All six ships except the Plunderer changed course and skirted the island, heading toward the smuggler's anchorage. The vampire pirates ferried people ashore in small boats, where they received armor and weapons under First Mate Claire's arrangements. Meanwhile, medicine and ammunition were loaded onto the ships.
Their fleet didn't have enough carrying capacity to haul everything out of the cave in one trip, so this was simply the arming-up phase before they went into battle at Chardo Port.
The supplies Murphy and Babro had jointly intercepted were mediocre in quality, but there was plenty of them.
Weapons and armor sufficient to equip more than thirty thousand people would be a genuine treasure anywhere on the continent. If Babro could find a generous buyer, this single deal could provide the beleaguered Blood Eagle Clan with its first nest egg to help it weather the crisis.
But as Babro had said, the "treasure" Murphy had offered him was too hot to handle. Even a great pirate like him had to take it seriously.
At that moment, in the cabin of the Plunderer, the flagship resting quietly on the sea, Babro opened a bottle of liquor and took several long swigs. Only then did he use the quantum communicator in his Wayfarer gear to contact Murphy, who was staying in Chardo Port.
"I found the 'treasure.'"
He told Murphy:
"Weapons and armor enough for thirty thousand people, plus a large quantity of medicine and ammunition. It's an astonishing fortune. So, how do you want to split it?"
"What! It's only enough for thirty thousand?"
Babro had thought Murphy would use the treasure to bargain with him, but instead, his report seemed to provoke some inexplicable fury on Murphy's end.
He heard the vampire lord angrily cursing on the other side:
"We agreed on