by Joe Jackson
“That’s probably our best place to start,” Aeligos said. “If all else fails, we may be able to prod the shakna-rir to spearhead south and crush this rebellion before it gains any momentum. They won’t like what Gaswell’s planning.”
“Agreed,” Sonja said.
“It shouldn’t be too difficult, either,” Typhonix said. “War is good for the social and economic systems the shakna-rir have. If they get an excuse to leave the desert and look at the lands to the south and west, they will.” Kari wasn’t the only one to fix him with an amused gaze, and he shrugged. “What? You don’t think I read those books because they’re exciting, do you?”
That drew further laughter from the group. “Remember, our goal is to avert war if we’re able,” Erik said. “If they wanted the shakna-rir to crush Gaswell and conquer half the island, they’d have sent different emissaries to accomplish that. I think the assumption we’re to go on is that the demon is somehow behind this, and that war is probably the demon’s ultimate goal. War on the island will attract the attention of the larger nations of Dannumore, and if they decide to go to war, it’ll look like the Apocalypse all over again.”
“I wonder if traveling up the river will take us anywhere near Tingus?” Kari mused.
“I think Captain Galdur would’ve mentioned it if it did,” Erik answered. “Likely it just leads into the heart of the rainforest, or maybe the island…hard to know without seeing a map. From the way the captain mentioned it, I’m guessing the entire southeast of this island is nothing but rainforest, so taking a ship to Tingus is what you all should do. Kari and I may join you depending on what information we get from the church.”
“Is there anything else our illustrious host was willing to share?” Typhonix asked.
“Something about Gaswell taking a kirelas-rir war wizard hostage,” Erik said, but he shrugged. “We can’t be concerned with that at this point. As callous as it may sound, we’re not here to save one life, we’re here to save many. Risking everything to try to save one woman would be a fatal mistake. It’s unlikely he’ll do anything to her if he hasn’t already, but we’ll worry about that when we have more information.”
“So we are planning to leave by the morning?” Grakin asked, and he glanced at Kari.
“Yes,” Erik said. “Aeligos, I want you to head down to the pier and see if you can find a ship that will take all of us, if necessary, to Tingus. Captain Galdur sounded confident that it would be easy to find passage, so we shouldn’t delay. Kari and I will head farther up into the city and see if there really is a church up there, whether to Zalkar or any of his allies. At the very least we should be able to get more reliable information than we have so far.”
“I’ll head down now,” Aeligos said. He took a last sip of his ale, and then he deposited his pack in one of the rooms before he left the inn.
“Shall we go?” Kari asked.
“Not yet,” Erik said, eyeing her briefly. “I don’t want too many of us going out all at once in case the inn is already being watched. You should all get your things settled in your rooms, make sure there are no unsecured windows for anyone to slip in through, and then stay out here in a group once Kari and I are gone. Ty, watch the door. If trouble shows up, break someone’s back, and if that’s not enough to dissuade them, you and Jol do what you need to.”
“Understood,” the blonde warrior said, and Serenjols nodded his agreement.
The twins looked shocked to hear Erik speak so frankly of possibly killing strangers, but it seemed to fade fast as they realized the gravity of the situation. Katarina and Sherman glanced at each other, and the young woman nodded at her brother. Kari got the impression that though the twins were green, they understood what was at stake and were fully prepared to follow the lead of their more experienced companions. Everyone stowed their packs and secured the windows of the rooms they chose, though the portals weren’t large enough for anyone to climb through. The rooms were narrow, as were the beds, and it quickly became apparent that the non-couples sharing rooms would have at least one person sleeping on the floor. It was an easy enough choice in all cases, as the larger Tesconis siblings wouldn’t fit in the beds anyway.
Kari and Grakin got acquainted with their bed, and figured they could both sleep in it at the same time, though it would barely be comfortable. Kari smiled and Grakin returned it: they would just have to make the best of it. They had just begun exchanging kisses when Erik knocked on the door and asked if they were busy. Grakin invited his older brother in, and the blue-eyed male pushed the door open, leaned against its frame, and looked the two over.
“Are you ready?” he asked as his gaze swung to Kari, and she was on her feet near-instantly. She put her dog tags back inside her breastplate and Erik did the same after a moment. Kari gave her mate one more kiss before she and Erik left the inn.
Evening was closing in on the port city as they exited the inn, and the sun, sitting just above the horizon, bathed the west-facing tiers with its glory. The demonhunters looked around briefly, trying to be nonchalant about it, and Kari didn’t see anyone who was obviously watching the inn. They made their way quickly to the wooden stairs up to the next level and found that it was the final of the main tiers that ringed the port. There was another tier built atop the peak of the hill to the east, and from their new vantage point the two could see that the hillside the port was terraced into dropped off into a lush, misty woodland that appeared to be without end.
Erik pointed to the final tier on the hilltop, and Kari followed him along one of the wooden-planked streets leading in that direction. The tier they were on seemed to be for homes, and though the hillside was mainly stone, the builders had apparently chosen to craft scaffold-like structures rather than carve the rock face. The homes at the top were all fashioned of wood and looked to be cheaply made compared to what Kari had seen in the cities she’d visited. Kari regarded Erik for a moment, and found that he seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“I think it’s because of the weather,” he said. “They get those powerful tropical storms here…probably have to rebuild parts of the city fairly often.”
Kari nodded and the two continued on their way, and at last they came to the final staircase that led up to the peak of the hill. When they reached the top step, they could see that churches was a relative term. They were shrines: open-faced structures with an eternal flame in the center of each, marked with the symbols of the major temples in Sarchelete, and there were only a half-dozen in total. A human in a hooded robe was tending to the shrines, watering flowers that had been left by visitors and cleaning up debris that had been blown across the hilltop by the coastal winds. He looked up when the two approached and his expression was cautious, but Kari pulled forth her tags, assuming that a human was unlikely to be serving a warlord that wanted to remove humans from the island. The man’s gaze turned respectful when he saw Kari’s dog tags, and Erik pulled his forth as well.
Erik and Kari came to a stop before the man. “Good afternoon,” Erik said. The human was older but had the look of a retired adventurer for what little the demonhunters could see of him. “Are you an acolyte here, or just the groundskeeper?”
Emerald eyes sparkled as a smile creased the human’s thin, weathered face. “Just the groundskeeper for the shrines these days,” he said. “What can I do for you, officers?”
The demonhunters shared a brief glance. “Just wondering if you’ve heard about any demonic activity on the island,” Erik said. “We’ve been sent by the Unyielding to look into some rumored trouble, but details were sketchy at best.”
“Demon activity?” the human repeated, rubbing his chin for a moment. “Nothing I’ve heard about from any of the other ports or towns we trade with. If there’s anything out there causing trouble of the sort Zalkar would be interested in, it’s keeping to the shadows. Of course, most of the news and talk is about Gaswell these days.”
“Is there anyone else we could check with that might know?” Erik asked.
“Closest church to Zalkar would be over in Talvor," the man answered. "As I said, though, no news has come from there or any other ports regarding demons. I suppose you could always check with the czarikk. They control most of the rainforest to the north and east, though not so much near the Ursis River or to the west of it.”
The czarikk were reptilian people who kept mostly to the swamps and deeper forests of the various continents around the world. Generally they weren’t troublesome, as they preferred to only trade with outsiders when absolutely necessary, and they very rarely made war on their neighbors. They were a people of the bow and the spear: they fished, hunted, and gathered to sustain themselves, and history spoke of very few times when territorial disputes had broken out involving the czarikk. Overall, they seemed most happy when left alone, and the rir, humans, and demihumans of the world were just as happy to leave them be.
“How do you mean ‘control?’” the blue-eyed male asked.
“The rainforest, or at least the eastern half of it, is generally respected as theirs,” the man clarified, and he sat on a stone bench. “They allow us to maintain this port here, and they keep their distance from the city of Ursis farther up the river. In return, we leave them be. There were some frontiersmen years back that started to clear some of the forest to establish farms…that hasn’t been tried again since. The czarikk may not like to make war but they’re certainly a force to be reckoned with when their lands are threatened.”
“Do you know where their tribe is based?” Erik prodded.
The man shook his head. “Afraid I don’t,” he said. “You’d be best served either finding a guide or just following the mule trail down the backside of the hill into the forest. If you’ve got a compass, you can just keep heading north until you find what you’re looking for. Chances are if you don’t find the czarikk, they’ll find you. I hope you can speak their language.”
“Speak it? I’ve never even heard their language,” Erik said, and he glanced toward Kari. “Have you?”
Kari nodded. It had been years since she’d encountered one of the lizard-folk, but she remembered several of the incidents quite well. “Can’t speak it, but I’ve heard it before,” she said. “You’ve never met a czarikk?”
Erik shook his head. “Never been down near Mandar-Czar,” he said. “Or anywhere else they call home. What’re they like?”
Kari waved off the question; there would be a better time to fill him in on the lizard-folk. She turned her attention back to the human, who rose to his feet. “Thanks for the information,” she said. “May I ask your name?”
The man shook his head and waved a finger. “No, you may not,” he said. “And I don’t want to know your names. The less we know of each other, the better. I don’t need any trouble for having spoken to a couple of half-demons, demonhunters or not.”
“I’m not half-demon,” Kari said.
“You explain that to Gaswell’s men and see if they care to make a distinction,” he said. “I have no love for Gaswell or his goons, obviously, but I have to live here and I don’t need any trouble from them. You’d best keep away from the heartlands and the southwest of the island, that’s where he and his men have the most influence. If you’re smart, you’ll do as your lord asked and get off this island before war erupts.”
“Will do,” Kari said. She thanked the human once more, and then she and Erik made their way back to the inn. They still didn’t notice anything suspicious along their route, and soon they were back with their companions in the common room of The Port. Aeligos had returned from his own task, and Marshall was just beginning to serve his guests dinner with the same bland expression that had dominated his features since they’d arrived. Erik and Kari took seats with their friends and waited for the innkeeper to finish serving the meals before he disappeared into the back room.
“Any luck?” Erik asked his younger brother.
“There’s a ship leaving for Tingus tomorrow,” Aeligos said. “It’s not as big as Karmi’s Sword, so it won’t be cheap to get eight of us on board, and less so if it’s all ten of us.”
“That won’t be an issue,” Erik said, holding a hand up. “Kari and I will be heading into the rainforest, as the czarikk out there are the only lead we have to find any real information about the demonic activity we’re looking for. I assume you already reserved your spots?”
Aeligos nodded. “Of course, but only for eight since they seemed unlikely to refund our money if you two decided not to come along. Something else I should mention: the city of Ursis upriver seems to either be a Gaswell bastion or just full of sympathizers. I asked about transport up the river, but most of the boatmen found excuses why they couldn't take us. One even suggested that 'someone like me' wouldn't last very long there. So if you've been pointed to the rainforest to find the czarikk, that seems like a much better option than going upriver to Ursis."
“What are the sah-reek?” Sherman asked.
“Lizard-folk,” Kari said. “I used to run into them in Solaris and other cities on Terrassia now and then. They take a little getting used to, but I’ve always found them to be a handsome and friendly folk once you get to know them. The thing you have to keep in mind with them is they have a strong sense of personal honor – in other words, pride – so you’ve got to be careful with sarcasm and teasing with them. If you insult the fact that they’re reptilian, you’re going to make a quick enemy.”
Erik regarded her curiously but said nothing, and the others were also clearly curious as to how much Kari knew about the reclusive czarikk. She told them about the rare times she’d met one in the city of Solaris, which they passed through from time to time, and filled in as much detail as she could about what the lizard-folk were like. Once everyone finished eating and Marshall cleared away their plates, Erik produced a deck of cards. They played a friendly game, wagering imaginary coins that Aeligos kept tallied on a piece of paper. Erik wanted everyone to relax, particularly him and Kari, so they could get a good night’s sleep before their journey took them into the heart of trouble.
They played cards for a few hours before Erik ordered everyone to their rooms. Grakin closed the door to his and Kari’s room, and Kari sat on the edge of their bed. He approached, dropped to his knees before her, and looked up to her eyes, and she could clearly see the worry in his dark gaze. She stroked his cheek lightly and leaned down to kiss his forehead, and then she stood to undress. He began to undress as well after a moment, and soon he lay on the bed with Kari straddling him in the smooth purple lingerie she had purchased in Flora. “This may be our last night together,” he said solemnly.
“Just for a couple of weeks,” Kari corrected, leaning over him on her arms to meet his gaze evenly. “Nothing’s gonna stop me from coming back to you, Grakin. I want to have your babies, and I don’t care if it’s Celigus Chinchala himself out there causing trouble, I’ll find a way to kill him and come back to you. That’s a promise.”
Grakin chuckled but it was uneasy. Kari undressed the rest of the way and they took comfort in their love. Their lovemaking was passionate and needful, and they clung tightly to each other, knowing that despite what she’d said, it was a very real possibility that they wouldn’t see each other again. Kari wondered how long it would take Grakin to get used to her being in such a dangerous line of work, and whether his trust in the gods would let him simply be proud of what she did rather than constantly worried for her safety. They made love for a while before the size of the bed forced them onto their sides to sleep. Kari turned her back to Grakin as he preferred, and he pulled her into his embrace and wrapped his left arm over her protectively. She found it easy to fall asleep with his warm chest against her back and his arm lovingly around her, and she slept soundly through the night, to the relief of both.
They rose the next morning to the sound of voices outside their door and dressed quickly. When Kari opened the door she found Aeligos pacing back and forth while Erik tried to calm him down. The larger male’s efforts wer
e for naught, as Aeligos seemed to just get more and more upset, and soon the rest of the group joined them in the common room. With the urging of his sister, Aeligos finally took a seat, as did the others, and Marshall appeared with fresh biscuits, honey, and fruit juice for his guests.
“Where’s Eryn?” Kari asked after their charming host had left.
“She’s gone,” Erik answered, obviously hoping to prevent his younger brother from starting another tirade, but it was no use.
“I knew she would do this,” Aeligos said. “I knew from the start she wasn’t going to work with us and she’d take the first opportunity to slip off and try doing things on her own.”
Kari held her hand up, which brought her companion’s rant to an end, and she kept her voice down. “She’s probably been hired by someone to assassinate Gaswell,” she said. “If anything, she could make our mission here easier.”
“Not likely,” Erik said. “If anything, history has shown that when someone like Gaswell actually attracts followers, they’ll just pick up right where he left off if he’s killed. I’m confident Eryn knows that, and she won’t do anything rash, but if she’s just getting paid for his head and the end result doesn’t matter to her or her sponsor, then we don’t know for sure.”
“We cannot concern ourselves with any of that,” Jol said, but he didn’t elaborate.
Sonja nodded and picked up her eldest brother’s train of thought. “No, we must proceed the way we would if she never came: all we’ve lost is the cost of her spot on the boat.”
There was an uneasy, silent agreement among the group, but Kari and the others all knew they had lost far more than a gold deposit. They shared their breakfast quietly. Once finished, they took their packs and headed to the docks, where Aeligos led them to a single-mast ship called Coastrunner. He spoke briefly with the guards at the base of the gangplank, and then waved for his siblings and human companions to join him. Erik and Kari remained on the pier, and after their companions had put their belongings in the ship’s cabin, Grakin returned. He approached Kari and they hugged, holding each other tightly for several minutes before they separated slightly for a long, passionate kiss. Grakin stroked Kari’s face affectionately and she tousled his hair, and both ignored Typhonix as he leaned on the railing, staring at them and trying to be funny about it.
