Odysseed

by AuroraDawn


Chapter 14

Applejack stood tall at the helm of the Infiltrator, a line of hemp rope attached tightly between each leg. She could walk, but couldn’t run, and attempting to buck would have her flat on her face. The idea of being denied the ability to buck had fueled the anger roaring within her, and her stomach actually burned with acid while she thought about it. 

While she watched, and after the gangplank had been recalled, Keelhaul had dropped his blade and shoved Due North off the fo’c’sle onto the main deck before leaping into the air and flying over to his ship. No words were exchanged, and no pony had moved, save for Stewaway who had rushed to Due North’s side and hauled her underdeck the second Keelhaul was away.

He landed next to Applejack, gave her a sharp, toothy grin, and then snapped to attention. 

“Avast, ye blaggards, anchors up and full sail! We’ll get our heading on the hour. These fine folks of the Navy have done good business with us, and must be left to be underway!”

“Square Sails,” Applejack hissed, “Or I say nothing, no matter what you do.”

Keelhaul spun about on his wooden leg, laughing. “A shrewd pony, ye really are! And I believe ye, I do. I’ve no intention to harm me new navigator. Allow us just a moment to begin our hastily retreat from ye intimidating militant friends, and Square Sails’ll be found in a jiffy.”

Creatures started to appear from below deck, but they weren’t all ponies. Applejack could see a few unicorns and other earth ponies, but she recognized a kirin and even a deer as well. She considered being curious, but decided it could wait until she wasn’t as angry.

If that time would ever come to be, now.

A few minutes later, when the sails had been put fully out and the Infiltrator started to pull away from the Croupiere, Keelhaul snapped out his wings and again hovered into the air. He moved out between the ships and shouted.

“In the officer’s cabins on the gundeck, across from where yer Royal Guest were sleepin, you’ll find yer Captain. He’s in a cocoon, and probably nursing an awful headache. Those things work well for changelings, but a pony’ll soon run out of air. I suggest ye go break it in a hurry.”

With that, and another dramatic cackle, he buzzed back over to the ship, and dropped onto the quarterdeck heavily and addressed Applejack.

“Welcome aboard the Infiltrator, lass! I’m sure ye’ll have yer doubts, o’course, but I think ye’ll find we ain’t the worst bunch in the world to be locked up with. Now. We have some finer details to be working out between us, and we best be getting to it!” He clomped around the helm, wobbling slightly as he threw out his peg leg while he walked. Standing across from the wheel from Applejack, he sat, and then flipped a hoof around near the deck. “Have a seat.”

Applejack narrowed her eyes and did not move.

“Storms and sails, ye fumin’ mare, rest yer legs! If ye’ll notice I’m already down meself. Equal footing for an equal discussion.”

“Pest,” Applejack said, standing.

Keelhaul sighed deeply. “I shoulda figured one as strong as ye would have an even tougher mind. Alright. Would ye kindly,” he dragged the word out, “have a seat? Please?”

Instead of being soothed by the pleasantry, a new wave of rage burned through her. In anger, she lifted a hoof up, ready to rush and punch the changeling before yanking her hindleg out from underneath her and tripping.

Plea-whoah!” she cried, landing with a crash hard on her left, where she stayed and shook in anger. Keelhaul shook his head, disappointed.

“I ain’t blind nor stupid, lass. It’s awfully early for me to be advocating for trust, yet here I am doin’ so. Yer right to be angry, bein’ taken away in such a manner, and I’ll let ye beat the snot outta Half Pint once we’re done talkin’ if ye’d like, but we need to talk afore such a thing occurs.”

Applejack closed her eyes and sucked a breath in, holding it and counting down from ten. After she finished and exhaled, she felt just as mad as before, and repeated the action. Keelhaul sat patiently, perfectly silent the entire time. After a few more minutes of Applejack controlling her breathing with nothing but the blowing wind and creaking lumber around her, she felt her head was clear enough she could speak.

“What’n tarnation is wrong with you?”

“Many things, lass. Feeling better?”

Better?! Feeling better? I’m tied up around my ankles, laying face down on a strange ship with a buncha vipers runnin’ round me, freshly kidnapped after watching you run a knife against a friend a mine’s neck! I already was having one Tartarus of a time adjusting to being thrown back and forth on a floating casket, a billion miles away from land and love, just starting to figure out how to stand up for more than an hour and then you come and rip my world out from right underneath me! You assaulted and impersonated the captain, damaged the ship, and threatened ponies' lives! Now you’ve got me on your ship, where who knows what terrible sorta things you’re gonna do to me if I don’t play fair game. Everything is awful. What in Celestia’s name has got you thinkin’ that I’m feeling better?

Keelhaul rocked back and forth playfully, letting the words settle.

“Feeling better?”

“...A little, yeah,” Applejack replied, before shaking her head. “Hey, none’a these mind games! Just tell me what you want and then…”

Her eyes opened wide. They had clearly discussed her getting on to the ship, but nothing was said about her getting off of it. 

“...Then what?” she asked, starting to quake a little.

“Well ye listen if I talk, or do ye need to spit at me su’more?”

“What happens after I tell you where to go?”

“I’ll take that as a no, I suppose. If I tell ye what the plan is, will ye quit jabberin’ on and let me talk?!”

She nodded, cringing.

“Queen’s molding moltings, lass, yer a nightmare to work with. Right. The plan is as discussed aboard the Croupiere. Ye tell us where to go, we go get the treasure, we sail back to Silver Shoals and send a messenger to shore, whereupon they’ll get the princesses to fill the hold with bits in exchange for your artifact and safe return.”

“A-and if they don’t negotiate?”

He froze, and then went back to his gentle rocking. “Ye really think a royal champion’s not worth what is essentially pennies to the crown? Never mindin’ whatever the artifact is. Ye’ll be safe, rest assured.”

Rest assur—

“Oh, blast, here we go again.”

Another tirade of expletives and threats ejected from Applejack, and she shook and writhed on the oily deck while string after string of insults left her. She found herself using some phrases that even she had thought too inappropriate to ever use, and in the middle of one particularly vile one started to feel a little dirty, and shut her mouth again. 

“Eh, Captain?” a stallion’s voice came, and Applejack craned her neck to see the huge earth pony from before standing at the top of the stairs to the deck. 

“Aye?”

“Do we have a heading yet?”

“Not yet, Bilge. Our guest is still adjusting.” He squinted his eyes, looking up at one of the sails. “Dove Island, at least. It’s where the squids were going.”

“Aye aye, Captain. Dogs! Off yer rumps and step to!” 

His shout made Applejack jump. It was a deeply grating voice, one that boomed like a cannon shot and shook her chest. She tried to roll over to get a better look at him as he started yelling orders, struggling to believe a pony’s voice could even get that low.

“Aww, don’t mind him, lass,” Keelhaul spoke softly, standing up at the wheel and spinning it around a few times clockwise. “He could shatter glass with that voice, but he won’t hurt ye. None of us will, providin’ ye don’t give us good reason too,” he added, giving his head a quick tilt in her direction. “Yet there I go again threatening ye. I’m a terrible host, aren’t I?” 

Applejack found she could only sigh now. She was sore, uncomfortable, and sweaty from shouting in the sun for what felt like half an hour. Nothing made sense to her. Pirates were soulless killing machines, in every story she had heard. No chivalry, no honour; just greed and cruelty—yet Keelhaul was being strangely pleasant. The entire time he had waited and listened while she screamed at him, and spoke to her as one would a welcome visitor, as if she had asked to come aboard his ship instead of being coerced across to save another’s life.

“Alright, Keelhaul, what do you want?”

“I’d prefer a Captain if ye could manage it, but take yer time. Ye says you got yer map in yer brain, and we be needing a proper heading. Yer collateral, yes, but that don’t mean yet got to be tied up in the hold for two weeks while we recover the treasure. So, I wanted to see if yer amicable to an agreement.”

“I don’t much like your agreements so far,” Applejack muttered as the massive earth pony stepped back on deck and took over Keelhaul’s spot at the helm.

“You’re disagreeable, Captain,” he said, giving a chuckle that sounded like thunder.

“Muzzle shut and eyes forward, sailor,” Keelhaul replied, though he laughed. “I suspect ye’ll prefer this one. If’n ye’ll be so kind as to follow me into the navigation room, and clearly tell me where we need t’ be going, I’ll have those bindings cut so ye can walk. We’re a small crew, and need all the hooves we can get, so if yer willin’ to help out with the work, I’ll even let ye have free reign about the ship— minus me quarters, o’course, that goes without sayin’.”

“What, slave labour?”

“Hives, no. Ye get food and equal treatment. If we find any other treasure on the way, and ye’ve helped out in acquirin’ it, ye get an equal share as the rest of us. Ye don’t need to work if yer just gonna cause problems on purpose, though in that case I’ll have to confine ye to the brig while we sail. So, what say ye? Sweat and toil for some dignity, or laze away in a box?”

“I’ll think about it,” Applejack said, not ready to pressgang herself that quickly. “First and foremost I want to get that map done and dealt with so you can take these stupid ropes off my legs.”

“Bilge Rat,” Keelhaul said, beaming brightly.

“Aye, Captain,” the pony at the helm replied, leaning down and grabbing one end of the rope near her hoof in his teeth. He yanked once, and the entire loop fell loose to the deck. Applejack watched this happen warily and, once Bilge Rat had stepped back to the wheel, cautiously brought herself back up to standing, feeling strange.

“Captain?” Bilge Rat said as Applejack started to follow the changeling into the aft room.

“Aye?”

“If she decides to join the crew, teach her about knots,” he said, before chuckling again.