Page 45 of Queen's Griffon

“Resin?”

“Think of it as a glue that gets really hard fairly fast.”

“And we can sail while you do it?” Griff barely dared to believe.

“Aye, although, I’d recommend harnessing someone a tad bit fitter than me to do the actual slopping of the stuff.”

Griff turned and bellowed, “Monty! Report to Garth.”

The young man felt horrible that the queen had been snatched from under him. This would provide distraction.

Even better… “Kreed, prepare the ship for departure.”

“But what about the hole, Cap?” his first mate yelled back.

“Garth will be handling that issue. Let’s get going before that bastard Koonis can’t be caught.”

As it was, he already had a decent head start. If Koonis reached Merisu waters, Griff would have to admit defeat because even he wouldn’t dare start anything in the emperor’s territory. The last thing Griff’s people needed was the entire Merisu naval fleet sent to blast them out of existence.

Speaking of people, his sailors needed to know what he planned.

He stood on the poop deck to address them, his voice carrying as they went about their tasks. “As you might have heard, Captain Koonis stole Queen Avera Voxspira from under our noses.”

“You going to make him walk the plank, Cap?” shouted Kelly, who paused in his coiling of ropes.

“Indeed, I will once we catch up to him. But I understand some of you might not be comfortable going after one of the emperor’s ships.”

“He broke the rules!” A statement shouted from the nest.

“He did,” Griff agreed. “He stole from us. He caused those crabs to attack. Koonis needs to be punished for thinking he can break our code. But this will be dangerous. His sailors won’t hand over Avera without a fight.”

“Bah, those cowards don’t stand a chance,” Kelly stated. “We’ll show ‘em why you don’t mess with the Griffon’s crew.”

“Anyone who doesn’t want to be involved can disembark now. I’ll understand?—”

“Where you go, we go!” shouted Monty as he clipped on a harness.

“Aye!” The shouts came from all over and Griffon felt honored by the loyalty of his crew. Not one left and soon they were underway.

As he started charting a route on the bridge, Simhi came to stand beside him and chirped, “Any reason we’re heading to Merisu instead of going after Avera?”

He almost rolled his eyes at the dumb question. “We are going after Avera. We’ll intercept Koonis before he enters Merisu waters.”

“I get that, but I’m surprised you’re letting him detour to Verlora first.”

Griff paused his charting and glanced at Simhi. “Why would he go to Verlora? It’s in the opposite direction from Merisu.”

“I’m aware of that, but one of Koonis’ sailors divulged their route while a bit tipsy. Fellow was whining he’d better be getting a bonus for being made to go near the cursed place.”

“It might not have been Verlora,” Griff muttered as his mind raced, wondering if this tidbit was true.

“Oh, it was definitely our old home. He grumbled that the mist was rumored to make men impotent and that the captain had already tossed one man overboard for complaining too loudly about their destination after they were done on Saarpira. The only thing the very talkative Simon didn’t mention was that they planned to abduct the queen.”

“The sailor could have been fibbing.”

Simhi grinned. “Unlikely. I might have been plying with him drinks and winks. He started out not saying much about their mission, but after a few shots of whiskey, and a few unhooked buttons on me shirt, he got talkative.”

A contemplative Griff rubbed his chin. “Could be they’ve changed their plan now that they have Avera?”

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