The Wilder World

by Jeff Hook

  “What’s an interest payment?” asked Hishano.

  “It’s a trick the Knyn use to take our hard-earned money, that’s what. But who knows all the outside merchants? That Knyn. If I stop paying her interest, she won’t help me sell. Worse, the townspeople would have to punish me for avoidance, or she’ll stop helping all of them sell. Our town would dry up even worse than before, reduced to just what we could make ourselves.”

  “Our island has just what we make ourselves,” said Hishano. “We’re just fine.”

  “We’ve already made the bargain,” explained Seth. “If we stop now, the fat cats who run their little global business network will decide to make an example, and then retribution vessels will come and take everything they think we owe them — plus the cost of sending the retribution vessels! That includes these grapes — I bought the seeds with money I borrowed from the Knyn.”

  That set Hishano and Ishū to frowning, but Karugo knew the solution. He would save this man Seth, who was by all accounts not evil, from the definitely-evil Knyn, and then Seth would like him. He lit his fist on fire. “I’m going to go make the Knyn stop being mean to you.”

  They all shrank back in horror.

  “No violence!” yelled Hishano and Ishū.

  “No fire near the vines!” admonished Seth. “And didn’t you hear what I said about the enforcement vessels? Unless you can take on a couple paramilitary vessels all on your own, this is a losing proposition. And even then, the Mezazi Empire might send ships once they heard that the Knyn enforcers had been destroyed. We’re technically outside the Empire, but they have to ‘protect their interests’ and ‘keep the peace’.”

  That backfired. He just wanted to help and have the farmer like him. Why were they all looking at him funny now?

  “Let’s talk about powers,” said Ishū, tactfully changing the subject. “You say they can help us get money?”

  Seth took a moment to calm himself down. They were about halfway through the vineyard, the sun was nearly over the horizon, and there was a wooden building past the edge of the field. Karugo could hear birds chirping. Finally Seth had collected himself enough to speak normally. “You can talk to animals, so I want you to help me with the farm. The pollinators aren’t pollinating how I’d like, my work animal shies away from certain places in my fields, and just this past season the ghost buffalo herds have started rampaging through my orchards, damaging the bigger trees.”

  “That is… a lot of different farming activities,” said Ishū.

  “I might have over-invested,” said Seth, “but my kids are hungry and growing and half of them can help out, so it’s not bad. You’re about to meet some of the ones who aren’t old enough to do much work.”

  They were through the vineyard and there was only an open yard between them and the house. A small child playing outside squealed with joy when she saw them, running barefoot across the yard to hug Seth.

  He took her in both arms and raised her over his head. “You’ve grown since I left this morning! What are we going to do with you?”

  She laughed. “I’m gonna pick all the grapes!” Her clothes were ill-fitting and torn, and the dirt all over her stood out plainly against her strange pink-white skin, but the laughter was pure and more intense than anything Karugo had ever heard on Tandoku Island. Did the emotional suppressors hit stuff besides anger and sadness? “Then we’ll never be hungry again!”

  Wait, she knew the family was hungry, but she still laughed?

  “I’ve got some friends to help with that,” said Seth, motioning toward the group. “Why don’t you show Audrey your powers.”

  Karugo lit his fist on fire and raised it into the air. The girl giggled with delight. “So cool!”

  This whole thing was confusing. Jack had thought his ability was awesome, and Jack was the worst person he’d ever encountered, except maybe Freddy. Was this girl evil, too? No, she couldn’t be more than six years old. Maybe it was just that people with strong emotions, whether good or evil, thought his power was awesome, and people with suppressed emotions thought him dangerous.

  He grinned. Maybe that was it. Whatever the reason, her admiration felt good. He extended the fire to the rest of his body — the flame somehow leaving his clothes untouched — and she clapped.

  “He likes excitement,” said Seth, “just like you.”

  “He’s an adventurer?” Her face jumped with eagerness.

  “They all are. They fought pirates, and now they’re going to stay with us.”

  “Can I fight pirates with them?” asked Audrey.

  “Not until you’re twelve, okay?”

  “What about adventuring?”

  “Not until you’re eight. We don’t want the tri-snakes gobbling you up!” As he said it he walked three fingers up her belly and then started tickling her. She wriggled and burst into peals of laughter. He turned to Hishano. “What’s your power?”

  “Healing,” said Hishano.

  “Even with that scar?”

  “I cut myself in half two days ago.”

  Seth coughed and his eyes went wide. “Did you say cut yourself in half?”

  “It was the only way to save my friends.”

  “Well. I think I know what you two are going to do. There’s a Lapine in town who needs rare ingredients, and none of the townsfolk are brave enough to go find them.”

  “Except me!” said the girl.

  “Not until you’re eight!” Seth bounced her playfully in his arms, then turned back to Karugo and Hishano. “We’re going to go get you some food, but after that you’re going to see the most terrifying — and terrified — person in all of Havlam Island. You’re going to see Hoppin’ Harry.”

  4

  Havlam Town

  Saving the world was a lot more complicated than Hishano had expected.

  He’d thought they would just sail off and collect an Adiamite crystal, make other people stop being mean to each other, and then sail back, all guided by their new pirate friends. But instead they’d ended up fighting a giant sea monster, fighting the pirates, burning down their ship, and washing ashore on a strange island and now they had to find something called a Lapine so they could find stuff for that Lapine and then they’d get enough money to pay for a ship to another island where they would maybe find the crystal and maybe have enough money to pay for it.

  Too complex. Too many ‘maybes’. All his life he’d gotten what he’d needed just by asking, guided by the benevolent hand of the Elders. Where were this island’s Elders? Perhaps they could find some in town and then they would get the guidance they needed.

  Hishano and Karugo walked toward the town in clothes borrowed from Seth, with bellies that were closer to full thanks to his wife Martha. The size of the town was about the size of the biggest town on Tandoku Island: ten or twenty thousand people crammed into a tiny area. This one was a bit more haphazard than a typical Tandoku town, but that was to be expected. These people were unhappy, and it was hard to plan properly and keep order while unhappy. At least the giant grey boulders around town seemed to be placed neatly, forming an effective wall.

  When they got closer, however, was when the real differences showed themselves.

  People yelled in the street at passing friends instead of something more proper, like a small approving smile or a quiet word of greeting. Even worse, they sometimes yelled things — rude things! — at strangers instead of seeking proper resolution.

  The smells shifted and wavered depending on where they walked, from stale dirt to fragrant spices to rotten wood and then a whole host of smells that Hishano couldn’t recognize.

  “Get you some stew!” yelled a man who stirred a giant pot. Hishano tried not to flinch from both the harshness of the man’s voice — a volume which would only be used on Tandoku Island in times of great danger — and the overwhelming smell of spice emanating from his brew. “You look hungry! It’s early in the day, my pot overflows. Special price for you.”

  Karugo, of course
, went bounding off toward the man, and Hishano dutifully followed.

  “You look a bit sick today, so don’t get too close,” said the man. “I’ll scoop out the stew and you toss over the money. Twenty heffo each, or two mezcop.”

  He handed a bowl to Karugo, who started hurriedly scarfing it down.

  “So money is real?” asked Hishano.

  The man raised his eyebrows. “You two have money, right?” He saw Hishano’s confused, embarrassed expression, and frowned. “You two get to share that first bowl. I’m not a charity. Sun-baked urchins. I bet you’re not even sick… is that green dye in your hair? Did you dye yourselves green to get pity? You didn’t even do a good job. Here, I was like you once. You gotta be more subtle. The green has to be lighter, and just your face. You fooled me for a bit, I got a soft spot for kids that look hungry, but you won’t last for a second like you’re doing. Someone else might’ve chased you away, beat you up. Now if you’re looking for a place to sleep, my house is off limits, but I know some places that—”

  “We’re sorry, we didn’t mean to trick you,” said Hishano, interrupting the man’s monologue. “We’re from a different island, where we’re all green and we don’t use money.”

  The man’s eyes narrowed and his grip around the spoon tightened. “I don’t appreciate being lied to. Especially after how nice I’m being.”

  “Do you know where we can find Hoppin’ Harry? They say he has jobs where we can make money.”

  “Is someone trying to kill you?” The man lifted his spoon from the stew and waved it around wildly, flinging bits of carrot and potato everywhere. A burning-hot chunk of meat landed on Karugo’s face and he gobbled it up without thinking. “You’re what, fifteen? Just the age to think you can handle those suicide runs that Hoppin’ Harry calls missions. I tell you, those white rocks are all around our town for a reason. I ought to beat you up right now to save your life.”

  Karugo finished the stew in his bowl. “What’s your power?” he asked.

  Hishano and the man both blinked in surprise at the question, and then the man laughed. “You really are too stupid to live. Ignoring my advice, ignoring the danger…”

  “You seem cool; I want to know your power.” Why was Karugo continuing? And why was the man laughing?

  “You are just like me when I was your age. And you got potential. Your green is a bit more subtle than your friend’s, you ate your stew before I found out you didn’t have money… okay, I’ll tell you my power. It’s smell. I can smell the perfect blend of spices. Why so many, you ask? Because I have to pile them on or I can also smell the sewers from blocks away. What’s your power?”

  Karugo stuck his hand in the fire, then flared it, making the fire temporarily double in size.

  “Interesting,” said the man. “What’s your super?”

  “My what?”

  “You know, your super. A bigger, flashier version of your power. Usually you pass out afterward.”

  “Uhh….”

  “Really?” The man sighed. “Maybe you really are from another, far more backward island. Anyways, I’d recommend you not push your power. My guess is that using your super in town would make you a lot of enemies. Fire and wood acting how they do.”

  This was very interesting, but it was not helping them get money so they could get the Adiamite Crystal. This man didn’t look as if he needed saving either. They needed to move on.

  “Where can we find Hoppin’ Harry?” asked Hishano.

  The man glared at Hishano. “Can’t you see we’re talking here?”

  “We do need to go there,” said Karugo. “We hear he has adventures for us.”

  The man was silent for a time. He looked into his stew and stirred. Finally he sighed. “Well, if you really do have a death wish, I can’t stop you.” He gave directions, pantomiming a complex series of turns. “Just make sure you knock first, and don’t enter until he says to. And for goodness sake, if you feel like the mission is too hard, turn back. I know what it’s like to be young and stupid. I barely got out of that phase alive!”

  “Thanks!” said Hishano, too loudly. This place was getting to him.

  “Yeah, thanks!” yelled Karugo excitedly as they turned to go. “Your soup is real good.”

  “Come back anytime!” said the man. “With money!” he added, almost as an afterthought.

  Hishano and Karugo walked side by side, ambling along unfamiliar roads and trying to decipher the directions they’d been given. Hishano had never seen Karugo this happy, and that made him happy. After spending his entire life trying to protect Karugo and bring him down to a level that the other Tandoku would be comfortable with, maybe this was what the other boy really needed. Not protection, not safety, but adventure. The only thing that the Tandoku Elders couldn’t provide.

  They asked more people how to find Hoppin’ Harry, and with each dire warning Karugo got more excited. If it weren’t for his healing power, Hishano would be terrified by this point. He was a bit scared for Karugo, but he’d seen the boy heal at an extraordinary rate before, after fighting the moltfryn. The excitement carried them both onward.

  Finally they came to a doorway in a back alleyway. It had a pair of rabbit ears drawn over the doorway, and a big sign that read ‘KNOCK’, both of which indicated that they were probably in the right place.

  Hishano knocked.

  There was no answer.

  He waited thirty seconds, then knocked again.

  No answer. A bit of shuffling from inside, but no answer.

  “Hello?” he yelled through the door.

  He knocked for a third, fourth, and fifth time.

  No answer.

  Maybe the Lapine was out. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to take a peek inside, just to make sure they were in the right place. They really needed to figure it out so they could get some money, pay the farmer, then sail off and buy the crystal to save their island.

  Hishano tried the handle and found the door unlocked.

  He turned the handle, stepped in. There was a blur of motion, an afterimage of white fur disappearing, and in the dim lamp-light he could see brief metallic flashes a split second before he felt them — three shurikens embedded deep in his stomach.

  5

  Hoppin' Harry

  “Didn’t you see the sign?” a thin voice cried out from the corner. “Knock!”

  Hishano pulled the shurikens from his stomach, one by one, and dropped them on the floor. “I did! Five times!”

  As his eyes adjusted to the dim lamp-light, he could see a white-furred humanoid rabbit curled in a defensive crouch in the corner, long ears twitching. It slowly straightened up to its full height of about five feet, grabbing a nearby shelf to keep steady and never putting any weight on its right leg. The whole time it kept its large eyes fixed firmly on Hishano.

  “You should’ve kept knocking. Or gone away. Who are you?” It squinted and its hand quivered. “Close the door. My eyes aren’t used to being out of the warren. Shouldn’t you see a doctor for that stomach wound?”

  “You’re the one who made the stomach wound!” Hishano didn’t usually speak this forcefully. Perhaps Karugo was rubbing off on him. Or maybe he’d let his mood waver a bit when he’d gotten impaled with multiple shurikens.

  The loudness of Hishano’s voice made the rabbit twitch, and then… disappear.

  “It’s not my fault you didn’t knock enough!” said the rabbit’s voice from Hishano’s left. Had that thing really moved over there? How had it moved the length of the room in a split second?

  “I knocked five times!”

  The rabbit twitched, disappeared, and showed up sitting at a desk facing Hishano. It was flipping hurriedly through a thick book. “And each time you used the wrong code. How do I know you’re not an enemy?”

  Karugo had apparently had enough. “You got us. We knocked because we came to kill you. Because that’s what people do. I have a whole speech planned out explaining our evil intentions. Do you want to—”

&
nbsp; The rabbit twitched and appeared behind Karugo, violently shoving the boy’s arm against his back in a joint lock and pressing a knife to his throat. “I knew it. I should have never left the warren. They said it was like this, but I didn’t listen. I wanted adventure, and all the mates it would bring. Now humans send strange-colored children after me to send me to my death. I knew it! Well, listen closely. I am a Lapine. The living embodiment of death. Tell your employers that if they cross me again, they shall—”

  “We heard you had missions, and could pay us in money,” interrupted Hishano. “If that’s not true, we can leave.”

  The Lapine softened. “Oh. Why didn’t you say so?”

  He twitched and appeared across the room, grabbing a pair of crutches. With those under his armpits he moved briskly back toward the boys, careful never to put any weight on his right leg. He’d gotten the jump on them even with such a handicap? When he got to them, he transferred both crutches to his right arm and stuck his left out to shake.

  The hand had a thick furry palm, but its fingers were longer and more dexterous-looking than a human’s. It felt weird as Hishano shook it.

  “I’m H’raldri, ninja of the Snowshoe clan. Known to the humans around here as ‘Hoppin’ Harry’, because they can’t do me the courtesy of remembering my name. Pleased to meet you. I run this humble apothecary. Humble not because of my skills, which are great, but because no one brings me good ingredients anymore.”

  “Is it because you shuriken your guests?”

  H’raldri narrowed his eyes and was silent for a moment before responding. “If they didn’t knock with the right code, they had it coming.”

  Karugo coughed in amazement. “Why is it that the evil people are always so cool?”