Into the Storm

by Christopher Johns

  “So the types of people who go there are on either diplomatic missions or to hunt.” Bokaj frowned in thought and scratched his eyebrow. “Well, why don’t we claim to be going there to explore and see what we can bring home to our people on this continent? Like Manly had said, she went there on an expedition to find things like Bea’s egg and whatnot.”

  “That could work.” Jaken grinned with a chunk of jerky hanging out of his mouth, chewing noisily.

  “I feel like that will be a good idea.” Yohsuke nodded his assent then looked over to Vrawn. “You know anything about the city we will be walking into?”

  “I cannot recall the name, but I have heard rumors that it is a den of thieves, liars, and cutthroats despite naval occupation.” Vrawn stepped toward me. “I got a decent workout in this morning, but I think I might need something more. Should we move while the girls hunt, or would it be a better idea to stay and train?”

  “It would likely be a good idea to stay and train, I don’t want to be moving too far from them while they’re out there in case they need us.” I looked to the others apologetically. “Sorry, guys.”

  “What’re you apologizing for?” James raised an eyebrow. “We’re just as attached to your pets as you are. Though, I am surprised that Tmont isn’t out there hunting with them.”

  “Oh, T’?” Bokaj pointed to his hood, likely where the cat slumbered. “She’s too lazy to hunt for herself.”

  A small black paw slapped the back of his head, an indignant yowl coming from the inside of the hood. “What? It’s fuckin’ true, you lazy cat.”

  Another slap, and he fell silent to rub his head.

  I looked to Vrawn and held a hand up. “You want to reach out to Maebe with me?”

  “Will I be able to see her?” I shook my head, but she shrugged and offered to come stand with me regardless.

  I took a steadying breath and drew on the shadow around me to form a small pool of the inky darkness, then cast Shadow Speak.

  My mana drained, and the shadow rose and shaped itself to form a likeliness of Maebe.

  “I see it is finally time for you to call on me.” Maebe sniffed. “Where have you been?”

  “With the dwarves, sweetheart. We just left them this morning, why do you ask?” I explained what was being said to Vrawn as she spoke, and she could follow what I was saying well enough.

  “It has been days since I last spoke to you here, Zeke.” Her likeness frowned deeply. “And you say you only just left them this morning; this is the same day that I returned home?”

  “Yes, dear, it is.” I frowned in return, then it struck me. “Is the veil growing thicker? Does time speed up and slow down as the worlds come closer to each other?”

  “I think that it does.” Maebe sounded tired. “So, where are you now?”

  “We’re about a day or so outside the next city, where we will recruit a ship to go to the Continent of Beasts.” I watched her nod, then added. “How go things at home?”

  “Not well.” Her voice grew harsh. “The Seelie grow bold, and they have begun to draw their forces to themselves. I am still… unwell.”

  “Even after a couple days?” My heart thundered in my chest at the realization. “Have you been looked after by a physician?”

  “I have, they say that I am perfectly healthy, but the strain on my magic in a realm not my own has drained me deeply, I think.” She did sound more tired than I had ever heard her.

  “I think you should stay there until you’re completely better,” I blurted. She didn’t seem surprised, a small smile gracing her lips. “What?”

  “I knew that you would care more for my wellbeing than anything else.” She smiled wider. “I will stay, but only if you have Vrawn with you to help you in my stead. And as long as you reach out to me daily. My mother and I are needed here, and I fear that there is a battle coming between the Unseelie and Seelie.”

  “Can’t we come to help you?” I implored her, but she shook her head. “Samir won’t allow me to return to help our people?”

  “No, though I did surprise him with my proposal.” Her smile turned into a grin. “He rewarded me greatly for it, and before you ask, I cannot tell you.”

  “Was it a good thing, then?” Vrawn asked after I explained.

  “It was the greatest thing.” Maebe giggled and then sighed. “I will never forget the look on his face when he found out. Priceless.”

  I found myself laughing, then held up my hand with the ring on it. “I wear your ring, and I will continue to do so until you are here with me once more. Vrawn also has a gift for you, so she will be keeping that safe for you, too. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” Maebe smiled, then held a hand up to stop me from speaking. “Do not say this before her, but I want to teach you the name of another Fae to Call. Her name is Tan’rbleth. She is powerful and has expressed an interest in serving you after hearing that you were my husband and that Servant was so fond of you.”

  “Thank you, my love.” I bowed my head and committed the name to memory as best as I could. “Vrawn, would you like to tell Maebe goodbye, for now?”

  “Goodbye, Mae, I miss you.” Vrawn seemed sad, but raised her arm to put over my shoulder. “I will keep our Zeke safe.”

  “See that you do,” Maebe warned playfully. “Zeke, I want you to kiss her for me, and tell her that I miss her, as well.”

  I shifted into my human form and pulled Vrawn’s lips to mine in a kiss that I felt would be worthy of Maebe’s affection for the other woman, leaving Vrawn surprised and breathless.

  “Wonderful.” Maebe clapped once. “Be well, husband.”

  She dismissed the spell and was gone as Vrawn leaned down to kiss my forehead. “I know it took a lot to have her stay like that.”

  “It surprisingly didn’t,” I corrected her with a smile. “I need her to be safe and whole. I need our people taken care of, and I’m surrounded by friends she and I trust. I’m fine. I worry about her and the dumbasses who threaten us.”

  Vrawn seemed to take that news oddly and stopped to mull it over for a moment too long. Longer than what was necessary, I thought.

  I grinned at her. “You ready to scrap or what?”

  “Scrap?” She glanced around us. “There is no waste here. What scrap?”

  “It’s a term people use where I’m from to mean ‘fight’.” I shook my body out and rolled my neck. “But we don’t have to spar. We can do pretty much anything you like to work out.”

  “Anything?” She smiled, her green skin glowing in the light around us, her smile radiant as her glimmering blue eyes.

  “Oh my.” my eyebrows shot up and she chuckled. “I take it that was a joke?”

  She nodded, and I shook my head. “I don’t really have anything I can use for weighted training. So maybe we do something else?”

  “Fighting and forms would be welcome.” Vrawn pulled her weighted sword out, and I pulled out Magus Bane. Together, she and I slowly went through different types of strikes, the others joining us as they would. Eventually, the girls returned from their hunting victorious, Kayda hauling a large antelope-like creature in her claws.

  “What the hell is that thing?” Yohsuke looked it over as if trying to decide what it was, but Muu just shrugged and went to work skinning the pieces of the hide that were salvageable.

  “You know, pretty bird, if you would just slice a single time in the guts and eat your fill, we could have a whole mess of these?” Muu grumped at the bloody bird as Bea watched curiously over his shoulder.

  There were many, I can bring more if needed? I relayed Kayda’s offer, and Yohsuke frowned in thought.

  “Having food to offer for part of the travel could endear us to whomever it is that we charter.” Jaken rubbed his chin. “Can we make meat last a longer time like that?”

  “I have a skill that allows me to treat food for longer travels, but it will only last like, a week longer than normal in perfect conditions.” Yohsuke sighed.

  “What
if we got a barrel or something to store it in, and Zeke enchanted it to last longer and keep food fresher?” Vrawn offered with a finger pointed to the carcass, flies beginning to buzz through the area.

  “Can you do that?” Jaken asked skeptically.

  “Dude, I made the Mobile Spring Rod.” I made to flip him the bird, but James stopped me with a rebuttal that it had broken. “That was from the wrong kind of use!”

  “If we can manage to find a good power source, and convince them that we had come across it in our travels rather than making it ourselves, then maybe it could work.” Yohsuke grinned, his fangs flashing beneath his shroud.

  “Then we spend a couple days in town, acquire a barrel, enchant it, and use that time to find a boat to get overseas.” Balmur sniffed and scrunched his nose up at the fly-infested scene before him. “Something fresher than that would be great. Maybe still alive?”

  “Alive is a great idea.” Yohsuke snapped his fingers and looked to the city in the distance. “Mount up, boys, we ride to the city!”

  “What about Vrawn?” I glanced over at her, and she shrugged. “You don’t have a mount?”

  “I do not.” Which made all of us pause. “I am but a simple guard lieutenant, and I only rated a mount while I was with the army. I have yet to find a suitable one.”

  I couldn’t let her ride Bea, could I?

  I will carry her. Kayda craned her neck and leaned down.

  “You can’t carry her and get close to the city, hun.” I ran my fingers through her facial feathers, the fine feathers brushing against my wrists.

  Sister carry? Kayda glanced over at Bea, her muzzle in the remains of what leftover antelope that Yoh had left her with Tmont growling next to her as she ate. I knew she was capable of saying more and more intelligently, but she preferred to speak this way, it seemed, and as much as I could complain, the effort wasn’t worth it at the moment.

  Bea’s gore-covered muzzle snapped up as chunks of meat fell into her gullet, and she swallowed happily.

  “Bea, come here, sweetheart.” I motioned to her, and she seemed content to listen. Her comforting weight bumped against my shoulder, and she listened with one of her brown eyes on me. “You think you could carry Vrawn for me? To the city?”

  No collar? Her mind touched mine in excitement, images of her as a hatchling experiencing things outside for the first time.

  “For as long as we can get away with it, how’s that?”

  Carry! Her feet stomped the ground as she trotted toward Vrawn. They didn’t have the bond that she and Maebe did, so I worried a little.

  With our connection still open, I could feel the sensation of her breathing in and tasting the air around Vrawn and it reminded her of home, somehow. Her scent was the opposite of Maebe’s, a deep musk that held sweet notes and spice to it.

  A ululating gurgle came from Bea that I had never heard before that left me speechless.

  Like her. Bea’s scaled muzzle and the side of her head brushed up against the orc’s shoulder, and Vrawn laughed.

  “She… likes you?” Muu whispered, almost to himself. “She tries to bite me if I touch her!”

  “In her defense, you called her armor-in-the-making.” Bokaj pointed out with a grin.

  “It was a joke!” Muu blurted, and Bea eyed him warily.

  “Animals don’t get jokes the way we do, man,” Balmur teased before blowing his whistle and summoning his horse-sized chameleon.

  Tmont chose that moment to pounce on Muu’s back and bite his tail before prancing away, the rest of us cackling with laughter as the dragon-kin chased after her for a moment.

  “Let’s mount up and move out!” Bokaj hollered, the rest of us blowing the whistles for our mounts and preparing to move out as was stated and heading toward the city at speed.

  Thor, my black and gold kirin mount surged forward, his strides trying to match Bea’s as she ran. Even with Vrawn’s bulky frame on her back, the Gust Raptor ate up ground as if her legs were the fat kid and the ground a big, delicious cake.

  I should know, I’ve been that kid.

  With our mounts beneath us, the miles flew by, and we were to the city in a day and a half, stopping to eat and sleep at night training often while the girls hunted. Kayda and Bea brought two more large antelope in perfect condition to us to slaughter, I took their form, and then we butchered them for their meat and hides.

  When the city came into full sight, we rode straight to what seemed to be the entrance to the city where a small cadre of armed guards with heavy crossbows and bows stood watch at an arch. Their somewhat scaled armor glistening in the sunlight like fish scales would.

  Each of them looked different. Half-Orcs, dwarves, humans, and elves guarded the arch.

  They would give people a tertiary glance here and there, stopping subjects that seemed to be entering with shadier materials and speaking with them in low tones before letting them go.

  One of the elves stopped us, her dusky skin almost a wooden brown color and her gray eyes searching.

  “Welcome to Feltgeor, travelers, what is your business?” Her brisk tone seemed odd with how relaxed the other guards seemed.

  “We came seeking passage across the sea.” Bokaj smiled, his charming personality taking over as he began to step closer. “I’m Bokaj, and you are?”

  “Bored.” Her smile seemed interested, but cautiously so. “But if it’s passage you seek, try the dives by the docks.”

  “We’ll try that.” Bokaj’s smile upped to a grin that he passed her way.

  “The inns down there can be a little seedy if you don’t know anyone.” The guard stepped closer. “Maybe I could come by and give a little… extra protection?”

  The rest of us began howling through our earrings, and he shook his head. Her smile faltered a little, but he recovered with, “If you think it necessary, I imagine I’d be grateful for your attention and guidance.”

  Her eyes sparkled, and the guards around her seemed decidedly taken aback, even one of the half-Orcs grunting in distaste as she offered Bokaj a nod and, “I’m Nerine, I’ll come find you after my shift.”

  “I look forward to it.” We walked by with Bokaj in the lead, and then all hell broke loose over him.

  “You dog!” I chuckled and ruffled his hair playfully.

  “You still got it, man.” Balmur snorted, his eyes darting about. “Those weren’t guards, though.”

  That stopped the rest of our teasing quickly. Vrawn stepped closer to us. “How can you tell?”

  Balmur nodded back toward the wall next to the arch, where stood a man in white clothing that reminded me of a sailor.

  “The navy should be running a town this size, but they aren’t, and the rest of the guys at the gate looked more like thugs and hired muscle than classically trained guards.” His explanation halted as a few people grew too close to really talk and not raise suspicion. Once it was clear to speak, he continued softly, “I’d wager this town is run by a thieves guild or smuggling syndicate who allows the navy to operate so long as they stay out of the way.”

  “How the hell can you guess all of that?” Jaken was dumbstruck.

  “Oh, Balmur used to play a lot of uh… less than favorable characters in a lot of games,” Bokaj explained as our rogue grinned. “The criminal underbelly of these crazy places is always interesting, and not everyone wants to be the hero.”

  “It’s boring and played out sometimes.” Balmur shrugged and waggled his fingers toward the area. “There are times when the heroes are cool and necessary, but being able to successfully navigate the dark side of things is as necessary to get things done.”

  “So then what does this mean?” I wondered aloud, though I kept my tone low.

  “Same as we planned, but we keep an eye on each others’ backs and wallets.” Balmur turned toward my right. “Muu, left hand down three inches and grab hard.”

  I turned and caught sight of Muu snatching ahold of a child’s wrist as he went to pick the dragon-kin’s pocket
. “Good call, man.”

  The child darted off, as several other sets of hungry eyes followed us around as we walked through the city toward the docks. People gave us a wide berth, Bea not wanting to leave Vrawn’s side, and I had given my word to her not to put her into the collar if she carried the woman, and they were cool with her being out.

  Apparently, they had been cool with her or hadn’t cared. Either one, and I was still a little on edge about that. That had to mean that either we would be watched or that they had more dangerous things in this city than a damned raptor.

  We would need to be on our guard. And we were, for the most part. Despite the fact that the homes and buildings in the area grew progressively nicer the closer to the docks we went. Which was weird.

  “The money has to be here.” Balmur said, then grunted, looking around excitedly. “Keep an eye out for any thugs you might see.”

  “Dude, it’s the mid-afternoon,” Muu grumped, then sighed. “Ten o’clock, three bodies and one above the door with a bow. The others armed with bludgeoning weapons. How does he do that?”

  “Skill, baby.” Balmur winked and glanced about. “Don’t look at them, and whatever you do, do not talk to anyone in the navy outside. I’ll find us a nicer inn to stay at while the rest of you get what is needed.”

  With that, he was gone, and the rest of us were left to wonder what to do, then set about looking. Carefully, we inquired about where to find barrels until Kayda took off and signaled to me where to go.

  I led the rest of the party to where she perched above a large building of wooden slats nailed haphazardly together with a door to the road and a large workshop on the other side with a small fence surrounding it. On this other side of the building was where I spied several barrels and called out to see who owned the place.

  A large, grayish-skinned orcish man in plain clothes and a leather apron took the time to bind a ring of metal around a set of wooden slats that bowed outward slightly from bottom to top, and he tapped them into place. It took him five minutes after the piece was finished to realize that someone was there with him.