help that none of the pirates had survived.
Watching gloomily as all their possessions burned and sank to the bottom, the warriors decided to sail to the nearest land and try to earn a living with what they had left: their weapons. With no maps or supplies, there was nothing they could do, so they headed roughly north and sailed on.
The voyage dragged on mercilessly, plagued by one problem after another: the fish wouldn’t bite; the barrels of alcohol they’d found began to leak; they encountered a sea current that swept them off course during the night; and an outbreak of illness caused by stale food broke out on board. One might say that all the gods had conspired against them. By the time land finally came into view, there were barely eight of the original forty warriors left on board. All the rest had been laid to rest in the sea.
The ship, in a wretched state but still in one piece, managed with great difficulty to reach Geritun, where it was not initially welcomed very warmly. It was only when the old captain managed to speak to one of his military acquaintances that they were able to explain how the pirate ship had fallen into their hands. It turned out that a small reward had been offered for the pirate captain’s head, and they had received a reasonably good price for the sale of the ship itself.
The captain divided the reward and the spoils amongst the remaining warriors and told them with regret that he would not be able to return home. Only then did he admit to them that he had been wounded during the boarding, and that after a few days at sea the wound had begun to fester. A lack of proper care and the additional strain meant that the wound had become gangrenous, and it was now too late to do anything. The man died the following night.
The remaining seven, not knowing what to do with themselves, scattered across the city in search of their fortune. Alrik himself, who during that
