The Long Road of Adventure- Blue Storms and Black Sand

by Ian Rodgers

  “Ah. Understandable,” Vala said, glancing at the rough wooden buildings. They might hold up to a tropical storm, but to a focused volley from artillery? Not a chance.

  She then frowned. “You both are rather well versed with military doctrines and the mind-set of criminals.”

  “I’m a princess. I’m supposed to know both people and battlefield tactics,” Lily said simply as she peered around a corner. The coast seemed mostly clear, with only a single figure weaving drunkenly around towards an alleyway, and an apparent warehouse looked like it was open due to the drunkard leaving the door ajar. A good spot to start investigations. And perhaps find food.

  “And I grew up wanting to be an adventurer. I read a lot and studied before I left home to join the Guild,” was Gaelin’s response. For a moment, Vala looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but the pirate finally staggered off, leaving the area clear.

  “Go, go, go!” Lily whispered, pointing at the warehouse. The trio darted forward and slipped inside the wooden building.

  “So, what do we have here?” the princess muttered, looking over the assorted crates and barrels that filled the interior. A strong smell of wine came from a few casks that were near the front, but it was muddied by earthier scents drifting in from deeper in the warehouse.

  “Ugh, this is real cheap stuff!” Gaelin said in disgust as he sampled some of the wine.

  “Wine snob, huh?” Vala chuckled.

  “I’m Partaevian, remember? Over fifty percent of all grapes and wine products come from the south,” Gaelin said. “It’s only natural I’d have a taste for it.”

  “Shut up. Something’s wrong,” Lily stated, sniffing the air. “Can you smell that?”

  “I’m not Bigg Guy,” the halberdier said with a laugh. But he quailed under the red-head’s disapproving gaze and sniffed the air as well. Vala followed suit, and frowned.

  “There’s something else in here besides food and drink,” Lily claimed, heading into the back. Gaelin put the lid back onto the wine barrel and made his way towards the back along with Vala at his side.

  Stopping in front of a nondescript box like all the others, she pried the top off with her knife. She frowned at the contents, dipped her finger in, and peered at the stuff that now coated it.

  “Coal,” she muttered, wiping the black smudge on her fingertip onto the container.

  “Coal? That’s what you smelled?” Gaelin inquired. Vala nodded, then turned to another nondescript box.

  “Hey, Lily, can you get this one as well?”

  Without a word Lily levered the top off, revealing dark grey sand. Vala examined the stuff this time, rubbing the gritty substance between thumb and index finger.

  “Metallic… is this iron sand?”

  “Who keeps iron sand and coal in a room with wine barrels?” Gaelin asked incredulously.

  “I don’t think the wine was supposed to be here. See how it kind of looks like the barrels were just plopped down willy-nilly? I think whoever was supposed to be guarding this place didn’t want to do so with a parched throat,” Lily mused.

  “Coal plus iron sand makes steel,” Vala muttered to herself. “And if they have a forge they might be able to forge all kinds of items. Weapons and armor and parts for their airship. This place is self-sufficient!”

  “The question is where did the coal and iron sand come from. I doubt they’re buying it, and how many shipments would Bolos have had to plunder to get this much? No, there’s a source of both coal and iron sand nearby. Perhaps another deserted island he knows about,” Lily claimed.

  Footsteps outside the door cut their musings to an end, and they tensed before darting into the shadows.

  Moments later the door to the warehouse was kicked open and a pirate stomped in.

  “Idiots, trying to hide the wine in here. Don’t they even think about what the captain would do if he found out? Bloody fools!”

  The pirate ranted a bit as he rolled one of the barrels out of the storage area, his mumblings eventually fading. The trio let out a sigh of relief when they were sure he was gone.

  “That was too close,” Gaelin gasped. Lily nodded mutely, while Vala peeked through the door’s keyhole.

  “We should go now while he’s gone. If he comes back he might be more aware, and spot us,” Vala warned.

  “Agreed,” Lily said quickly. “Let’s investigate another warehouse, see what they have, and find the food.”

  They snuck through the base, seeking out another building to investigate. It soon became clear to them that there were certain signs that differentiated the dwellings between those being lived in by the pirates, and those storing items. Lamps outside the doors and windows on the walls designated barracks for the pirates. Those that had neither were warehouses.

  After some terrifying moments of trial and error, where they had avoided several near misses with guards, both drunk and otherwise, they finally reached the largest building in the compound.

  “This is the last place we haven’t searched aside from the fortress,” Lily muttered in annoyance. “I swear to Cynthia, if this is just another oversized bathroom, I will ‘accidentally’ knock over a candle and set the place on fire.”

  “How many bathrooms does a hidden pirate base need, anyways? We found three of them,” Gaelin sighed. Vala raised a hand to halt them, and the two humans froze.

  “What is it?” Lily hissed.

  “I hear things moving around inside,” Vala whispered.

  “But this place has no windows, nor lamps. Is it someone getting a late-night snack?” Gaelin questioned.

  “No, I don’t think so. There’s a lot of them. Give me a second.” Vala raised her hands and placed them against the door, and they glowed green. She closed her eyes, and frowned in confusion.

  “There’s about a hundred living things inside. Humans or elves, based on the size and shape. Odd…” she opened her eyes and reached for the doorknob and grabbed it. But for the first time, instead of opening up, it rattled.

  “Locked?” Lily questioned. Vala jiggled the handle a few more times. It refused to yield. She bent down and peered through the keyhole. And immediately recoiled in shock.

  “What is it, Vala?” Gaelin asked.

  “Slaves,” she replied, her face pale.

  Lily frowned and stepped up, peeking through the lock as well. Her expression turned to disgust. “She’s right. I can just barely see slave-collars on their necks.”

  Everyone blanched. Slavery was illegal in most places on Erafore, but that did not stop dark-hearted people from partaking in the cruel trade. Worse, the collars used on slaves were specially enchanted to force obedience. They broke mind and will.

  “I don’t like any of this,” Gaelin snarled, that familiar sensation of wrongness niggling at the back of his mind and soul. He then spared a glance towards the sky and winced. “We need to go.”

  “Why?” Lily demanded.

  In response, the D-ranker merely pointed to the horizon, where a tiny sliver of red could be seen creeping up.

  “Dawn!” Vala hissed. “We have to return to Bigg Guy and hide!”

  “But, these people,” Lily muttered, throwing a hesitant look back at the slavepen.

  “We have no time! And even if we did free them, it’d do no good. Remember? Bolos has cannons, and we have no idea where the food or weapons are. Let’s go,” Gaelin argued.

  In the end, Lily acquiesced and darted off with the other two back towards the watch tower. They expertly avoided the patrols, and returned to the dilapidated structure in under ten minutes.

  “Find food?” Bigg Guy inquired hopefully when he spotted the group returning.

  “No, it’s probably all stored in the fortress itself,” Gaelin apologized. Bigg Guy growled in annoyance, and then his stomach growled back.

  “Come on, when we get back to the cove, we can go fishing,” Vala said, patting her Ursine companion on the shoulder.

  “What I would give for a shank of lamb, or roast of
beef,” Bigg Guy sighed. Gaelin nodded in agreement.

  “Quit making us all hungry!” Lily grumbled. Those were the final words they dared to speak, as below them in the settlement a bell began to ring, signaling a wake-up call for the base. The stranded quartet scurried off as they heard that.

  .

  “I swear, I will punch him!”

  “Lily, no! It’s not worth it!”

  “Vala, he threw away a half-eaten chicken leg after complaining that it was ‘too heavy on the spices!’ I will punch him and steal his food!”

  “Calm down!”

  Lily struggled against the elf’s grip. The brown-skinned woman continued to keep the red-head pinned to the ground to keep her from running down from their hiding spot and assaulting the wasteful pirate.

  It had been three days since the quartet had made it to the central island. Since discovering the slaves and the piles of coal and iron sand, they had spied on the base while planning ways to sneak into fortress. The archer and the Druid were currently flat on their stomachs peering down from the hill near the abandoned lookout tower. It was their usual spot for spying, and from it they had gathered valuable intel on their target.

  The gate to the wooden fortress was kept barred at night, and unlocked during the day. Observing the pirates going in and then coming out with food proved Gaelin’s assumption that Bolos kept the edibles all inside his main base.

  As for the slaves, they were let out of their barrack every morning and escorted to various spots around the base. Some cleaned and repaired the fort and other buildings in the compound. Others were led to a part of the island the quartet that hadn’t noticed before that held farmland and animals in cages and pens. It truly was a self-sufficient base!

  The last segment of slaves was sent into the fortress, and only emerged near the evening. What disturbed Gaelin and the rest was that whenever that group of collared individuals returned to their building, one or two were missing. And they never showed up again.

  All of the slaves were male, and many had the looks of men who had spent their lives in the salt and sun. Sailors, no doubt captured from the ships Bolos had plundered.

  Despite a few near misses and having to avoid a pirate group sent to check on the watch tower for repairs, the group had finally discovered a way into the fortress.

  Disguises. All they had to do was dress up as pirates!

  It was so simple that all of them had overlooked it until Bigg Guy had suggested hiding in barrels and getting taken into the fortress during a supply run.

  They’d all laughed at first, but the idea bubbled, stewed, and grew. Why couldn’t they sneak in using disguises of some sort? The pirates were lax, lazy, and oftentimes drunk even in the middle of the day. Without Bolos around to instill order it seemed the oceanic brigands were content to be wastes of space.

  The only problem would be trying to wear disguises and sneaking about. Only Gaelin would be able to fully infiltrate the pirates: everyone on the base was male, and humans were the most numerous of the pirates. Plus, the pirates were a small, tight-knit group. Everyone knew everyone. If a stranger showed up it would raise questions.

  Lily, Vala, and Bigg Guy would not be able to pretend to be pirates. So that left the halberdier to wear a disguise and sneak them in somehow.

  And that was why Vala was keeping Lily from breaking from cover. They needed to stay hidden and wait for the right moment to find a uniform for Gaelin.

  Finally, Lily calmed down as the food-wasting pirate sauntered off.

  “I’m sorry, Vala. It’s just… I’m so tired of coconuts and fish!” Lily said, practically weeping at the thought of real food being tossed aside so callously like that.

  “I know, I am too,” the earth elf said sorrowfully. Something caught her eye, and she smiled. “Anyways, it’s time to go.”

  Lily followed the Druid’s gaze and a faint smile flickered on her lips as well.

  At the bottom of the hill a group of slaves were hanging clothes to dry on a clothesline set up between two buildings near the base of the hill. The tropical sun would have the laundry dried in no time. And while the clothes dried, the slaves in this group were always sent off to wash some more laundry on the other side of the compound where the well was located.

  The last of the wet uniforms were left on the clotheslines, and the slaves hurried off. It was now or never.

  Lily snuck down the hill, all but crawling on her hands and knees to avoid being spotted. Her head was covered up by a hat of sorts made of leaves. Red hair would be too noticeable, but green was perfect to blend in with the coarse grass and shrubs that clung to the hill. Her own clothes were filthy, and not even rinsing them in water helped much anymore. The lovely shade of dirt did help her blend in, at least.

  She reached the bottom of the hill, and pressed her back against the barracks. Keeping her eyes on her surroundings, Lily reached up and snatched a few of the nearby clothes off their line. A shirt, an overcoat, a pair of trousers. That was all she grabbed, but it would be enough.

  Next, Lily reached up and unscrewed a small portion of the nearby oil lamp that hung nearby. She nudged one of the baskets filled with already dried laundry a bit so it now rested beneath the lamp. They were left burning all day. Another example of the laziness of the pirates. Her tasks complete, she flashed a thumbs-up towards where Vala was hiding.

  Up in her spot, Vala grinned before extending a wooden stick. It was a crude replacement for her staff, but it would do. Speckles of green energy gathered at the tip, and she worked her mana to twist and caress the wind around her.

  A sharp gust of wind snapped out and seethed down the hill, rustling the palm leaves and grass stalks. It smashed against the side of the building and jiggled the lamp that hung nearby.

  Had it not been messed with, the lamp would have wobbled, but remained attached to the wall of the barrack. However, thanks to the fiddling with the bolts and bracket done by Lily, it was weakened, and the gust of wind knocked it off. It fell, and smashed apart on the ground right next to the wicker baskets.

  Oil, though only a small amount, splashed out. The candle flame flickered and died in the impact, but sent a few final sparks spluttering outwards.

  The oil ignited. The cleaned and dried clothes caught on fire.

  Lily had scurried off as soon as she felt the wind. After all, smoke and flames would attract immediate attention here in a base made primarily from wood.

  The fire would destroy the clothes, so no one would notice some of the articles were missing. And thanks to that, Gaelin could dress up as one of them, hide in a crowd, and make his way around the base.

  All part of their plan.

  “What’s wrong, Vala?” Lily asked as she returned to the top of the hill. The earth elf was staring at the fire that had started, dark emotions in her eyes.

  “Just lamenting what will happen to the slaves in charge of laundry,” Vala admitted.

  Lily’s expression turned morose as well, and she put an arm around the Druid. “I know. But their masters are pirates. Cruelty is in the definition of their job description. They would have beaten the slaves for any reason at all. Remember? We’ve already seen how they treat them after even minor mistakes.”

  Vala nodded sorrowfully, her mind going back to several incidents they’d observed during their time spying on the base. “They whipped that slave just for dropping the tools. And they were the ones who tripped him in the first place!”

  “Come on, the fire’s going to be noticed soon. We need to get back to Gaelin and Bigg Guy before they start swarming this area,” Lily said, cajoling Vala into moving. Reluctantly the elf peeled her eyes from the scene and joined the red-head as they fled carefully from the arson they had committed.

  .

  “Did you get it?” Gaelin asked excitedly as they returned to the cove. Lily held up the stolen articles of clothing as her reply, and he grinned widely.

  “That’s great! And guess what? I managed to catch and kill a few
Club Claws! We’re having crabmeat tonight!” He pointed behind him at a collection of large ruddy carapaces and Lily’s eyes lit up.

  Club Claws, while large, were cowardly critters, and often fled instead of fighting. If a person wanted to eat one, then someone had to kill them in a single blow without them noticing, or catch them in such a way as they could not flee. And then kill them.

  “How did you get them?” Vala asked, wiping some drool from her lips at the thought of something different for dinner.

  Gaelin jabbed a finger at Bigg Guy, who shifted with embarrassment at the sudden attention.

  “He was trying to gather some fish, when he slipped and fell into the water. Our furry friend apparently looks like a clump of black seaweed when he gets wet, and the Club Claws were hungry for some watery plants. They swarmed him, and he smashed a few of them and flipped them onto their backs before they got the message,” Gaelin explained with a grin. “I then took my halberd and finished them off.”

  “Huh. I guess he needs a trim, then,” Val said with amusement bubbling in her voice. Bigg Guy whimpered fearfully when she eyed the knife at Lily’s side.

  “We can do that later. Gaelin, put this on. I tried to grab clothes that looked they would fit you. If they’re too big, suck it up. If they’re too small, I’ll see if we can alter them somehow,” the archer stated, passing the items over to her partner. He nodded and ducked behind some large boulders near the cove in order to change.

  After a few minutes the brown-haired halberdier returned, tugging at the collar and waist of his pants. It was clear that the uniform had belonged to someone smaller than Gaelin, and it clung to his body while showing off his defined muscles.

  “These clothes are really uncomfortable,” Gaelin complained. “Not too tight, but snug enough they rub all the wrong ways when I move.”

  “Or all the right ways,” Vala whispered to Lily with a leer on her face. Lily blushed and shook her head clear of all the wrong images that sentence conjured in her mind.