#(deep shakey slow breaths) (fuck SAKE)

[silencethedubhar-blog]

Docking the Ship #17

(Having a bit of writers block on this one... apologies in advance) Otto docked the Wet Tudd, bumping into the weather beaten wood harder than he intended to. Shape scrambled over to check the damage, then waved indicating that everything was fine. sighing deeply the greasy haired boy left the wheel house to help Shape tie the boat down. He had never captained a vessel before, it looked easy enough, but the trick was getting the ship into port. That had turned into a giant pain in the ass, he nearly rammed into three different boats, causing the crews to hurl insults and empty bottles of booze at them. "shove it where the sun don't shine!" He had retorted back, not having enough brain power left to think of anything better. Once the boat was tied off Otto and shape both looked at one another, then over to the bundle of blankets on the deck. "I-im not Goin near him." Shape said his voice trembling at the thought. Houlihan had to admit, after seeing what Silence had done, he was a bit hesitant to go near the older boy as well. After a minute of gathering up his courage he clenched his fists and walked over to the sleeping young man. "If he wanted to kill us he would have done it by now." Shape heard him say this, but Otto meant it more to reassure himeslf that he was not in any danger. The greasy haired boy knelt down and placed a slightly trembling hand on silences shoulder. He shook tentetively. "Hey, pretty boy. Wake up, we're here." The boys eyelids fluttered, a small groan escaped his lips, then his eyes flew wide open. His green and maroon eyes came to rest on Houlihan face. There was fierce determination in Ottos eyes, that determination was tinged with fear. "We are here." It was more a statement than a question. Otto nodded. "Help me up." Silence held up his hand weakly, it trembled slightly from the effort of lifting it. " You sure you can walk?" The younger boy looked doubtful. Silence nodded, with that Houlihan grasped his hand and hoisted the older boy onto his feet; the blankets wrapped around him falling to the deck in a heap. For a moment silence felt as though his legs would fall out from under him, he had used so much energy escaping from syrreth, he could barely keep himself upright. The greasy haired boy kept one hand on his shoulder, ready to catch him if he fell. "I will be ok Otto, we need to gather our things and get off this boat before the capin wakes up." Nodding the younger boy yelled at shape to grab their bags and to stop being such a damn scardy cat about everything. As the other scurried about gathering their things, Silence took a few deep breaths, then slowly took a few shakey steps. He was pretty sure it look as though he were drunk, but at least he could walk. The three young assassin's left the Wet Tudd, it's capitan still sleeping in the wheel house. They slowly walked down the crowded dock, mostly for Silences sake, he was unable to move at a rapid pace. More than once the older boy bumped into a random padestrian, causing venomous looks and insults about drunken sailors. Eventually, Otto, since shape was still refusing to go near the older boy, pulled Silences left arm over his shoulder and half carried him until they reached a ragged looking inn and pub. A rickety looking sign was poorly nailed above the entrance, in faded white paint it read 'Smatterlings hold.' Not the most catchy name in the Abarat. It was as good as any place to stop and rest for a while, they needed to figure out their next move anyway, out in the open was not the place to do it. The pub area was dimly lit, dingey, and full of unsavory cherictars. An ideal place for three would be assassin's on their first solo mission to rest. A few people glanced up at the boys as they stumbled in through the doors. But those glances were half drowned in alchohol. The bar tender was wiping the counter off with a dirty rag when he noticed the three enter. "Have a seat anywhere ya like, Kerii will be with ya in a minute." Otto nodded and half walked half dragged Silence over to the far corner and sat him down. "Lordy lou Silence, your fucking heavy!" Weakly the older boy shrugged and offered a smirk. Shape set their bags down on the table and slid into a seat as far from the older boy as he could get. "Man, Im starving for something other than fish." Shape remarked, The other two agreed, if they never saw another fish it would be too soon. The greasy haired boy sat down as well leaning his head in to whistper so no one in the vacinity would over hear. "I suggest we stay here just until silence is rested, then we get moving." "I should be fine in a few minutes." Silence said laying his forehead down on the dirty wooden table. He quickly fell into his trance sleep, he did not want to waste time, and a few minutes would get him enough staying power to walk for a while more. Shape was not convinced a few minutes of sleep was going to fix anything. "I don't know Otto, he doesnt look so good, maybe we should get a room and leave him here while we go for the target?" Otto looked at the older boy, shape had a point, Silence in this state would only slow them down. "We would come back for him once we were done, either that or he would come looking for us." Shape seemed a bit to eager to leave their comrade behind. Houlihan could not blame him though, he was wary of the older boy as well. The sheer power he had shown when he teleported the fishing boat from the middle of the Isabela to their destination, was intimidating to say the least. And the black tenticals that were chasing them? There were to many questions, and not enough answers. now was not the time to ask them however. Silence stirred in his chair and slowly lifted his head. " I agree with shape. I hate to admit it, but I am far to weak to be of any use to you. You both go on ahead, if you are not back by the time I am rested I will go looking for you." Otto almost asked how the older boy would know where to look, then thought better of it. "Fine, we will get a room here." Houliha dug through the bag on the table until he found the small coin purse. "There's not much, but it should be enough to get somthing." He said standing up to go talk to the bartender. Shape avoided looking at Silence, his long claw like fingers nervously tapping on the wooden table. The older boy wearily watched him for a moment before speaking up. "I am sorry I scared you Shape." The spidery boy jumped. "I-its fine, you didn't scare me. I j-just haven't had time to fully p-process what just happened." Silence thought on that for a moment. "If it is any consolation, this magic scares me too." Then he put his head back down on the table, unable to hold it up any longer. Shape continued his nervous tapping until Houlihan came back. "Alright, I got a small room for you to stay in, it is only for one night though. I told him you're wasted and need to sleep it off." Silence nodded, it was a good cover story. "One night will be sufficent." Nodding Otto motioned for shape to help him lift Silence to drag him to the room. Hesitantly shape stood and slid his arm under Silences shoulder. Together they picked up the older boy and walked around to the far side of the bar where a short hallway led to the only four rooms in the pub. They were small, the beds were just piles of hay with a rough spun blanket thrown over it, but it felt like heaven. Silence thanked the boys for helping him before falling back into his trance. The darkness in the room drawing close to him, restoring the strength he lost. The one good thing about the encounter on the Isabella was that syrreth would be in a similar state. This meant that, for the moment at least, he was safe from another ambush. Shape and Houlihan backed away as the shadows swallowed their comrade. As they left the room the spidery boy whispered to Houlihan. "Do you think we should come back for him?" He looked over his shoulder as if someone were following them. Houlihan gave shape an icy stare that shut him up instantly. Of course they had to come back for him, Silence was a part of their team. The things the older boy could do though made him hesitate, he had never seen magic like that before. It was obvious that silence was hiding something huge, but did he want to go poking around for the answers? Otto shook his head, he had more important things to think about right now. "We need to focus on the target Shape. We will worry about Silence later." The spidery boy just nodded, a frown turning the edges of his thin lips downward. The two young men left the small hole in the wall pub, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Otto led the way through the winding streets, weaving in between people buying and trading goods. No one payed the two young men any heed, which meant they could easily slip away between a couple of buildings to a more isolated area. After finding a well hidden, although rather rancid smelling due to the large trash bins, spot they took out their map of Effret and layed out their plan to find and neutralize their target.