The Eighth Sea

Chapter 8

Levi

After spending hours late at night on deck translating loving monologues from Charlotte in response to Pierre's dramatics, Levi found himself Pierre's new favourite member of the crew. In fact, Pierre was so fond of him, that he insisted Levi spend the whole day with him and Charlotte as they carried out their duties around the Jolly Rancher. Levi had to admit, it was quite awkward repeating Charlotte's romantic messages to Pierre, and if anything, Pierre's new obsession with Levi was deeply unsettling.

It was a relief when Levi heard Hector's familiar footsteps approaching. Finally, a sane person to talk to.

"I'm going to need to take your scribe from you," Hector announced to Pierre, who scowled in reply.

"How else am I supposed to talk to Char?" Pierre retorted.

"Sounds like a you problem," Hector shrugged. Then, turning to Levi, he said, "Come with me, I need you for a moment. Captain's dockin' the ship." As Levi followed behind him, Hector muttered under his breath, "Looked like you needed a hand over there. Besides, I think Wren wants help carryin' stuff back on board. Oh, careful, there are steps here."

"Yeah, thanks," Levi returned gratefully. It was nice finally getting a break from Pierre, and he supposed being around Wren was a slight improvement. "Are you going to be there too?"

"Of course! Walk with me?"

"As long as you tell me when I'm about to run into something."

Pierre and Wren were both obnoxious in their own ways. Pierre was obsessive and needed to get over his wife, who had apparently died six years ago; Wren was too excitable and a little narcissistic. Levi wasn't sure how Hector put up with the captain.

As they walked together towards the port, Levi saw the shadowy ghost of Wren running along the rails carelessly, and the scribe rolled his eyes.

"You know, Wren can be a bit much sometimes, but he's got your back," Hector said as Wren fell into the water with a splash.

Moments after Wren fell, his ghost disappeared, only to reappear, more solid, back on the crow's nest of the ship.

"Again?" Wren shouted. "Second time in a row!"

Hector let out an exasperated sigh. "You really should be more careful. This is a terrible habit."

"I see my skeleton!" Wren exclaimed, pointing at the skeleton swimming away in the direction of the treasure cave.

"How often does he do this? Die, that is," Levi asked.

Hector paused to count in his head a bit before he answered, "A few times a week, maybe more? Depends on what we're doing."

"A few times a week?" Levi wasn't sure if he'd heard correctly.

"Yeah, his current record is four times in a day."

Wren laughed. "That was one hell of a day," he agreed as he clambered down from the crow's nest with much difficulty. "Besides, half of those were accidents. It's not my fault that Charlotte made us go through croc-infested waters."

"Please remember that out of the entire crew, you were the only one to die."

"I wanted to take a dip!"

Levi could practically hear Hector's frustration as he let out another exaggerated sigh. "You're a fool, Wren."

"Yes, but you love me."

"My greatest mistake."

Wren then proceeded to scamper off the ship and onto the dock, running around and picking up supplies along the way. Hector and Levi walked at a more natural pace, Levi nodding in greeting at the passing ghosts.

"You're doing great work for us," Hector said after a few minutes of silence. "The captain likes you, and that's somethin'. Pierre likes you too."

Levi scoffed. "Wren does not like me. Pierre likes me too much."

"See, the former is wrong, the latter is... unfortunately correct."

"What do you mean?"

"Wren only picks on people he likes."

"He must bully you relentlessly."

"You don't know the half of it," Hector laughed.

As they made small talk about the crew and the "joys" of having a captain like Wren, they strolled through the town. Hector claimed that he needed to stretch his legs after being on the ship for so long, but Levi could see past his excuses. It was pretty obvious that he had been looking for a reason to relax after putting up with the crew for so long, and Levi couldn't blame him at all.

Judging by the sound coming from everywhere, from the shouting merchants to screaming children, Levi could tell that they had docked at a pretty busy port. There were countless spirits drifting around, probably the souls of drowned sailors or regular townspeople, and possibly for the millionth time, Levi wished he could see the town itself.

The town smelled vaguely of fish and smoke, and it was enough to send Levi into several coughing fits. The place was filthy, and all Levi wanted was a proper bath. And Hector was perfectly fine! Levi didn't know how he could tolerate constantly being in such an unhygienic state.

"Careful, now," Hector warned as they turned into a back alley. "This is a more dangerous part of town. Take my sleeve."

"Why are we here?" Levi whispered, gently grabbing part of Hector's shirt sleeve.

"Alcohol. It's better for us to drink than whatever fresh water we can scrounge up. And Patricia is addicted."

"Patricia?"

"Our cook."

As they continued walking, people kept aggressively bumping into Levi, a natural result of the crowded yet narrow alleyway. Levi tightened his grip on Hector's sleeve. Flying above his head were ghosts of haggard old men smoking and drinking and young women dressed in scandalous clothing, all of which Queen Aria would have forbidden in the main city. Levi didn't even know if he was still in the kingdom of Cythin anymore.

"Pardon me, good sirs," said a woman, placing a hand on Levi's chest, effectively stopping the scribe in his tracks. "I could give you a good time... for a price of course."

"I-I... w-what?" Levi stuttered.

"We're not interested," Hector responded monotonously

"Why not?" the woman purred. "I'll even give you a discount for such handsome young men such as you."

"I'm taken. By a man," Hector deadpanned.

"And you?" asked the woman, dragging a finger up and down Levi's arm.

"Uh. Not my thing?"

Levi let out a sharp exhale as he heard the woman's footsteps retreating and continued following Hector to purchase extraordinary amounts of alcohol, all of which was wheeled back to the ship in a small cart.

At that moment, Wren came running over to the duo, holding something in his hands. "I found oranges! We can avoid scurvy for another day! Take that, Charlotte!" He violently pointed at the air, much to Levi's and Hector's amusement. "Hector, scribe, I need help carrying the crates."

"All four?" Hector asked.

"You bet!"

Together, they struggled to carry the four crates of oranges back onboard. By the time they were about to get their final crate, Levi was suddenly grabbed by a pair of rough hands and put into an aggressive chokehold.