A Leaf and Pebble

by Andrew Monroe

  Above the ladder was a balcony with a pair of chairs and a table that all folded out of the wall. When I pulled the bread out, a small, wicked looking knife appeared in her hand. Before I could protest, she took the bread from me and began to slice it. We ate in silence. The savory combination of egg wrapped in bacon awoke taste buds I had never known existed, and we were both content to enjoy the meal. The sun crawled through the sky as we traded stories back and forth, and it was nearly time for another meal when I bid Johanna goodbye.

  Again, I got lost trying to make it back to the Thran’s leaf, but it was a pretty enough day I didn’t mind one bit.

  I found Volant with his mother. Both were looking over a map of Balteris, Volant tracing imaginary lines while speaking animatedly. “...and this is around where the archer found us, though I could be pretty off since those Tryst grasslands look all the same to me.”

  My shadow gave me away, and both turned around quickly.

  “Ah, Nil,” she said. “You are just in time to help corroborate my son’s story. I was hoping to have your input, if willing?”

  I nodded, my throat dry at the thought. The rest of the afternoon was spent locked with Volant and his mother in her private cabin, as I went over the last few months, answering questions and clarifying points. It was nearing dark, and I’d just begun to worry I’d not make my appointment with Thecily when abruptly, Andreska motioned for silence. She seemed more angry than afraid, but I was no more surprised by this than anything else. She was not a mother that seemed to be cowed easily, especially when it came to her son. She took in a deep breath and did the exact same silent hand clap that Volant did to clear his mind.

  “Let us speak more on this tomorrow. I understand you have a game of Kingdoms appointment tonight.” And just like that, we were dismissed and she on to her next task.

  “Thank you Captain, I do indeed.” I tried to smile and also glare at Volant simultaneously. He laughed, and the built-up tension from my story seemed to fade away as the present caught up with us. Volant and I went back towards the market, him having offered to show me the way to Thecily’s ship.

  Once out of sight of his mother’s ship, Volant seemed to relax more into his old self. The hardness he had been carrying after killing the assassin seemed to come and go sporadically now, but was worse around his mother. “Watch out for her rush,” he said jovially.

  “Her rush?” My eyebrow raised in confusion.

  He glanced sideways at me, and rolled his eyes. “Thecily’s opening move. She always goes for a hard and quick attack no matter which way you play.”

  “Thanks for the heads up. If I end up winning, I’ll be sure to name the victory for you.” We both laughed, knowing I was about as lousy at Kingdoms as I was at gardening. As we neared the market square, everything evaporated at the sight of Thecily.

  She stood dead center of the square, leaning up against the improbable sapling that grew in a perfect circle of grass in the otherwise wooden floor. Her hair hung down loosely, with small braids dancing about in the red sea that framed her face. She wore a tunic, unlaced enough to be considered scandalous in some places. Contrasting against the tunic was a long skirt that rippled against each breeze. She grinned in my direction. When my stomach found its footing, in spite of my heart working far too hard, I smiled back. One boot after another. Before I knew it, I had walked myself over. She stood there expectantly.

  “Salutations,” I said in an attempt to sound original. An eye roll was the only response I received. As a last-ditch effort in an increasingly awkward situation, I pulled out the bottle I’d bought earlier that morning. Luck was with me, light caught the pinkish liquid as I held it out, giving my offering a flash of dazzling brilliance.

  She giggled and said “Oh my, you sure know how to woo a soft-hearted woman.” She straightened off the tree with unnatural grace. “Sadly for you, I am lacking a soft heart, and am quite excited about completely destroying you in a game of Kingdoms.”

  As usual, a woman had defeated any sense of self-worth I momentarily possessed. To my surprise though, she took my hand, and led us out of the square. My heart yet again skipped a beat.

  “I thought we were playing at your ship?” I asked, just after turning one last look to Volant, who seemed to find the whole thing hilarious.

  She grinned wickedly. “I wanted to change things up on you. I’ve a better place than my cabin to play at.”

  Sixteen

  I pondered the rectangular ship that appeared to be more building than sky worthy vessel. The floating building was moored off of another square similar to the market. Here, benches, trees and tables dotted the surface despite us being hundreds of paces up in the air. The gang plank up to the ship was less a plank and more a set of wooden stairs, well made, and heavy looking. Even with the numerous and oversized airship envelopes filled with the secret gas, I couldn’t imagine how it all stayed airborne. At the top, a burly man stood watching the entrance. Or exit, depending on your perspective.

  Thecily walked up the stairs with confident steps. “He’s with me,” she said while nodding back in my direction. The man scowled, but moved aside and let us in.

  “You’re a true gentleman,” I said while passing through the open door. The only response I received was said door being forcefully shut in my wake.

  Inside, light streamed through portholes like you would see in any normal boat that sallied forth on the sea. Along one wall ran a bar, wood trimmed with metal rings that gleamed in the filtered sunlight. Behind the bar, cups of all shapes, sizes, and materials hung. A variety of different liquids were bottled and held in thin wooden rings at either end.

  A youngish man with what must be one of the most immaculate mustaches ever stood behind the bar, barely not glaring at us. The rest of the immediate room was filled with couches and soft looking chairs. Tables imposed themselves about the furniture bolted into the wooden floor. Judging from the outside size, the right wall was dissecting the ship in half, leaving me guessing at what was contained behind the unobtrusive door hiding in one corner.

  Other people sat about the room, pipes in hand, colorful drinks, or both for the exceptionally dexterous. Everyone spoke in low whispers. Thecily nudged me towards the bar. The man looked up with a sour, expectant look.

  I paused, waiting to see if anyone else spoke first. No one did. “Let’s be honest,” I started. “I have no clue what to say or what you have on the menu.” I shrugged, when he said nothing and continued on. “I do think you have some rather interesting cups, and I have this bottle. Can you help me out there?”

  At this, Thecily stepped in with barely suppressed laughter. “Martin, sorry about my friend, I was curious what he’d say.” Apparently, the man was made of stone, as he still said nothing. “Go ahead and mix us up two glasses of something with this.” She gestured towards him, and I passed the bottle over the counter. He took it, and handed a key over in return. “Oh, one more thing,” she said to the already turning away Martin. “I need a board and pieces. The good set,” she added as an afterthought.

  He produced the requested wooden circle and two black pouches bulging with dice shaped pieces from under the bar. I took them, and followed Thecily to the door in the corner.

  We went through, and discovered a hallway lined with rooms. Thecily found the one with a number eight on it, and used the key to open the thin door. Inside, a couch, and two thickly padded chairs surrounded a low, bolted down wooden table. A large window stretched from floor to ceiling, with an enormous glass rectangle in the floor showing a bird’s eye view of the ground far below us. A gust of wind rocked the ship gently and everything swayed.

  “I hope you brought a few coins with you,” Thecily said brightly. The board was placed on the table, leaving barely an inch of non-board space ringing the game. “Light or dark?” she asked while holding up the two bags.

  “Dark, I guess. And what is happening to that bottle? That guy was rather odd, just saying.” I was wary of the floor window,
it sitting right between the table and couch, and my eyes kept drifting to it. Between the red head and the see-through wall, my concentration would be everywhere but the game.

  The light-colored bag came flying towards my head. My hand shot up to intercept it, long before I registered what said hand was doing.

  She grinned when I looked up. “Wrong choice,’’ she said. “I wanted to be the dark.” Stone pieces fell out of the bag, into her hand. She began stacking them in a pyramid shape, directly in front of her. “As for the drinks, Martin is creating some delicious concoction and will bring it here when he’s finished. Usually, a tip is given, hence the hope you have some coins with you.” She smiled wickedly. “And then, we play.”

  I pulled out the light-colored dice carved from rocks, more grayish blue than the usual white and polished to such a level that if it wasn’t for the weight, they’d look like regular bone dice colored strangely. One side had two lines bisecting a half circle carved into the piece, indicating death. The second face of the cube had a simple circle carved within a slightly larger circle. The peasant, as it was normally named. Third were three overlapping triangles for a defensive piece. Shield, wall, and castle were all used interchangeably. A fourth face held the god’s symbol; a diamond with its edges extending beyond the top and bottom points. For the fifth side, Naturals. The minimalist sun made of four lines shaped like a broken circle with a single jagged line at each curve’s apex to represent the sun’s rays. Some sets used other symbols, but the sun was the most ubiquitous. A sixth and final side and my favorite, the Learner. A symbol adapted from an ancient rune, once meaning progress. Three parallel, dashed lines separating two triangles.

  “Rules?” I asked after looking over each piece, and setting them in a line across the table’s edge.

  A moment passed while she studied me. “Nature and Nurture,” she responded. She was already beginning to set her pieces about the triangles. This set made the Natural and Learner pieces equal in power, and much stronger than the others.

  Following suit, I began to place pieces down, alternating Learner and Natural. I sighed inwardly. Nature and nurture was the worst. A knock at the door interrupted our placements.

  A moment later, Martin entered. He nodded towards Thecily, and then pulled on the wall, bringing down a thin board. Three holes were cut into it, two smaller and one much larger. In the largest, he set a clay pot. A pair of matching glasses were set in the other two spots. When he finished, he looked at me pointedly.

  “Oh,” I said, fishing into my pocket. A few of the coins were passed to him. “Thank you for the, uh, work,” I said. “And drinks, I guess.”

  With an audible sigh, he took the coins. He bowed to Thecily, and with that, he left the room.

  Puzzled, I looked at Thecily. She blinked, maintaining an unreadable face. “Come on, tell me what I did wrong,” I pleaded. Trying to look as pathetic as possible, I scrunched my face up in mock worry.

  “Quit that, you look ugly!” she said rolling her eyes. While reaching for a glass, she started explaining. “Martin is a wholly dramatic miscreant who sees anyone actually coming in here as an affront to his work as an artist.”

  Glass in one hand, she had the other grasped around the clay jug, and began pouring a marbled mixture of pink and gold into the cup. Colors swirled, but did not mix. “Really, he is under the impression that drinking his creations is an act of vandalism and disrespectful of his abilities.” She sipped, and purred appreciatively. “And he feels that any tip, no matter the size, is not worthy.”

  I took the remaining glass and poured myself some of the colorful concoction. The taste was bizarre but delicious. A spicy strawberry with indescribable underlying flavors paraded across my tongue in a sweet but stinging dance. “He may be right,” I said without a hint of sarcasm.

  Then, the game began, Thecily opening with rush, just like Volant warned. She was aggressive and without mercy. Our match was over within an embarrassingly few number of moves, with Thecily coming out the victor. She hadn’t tried to build up her pieces, or control any area. Punching a decent hole straight through my line, taking every piece she could in a berserker’s rage.

  Though the strategy would be suicide in any three or four player game, it was embarrassingly effective here. The first round I chalked it up to being stunned. The second, in which I lost only slightly more gracefully, I blamed on general bad luck. The third, I blamed on the drink and view being too distracting. My fourth loss, the color of my light pieces. With each game, Thecily grew friendlier, her grin growing to a wide smile, and ending with rolling waves of laughter at my frustration.

  “You are a god spawn,” I said bitterly, losing yet another game.

  She raised a hand to her mouth, mocking me with smiling eyes. “Language, Nil! That’s no way to talk to a lady!”

  I rolled my eyes while she laughed yet again. Her enjoyment in my defeat was borderline sadistic. Either way, we had finished the jug which had done much to soothe the pain of losing. The floor’s window showed a moonlight painted landscape, indicating it was time to go.

  Thecily stood with me, still laughing. I followed her lead, and she took my arm, leaning heavily against me. “My terrible Kingdoms partner, shall we make up for your sound thrashing with a bite to eat?” She grinned. “My treat!”

  I grinned back and shrugged as casually as I could manage with a radiant girl leaning on my arm. “Since you’re buying, I guess I can do with some food.”

  We ate just across from where played at a husband and wife ran shop who sold skewered fowl, glazed to perfection. We talked about nothing in particular, and laughed at each other’s jokes. I lost track of time completely, and didn’t mind one bit.

  A loud knocking sound woke me up. My eyes blinked open sluggishly, taking in the unusual surroundings. The Skywolf, I thought to myself, extricating a numb arm from beneath Thecily. I desperately searched for my shirt which had disappeared mysteriously in the middle of the night.

  The knocking grew more insistent. Thecily stretched out in the hammock, shooting a wink in my direction before rolling her neck to a chorus of thunder-like pops. I paused in my frantic search when she stepped gingerly towards the door. Before opening it, she jerked a thumb to the adjoining wall and rolled her eyes in amusement, then finger over her lips, began to open the door.

  Stepping up against the wall, hoping the gods took mercy on a guy who couldn’t say no to a cuddle, I held my breath.

  “Thecily,” a deep, booming voice said. “You, um, did I wake you?” The voice took on an awkward, less assured tone. “Should I come back later?”

  She laughed heartily. “Oh Toman, you must get used to a little skin. You’ve been on this ship, what, three years already?” She tossed her hair back, exposing more collarbone. “Really, by now I would have thought that Brod modesty would have blown away. It only took me a couple of years.”

  I couldn’t blame him. Wearing just a slip, she was irresistibly attractive. Good thing it was so dark or I’d have never gotten any sleep.

  Toman coughed politely. “Maybe one day, ma’am. For now, we have new orders from the captain. A group of mercenaries are needing passage to the southwest, and have a promissory note from their employer.” He paused, still sounding uncomfortable. “The usual rates. Captain wants us on our way in two hours.”

  Before she could respond, Toman’s steps were heard pounding up the stairs in rapid escape. She turned to me, smiling to herself. “Well, you heard him leafer. Time for you to leaf.”

  I feigned a broken heart, hand against head, eyes trembling with would be tears. “You’d throw me out after beating me so soundly, and use a pun to do so? Whatever will I do?” I sank to me knees, barely containing a well of laughter. “Oh, my shirt!” I said, seeing it hiding underneath the hammock.

  She sighed dramatically, and tossed it over to me, still holding the door open.

  I dressed quickly, and began to head out. “You owe me another game. And breakfast,” I added as an
afterthought.

  In return, she shut the door. “If you’re lucky,” she sang through the door.

  Back across the swaying, unsteady mass that made up the harbor of airships I went. Volant was already up and about, practicing his swordplay with a much larger man covered in a thick black fur cloak. Volant held a simple rapier. Black fur had a short sword with a thick, leaf shaped blade.

  Sparks flashed as blades connected. Each was working on the form more than anything, taking fluid steps while running the blade up and down their opponents. Both blades maintained contact with each other, pushing back and forth in a sparkling dance. The sword dance stopped as my presence was noticed.

  “Oh ho!” Volant called, smug tone matching an even more smug smile. “And where have you been, friend?” He shot a wink at his partner, a large man covered in a spiraling pattern of scars made of tiny dots. The twisting scar was testament to a rather deadly disease, and the fact that it stopped just below the jaw indicated a rather lucky man.

  I grinned knowing the futility of a lie. Still, I responded cheerfully, “Nowhere in particular you wind licker. I decided to see what else I could find about this ramshackle city you call home.” I patted Volant on the shoulder, and turned towards the other man. “Nil, at your service,” I said with a casual bow.

  “Jameson, at yours,” the man said with a nod and twirl of his free hand. “I see you admiring my birthmark,” he said conversationally.

  “Birthmark?” I asked, looking the man over for one.

  He laughed at my confusion and traced a finger down his neck, following the line of the scar. “Nearly got me, aye? I’ve yet to meet another whose scar was so close to killing them. Don’t be too impressed though, I was barely walking when it hit me, and remember none of the time fighting it.”