“Alright, so,” Gareland said, floating. Apparently, fairies did not tire in the same way as other bipeds when standing in place, “What is this skeleton of a plan?”

  “Well, first, and this is the main issue -” Paracelsus started, “We’d have to make port on the coast, obviously.”

  “But Ashland is nearly forty miles from the coast?” She asked.

  “Indeed.” He confirmed, “But getting there shouldn’t be hard. We can take one of those new motor-carriages. It’s getting back that’s going to be hard.”

  “I agree. You steal from him, and there’s very little chance he doesn’t shut everything down.” The fairy sighed, “And that’s assuming he doesn’t hold our ship.”

  “Don’t worry about that. Once we get back to the ship,” His tone was smug and self-satisfied, “We can say ‘arrivederci’ to him. Why are you laughing at me?”

  “I’ve never met anyone who actually says ‘arrivederci’.” She took a few seconds to come down, which was not helped by the captain’s slight pout, “Anyway - putting aside that issue, how do we get from… Stealing from him, to leaving undetected?”

  “That’s determined by an incalculable number of factors.” He said, “Primarily - What is his gift? I need to know so we can work around it.”

  “I can’t say?” She asked, more than said.

  The two stared at each other, and as the seconds seemed to stretch into minutes, neither truly knew how to respond. Eventually, though, the captain asked, “You can’t say? I order you to say.”

  “You misunderstand me, il mio capitano,” Paracelsus thought he’d never really heard a language that sounded as whimsically constructed before, “Not ‘I refuse to say’ - I ‘can’t’ say.”

  The human clicked his tongue, “I see. Well that at least gives me some idea of what’s happening. I don’t suppose you could write it?” She shook her head, “Figures. Alright, well, the working idea I have - and please, do bear in mind I do this with no ill-will towards your assumed adopted father - is to take him hostage.”

  “With no ill will?” The fairy, gaping jaw and all, asked.

  “No ill will to whom?” Serpacinno had just finished whatever business she had on deck and decided to join them downstairs, “What are you two talking about?”

  “How we’re going to kidnap her father to steal his treasure.” Paracelsus said casually, as though the topic of discussion were not something that would constitute some type of felony, and instead was a simple matter of what they were eating for supper.

  “We could break his legs.” The first mate helpfully suggested, in an equally casual manner, “You can haul a grown man on your shoulder, can’t you, Parace?”

  “Can I interject -” Gareland said.

  “Easily.” Paracelsus confirmed, “Well, maybe not if he’s exceptionally tall, or fat.” He shook his head, “Anyway, the main issue comes from evading capture by his underlings. Break his legs, tie him up, it doesn’t matter if someone comes in and squashes us like bugs.”

  “Hold on -” The fairy tried to butt in again.

  “Well of course, we’d be there,” The first mate said, referring to the crew, “I have… Faith in them.”

  “Please, just let me -”

  “It’s what… Ten? Counting Lonceré twice, Sally once - whom I’m not entirely convinced of - and the Shah, against…” He tried to make an estimate as to the potential enemy numbers before blowing a raspberry, “Who knows how many?”

  “Stop!” Gareland finally shouted, getting the attention of the others, “Now I’ve let you hypothesize enough! Please, I know I agreed to help, and I will help you, but he is still my father. I don’t want to hurt him.”

  Seeing the tears pricking the corners of her tiny, almost believably innocent eyes, the other two felt a large wave of regret wash over them. Paracelsus spoke up, being generally more diplomatic between them, “I’m sorry, Gareland. We got carried away. I promise you, no physical harm will come to him, but I can’t make those same assurances of his subordinates.”

  “That’s fine,” She sniffed, turning away with a moody pout that would’ve fit more on someone half her age, “But please, as much as I’ve come to… Regret the things I’ve done for him, I still care, deeply, for him.”

  “Ah, wow…” Serpacinno tried her best to apologize. And to her credit, for someone who was mostly unused to such a gesture, she did about as well as one could expect, “I didn’t realize. But still, that only makes it more complicated. I mean if his gift, or gifts, give him some physical advantage over us…”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Before you continue,” Paracelsus said, “I asked. She ‘can’t’ tell us about it. But that alone tells me that it’s probably not something that would aid in a direct fight. If he can issue commands like that, it’s unlikely to also lead to some physical boost, and although I’m not religious,” He continued, “I doubt that Paace, his existence assumed, would allow power to tip so heavily in one direction.”

  “Are there no lawmen there?” Serpacinno asked, and had now made the rest of the group acutely aware of another flaw in the plan, “We’d be trying to escort him a fuckin’ long distance, right?”

  “I have a plan for that, too.” Paracelsus replied, “Please, rest assured, I have that, as well as any other matters of law sorted.” He snapped, and had to restrain himself from doling out praise to his own intelligence, “Gareland - surely there’s someone who’d want to usurp your father’s position? We could get them to help.”

  “Maybe some lower level officers,” The woman in question sighed, “I doubt there are any high-ranking ones who could cooperate.”

  “Note that she said ‘could’.” The captain remarked, “Still, any help we could get would be appreciated. Anyway, clearly this point is a dead end - let’s discuss how we can even gain access to his piece. Obviously, any conventional storage would be trivial for me to access, but even getting closer would be difficult. I have a feeling that a lowly tobacco farmer wouldn’t be able to make direct contact with him.”

  “That’s true.” The gunner confirmed, “I could recommend you, but that will only get you so far. And even then, he’s always guarded by at least two capos.”

  “There’s ten of us.” Serpacinno said, “We should be fine, yeah?”

  “And you think he’d be so stupid as to allow all ten -” She paused for a moment, “Ten? How are there ten of us?” She began counting on her fingers, “Paracelsus, Serpacinno, Gareland, Tariq, Lonceré, Lonceré, Sally, Federico, and even if you include the Shah that’s nine.”

  “She was counting me, obviously.” Gru’lya popped her head in through the gunport. Then, she took her somewhat lanky, creepy arm and tugged the captain’s shoulder, “I’m hungry. You promised me sustenance.”

  “Oh, yes, right. I got a few trinkets and doodads.” He pulled out a few miscellaneous baubles from his pockets, which it seemed he kept on him for whatever reason, before handing them over, “Tell me if you need more. I think I have some larger items in my trunk if you wouldn’t mind waiting.”

  “Oh, right!” The first mate slapped her fist on her open palm, producing the trident she’d taken from her would-be assassin, “I meant to give this to you.”

  “This is…” The mermaid pondered the object inquisitively, studying its sleek, brass surface and learning all she could by looking back on its memories. “Amenable. Thank you.” With no more words and certainly no valediction, she dove down below.

  “Wait, you still never explained how you arrived at the number ten.” Gareland said, “You weren’t really counting her, were you?”

  “I was just repeating what he said.” Serpacinno informed her.

  With an uncomfortable silence looming over them, Paracelsus became acutely aware that all eyes were on him. He wanted to say that he miscounted, but he knew that he would be called on it, “Ok, fine. I was holding it just in case, but I suppose there’s no hiding it. I had a contingency in place: if the crew I ended up with turned out to be less-than-savory types, I left a friend behind in the event I was taken captive. They’ll be joining us.”

  “Another revolutionary?” Serpacinno asked.

  “No, someone I met while living in Ashland,” He specified, “After I had parted ways with the revolutionaries.”

  “And you trust them?” Gareland asked.

  “Whole-heartedly.” His tone was indignant and offended, as though she should’ve already had some preconception about this anonymous person’s nature, “Anyway. We’re off topic. Back to the matter at hand - I think that, between the three of us, or four, we should be able to force his hand.”

  “Wait!” Gareland put a finger up in alarm, “Serpacinno - can’t you fit anything in your pouch?”

  “You’d suffocate.” She said, pre-empting the inevitable follow-up question.

  “What?” Paracelsus leaned back with a huff, “You tried putting someone in there?”

  “Back when I was taking odd jobs, a client of mine had his cat stolen.” She helpfully elucidated, “Needless to say, I went to sleep hungry that night. So, no, I can’t sneak anyone else in.”

  “That still doesn’t tell us how to get a meeting with him.” The captain grabbed his chin, thinking, “I doubt I’ll climb the ranks in the scant few months we’ll be there.”

  “Wait, again!” Gareland shouted. Her second such interjection was made with an ear-splitting grin, “You said your sister is a fleet admiral, yes? She’ll be in Machiave in September, then?”

  “She mentioned as much, but she was tight-lipped about why.” He confirmed, “How do you know about that?”

  “Trust me - nothing goes on in that country without being run by my father.” She explained, “Anyway, there are plans for Machiave to join the Union.”

  “No shit?”

  “Wow.”

  “And what’s more,” She continued, “He’ll be there to watch the signing.”

  “Perfect!” The captain clapped her on the hand, pulling her in for a one-armed hug, “Now there’s just every other issue.”

  “Well, not completely, if we can get there, that’s part of it.” For the third time, the fairy had an epiphany, “Why can’t your sister help us get back to the train, and then to our ship?”

  “I can’t.” He shrugged, “I’ll be able to get maybe one favor from her, and I’d rather not take my chances on the sea. How far is it from his office to the train station in Ashland?”

  “Three miles, give or take a few hundred feet.”

  “Three miles?!” He balked, throwing his head back in frustration, “Fucking hell, mate. Tying him up wouldn’t count as hurting him, right?”

  “What do you have in mind?” She leered at him defensively.

  “Just what I say, we tie him up,” He stammered, “And hope to Paace that Sally can get him away fast enough until we can join her.”

  “I thought you said you weren’t sure about her involvement?” Serpacinno replied in a skeptical sort-of tone.

  “I’m not, but I hope I’ve built something of a rapport with her recently.” He said, “And I don’t see a better option - three miles is far from trivial.”

  “Alright, then,” Serpacinno pierced the silence, “What else do we need to figure out?”

  “Well, I suggest you start thinking about how you spend your time.” He replied “We’ll land in June, this plan doesn’t start until September.”

  “What are you doing?” His first mate asked him.

  “Making preparations.” He answered, before a period of silence reigned, “We’ll see.”

  “I guess I’ll…” Gareland trailed off,

  “We already know what you’re going to do.” The other two said, synchronously, sharing a laugh at their friend’s expense.

  “Har har.” She chided in return, “But, I suppose that’s true.” She turned to the snake woman, “What are you planning, Serpaccino?”

  “I don’t know,” She leaned back and looked at the ceiling, “I guess I’ll just keep my skills sharp. I haven’t had as much time to train as I’d like, but, I guess I’ll just have to get back to it.”

  “Amen.” They both said in turn.