Asif welcomes the attention. Pained by his first wounds taken in combat, his heart aches for home and the family he may not see again.. As he lays there with his eyes closed, you are able to see how really young he is. The bravado of a Faris is gone and all is left is a sleeping boy.

Asif notices that despite the leather smell from the armor she has a nice clean scent about her. As she sits with him she begins to hum and then to sing softly. She is singing in elvish and the words and sounds are soft and pleasing.

Asif finds the voice most soothing, despite the lack of comprehension of the words. His body visibly relaxes, his eyes droop and he falls into a deep sleep.

As Asif falls asleep, Rhune continues to sing a little longer and then slowly stops. She adjusts herself slightly and carefully not wanting to waken the sleeping young man. She looks down at his face and just for a moment smiles to herself. He is rather pleasing to look at she thinks to herself. Leaning down she brushes her lips lightly against his forehead and then leans back against the side of the boat and rests, her arm placed lightly over Asif's shoulder to keep him warm.

After perhaps fifteen minutes, Kalanos' men have the chain removed and are back to the oars. "It's only a couple of hours to Misha's Ferry. We'll make it by nightfall surely. You all can rest there until morning and then continue the trip to Sukiskayn in the morning." He then takes the helm himself and the boat continues it's trip.

Once they have ministered to the more seriously injured, Matteo and Urak turn their attention to Marika, who soon regains consciousness and is strong enough to move about the deck while the others investigate the shoreline. She kneels briefly beside each of the dead boarders, dipping her finger in an ink bottle and obliterating the brands of slavery on their wrists. Unsure what god any of them worshipped when their minds were their own, she offers a short prayer to her own patron Minerva to watch over their souls, and to guard them from the dubious mercies of Jerboha.

The ship travels on for some miles. Kalanos has taken the helm and he peers into the sparse woods on either side of the shore. Not far up the river, though, the stands of trees thin out and you are left with grasslands on either side. Kalanos' edginess lets up only slightly, however.

The group remains in position on the deck, other than Xania, who you find a place for in Kalanos' cabin. He does not object overly much. During the trip, however, he finally gestures toward Jacobus or Rhune, whoever is handy, asking them to come over, "So why would the Church have brandeds out blocking the river travel?" He shakes his head, "No never mind to me, I just do what I am told, but you all must be powerfully important to the bigwigs if they sent out a squad of their troopers this far ahead."

Rhune goes over to Kalanos when he beckons laying Asif's head on her cloak which she doubles up. "Brandeds? What are those?" she listens to his explanation of what they are, "Do you know anything more of these brandeds?" she asks him curious about these troopers of the church and shuddering as she suddenly remembers Silus and the others that were held briefly by the church. They might have ended up being brandeds.

"The Church calls them Hounds." The balding fellow replies. "All I know is that if you see one, you have taken a wrong turn. The Church doesn't like to use them in towns or anything like that, as they tend to remind some of the more rebellious of what is the end result of being a member. Only thing I do know about them is that they are totally devoted and mindless, as you have seen here. No talk, no nothing except kill. I have heard that they are used as servants and soldiers of the Church, but apparently there aren't too many of them. I don't know why." He shrugs his shoulders.

Eventually, Marika finds her way to the helm, where Kalanos is speaking with Rhune and Jacobus. "Do the...branded often resort to piracy?" she asks, remembering the term he had used for these slaves of the Church.

"Ha ha!" Kalanos erupts into laughter, "I am afraid that piracy takes a brain, not something these fellows appear to have had." He spits at the water, "Even with a brain leading them, I can't imagine these being pirates. No, they were here for a cause, for certain. What cause, I don't know, though I suspect that you all might know better than me."He continues, "But how did they know you would be on a boat and headed out here?" He scratches his head, "That little bastard you all left behind in Arezzo! I bet he's the one that sold you out. Can't trust little people, no good little thieving bastards!"

"No I can't believe that Sam would sell us out like that. They must have had a spy somewhere in town." she shakes her head not believing that Sam could do that to them. Unless he was made to do so.

Marika flashes the mariner an angry look, while Rhune defends Sam's honor. "That eighth oarsman was the only spy they needed," she tells Kalanos sharply. "He must have recognized us by description and signed on with you in Arezzo."

Kalanos nods humbly, "Yeah, that was a bad pickup for sure. It's something we have to worry about out here, as there are Church agents everywhere, and us free traders." At that he chuckles "seem to bother them a bit. Nothing enough to justify an attack by a score of mind slaves, though. You all must have really ruffled some feathers back there. What did you do, pee on one of the Bishop's Persian rugs?" He laughs again.

Marika's anger dissipates quickly, as she reflects that Kalanos has far more reason to resent her group than vice versa. "So it was us they were after," she sighs. "I'd never have expected them to look for us so far from Florence. I'm sorry we brought trouble down on your crew, Kalanos." She looks sadly at the blood stain where the helmsman fell. "Do you know what gods your helmsman favored? I can administer whatever rites he would have preferred. Or does he have a family who can see to that?"

"No, I am afraid I don't know anything about his family. I guess he didn't have one, or they didn't want him around. He was a talker, but never talked about that." Kalanos seems thoughtful, "As for rites, I expect he followed Neptune, but never asked him. I never heard of him going to any rites or anything, or even passing devotions before a voyage, so I am guessing he wasn't much of a believer. Don't you just wave a cross over him and say gibberish, like the Catolik priests do? I figured we'd just take him upriver a bit and bury him when we reached our destination. Ain't that enough?"

Kalanos snorts, "Anyway, at least the spy doesn't know where we are going from here, as Stephan only told that to me. I'd watch out if I were you, though. Once the Church has decided to go after you, it's either head for parts unknown or kiss your asses goodbye. I'd recommend that once you all get paid for whatever Stephan has you doing up here, you keep on heading north. The Church isn't nearly as strong up there, though they are making inroads. Maybe they'll forget about you." He chuckles roughly. "Yeah, right!"

Rhune is torn by wanting to stay and talk with the man and wanting to go back to Asif and sit with him while he sleeps. Finally she decides to let Jacobus stay and talk with the captain and after getting her blanket from her pack goes back over to Asif. She gently picks up his head and sits back down. Putting her double up cloak behind to make her back more comfortable she places the blanket over Asif so that he is warmer and more comfortable.

Asif gradually awakes from his sleep, his mind slow to emerge from the most pleasant of dreams. He sighs deeply with the memory of it. The unforgetable rich earthy smell of the desert, the cooling breeze coming off the Nile. The sweet sound of the harems muscicians. The taste of sweet grapes and the soft touch of a womens fingers upon his brow, as he rests during the height of the sun... the forbidden kiss upon his brow from.....

A stabbing pain shoots through Asifs body, as the World of dreams fades and the harsh reality of the conscious world attacks him. A pain like fire courses through his bandaged arm. He screams out in his delusionary state...

"El-khabar ei ? El-khabar ei ? El-khabar ei ? En - waga beyula". Occ - "What has happened, What has happened, What has happened? the pain burns"

Asifs eyes then shoot open and he is silent, and then with great pain written over his face he drags himself with his good arm into a sitting position.

As Asif shoots awake, "Ssh. It is alright. Easy, Asif. It is Rhune. You are on board a boat. We were in a fight with some archers and you got shot with an arrow. Rest, easy. You are among friends." she tries to calm the upset young man, afraid that he will reopen his wounds if he keeps up his actions.

Kalanos resumes his navigation, talking amiably with some group members to pass the time. Time does pass slowly, as the current increases it's pace the further upriver you go, the river gradually narrowing. The light fluffy clouds drift by, not noticing your sad state, and a cool wind whips through. Two members of the crew at a time work on swabbing the deck, cleaning the blood and gore and sweat and sweeping it out into the water. However, the dark red spots remain on the deck, a clear sign of some ill goings on. You all make the best of things, though, keeping watch as best you can in your injured states. The more severely wounded rest to keep their strength, Ullar and Asif most notably. Fortunately, there are no further encounters on the river.

Ullar, after refreshing his bandages, falls in a restless sleep. His heart pounds fast and those paying attention see him toss and turn a lot.

Ullar dreams about what was, what is and even has a nightmare of what will become. He sees the party ending up in a fight between followers of the church and the Riffliani, a terrible fight indeed. The warrior tries as much as he can to protect his fellow partymembers, but to no avail, he is needed at both fronts and stands there, undecided. Just as he is about to wake up he sees the grinning face of the Bishop of Florence, burning a cross in his left wrist, in a torturing chamber alike the one he was put into in Florence.

The ex-Gladiator wakes up, sweating heavily.

Past noon some time, the trees sprout back up again to the south (right) side of the ship, growing thicker as time goes by, until it is complete dense forest, though only small stands exist upon the northern shore. As the afternoon passes into evening and the sun begins to set, Kalanos hails his men, who begin to pull toward the north shore. Peering into the evening sky, you can see a wharf of sorts protruding out into the river. Kalanos deftly steers the small galley up against it, and a couple of the oarsmen come forth from below decks to secure the ship with ropes. You note that a small rowboat is docked to the right side of the dock already. The rest of the crew begins to assist with the injured and with the various bags and packs as Kalanos calls out toward a small cabin at the end of the jetty, "Misha! Misha!" Hearing no response, he turns back to the group.

"Don't worry. Misha goes off hunting with that flea-bitten bear of hers all the time. She'll be back by nightfall for sure. Feel free to rest up in her cabin. She's a good sort and won't mind at all. I'd recommend staying till morning, as these parts get pretty wild at night." He stands for a moment, "Something I am forgetting....oh yeah, whenever you start the trip to Sukiskayn, it's the path south from the other side of the river" He roughly gestures toward what may or may not be a clearing on the other side. About eight miles down, you'll see a fork off to the left. Take that path again that distance, and you'll reach the settlement. It's got a nice stream running before you get there, so you can't miss it. Good luck!" As the crew get everything offloaded onto the dock, Kalanos yells for the men to get back to work, and they slowly pull away from the jetty once more, heading upriver at a snail's pace.

Rhune makes note of the dubious clearing on the other side of the river and then the path that he mentions further down. She nods to him as she helps move Asif's and the others belongings ashore. "Thank you, Captain." She tells the man before he departs.

Jacobus thanks the captain, then moves to the cabin door and knocks on it. Getting no answer he turns to the others and shrugs, "Well, I guess we should go inside."

He moves back to help the injured get inside the cabin, before finding a place outside to sit and wait for their host.

Ullar, too weak consider that they might need some token of proof that they are working for Stephan is glad that the opportunity is there to get off of this galley. He lives in the understanding that resting on shore is much better for his health compared to resting on the continuous rocking galley.

With a determined face, he gets off, taking with him all his posessions, not forgetting the onces he left to dry somewhere on/in the galley. Urak shakes his head, trying to clear the fuzziness from his mind. As he watched the ship recede in the distance, he felt profoundly grateful for the firmness of the earth under his booted feet. This was not the first time he had ridden in a boat, and, while he was not prone to illness, the solid comfort of the earth was vastly more preferably to the unpredictable tempers of the water spirits.

Kneeling, he scoops up a handful of dirt, and lets it run slowly through his fingers. "Thank you Yelis-za-ne," he says quietly as the dirt trickles to the ground, "for the bounty and balance of the wildlands. Know that we intend no trespass on the rights of your wards, and respect the boundries of nature."

Urak walks toward the cabin, curious as to its nature. Inspecting the outside of the structure, he compares its lines to the rough structures of the People. The similarities, he thinks, are even more fascinating than the differences. A line here, a support there, perhaps the differences between Urk and Human were not so great after all.

Looking about, you see that the cabin is large enough that it will hold all of you, but not especially comfortably, particularly if part of it is reserved for the owner, which is likely. There are no lights anywhere, and the door appears to be unlocked.