by Scott King
"You going to fill it or what?" The woman pushed the glass toward Alex.
Understanding, Alex took the mug to get it refilled at the bar.
The woman cupped her hands around her mouth. "Caerkaldor ale. The good stuff."
Alex dug out two copper rounds from her purse and placed them on the oak bar.
The bartender held up three gnarled fingers. Alex added another copper and took the mug. She carried it carried it back to the woman, who took it, handling the mug like she would a baby. In one fell swoop, she chugged the entire thing.
"You Tamryn or not?" Alex said, her annoyance clear in her voice.
The woman smiled at Alex and slid the stein across the table.
Alex slid it back, and the woman broke into a cackling laugh. Then she scooted over to make room in the round booth. "Sit. We will talk."
Carter sat on the opposite side of the booth so that, when Alex sat, the woman was trapped between them.
"What is it you want with me?" Tamryn said. "Green John send you? You don't look like skinners, too young, but John does have a thing for the young ones."
Carter caught Alex's eyes, but she waved him off. "We have need of a vessel, and Kendall said you might be able to help."
"Kendall sent ya?" Tamryn's voice was a mix of accents. At times she spoke slow as if from Kelsam, and then there were certain words that were cut short, as if she was from Ralk. "Kendall's a decent gus. He owes me one or two. Nice to see he's finally giving me some of the please and thank-yous, if you know what I mean?"
Alex did not know what she meant. The woman was clearly drunk out of her mind and was the last person to carry them to Kale.
"Never mind." Alex slid sideways as if to stand, but Tamryn reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I ain't conventional. Never pretend to be. But I got a ship, and if you need going, I can get you there." Tamryn lifted her hand and leaned back. "For a price."
"How much to get to Kale?" Carter asked.
Tamryn lowered her mouth and narrowed her eyes. She leaned out, scanning the booths near them. "We don't say its name around here. Folk are superstitious about"–she paused as if thinking–"that place."
"Can you get us there or not?" Alex had seen enough. She didn't have time for this, and if the woman had a boat, then worse-case scenario she could get them in the right direction and pass out in a drunken stupor.
"I can." Tamryn smiled. "For a price."
"You said that." Carter leaned forward and mouthed, "I think she's drunk."
Alex shook her head. It had been a long day and was only getting longer. "We are in a hurry," Alex said. "Stop haggling and tell us what you'd want."
"How many?" Tamryn asked.
"Three of us," Carter said.
"That won't be cheap." Tamryn mimed rolling a coin between two fingers. "A risky place, multiple heads, and an expedited rush. I think..."
Alex pulled out her purse and laid the ring on the table. Tamryn put her nose close to it, as if smelling it, but Alex guessed the woman was attempting to focus her eyes.
"This reminds me of a story..." Tamryn leaned back, slouching in the booth.
Alex gritted her teeth. "We don't have time–"
"You will make time," Tamryn said. "This is one you'd want to hear..."
The Shifter and The Devourer met at a local tavern. Neither drank, for neither needed to drink.
"I want you gone from this place," The Shifter said.
"And what can you do to stop me?" The Devourer smiled, for he always wore a smile on his face.
"I can do things."
"So can I.”
“But, should we face each other," The Shifter said. "It could damage the world in a way I do not wish to see happen."
"True, but I am willing to risk that."
"I'm not, so I propose a deal." The Shifter revealed a parchment. "We hold a wager. If I win, you leave this place, and if you win, I leave."
"What is the wager?"
"We prove who is the most powerful."
"I can eat souls," The Devourer said. "Can you?"
"I can be anything I want. Can you?"
They sat in silence, neither knowing how to prove who was the most powerful. Then finally The Shifter raised an arm and pointed across the pub. "See that man, his name is Pwarthen. He is a carpenter with a wife he loves and three children."
"His soul smells young. It would be nothing more than an appetizer."
"I do not want you to prove your power by eating him. I want you to convince him to leave his family."
The Devourer watched Pwarthen like a farmer sizing up a boar before sending it to the market. Then he nodded. "I can do that."
They debated the rules, but after a time, they agreed that The Devourer had one hour to convince Pwarthen to leave his family. If he succeeded, then he won the bet. If that hour ran out with no result then, The Shifter had a half hour to convince Pwarthen. If neither were able, then both would leave the world and never return to it.
The Devourer took his time, speaking with Pwarthen, getting to know his quarry. After fifteen minutes, he decided that Pwarthen was not particularly smart, nor was he very dumb. He lacked ambitions, and what made him happy was building furniture in his shop and returning home to his family at night.
The Devourer offered Pwarthen money, fame, magic, and women. Pwarthen turned them all down, one after the other. He had no interest in such things. He had all that he wanted in the world. He was content.
The Devourer offered more, saying he would get Pwarthen a new family, and he could get him magical tools that would make him the best carpenter in the world. He could get the wood from trees that didn't exist in this place, making his creations one of a kind and powerful.
Pwarthen turned down every offer, and when the hour ran out, The Devourer was frustrated, but knew there was nothing that The Shifter could do to win the bet.
The Shifter ignored Pwarthen and left the bar.
The Devourer laughed, counting the clock.
Ten minutes later, Pwarthen's wife entered with their three children. She held the youngest in her arms and dragged the other two behind her. Pwarthen smiled in delight, for seeing his family was enough to remind him of his happiness.
Pwarthen's wife handed her husband the baby and then stepped back. Her body bubbled and oozed. It warped and grew taller and more muscular. When done, she had become a horrible creature with bones on the outside of her body and a face that was all teeth and slime.
Pwarthen was so horrified he almost dropped the child and didn't notice that all three of his offspring were crying in fear.
"This is the real me," Pwarthen's wife said. "I thought I could live this lie, pretending to be something I'm not, but it's time you know the truth. I'm The Shifter, but I still love you and think we can still be together, raising our children."
The blood drained from Pwarthen's face, and he handed back his youngest child to The Shifter. He spoke no words, but ran from the pub. No one ever saw him in that town again.
"You cheated." The Devourer sounded angry, but he still wore a smile.
"I did no such thing," The Shifter said. "I did what we agreed. I proved that I was the most powerful by getting Pwarthen to abandon his family."
"We agreed to not harm or threaten his wife."
"I didn't. I am his wife. We have been married for more than four years."
"Then this was a ruse, a trap?"
"I am The Shifter."
"It doesn't matter. I will not leave this place, and you cannot make me."
The Devourer did not understand the full extent of The Shifter's power, for it had been many years since The Shifter had visited this world. To The Devourer's horror, he discovered that not only could The Shifter be anything it wanted, but there was power in The Shifter's words. When The Shifter made a deal, it was unbreakable.
Thus The Devourer was forced from Majerä and could never return.
What does that have to do with my ring?" Ale
x asked.
"The moral is, don't make a deal unless you are the one with the secrets." Tamryn tapped the tabletop. "I recognized the crest on the ring."
"So?" Alex said.
"So, I want more." Tamryn mimed rolling a coin again.
"This ring is worth more money than you could make in a lifetime!" Alex made a fist, but released it. This wasn't an argument she would win with violence.
"The ring is stolen," Tamryn said. "I'd have to fence it as well as risk my own limbs. If you want me to take such a high risk, you'll have to pay me more."
"It's not stolen!" Alex let out a long groan.
"What else you got?" Tamryn asked.
Alex was not going to be outplayed by a drunk sailor. "How about this, you take it and be happy with it, or we will be the ones going to the guards. I'm sure the constable would love to hear about how you tried to sell us a stolen ring!"
"I did no such thing!" Tamryn slammed her palm on the table, drawing the eyes of the barkeep.
"And who are they going to believe?" Alex said. "You or me?"
Tamryn picked up her stein, giving it one final shake apparently to free the last few drops. Then she looked at Carter and back to Alex. "I knew I liked you. Let's do this."
37
Pirates
Ornsday, 21st of Winewen, 1162.111
After exiting the Bearded Stag, Tamryn stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing Doug approach them. Her hands flittered to her waist where Alex was sure a weapon of some kind was hidden.
"He's with us," Alex said.
"You are a big guy." Tamryn poked Doug in the chest.
"You smell like a boar that rolled around in its own vomit," Doug said.
Tamryn clapped and laughed. "You don't know how close you are to being right."
Doug groaned and fell in line at the back of the group.
Tamryn led them through the harbor and to the pier where her ship was docked. They made their way past a bunch of fishing vessels and other rigs, but finally stopped in front of a boat with a single sail. It was small, smaller than the one they had approached earlier, and it hung low in the water with barely two parses from the deck and the creeping waves. Written on the side of the vessel was "Saundra."
"Don't dawdle, hop on board." Tamryn looked about the pier, untying the rope that kept the boat in place. "Big man, take the capstan. Girly, unhook the boom, and boyo man the wheel."
Alex, Carter, and Doug all climbed aboard.
Tamryn finished untying the boat from the pier and climbed the gangway. Once on deck, she stared at them. "Why aren't you doing what I ordered?"
"None of us know what those things are," Carter said.
The humor was gone from Tamryn's eyes. She pointed to a horizontal bar. "Capstan." She pointed to the horizontal shaft protruding from the mast. "Boom." She then pointed to the back of the boat. "Wheel."
They took their places. From Doug's grunting, Alex guessed that he had the hardest job, while Carter's was the easiest, steering the ship while the drift of the harbor pulled it away from the pier.
The rig was a mess of knots, ropes, and pulleys. Alex wasn't sure which she should untie. "What do I do here?"
Tamryn ran to the other side of the vessel, messing with the pulleys there. "Untie the boom so I can unfurl the sail. The second you do, drop to the deck because it will swing fast."
Alex found the ropes holding the boom in place and uncoiled them from the front of the deck. The moment she finished, Tamryn hit something, and the sail flopped out, snagging in the wind. The ship lurched forward, and if Alex hadn't already been sitting low, to stay beneath the swinging boom, she would have been knocked off her feet.
Tamryn tied off the rigging, locking the sail. "Good easterly winds tonight. We can probably make it to Kale before noon."
As they sailed for the center of the harbor, Alex heard shouting and looked back to the pier they had left. A big man in leather was waving his arms and stomping as if having a temper tantrum. Other people were running toward him, and he pointed at the Saundra.
There was a flash of tinder and a red firework shot straight into the air. It exploded leaving a lingering cloud of glitter. A heartbeat later, a second firework exploded, this one green.
Alex followed the trail of the second firework and realized it must have been fired from one of the lighthouses at the harbor's entrance. There was movement on the seawall, and she could see a group of archers silhouetted by the bright agyl towers.
"Tamryn." Alex said the woman's name slowly, drawing it out. "Is this your ship?"
"It is now," Tamryn said.
"We are not stealing a ship." Carter turned the wheel, as if to head back to the pier.
Tamryn pushed him out of the way and aimed the Saundra's bow for the gap between the two lighthouses. "No good now, boyo. This ship has sailed." She broke into laughter. "If they catch us, we will all lose more than our thumbs. They don't take kindly to pirating here."
"We aren't pirates!" Carter said.
"If you aren't pirates," Tamryn said, "then why did you help me steal a ship?"
"Carter is right." Alex used a stern tone, trying to assert her authority. "Turn us around."
"I'm not going to hang because you have a weep of a conscious." Tamryn cut the wheel so that the ship turned a few degrees, allowing the sails to get maximum wind.
"They won't hang us," Alex said. "I have connections with the Duke."
"Duke ain't here," Tamryn said. "He and a battalion of ships were called west to Elene."
That was a bit of news Alex wished she had known sooner. Using her authority without Duke Kelsworth around would have been easy. Not only could they have gotten a boat in a more legal way, but they probably could have gotten a more reliable captain and a much faster vessel. Though at the same time, without anyone to vouch for who she was, they might have run into the same trouble as they did in Compitum. If they turned around, what was to stop a mob of angry sailors or the local authorities from locking them up?
"Are we stealing the ship or not?" Doug asked. "If we aren't, then I'll throw her overboard, and you two steer the ship."
Tamryn dipped a hand into the front of her jacket and removed iron knuckles with jagged teeth. "Touch me, and you'll pay for it."
"She's right," Alex said. "It's too late now. Going back will only slow us down and might put us in more trouble."
"You sure?" Carter asked.
Alex nodded.
Looking over each of them, Tamryn lowered her hand. She then glanced back at Doug as if she still didn't trust him. "This is going to get a bit hairy. I had hoped we'd at least make it past the towers before word got out. Never thought Jetsam would notice. I janked his ship so quickly."
"Why did we steal Jetsam's boat?" Carter asked.
"Ship," Tamryn tapped the wheel. "She ain't got paddles. This is a ship."
"Ok, why did we steal this ship?" Carter said.
"Jetsam doesn't treat his wife right," Tamryn said.
"Like he's mean to her?" Carter asked.
"Like he beats her, which for a Garan ain't too uncommon. There have been plenty of times she gave him a beating too, but this last time, he walked in on us. He nearly beat her to death." Tamryn pulled open her shirt revealing a scar on her shoulder. "He thought he had killed me, and well, you can't blame a man for beating his wife's lover, that's natural, but what he did to her was wrong."
"He had to have seen you," Alex said. "What's to stop him from taking this out on her?"
"Saundra, such a lovely sounding name, ain't it?" Tamryn smiled. "Saundra's brother was going to get her away from him. You met him earlier, Kendall."
And now it all clicked in place for Alex. They were messengers sent to let Tamryn know that Saundra was safe; and they were extra hands to help her steal the ship. It was smooth, and if Alex wasn't annoyed at being the one played, she would have thought it was impressive. "You realize that if we live through this, I'm voiding our payment. We never agreed to help you steal a
ship."
"Fine by me," Tamryn said. "Course, nothing to stop me from taking you somewhere other than Kale. Lund should be nice this time of year."
"I can still throw you overboard," Doug said.
"And if you do, you'll have a few holes in you." Tamryn clenched her fist. "But now is not the time to haggle or argue. We have a bigger problem to deal with. We have to make it past the lighthouses."
They weren't halfway across the harbor yet, but they would soon be in arrow range.
"Carter," Alex said, "we will need you to shield us. A blanket of wind should do, enough to divert any arrows."
"I'm not sure I can," he said.
"It will be easy for you." Alex pointed to the top and bottom of the towers. "They will be firing from both the tops and bases, so you'll have to keep the wind barrier pretty close to us to make sure they can't shoot below it."
"That's not what I mean."
Alex noticed a hint of worry that stuck out in his voice, and she looked at him. His cheeks were flushed, and he looked down, not meeting her eyes. "I'm still recovering from the wrents incident."
"Recovering how?" Alex asked.
"I'm weak," he said. "I probably can't muster more than a breeze."
"Summon it, and we'll make do."
"Ok, by weak, I mean I might not be able to use magic at all."
"Why didn't you say something?" Alex groaned, mimicking the long, gritty ones that Doug commonly let loose when dealing with Carter.
"I hoped it would come back." Carter traced an agyl in the air, but when he finished, nothing happened.
That was a massive problem. A problem that Carter should have told them about the second he knew. To be fair, he had warned her that magicians could burn out their power.
It also wasn't Carter's fault. He'd had no choice. If he hadn't acted, they all would have died, killed by the wrents or the melting cavern. The bigger concern of course was, without his magic, how would they undo the spell controlling all the dragons? No, she couldn't worry about that now. She had to prioritize. The next thing they faced was a volley of arrows meant to kill them.
"Carter's magic is out," Alex said, "which we will deal with later. What else we got to stop arrows? Anything?"
