by Jeff Sabean
The humor left Hankish’s face and his eyes turned cold as he looked the man directly in the eyes, all traces of intoxication disappearing immediately.
“That was the wrong thing to say. You, sir, are a poor loser.”
As he spoke, he subtly turned the neck of his lute toward the man with the wicked looking blade pointed at him, and as he continued to play a crossbow quarrel launched from the neck of the lute and lodged itself in the man’s throat. His eyes opened widely and he sank to the floor at Hankish’s feet as he dug wildly at the bolt in his throat. His last breath escaped his lips as he sank to the floor in front of Hankish’s seat, his eyes wide open in utter disbelief that the little bard had killed him.
“Why must you always shoot first?” Abugraic asked, shaking his head as he approached from the bar.
“Because I prefer to continue living, of course,” Hankish replied with a wink as he dropped his feet from the table onto the back of his would-be attacker.
“I could have rendered the drunken buffoon unconscious, which would have drawn less attention.”
“Well, then, I suppose this game has run its course,” the halfling lamented as he began shoveling his winnings from the table into a bag that appeared too tiny to hold it all. As the last piece of the loot dropped in, he closed the top of the small satchel, bowed politely to the other players at the table, and walked away passively. Abugraic followed along, the dagger he had slid into his hand in case his brother had needed help still in his palm, his eyes scanning the crowd for any sign of trouble.
On the street, Abugraic stopped to look his brother in the eye.
“If you let them win more often, you would not need to do that,” Abugraic grumbled, then he turned toward the inn where they were staying. He had learned a long time ago not to let Hankish gamble in the same establishment where they were sleeping so they had somewhere to disappear to in the event a fight broke out.
“But that would not be as fun for either one of us,” Hankish laughed as he skipped along, whistling a tune.
As the two reached the inn, Hankish felt a familiar vibration on his wrist and heard a quiet chirp, indicating that his friend Aki was reaching out to him through the communication device Zatus had given him. A wide smile spread across his face as he lifted his wrist to eye level and pressed the button to allow a small hologram of his friend to appear floating in the air before his eyes.
“Aki, my friend, it is good to see you as always,” Hankish said as the image of the human appeared.
“And you always make me nervous when you are so excited to see me, little guy,” laughed Aki.
“Only because life with you is always more fun!” the halfling exclaimed.
Abugraic opened his mouth to make a snide comment, but before he was able to speak, the door of the tavern they just left burst open and a huge man came running toward the pair, carrying a massive war hammer and screaming for them to stop and be punished for their crimes.
Hankish turned, and with a gleam in his eye unslung his lute from his back, lifting it and beginning to play a lively tune. As the man got within a few strides of the duo, his feet seemed to be stuck in syrup, slowing his movement to a crawling pace. Abugraic, who suddenly moved impossibly fast, stepped swiftly to the side, coming around behind the man and slipping his dagger into the base of the attacker’s skull. The man continued to struggle through one more step before his brain registered that his body was no longer alive, and he dropped to a heap in the dusty street.
Grinning, Hankish played a few more notes on his lute before returning it to his back as he walked into the inn. Abugraic turned to follow, his movement immediately returned to a normal speed as the bard’s song ceased.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” Aki asked, a look of concern crossing the holographic image of his face.
“Of course not, why would do you ask?” Hankish asked innocently, pretending not to notice the patrons of the inn staring at him as he passed them with a floating hologram on his arm.
“Oh, no reason, I suppose. Anyway, are the two of you looking for an adventure?”
“Aki, my friend, I am always looking for adventure,” Hankish replied at the same time Abugraic was muttering, “No, we are not.”
Aki paused while the brothers glared at each other, then burst out laughing.
“There won’t be any treasure this time, I don’t think, but we could definitely use your assistance. We discovered that Fion is being held captive by the king of Rattanda, and if we rescue him, we may even be able to figure out how we ended up in this world.”
The silence hung in the air as Hankish and Abugraic continued to stare at each other, and then without turning his eyes from his brother, Hankish replied:
“We will meet you in the port city of Aibara.”
Chapter 6 – Traveling to Aibara
The winds were with the Slip Away, or so Tylo said, and the companions found themselves off the coast in just under six days, with less than a half day’s travel time to reach the city. The voyage had been uneventful, although twice they had seen sails on the horizon, but the reputation of the Slip Away and its pirate-hunting crew apparently preceded them, and both times the vessels fled when they came within visual range.
“We should drop the pirate here if we are going to honor our agreement with him,” Heishi stated, looking at the dense vegetation on the shore. “I am sure we will be able to do what we need to do and be gone before he can walk through that to the port.”
“Aye, toss ‘im overboard, let the rat swim,” Tylo called to his bosun, eliciting cheers from the crew.
“I meant take him to shore in a dinghy...” Heishi began, but was cut short with the boos coming from the crew.
“Let the rat swim,” Di’eslo interjected from his side, the shadows curling from his skin intensifying as his anger welled toward the pirate who had been part of imprisoning his brother.
Following a chorus of cheers, Tylo made his way below deck with a few of his crew, emerging a short time later with the pirate captain in tow. The pirate had a haughty look on his face as he looked down his nose at the crew, meeting their eyes and daring any of them to mistreat him. Then his eyes locked with those of Di’eslo, and the arrogant look disappeared in a heartbeat, replaced with one of pure terror.
“Keep that one away from me!” he screeched, pushing to stay on the far side of the deck from the angry shadow elf.
A raucous laugh erupted from the crew, and the pirate was shoved roughly in front of a plank that was extended from the side of the ship out over the water.
“Walk the plank, if ye please,” Tylo stated sarcastically, completing the request by removing his hat and giving a mock bow.
“I’ll do no such thing! Do you know who I am?” the pirate screamed, regaining a bit of his indignance at the thought of walking a plank like a common crew member.
“I do not care who you are, only that you laid your filthy hands on my brother. Be glad Captain Tylo found you before I did, or there would be no agreement to release you unharmed,” Di’eslo stated, his hard stare leaving no room for debate.
The captain wilted visibly under the shadow elf’s stare, but he held his ground on the deck, refusing to step onto the plank. The crew of the Slip Away fell silent, not wanting to risk the wrath of the dangerous elf, and it seemed as if all present were holding their breath in anticipation. Di’eslo took a single step toward the pirate, and the calm was broken as he yelped, turned and virtually ran down the plank, jumping as far as he could from the end of it away from the vessel.
A cheer lifted from the deck as the man splashed down into the water some twenty feet below, then came up sputtering and cursing as he began swimming toward shore, which was several hundred yards away.
“Swim faster, ye dog!” one of the crew bellowed, throwing an empty bottle of booze at the man.
The crew continued to jeer and laugh at the displaced pirate captain as he continued to swim, fully clothed and carrying his cutlass on his side.
Tylo allowed his crew this bit of fun for all their hard work lately, and Di’eslo watched in anger as the man slowly got away.
Around fifty feet from the shore, the man was able to stand up. After a few steps, he turned and made an obscene gesture at the men on the ship. Turning back to freedom, he took a few more steps, and suddenly there was a churning in the water to his side. As the crew watched, a small whirlpool erupted, dragging him toward the side instead of toward the land. The pirate was dragged screaming into the center of the whirlpool, where the two halves of a giant clam broke the surface of the water on either side of him and slammed shut, silencing him forever, before dropping back under water.
The crew stopped immediately, staring in silence at where the man had just been eaten, and then the snickering began. It drifted across the deck, turning into a more pronounced laughter as it went. Before Tylo could stop it, his crew were laughing hysterically and cracking crude jokes about the pirate being eaten.
Heishi and his companions kept stony looks on their faces as they looked to Di’eslo, wondering what his response would be. The shadow elf remained quiet for a few minutes, then nodded his head in appreciation.
“It would appear there are no survivors to tell the tale of Tylo the Blue. For that I am sorry, Captain, but that man got what he deserved. I hope it takes a long time to be digested in that clam.” He paused, nodded his head again, and headed below deck.
“I’ll let you know when we reach the port,” Heishi called to his back as he disappeared.
“Aye get back to work ye bums,” Tylo called to his crew. “The faster we get to Aibara, the sooner we be replenishing the rum supply!”
With a cheer, the ship continued its course toward the port.
◆◆◆
The sun was high in the sky as they reached the port of Aibara. Di’eslo walked onto the deck to view the city, wondering if he would be accepted or if he would have to hide his heritage.
City turned out to be a stretch of the term, as it appeared the port existed solely to allow ships to unload cargo and leave. The water was not deep enough at the single dock for a ship to pull all the way in, forcing them to anchor off the coast and ferry in their goods, thus preventing pirates from getting any ideas about sacking the port. The buildings that would be considered a part of the city were more hovels than buildings, pieced together with mud straw, with the largest being constructed of sunbaked bricks. The jungle crept right up to the edge of the hovels, and it was obvious there was little to no protection from outside attacks.
A river flowed into the ocean along the eastern edge of the port, and from what Di’eslo could see from the deck of the ship there were many fishing boats dotted along the surface of the river. It was not wide enough to support a ship the size of the Slip Away, so it was obvious that they would be required to walk or pay a fishing boat to take them the rest of the way.
Heishi appeared beside his shadow elf friend, and the two looked over the squalor of the port in silence for a few minutes before either spoke.
“Tylo says the city of Rattanda is at least a day’s journey from here,” Heishi began softly, not wanting to interrupt his friend’s thoughts. When Di’eslo turned to face the human, he continued, “This is where the nefarious goods are offloaded and sorted, some being kept here to sell to merchant ships who come for good deals on exotic items, and the best being taken to Rattanda for the king to use as he sees fit.
“The way to the city is not an easy one, running through the desert, and he says there are bandits who will attack travelers if they are not under the official protection of the city. We can either pay for protection, or we can risk fighting our way through.”
Di’eslo nodded his understanding, then turned to stare at the port again. The ship slid smoothly to a halt, the anchor dropping and leaving them a hundred yards or so from the dock. They would use the longboat to bring any goods to sell or trade to the dock, offloading Di’eslo and his companions to make their way to Rattanda.
“I will not pay extortion prices to these thieves,” Di’eslo stated solemnly. “If any bandits wish to test our resolve, we will leave the path that much safer for the next travelers.”
A smile flashed across Heishi’s face before he hid it, understanding the gravity of his friend’s statement.
“Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go find your brother.”
Chapter 7 – Aibara
The five travelers stood on the dock watching as Tylo waved to them from the deck of the Slip Away. He had explained that as much as he would love to assist in their quest, his chondri skin would not hold up under a desert sun. Besides, if his ship were to dock for an indefinite period, who would keep the waters free of pirates?
A small being approached as the group turned toward the city. It appeared to be half man and half rat, standing around three and a half feet tall with human hands and feet but distinctly rat-type facial features and a tail swaying behind him. The rat-man wore no shoes, the fur on the top of his feet showing beneath the legs of his baggy dark blue pants. He wore a wrinkled, dirty grey sleeveless shirt with a strikingly clean orange sash of a satin type material tied smartly around his waist.
He twitched a bit as he approached, his nose wiggling and moving long whiskers back and forth as he pulled out a board with a paper pinned to it and a pen that looked to be a sharpened porcupine quill.
“Names?” it asked, nose twitching some more, its pink eyes bouncing between each member of the group, never staying still for more than a split second.
“May we have yours first?” Heishi asked, stepping forward from the group.
“No. Names?”
After a tense moment, Heishi gave the names of the five members of the group, then stared hard at the little rat man.
“Purpose for visiting Aibara?”
“Trading,” Heishi replied coldly.
“No. Ship dropped you off and leaving. Purpose for visiting Aibara?” the rat man tensed, taking a slight step backward while puffing out his chest in what the group guessed was an attempt to look important.
“We are traveling to Rattanda, and were told this was the closest port. We have information to trade with the king, and do not wish to be kept standing on this dock all day by you, peon,” Di’eslo stated, stepping forward and removing his hood, the shadows curling around his skin as his anger brewed hotter.
“Not scared of your kind,” the rat man stated, although he took two more steps backward as he said it. “I work for king,” he all but screeched, pointing to the orange sash around his waist. “You answer me, or you die here!”
Before the group could react, several dozen more rat men stepped from behind the barrels and boxes that were scattered along the dock. They were armed to the teeth with silver colored swords, axes, and spears that glinted in the afternoon sun as they pointed toward the group, and each wore the same orange satin sash around their waist that the rude dock master so proudly sported. The team realized that they had been hiding purposely for this reason, to provide a bit of “shock and awe” for any who might cause problems on the dock.
Trying not to laugh at the absurdity that these little rat men would be able to kill his mighty friends from the other world, Di’eslo purposely put a more relaxed look on his face and held his hands up, palms facing the dock master.
“There is no need for violence. We are travelers and new to this realm, and as such did not recognize your sash of allegiance to your king. We have information for the king, and would like to travel freely to seek an audience with him,” the shadow elf stated slowly, his eyes scanning the dock guards for any sign of attack.
“You pay customs tax, then you go to inn, maybe buy protection for trip, maybe get turned away. You pay me now,” the smug dock master stated, puffing his chest up more as the dangerous elf backed down from a fight with his guards.
“What is the customs tax?”
“You pay five...” it paused a moment, taking in the exquisite weapons and armor worn by the tra
velers, “...no, TEN gold to get into city.”
“That seems reasonable,” Di’eslo replied calmly, reaching into a pouch and pulling his hand back with ten gold coins.
“Each,” the smug rat stated as the gold coins dropped into his filthy hand.
Di’eslo shrugged his shoulders, straightening his back and standing to his full height as his eyes squinted a bit and flared a brighter shade of crimson. Elves were not tall compared to most humanoid races, and he stood just over five feet himself, but he was still able to look down on the little rat man with disgust, causing the dock master to shrink back a bit and the guards to bristle, blades flashing in the sun.
“I have enough for all of us,” Aki stated as he stepped in front of the elf and dropped forty-five more gold coins into the dock master’s hand. “With a few extra for you for the misunderstanding.”
A positively smug expression crossed the dock master’s face as his eyes flitted between Aki and Di’eslo, the gold coins disappearing into a leather pouch on his hip. He stepped to the side and waived them past, the look of a king dismissing servants on his face.
“You no make trouble in town, or king will feed you to manticore,” he stated as they passed, then turned his back on them as the guards closed in and created a wall of blades, prompting them to keep moving.
“Did he say manticore?” Tiane asked as they walked down the muddy street, looking for the inn.
“Yes. I have heard of these beasts, part lion and part scorpion, but have never seen one. They are fierce, or so I have heard. I would be excited to see one with my eyes,” Di’eslo replied.
“Unless it is eating you. I suppose that would ruin your whole day,” Aki interjected with a smirk. “We have plenty of gold from that treasure Zatus and I found a while back, so there is no need to rile up the locals being stingy,” he added with a pointed look at the elf.
