CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: SWABBIES

Fawkes crawled out of bed with an aching head. He worked his jaws until his tongue peeled off the roof of his mouth and stood up. Swaying for the few steps it took to open the cabin door, he managed to fill a mug with ale. Then it was a couple more swaying steps back to his bed for a sit to revive himself enough to get ready for the day.

After a dozen careful sips he felt ready enough to stand up. He left the cabin. Scooped himself a bowl of Crumps and Jerky, Fawkes slapped some apple butter on a biscuit and sat down at the nearest bench. Taking his first good swig of the ale, he nearly choked on it. Where were his dogs?!

A quick look about revealed both blankets were each crumpled in a corner, probably around their current bones. A clear sign they did not leave in a rush. There was no blood or other signs of trouble so just what were— 

There was a great splash and Bristol roared out a laugh. Fawkes stumbled onto the dock for a look over at Boatessa. Nets and possessions were piled on the dock as Bristol scrubbed his boat. PeyPey stood by the nets holding a bucket of water, while JuJu was in the river swimming about in a wide circle. He pulled along the big tarp Bristol used to tent over his fishing boat. Suds trailed away behind him.

Fawkes rolled his eyes then winced at the pain the extra movement caused. JuJu's idea of a good rinsing always involved swimming. If Bristol was not careful, he might find himself swimming, too.

The old fisherman turned to reach for the bucket from PeyPey and spotted Fawkes. "Well now, ain't you rough lookin', boyyo."

"I would have been fine if you hadn't added rum to my ales last night," Fawkes countered. He looked at PeyPey who wagged his tail then let Bristol take the bucket. His wide jaws were half-open in that dog smile that was adorably cute. "I should thank you for getting them to help you instead of dragging me out of bed for their breakfast."

"I was feelin' a bit guilty for playing you outta your coins'n all, so I offered them this bag of bones." Bristol dug under a pile of stuff on the deck and pulled out a bulging sack. "They were quick to come on over and help me with Boatessa."

Bought with bones. Fawkes rolled his eyes then winced. He would never drink rum again!

JuJu swam to Bristol, who grabbed a corner of the tarp and started pulling it out of the water.

"Woof," PeyPey's low bark convinced the old fisherman to hand him an edge of the tarp. The two of them quickly pulled in the tarp and draped it over the old crates Bristol liked to lounge on with his rum.

JuJu, having swum to shore then run back along the dock, slid to a stop by Fawkes where he gave himself a thorough shake.

Fawkes squinted down at JuJu's panting smile. "You didn't need to save that for me, JuJu. I am awake." He said no more as the scent of wet dog punched his raw gut, forcing him to clench his jaws and swallow back down the bit of ale he had sipped earlier.

The wet dog shook himself again then went over to Bristol.

"You boys've done great work," Bristol told them and gave them the sack of bones. "The rest I can do."

PeyPey picked up the sack and returned to the Gosling. JuJu sidled up to Bristol for some petting which the old fisherman gave him plenty of.

Fawkes squinted through the bright sunshine of the early afternoon for a look at the other low dock. It was still empty of fishing boats.

"The boats come back and been tasked out again?"

"Nope. Some mighty angry fellars been hounding Rapp'n his watch." Bristol pulled the cork off a bottle of rum.

Fawkes winced at the sound and his stomach churned when the odor of rum wafted over to him.

"Thought it best if'n I kept busy doing something else so's not to be wasting my breath. Ain't looking for the watch to be giving me a bruising."

The old fisherman nodded towards the town side of the docks. Fawkes turned. At least a dozen fishermen were headed towards the lone town watchman about to do his usual patrol by the boats. As soon as he saw the group marching towards him with purposeful strides, the watchman turned around and walked away. The fishermen chased after the watchman and he began to run.

"I see. That watchman better keep running, if he wants to live." He saw the flash of a blade and winced.

"Ain't worth being a Hand in town right now, either, unless he brings back a boat, with extra." Bristol added with a grim chuckle.

"I think I will just stay right here. I got plenty of ... thinking to do. Seems like a good time to be trying to, ah, figure out where things are." With the Hand on the outs in town, their wizard is probably keeping out of the way as well. A perfect time to try and find Garzio. Fawkes cleared his throat. "The fishers wondering why you're not joining in?"

"They wondered and asked me outright," Bristol answered. "Told 'em I was sorely tempted but Boatessa really did need a good scrubbing. Boat's only good if you keep the rot away and they respected that."

"Very true." Fawkes almost nodded but stopped himself before it brought him more pain. Damn rum.

"I ain't getting in the ugly rising up around here." Bristol clapped a hand on Fawkes' shoulder. "Now go git to yer ... thinkin', boyyo."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: THIMMY

Returning to the Gosling with a very wet JuJu, Fawkes found PeyPey had opened the sack. He had also poured out all the bones into two even piles.  One bone lay between them.

JuJu stared at the extra bone for a long moment then pushed it over to Peypey. He usually traded a toy for any extra bones, but not this time.

Probably because they already had a good supply when I bought them some the day before. Fawkes scooped Crumps and Jerky into their bowls. He turned around and set the bowls down. Both dogs were loading the new bones into their personal stowes under the benches nearest the prow.

Smiling at their antics, Fawkes went into his cabin and set the amethyst to scrying. It took longer than usual as the rum from last night banged around inside his head while he struggled to focus his mind.

That done, he stepped back out onto the deck. PeyPey and JuJu lay on their spare blankets chewing bones. The bowls were empty and their stowes were closed.

Fawkes refilled his mug with cider instead of ale and finished his breakfast. After eating, he lay down on a bench. It did not take long for the shade under the canopy protecting his rum-aching eyes to fall into a nap.

Someone ran on the dock, but he kept his eyes closed. If he needed to bother the dogs would --

"Woof," PeyPey warned in a low bark.

Fawkes groaned but sat up. Thimmy stood on the dock before the Gosling, impatiently hopping from foot to foot.

"Come aboard, Thimmy," he said before the boy could ask.

The twelve-year-old hopped onto the deck and plopped himself on the bench across from Fawkes.

"You were pretty sneaky actin' like Shyri was just another servin' girl last night."

Fawkes sighed. He could not decide if Thimmy was accusing him of something or just being annoying.

"Papa's gonna lock her in her room tonight 'cause she was hovering so much at your table."

"Why are you telling me this, Thimmy?"

"'Cause, she's gonna sneak out without Papa knowin'. Again."

Fawkes groaned. "This is NOT a good time for her to bother."

"Why?" Thimmy asked with narrowed eyes. "You seein' some other girl on her?"

Fawkes snorted. "If I were seeing anyone it's none of your business, Thimmy," Fawkes snapped. He took a deep breath. "But that is not what I meant. Look at that dock." He pointed at the only other low dock in the small Blackstone harbor. "It isn't empty because everyone is out fishing."

Thimmy frowned. "So why's it empty?"

"The Hand took their boats yesterday and never brought them back."

Thimmy's eyes went wide. "Why?"

"Who the hell knows, but the watch isn't doing anything about it." Fawkes pointed at the crowd of fishermen returning from their chase. "They just went after a watchman."

Thimmy's mouth dropped open as he stared.

"Don't look!" Fawkes warned and the boy flinched back to stare at him. "They are in a foul mood. Once those fishermen get enough drinks in them, it might get a bit bloody tonight. Tell Shyri to stay home and out of the fray."

"She don't listen to me."

Fawkes heaved a sigh. Of course she didn't. He got up and went to a stowe where he took out a small bottle of apple brandy. It was his last bottle from the first heist he and Shyri had made on Haggler's.

"Give her this and say it's a warning from me. It's gonna be a nasty night. I'm only leaving the Gosling to walk the dogs along the river." Even that would be risky but he had to keep up appearances. Depending on how his scrying went, he might need to get up to something soon while on one of those walks. Still, shorter walks along the river would be a good idea. He felt too rum sick for those long late-night walks.

Thimmy frowned at the bottle. "You really were out stealin' the Hand's brandy?" He sounded more surprised than questioning.

"We were." He was not about to tell the boy they did more than that. "Now hurry on home and stay away from fishermen, watchmen, and any of the Hand foolish enough to be in town right now."

"Right. Bye," Thimmy hopped to his feet, jumped onto the dock, and ran back into town.

Hoping that would be enough to convince Shyri to stay home, Fawkes tried to nap on his bench. She was a determined woman. His nap turned into worrying.