Chapter 205: The Losses

      After returning from the battle against the dragon, the cave was a different place.  There was no boisterous laughter and talking, no games of cards or singing sailor's songs.  It was quiet with only the crackling fire, hushed murmurs of talking, and occasional moans or groans of the injured.

      Of the dozen injured men that had returned in the hammocks, Anja had managed to keep them all alive.  The men who were injured but still able to walk on their own were all alive as well.  The only lives lost were those that had to be retrieved from the mountain.

      Before Nick had even paused to get the line of stitches in his shoulder where the dragon's talon had caught him, he returned to the place where they had fought and brought down one of their fallen men.  A line of pirates moved as a solemn procession, a hammock between each pair of them carrying a lost friend.