The jovial mood pervading the deck is snuffed out in that hiss of steel against leather. Every member of the crew not standing leaps to his or her feet. Taru watches half a dozen weapons drawn, hears twice that many being drawn and picked up. Rok blades are strangely curved, turning forward toward the end, almost as if each sailor is holding their dagger backward. Taru can imagine the chopping power of such blades.

The retainer slowly kneels and places both their weapons upon the deck, relinquishing them there and standing.

“I hold no man in this world more dear than Brio Alania,” they announce to the deck. “He held fewer dear than Captain Staz. You are her crew. I will not disrespect Brio by taking the life of any hand on this deck. But I am leaving here with Brio’s possessions.”

Staz smiles her thin smile. “You intend to defeat us all with your bare hands, do you?”

Taru nods. “I intend to try.”

Many of the deckhands tense at those words, choking the handles of their weapons a little tighter. Several edge just a few spare inches closer toward the patch of deck supporting Taru. The collection of hardened sailors is like one animal with many limbs, all of them preparing to strike.

The Rok captain laughs. It’s the sound of a file dragging against soft steel. She claps her tiny, barely visible hands together in appreciation of Taru.

“Little Brio chose his people well,” Staz says. “Very well, I should say.”

Taru feels the mood of the deck shift once again. Bodies relax and several of the sailors add to their captain’s laughter.

The retainer feels a modicum of relief, but quickly tamps it down. Nothing has been resolved yet, and a fight may still come.

“I have a question I need ask you,” Captain Staz says to Taru.

The retainer nods.

“You know you cannot win. My crew will cut you to pieces, many of them, seeing as you are a big one. Even if you take two or three of them with you, there’s no hope of victory here. You cannot retrieve the thing you want. Why fight knowing for certain you will die?”

“I don’t fear death,” Taru says without hesitation.

“That is half an answer. What is the rest?”

Taru is caught only for a moment, and then, “I fear failing the ones who’ve put their trust in me. The ones… the ones I love.”

“This is worse than death?” Staz asks as if she’s surprised by the notion, though it’s clear she’s only baiting Taru.

The retainer nods. “It is to me.”

“I wish we could take you back to Rok with us. I believe you would thrive there. You are very much like one of her children. I would have enjoyed having a child of my blood like you.”