demanded of the girl. "Where can I find him?"
"Mouse? What are you talking about?" The boy with the mouse was livid. "You let go of her!"
"This is not your matter young man." SoGlog peered harshly into the young man's face.
The young man reared back and punched out at the trader. SoGlog caught the punch with his free arm and pulled and ducked at the same time causing the young man to stumble forward. As he did so, he landed with an 'oof' against the boatman. SoGlog stood up quickly using the boy's own momentum to fling him backwards. He still had a firm grip on the young girl mouse's arm. He turned towards the alley where the boy mouse had just disappeared and saw him peeking out from behind a bin. When spotted the mouse disappeared quickly.
SoGlog moved quickly into the alley dragging the girl with him.
The girl was ineffectually struggling against his pull shouting back at the boy on the ground, "Brach! Help! Hash! Someone!"
SoGlog stopped for a moment and sent a backhand across the girl's face. "Stop your hollering and come quietly or I will evict trader's law on you for your involvement."
"I didn't do nothing!" She whined.
He continued to pull her along to about where he thought he saw the other mouse disappear.
"What is the other mouse's name?" He demanded out of the girl.
Just then a rock hit him in the shoulder and glanced off. SoGlog looked back up the alley and there was the boy pitching rocks at him. SoGlog stood up and stormed towards the boy and he disappeared back into the market place.
The captain turned his attention back to the girl. "What is your name?"
Through tears she managed a weak, "Sugar."
"That's a sweet name Sugar, now you need to help me." He said.
"Are you going to kill me?" Sugar asked mournfully.
"Maybe." He replied simply.
She renewed her crying.
"I am going to leave that choice to you." He said in a calm voice. "You help me and you will get to live. Otherwise you are assisting a thief that has stolen from a trader and that falls under Trader Law. Will you help me?"
She whimpered and then looked down into the crack where only a mouse could fit. She looked back up in the face of her captor. She shook her head.
He sadly shook his head and with his free arm reached under his cloak to his sword hilt. At that same moment he heard a distinct metallic clink of coins. The coin purse had been tossed out of the crack. SoGlog strained his eyes but could not see more than a foot or two into the crack to see who had thrown it. He released his sword and reached for the pouch. He opened it as best as he could and peered in and it had a good number of gold coins in it. Hopefully it was all of the coins.
"Your boyfriend just saved your life and his." SoGlog stated and he released her arm.
He expected she would have instantly vanished but instead stood there rubbing her wrist and scowling at him. It was very un-mouse like behavior.
The captain went back to his bench to retrieve his snack but found the fizz was over turned and the scone already had a couple of ants on it.
He picked up the cup to discard it and heard someone running up, "That's him, that's the man!"
He looked up; it was the boy that had been with the mice.
"He kidnapped some poor girl, probably raped and killed her by now!" The boy was making quite a scene.
From behind the boy one of the locals of the police force was approaching. He had dealings with him in the past.
"Hello Officer." SoGlog greeted him.
"Cap'n" The officer replied. "Boy here says you have been kidnapping, raping, and killing?"
"Yes he did!" The boy stated loudly. "Lock him up and make him tell you what he did with Sugar!"
"Sugar? The officer asked the boy. "You do know she is just a mouse, right? And she is wanted in regards to a disturbance from earlier today."
"Officer," the boatman said, "I can explain everything that just happened. There were two mice and one of them stole a coin pouch from a trader. Under authority of Trader Law I went after the thief and recovered the property."
"You gunna to clean up the bodies?" The officer asked.
SoGlog shook his head. "No bodies, they returned the property willingly."
"Sugar is still alive?" The boy seemed ecstatic.
"Yes." The boat captain said simply.
The boy vanished into the crowd and a moment later SoGlog caught sight of him again as he entered the same alleyway.
"Been a busy day for the trade house today." The officer stated as he turned to go.
"Indeed it has." The trader agreed as he made his way back to the trade house again.
Upon arriving he spotted Mr. Farsid talking with the House Master.
He approached the gentleman and caught his attention with a hand gesture. He then held up the coin pouch and the gentleman reacted by looking down rather irritably at his belt.
"A mouse stole it in the market place." I recovered it for you.
"Do I need to send a team to clean up the body?" The house master asked.
SoGlog shook his head. "They returned it willingly."
"Not very like a mouse." The gentleman stated.
The house master nodded in agreement.
"They were not like any mice I had ever met." The boatman said, "One of them was dressed in formalwear."
"These are odd times." The gentleman stated. "This purse has been with thieves more than me today."
"Well, I must push off. Mr. Farsid, House Master Protus." He said politely in departure.
Each nodded at him as their name was said.
The captain was back into the harbor in no time. As he arrived, Frankie the Porter flocked to him.
"I had your ship unloaded as you asked; they are now just about finished with loading it with steel." The porter said as SoGlog walked right past him.
Instead of going towards his ship, he went towards the porter office.
"Your ship is docked over there sir!" The porter saw what direction the boatman was going and stopped in his tracks.
His fears were confirmed when the boat captain went right into the office and disappeared inside.
"Dear god no." The porter said weakly and then ran to catch up.
SoGlog was standing behind the desk looking underneath. Just under the desk were five crates of melons.
"I can explain!" Frankie attempted.
SoGlog held up a single finger to silence him and then bent down and picked up one of the crates. He placed it on the desk and then bent down and pulled out the other crates. These he dumped out onto the floor. The whole office floor was quickly covered in round melons.
Frankie could only stand there breathing deeply.
Then, carefully and methodically, the boat captain proceeded to crush each melon with his foot creating a red slippery mess over the entire floor. Green rinds, red melon meat, and black seeds covered everything.
"You gave me one of those crates." Frankie said weakly. "You gave it to me."
The trader stopped stomping long enough to give the porter a dirty look. The porter did not say anything else.
Once all the melons on the floor were thoroughly destroyed, SoGlog picked up the remaining crate and stepped past the now hyperventilating porter.
Inside the Harbor Master's office SoGlog set down the surviving crate of melons. "As promised, your porter was holding it for you and I told him I would bring it over for you."
The harbor master looked down at the melon covered shoes. "Looks like you have been swimming in melons."
"Just a little accident with a crate." The captain stated. "See you next time."
The trade house workers were just closing up the last cart.
"She ready?"
The remaining worker nodded, "You may want to check in with the porter. I saw him carry off a couple of loads."
SoGlog pointed at his feet. "Already done."
He step
ped aboard the Mistress Belcher and went to the castle. With a turn of a couple of valves he routed fuel to the burner. Another valve started water through the preheater coils and into the tank. The engine immediately started to come to life.
SoGlog then looked up and spotted something completely unexpected. Standing on the pier next to the boat could only be described as beauty perfected. It was a tall girl with perfect blonde hair. She had on a form fitting dress and was carrying a leather satchel.
"Are you lost?" He asked her.
She nodded. "Can you take me aboard?"
He could not believe his rotten luck. On the cusp of the deal of a lifetime with the Chuggers, here one of their sworn enemies is set to step aboard his boat and he is required to help her due to his own code.
"Get on board quick and go hide in the cabin." The captain instructed her.
She got on board and made her way across the deck into the cabin. SoGlog, now in a rush pulled the appropriate lever to put the boat transmission into reverse and the boat lurched backwards. The boat backed into the side waters of the concourse and started turning to face downstream. With another lever the transmission switched the propeller into forward and the boat hastened forward.
"There is someone in here!" The Lost Daughter called out from the cabin.
SoGlog looked back from the castle and spotted a person covered from head to toe in grey fur emerging from behind her.
"Now what?" He set the boat into the middle of the concourse and went back towards the cabin.
The furry saw him coming and took off towards the stern.
"What are you doing on my boat?" The Boatman demanded.
The furry stopped at the rail and looked at the receding harbor. It was already too far to swim. The river would just swallow him.
SoGlog reached him and took him by the arm. The