by Eric Vall
I clenched my fists tightly as I grinned, ready to claim it all for myself.
Chapter Nine
By the time our ship docked in Eifersucht it was mid afternoon, and the quaint port town was bustling with people. I came down the gangplank first and took in the sights of the odd floating city. The air was salty and fresh, but that was to be expected from a fishing town on an island.
Most of my attention was focused on the amazing structure of the city. Instead of being built on dry land, Eifersucht was built on top of the water using struts and poles to hold the buildings and houses in place. A complex network of wooden walkways and stone bridges made it easy for people to move in between streets. The main road was no different from any other in any of the towns we had visited, but instead of being paved with cobblestone or rock, it was made from heavy planks of wood.
I was awestruck by this. I had never seen a city built upon water, and I moved carefully over the steady planks as if they would crack under my heavy armor and send me tumbling down into the freezing water any second. Annalise came down after me, took my hand in hers with a raspy chuckle, and led me forward.
“It’s all right,” she said with a smile. “Everyone is like that the first time they visit Eifersucht, but this city has been here for thousands of years before even Tintagal came into existence. The wood is made from the trees at the highest point of the mountain.”
She indicated over our heads and I looked where she pointed. I needed to squint to see, but the trees higher up on the rock were massive, triple the size of the trees I had seen before in the forest outside of my dungeon.
“They’re called Obri Giants,” Annalise explained. “They only grow on this island, and they’re the strongest in the nation. The people of Eifersucht use the wood for their fishing boats and houses, and it helps protect them from the bitter cold.”
“Have you been here before, Annalise?” I questioned through a shaking smile.
“Only once, on my debut tour. We stayed one night because the breaker we were sailing on had a tight schedule.”
Carmedy tiptoed down the gangplank and held her bundles close to her body as she tentatively stepped down onto the wooden walkway. Her emerald eyes were wary as she gave the water flowing underneath and beside the street suspicious glances. Morrigan came down after, Fea and Macha perched on her shoulders as they turned their steely black eyes this way and that to examine the new scenery. Rana came last, and as she did, she observed something none of us had.
“Why is everyone here all lovey-dovey? It’s giving me the creeps.” The fox-woman snorted as her blue eyes moved over the crowd, and as the rest of us looked, I realized she was correct in her observation.
There was an abundance of couples moving in the crowd, but as we watched, some of the couples broke apart, found new partners, and then went about their merry way. A few even kissed their new partners on the mouth before clasping hands and heading down the street. The people who had been left behind didn’t act slighted. They only glanced about the crowd, found a new person, and moved on with them.
I furrowed my brows, and beside me, Carmedy scratched at her cheek with a confused expression.
“That is very odd,” Morrigan stated, and Fea cawed in agreement while Macha bobbed her sleek, black head along. “Maybe it is an unfamiliar mating ritual?”
“Maybe they’re all swingers?” Rana joked, and Carmedy’s expression broke happily.
“Swings? I love swings! Master, will you push me? We can take turns!” The black cat squealed as she grabbed onto my hand tightly, her emerald eyes huge and sparkling in the bright afternoon sunshine.
“I don’t believe swings are what Rana was referring to, my dear, but if we find any along the way, I will push you if you like.” I smiled as I reached out and ruffled her short black hair. The feline purred loudly in response, and her black tail whipped happily behind her shoulders.
“How do you even know that word?” Annalise glanced at the fox-woman with a chuckle as I led my minions through the streets.
“You pick up a lot of weird things when traveling alone, ok?” Rana explained as she gave Annalise’s shoulder a playful shove. “It’s not like I’ve ever done it.”
The more we moved into the crowd, the more bizarre it became. It was more than just couples trading partners. It was also people buying items from stores and laying kisses on the shopkeepers. People buying bread while they romantically embraced the baker. People touching each other in places that would otherwise be deemed inappropriate in other societies right here before our eyes.
I had an inkling about what was going on, and I pulled my minions closer to me in case any stray passersby tried to latch onto them. I glanced over at my swordswoman, and she was looking around cautiously, too. Our eyes met, and I could see she also was beginning to catch on quickly. We moved on, huddled closely together as a unit.
Despite the strange occurrences in the streets, the city itself was quite beautiful. Like in Tamarisch, the houses and shops were built with dark wood shiplap, the walls and sidings made with thick white stucco. Intricately painted signs hung outside workshops and storefronts to advertise what was sold inside. I grabbed Rana and held the fox-woman tightly to my side as a man reached out for her.
“Try her and you’ll lose more than a hand,” I growled between my teeth, and Rana’s blue eyes narrowed on him as she stuck out her tongue.
The man looked at me for a second, his gray eyes glassy and far away. Without speaking or giving me any indication he had heard me, he turned away and padded down the opposite side of the street.
“Holy hell, this place just gets weirder and weirder,” the redhead whispered under her breath as she shook her wild curls, and Carmedy, who held her black paws protectively to her chest, nodded.
As the sky darkened and late afternoon set upon us, we searched for a place to rest in the heart of Eifersucht. The town square was large, and heavy stones had been placed over the wood to create a fountain from the water below. It babbled soothingly in the center of the cluster of buildings, and the short alchemist scampered away and sat down on its ledge to rest. I allowed her to do so but sent Rana after her to keep an eye on the wandering cat.
“Master,” Morrigan whispered to me as she pulled Annalise closer, her dark eyes moving warily over the people bustling about, “what’s going on here?”
“I can’t be certain yet, but I believe this is the work of the god who resides here,” I told the swordswoman and elf. “It’s like he’s put all of the townspeople under a trance.”
“The Liebe,” the high queen said as she too watched people pass by with pink tinted cheeks and goofy smiles plastered over their faces. “The Lover.”
“Do you think he’s forcing them to fall in love with each other somehow?” the elf asked as she stepped closer to me.
“I don’t think it’s love actually. Look how they effortlessly cast each other off to find new lovers,” I said as I pointed to yet another couple who separated with sour expressions and found new partners among the crowd. “It may be a weak infatuation spell or a romantic obsession hex. Both are fickle types of magic and often shift from person to person.”
“More of that fortune teller garbage,” Annalise moaned as she recalled our run-in with the old woman who sucked the life out of the people.
“Close but not exactly the same.” I nodded as I turned my head and watched Carmedy and Rana talk animatedly to each other by the fountain. “This is on a much larger scale. That town was maybe seven hundred people at most while this is a city of over forty thousand residences. Who knows how many people live here?”
“Is this black magic or white magic?” the high queen asked anxiously as she tugged at her braid.
Fea cawed loudly in response, almost like the raven was laughing.
“It is neither,” Morrigan stated as she reached up and brushed her slender fingertips across Fea’s beak to quiet the bird. “This is merely a parlor trick, it contains no powerful magic at
all.”
“Morrigan is correct,” I said through a smile as I reached out and stroked the elf’s soft, white hair. “Think of what is happening around us as if it were a glamor woven by the two illusion gods we’ve encountered. It’s a mirage of love and happiness this Liebe has created for himself.”
“So, this god is playing matchmaker?” Annalise inquired with furrowed brows, her hands still locked on her braid as she narrowly avoided a man’s outstretched arms.
“Yes, something like that.” I smiled as I held her wrist and brought her closer to my body, away from the lovesick citizens milling about. “But with a whole city of unsuspecting people. I wouldn’t be surprised if this hasn’t been going on for thousands of years. You’ve been here before, Annalise, was it like this then?”
“Not that I can recall, but as I said earlier, we were only here for one night. We mostly went to parties and balls with the upper class and didn’t see much of the citizens. I didn’t notice anything strange then, but I had other things on my mind, like how to avoid being forced into an arranged marriage by my parents. I do know the dungeon at the top of Machstein was created after the Liebe’s. Maybe that has something to do with it?”
“I thought so too, that maybe the dungeons and the gods who reside there have something to do with each other,” I said thoughtfully as I stroked my chin. “I personally don’t know the gods on this island, but I heard the goddess who lives there was cast out after the Liebe.”
We were broken away from our conversation by a loud ruckus from behind us, and my two minions and I turned to see what was happening. One of the shop owners of what looked to be a bookshop had grabbed a young maiden by the arm. The small woman was struggling heartily, and as she turned to run, I saw fluffy white cat ears poking out of her long, dark hair, quite like the ones my cat-woman possessed.
The short woman resisted harder, paper bags filled with books clamped tightly to her chest as she kicked and screamed for all to hear. Her hazel eyes were wide and horrified as the shop owner grabbed her by both of the arms and bent in close to her face.
“You forgot to pay the tax.” He snickered as he puckered his lips and leaned in even closer.
“What? Get off me, you foul baboon!” the cat screamed as she dropped an armload of books to the wooden planks at her feet and shoved the man’s face away with a paw.
She seemed to be the only one in this town besides our party who was averse to the strange customs of romantic gestures, and as the shopkeeper tried again, she leaned her head back and spat directly in his face. I chuckled deeply in the back of my throat as the shopkeeper stumbled backward, a huge hand coming up to wipe off the spittle as the cat-woman bent down and snatched up the discarded books and ran in our direction. She wasn’t looking where she was going, since she glanced over her shoulder at the disoriented shopkeeper, and ran directly into my heavily armored chest.
She shrieked loudly, and I reached out my hands to steady her wobbly form, but she slapped my hands away with feverish intensity.
“Don’t touch me!” the cat cried. “The next person who lays a hand on my person is getting punched, I swear it!” She shifted her parcels to one arm and clenched her free hand into a fist and waved it angrily in all directions.
I pulled my hands back and held them in the air to show her I meant no harm, and the cat-woman backed away slowly, her huge hazel eyes on the crowd growing around her. I glanced over at my minions, and they seemed as shocked as I was. Her accent was different than anyone’s here on the island, and she looked like a foreigner.
Her hair was long and a darker brown than Annalise’s, almost black. Her hazel eyes were obscured by thick-rimmed round glasses that were askew on her button nose as she jerked her head around. She was maybe a few inches shorter than Carmedy and carried a little more weight on her bones than any of my minions. Her teal long-sleeve dress was light and certainly not fit for the cold weather, and she wore thick brown stockings up to her knobby knees. Over the dress, she wore a tan vest buttoned over her chest, and as she looked around, she fidgeted with the buttons nervously. The worn leather boots she wore looked sensible and well-loved, the laces of the left one untied and hanging limply.
“Hey, Rana! Look!” Carmedy’s delighted yell came from behind me as she stood up from the fountain, and I looked back at her as she grabbed onto Rana’s forearm and tugged the fox forward. “There’s a cat here, too!”
“Grab her,” I instructed to Annalise with a point of my finger, and the swordswoman looked up at me confused. “She’s the only other person here who doesn’t seem affected by the Liebe. She may have more information than we do.”
“Wait!” my swordswoman shouted, and I whipped my head back to watch as she tore off through the crowd after the fluffy eared cat who had bolted as soon as she saw an opening, “You! Get back here! We need to talk to you!”
“Leave me alone!” the dark-haired cat shrieked over her shoulder as her boots pounded the boards, but Annalise kept chasing her through the crowd like a bloodhound.
Morrigan didn’t speak. She only looked up at Macha then turned her dark eyes towards the fleeing cat, and the raven took to the sky with the flutter of midnight black wings. I grabbed the elf’s hand, signaled over my shoulder to Carmedy and Rana to follow, and ran after the receding back of the high queen. We chased after them, and Morrigan’s wholly black eyes stayed straightforward. Every once and awhile the elf shouted out directions, and we followed them.
Eventually, we caught up with a panting and red-faced Annalise as she propped herself up against a building to catch her breath. She pointed farther down the street as she struggled for words between gulps of air.
“Down … there … not … far.”
“Dang, that cat can run fast,” Rana wheezed as she gave Carmedy a nudge and a lopsided smirk. “Are you sure you’re even a cat? You’re more like a slug compared to that girl.”
“Hey now, meaniehead, every cat is different. Just because I’m athletically challenged doesn’t mean I’m not a cat. Last time I checked, I still have two ears and a tail.” The black cat giggled as she placed her paws on her hips.
I looked down at Morrigan, and her eyes were still wholly black as she moved along with Macha. After only a moment, they cleared, and she looked up into my face with a blank expression.
“She’s two streets up and down an alley,” the elf stated. “She went into a tavern called The Purple Conch. It should only take us a few minutes to get there on foot.”
I nodded, made sure that my minions had caught their breath, then headed off again.
As the High Elf said, we found the Purple Conch in a manner of minutes with her guidance. When we reached the tavern, Macha sat perched atop the hanging wooden sign painted with a detailed conch shell in purples and pinks.
Carmedy rushed forward and pressed herself against the front window to peek inside at the patrons sitting at small round tables and enjoying their drinks. I could tell Carmedy was excited by the way her black tail swished behind her back, and I guessed it was because cats were rare outside of the islands of Canarta, this new cat being the only one we had seen in our travels thus far.
“I don’t see her,” the black-haired cat whined in disappointment, but my elf moved for the door anyway.
“She’s in there. I saw her go in and would have seen her leave through Macha,” the pale woman assured the small cat with a soft smile as she pushed open the door and we stepped inside together.
The interior of the Purple Conch was cozy, and the blazing fireplace in the corner made the room welcoming and lively as the other patrons laughed and talked to each other. Beautiful landscape paintings hung from the walls along with a few boars heads, and a single lifelike taxidermy mountain lion was posed near the bar in the back. My minions and I scanned the room for the dark-haired, white-eared cat, and after a few seconds of analyzing the crowd, Rana pointed her out as she cowered at the end of the bar.
Her back faced us as we headed over, and we coul
d see that her whole body was trembling. She held a chipped mug in her paws, and the dark liquid steamed and gave off the scent of freshly ground coffee. My fox-woman reached out her paw to grab the cat’s shoulder, and before it could even make contact, the brunette whipped around and threw a punch. The high queen’s mouth dropped open as Rana dodged it easily and grabbed the fist in her paw.
“Calm down, lady, we’re here to talk,” the fox muttered through gritted teeth.
The dark-haired cat jerked her arm away, but she stayed in place as her hazel eyes examined each of us slowly.
“What do you want?” the stranger snapped, and Morrigan’s white eyebrows raised in surprise. “I’m not interested in your freaky ‘free love’ town, okay? I’m just here for the books then I’m going home on the next boat.”
“You’re not from here?” I inquired as I stepped closer, and Carmedy wiggled in between Rana and Annalise to gaze down at the other cat with wide fascinated eyes.
“No,” she answered, and she seemed to calm down and become more comfortable in our presence, “and I assume you guys aren’t either.”
“And why would you think that?” I questioned as I tilted my head at her, and her fluffy white ears twitched as she took in the noises around us.
“Because you’re not all creepy and handsy,” she said as she lifted her mug of steaming coffee to her lips and took a long sip then set it down with a satisfied sigh. “The people who live on the island act bizarrely, and you guys seem to have your wits about you. At least you can hold a normal conversation with me.”