handed five silver pieces to the Captain. “The Frostmaiden and the Wavemother are friends and allies. Offer this as we leave port, Captain, and pray that our foes meet the Sea Queen’s embrace at Her convenience.”

The Captain took the coins, and then looked pointedly at the closest sailor, who was standing by the ballista, and handed them off. “Owain, see to it, when you do the blessing.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Turning back to me, he said, “That’s right proper of you, lass. The Thedrans didn’t care much for the traditions of the sea. They followed that demon god of theirs, the Prince of Undeath. Which probably explains why that damn death knight was following her around. Probably keeping an eye on his master’s ‘investment’.”

“All right, so, shifting tack a bit, how many crew does the Black Wraith have, and how many does it need? I understand that, with you all being as you are, food and supplies aren’t really an issue, but we’ll be heading into harm’s way, and I know nothing about running a ship. So, knowing how many to onboard if things get nasty would be a good idea.”

“Aye. The Waith needs seven to stand a watch, but right now we have thirty souls aboard. So, we could take some losses, and not be running short-handed. But depending on where those losses come, we may be wanting to replace them sooner rather than later.

“As for the breakdown? Well, we have four topmen, deadly accurate with their bows. Another eight shooters, trained with their crossbows as well as with siege weapons. They’re especially good shots on the ballista. A priest of Umberlee, to calm the waters, and also take our foes. Two mages, sorcerers, who can add a little more bite to our attacks when we’re taking on the enemy. Fourteen raiders, best at close-in work, but they have bows as well, though the things are enchanted so they’ll skip past armor. Also means they’re useless against a ship itself, but no way around that. And then there’s me, as Captain.”

I nodded. “A sensible roster, Captain. Well, if you feel we need to get replacements at some point, you let me know. I can’t promise that any new crew will be… like your current crew, since I’m no necromancer. And learning to use those spells isn’t something I care to do.”

“Fair enough, lassie. Fair enough.”