Goldenbeard

"You know the drill," Nebula said to her first as they watched the crowd from the upper deck. "Let them prove they can hand, reef and steer, and if that isn't enough to thin 'em out, have them try and take down Orcus."

Domsano shrugged his meaty shoulders, looking skeptical. "Nobody takes down Orcus."

Nebula smiled. "Yeah, but if they're willing to try, I'll count it as a point in their favor."

She could afford to be picky, after this last spectacular haul, and what a wonderful side benefit that was. It wasn't so many months ago that she'd been scrambling for more hands: for some reason, even hardened pirates had been nervous about signing on with a captain whose last crew got eaten by a spiderwoman.

"Oh, and Dom?" She lowered her voice and her first moved in closer, bending his grizzled head to hers. "Make sure the new hands aren't any of Paramon's crew. I wouldn't put it past the sneaky bastard to try something like that."

Domsano nodded. "Will do. If we spot any, what do you want me to do with 'em?"

Nebula narrowed her eyes, considering that tempting possibility. "Leave them to me."

Domsano grinned appreciatively. "Aye, aye, captain."

***

Nebula sat crosslegged in the small triangular nook behind the main mast that the crew generously referred to as the captain's cabin, working out the best route to Lemnos and how many days' rations they would need for the journey, when a great, many-throated yell rose from the direction of the lower deck.

She stood up, and at the same moment Thale, her helmswoman, burst into the room. "Captain, I think you should see this."

"Getting a little rowdy, by the sound of it," Nebula said, rolling up the map and putting it back in its leather case. "What's happening?"

She could tell by the sound that there was no threat to her ship, or her crew; it felt more like the enthusiastic roar of a stadium audience. Maybe another harbor tax collector had inexplicably fallen overboard?

Thale bounced on the balls of her feet, her long black plait swinging back and forth. "Remember how you said the new hires should take down Orcus?"

"I said try to --" Thale gave her a wide-eyed look, brimming with glee.

Nebula blinked. "Oh, you're kidding me." She unfolded herself, then raced out of the cabin and down the stairs to the lower deck.

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