We made port not long after that. The island looked a little like Manhattan, only more grown up, if such a thing were possible. It reminded me of pictures I had seen of Hong Kong, there were boats everywhere of all sizes. It was incredibly busy.
Surprisingly there was a delegation at the dock awaiting our arrival.
“Greetings,” one of them said. “Who is the leader of your group?”
“That would be me,” Stephanie said stepping forward.
“I am Awie, I am the Master of the Eastward Port. Welcome to the island of Scherie. It has been long since travelers have come here from Ithaca and I have been asked to convey the king’s request for you to attend him for the evening meal.”
“I am Stephanie, and on behalf of myself and my companions I would be happy to accept the invitation. Is there someplace we may retire to, to rest and clean up for this event?”
“Most certainly. Aoe here,” Awie gestured and a rather attractive young woman stepped forward and nodded her head, “will be your guide for your stay here. If you have need of anything, she can show you where you may acquire it. Now if you will excuse me, I have other duties to attend to.”
And with that, Awie bowed to us and left. Stephanie smiled at Aoe.
“There is a nice hotel close to the palace that visitors to the king use. I will take you there,” Aoe said.
“Lead on.” Stephanie told her and we grabbed our packs and followed.
Getting out of the port took a few minutes; it was definitely a very crowded and busy place. When we finally left it, she led us to a limousine that wasn’t much different from what I was used to seeing back on earth.
“Why is there a driver?” I asked as we settled in the back, “can’t this be guided like the boats are?”
Aoe looked at me a moment as if I had sprouted a third eye. “Oh, that’s right you are not from around here! The god of the waters grants the power to steer the boats only to his chosen, and only on the seas. That power is forbidden to those on land.”
“Oh” I said and gave her an apologetic look.
“How hard is it to book travel to Thrinacia?” Stephanie asked Aoe.
“I know of no such place, Mistress. You would have to ask one of the navigators, or someone who knows more than I.”
“I see,” Stephanie said and pondered a moment. “Can you take us to someone who might know after we’ve dined with the king?”
“It would have to be tomorrow, Mistress; the shops will all be closed by then.”
Stephanie nodded and I turned to look out the windows of the limousine. From this vantage point, it really seemed like any other modern city. I watched the other vehicles and the people go by until we finally pulled up in front of a rather small and old looking hotel.
“Ah, we are here,” Aoe told us and a doorman hustled out and opened the door for us.
“Where is the Palace?” Joseph asked getting out behind me.
“Over there,” she said and pointed across the street.
We all turned and looked. What I had mistaken as a park with a fence around it was obviously the palace grounds. Set way back was a rather colorful and large building reminiscent of the Taj Mahal. None of the buildings from the city came anywhere near the surrounding park from what I could see, every building across the street from the park surrounding the palace was three stories or less. I suspected it was like that all the way around.
“Impressive,” Cenewyg said looking it over.
“Yes, very,” Stephanie said; which I found interesting as the palace in Kingston was far more impressive. She turned to Aoe, “Are there rooms already reserved for us?”
Aoe nodded. “Follow me inside,” she said and led the way once more.
Once inside, the concierge at the front desk quickly assigned us a large suite on the second floor. The suite itself was interesting, a large central sitting room with six attached bedrooms, three to a side. We each claimed a room and then looked at Aoe expectantly.
“What time do we have to be ready for dinner?” Stephanie asked her.
“Eight.”
“Ah well, thank you for your time, if you could come back say at seven to take us there, I would be grateful.”
“Oh, I’ll be staying here with you until you leave.”
We all looked at each other.
“Seriously?” Dezba asked.
“Of course. Hospitality demands that one be assigned to assist you in any ways that you require, as you are strangers here. To be honest, it is a great honor for me to be the one chosen for this. No one has come from Ithaca in my lifetime. Normally I’d be assigned to any coming from Cheblise.”
“Ah, I see.” Stephanie said and nodded. “Well, I’m for a bath; care to scrub my back, Cen?”
“I’d be delighted!” He laughed and the two of them headed off to one of the bathrooms, each bedroom had its own.
I looked at Dezba and she smiled at me and we headed off together.
“I’d be happy to scrub your back, sir,” Aoe said to Joseph, her face blushing slightly.
“You do realize they’re talking about more than just bathing?” Joseph asked her.
“So am I, sir, so am I,” Aoe replied.
“Guess Joseph won’t be the odd man out,” I whispered in Dezba’s ear as we stripped and made for the bathroom.
“What, you don’t think Steph or I don’t take care of him?” She laughed at my expression.
“From what I gathered I thought neither of you were that fond of him.”
“Oh he’s okay; we just like you and Cen more.”
I looked at her questioningly; I was already helping her out of her clothes.
“Men are second-class citizens in Joseph’s original culture,” Dezba said causing my eyes to get wide in surprise, “now Joseph is a lot more independent than most and didn’t fit in well back there, but with a strong woman he has a tendency to revert.”
“Huh, I had no idea.”
“Well, now you do. And I personally prefer my men a bit more independent.”
“Well then, let’s celebrate my independence!” I laughed.
Three
Dinner was an interesting affair. The royal family was apparently rather large, there was the king, the queen, their two sons and three daughters. The oldest son and two of the daughters were married and were there with their spouses. Add to that about a dozen royal cousins or uncles and aunts, I really didn’t quite catch that bit, and there were about twenty some odd royals there. Of course there were another twenty or so members of the royal court in attendance as well. Some of them were important, most weren’t. I did the ‘eyes and ears’ bit for Fel while introductions were being made, I had a feeling he might want to know the people in charge here.
The table setup was interesting, the king and queen and their children sat at a kind of dais, it wasn’t any higher than the rest of the table, which butted into it opposite the king and kueen, with all of us arrayed down from there. Stephanie and Cenewyg got the seats of honor on either side, and then there were a few high-ranking court members, then Dezba and myself, a few more nobles, then Joseph and Aoe, then the rest of the royal family followed by the rest of the court members.
Attire was relaxed, the men mainly wore business suits, the women gowns, though there were a few outfits that made me stop and take a second look; namely that several younger members at the dinner were wearing jewelry and not a stitch of clothing. Both males and females, and it included the two unmarried members of the royal family!
“Excuse me,” I asked the young woman sitting to my right who was dressed in this fashion, “I’m a little unfamiliar with the customs here and I have a question.”
“Yes?” She said smiling at me and making sure that I got an eyeful of her rather generous charms.
“Why are some of you unclothed?”
“Does it bother you?” She asked still smiling.
“Not at all, the view is after all rather nice,” I said and winked, “but it only seems to be so
me of the younger people here, but not all.”
She nodded, “I can see where that might be confusing,” she acknowledged. “It’s simple really; if you’re single you’re not allowed to wearing clothing at any social function of the royal court.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “Really?”
She nodded, “It’s a very old tradition, to encourage those of us who are single to find partners and get married.”
“I see,” I said and nodded. I suspected it was more so the king and princes could scope out the available single women more easily for the kinds of affairs that kings and princes were famous for.
“So, are you single?” She asked smiling at me.
“Sadly for you, no,” I said.
“Is she your wife?” She asked nodding to Dezba who was engaged in conversation with a rather attractive young man who was also wearing only jewelry.
“Dezba? No, just a friend.”
“Ah, I see. Well maybe I can be your friend too?” She said and gave me a smile that made it clear what kind of a friend she wanted to be.
“I don’t see why not,” I said smiling at her. Interestingly enough, the other three were not getting this kind of treatment. Then again, Joseph did seem rather enamored with Aoe who was extremely attractive and I now noticed wasn’t wearing any clothing either. I thought the robe she had worn here was a bit strange.
As the small talk along the tables died down, the king started to ask Stephanie about our trip so far and I turned to follow the conversation.
“So, Miss Stephanie,” the king asked, “how fares Ithaca?”
“Not well, Your Highness,” She said. “We ourselves are not from that area, having had to travel some distance to reach it. The previous members of this quest were wiped out nearly to the last man when they approached the city. So when this task became ours we decided to give as much space between ourselves and the city as possible.”
“I see, that does seem to agree with some of the small things we have learned over the centuries. Did you see none of the city then?”
“What I saw of the city wasn’t much, but it did not do the old tales of it any justice. The outskirts were mainly rundown ruins, most of which were deserted.”
“I see. You know I’m sure, that we greatly miss the trade we used to have with fair Ithaca.”
“Oh I am sure, Your Highness.”
“So if someone else were to wish to open trade from there, I’m sure we could provide some manner of help and support. In the cause of helping develop future relations of course.”
I smiled as Stephanie got that look in her eyes that told me she was definitely doing some sending Aryanna’s way. I’m sure to the rest it just looked like she was being thoughtful.
“Oh, of course, Your Highness,” Stephanie said and gave him a very long and seductive smile. “I’m sure a great deal could be done to help improve future relations if someone else were to decide to once again ply the portal.”
“I’m glad to see you agree,” the king said and got a rather predatory look of his own. “Do you think you could stay after dinner that we might further discuss this interest?”
I returned my attention to my dinner and my dinner companion then as Stephanie agreed. The next course was being served and the lovely woman on my right was making inroads on my lap with her hand.
There were some questions bandied about the table about our quest, and our backgrounds, where we were from, the kinds of questions you'd expect nobles to ask strangers. My story is that I was from a country allied to Stephanie’s and sent by my king to help, along with Dezba. I don’t know why Stephanie set us up with that story, but I stuck to it.
When dinner was finished, we all adjourned to a rather large and well-appointed lounge. There was soft music being supplied by live musicians, and entertainment, which was provided by jugglers and dancers and other such entertainers. It was a rather nice low-key party and my dinner companion, whose name I had discovered was Jocelyn was now occupying my lap. Dezba had disappeared with both of her dining companions and I suspected I wouldn’t be seeing her until the morning. The same was true of Cenewyg who had disappeared even before Dezba had. Meanwhile Stephanie and the king appeared to be rather engaged with each other, and not just with conversation.
“Will!” I heard Stephanie call and I turned to look at her.
“Would you terribly mind a demonstration of your fighting skills for the king?”
“I would be more than happy too,” I said and carefully deposited Jocelyn on the seat I had been occupying as I stood up. She looked rather unhappy about this development.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back,” I told her and gave her a kiss.
“Be careful,” She whispered to me showing a lot more concern than I would have expected.
I blinked at that, and used one of the many cantrips I had as a champion. The one that purged alcohol from my system, going into a fight drunk was never wise, even if it was just a demonstration.
“So what kind of demonstration would you like?” I asked stretching and limbering up.
“Sword,” the king said.
“Sure thing, Your Highness. Do you have any I could use?”
One of the king’s men gestured and a cart was rolled into the room with a rather nice assortment. I walked over and looked through the swords there testing their weight and balance. They were all wonderful pieces of work, the craftsmanship was amazing.
I turned to look back at the king who had a hand under Stephanie’s blouse, but to be fair she had a hand down his pants. The queen was nowhere to be seen. I tried to recall if she had left when Cenewyg had. Definitely a very lusty people.
“What kind of demonstration would you like, Your Highness?”
Stephanie gave me a dangerous look at that point, so I stood at parade rest with my hands behind my back. Time to be a soldier. She gave a slight nod.
“Well it seems we have a bit of a problem. Mistress Stephanie tells me you all need passage on one of my ships. However that is something we do not give easily, not without a price.”
A rather large man entered the room then. He was wearing some rather nice armor, definitely something modern made with a lot of strength to it. He had a shield and a broadsword at his side and was holding his helmet in his hand. He was not a very handsome man, far from it. He had the look of someone who tortured puppies for fun.
For some reason I didn’t like him.
“Now we all hear these stories about, excuse the term, barbarians such as you. We hear how you grow up with a sword in your hands, how fighting is in your blood, how vicious and even feral you are. But you have come here as meek and mild as can be, so I have to ask myself if these stories are true.
“So, I would like you to fight my champion, he claims that no barbarian can beat him, especially not one such as yourself. If you win, Mistress Stephanie will have the use of one of my ships.”
I came to attention and bowed to the king. “I see, Your Highness. What are the terms of this fight?”
“Oh the usual, to the death.” He said with a wave of his free hand.
I smiled my best evil smile. I wasn’t crazy about the idea, but then I wasn’t the one making the terms here. But I had a role to play and I might as well get on with playing it. “Are you sure you want me to kill him, Your Highness? He has such pretty armor that it would be a shame to ruin it with his blood.”
“Brave words, popinjay!” The man in the armor called.
I saw Stephanie mouth the words ‘kill him.’ I rolled my eyes, like I needed to be told that! Of course, everyone thought I was making fun of the king’s champion.
“We have already made the deal with Mistress Stephanie. The terms remain.” The king said.
I shrugged and turned back to the swords. There were several shields there as well, but I didn’t want to go sword and board against someone who was kitted up to fight exactly that way. I grabbed the set of heavy gauntlets they had and put them on. I could hear the tin can put on
his helmet. What I really needed in this situation was a war hammer, to peel him out of his little tin can, but swords were all they had so I grabbed a bastard sword with my left and a short sword with my right deciding to fight him left handed.
Let’s see how this guy did against a crazy foot. A lot of fighters never came up against a lefty in their entire careers; most schools wouldn’t even train it. So those that did fight it were often untrained or self trained. But Master Burdon back in Riverhead had insisted on training me in it as I was already fairly ambidextrous. I’d found at the Ren Fairs that it really did screw up a lot of people when I switched to it.
I walked over to the center of the room where a space had already been cleared for us. I was surprised at the expressions on the faces of the spectators; apparently this wasn’t all that unusual. For all their obvious technology, the king’s guards were all carrying side arms and stun guns, not swords; they were still a pretty bloodthirsty lot.
He banged on his shield with his sword and then saluted his king. I bowed to the king as well and saluted with my sword and turned back to my opponent who was standing there sword and shield ready.
“What, scared?” I asked him.
He growled a bit but held his ground, so I laughed at him. “You’re armored from head to toe and you’re afraid to attack me? I had no idea a silk suit was such a put off. Would you rather I strip naked so you feel safe?”
A number of the ladies laughed at that, and clapped. The king scowled at his man who lowered his sword and attacked.
Once again, everything slowed down and I simply stepped aside and smacked him on the ass with the flat of the sword as he went by. From the sound of it and the way it felt I suspected it was something like titanium. Getting through that would take a lot of strength. In my champion form, I know I could do it easily, in this form, I didn’t think I could. And I had a feeling from that special place that changing was not a good idea.
He turned around rather quickly, but not quickly enough to be a god’s champion like I was. That made me feel a lot better about the fight; when the king had said ‘champion,’ I had assumed he was one of us.
Portals of Infinity: Book Two: The God Game Page 3
