by K. T. Tomb
“Kenjov, in the interest of not wasting any more of your time, I really must insist we leave. I’ve clearly come to the wrong person for this, and I would hate to be any more of a burden on your already overwhelmed shoulders. Thank you anyway for your time.” And with that, he signaled Hugh and Willem to get up and join him on their way back to Loki’s Luck.
“Wait, wait,” Kenjov said, motioning for them to stay in their seats. “Look, I came out all this way, to a tavern with a horrible name—the Drowned Rat? I mean for the sake of the reaper—the least I could do was hear what an old friend had to say, right?” He signaled for the serving girl to come back over to their table and ordered another round of beer for the five of them.
“Thank you, Kenjov,” Willard said once the beers arrived.
“You’re very welcome, lad,” Kenjov replied.
“Now, what exactly is it you want, Kaerl?”
“Listen, this isn’t going to be easy, and to be perfectly honest, I’m rather ashamed I’m asking you for this, Jovi,” Kaerl said, using the nickname Kenjov had gone by in their childhood. He could see Kenjov visibly stiffen at the use of his old nickname. “I need access to the Hall of Records, to put it bluntly,” Kaerl finished quickly, before whatever will he’d built up vanished.
Kenjov sputtered for a moment, then as he finally managed to choke down the last of his beer, he looked at Kaerl and said, “No. Absolutely not. If I could get you in there, I wouldn’t. But besides, there’s no way that I could… get you in there, I mean. So I won’t.”
And with that, he chugged down the rest of his beer, and stood to leave. Before he left the table, he looked over at Kaerl again, and said, “If you’re crazy enough to try breaking in there, keep this in mind: I am a full-fledged recorder now. I will relay this entire conversation to the hall if absolutely…” Then he stopped talking and tilted his head to one side. His expression was confused for a moment, then a look of calm clarity appeared on his face. “Huh? What? What was it I was saying? How… how did I get here? I really must be getting back. It was good to see you again, Kaerl. What a wonderful chat we had. Well then, I’ll just be on my way then.” Kenjov turned on his heel and walked out the door.
“What the hell was that?” Willem asked.
Kaerl looked at his companions and said, “That was the strangest thing I’ve ever… What’s so funny?” he asked, as he noticed that Hugh was trying his best not to laugh.
“I… I, uh… may have… well… see… it took me forever to get inside Kenjov’s mind. You didn’t give me long enough, Kaerl, so I had to just kind of… wipe the slate clean,” Hugh said. All the while, both Kaerl and Willem were still staring at him incredulously. Hugh glanced over at them and added, “There may have been a… uhm… casualty as well. You know… from when I wiped that dreadful sales pitch you just gave him from his mind.”
Kaerl snorted a laugh and Willem just continued giggling.
“Looks we’ll just have to find another way in,” he said, voicing all their thoughts aloud.
“Aye, looks that way,” said Hugh.
“Maybe we could try the old cellar passages. I used to use them to sneak out at night. I never did get caught. Well, let’s get another few beers and maybe by the time Willem stops laughing, it’ll be dark enough for us to try to sneak in. What d’you say?” Kaerl asked Hugh and Willem.
Willem nodded through his still uproarious giggling fit and Hugh said, “Aye, let’s do that.”
Chapter Six
Loki’s Luck was quiet in the middle of the afternoon, so when six young, eager looking youths walked in, Jarreth was surprised. Before he could offer them a table and a drink, Haervey, Ingarum and Yvo followed behind them through the door.
“Aye! Jarreth, these ’re tha new recruits yae asked us tae fin’,” Haervey said. “We’re takin’ ‘em straigh’ down tae the cellah to see wha’ they be made ah, yah?”
“Sounds good to me,” Jarreth replied.
The whole group trudged down the stairs. When the door was closed behind them and they had all gathered around to listen, Haervey addressed them all.
“Nae then,” Haervey said loudly so everyone could hear him. “We’re goin’ tae pu’ ya trew a coupl ea tes’s. We’re only hirin’ on tha tree bes, so pay close ‘ttention. Firs’ we’ll pair each o’ ya up. Practice wi’ tha sword and shiel’. Knock yer opponen’ doen. Bes’ of tree lads moves on.”
The recruits were paired up. Some showed promise with footwork and speed, others showed their prowess at being unmovable. Finally, there was the sound of wood cracking on wood stops, and the three winners stepped forward.
“Very goo’,” Yvo said. “Bu’ now you tree tha los, step up here now, quick an’ smart. Hi’ the bull’s eye tree times an’ you’re back in the runnin’. Targe’s a’ twenny fi’ paces.”
The three losing recruits stepped to the line and they each fired their five arrows. Only one hit the bull’s eye three of the five times.
“Excellen’,” Ingarum said, to the recruit. “Nae, here’s your las’ challenge. Pick any tree of the remainin’ winners. Tha’s yer team. The otter tree, yer on the other si’e. Shields only fer the archer’s team, in a line, swor’s an’ shiel’s for the losers. Hol’ that line as long as ye ken agains’ their attack.”
“Those two,” the recruit said, indicating two of the previous winners from the first round of challenges.
Wooden swords crashed noisily against wooden shields as the archer’s team did their best to hold off the other side. One of them stepped out of line, and hammered his opponent with his shield, knocking him back and taking his sword. As he pushed past the downed recruit, he pivoted and viciously hacked down on the sword arm of one of the others that was still standing, freeing that sword up as well. He tossed the sword to one of his teammates, hanging onto his shield and one of his recovered swords. Then he quickly disarmed the last remaining opponent, the same fellow that he had beaten in the original challenge.
The three brothers applauded the display and Haervey said, “Goo’, very goo’. Loo’s like we’ve go’ oursel’s our newest members. The rest o’ yeh ge’ upstairs and have a drink on the ‘ouse. You tree, stay here.”
The three defeated young men trudged back up the stairs to get their drink.
“So then,” Yvo asked. “Wha’re yer names?”
“I’m Mikhail,” the archer said.
“Jon,” said the second member of the team.
“Everyone calls me Bull,” said the young warrior who had so neatly dispatched the three opponents.
“Goo’ to ‘ave yeh,” said Ingarum. “C’mon o’er ‘ere an’ we’ll ge’ yeh signed on. Yer the newes’ members of the Veile’ Lady. Yer cap’n’s name is Jarreth. An’ the nex’ tree weeks’ll be miserable. We go’ jus’ that much time tae ge’ yeh in shape fer yer firs’ voyage.”
The recruits all placed their signatures on the papers; the fervor of youth and all of the dreams of glory that come with it twinkled in their eyes as they signed on, not knowing what to expect, or where they would be going. All they knew was that they might make some money and they’d get to see places they’d never dreamed of before.
As the sun finally dropped below the horizon, Kaerl led Hugh and Willem through a narrow, twisting alley. They reached a sewer gate and the three men pried open the grate; lifting in unison and carefully setting it to the side.
“Listen,” Kaerl said, “I’ll go through first. I know where I’m headed. It gets dark down there, and sound… plays tricks on you. Hugh, is there anything you could do about that?”
“About which?” he asked. “I could enhance our vision. Not sure what I could do about the sound—there might be a couple of things I could do, but I’d have to see… well, hear… what it’s like down there first.”
“Willem, I want you to stand behind me and in front of Hugh. You remember the knife fighting dance I taught you?”
“Yes, I remember. But I hope I don’t need it,” Willem said.
“And you shouldn’t, but I want you to be prepared for anything. Things could get heated when it comes to the hoard of knowledge the Guild recorders have stored in there. If it comes to it, I want you to focus on memorizing every step you take so that if, as I said, it comes to it, you could get out of here and back to Loki’s Luck. Tell Jarreth everything that happened—he’ll know what to do.”
Kaerl descended the rungs of the ladder deep into the underground sewer system and soon, they were making their way north and west through the city. There were other tunnels, some gated and others not, that emptied into the main sewer line they were following.
“Hugh,” Kaerl called from up front. Though he said the sentient’s name softly, it echoed and rebounded off of everything, seeming to come from myriad directions all at once.
“See what I mean,” Kaerl added to the cacophony. “Could you do anything about that?”
“Hmm,” Hugh thought to himself for a moment. “Let me try something.” Then he focused intently for a few seconds.
There. Is that better? Kaerl tried to respond, but nothing came out of his mouth.
You have to think what you want to say, Hugh explained mentally. It will let us communicate with each other directly. The problem is that we may have thoughts… overlapping. But just focus on what we’re doing and that shouldn’t be a problem.
This is great, Kaerl thought, projecting his comment at both Hugh and Willem. This helps immensely. We’re getting close—only another couple hundred yards or so—Hugh, could you maintain this once we’re inside the hall?
I don’t think I will be able to. This is a… taxing… effort and if this place is as well guarded as you say it is, I have a feeling I’ll be more focused on keeping us unnoticed and alive.
Well, Kaerl thought to the others, I suppose I’d rather be alive and talking than dead and not making any noise at all.
Good, Willem projected at the others. Then let’s get in there, grab the log book and get out.
Kaerl continued to lead the group through the passage and finally they came to another set of rungs, this time leading up so high that, in the dark of the sewer, none of the three could even see where the ladder ended.
Kaerl, Hugh said, where does this lead out?
It leads out into a scullery cubby. Basically, we go up and stage in the cubby. It’s right near one of the older rooms in the hall and if my memory serves that’s where we’ll find the log book that Jarreth is looking for.
How do you know? Willem asked.
Because I’ve heard other recorders talk about that book. There was, while I was here at least, a group of older recorders that were pushing the Guild Masters to fund more explorations to that particular location. As long as they haven’t moved it, it should still be there, Kaerl thought, more to himself than the others.
They began the long climb, and soon they could see into a poorly lit closet, filled with brooms and mops and other assorted cleaning items. Kaerl carefully lifted the grate cover up, and slid it over to the right. Soon the others were right beside him in the closet.
“Ok,” he said out loud, thinking to himself how odd his voice sounded, “we enter this hall, and go about twenty yards to the left. We shouldn’t run into anyone in the halls at this time of night—they should all be in their cells by now. The problem we could have is that there might be a senior recorder in that record room. If there is, Hugh, I’ll need you to do something about that. I don’t want to leave any sort of trail for anyone to follow.”
“That’s a good plan,” Hugh said. “I could do that, but if more needs to be done, we can’t hesitate either.” He stopped to make eye contact with both his companions to emphasize his point. “We need to get that log book,” he added.
“Fair enough, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Kaerl replied.
They entered the hall, and quickly made their way into the record room that Kaerl had previously indicated. They closed the door, and Hugh focused for another few moments. Finally, he looked up and said to Kaerl and Willem, “No one will be able to hear us in here right now. But I do recommend we make this quick.”
They quickly started scanning the wall for log books from the ship called the Narwhal.
“I’ve got it here,” Willem exclaimed after what seemed like hours, even though only thirty minutes had passed by.
“Good,” Kaerl said. “Let me check it to make sure that’s the one we need and then we’ll be out of here.”
As Kaerl was looking through the book and confirming that it was in fact the one they were after, they heard footsteps padding softly up the hall. The three of them froze on the spot. The footsteps stopped, and the door to the record room slowly began to squeak open.
Willem darted forward and opened the door, dragging the senior recorder into the room. He slammed the door shut. But as they heard more steps running down the hall, away from the door, all they could do was look at each other in disbelief.
“Quick, tie him and gag him,” Kaerl said.
“It’ll be quicker if we silence him and get out of here,” Hugh replied.
“I said no killing, not tonight,” Kaerl replied tersely as he went back to the door and listened intently for the pounding footsteps of the recorder’s guard. Willem already had the man trussed and hidden behind a shelf in the far corner of the room.
“Quick, let’s go!” he ordered.
The other two were quick to comply, and they were out the door and down the hall. A guard running up the hall at that moment saw them just as they ducked into the cleaning closet, and followed them, hot on their heels. They made it through the grate, and got it back in place just as the guard ripped open the door.
The men were on the ladder on their way down while the guard was busy wondering where they had disappeared to inside a broom closet. When they had made it a quarter of the way down, Kaerl heard a loud pop and a ladder rung sailed past his head. It was quickly followed by a succession of pops and more flying metal.
“As soon as you clear a rung, it’ll pop off,” Hugh shouted up to Kaerl, who was staring in disbelief. “I figured it would at least slow them down. And they can’t possibly know where we’ll exit the tunnel—so let’s go!”
With that, the three men scampered back down into the sewers and raced back the way they’d come. They could hear the confusion in the guards’ voices as they gathered at the top of the entrance to the sewer, and they were quickly back through the tunnels and out into the alley they had entered the underground maze from.
“Well,” Kaerl said, out of breath, to Hugh and Willem, “that was extra-close. Good thinking back there!” He put a hand on Hugh’s shoulder for a moment. “Let’s get this thing back to Jarreth. We can go from there and get our plans made,” Kaerl finished.
“Aye, that we will do… and have a beer as well!” Hugh exclaimed.
The group hurried back to Loki’s Luck where their captain was overjoyed to have finally acquired the log book from the Narwhal. He began skimming through it, but was soon lost in the pages. The men around him were excited and thrilled and soon they were reveling as if it were the New Year.
The following morning, as men who had fallen asleep at the tables were awakening, Jarreth closed the log book. He went downstairs and found Hugh asleep on his bed.
“I hate to wake you, Hugh, but we need to talk,” Jarreth whispered.
“Huh? What? How long have you been up?” Hugh asked groggily.
“I didn’t go to sleep at all last night. We need to talk—let’s go upstairs and get some kaf,” Jarreth said persistently. “That’ll wake us both up.”
After the pot boiled and the kaf was poured into round clay cups designed to hold in the heat of the dark, hot draught, Jarreth turned and looked at Hugh.
“I need you to go look for those other sentients, Hugh. We can’t make this trip with just one person wielding… magic… I know, I know,” he said, noting the look Hugh shot at him. “I know it’s not really magic, but there isn’t really a
better way to describe it. I’m not sure what we’ll be going up against, but I have a feeling that, whatever the denizens of this next realm we’re going to visit are, they’re not going to be friendly. Every indication was that this place was not guarded—not like that red treasure plane we found—but it does have its perils.”
“What are you getting at?” Hugh asked. “What kind of perils? And why, all of a sudden, do we need another sentient?”
“Hugh, it’s not a knock on you. You are the best—there is no one I’d rather have with me—but d’you know the reason this place was unsanctioned by the Guild?”
“No, I don’t,” Hugh replied sheepishly.
“It’s because the Narwhal sailed there eight separate times. On each occasion they lost at least one member of their crew. And not just lost, Hugh. Vanished. They posted sentries. They had a watch fire. And when they woke up in the morning, one or more of their party was gone.”
Jarreth looked expectantly at Hugh, imagining that this information would fully impress upon him the need for another sentient.
“They didn’t have me,” Hugh replied. “But, you’re the cap and you’ve never lead us astray. You’re fair and honest, and well, there isn’t another flag I’d rather sail under. So I’ll go. I had one or two places that might make good starting points. How long do I have?”
“You’ve got a fortnight, Hugh. Be back by the last day of the fortnight, or we’ll have to figure something else out. Maybe have to risk sailing it alone. There’s no way I want to do that, but according to the book, the veil between here and there wasn’t so tricky; its everything after the crossing that took them by surprise. Just hurry back, Hugh.”
“Ok. So when do I leave then?” Hugh asked.
“Today. Actually, as soon as you’re done with breakfast. With you guys almost getting caught yesterday, well, we needed to get the boat in the water as quickly as possible.”