The gentle sound of the crashing of waves on stone could be heard throughout the pontoon, the black sea-water, tainted from the night sky, filling the air with its typical salty scent. The shoreline was pitch-dark, with the only light coming from the pale glow of the full moon up in the sky, whose reflection was barely cast upon the stones of the fortress of Lyncestia up in the heights that presided imposingly over that whole scene, like a watchful hawk on its nest. He had ordered all the lights be put out, he wanted the least amount of people to be aware of the ship that would soon be incoming to the port and even though them being where they were - at the very heart of Stravos lands, that was - he could never be too careful.

Elias was the baron of Lyncestia, the lands having been handed over to him by his father some large years ago, and while he much preferred to stay in the comfort of Athenia, he had always bore a special affection for that single location which he could truly call his own. It had been also for that simple reason that beginning on his sixteenth birthday, as his father finished off his education and started to give him more and more responsibilities in family affairs, that he had turned the remote barony into his base of operations. He had started by restoring the old, decrepit fortress to a functional state, adding in the process a fortified dock, secluded among the cliffs, where he could both unload merchandise and perform ship repairs as needs arose and, more importantly, far from preying eyes. To the castle on the crags, roads connecting the province and further shipwrights had been established throughout the barony, turning that once backwards province into the a de facto hub of House Stravos' naval industry. While Lyncestia was not quite remarked for its fertile lands or bountiful grounds, it did boast a significant amount of protected coves and easily-defensible bays which proved to be the ideal setting for the launching of ship-building sites. From its blood-red fortress on top of the cliffs, Elias kept a tight hold on his power-base, conducting all licit - and not-so-licit - business of the Stravos family from the privacy of the castle.

Located on the very tip of the peninsula which separated two of the three main bays of the Kingdom of Athenia, Lyncestia had a very strategic location, being at the same time far from the eyes of the King in Athenia and close to the main shipping routes of the Aegean. It had been more for the first than for the second that he had chosen that particular location to meet this particular man.

Lukos of Midas was a renowned pirate throughout the Aegean Sea. A a former slave, Lukos was now in command of his own flotilla which he used to wreck all kinds of havoc around the Colchian Kingdom. Albeit hailing from Colchis itself, Lukos did not seem to hold any allegiance whatsoever to that nation a fact which - allied to his willingness to keep his operations in secret for a given price - had been determining for that meeting to take place.

In total Elias had sent two messages for the corsair. The first was a simple, leather bag, it had been filled with gold drachmae, enunciating the most simple promise of all - that of payment. After a response had been received, Elias had sent him the second message, the golden anchor banners of his House. The man was to hoist them as he made for port as to not arise suspicions, a message he was fairly sure the pirate would get. If not, than the man was clearly not worthy of the contract - in which case he'd simply remove the corsair's head from his shoulders and send it to the King in Colchis, for a hefty sum no doubt - however, and given the repute of the pirate, Elias doubted he would make that mistake.

The meeting between the two was to take place that same evening, indeed the pirate's ship had already been spotted off the coast of Lyncestia and now there was only the wait until the man would deign to appear. It had naught been three hours since he'd left the fortress above when a small rowing-boat first appeared between the desolating dark of the night. Elias, together with the two bodyguards that had accompanied him that evening proceeded to the landing dock where the small boat was to make land. Both of his protectors were clad in the usual golden-colored plate that the Stravos men usually bore, they were armed with long-swords and on their chests, being the only truly remarkable part of their armor, the golden anchor, sigil of his family, adorned the men's breastplate.

As the vessel made its way through those last stretches of pitch-dark water, Elias mentally prepared himself for the deal he would have to strike.