[PRP] A hard bargain (Vincent Nail and Maeniel)

[Revolutionary Roniel]

From his nose to the tip of his curled tail, Maeniel was shaking. He lay on the sand, dry sand! He could feel it encrusting his wet fur, coarse and unforgiving. Above him towered a soquili, impossibly large when compared to his own tiny form.

"P-please." He had long since given up trying to keep his voice level. Now, the best he could do was keep himself from screaming. It had already been made clear what would happen to him if he started making a lot of noise. "I've told you what I know about the shipwreck. I promise. I don't know anything else about treasure!"

That was why the beast of a soquili had dragged him from the water. He wanted to know about hidden treasure. He'd overheard Maeniel talking about it with another mare and now wanted in on the action himself. Maeniel had done his best to explain everything he knew, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough and he might die for it.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Vincent planted one big hoof next to the head of the little seathi. The thing cringed and whimpered like he'd actually hit it. Pathetic. "You think so?" he asked, seething with danger and aggravation. "Because a little birdy tells me you're lying scum." His sharp teeth had never been more visible than now, as he loomed over the seathi and contemplated what to do next.

"I've been out there to that wreck meself. Swam from top to bottom. Even kicked in a door or two." He leaned down close to the seathi, close enough that he could feel the puffing of his panicked breathing. "There was no treasure. There was nothing but rotted old boxes, long since looted of anything interesting."  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Maeniel searched his mind for answers. Was the stallion lying to him to try to get more information somehow? He'd been to that wreck recently! He'd seen the glittering coins scattered in the sea muck.

He was hyperventilating now. Darkness closed around the corners of his vision. He knew he'd be in danger of passing out if he didn't do something, and passing out could mean a swift end. He forced himself to calm down. Forced himself to breathe slowly and THINK.

"The treasure is off the entrance near the bow of the ship, behind the rocks. Just a small hole in the side.." Suddenly, it occurred to him. "It's too small for anyone but a seathi to go into! That's why you didn't find it!"  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"What?" Now Vincent was listening. He gave the seathi more space, taking on a decidedly more calculating appearance. "Up near the bow, you say?" In the holds of the ship, the area closest to the bow was partially collapsed. He didn't have access to the frontmost part of the ship. It was such a small space that he'd assumed that it couldn't possibly hold anything interesting, but now he wondered. There would definitely be enough room for a chest or two.

"All right then," he growled. "Start your explanation again, this time starting from how it's too small for creatures of any significance to get in." It would be hard to knock a big enough hole in the hull to get himself in without risking structural instability, but damned if he was going to let that stop him if there was treasure in play.