Day 1 of the reign of Setenet Ahit-Kau
"May I catch a ride with you, good captain?" Saisummunu yelled from the dock to a very prideful-looking bin woman standing on a cargo boat. He figured she was the captain since she was the only woman and seemed to be the one doing the most yelling around. She looked up at Saisummunu, a roguish-looking aka man with a sharp jaw and two upturned horns, and she sighed deeply.
"This is not a cruise, your grace, you won't be comfortable on my boat," She yelled back in a rough voice as she tied off some rope.
"Yes, Captain I can see your vessel is full of goods, you're on the way to the capitol, to Isitotem, are you not?" He asked, walking down the dock a little bit. The captain grunted and mumbled something to one of her sailors. All of the sailors were dark and strong bin men, about 5 of them, their backs littered in lash scars. "Don't worry Captain, I can pay you well!" He yelled, holding up a fat purse of silver chips.
The woman stopped working and considered for a moment, then sighed.
"Welcome aboard!" She reluctantly yelled back. He smiled, satisfied with himself, and walked onto the boat. "Tarik! Fetch the fancy aka a stool!" She ordered one of her sailors. The sailor nodded and brought a squat little stool from the hold and placed it near the bow of the ship.
Saisummunu looked down at himself as he walked over to the stool. He didn't feel particularly fancy. His Shendyt was at one time very fine, with patterns of blue reeds and tassels hanging from the seams, but it had faded and gotten quite muddy. Even Saisummunu's turban, expertly wrapped around his horns, originally bright white, had faded to a hazy beige. He sat down at the stool, quite pleased with his accommodations.
"I am Munu, happy to make your acquaintance!" He said cheerfully.
"Munu? That doesn't sound like the name of a lord," the captain mused, "Are you a breeder? Nah, there's no way a breeder would be carrying that amount of silver around."
"You can just call me Munu," He said, ignoring her hypothesis "And your name?" he asked.
"Captain Mnevis Bau," She said. Knowing the man wasn't a lord gave the woman the excuse she needed not to bow, as she continued to ready the ship for launch. "How did you find yourself in a farming village like Djanrisheh without any transport, Munu?"
"I was hunting Hippopotami, and unfortunately my captain was injured by one, and died of her wounds," Saisummunu said, aware of the captains growing disbelief, "I tried to sail back to Isitotem by myself, but," he shrugged, "I am not a skilled enough sailor to make it past the rapids at Desme and I ran aground, destroying my vessel."
"That's a fun story, but who in their right mind would allow a bin man, and one as lean as you, obviously not a soldier, to go hippopotamus hunting alone? I thought that was the pastime of rich military women." She walked towards him and, leaning on a rope, eyed him suspiciously, "Unless, you are the Lord Consort of some powerful lieutenant or general who killed your Lady, stole her silver and are fleeing the crime scene?"
The two were very silent for a few moments and even the other men on board paused with anticipation. The silence was broken when Saisummunu erupted into a fit of laughter.
"You should become a storyteller, Captain, it's an easier life than that of a sailor" Saisummunu said.
"Cast off!" The captain commanded, ignoring Saisummunu for now. Slowly, the sailors maneuvered the ship out of the dock and on its way down the river.
"Aren't you going to turn me in?" Saisummunu asked.
The woman shrugged as she sat at the rudder.
"Don't care enough to," she said. Saisummunu chucked and folded his arms. He could tell from her dark skin tone and lack of horns that this woman was from the lowest class above slaves, the bin-khem, which was made up of bin people in the service or hard labor industry: farmers, sailors, maids. It seemed like with her boat she had carved out a fairly good living, but even still bin-khem often didn't care much about the wellbeing of the highest class, the aka-neb, made up of royal ladies, politicians, and scribes.
Eventually, once they cleared the docks and started to pass the small town, the boat grew quiet. Saisummunu leaned back and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of the warm sun beaming down on him. He listened to the sounds of the river: water gently lapping on the side of the boat, the sail filling with wind and going slack again, and the sounds of the river bugs chittering on the surface of the water and in the reeds. He wasn't aware but at some point he must have fallen asleep.
He woke up to one of the bin men kicking his foot. Saisummunu looked at him incredulously. Some nerve this man, likely a slave, had to have to wake him up so rudely. He was about to say something when the man put his pointer finger to his lips and casually handed him a sword. For a moment Saisummunu thought he was being recruited into a mutiny; but he looked around the boat, wiping the sleep out of his eyes, and saw the captain at the helm, looking back at him. Saisummunu looked at the bin for clarification.
"Pirates up ahead," The man said at almost a whisper, "Be ready for a fight."
Saisummunu's eyes grew wide. He had never heard of a merchant vessel fighting pirates. Nevertheless, he was not afraid, and grabbed the sword that was handed to him, sheathing it into his belt.
He got up and walked over to the captain and in a low voice asked, "Pirates?"
"Yeah, I noticed there was someone watching us from the shore and I saw black smoke up ahead, coming off the water," the captain answered, matching his hushed tone. Saisummunu wasn't exactly convinced but he also knew this woman had much more experience on the river, and he would follow her lead. "Don't worry, fancy man, I have been sailing all of my forty-five years and I have never had to surrender any of my goods to any pirates. My men are more than capable in holding off a group of river-bandits."
Saisummunu walked back to the bow of the ship, where he had been sitting, and waited, his hand on the hilt of his sword. He looked around carefully, but never saw even a hint of anyone waiting in the reeds. Just when he started to relax, thinking that maybe the captain was a paranoid madwoman, she whistled at the crew. The men all began to hustle, pulling out oars out and paddling backwards hard. The boat lost speed, almost coming to a halt.
"What's happening?" He urgently asked the captain.
"They've got a net set up to catch our mast, capsizing us. So we're gonna slow down and when they board we'll kill them," She said, seemingly calm as ever.
"Kill them? A whole boarding party?" Saisummunu asked.
"Yes, just like you killed your aka-neb master." The captain smiled devilishly at him. "If you have no will to fight we can stuff you in the hold?"
"I can fight." Saisummunu said, insulted. He peered off into the distance and saw what the captain meant; there were two docks, on either side of the bank. In front of the docks, on the East bank, was a ship they had pulled up onto the shore, and Saisummunu could see that there were four men just sitting on the docks, pretending to fish. There was also an unnatural amount of movement in the reeds, so there were certainly more pirates waiting. Saisummunu's eyesight at long range was not the best, but he could tell there was also a slight haziness in the air between the docks, which looked to him like a net.
The lead up to the fight was surprisingly calm and slow, the boat was moving at almost a crawl, and the river was calm and serene. When they had gotten right before the docks the captain ordered "Drop anchor!"
The pirates could see that the merchant vessel was onto them, so they started diving in the water, swimming up to the side of the boat. Saisummunu watched them come up and stood near the bow in a wide fighting stance.
Saisummunu was nervous, but he started to get excited. He could sense that feeling in his chest that always arose right before a fight. It was fear, yes, but there was also a large amount of hunger. Hunger for that heady dose of satisfaction that comes after landing a strong blow on your opponent. It was the reason Saisummunu felt like he'd never survive in a palace his whole life; no matter how much he ignored the need, there was no denying he craved violence.
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