Cutter

I was reclining on my chair, listening to the waves through my cabin window as I smoked some laurels. A feature of the plant some folks might not know about is that they do wonders for relaxing the mind and letting you block out certain trains of thought, at least when you use them as much as I did. As I exhaled a plume of glittering smoke, I turned and leered at the small pile of golden coins we'd just seized from Gasparde's sloop as they retreated. We'd earned a profit and convinced them we never saw the admiral at all before we gave them the boot.

All of Griffinstone would wonder what became of him. Geralt would lie awake praying for some news about her. And regardless of whether they convinced themselves that I killed them both, the lack of closure would ruin them all.

That thought brought me no satisfaction whatsoever. I wasn't even sure why I acted upon it. The crew didn't give a shit, though; they were just pleased to earn more loot.

A sudden knock at the door snapped me out of my thoughts. "Speak," I commanded.

"Captain Cutter, the Good Morning and Junior's raft are approaching us, Sir," Cast called through the door. I blinked and sighed before taking a drag off my pipe. Slipping on my coat, I stepped out onto the deck. I brought the ship to a crawl to allow Amethyst and Junior to approach us, and once they were in range, Junior grabbed our ship and Amethyst teleported aboard.

"Cutter, have you caught any sign of the Prince?" Junior asked with an urgent tone. I blinked and folded my arms.

"Ben's ship? No," I replied, looking between him and Amethyst. "Is he still at sea?"

"Yes. It's been six months," she sighed, shaking her head. "Absolutely no sign of him."

"Wait, wait, wait!" One of the council mares cried, waving her hooves. When I looked up at her she gasped. "Six months?"
"Yes. He'd put to sea six months before I killed Gasparde," I explained, drawing a shocked glare out of her.

"And you didn't mention that because?" She rolled her hoof at me with an annoyed, expectant leer.

"You said to skip ahead to when I killed the admiral," I said with a shrug. She recoiled and then groaned, smacking her head.

"Alright, explain what happened," she muttered, waving a hoof at me.

I slammed my mug down on the table before leaning forward. "You're putting to sea again? By God! Hell must be freezing over!"

"Very funny," Ben snorted, his gaze still skyward and his paws still folded on his stomach. I considered him for a moment before reclining with a hum.

"This isn't an ordinary cruise, is it?" I asked, earning a brief silence.

"It's complicated," he murmured, still looking up. "But it's got to be done."

I leaned toward him. "Feel like sharing?"

"No sir and I thank you not to pry," he retorted with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "This one's personal and I hope you can appreciate that given your recent activities." I furrowed my brow with a nod.

"Ah, understood," I replied, reclining in my seat. I looked out over the square for a minute. "Then pry I shall not, but Ben?" I turned to him with a nod.

"You know where to find me," I said, gesturing to the fortress. "Find all of us." He never turned to me, his eyes still fixed on the murky clouds above us.

"I know," he eventually whispered with a half-hearted nod. "I know."

I sighed quietly and folded my hands together. Eventually, the council mare huffed. "Is that it?" She grumbled, causing me to recoil.

"What?" I murmured. She looked around at her fellow council members who were also looking at her in confusion.

"I dunno, I was expecting some big speech or something," she said with a shrug. I blinked and shook my head.

"Anyway, that's the last I saw of him for a while," I continued, folding my legs and leaning back in my seat. "I was sailing for most of the six months he was gone and only made very brief stops in Naysow for supplies. So, it genuinely worried me when I heard the news he was still gone."

Dreadless pulled at his beard with a nervous snort. "Ben's commission gave some legitimacy to this place," he rumbled as he paced the yard of Ben's villa. "It ensures we have a safe port to return to. Without it, we're just another outlaw nest waiting to be purged."

"That didn't stop Gasparde from rolling in like he owned the place," I replied, considering Ben's usual spot on his couch across the table from where I sat.

"But he didn't attack us, see?" Dreadless replied, waving his hand. "He had to wait for Grover to rescind the commission first." I rolled my eyes and folded my arms.

"Bewildering and asinine politics aside, Ben's my friend," I grumbled, looking over the rest of the Merits gathered in the yard. "And I'm worried about finding him solely for that reason." Catarina snapped to her paws and swept up beside me.

"I'm with Cutter!" She declared with a firm nod. Amethyst and Junior shared a look before the former stood up and began debating something with Dreadless. I didn't hear any of it, as Catarina leaned in and whispered to me. "Where is everyone?"

"What?" I whispered back, tilting my head her way.

"Holiday, and the rest," she pressed, drawing a grimace from me. Seeing that, she knelt beside me and fixed me with a concerned frown. "What happened up there?" I stared off to the side for a minute before turning to her.

"They abandoned me," I spat before returning my attention to the other Merits. Catarina considered me for a moment before doing likewise.

"Fine. I'm going to sail north, along the coast," Dreadless declared with a huff. "The Walrus can slip up any rivers he might have taken."

"I'll ply along the Equestrian coast and down toward Mount Aris," Amethyst added, facing the rest of us. "He might have gone after that Captain Eights fellow." Junior rumbled and folded his arms.

"What should I do?" He murmured, looking at me. "What can I do?" Catarina stood up and stepped closer to him.

"Junior, you can keep Naysow under control for us," she offered, earning a nod from the giant. She then turned to me. "I'm going to sneak around Abyssinia. Cutter, you've got some fearsome rapport with the griffins. Why don't you see if you can catch a few?" I furrowed my brow and tilted my head.

"Considering Ben's commission, they might have an idea of what he's up to," she explained with a shrug. "Just a thought." I slowly nodded with a hum.

"He did mention it was personal," I huffed before rising to my feet. "Alright. Let's meet back in two months."

The griffin currently hanging upside down from my mainmast balked at my question. "Burigold?" He squawked. "He was at Griffinstone, treating with His Excellency."

"What about?" I pressed with a scowl.

"I'm just a merchant, Throat-Cutter, I'm not clued into the specifics," he spat, matching my scowl. I gave Cast a nod, and he grabbed the bird before hurling him with all his might. The rope we had him hanging from allowed him to swing around the mast a few times before finally I nodded again, and Cast reached out and caught the griffin by the face. The bird clenched his eyes shut in response to the wet slap his face made on contact before clearing his throat and blinking at me. "It was plainly a military matter though since Admiral Gasparde was there." His eye twitched as he looked me down and up.

"Prior to his pursuing a rumor of you," he added. Cast frowned before turning to me.

"Military matter? What could that be, Captain?" He asked.

"Gasparde mentioned he was busy with some pet project of Grover's," I murmured, pacing before the mast for a moment. Finally, I jabbed a finger at our captive. "Prior to pursuing my rumor and after that meeting with Burigold, where was Gasparde for the last few months?"

"Port Grover," he replied with a grunt. When I glanced at Cast, the griffin shuddered. "And no, I don't know what for. I just heard they're working on something to end the war and dominate this sea for all time." The minotaur and I again shared a look before we finished plundering the merchant's ship and set him loose.

Something akin to a course set, we rolled up toward Port Grover, a place I hadn't seen in years. It seemed like I wasn't destined to get too good a look at it just yet, however, as our lookout cried out once we were drawing near to the Grover River.

"Captain! Look!" He yelled. "Straight ahead! That's the Prince isn't it?" I leaned off the larboard rail and peered through my spyglass. Sure enough, I could see Ben's specialized sloop off in the distance, moving north.

"Where's he heading?" I murmured before jolting as I spied out a very crucial detail.

"She's flying a Griffinstone flag!" The lookout yelled.

"Ben?" I murmured again. Cast suddenly slapped my shoulder.

"Oy, Captain! Look there on the shore!" He said, pointing to the coast of the Grover River, specifically the side on which the port was built further upriver. "They're laying down rails!" I furrowed my brow and scanned the landscape with my glass, revealing teams of griffins setting down several full lanes of rails that stretched further inland toward the port.

"And clearing trees," I grumbled, spotting the wide stretch of forest that had been felled. Scowling, I turned to Cast and thrust my arm toward Ben's ship. "Get after the Prince! The commodore has some idea of what this is about, I'm sure of it."

The Prince was built for speed and so we inevitably lagged far, far behind her. Still, the further north we sailed the more obvious it became where he was heading, to my growing bewilderment. When he finally passed by the fleet near Trottingham, that all but convinced me he was heading up the strait. We, however, had to withdraw and seek a safer path around, which was like second nature to us by then. Still, by the time we reached the strait, Ben had already moored his ship in the crystal compound and gone ashore, leaving behind a small vanguard of his crew.

We sailed in beside them and dropped anchor, by which time Tom Brittle, Ben's quartermaster, had come up beside us on the shore. "Captain Cutter," he said, looking our ship and crew up and down. "This is a surprise." I scowled at him as I disembarked before thrusting my hand at the Prince.

"Only half as surprising as that flag atop your mast," I spat, causing him to consider and linger on his ship. "Where's Ben?" His eyes slowly trailed upward to the flag before he rolled his head to look at me.

"Inland, Sir," he explained with a shrug. "And I hope you'll excuse our colors, but they were necessary to reach this place unaccosted."

I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head. "Oh? And what have you all been doing that necessitates reaching this place?" I swept my arm across the hidden compound, earning another shrug from him.

"Captain's played it close to the vest, Sir," he said, waving a paw inland. "You'll have to ask him."

I considered the path through the forest. The same path I'd dragged the admiral's daughter along. The same path that cost me the last of my oldest friends. Snow was falling again, just like it had that day weeks prior. None of these similarities did any favors for the gnawing feeling that was building up in my gut.

Ignoring it, I picked a few mates to trek with me and began our pursuit of Ben into the woods. Thanks to the snow, we were able to spot a big set of tracks trampled ahead of us and followed those for a while. As we hiked, the wind picked up a few times in a strange way, seeming to halt itself and completely turn around once or twice.

Chalking it up to the weather, we pressed on, until one of our dogs perked up, followed by a few others. "Hear that?" One asked, holding up his floppy ear with a paw. I cupped a hand behind my ear as well and then shook my head at him, earning a nod. "Fighting ahead."

I blinked at him and considered the path forward, which bent upwards before leveling out atop a higher plateau. Despite the fact the sun was crawling halfway below the horizon, I drew my cutlass with a huff. I wasn't sure I'd have time to get my gun lit considering the difficulties I'd had out here previously. "Double time."

I led the charge upward and so I was the first to see the conflict in the distance. Dozens of bipedal figures were skirmishing with figures who were hard to make out against the snow, along with a few ponies. I heaved a breath as I raced on until finally, the picture became clear.

Ben and his crew were standing amidst a few wounded deer, with some of Ben's sailors holding knives to the fallen deer's throats which seemed to be keeping the other deer at bay. Pine Needle was glaring death Ben's way, while the dog himself had Galley by the scruff of her neck to the audible alarm of the other ponies. With a wrench of his paw, he ripped the gem necklace from Galley's neck and tossed her across the snow, where the other ponies scrambled to help her up. He glared back at Pine Needle before turning with a snort.

At which point he saw me and recoiled with a huff. "Jim," he gasped. His crew who had been moving to follow him paused at my appearance while the deer and ponies looked at me angrily.

"Ben," I murmured, gesturing to him. "What are you doing?"

"Rebuilding," he retorted.

"Rebuilding?" I parroted, shaking my head. He nodded and held up the gem he took from Galley, earning a frustrated cry from her.

"His Excellency needs this, or something quite like it," he explained, jostling the gem. "To our fortune, your former mate here found it and told you." He gestured to me.

"And you told me," he nodded before whipping the gem's string around and wrapping it tight around his paw. "Thereby saving His Excellency and me what might have been a very long hunt."

"What are you talking about?" I huffed with my arms hanging at my sides. He held the gem up.

"A gem that can control the wind, Cutter," he replied, shaking his head. "No ordinary gust is strong enough to propel the Edict."

"The what?" I grumbled, furrowing my brow. Then he drew his sword and leveled it at me.

"James Cutter, I will encourage you once to surrender," he said in a firm tone as his crew rallied around him. "By the authority vested in me as a privateer of His Excellency's royal navy, I hereby place you under arrest for crimes against Griffinstone, her inhabitants, and the enduring tranquility of the Celestial Sea."

My head was swimming and my eyes went blurry. I don't know how long I stood in a daze, but when I snapped back to reality, I did so with a boiling rage.

"You're siding with them?!" I screamed.

"You make it sound like I'm doing something shocking," he retorted, still with his sword level.

"You're a traitor!" I yelled.

"Me? Hell no," he spat, bringing the hilt of his sword to his chest and beating it against himself once. "I'm standing by what I've held since long before you ever showed up." He let his sword droop for a second as he fixed me with a hard glare.

"And that is the crux of this issue, James Cutter," he added in a dire tone, tracing the point of his sword at me. "You blew in like a storm and destroyed everything I've spent years building. Put the security of an operation comprised of dozens of companies, each holding tens of souls, at risk." He suddenly stomped forward a few paces and rattled his sword at me.

"I told you: Moderation with the griffins," he hissed through clenched teeth, a gout of hot steam spilling out into the frigid air. He shook his head. "But you couldn't help yourself, could you? Instead, you kept picking, kept ruffling their feathers, kept drawing Grover's eye to our operation and making him question if the benefits of a privateer militia were worth the headache you caused all by your lonesome." He balked and threw his arms up at his sides.

"And why?" He gasped before nodding his head at me. "So some princess would bed you?" He tilted his head as I glared at him and then clutched the gem at me.

"I told you when we first met, I will not tolerate nor abide potential wasted by ignorance or sloth," he added in a growl before snorting. "I guess I should have been clear that personal malice was also on that list, hey?" He glared back at me as for a few moments only the snowy, howling wind could be heard. Finally, he grunted.

"What's wrong? Still not angry enough to take a swing at me?" He demanded, throwing his arm up at me. "Fine, let's try this!" He leaned back and pointed at me with a smirk.

"Gasparde's little conspiracy? I was in on it," he hissed, causing me to hold my breath. "I fed you the lie to get you out in range of his guns in the hopes he'd kill you." He leaned forward on his knees and shot a narrow-eyed sneer my way.

"If it had worked and you'd died that day, my commission and all of Naysow woulda been secure," he shook his head and pounded his thigh. "Damn shame you rolled in afterward. We can't be too surprised that after that and the subsequent tantrum you threw I had to make a few concessions to secure my future." He stood up straight and waved his paw at me.

"So here we are," he said plainly, before tilting his head with a curious expression. "Who betrayed who, again?" The icy air stung my eyes as I glared at him for a while. The falling snow only served to help me focus on him as it seemed to frame him against the backdrop of everyone else.

"Well, you've got one thing wrong there, Ben," I heaved, slowly shaking my head. "I haven't destroyed everything of yours yet." I leveled my sword at him.

"You're still breathing, after all," I huffed, drawing a scowling smirk out of him.

"There he is," he hissed.

We lunged for each other. I think at that moment, both our crews exploded into conflict as well, but my attention fell solely upon Ben. I hacked my cutlass at him and he swept his up to catch it. The two blades weaved to the side and then down and back up as we struggled in our bind. Suddenly, I managed to drag my sword down and narrowly missed his face as he threw himself back.

I followed with a thrust, but he caught himself and thrust the gem in his paw at me. The snow exploded toward me as the wind blasted across the field. I was thrown off my feet and sent tumbling back. As I struggled to stand, I saw him bounding towards me and he swept his arm to the side. Again, the snow and wind crashed into me and I was hurled sideways and sent spinning through the air before landing painfully in the snow.

This time as I rolled over and looked up at him, he kept his distance. All around him, my crew was lying half-buried in the snow or running for their lives. He reached the gem up behind him and with a shout dragged it with visible strain on his face toward me. My vision went white as the entire plateau we were fighting on was consumed by a screaming, howling blizzard. Ice painfully battered my face as I was slammed back and plowed away by the sheer force of the gale.

Suddenly, I was aware I was falling. The wind had stopped as I fell, revealing that I'd slid off the side of the raised bit of land we were fighting on. As I fell and tumbled, I saw the stream of wind and snow above me, still howling for some distance. I gasped in pain as my back smashed through several branches, my sight suddenly obscured by more snow and a sea of pine needles. I finally hit the ground and choke out a cry before more fucking, pissing, bastard-wrought and God-damned snow fell on top of me.

I lay there, buried, aching, and cold, unable to move despite my best attempts as the snow shifted and crunched around me. After a while, as I finally started to process Ben's words and everything that had happened, I gave up. I couldn't even say I gave into despair or anything dramatic like that.

I just gave up. I didn't have it in me to feel any kind of way about it. Instead, I sighed hard and closed my eyes, finding that despite the snow engulfing me, there was a subtle warmth washing over me as I just relaxed. Given the circumstances, that was probably a really bad sign, but I didn't care. My fingers and toes were numb as I relaxed my grip on my sword and slowly drifted off.

I was only faintly aware when the snow started to shift again, and suddenly the air broke through to blast me in the face. Wincing and blinking at the sudden intrusion, I saw several faces leering down at me.

"Found him!" One of the dogs from my crew chirped as he and a few others began digging me out. Once enough of the snow was cleared, they dragged me out and sat me up before draping a thick quilt over my shoulders. The crunching snow drew my attention to the side, where the ponies from the old crew and a few deer, including Needle, were standing.
"Captain Cutter, are you alright?" Needle asked.

"No," I huffed through chattering teeth.

"Burigold flew the coop, Captain!" One of the dogs who'd rescued me reported. "He used his magic to capsize the Night Terror!" I considered him for a moment before looking at Needle and the ponies. Galley frowned and looked away.

"When he made landfall our scouts took notice and demanded he identify himself," Needle explained gesturing to her. "He claimed to be a friend of yours, seeking out Galley to tell her something important." He raised an eyebrow and looked me over.

"Despite the strained circumstances under which we last parted ways, curiosity got the better of me," he hummed. "I now see he had misled us entirely."

"You're not the only one," I huffed.

"What are you going to do, Cutter?" Stitches asked in a murmur.

"I dunno," I replied after a few moments, shaking my head. "I really don't know." The ponies bristled as the wind picked up, and Pine Needle hummed before turning to the dogs.

"Is there any way we can save your ship?" He asked, drawing a murmuring sigh from the dog.

"We might be able to right her, but it'd take a hell of a lot of effort," he grumbled, gesturing with a paw. "She ain't completely sunk, so if we fixed a few lines like for careening and spent a while bailing, that might get her going." Pine Needle nodded before facing me.

"Well, let us see what we can do to get your ship afloat again, at least," he said. I blinked and idly shook my head.

"Sure," I murmured.

The Night Terror creaked and groaned as we slowly rolled down the strait. We'd wound up spending a few days making repairs and struggling to get the rigging and sails dry, as even our spares below decks were drenched, but even with our efforts the ship protested the act of sailing with every wave we crested.

I was leaning on the stern's rail, looking back north, toward where the old crew still was. Despite what had happened and despite what Ben admitted he'd done, they still-

"Who needs you?" I spat, angrily taking a drag from my hand-rolled laurel cigar. My pipe had been completely shattered when the ship tipped over. I leaned hard on the rail and rubbed my brow with a hum.

"What's the plan, Captain?" Cast said, drawing my attention to him as he stood just behind me with his arms folded and an even frown on his face. "I hope you're not going to just sulk." He tilted his head at me.

"The Throat-Cutter I know wouldn't take Burigold's treason lying down," he added in a low tone. I considered him for a moment before sighing.

"Right now, we need to get back to Naysow," I replied, turning to lean backward on the rail. "Might see if we can spot Dreadless on the way."

"Land ho!" The lookout called, causing us both to look up. Much further south was the distant silhouette of the Griffish Isles, but I furrowed my brow. Its shape was off like it suddenly sprouted an extra hill or mountain or something. Additionally, even from this distance, we could tell the ships were moving in a strange way. The crew who were closest to the rail and could therefore see the island seemed to notice it as well.

"Did we take a wrong turn?" Someone griped. I leaned off the larboard rail and peered through my spyglass.

And then I nearly fell off the side of the ship, with only Cast's quick thinking saving me. "Easy, Captain! What's wrong?" He asked as he pulled me to my feet.

"It's a ship," I gasped, whirling around to peer back out at it. "It's a ship."

"What?" He murmured, considering the silhouette.

"That raised bit there is a ship!" I yelled, thrusting my pointing hand at the odd bit of the silhouette. The crew vocalized their alarm as they all scrambled to one rail or the other to peer ahead.

"THAT'S a ship?!" Someone yelled.

"It's a bloody monster!" Another added.

"Captain's drunk," someone argued, earning murmurs of agreement right up until the air rumbled. We all paused and looked upward only to find no signs of any storm. But when we returned our attention to the distant behemoth, we could see fiery trails leaping from it to the fleets that guarded the island.

"Sweet mercy," someone gasped. I hissed and scanned the distant monstrosity through my glass. It was a sailing ship with a dozen masts, arranged in two rows of six upon an absolutely absurd deck upon an equally absurd hull that was lined with plate from bow to stern. As if my luck couldn't get any worse today, in addition to likely having a griffin flag I couldn't see yet, the sails were all plastered with not only the Griffinstone standard but also the coat of arms for Grover himself.

I gasped and heaved as I considered the massive war machine and then made the grave and heart-stopping error, of counting her guns. "Five, ten, five, ten, five, ten, five," I murmured and murmured as I slowly scanned its hull before I slowly sank against the rail and my arm dropped. "It's got a hundred sixty guns to a side."

"Where the hell did it come from?" Cast gasped as he gripped the forward rail of the quarterdeck.

"It's a griffin," I huffed.

"Grover must be blowing his entire treasury and then some on that thing," Cast grumbled, shaking his head and thrusting a hand at it. "How the devil does it move?" I blinked and my head tilted for a moment.

"A weapon to dominate the waves for all time with a magic gem to propel it," I murmured. I looked down to see the crew looking at me with terror in their eyes. I swept a hand at them. "Drop anchor. Wait for it to-" I shook my head and considered the monster again which now seemed to be pursuing the obviously fleeing fleet.

"Wait for it to go away, I guess."