The Sigil Blade Read Free Page B

never going back?” he asked.
    “The advance,” Edryd answered. “The contract that he was holding over my head was a weak thing at best. But with a mutually agreed upon sum of borrowed money, accepted in front of witnesses, the captain had gained a more legitimate means to control me.  He could, in theory, threaten me with imprisonment if it was not repaid.”
    Sudden comprehension spread across the faces of the men listening to Edryd’s story. “That’s an intelligent captain, to be sure,” Greven said with a hint of admiration.
    “You still should have left,” Ivor insisted.
    “I would have done that if I could have,” Edryd agreed. “As I sat in a tavern deciding what to do, I was joined by some of the crew. A few of them began actively encouraging me with helpful tips on how to best make use of my wages, and I was having trouble trying to politely refuse the advice. I excused myself by saying that I was returning to the ship, but one of my new friends said that he would join me.”
    “He was following you,” Greven surmised.
    “I was certain that he was,” Edryd confirmed. “All I could think to do was to return the advance as soon as possible. We were not allowed to keep personal coin while on the ship, so I turned it in as soon as I returned to the Accrual . Once back on board though, I was no longer permitted to leave without consent from the captain. At the next port we made, after I declined to accept an advance on my wages while going ashore, Vaedres made me stay aboard with the portion of the crew that was protecting the ship, and that pattern continued everywhere we went.”
    He had a crowd now, many of whom were showing intense interest. Edryd wondered why no one appeared to suspect that some, if not all of the details, were being embellished, but he continued to invent with confidence as he created more layers and added them to the story.
    “Months later, when I was finally allowed leave,” Edryd said, “I began testing how far I could get from the ship and was surprised when no one followed me. I had just escaped. I couldn’t believe my luck. That is until I realized it was not luck at all. It hit me then, all at once, that I had not been paid a single coin for four months of work.” Everyone laughed at this part.
    “Embarrassed and angry,” Edryd continued, “I stormed back to the Accrual and demanded my wages. Vaedres offered to pay me a tiny fraction of what I was owed. A wiser man, or even just a less uniquely stupid and petty one, would have cut his losses and left with whatever he could get. Instead, I insisted that I would never leave until I was paid in full.”
    “I would have done the same!” Ivor approved. “I wouldn’t allow myself to be taken advantage of either.”
    Ivor’s friends laughed quietly at his outburst. Greven smiled in amusement as well.
    “What?” Ivor demanded.
    “You have, Ivor, by your own admission, proclaimed yourself as being both stupid and petty,” the other man at Ivor’s table explained.
    Ivor, his face expressing a mixture of anger and embarrassment, did not understand the logic behind the insult, and he was struggling in vain to think of a suitable retort. All he could come up with was, “you would do well, Vannin, to be silent when no one has asked your opinion.” This only made everyone laugh at Ivor a little harder.
    “Don’t take this wrong, Ivor, but it’s a comfort to know that I am not alone in being too proud and foolish for my own good,” Edryd said.
    “I should think you were a fool because you stood up to that captain?” Ivor complained.
    “If you did you wouldn’t be wrong,” Edryd responded. “Confronting him nearly cost me my life.”
    Edryd was getting to the crux of his story now, and everyone could sense it.
    “The contract, I could have broken,” Edryd said, “but the money the captain owed to me, that kept me bound more securely than anything else ever could. The captain would have been only too happy