Chapter 64: The Natural World
It could have been the disgust from seeing the bloody, mutilated corpse. It could have been the residual effect of the paw. Serenica only knew she was sicker than ever. With every rocking motion her stomach turned and there was always the pressure at the back of her throat forcing her to heave up what little food she could get to stay down.
She bent over and defiled the sea, but Heike came to stop her.
"It's bad luck to do that."
"You want me to throw up on you instead?" Serenica asked, enraged.
She didn't have enough time to bend back. The digested piece of bread made its way on the deck.
"We just scrubbed that!" the pirate complained.
Bread! The Admiral never ate it, and he was sane. The realization shook Serenica through all of her flesh, like a lightning striking through a dead tree. She didn't even feel like throwing up anymore. She had figured out the source of the madness that had taken two lives.
She now pitied the deceased and cursed herself for being so slow.
She went to confirm her hypothesis with the first mate.
"You are correct," he said. "I never take any bread, and neither do I drink ale. My guts can't take that stuff. The bread's gone bad."
Serenica went straight to the kitchen. It was indeed easier to apologize afterwards than it was to ask permission beforehand.
She gathered all of the bread they had and ran a few quick magical tests.
It had indeed been spoiled.
It had to be thrown out.
As she was dropping bags of bad bread into the sea, Spade came to her, face absolutely blank, clearly certain she had lost her last bits of sanity.
"It's miasmatically spoiled," Serenica explained patiently. "If we go on eating this, we will kill ourselves before we even reach Innai's island."
"Oh, mother..." The captain groaned, cupping his face. "We're really going to be looking for fox bollockwort. That was supposed to last us until we reach Neul."
"I know. Can't we pay Innai?"
"I doubt that trade will be fruitful. I think we will snatch a merchant, but only awfully tough ones sail these waters."
"I understand." Serenica nodded. It seemed that Spade did understand the situation, after all. "Want to help? There's plenty of it to be thrown away."
Soon enough there were five pirates in total helping her get rid of the foul bread.
They had to find a merchant, quickly, too, as they had heavily relied on bread as their source of energy. Serenica remarked that it had been a poor choice, as they would have had space for more livestock. Meat, eggs and dairy gave more of that raw power that was such a precious thing on the high seas. The men didn't want to squeeze together any tighter for the addition of a few goats, though.
"It's no use using hindsight. Instead, I thought bloodsight might be more useful," Spade said to Serenica as they were smoking on the deck, trying to recover from the insanity. "Peek around, see if there are any promising fishers or merchants around. You know."
"Fish spoils quickly and we could get it ourselves," Serenica said. "I don't even know how to preserve it."
"Your mother's a Raelian woman."
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to prevent fish from going bad?" Serenica shook her head, opening her legendary scarf and letting her curls free. "I am Raelian, not superhuman."
"The crew would beg to differ." The captain winked.
"So, a merchant, then. You said they were tough."
"Damned tough. But we'll manage. Will you stay with us on the deck during the fight? There might be use for instant healing."
"Instant...what?" Serenica had a hard time believing what she had just heard. Healing was a slow art. Not something that could be done in a battle, in a moment.
"Oh, please." Spade placed a hand on her shoulder. "You have heard of battle healers."
"Yes, but they tend to die! In case you haven't heard of that pesky little thing," Serenica said.
"Then you'll figure out something. I heard about Gadfly's knee. You were fast back then."
Serenica muttered more than three obscure Raelian curses under her breath. "All right, then, but you'll have to help. I've seen you work, too. Deadrousing seems like a fast ordeal."
Now it was time for the captain to snort in disbelief. "You think I haven't spent years trying to - all right! I get your point! I will help you. Gods, you healers...wisewomen...whatever you are, you've got a hard head on your shoulders."
Serenica was not sure if that was a good thing or not.
They retreated back to Spade's cabin, where an annoyed Myorka was trying to have a bath.
"Don't mind me, just naked, vulnerable and recovering from insanity!" she hissed, covered in something beige and smelling like flowers.
"You can be there, we don't need the tub today," her husband said warily. "Serenica really needs to make up a spell or two. Can you be flexible?"
"No! Spade, you will be flexible and take our healer to her own cabin."
As they entered Serenica's cabin, she asked:"How are you two doing?"
The captain closed the door, sighed and then made sure the door was actually locked.
"She doesn't want me to touch her before she can get pregnant."
"Ouch."
"Don't be sorry," Spade said. "It's her choice. I understand that she doesn't want to tease herself with empty hope."
Serenica faked a sneeze to relieve the tension of the situation. "So. Fast spells. How is that even done without crystals or...or...divine powers?"
"You can make contracts in advance, you know," the captain said and sat down. "You need to have a certain amount of foresight for that."
"Wounds caused by blades, bullets and flying pieces of wood." Serenica nodded. "Obviously, I will focus on those that can actually be helped. Stomach and chest wounds are out of the question. They are too hard to heal."
They pulled out some empty sheets of paper and began making sketches of the exact formula for a perfect contract between the natural world and the supernatural one.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone