The Heist

Chapter extracted from the book The Heist.
Jack had never been too fond of the sea, he preferred to have a solid, stable floor beneath his feet, now he questioned himself why had he agreed for the job in the first place. Of course, he was, indeed, carrying a gemstone worth armies in his satchel, but he simply couldn't stand the rocking and swinging of the vessel, his head swirling and stomach crumpling. All around him, wherever he gazed at the horizon, there was only sea, and more sea.
Amidst his thoughts, he felt the footsteps on the wood coming closer to him. "The captain says we'll come to port by dusk, it surprises me you're still alive after seeing you throw up more than you put in during all these days", said Krusty, the man who had arranged his escape from the city.
"Not for much longer, which harbor is it?" asked Jack with his head down and eyes closed, trying to shift his thoughts away from the swinging.
"Argontos, ships ought to be patrolling the seas around the Twins. What did you steal after all?".
"An Emerald".
"An Emerald?"
"Some renowned prince's treasure, Hashik or something" Jack answered, growing annoyed of the man.
"Are you talking about the Eye of Qohor?"
"I don't know, my job was to steal the gem, what's with the surprised face?"
"Have you never heard the stories? The eye supposedly works as a vessel, capable of trapping the souls of mortals, used by an ancient demon as a source of power. Can you imagine if someone finds out what you're carrying?
[...]
A few days later.
From a puking on a ship to dying of dehydration in some forgotten preomonan beach, where did it start to go wrong? Jack asked himself. There was no point to keep ruminating such things, what mattered now was that he had no food, water, weapons or the treasure he had stolen, he could as well just give up and let one of the monstrosities from the jungle finish him off, it ought to be less painful death.
The sorceress, it was her fault, since he first laid his eyes on her in the sewers, he knew she looked like trouble and that it wouldn't be the last time they'd met. He was right, and she turned to be his doom. He felt the smell of orange blossom as he passed by some overgrowth, it made him angry, for it reminded him of the purple witch, and he would kill her if he had the chance.