Chapter 150: Andrik the Unsmiling - Drowned God’s Priest?!
Kai noticed the burned stump on Andrik's right hand as the mate kneeled in front of him.
The over 7 ft tall giant ironborn had his head almost touching the musty floor. Kai noticed the slight trembling of his shoulders and his drenched back, and he also noticed how Andrik had been trying to not see into Kai's eyes since he had come into the captain's cabin.
Using Selene's mist form, Kai was still actively hiding his reptilian eyes.
Did he perchance see my eyes? He thought, frowning. Is that why the Abnormality Limiter not returning to normal?
Kai saw his Abnormality Limiter, the value at the bar's end kept fluctuating between 2.9 to 3%, and he could have sworn this fluctuation matched Andrik's shivering figure in rhythm. What could be the mate thinking that he was seeing the effect so obliviously? Kai didn't ask this question straightway and instead decided to clear the doubt that had come to him after killing the ex-captain of Actaea, though the ensuing storm had kept him from having this discourse then.
"Why, a warrior like you, an ironborn from the Iron Islands, a sailor that can chew out the other seamen both in strength and skills, is on a common trading ship?" Kai asked, churning the wine in his mug in slow rotations. "Why were you under the command of an idiot when you ironmen consider the captain of a ship equal to a king? I want answers, and I want them now, Andrik."
Kai had unlocked his emotions after sailing out of the Dragonstone's harbor, so now his Charisma was working fine. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't sense an iota of happiness in Andrik. The man had seemed to lose hope because of some unknown horror that not even the relief of surviving the storm could match in intensity. It all made Kai quite curious about what Andrik might have seen on that day before passing out.
To Kai's surprise, the mate didn't even show the slightest hesitation before speaking out. "I am a spy, captain," Andrik said, his voice thick, but lacking in power. "Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands, had sent me to Dragonstone to spy on Stannis' fleet. I was also ordered to contact the Targaryen prince in Pentos when the time came. I have yet to get any words regarding that, though. That's why I was told to act the part of the mate on a trading ship."
Kai sneered. "Lord Balon Greyjoy sent you personally?" he said, his tone incredulous. "I doubt..." But he didn't get to finish his words.
Meg's eyes suddenly snapped open as if she had come to a monstrous realization. Kai saw her slowly standing up, her eyes planted on Andrik's broad back, and her chest heaving high and low in a broken rhythm.
She pointed a finger at Andrik, and exclaimed, "You... you are Andrik, the Unsmiling?!"