The suspension bridge creaked alarmingly with every step he took, and each waterlogged board beneath his boots felt ready to give in. The drop was not far, but Captain Fross did not want to know what lie in the murky and foul smelling waters below. Somehow he made it across without incident, and just as he was about to knock on the weathered old door before him, it lazily swung inward. The inside was lit with many clusters of candles, though the focus of the room was a round stone table with two wooden chairs on either side. He could smell a great many herbs being burned somewhere, as the scent was so thick in the air that he could almost see it.

He appeared to be alone, and so after perusing and poking various odd objects around the room, Captain Fross, took a seat in one of the chairs and closed his eyes, listening for when his date would enter the room. He heard the door close abruptly and so he spun around to regard her but he found no one. He turned back around, and tried his best to hide his unease, as she was now sitting across the table from him. “I trust you received my latest letters?” he asked.

She motioned to the table, where the scrolls now lay. “Oh, I have monsieur Fross, and I have made all the preparations to enact your revenge…”

“Captain Jun and the rest of that flea bitten land will pay for their misdeeds, and for destroying my best ship!”

“You know my price is high, and you are prepared to pay it, even though it will keep you from witnessing this revenge first hand?”

“Revenge is a tasty meal hot or cold. My First Mate Guthrye will bear witness, and will report to me how good or bad of a job you do.”

She snapped her fingers and moments after a younger lady walked in the room to stand beside her. “I will not be going, either. Someone must see to the process of your payment.” She told him with a wink. “Dominique will oversee this job.”

“I paid for you, not some apprentice!” Fross protested.

“She is no amateur! She is my best, and you should be glad the price was not higher. Upon arrival she will be recruiting some very powerful allies from within. You are getting far more than what you are paying for, and if you don’t like it, you can saunter out the door that you came through and do this on your own.”

Fross wanted nothing more than to slap this lady across her smug mouth, but his taste for vengeance won out the battle in his mind. So instead he just smiled. “Why don’t we just get started?”

Her lips curled up to a smile even wider than his. “Started? Why Monsieur Fross, I waste no time in my dealings, and it has already begun!” She lets out a long and gentle blow of air from her pursed lips, as all the candles in the room extinguish...