“All right,” Caleb announced, as he led the way into the great cabin, “it’ll be a little tight in here, so get comfortable.”

Tavia went to stand over in her usual corner, while Shaw furled his wings and sprawled out across the opposite side of the room. Sienna went to sit on the bed, patting the space next to her until Donal joined her. Caleb remained standing in the middle of the room, looking about the rafters for a little dragon’s hidden form.

As he expected, he didn’t spot anything.

“All right, Daffodil, my officers are here. Come on out.”

Nothing happened. Sienna and Donal traded a puzzled glance.

Tavia cleared her throat. “Captain, are you referring to that small alloy dragon we met whilst ‘rescuing’ that Gilarskan princess?”

“‘Tis good news if it be so,” Shaw said. “Coming with us would have been preferable, in mine own opinion, to remaining with that sluggard of a liege. As a bonus, said dragon doth appear to be both delicious and conveniently snack-sized.”

“Shaw…” Caleb warned.

“I jest, Captain! Ne’er would I harm a companion, even shouldst they happen to be so enticingly edible.”

“Bide a moment,” Donal said, as he tried to follow the conversation. “Are you saying that we up and took King Nevin’s…pet? Is that why the Gilarskans have been sending their ships after us?”

“Na’ae, don’t be such a clod-hopper!” Sienna retorted. “Our Captain’s not like that. It sounds like we have someone who stowed away of their own free will.”

“You’re right. Only…Daffodil? What kind of name is that for a wee beastie, even should they be a scaly monstrosity?”

Caleb felt a sinuous movement shinny up his back. Before he could react, he felt a tiny warm breath at his cheek. Daffodil’s cute little head appeared next to his. She braced her forepaws on his shoulder as she spoke.

“In the first place,” she said, in a proper little girl’s voice, “Princess Liliana named me after I was brought to the court and hatched. She said she picked my name because my scales were the color of daffodils.”

“Aye, that makes sense,” Donal agreed.

“In the second place,” she flared cutely, “just because I’m not a human, doesn’t mean that I’m a…what did you call it? A monstrosity!”

“Hear, hear,” Tavia muttered.

Donal’s face reddened.

“You’re right, little one,” he said. “My apologies. You see, until now the only dragon I’ve met did it’s level best to burn our ship to the waterline. And eat or drown us all besides. Only the Captain, Grimshaw, and Miss Morningstar here stopped it.”

Daffodil blew a snorted breath, but she seemed mollified by the helmsman’s words.

“Well…I guess I can see why you thought all dragons might be monsters. Oh, and I wasn’t anyone’s pet, either. I served King Nevin.”

I’m not so sure about that ‘pet’ status, Caleb thought. Liliana certainly had no problem grabbing Daffodil and putting her into something an awful lot like a kennel. And was Daffodil really serving of her own free will?

Aloud, he said: “Did you ever promise to serve King Nevin?”

Daffodil cocked her head as she thought about it. “I don’t think so…I mean, no one ever told me to swear on anything.”

“If that is true,” Tavia said, “then you have no official oath of allegiance to Gilarska, or its rulers. That means you should have been free to come or go as you pleased. Yet I saw how you were treated by your liege. It seemed evident to me that he thought of you as a mere possession.”

“I guess…”

“Also,” the mare continued, “if you were free to come and go, then why did you have to stow away on board our ship? And what’s more, it appears that Gilarskans allied themselves with the Myrkur, to the point of trying to trap us in the Maulding Shoals. Why?”

“Well…” the little dragon looked uncertain. “Maybe they were after you because Captain Ledger made Princess Liliana mad. She certainly wasn’t in a good mood when he knocked her out and tied her up. Lili even gave me that really, really mean gesture with her finger!”

Sienna looked to Caleb in amazement. “You really knocked out and tied up a Princess?”

“Believe me,” Caleb said wryly, “it was appropriate at the time. And I think all the pieces will fall into place if Daffodil explains what her job was for King Nevin and the island-nation of Gilarska.”

Daffodil let out a tiny eep! as everyone in the room scrutinized her. Caleb reached up and patted her reassuringly on one furled scaly wing.

“My task was to dine on as much silver King Nevin could give me,” she said. “And to leave my gold fewmets where they could be collected.”

Tavia made a snort as she finally understood. Shaw let out a grunt of surprise. Sienna and Donal’s eyes went wide.

“You eat metal?” Donal said, amazed. “By any chance, did you chew on our larboard cannon? There’s a chunk missing out of the barrel, big enough that we can’t fire it safely. I figured that the gun took damage from our battle with the Stone Angel, but now that I’ve met you…”

“Of course I didn’t chew on your cannon!” Daffodil huffed. “I don’t like eating iron. It leaves a yucky metallic taste in my mouth!”

Caleb cleared his throat.

“The point is, now we know why Gilarska’s the most powerful of the so-called Cordwainer Kings. Why it has retained a certain level of independence against the Cult of Myr. They can afford an army of armored knights as well as a squadron of ships because they’ve got a golden goose. And we sailed off with it.”

Sienna and the others looked puzzled at that. Daffodil tapped him gently with a talon on the side of his neck.

“Captain Ledger,” she whispered, “I’m not a goose, I’m a dragon.”

“Yes, I–” Caleb sighed and started once again. “That’s a fairy tale from where I’m from. A golden goose is catchphrase for a source of wealth. One that if mis-used or abused, will stop producing. When you do something like that, you’re ‘killing’ the golden goose.”

“Then what I’d like to know,” Sienna observed, “is how our little goose of a dragon managed to get into a locked closet and a pair of locked chests.”

“Well, the closet was pretty easy,” Daffodil said brightly. “I just followed Breena.”

Caleb blinked.

“My splashcat? How did she–” He turned to look at the bed, but the pillow that the calico cat had appropriated now lay empty.

Great. I seem to know an awful lot of creatures who are able to disappear on a whim.

“What about the chests?” Sienna asked.

“Oh, I’m aces over kings at picking locks!” the little dragon lifted her tail and displayed its long, tapered point. “I just use my tail. If that fails, I could chew my way through. But locks don’t taste good. They’re iron and usually have oil-coated insides. If I’m lucky, I never have to eat something like that. Yuck!”

Caleb thought back to Daffodil’s character sheet.

Name: Daffodil Class: Rogue Alignment: True Neutral Alloy Dragon-Specific Specialties: Unique to Species (100) Rogue Sub-Specialties: Sneak Attack, Evasion, Stroke of Luck Existing Buff / Debuffs: Impulsive Nature. (Effects variable) Potential Buff / Debuffs: Vulnerable to Intimidation, Ennui. (Effects variable)

Yes, hiding, camouflage, and the ability to pick locks with a prehensile tail all sound like skills a Rogue would have. And what about that Stroke of Luck skill under her Rogue Sub-Specialties?

“Speaking of luck,” Caleb said, “did you knock down any charts or books on navigation for Tavia to read?”

Daffodil shook her head. “No, I left the bookshelves alone. I mostly slept up in the rafters, it’s comfy there and no one can accidentally step on me.”

“If there’s a helpful gremlin on board,” Tavia added, “then it pre-dates Daffodil’s arrival. The book on lunar charts had fallen out for me to read before we sailed into Gilarska’s harbor.”

“So there doth be not a lutin on board,” Shaw clarified. “Only thy dragon, and mayhap a ‘gremlin’?”

“That’s right,” Caleb said. “I made the lutin part up. To keep Daffodil’s presence hidden for now.”

Suddenly, the griffin’s voice took on a frosty tone that startled everyone.

“And when didst thou plan to reveal thy subterfuge to the rest of the crew?”

Before Caleb could answer, a new screen popped up in his Quest Window. The words chilled him as much as Shaw’s voice.

New Bonus Level Mini-Quest: Justify present and future actions to keep the support of your officers. Depending on your success, the XP Value of your next quest completed shall be increased by 5-10%.

“Nay!” Shaw declared. He stamped his forepaw, and his talons made a clack on the floor. Daffodil gasped. Caleb felt her weight slide down his leg and vanish. “Do not look to thy screens for an answer to this dilemma. Why doth thou seek to play falsities upon thy comrades in arms? Methinks that this action is shameful!”

“It’s not shameful!” Caleb said quickly. Despite his words, he felt a flush creep up his neck. “We can’t reveal Daffodil’s presence to the rest of the crew. It’s…look, it’s necessary!”

“I must agree with my leonine companion,” Tavia stated. “If this were a harmless prank, as I first thought, then it would simply be beneath you. But as my Captain, my commanding officer, I would always expect you to be as honest with me as I am with you.”

“Tavia,” Caleb said, “Wait. Please understand…”

“I am trying, Caleb,” Tavia said, half-pleading. Her golden tail thrashed as she continued. “I trust you as I trusted the leader of my Knightly Order. Yet to play the rest of the crew for fools? We have done things that are less than honorable. Hiding. Lying. Using fear, subterfuge, stories of ghosts and fictitious creatures. So much of what we do cuts against the grain of what it means to be a paladin…”

Tavia stopped in mid-sentence, as if suddenly aware of what she was saying.

Her eyes shone wetly. She made a strangled sound and turned to leave. Shaw moved to one side as Tavia exited the cabin. The drake looked gloomily at the floor as he spoke in turn.

“Some of what the unicorn said hath been echoed in mine own thoughts,” he admitted. “Thou hadst best excuse me as well.”

Once the griffin had left, Caleb looked to his remaining pair of officers.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have–”

“Don’t apologize,” Sienna said firmly. “As far as I’m concerned, you did the right thing.”

“That you did,” Donal agreed. “It pains me to say it, but as Lir is my witness, you had no choice but to keep the wee beastie secret from the crew.”

Caleb felt stretched in two by the pair’s words. Both thankful and unsure.

“You don’t think that I’ve done something…what did Tavia say? Something ‘less than honorable’?”

Sienna made a disgusted sound at that. “We are a people on the edge of death, Caleb. There’s barely enough of us to crew this ship now. There’s nothing more honorable than keeping those of us left focused on the ultimate tasks at hand: To get out of Myrkur waters and find someplace to make a new home.”

“If that requires a little slight-of-hand, so be it,” Donal said. “Much as I admire our first and second mates, they don’t fully comprehend what’s at stake here.”

“Aye,” Sienna added. “That’s because they’ve not grown up as humans, or lived among us. Never have I seen or heard of a society made up of unicorns or griffins. But I’d venture a spot of gold that they’re better societies than our own.”

That surprised Caleb. “You think so?”

“Prayer’s up, I know so! Despite their quirks, Shaw and Miss Morningstar are among the best folk I’ve ever met. What my gaffer an’ gammer would’ve called ‘well bred’. They expect honorable behavior from us. Why? Because among their kind, that’s all they know. Now ask yourself true: Have all the humans you’ve known been as straight and true and upright as a mountain ash?”

Caleb’s mind flashed back to the memories he’d recovered. The mish-mash of half-recalled things in his past back on Earth. His nose filled with the pungent mix of nitroglycerin, sawdust, and graphite from a freshly fired pistol.

He slammed the butt of a rifle into a man’s face and pitched him into the sea.

He threw the lighter over his shoulder and burnt what was left of Jayce Ancona to a crisp.

He looked down at the brown-haired woman’s body. Her blood-smeared blue-and-yellow DEA AGENT jacket draped over her torso like a shroud.

“They haven’t,” Caleb said simply. “I’m sorry to say, it’s been far from it. I’ve known some of the worst, the most vicious. The Arrenmar, your people, they’re a breath of fresh air to me.”

“And yet we’re not perfect either,” Donal sighed. “You saw how close they came to throwing me overboard, just to get to Ferris Pender!”

“Say that we blow the gaff and tell them everything,” Sienna said. “That our little friend Daffodil can give them a fortune, riches beyond anything they’ve imagined, and all without risking their neck. What do you think will happen?”

Caleb blew out a breath before answering.

“We all know. As soon as we arrive with a longboat’s reach of a port, someone – or a small group of someones – will disappear with the boat. With Daffodil. And that would be the last we’d ever see of her.”

“Maybe a bit of trickery’s not the proudest thing,” Sienna reached out and gently squeezed his shoulder. “But every once in a while, it’s a damn sight better than the alternative.”

“Thank you,” he said to both his quartermaster and helmsman. “Leave me be for just a bit. I’ll be out on deck shortly.”

Caleb waited until they’d left to go over to his bed and stretch out. He lay back on his pillow, which kicked up a small plume of recently-shed cat fur. He felt a strange ache inside that he hadn’t felt before.

It was a small but insistent pain as he contemplated losing Grimshaw and Octavia Morningstar’s trust. Losing their friendship.

He pulled up the still-open screen from his Quest Window.

Bonus Level Mini-Quest: Justify present and future actions to keep the support of your officers. The XP Value of your next quest completed shall be increased by 7.5%. STATUS: COMPLETE.

Half a loaf, then. Caleb rubbed his temples. Maybe I’m starting to be too clever for my own good. I needed a way to keep this crew together. To keep them from the all-too-human temptation of greed. But Danu help me, what price am I going to pay for it?