Richmond stood onboard the deck of the<span style="font-style: italic">Lady</span>, his brown eyes fixated on the distant skies, his hands shaking nervously. The far-off glimmer of metal had grown to a decerible speck against the blue, as the<span style="font-style: italic">Steele Maiden</span>drew inexorably closer. He had stashed his purchase in his cabin retrieving the ornate rapier and its companion swordbreaker, which now hung at his waist. During his adolecence his mother had hired a swordsmen to keep her son occupied, indulging in his pirate fantasies, and teaching him dueling practices.<br/><br/>But if they boarded...<br/><br/>If they boarded Richmond would have to fight, and possibly kill. The thought made him queasy. He gripped the railing as the<span style="font-style: italic">Lady</span>continued her skyward climb.