"Wait a moment," Ted said. "You have…are we talking about the same sun god?"
"How many suns do you see in the sky?"
"I will take back my gift for you if you continue to crack jokes like that. Are we talking about the same entity or not?"
The captain sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I think it's the same being if you have been personally threatened by it. It sure likes making people afraid."
"It sure does," Ted growled.
He saw a streak of light swipe down towards his face. He dreaded the moment it would hit him and start doing its malevolent magic again. He wanted to disappear into a dark room, but it was a bad idea to appear weak in front of the captain.
"He's tormenting you, is he not? He? It?" The captain shrugged. "I don't even know. Whatever we call that thing, it will never be happy."
"You got rid of him?" Ted was very interested in positive experiences – even if said positive experiences only came after the tortured human occultist was able to ditch the solar deity.
"Kind of. I did what it…him…what the solar deity asked of me and then I have not had the same effect from sunlight ever since."
"Then you completed the request on time, didn't you?" Ted took another sip of wine. He felt like he needed more. The solution was glowing right in front of him. If there was a shortcut, anything that could help him deal with this stuff faster and with less trouble, he was willing to give up a position as a leader and a central figure in his own community.
"I completed the request on time, aye." The captain downed a whole gulp of wine. He was twirling his beard, seeming a bit nervous – and his hands never strayed too far away from the bottle.
Ted sighed. So, there were no shortcuts, nothing that he could do to speed up the process, and now he was one useful item short.
Of course, he did not think as much of his ability to summon demonic entities as he used to, having had quite a few bad experiences.
The light sweeping over his forehead was giving him an awful migraine. Everything above his neck was throbbing, and he felt like his spine was inhabited by a stranger.
Had he seen himself in a mirror, he would have given the reflection a sour look for being so malleable. Who was afraid of light? This was not up to his own standards for himself.
"You're having some trouble with the sun god?" The captain did not sound like he pitied Ted, and this was a good thing.
Cor Tobias never wanted to be the target of anyone's pity, ever.
"I will not disclose my personal matters to you or any of your crewmen."
"And that is all right. I will not invade your privacy, cor, it's just a matter of us solar victims sometimes needing some…peer support."
A commotion came from the deck.
The captain got up quickly enough that he almost toppled his glass. "I might need some backup, cor. There has been a continuous stream of mutinous remarks from two members of the crew. I fear they might have some support after all. It is much to ask –"
"I am a murderer, remember?" Ted got up as well, abandoning the dry southern red for good.
The commotion had been caused by a muscular man in his thirties. At least, Ted thought he looked like he was thirty and something. It was always a bit hard to tell when it came to those who lived the fast life.
He was throwing pirates with less strength left and right, obviously not caring whether someone fell overboard, and he was roaring about something related to payment and not having received his grog in the morning.
It was probably a case of a bad delirium. Madness could take over anyone who had been drunk for long enough.
Shocked by this senseless mutiny, Ted checked the possible exits and then hollered for Eknie to come take a look at the situation.
Ted was the leader of the trio, and Mad was the brains. Ironically enough, the lady of the group was the brawn when it came to situations with a clear opportunity to get a nice, clean gunshot in a hostile forehead.
Eknie was never too far away when opportunity arose for her to display her excellent skills with firearms.
She looked at the captain. "Apparently the problem has been isolated?"
The captain sighed dramatically. "If you want to call that isolated. He's covered in loyal men."
"Then call your loyal men back, for thunder's sake! Or do you want to make it even more difficult for me?"
The captain whistled, but as the loyalists withdrew, the mutineer followed.
Fortunately, Eknie was still Eknie.
Guns were still guns.
She shot the man right above his ear, killing him almost instantly.
The captain had this funny, frozen expression as he watched the mutineer fall onto his knees and then onto the deck, on his face, in a pool of blood that quickly grew large enough that whoever had to clean that mess was lamenting their duties, no doubt about it.
Ted smirked. He could always be counted on to find the best specialists for every occasion. Whether it was murder, a general state of chaos, or just baking a few tasty pies, Ted was able to delegate, compensate and finalize the deed with grace and precision.
"That's the best marksman I have ever seen." The captain scratched his head. "A quickly moving target from this distance, covered in allies…forgive me. Markswoman, I should have said."
"I compete with both men and women and have not yet been outmatched," Eknie said, matter-of-factly, not boasting at all, even though it would have been easy to mistake her words for bragging. "It matters not what my skills are called. A bullet in the head is a bullet in the head by any other name. Doesn't leave much room for semantic arguments."
Madorn gave Ted a funny look.
"And you're apparently not going to marry her at the first opportunity?" the scientist asked Ted. "Are you all right? Should I check your pulse? Sorry for being curious, Ted. I genuinely do not understand."
"She is obsessed with me," Ted whispered, mildly annoyed. "You should see her when she gets all creepy and possessive."
"I can hardly wait for her scary side, having already seen the soft side that shoots people for fun…" Mad smiled and walked away.
Ted noted that the scientist did not seem bothered in the least by the loss of human life on the deck.