Sadly, Daniel was nowhere to be found, and the waitress disappeared, too, although she did find a time to say goodbye in a way that sounded like unresolved guilt and burnt cookies.
Mariana went to look for clues that would lead her to treasure galleons. Using her pirate connections, she found many stories that could be turned into gold in her pockets - there was just this one problem…
These ships were of Sennite origin, just like her letter of marque, and attacking them would mean turning to real, proper piracy. The crew would strictly belong to the realm of outlaws after that, and there would be other, rather dire consequences if they were to get caught after the news got to Sennas.
Mariana was ready to take this risk. She had no idea if her men were ready as well.
She had to sell it to them.
What she found near the water was a slight disappointment to her. The men were drinking heavily. Wolfe seemed to allow it, as he, too, had a tankard in his hand and when two of the sailors got rowdy, wrestling with each other, the first mate merely looked away.
Mariana walked up to him.
"You didn't do anything, I am glad you didn't," she said to Wolfe.
It was painful for her to talk with him when he was so cold towards her. She liked him, had considered him a friend, and now she had failed him.
He turned towards her, his neck letting out a little, nauseating crack like he had messed it up earlier somehow.
"And what could I have done?" he asked.
"I don't know. You could have left."
"A real first mate never abandons his post without informing his captain and his crew. Frankly, I am a bit disgusted that you thought so little of me, Mariana."
She explained her plan to him. While she certainly had some difficulties getting Wolfe to accept working for gold instead of honor, he did agree that it was probably for the best. This way, there was less need to get men killed in battles.
"So, it's agreed, then?" Captain Mariana extended her hand, hoping that Wolfe would accept her plan in its entire brilliance and continue to support her. She wanted to be on good terms with him again.
"It's fine, Mariana. I will go talk to the boys. They've been over the moon to have an extended vacation, but I must end it now. Are we going to set sail tomorrow?"
"How so?"
"I heard that Daniel is going to Neul."
Mariana frowned. "I thought he wasn't. I thought he would be here for a while."
"Maybe he just left. I have not seen his ship around anywhere."
This was strange. It was almost as if the waitress had been serving a secret agenda, but Mariana decided to refrain from idle speculation. She gathered her men, and in the morning, they set sail again.
She had an opportunity to observe the musicians playing that secret song, the one that could extend a listener's years with its unnatural, harmonic beauty. Sitting down in her cabin, she leaned into the sound of harp and the enchantment that was embedded in every last note.
The witch was seemingly in a similar state of trance. His eyelids looked so heavy that it was almost as if he was asleep, not caring what the world around him did, not caring whose fates intersected with what calamities. This was an improvement from the gloomy way he had been speaking about things lately - he was normally a bit of a pessimist, although Roinar did claim that it was not a conscious choice, but simply something that he observed and then used as a basis for his natural thinking.
Mariana listened to the music as it changed its general tone from a happy one to one of slightly melancholic emotions. She dared to close her eyes completely by now. She was safe in her chair, just waiting for the ritual to be over.
That was when one of the musicians stopped playing. It was Madeliene. The woman had a frightened look on her face. The captain got up instantly.
"Stop playing," she commanded the rest of the musicians.
The men looked at each other.
"Maddie. What's wrong, Maddie?"
Madeliene could barely even breathe, let alone speak. There was such horror in her eyes that it looked like she had just seen a ghost. Or worse.
"The pirate king was here," she whispered, trembling from head to toe. "I saw him. I know it was him."
Mariana's eyes darted from her to the box.
They were keeping it under their eyes at all given times now. They had decided to have a person guard it around the clock so that the wretched thing would not do anything on its own. No, the box had not moved, but there was a certain scent in the cabin that really made Mariana doubt things…
"I have heard a large portion of the song, and that should be enough," Roinar said. "And everyone involved should remember that we do not speak of this out in the open, in order to avoid spilling the occult all over the known world…I know how people are. Ooh, eternal life, ooh, wonderful, well, it is not. It isn't something that should be given away like candy."
Mariana would have wanted to hear more about the reasons for this, but she did not want to divert anyone's attention from the fact that they had apparently been visited by Daniel's spirit.
Some people could walk without moving their feet. Some, that's what the wisewomen said, could roam between different planes of existence and change into beasts, and sometimes, there would be an individual with enough strength to remain as himself even through the pressures and the tunnels of astral travel. It could very well be so that Daniel was one of those people, a man who could steal from time and space and make the universe hide him.