by Billy Wong
A handsome, smooth-skinned black man dressed in light gold and blue robes charged to meet her, whipping a shining scimitar at her face. Her broadsword halted the sharp steel, and she pushed him forcefully away. He stumbled and fell, gasping at her strength. Rose raised her sword and brought it down. His lighter weapon shattered at the impact, and the officer found himself at the end of her huge blade. He blinked then, and said softly as if in shock, "I yield."
#
Finn groaned. "Enemies of the nation of Sevria?! We haven't even taken part in the war! Why would they come after us?" The defeated leader had confirmed himself an officer of the Sevrian navy, who'd come after the Tortoise 3 after learning of wanted enemies of Sevria on board. Now Finn argued with Jeffrey, understandably irate over the attack on his ship.
Rose stood thinking quietly as Derrick sat looking wretched by her side, curled up like a snake but still determined to hear this argument play out. She wondered if some important Sevrian held a grudge against her or Finn for friends or family killed aiding Prince Wilner. Jeffrey was quite angry, and she ready to act against him if necessary. The ship rightfully belonged to him, but she wasn't about to be kicked off to die in the sea if it came to that.
"You didn't know you were wanted in the city you were going to?! Are you fools, or do you want me to believe that they want you for no reason?" Fists clenched and teeth bared, the captain seemed close to violence which could not end well for him. "You've gotten members of my crew, friends, killed for your ignorance. Why should I let you stay, and take you into a city where they'll condemn us for it?"
Finn matched his furious stare with a cool, steady gaze. "You can't kill us for a mistake. We didn't come on board to hurt you, and never thought we would. But I speak for all of us when I say we'll do what it takes to survive."
"The three of you can't crew this ship, so you can't just kill us. And I won't be seen taking you to Mulhiri."
Though irked by his harshness, Rose didn't seek a fight with innocent merchants. She spoke up, seeing a chance for compromise. "How about you take us within sight of the port and give us a rowboat to use for the rest of the trip? That should keep you safe for the time being, considering the only Servians to see you with us are stranded in a ruined ship."
Reluctant though he was to concede anything to them, Jeffrey gave a slow nod. "All right. You can stay until we're close to Mulhiri, and enter separately."
They shook hands then as if to seal the deal, but Rose didn't quite lower her guard. She wondered what would happen if another Sevrian ship approached them before they reached Mulhiri. Would Jeffrey fight with them again, or give them up to the enemy? If he thought to do the latter, Rose knew that Finn would spare him no mercy.
#
Fortunately, they never had to find that out firsthand, for the tall towers of Mulhiri soon came into view. Though the port still seemed far off, they gave the Tortoise hasty farewells and rowed away. Derrick's seasickness faded before his anticipation of reaching land, and he began to root about in Rose's pack minutes after they left the ship.
She looked admonishingly at him. "What are you doing? You're not supposed to touch other people's things. What are you looking for?"
"The magic compass, of course. We haven't remembered to check it since the fight. I hope we didn't pass by whatever it's pointing at."
Rose quickly found the gem and smiled. "Whew, still pointing west. I hope it isn't any farther than Mulhiri, though. We've had enough trouble getting here."
"Trouble isn't over yet," Finn said as he scanned the waves, and Derrick realized they'd still have to brave the strong tides, no problem for a ship but rough for a boat, off Mulhiri's coast. Suddenly, he didn't feel so well again.
As he struggled to hold down the contents of his stomach while the others rowed, Derrick considered that Rose, as good a person as she was, could be rather shortsighted. She had disabled the Sevrian warship, leaving it adrift, in order to spare the lives of its surviving crew; but what would happen when they were rescued? Their search was a race against time now, as the shipmen would surely alert the authorities in Mulhiri then. And if they weren't found, there would have been no point to her mercy, as they would die as surely as if she let Finn execute them.
But Derrick supposed there had not been a better option for Rose at the time, and her course of action had been the best—if not perfect—compromise between mercy and self-preservation possible at that moment. That she came to her choice so quickly spoke to the speed of decision she had been forced to develop in her warrior existence. The world did not always offer flawless solutions, he understood, and one should not indulge in the futility of striving exclusively for them.
When they finally reached shore, Rose and Finn helped Derrick out of the little boat onto the beach, all three soaking wet. They'd decided to land a few miles outside the city and walk in, instead of drawing unneeded attention by rowing to the docks. Finn gave the scholar's shoulder a light shake. "You all right? Looking really tired there."
Derrick shook his head, flinging water all over his friends. "I'll be fine. I've been seasick for the last week, but it's nothing a nice immobile inn bed won't cure. So let's hurry there!"
Finn too longed for the bustle of the city, and Rose missed being able to choose foods other than fish. So despite their fatigue, they hustled towards Mulhiri. As they walked, Derrick decided to look at the magic ruby once again and saw something interesting. "Look! It's pointing north, now that we're directly south of Mulhiri. Look like we've come to the right island."
"Yes, but Mulhiri's still a big place, and who knows if the thing is in the city proper, buried below, or whatnot. So let's not start thinking we don't have work left to do yet." Despite her words of caution Rose smiled, and Derrick knew she shared his excitement at being at least within sight of their goal—though its form was yet to be seen.
Chapter 11
"Wow, it is big," Finn said to Rose's agreement. Not only was Mulhiri large in area, and the streets thickly packed with people, but everything in it was big— buildings tall, streets wide, walls high and thick. The stoic dark-skinned guards who watched over the streets like statues also proved consistently of tall, heroic stature, though that hardly intimidated Rose.
The construction also seemed a lot, for lack of a better word, "fancier" than she was used to—all the public buildings, and many belonging to the wealthy, were made of beautifully polished stone of various kinds. Even the lesser works of architecture were generally built of sturdy masonry, rather than the wood commonly used in Kayland. The streets were paved smooth, and they frequently passed monuments to past rulers or heroes of Sevria which shone in the daylight. Too, Sevrian construction seemed almost exempt from the ravages of time and use, for scarcely a flaw could be seen in its beauty.
Rose turned her eyes from place to place in wonder, straining to see the tops of great towers which blocked the sky. "This is what I always imagined a city of the Old World must've looked like. It's no wonder Sevria calls itself the greatest nation in the world. Even the capital of Kayland looks like a country hamlet compared to this--and to think, Mulhiri isn't even the capital of Sevria! Derrick, I think I once heard something about Sevria being the closest thing to the Old World that exists today—what do you say?"
The scholar chuckled. "Buying into the image Sevria wants you to see? They may have impressive building skills, but certainly don't retain the magic of the Old World. Though, it may be true that Sevria proper stands where a center of the Old World once did, for their lands seem unnaturally fertile and their weather perfect as if by magic. But this colony, they simply made and maintain through wealth garnered through trade."
"Still, it's amazing. I wonder if they put as much into their arts of war, as they do in their other crafts." Rose was once curious and slightly shaken at the thought.
Finn put a huge arm over her shoulders and held her close. "You're just letting your womanly awe of beauty get to you. You fought and killed many Sevrians in the war
, remember? Derrick tells me you cut through them like straw. I fought some too. They're well-trained and brave, generally speaking, but not superhuman at all."
Rose remembered the beautifully garbed dark men who had fallen at her hands by the score, and wondered guiltily at how much knowledge and wisdom she had stripped from the world by killing such learned folk. But she also recalled how well those men fought on the battlefield, always alert and attentive of their surroundings, swift to adjust their tactics, and indeed, well trained in personal combat.
"I know we can beat them individually. It's just that... they seem so much more than Kayland, as a whole. Can our humble nation survive against such a power?"
Finn's voice took on a lofty, overdramatic tone. "It seemed impossible that what forces King Benedict sent to the Brushknoll could stop Prince Wilner from expanding into Kayland. The people of Whitehill were terrified to even think of standing up to the ancient dragon who sowed terror upon their land. And all things considered, Kayland should be overrun with possessed leaders by now. But all that's done, and we know why. Because of the might of brave warriors who would not allow such evil to stand."
Rose laughed as they came to the entrance of a tavern invitingly, if not creatively, named the Tall Glass. "So are we just flattering ourselves, or are you suggesting we go help fight the Sevrians?"
Finn opened the door and held it for her, putting on his best gentleman's voice as he replied. "Whichever way you take it, milady."
#
Derrick grew worried at the direction of the lovers' conversation. To say he hadn't enjoyed his stint as a soldier would be a gross understatement, and though he knew his friends had suffered much in that time as well, they didn't seem nearly as reluctant about getting involved in another war.
It displeased him to hear Rose say, "We'll finish this search first, and after that who knows? I doubt if it came down to it, though, that I'd sit idly while Sevria overran my country."
They found a clean table away from the bulk of the patrons and sat while Finn went to order food and drinks from the bar. Despite the darkness of the room, Rose easily read the worry on Derrick's face. "What's wrong? You don't seem your usual excited self, and this place is right up your alley."
"I'm enjoying the sights of the city, but you and Finn's talk of war is scaring the hell out of me. I'm willing to try anything once, but I really don't have the stomach for that again. Being surrounded by death was bad enough, especially in the beginning, but when we thought you died, and Finn practically went insane with grief and rage, I didn't think I could take any more.
"I was so happy when you came back, but then both of you left, and I was captured—it was awful. And you and Finn suffered worse than me! How can you bear to think of repeating that experience?" He looked pleadingly at her, wanting her to deny she'd ever consider it again.
She embraced him comfortingly, and her voice was sad when she spoke. "I hate the gloom and grief of the battlefield too. If it was up to me, there'd never be another war for all time. But you know as I do that war is inevitable in a world with human beings, and even the goodliest of people must raise arms to defend what is theirs if they want to survive. And it does no good to wait until the enemy's at your doorstep to fight back.
"Better I think, once you've named your enemy, to seek him out and stop him before he grows strong and his momentum overwhelming. You saw what happened with Prince Wilner. How many good men did he kill after being left unchecked for twenty years, when it was obvious he planned no good for Kayland from the start? Now imagine if he'd been stopped before he ever grew strong enough to push our forces as hard as he did. We might not even be at war with Sevria now."
Derrick understood her stance, but he didn't like it, at least relating to them personally. He wished they could just hide away from the problems of the world, though he knew if everyone did that, it would be a bleak place indeed. "I won't try to stop you from doing what you feel you must, Rose—not that I could, anyway. I'll always support you on whatever path your noble heart leads you. But for myself, I don't know if I could handle being in such a bleak place again. Still, I'll help you however I can. I'd be a knave not to, after all you and Finn suffered for my sake."
A throaty chuckle issued from her mouth, and the kindness in her eyes soothed him. "Oh, don't dwell on that. Of course I came to help you, and you got Finn to come after me and forsake his stubborn pride. I'm glad, really, that you went to fight in defense of the Brushknoll and led us to do what we did. I mean, if Wilner had taken over the place, according to him we'd be facing a Sevrian invasion of the whole south. So you see now, what I meant about taking control of things before they get out of hand.
"Anyway, don't worry too much about it now. I mean, King Benedict might be able to take care of this without our help. If things start looking grim, well, this is the burden of the strong. To stand by and do nothing, when there's a chance to turn things around, isn't something I'd like to remember doing."
Derrick became aware he was tracing a faded scar on her face with his finger, and wondered if Finn would mind. He jerked the digit back, blushing, and blurted out an apology. "Sorry! I was enthralled by your words, and forgot my manners. I didn't mean anything by it."
Rose giggled. "It's okay. I don't take a touch so badly. Besides, you're like a little brother to me. What would I fear from you? So how are my scars, anyway? Do they look bad?"
He looked at her closely, trying to imagine what he'd see if she was a stranger and not one of his closest friends. She smiled coyly as he took her in. The shape of her round face was still pleasant, and her gentle features would have been comely—but gods, those scars...
"Honestly? If I didn't know who you were, I'd think you were horribly ugly. But you can't separate the face from the person. Knowing what you did to get those scars makes them beautiful. You're a beautiful person, Rose. Everyone who knows you knows that."
"Thanks for that. Back in my village, when I was a little girl, people always used to tell me how pretty I was. Now, not so much. I knew why, but when you put it that way, I don't feel bad about it."
"I'm glad you didn't take that the wrong way... was kind of afraid you would. But I never thought you cared about such things."
"You're right, I don't care, really. I suppose seeing this place just makes me more aesthetically curious. I hope the food tastes as nice as everything looks!"
Derrick looked up as Finn brought a heaping platter of steamed clams back with him. The lovers took no time at all to start digging into the exquisite-smelling meal, and though his stomach still felt quite unsettled, Derrick lost the battle against temptation and joined them. Finn's approving slap on the back almost made him spit out a mouthful of delectable seafood.
"Go on, the sooner you get your strength back the better. You might just be needing it soon."
#
The lovers chomped down their food in a hurry, eager to look around the city a bit more before night fell, and Derrick was left to carry out part of his meal to eat on the go. As they wandered the streets, they kept a constant eye on the magic compass, hoping it would give them some clue when they were getting closer to whatever it pointed to. Soon, the dark spot in the gem drifted upward towards the sky.
"Hmm, probably in one of those tall towers," Derrick said.
Rose looked up, and saw the new insight might not be as helpful as she'd hoped. There were a lot of towers. "Let's go to the middle of town. We should be able to see where in the city our target is located from there."
The town square was immense, with tiles tinted with gold, and bustling with droves of people. The companions could hardly take their eyes off the seemingly limitless array of goods, especially various foods, displayed by the street merchants, but finally Rose looked at the stained ruby and saw its darkness had slid towards the west again.
They looked towards the towers of the western city, and above all a bronze citadel rose blazing even in the dying sun, eight spires piercing the sky around the circu
lar dome. Finn whistled. "I'd give odds to that one holding what we're looking for, even if there are tons of lesser towers. Let's take a walk around the place and make sure."
Their walk around the shining palace confirmed the gem's attraction to something inside. A quick investigation identified it as belonging to a wealthy duke by the name of Sumafu, known as a wise and benevolent man who often gave to the... less wealthy, as the Kaylanders, Finn especially, had some trouble agreeing to call any Sevrian "poor."
Rose disliked the idea of invading an apparently kindhearted man's residence against his wishes, and it was agreed they would first attempt to convince him to allow them to enter his home. After a brief discussion with the guards, Finn was able to "persuade" them to let them in to see the duke—in reality, they simply seemed too cowed to try and stop the big man from walking past. Rose expected Sumafu to be none too happy about being disturbed without notice, and hoped he would be forgiving.
As they looked around a great sparkling lobby, she wondered how long it would take to find its master. To her surprise, it only took a few seconds for a plump, regal black man, dressed in the finest flowing silks and well-adorned with gold and gems, to descend the stairs before them. "Ah," he said, an amused smile across his soft features, "I see I have guests from afar. And formidable ones too, no doubt. What business do you have, that drives you to so urgently barge in against the will of my sentinels?"
They introduced themselves under false identities, and Rose pulled the magic gem from her pouch and held it out to him. "This gem is a magic compass of sorts we found in Dunwal, a town in the Brushknoll, which points to something within this house. We came here to find out what that something is, with your permission of course."
The duke considered her words. "Why did you come all the way from Dunwal, to find something you don't even know? You are residents of Kayland; do you seek something to help in your fight against Sevria?"
