The sound of metal, moving against metal quickly followed behind Mael as he darted around a corner. How was he suppose to know the girl he had sitting on his lap was the daughter of the tavern owner, and that said father would try to knock his skull in for trying to snatch a kiss? The civic guard apparently didn’t take too kindly to barroom brawls around here, not that Mael had wanted anything to do with the proprietor who went around smashing in tables, blows aimed at his own head.

Quickly taking in his surroundings he realized he was at the docks of the town, and saw this as a chance to get away from his pursuers. Gunning it up a gang plank, Mael leapt over the side of the closest boat, ducking down behind the wooden wall meant to keep people from falling off the swaying vehicle and waited until the loud sound of moving metal passed on. Evidently, the local guards were as bright as the unpolished weapons they carried around.

Standing he looked around at the large deck of the boat, he was now a passenger on, and wondered if he could somehow spend the night curled up in a life boat. "What is your reason for trespassing upon my ship?" Apparently not. He turned an saw an older and taller man, well older and taller than Mael, standing on the other side of the boat. He quickly drew upon his sword and took on a fighting stance, and Mael sighed. This just wasn’t his night.

Drawing his own knife, he assumed a defensive stance, with the point of his knife pointing toward the ground, and took his shillelagh off the loop on his belt and held it out. If he was going to be forced to fight, he wasn’t going to make the first move.

“Uhh, I didn’t know anyone was awake, or I would have knocked.” He hoped that would calm the boats captain. He wasn’t quite sure how real boats worked, especially not in this unfamiliar era.

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"It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong" ‑ G.K. Chesterton
Máel-tuili Ua Conchobair