The man was human. An observant gaze and a physique that said he was on a healthy diet made me want to believe he wasn’t under any sort of spell or song. He was muscular in the same practical, hard-working fashion that Vidar was with a darker complexion and raven colored hair just past his shoulders. A hard jaw was framed with trimmed facial hair.
“I don’t want any trouble,” the man said, rolling his Rs just enough to say English wasn’t his first language. Slowly, he lifted his hand from his pistol and raised it. “But I’ll kindly ask you to leave the woman alone.”
I searched his person for a silentium. I found wooden trinkets on leather strings hanging around his neck, but no bronze pendant.Thinking perhaps hewasunder the woman’s influence, I turned my attention to her.
“Does he know what you are?” I asked.
“We have no business with you,” the man said.
“He knows what I am,” the woman answered. She jerked her chin toward Vidar and the men behind him. “Do they know?”
Confused, I stepped back to get a good look at the two of them together. I cocked my head, noting the way she clutched his coat sleeve, keeping herself behind his larger frame. The way he rooted himself in place, ready to fend off whatever threat we might pose, was like a hound protecting a pup. There was no lack of sleep in his eyes. No starvation was evident on his body. If he was under her spell, then she was taking very good care of him.
It didn’t make sense.
“Leave me be,” she said.
“What is this?” Vidar chimed in, stepping up to my side.
“She’s…” I paused, not wanting to say the word aloud with unpredictable company around us. “Like me.”
“Not like you,” the woman retorted. “Kroan.”
I narrowed my eyes at the ire in her tone. “What are you?”
“She said, leave her be,” the man spoke up.
I scanned over him again, looking once more for signs of compulsion. I couldn’t see a damn thing besides the fact that he was protective of her and she trusted him.
I impulsively stepped toward her when the man put his hand on his pistol again. Vidar was quick to warn against that by waving his own and the tension started to get a little stifling.
“Now, now,” Gus’s voice broke through. His stout figure came into view. Slowly, he lifted his hand and motioned for both men to lower their weapons. “There are enough scoundrels in this damn town. We don’t need two smart men doing something stupid.”
He moved the gaze of his eye from Vidar to the stranger multiple times before Vidar took a deep breath and finally loweredhis weapon. The man slowly removed his hand from his pistol once more and straightened his shoulders.
“My name’s Gus. This here is my captain, Vidar Woelfson.”
The stranger focused his eyes on Vidar, dragging his gaze up and down once.
“Bone Heart,” he said.
Vidar’s brow raised with a smirk as he tucked his pistol into his belt. “You know me.”
“Plenty of people do.” He moved the woman further behind him as if extra cautious now. “Especially in these parts. You’re a hunter.”
“Was,” Vidar said. “In a sense, I still am. I’m between jobs at the moment.”
“Your ship was a pirate’s ship. Captain Shelby was a feared name until word got out that a man, nay, a boy took his ship and called it his own.”
“The acquisition was a fair one.”
“Was it, now?”
Vidar shrugged. “Aye. Shelby and I were to fire one shot at each other. Whoever got the most lethal shot kept the ship.” He scoffed. “I got the most lethal shot.”
“The Devil’s Coin was won fair and square,” Gus said. “I know. I was there. I watched an eighteen-year-old boy best a seasoned ship captain.”
“A belly full of drink would make that an easy task.”
