Halrum appeared in the common room of the Down Dunrall one morning. When Renado stumbled down the steps from the second-storey quarters, he rubbed his eyes sleepily. The hair near his temples was still wet from washing, but his clothes only showed wrinkles where they’d been neatly folded. He reached the common room and stared at the strange errand runner.
“My mistress has news for you, Master Renado,” Halrum told him. Continue reading Renado 25
Two dozen bodies crammed the railing of Flying Sunset as they drifted towards the harbour of Old Numa. They’d made it across Trader’s Bay without incident. Some of the passengers, including a pair of tanners who’s shop in Maykren had been lost to fire, were departing here. Aralim knew a little bit about just about everyone board—if he saw an unfamiliar face, he made it his goal to speak with them a little. Continue reading Aralim 71
Pressed against the shoddily assembled wall boards of Arn’s shack, the hunter’s better cheek picked up an earthy paste of eroded wood. Without a nose, Arn could press his face flat against the slit in the wall. His squinted eyes saw the source of the noise that had disturbed his work. He held his breath at it happened again.
A man dressed in loincloth stood between Arn’s narrow vantage point and the beach, banging a spear against a tree-trunk. The thud echoed four times. Instead of trailing his drum with silence, the man called out. His voice clearly rang, “Wanderer! Wanderer, come out and face me!” Continue reading Arn 29
The stern of Flying Sunset cut through the waves of Trader’s Bay as the evening sun set the ocean’s surface ablaze with orange rays. Aralim, Dullah, and Devran watched the clouds turning purple and dark blue from a porthole in the galleon’s side. This two-and-a-half decked vessel housed abundant crew and carried several passengers as its sails carried them southeast.
“It was good stew,” Devran said. “All things considered.”
Lerela sat with them and nodded. On the public ship, the guards had been wearing torso armour, unlike their time on the somewhat secluded riverboat. She stiffened suddenly, and Aralim looked across the mess hall. A few crewmen were socializing near the door, but stepped out of the way for Sergeant Grendar to enter. The soldier looked at Aralim, as he approached. Continue reading Aralim 70
A handful of gambling tables filled the common room of Down Dunrall Inn with business during the evening of every night that week. Karsef played a game or two—he was a good player, with a stoic, impenetrable expression, and he won more coins than he lost. Renado, brother of Lerran, figured he could out-bet Karsef, but he didn’t play. He spent his time at the bar, drinking lightly and learning what he could from the inhabitants of Vagren.
“Just a cider?” the barkeeper asked him, walking by. Continue reading Renado 24
Farek and his comrades stayed in the city of Oshibor for a few days, but soon set out aboard a new vessel, a chartered ship. This time, they were the only passengers, with full say-so over the captain’s destinations. It cost more than securing passage aboard a vessel with a similar destination, but Candro’s Crossing was a smaller craft than The Borala. Continue reading Farek 28
Of course, their captive assassin offered a handful of details to ward off his torture. His name, Gathim, and his claimed stash of coin in the port of Maykren did not. Aralim had no use for treasure, so they didn’t go in search of it.
The Ake’ma River widened until Aralim thought they were sailing across a lake. A few buildings appeared on islands in the lake, and the islands turned into wide branches of land covered in city. Their rowboat drifted through the delta alongside a thousand other riverboats. Citizens of Maykren wandered along the banks or piloted city watercraft between buildings. Some shops seemed to have storefronts on the waterfronts, adjoined with docks, while also allowing access from the streets of the islands. Aralim watched a bridge passing overhead as their guards eased the rows through the water. Continue reading Aralim 69
After a day or two of pouring rain, Scoa Isle was swamped by an ether of white fog. The silence, interrupted only occasionally by the island’s ear-piercing screeches, seemed overbearing. Wordlessly, Arn brushed through wide foliage leaves and quietly dragged his spear-butt through the moss. It was drenched with water, like his hair, like the blossoms in the trees, like the entire island seemed to be.
Another branch of foliage shook with movement, as a leaf-eater glided between the trees with barely a whisper. It was gone before Arn could give chase. He cursed—his food stores were constantly dwindling as he slaved over the raft. He had never seen anything that could move as silently as the herbivores of Scoa. Even their pelts, patterned grey and tan colours, made their movement across the island nearly impossible for Arn’s eyes to spot. Continue reading Arn 28
Renado and his men waited the rest of the next day for the courier they hired to bring Gravagan’s contacts in Vagren. They waited the night of the 12th too, and then a few hours after dawn on the 13th. When their voucher finally arrived, it wasn’t a man in a robe like Telan, or a wise wizard, like Gravagan or Pralla. A citizen of Vagren waved at their camp from the palisade gate in between those dividing stone walls, a middle-aged man with silver lining in his coat and leather trousers folded neatly above his soft shoes. Continue reading Renado 23
The city of Oshibor ruled its province from a lowland, not a majestic hill or far-seeing cliff. The harbour was connected to the rest of the city by a few roads, lined with new homes, like it had been a separate town was nearly encompassed into the bustling burg. Their voyage had been long and even the thrill of seeing the steely point of Draggad Isle had become a stalwart resolve as they watched it shift past for two or three days. But Oshibor, gleaming as the rising sun finally shone down the rocky slopes of the Great Isle’s coast, had instilled a sense of relief in Farek and his friends. Continue reading Farek 27