chapter two

"Enge."
"Yes captain?"
"You remember how you asked me what kind of woman I look for?"
"Yes captain, but that was nearly eight years ago."
Daniel silenced his first mate with a quick gesture; and quickly pointed at a woman across the market place.

"Her"
"Captain, I didn't realize you were into older women."

Daniel grabbed him by the scruff of his beard and pulled his companion's head in
line with his finger.

"No. Her."
"The one in the yellow?"
"Yes, that one"
"Ok, that makes more sense. She is a rather attractive woman; not the most striking I've ever seen, and yellow is clearly not her best color."

Daniel let go of Enge's beard and turned to face him.
"It's not about how she looks. It's how she carries herself. You can see just by watching her walk, that Girl's got Class coming out the wazoo, is educated enough to know what a 'wazoo' is, and probably knows enough about etiquette to tell you the social situation in which displaying a 'wazoo' would be considered acceptable. "
"Ransom on a girl like that is probably worth putting up with her for a few weeks" Said Enge as he reached for one of the knives in his boot.

Captain Stone stopped. Enge was right, class and etiquette were usually good signs of good ransomability. Education on the other hand was generally a good sign that the victim would put up a solid fight. And then there was the middle aged woman accompanying her.

He had recognized her as an imperial guard immediately. But as he glanced back at her he realized how close he and Enge had been to losing their lives.

"Enge put the knife away."
"Cap'n?"
"That older woman, she's a bodyguard"
"And that's a problem how?"

For all his faults, Daniel couldn't help but like Enge. He had guts, experience, and absolutely no ambition past the next bar.

"Enge, this is exactly why I keep you around. If you were any smarter I'd have to keep you from wearing weapons around me."
"That hurt Captain."
"It hurt less than it would have if you had gone after that woman. That bodyguard has placed in the Imperial mixed-arms competition for over the last hundred years, 17 times the winner. She's a corporal in the Imperial guards."

Enge glanced at the woman again.
"So? Just magic her away or turn her into a newt or something."
"Show me an imperial guard who doesn't know magic and I'll show you an Imperial guardsmens corpse."
"Oh."

Daniel kept watching as the pair turned the corner and passed out of sight.
"She's local. We'll get her next time."
"If you say so captain"
"Come Enge, there's a good pint of warm mead waiting for us back at camp."
"Yes sir!"

Daniel thought about that woman the whole rest of the evening. He'd known a lot of women in his day, and as far as he was concerned it was his day, but that girl was the first one he wasn't able to simply forget. He made up his mind then; when he retired from piracy he would find her and he would make her his.
Now if only he could figure out what age would be a good time to retire.