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Fourthmonth 7
I feel completely devastated tonight, but I will write anyway.
When I woke up this morning, I looked over at Gannen's hammock and noticed he was gone. This was not entirely unusual; there are some days when he is awake before me. I was about to close my eyes and go back to sleep for a little while when I noticed his gear was also missing. This concerned me, as he doesn't generally walk around the ship in his armour.
I got up and went above deck. Commodore Blank was at the helm. When I asked him if he had seen Gannen, he told me that he hadn't. We both searched the ship but could find no sign of him. Illiam was still safely tucked away in the bow storeroom and the rest of the crew was accounted for, but we could find no sign of Gannen. We went back above ship and signaled to Captain Soern that there was a problem. He steered the Fearful Lightning up close to the Ocean's Blade and both ships dropped anchor. When we told Soern about Gannen's disappearance, he seemed concerned and went to check on our Magister prisoner. When he returned, he informed us that she too had vanished.
This was just great. It appeared that she had escaped, somehow kidnapped Gannen off of the other boat, and vanished. I hate mages. I did a quick check of both ship's storerooms and noted that we were missing some silver dust (as well as some rum, but that was normal) I told Soern about the missing silver dust and he went off to his cabin. I suppose he wanted to research its magical properties or something.
Captain Blank and I decided to interrogate Illiam. We talked to Illiam for a little while, but he seemed to know little else than the magister's name and a theory of how she escaped (which involved Dar-Shada freeing her). By this point, I was extremely stressed, panicky, and angry. I took out my frustration on Illiam and punched him in the face. Captain Blank then said, “That was most satisfying to witness, however, I think perhaps you should back off a little.” Which I did. I went out to the deck to cool off a bit and then reboarded the Fearful Lightning to talk to Dar-Shada. He admitted to freeing Monala, but claimed he was not sure of what he was doing at the time. I suspect she magicked him, but I do not fully trust him. I wanted to hit him too, but I know better than to directly attack a Diamond Throne guard without a good reason.
I stormed off and ran into Soern as he was exiting his cabin. He informed me that silver dust was used in Faen magics and that it was used to make enchantments harder to resist. Enchantment magic is used to charm and compel. I suppose it would be easier to kidnap a Champion of Death if he was under a charm spell. I hate magic.
I reboarded the Ocean's Blade and spent the rest of the journey standing at the bow of the ship, watching the front of the boat cut through the water.
We arrived in Ao-Manasa before noon. Blank, Soern, Dar-Shada and I walked up to the castle. I started off dragging Illiam, being rougher with him than I really needed to be. Eventually Dar-Shada just picked him up and carried him over his shoulder. When we arrived, we visited with Ea-Shamar. We turned Illiam over to her. Blank made up a story about also finding Gannen at the pirate cave and then told her about Monala and Gannen's escape and Dar-Shada's magicked involvement in it. I didn't say much. She informed us that there was a bounty on Illiam, as he was wanted for breaking Gannen out of jail. She also expressed regret that Gannen had “escaped” and asked us to help apprehend him and bring him back for trial. Yeah, like that's going to happen.
We went back to the ship and talked to Rellik. He expressed interest in returning to the Nightingale's Mane, so we went down there in the early evening. When we walked in, I noticed this amazing amulet. It was a Torque of Heroic Sacrifice. I had seen one once before. A former Knight Mistress of mine owned one. They were one of the ultimate protection items. I had to have it. I traded in my Periapt of Natural Armour and purchased the Torque. Soern, Blank and I then returned to the ship. Rellik said he had some business to attend to tonight and he would meet us back at the ship sometime later.
When Rellik returned to the ship, it was nearly midnight. He had that smug, 'I just killed someone' look on his face, so I didn't ask any questions. I really didn't want to know. I'd had a hard enough day as it was without my crewmates murdering people.
My biggest fear is that Monala has taken Gannen against his will and is going to do something terrible to him, but I'm also a little scared that he may have left of his own free will. I mean, we knew him for a while before his arrest, and now he's been with us for more than a week. I just thought there might have been something there. Well, between him and the crew. A rapport. Cohesion. With the crew. He wouldn't just leave... us. Would he?
I failed Gannen. I didn't mean to, but I did. I'm taking this failure a lot more than is prudent to. I wish I could claim that it's just a matter of honour and destiny, but I know it's not. It's personal too. I care about him more than I really should. Damn it. I don't think I'm going to get much sleep tonight.
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