by Marcus Sloss
“Wait, can you clean the water?” I asked before they spiraled into a lovers' quarrel.
“Oh yeah, the spell had almost run its natural course. The water is clear now didn’t even need a catalyst.” Janice said with a proud smile at her achievement.
“Perfect. Look, you are both vital to me. You need to trust each other. Janice is right, it could be your fifth uncle. Victor is also right, it could not be. Let me look into it though. Well, I will probably have Lamont look into. The key thing is, you need to trust each other or we will have problems.”
They nodded at me and I left them to go to the docks. I saw Donnie and Nate rowing to the shore. Both had concern etched on their faces. “Traz update?”
“Nothing new what have you got?”
“Nate and Donnie racing back to shore in a rowboat…” I said as Traz passed feet above me. The griffin shot out to sea quickly. I watched as Nate and Donnie wave to him in warning. Traz didn’t care though because fifty griffins were on the way to him as back up. I saw him feel the barrier rotate back inside and dive into the water. Most griffins I knew hated water, never seen one go in before. “And?”
“Merkvina are here, they are an aquatic species we used to trade fish for goat. The ratios were always favorable to us. They can talk to us unlike humans and other sentients. Not sure why. Really simple beings. You can only express one or two words in a sentence. They wish to trade with Lord Nova. Give us ten to thirty minutes or longer and we will get back to you.” Traz said quickly.
I kicked a stone in frustration. I literally had moments earlier mentioned trusting teammates. I wanted to know now though. Oh, I saw Nate and Donnie docking the raft.
A few bounds later I was at their side. “Alright… the griffins are playing diplomats, what did you see?”
Nate had to calm Donnie. “They have been nesting in our ships. I wanted to see what condition they were in and found them covered in feces. It was a weird, mostly puddles of grey goo. No other way to describe it. Well, we got past that after pinching our noses and found babies. They were clumps of blue animals at first, I had no idea what they were until we ran into a mom or dad. The creature has gills on its neck and a fin on the back of its head. There is a torso almost like a human and then a tail like a lobster. Do you know what a lobster is?” I nodded yes when Nate asked. The whole time he drawing the description of the body of the creature with his hands. “Under this tail are small legs and tiny feet maybe forty but would have to know more to find out. It gurgled at us angrily and pointed for us to leave, so we did. What is Traz up to?”
Nate and Traz were friends so it made sense he recognized him flying that way.
“They are engaging in diplomacy, I trust they will let us know later… Ah speaking of Traz,” I said as Traz soared above us and snagged our rat as wells our fish bag. He did a one eighty and head back to the Merkvina. “Hey, I got a nice estate picked out. Why don’t you two pick one out each? A gift from me to you. Tell the whole team they get a single estate to pick out on the waterfront only. Everything inside included.”
“A winter house with ocean views… My wives will divorce me. We simply… Its… complicated.” Nate said and I knew it was. He married his brother’s widows and had a loving wife. They were still in the process of moving to Fernlan, well Dais. Nate gave me a hug. He was conflicted and rarely showed emotion. I let it drop and nodded to him. Donnie the little shit was already gone. Scouring for the best loot. Don’t blame him one bit. “I will tell the others before I go hounding for loot. Got more than I need. Its moments like this I miss my son the most. He loved fishing, I dare say more than you.”
“I am happy for you Nate, we risk life and limb every time we go out. Let your poor wives who worry be rewarded. Also hell yeah to the fishing. I am going to gather some driftwood and get Victor to start a fire. This road is marble, it will have no problem handling the heat.” I said as I pointed to the road and we parted ways.
I made five trips for wood. The entire time I was alone with my thoughts – I expected Addilyn or Traz to interrupt, but it never happened. At the end of the last trip, Victor showed up with Janice.
“I agree it should be investigated. Sorry I cast doubt on the situation. We are very grateful for your gift. I do plan on marrying Janice, what would that do to the one house per person rule?”
“You get two. Congrats, we can have a large celebration together later. I am due for two marriage parties myself.” I replied. The strangest thing happened at this revelation. Victor got down on all fours and kissed Janice's feet.
“Glad you paid up for your lost bet. Rise my handsome soon to be husband. Do not doubt your lord next time. Emperor Gryff treats women as equals, not as property.” Janice said teasing Victor.
The rest of the team strolled in. They all mentioned more dead that were tossed into the shallows. I felt this would only force someone later to deal with the issue. We sat around the fire and cooked some ogre meat we set aside for tonight. It sizzled and popped as it roasted.
My stomach was certainly rumbling when strips of the juicy meal were handed my way. A few quick breathes to cool it and down it went. I ensured I drank my canteen water. I trusted Janice but I honestly didn’t want to risk it. None of us did.
We finished our meal and I was ready to get my post battle sex on when Traz and Lord Nova landed not far from our fire.
“Let us introduce you Gryff,” Lord Nova said to me while a blue creature exited the water and waddled up the dock ladder. The two arms clasped the wooden frame and its tiny legs scurried out the water. It was indeed a lobster tailed humanoid that was dripping water onto the docks. The head was much smaller though. The arms thin, long, and webbed from elbow to hip. Gills ran down its side and the little miniature feet were something else. “This is Wie, Wie this is Gryff.”
I waved at the odd creature and it mimicked my hand gesture. We stood there awkwardly for a moment. The Knights were on edge but no one drew weapons.
“How did your talk go?” I asked uncertain what to say or do.
“They traded the old fish and rats for fresh fish. They will clean up the skeletons come tomorrow and ask to keep a few boats for spawning. It is much safer to have their young on the ships. They will trade us fresh fish and most importantly the rain pearls. Janice may know of these?” Lord Nova let a pearl roll my way. I snatched it up and tossed it to Janice. “They want a lot of dead rats… go figure, but they loved them. Do me a favor and hand a javelin to Wie please.”
Janice knew the pearl right away and her eyes lit up. “This is a weather catalyst, they are exceeding rare these days exactly like the tree worms. We can sell these to cities experiencing a drought or with improper irrigation. They dump a lot of water quickly so they even are great for a sunny day.”
“That is awesome, we do have two desert cities too. Great work Lord Nova. Markus can I get a spear please.” I walked over to Markus he went to hid his javelins.
“Gryff you have your own, you guys keep taking mine. My cousin Garin made these special for me on my eighteenth birthday.” Markus said and had a fair point.
“Okay hire Garin, he can work for me. Mine are god crafted. I am not handing the lobsterman my divine spears. Don’t worry I literally awarded you a house with probably more gold in it than you ever have seen before. I think that can buy me a javelin from you,” I said and Markus nodded. It was more than okay for him to be protective of his property. I walked over to Wie and handed off my borrowed spear. “I present this to you… And he is gone.”
Wie dove into the water which was shallow and I wondered if he didn’t accidentally split his small head open. A minute later he had two fish on the javelin. There was a clacking noise and then I waited for a translation.
“You have a new trade partner. They want javelins and rats. In return fish, pearls, and simple tasks near the water. You will allow them to keep six ships and not attack them. It is a solid deal Gryff. We want you to accept, but ultimately it is your choice. This helps b
ring in a lot of gold in trade and food.” Lord Nova said.
“Can we do eight of the worst ships and get more food?” I asked. Lord Nova rolled his eyes and left. Bartering was beneath him. Traz asked and it was happily agreed to.
I snatched Addilyn from her seat and tossed her over my shoulder. “Unhand me, you handsome man… yes… please stop,” she giggled while I carried her. “Nice to meet you Wie see you in the morning team, goodnight.”
A round of goodnights was sent off and I found the only three story waterfront property with ease. I raced up to the third floor and set Addilyn down. We raced to get naked in excitement. I ravished my wife over and over until I grew tired. Tammy watched patiently and joined in on the last round. I drifted off to sleep quickly in a lavish bed with two women, and a view most worked their lives to see.
CHAPTER 11
I was stuck in a nightmare of trying to save Winst. I never could, no matter what I tried. My recurring dream was broken when Tammy shook me awake. It was a few seconds before I realized I was free of the cycle and needed to pee. I went into a bathroom and found a… toilet!? How had I missed this before? I released my morning buildup of urine and went to flush the toilet and found it did not work. Awe. Then I saw a bucket for water that was empty. I raced down naked to the waterfront and filled the bucket. I then bounded up three flights of stairs to do my morning thing in privacy and I even only used half a bucket of water.
Tammy was geared when I exited the bathroom and was helping Addilyn get in her armor. I walked over and assisted my wife. When they were ready for combat I went into my gear. We double checked each other and I was missing my dagger on my belt. I had taken it off for the ogre and stuck it back in my bag. Things like that mattered and was why we did checks.
The three of us worked our way down to the docks and did not have to wait long for the team to assemble.
“Morning everyone. Well Nate, it is hard to plan mid flight what were you thinking we try?” I asked him first. Sometimes his plans were infinitely better and I could adjust a lot from his input.
“These are tunnel dwelling creatures that sense vibration. I think were useless. Maybe you can handle them, but the griffins will probably be primary here. As much as I hate watching others do the dirty work, it may save all our lives in this scenario.” Nate said and opened the floor to other suggestions. “If you can think of something now is the time.”
Lazra raised a hand and Nate nodded to him. “Well, the island is circled, meaning it is inside the barrier. Maybe we never have to touch the ground. I have scampered up my fair number of trees. I could land on one without touching the ground and ferret out these tree worms. Winst was our expert on them but it’s a worm in a tree. It cannot be too hard to find. If I am the test subject, I will need some extra bottles to drop what I find into.”
That was a good idea. I was expecting to have to slug it out with the big beasts. Lord Nova landed as I was thinking the plan over.
“We do both. I want to fight these creatures. I have a feeling their hearts are like the goblins and ogres. They are cave dwellers after all. I will distract with the primary force and attempt to kill some sandworms. If I run into problems I simply retreat while being healed. Assuming they are not able to dismember me. We can always rip the trees out of the ground and fly them here. But then we will not have more tree worms to work with later. There are multiple ideas we can resort to if they end up being a difficult foe. If not, we need that island. It will be our island. Space is key for all of us, and if we have to eradicate the current residents, so be it. We can always have you, humans, sail to other islands.” Lord Nova said.
That was it right there. There were plenty of islands without the sandworms around and we could sail to them. The idea was staring right at us with the boats.
“Okay new plan. Lord Nova brought up a good point. We go to Sandworm Isle and Lazra you stay firm in the saddle. We all do. Let the griffins fight it out. If they can win the space we go to collect there. If not we sail to another island.” I said this part while pointing at the numerous ships anchored off the reef. “Which we need to find anyway because Sandworm Isle will become a settlement eventually.”
The team agreed, the griffins agreed, and we did ready checks. Once the eleven Knights of Fernlan plus princess Addilyn were ready to go we scurried up into our saddles. With all the griffins sent south, we were down to a hundred and twenty that launched this morning. The sun was still early in its rise as we flew northeast. It was supposed to be an over ocean flight the entire time but I already saw six islands from the air. All within a few minutes of Livina. I really wished I had brought a backup earth mage or a pamphlet on tree worms. The tropical trees I saw on the islands we passed looked like the right kind, but I would not know until I inspected them.
After the six islands, I was on the constant lookout with my map in hand. Ready to annotate any new island with a dot. I even went about naming the islands after famous cartoon characters I remembered from my time as a kid. No one else would get the references but I would. A half hour turned into two, as the sun beat against my armor. I drank greedily and finished off my first canteen. We would need Janice to purify more water preferably not from Livina. In the end, we may not have a choice. I guess we could always launch a rainstorm for water. It would be neat to try and even cool us off. Added it to my to do list. Test pearl spell.
Addilyn had been enjoying the view and mostly minding to herself when she raised a finger in an ah-ha moment. “What is it with you and your lists? I see them in your bag, most have some numerous bloodstains I cannot get out. You have a to buy list, to do list, to learn about list, to hire list, and what was the last one… I forget. Anyway, is there some symbolism or an inside thing I am missing?”
“When I was young my parents died. I think you know this. Well, this part you probably don’t know. My long term foster parents who themselves disappeared in an ocean aircar crash, instilled a few things into me. One was to always be organized. Where I was from, there were great electrical devices that would remind you of all the trivial things you needed to complete. You never actually had to annotate or ask for the computer… Hmm… the personal assistant. This artificial assistant kept your life organized and running smoothly for some, and for others, it was a bane. I embraced mine and found my life became easier and I achieved more. So I carried that traditional habit to here and applied it to Vin. I always have lists because if I do not make lists, then how can I afford the time to go fishing. And we can’t have that if we need to sort supplies, do inventory checks, train for combat, learn about Vin, and well… the list goes on. A bit long winded but I assure you, if you try it, you will at least remember one thing you might have let slip you by.”
A got a kiss on the check and a silly smile. “You are adorable Gryff. I shall have to attempt your list system when I get home. I will make a calendar on one side and a notation list on the other. May even share a copy with you.”
“I would love a calendar. I have yet to study one. Count me in, and name your fair price.” I said with a smile.
“Not sure if it will be fair, but I promise it will be fun,” Addilyn said teasingly and we slipped back into silence.
I let the crisp warm air whip across my face as I watch the rolling water under us. I glanced at the skyline and saw a few billowing clouds. A quick sniff and I smelt a stinky griffin. That was kind of expected. It got me wondering if I could ever bribe them to bathe. Traz jumping into the water was the first I ever saw. I never really noticed the smell unless we went on these long trips. They probably groomed each other in their roosts.
While I was pondering to kill the time – Sandworm Isle became a blip on the horizon. It was big, much larger than I thought it was going to be. A small island on a small map means a big island. This brought me back to my insertion onto Vin. The story from over a month ago that filled me in on what Vin was. A hundred times bigger than Earth. I had no way to actually compare but I felt there was much, much more to explo
re.
As we neared the isle I saw it started with a long hundred foot area of sand. This area was wide and clear. I was expecting a few sporadic trees on the sand. This was not the case. There was a lush palm forest. The more I thought about it the more I could understand it. Coastal areas did receive more rain meaning it was easier for life to grab a foothold. Still, this was a dense forest. Lord Nova informed me we were going to extensively test the barrier.
The entire flight of griffins weaved in and out of the barrier to find its limits. While they snaked the perimeter I watched and studied the forest. I saw monox, monkeys, and numerous types of colorful birds. I did not see any monsters like the sandworms. I looked north and was able to view where the shallow reef connected to the mainland. It was a long strip of coral reefs. It seemed it was shallow enough. The flow was low which kept the erosion down and the island blocked the waves. I bet there were all sorts of unique fish, corals, and shells in that area. I needed to buy a proper fishing rod with a reel.
We finished our circle and Lord Nova circled his troops to give out orders. Xar was the test subject again. That griffin deserved a medal for his willingness to do dangerous things.
Xar left the flock of us in the air and dived for the treeline with wings tucked. He smashed into the jungle on the outskirts by the sand. The impact sent trees tumbling and birds fleeing to the air for safety. It was sudden and violent. I was expecting a soft landing but it made sense. In order for him to land in the trees, he needed to clear some room. The ground around Xar calmed as time passed and the griffin was healed of his minor scrapes. It went to show just how tough a griffin was. Xar had nosedived into trees and barely was scratched.