Kev, the young wolf cabin boy

You had been running errands on the streets for the last six years, ever since your father died in a fishing accident.

The trouble was your age and the people you knew; after years of earning the trust of some of the most dangerous gangs on the island so you could carry messages for them they had wanted to recruit you. Within the space of a week three different gangs; The Blue scales, the Merfolk (who some believed had connections with the ghost clans on the Jade Island) and the Razors (who may well have been funded by groups within the Bovine Collective) had all insisted you join them.

Saying yes to one meant saying no to two. That'd wouldn't have been healthy.

It had been an impulse decision. Hearing that Bison and the Bone Smasher had moored in the island's only port you had gone down two the docks to see if they were recruiting.

The sailor you spoke to first had been another anthro wolf. He had snarled at first but then shrugged, said maybe and speak to Sheela. Sheela had turned out to be a bushy tailed anthro weasel who had also said maybe.

Dressed in cloth shorts, an open blouse and even with the a three cornered hat - perhaps looted from the body of some unlucky royal seaman Sheela looked like one of those female pirates bards sometimes sung raunchy songs about.

It might have been tempting to think what she would have looked like caught up in the tentacled embrace of a feral giant squid or dancing topless around a beach bonfire but wisdom suggested it was a bad idea. Sheela sported a viscous scar just down from her left eye and carried a coiled whip at her side. Maybe she was more a slaver than a pirate.

Sheela had said maybe and come back the next morning.

You had done just that, still determined to avoid making yourself deeply unpopular with all but one of the gangs that controlled the island's underworld.

"Yeah", she had said, "You checked out."

There was just one more catch. Pointing to a small mountain of barrels beside the gangway, she added; "To earn a place on board the Bone Smasher you need to load all those barrels into the main cargo hold yourself. You have to do this before we sail in little over an hour. If there are any left on dry land then not only do you not sail with us but you have to buy the remaining barrels from us. Got coin for that? You don't want to owe me pup, do you?"

You just made it through. The barrels had been full of apples and potatoes and each one was bloody heavy. It had taken all your strength and determination to load them all.

Thirty minutes later, and with Port Hope still clearly visible from the deck of the Bone Smasher, you were still panting.

"You must be the new recruit Sheela was grumbling about," said a voice behind you. "It wasn't pretty what happened to the cabin boy before you. Very messy but that's what happens when Bison himself catches you stealing."

You turned to face this new pirate, "Speaking of which - got a job for you."