by Tony Johnson
Chapter 63
“We're almost there,” Steve said, nearly fourteen hours later as the sun began its descent in the gray sky.
“How can you tell?” Ty asked.
“Willis said Port Meris was a fishing village. Can't you smell it yet? It's disgusting.”
“Yeah, but I assumed it was Grizz,” Ty cracked his fifth joke of their fifty-mile trek, trying to make the Dwarf laugh. Once again, he was unsuccessful.
Port Meris was a small village with no buildings more than two stories tall, other than the lighthouse. The village had the same dull color pallet no matter where you looked. All the buildings were gloomy shades of gray, which perfectly matched the overcast sky. Even the dozens of squawking seagulls aimlessly circling above seemed more grayish than the typical white ones found in other locations.
“It's certainly not the most cheerful place,” Ty whispered as the group walked through the narrow streets where less than savory looking people sat on building steps, eyeing them up and down without a smile.
“Probably because everyone here has to eat fish,” Kari deadpanned, wrinkling her nose at the thought of the taste. Her aunt and uncle had made her try lobster as a teenager, but she spit it out the moment it touched her tongue. “I much prefer the taste of foods you get from hunting on land rather than those in water,” she said then and repeated the same thing now to her friends.
“This place definitely lacks the cheeriness of Celestial,” Steve said, missing his home. When one of four gray-drabbed men standing around a burn barrel shouted at Copper for getting too close, the heroes quickly moved away, nervous of making a scene where Copper might be attacked for being a monster. Either that or they’ll see the sacks of money hanging from his shoulders and they want them for themselves, Steve thought before saying, “Let's head straight to the docks. We'll find a shipmaster, then a place to eat and sleep and hopefully set sail for Casanovia first thing in the morning.”
“I'm gonna turn in early,” Grizz mentioned, stepping back from the group.
“We'll find you in the morning,” Steve offered, wanting to give the Halfman space to continue grieving.
“That was the most words he said our whole way here,” Kari acknowledged, as they continued heading north through the winding dirt streets of the village.
“Not if you count all his grunts and shouts as he violently killed that direboar on our way here,” Ty said, referring to a brief encounter on their journey that was resolved by Grizz and his elemental power.
“There's so much anger in him. If that was how he killed a random monster, I can't imagine what he'll do to the ones who destroyed Serendale and killed his family. The Python and the goblins stand no chance.”
“I say let's unleash him!” Steve proposed with a clenched fist. “Those monsters deserve everything coming their way. And I, for one, want to be there when Grizz finally meets them in battle.”
“I wish there was something we could do in the meantime to cheer him up. It’s tough what he’s going through. I know what it's like to lose your parents,” Kari stated, to which Ty and Steve both nodded thinking back to Thatcher’s death, and Ty to the murder of his parents, “but,” Kari finished, “losing your spouse and children has got to be far worse.”
Reminded of her parents' deaths, Kari thought back to what Uncle Zeke had revealed; that her father might not be dead at all, but was actually the Hooded Phantom. The undeniable coincidences between Quintis and Malorek and the fact their identity’s might be one in the same had kept her up nearly all night.
“It's not like we aren't trying,” Ty argued in a polite tone so that Kari knew he wanted to help Grizz too. “I've been trying to joke around and Steve's been attempting to strike up conversations with him, but we barely get a response.”
“It'll take time,” Steve suggested. “Let's just be there for him if he needs us, and until then, we'll just keep joking around with him, talking to him, and treating him like normal.”
Within a few minutes, the heroes turned a corner and found themselves standing before Lake Azure. The body of water was the second largest in the world after the Darien Sea, but just as crucial to the sustenance of the kingdom.
Instead of a beach, the coast had been transformed into a massive wooden deck with piers that extended out between dozens of ships in the harbor. Underneath a sky filled of hundreds of seagulls, people scurried all around, working furiously. All around them, sailors spilled their day's catches out of their nets onto the docks, butchers chopped up fish, and other workers scrubbed down the ships.
“Out of the way,” a woman yelled, pushing a cart of salted cod past them, not bothering to steer around the group. Although Ty, Kari, and Copper stepped out of the way, she narrowly missed Steve, whose injuries were still healing and made him not as agile.
“Watch where you’re going!” Kari scolded, to which the lady responded by giving her the middle finger.
“Look at the size of this!” Ty said, heading down the deck to where a massive hull dwarfed the ones around it. The ship had seven sails on five masts while the average hull had two to three masts with one sail for each.
“That’s got to be one of the fastest ones in this port,” Steve was encouraged at the thought of finding the shipmaster of the ship whose name was painted in huge, white letters - Sharksbane. Seeing a sailor next to the boat sorting through fish that had been dumped out on the deck, the warrior walked over to talk to him.
“What?” the man asked before Steve had even uttered a word. His annoyed tone clearly showed he was not in the mood to be bothered.
“We're looking to speak to a shipmaster about passage to Casanovia,” Steve had to yell to be heard over the loud waves slamming into the docks and the hundreds of squawking birds flying overhead.
The sailor picked up two fish, inspected each of them carefully, and then tossed them into separate carts before answering. He continued sorting while he spoke, not caring to make eye contact, “If you're looking for shipmasters, you won't find any here. They've all retired to the Crooked Compass for the night. You better hurry,” he cautioned, briefly looking at the sunset to get an idea of what time it was. “If you don't get there soon you won't get a seat, let alone a table.”
“Which way is the tavern?”
The sailor rolled his eyes and gave directions without pointing or specifying in detail. “It's on Haddock Road. Just go straight and take a left after four buildings. You can’t miss it.”
“Even the streets are named after fish in this village,” Ty laughed and nudged Kari with his elbow, as the two watched the conversation. Their creativity is about as dull as Port Meris’s color scheme.
“Thanks for the information,” Steve said, flipping the sailor a couple bronze coins from his coinpurse.
“Thank you!” The sailor said, making eye contact for the first time. Steve could tell the man would've acted more friendly had he known he would've gotten money at the end of the conversation.
“Ask for Captain Jarek,” the sailor called out before the heroes were out of earshot. “He owns this ship, and you can’t do better than Sharksbane.”
“Giving that man money changed the way he treated us,” Steve mentioned as he, Ty, Kari, and Copper headed further down the wharf to find the tavern. “We have to keep in mind what Willis said. It's better to find a shipmaster we can trust rather than the one with the fastest ship. I want whoever takes us across Azure to be someone who doesn't value money so much that they'll act nice because of it. I want our shipmaster to value being nice and respectful regardless of the coins they’re given.”
“This must be the place,” Ty turned towards a building where arguing and laughing could be heard coming from inside. The sign above the doors looks like it could’ve once said Crooked Compass, but it’s so faded now, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to guess it if I hadn’t heard the name beforehand.
“Copper, you won't be able to come in,” Kari bent down to t
ell the direfox. “The people of Serendale might've been comfortable with you walking around in public, but no one knows you here. They'll only see a monster and want to hurt you.”
“Here,” offered Steve, seeing a space between the tavern and the building next to it. “This dark alley is the best we can do to hide you.”
“Good boy,” Kari encouraged Copper once he laid down in the shadows. She took off one of the gold sacks he’d been carrying and handed it to Steve. “Keep this one safe while we're inside,” she told the direfox, pointing to the other sack of gold. “Hopefully, in a few minutes, we'll come out with some food for you.”
Barking in excitement at the implication of food, Copper's tail began wagging as he remained lying in place.
The number of people in the tavern shocked the companions as they walked in. To get from one side of the large, open room to the other, they had to squeeze their way through a mass of patrons. A staircase led to a loft upstairs overlooking a portion of the main floor, but it seemed just as crowded.
“Everyone in the village must be in here!” Ty marveled, but his voice went unheard because of the noise.
Steve, being the tallest of the group, noticed a party leave in the back. Tightening his grip around the heavy sack of gold in his hand, he directed Ty and Kari's attention to the open table and headed straight for it. Kari grabbed his free hand so that she wouldn't lose him in the crowd.
After squeezing through the seemingly airtight crowd, the heroes each breathed out a sigh of relief once they sat down in their booth.
This is the first time we've gotten off our feet since this morning, Steve thought as he put the sack underneath the table.
“Don't we want to entice as many shipmasters as possible?”
“What?” Steve asked, struggling to hear Ty's question even though they were in close quarters.
“Why are you hiding the gold?” Kari relayed Ty’s follow-up question since she was sitting closer to Steve.
“I want to try this without involving money first,” Steve answered, leaning in towards his two friends so they could hear him. “If we can see who wants to help us for the sake of the kingdom rather than for coins, we'll know we found the right man. Once we do, we'll offer to give him half now and the other half when we get to Casanovia.”
From their location in the dimly lit section of the tavern underneath the loft, the three sat and observed the people all around them. Most crowded around the bar, which stretched from wall to wall. Patrons aggressively pushed and tried to move forward as close as they could to order their drinks. If they weren't loud enough to bark their order over the noise, they could stand the entire night without a beverage in hand.
“There’s Grizz,” Kari observed. “He’s sitting up there at the end of the bar. I recognized his brown and black armor.”
“I guess ‘turning in early’ really means leaving us so he could get to the alcohol quicker,” Steve gathered.
“I don’t blame him. He’s seen a lot. We all have,” Kari mentioned as her eyes did a full sweep of everyone in the tavern. There's so much suffering that's happened and no one here even knows about it. She noticed a barmaid make eye contact with their table and push her way towards them. If no one were in the Crooked Compass, she could've walked a straight line and been standing before them in a couple seconds, but as things were, she had to squeeze through the little openings that presented themselves, sending her off course.
Along the way, the barmaid picked up empty bottles from tables she passed and put them on the serving tray she carried over her head while walking. “Don't worry, I'll come back with more,” she calmly spoke to two drunkards who yelled at her, making it clear they wanted her to return as quickly as possible with more liquor. With her elbow bent at ninety degrees holding the tray and her arm quivering under the weight of the empty bottles, the scantily-dressed female came to the table the heroes sat at and asked, “What can I get you?”
“What'd you have to eat here?” Ty asked.
“Oh, you're new here! Sorry! I didn’t see your faces before I came over. I just assumed you were regulars waiting to order. It's not often we get first-timers. Do you want me to go get you a menu?”
“No, that’s fine,” Ty declined, looking past her to the maze-like conditions of the crowd she would have to endure to get a menu and bring it back to them. “Just bring us lots of food, whatever you recommend we'll take. We've traveled a long way and we're hungry.”
“But something other than fish for her and I,” Steve butted in, tilting his head towards Kari, thinking of her distaste for aquatic animals.
Kari smiled at the fact Steve thought of her, and after ordering water along with Ty and Steve, watched the barmaid disappear into the crowd. Together, they waited for half an hour before she came back, carrying a full tray of various foods.
“So, what is it? Are you running away or heading towards something?” she asked as she set the food in the center of the table and let each of them pick out whatever they wanted.
“What?” Steve asked, unsure of the question.
“You said it was your first time here. It's always one or the other. Escaping or pursuing. Few people come here to stay.”
“I guess you could say a little bit of both, but for the most part, we're looking for passage to Casanovia. Can you recommend any well-reputed shipmasters?”
“There's many here, but well-reputed isn't a word I'd use.”
“We're looking for someone trustworthy,” Steve said to which the barmaid let out a snort of a laugh and said, “Good luck with that.” But upon seeing that Steve was serious, she said, “I'll send someone over to you shortly.”
In the middle of their meal, Steve saw the woman tap the shoulder of a man, whisper something into his ear, and point at their table. The man stood, revealing he was wearing a long-sleeved tunic under a plate of armor that’d been cut in half so his giant belly could comfortably stick out of the bottom. He wore spaulders on his shoulders but had no gauntlets on his forearms or hands so he could heartily eat, as it appeared he enjoyed doing. Coming over to the heroes, he turned a chair around and sat down in it reverse. He cracked the knuckles of his short, stubby fingers before crossing his arms and resting them on the chair's back.
“So, what's this I hear about you wanting to go to Casanovia?” he interrupted Ty in the middle of a joke he was telling to Steve and Kari. Before letting any of them answer, he continued speaking. “I'm Captain Jarek. You've probably heard of me.”
Not wanting to lie, since technically he had heard the sailor's name from the docks, but not wanting to feed the overweight man's enhanced ego, Steve merely shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, let me introduce myself then,” Jarek announced. He spoke way too loudly for being so close, and that was even after taking into consideration they were in a noisy tavern. “I run Port Meris. I have the fastest ship and the largest crew. Almost half of all the fish caught here are brought in on ships I own. I can guarantee you safe passage to Casanovia for the right price.”
“We have very little gold to give you,” Steve said flatly. “But our trip is of utmost importance.”
“Gold is of the utmost importance,” Jarek sharply corrected him, holding his hand in front of Steve's face rubbing his thumb and pointer finger together. “Have you nothing to barter with? Maybe if you sold me your horses, your armor, and your weapons we could make some sort of deal.”
Kari grasped her bow tightly and boldly stated, “Our weapons will not be part of this transaction.”
Captain Jarek looked the Halfling up and down, even though she was sitting in the booth, admiring her figure with vulture-like eyes. “Well, your friends can give up their armor and weapons,” he nodded to Steve and Ty. “Maybe you could offer me what lies underneath the armor you're wearing.”
Kari clenched her teeth in anger, but it was Steve who reacted more physically. Standing up, he began to reach across the table to confront Jarek, bu
t Ty held him down. After composing himself, Steve explained why they needed passage, hoping an appeal to reason might work.
“An army of monsters has overtaken Celestial, Serendale, and Almiria. King Zoran is dead, as well as thousands of warriors and civilians. Part of the army is heading for Casanovia. We need someone to take us there so we can warn them before another city is lost and thousands more are killed. If you care more about gold than that then we don't want your services.”
Jarek sat still for seconds until a slow smile crept over his round face. “Really? That's your story? With no gold and needing passage, you could've come up with anything and you go with a story about three of the Primary Cities being destroyed?” He belted out a deep and hearty laugh so loud people turned to see what was going on. The captain turned around in his chair and shouted to some of his friends sitting at a nearby table, “These guys are trying to tell me Casanovia will be destroyed if I don't give them a free ride there!”
Everyone joined in with Jarek's booming, belly-shaking laughter.
Steve, Ty, and Kari sat in silence, waiting for them to finish, but the table Jarek had told, told another table, who in turn, told others. Soon, everyone on their side of the tavern was laughing, pointing, and staring.
“And I suppose you're going to tell me that's where you got those bruises,” Jarek turned back to Steve and continued laughing, staring at the warrior's face. Still visible were the aftereffects of many of the injuries Steve had sustained, two of the most prominent being the purple bruise on his neck from the hanging and his raccoon-like shadow-eyes from his broken nose.
After he settled down, Jarek shook his head in disbelief. “Did LeShroud put you up to this? Who was it? It was Anderson, wasn't it?”
He thinks this is a prank, Steve realized, but can I even blame him? If I were in his shoes, I wouldn't believe it. But that goes to show how terrible this situation is. It's so bad, it’s unbelievable. I wish I could convince him it was true.
“No. No one set this up. What I told you is what we’re up against,” Steve spoke softly, in a disheartened tone.
