Smoke in the distance

Brian watchs Saoirse, transfixed, and the sight of this beautiful woman is so enthralling that he almost fails to notice the thick plume of smoke rising from behind her. But slowly he does become aware of it and unease begins to eat at his stomach. There is far too much smake for it to be the usual haze that hangs over a village, a combination of cook fires and the blacksmith's forge. This is the kind of thick black smoke that Brian had once seen rising from a village that had been razed to the ground by Dark Elves.

Breaking the veil of silence that has fallen over the crew, Brian calls out.

"Trouble ahead!"

Everyone sees the plume of smoke at the same time, with even Saoirse turning to look after a last wink at Brian. The unease that had been eating at Brian's stomach seemed to spread across the entire ship. From one of the oar benches behind Brian another woman had stood up and strode to the front of the boat.

An exiled Amazonian, Tunmise's skin tight leather armour did little to hide her large breasts and strong, shapely figure as he walks up to stand beside Saoirse, who had made no effort to cover up her exposed breast. In the journey so far Brian had spoken with Tunmise a number of times, even sparred with her once when they had pulled into a village further back along the river to resupply, and had been impressed by her determination and physical conditioning. She in turn had been fascinated by the **** that he had expierienced in the pits and in combat, and he thought from her the lingering looks she gave him that she would sleep with him if he made the first move. He was a bit worried that her obvious love for fighting might get them into trouble however.

Tunmise and Saoirse made quite a contrast standing up there. Dark skin contrasted with light, leather with wool and aggression with tendernous. Skargar walked up to join them and so did Brian, with Fourteen close behind.