Grimoire Bound

by Jeff Sproul

  Jerem went straight for the rungs that led up to the deck. With torch in hand, he slowly descended the side of the ship.

  Chaxin kept close to the railing. He decided to take another look at the ship's manifest while Jerem checked the shore for signs of Kalo.

  "I don't like this one bit," Deloris murmured. "The last few days have just been complete shit. One turn after another."-

  Chaxin looked up from the manifest to briefly glance at Deloris, before looking back down. He read over the details to see if there was anything important Deloris might've missed. Not that anything on the ship might've been the cause for Kalo's disappearance, but surely it was worthwhile to be thorough.

  "Kamber used to be nice," said Kaiz. "Even five years ago, it was still a decent place to operate out of. Good people, somewhat safe environment, if you were careful."

  "Yeah, and about five years ago, Lord Karnith took leadership of Grittin," said Deloris.

  "Aw, come now, Lord Karnith isn't the reason the monsters have been getting restless," said Kaiz. "Monsters have always been this way. In my time here on Wake, I've seen the fall of three villages due to territorial monsters."

  "Then we're failing as adventurers," said Deloris. "It's our job to thin the herd, to prevent buildups of monsters."

  "We can only do as much as we can do," said Kaiz.

  "Then maybe we need to start doing more," Deloris murmured. "Because last time I checked, things don't seem to be getting any better on Wake."

  Kaiz sighed and shook his head. "We'll keep on, as we always have."

  Chaxin continued to listen to their back and forth conversation about monsters and the state of human civilization on Wake. Soon, it became background noise as he flipped the pages of the manifest, reading each and every item. He made his way to the end of the manifest. It spoke about the crew, their names, and their rooms. There were ten crew members, along with the captain. There were no listed extra passengers. Then, after the list of crew, was a sort of 'notes' section, which read:

  Day 1: Leaving Trillin with clear skies, shadowed by the Luwalt and the Macidna.

  Day 2: Smooth sailing. Umont's birthday. Cracked open a bottle for the occasion.

  Day 3: Hangovers don't get better with age. The clouds are rolling in. Looks like a storm.

  Day 4: We lost sight of both the Luwalt and the Macidna during the storm. Not sure if they're lost at sea or at the bottom of it. A sense of dread hangs in the air and over the crew. I don't blame them. I saw the shadows and eyes in the depths as well. We'll arrive on the shores near Kamber tomorrow. Then we can be rid of this ominous cargo.

  Chaxin flipped the page, but there were no more notes. He flipped more pages, but there was nothing.

  He turned to Deloris, who had stopped conversing with Kaiz. "The manifest talks about them leaving a place called Trillin. It says there was… I'm guessing, two other ships? But the other ships were lost in a storm. It also references shadows and eyes in the depths and ominous cargo, but there's no entry for their arrival here."

  "It's common for merchant ships to have escort vessels, or to travel in groups," said Kaiz. "There's a vast ocean out there, and pirates are known to roam the sea. But for a ship to end up burning on the shore, something terrible must've happened."

  "I also noticed that there weren't any rowboats on the sides," said Deloris. "They should've remained anchored out at sea, and landed via rowboat with whatever cargo was coming to Kamber."

  "There were a lot of crates down there," said Chaxin.

  Kaiz sighed and shook his head. "Only some of that cargo was meant for Kamber," said Kaiz. "They would've dropped off some of it, maybe a fifth or less. Then they would've gone to the next stop, probably Jormas.”

  "I see," Chaxin murmured. He wasn't knowledgeable about how ships conducted their trade business. This was all new to him. Sure, there were certain words he understood the meaning of, but there was just so many different things he didn't completely comprehend.

  Deloris turned and faced Chaxin, her brow furrowed. "Chaxin, you and Jerem didn't check any of the rooms other than the captain's. Correct?"

  Chaxin nodded. "That's right. Jerem figured we wouldn't need to."

  "It might be best to be extra thorough, while we're here," said Deloris. "We're already down one of our party, and I don't like the idea of something sneaking up on us. It's narrow down there, but I'd rather expel any doubt that the ship is clear. Kaiz, keep watch on Jerem. We're going to go down and check those crew quarters."

  "I'll be right here," said Kaiz.

  "Leave the manifest here, and draw your sword," said Deloris, who turned and headed for the doorway. As she did, she glanced up to the crane, and down to the large cargo hatch. "Hmm," she murmured to herself before continuing on.

  Chaxin set the manifest on the deck and went after Deloris. He pulled his sword and hoped Deloris's lamp would be enough light to go rummaging through rooms. At least it wouldn't be as eerie as the red light of the torch.

  It only took seconds to descend back into the ship. Deloris walked with heavy footfalls over to the first door for the crew quarters.

  "I'll open them up, make sure there's nothing inside, then you peruse around," she said.

  Chaxin nodded. It seemed like a relatively safe plan, at least for him.

  The light from Deloris's lamp flitted around. She reached out with her shield hand and wrapped her fingers around the first handle, opening it with a loud creak. Her sword was up and ready. Chaxin stood off to the side, watching her facial expressions.

  Deloris noticeably relaxed. "Room one is clear," she said. "But glance under the cot to be sure." She stepped back to allow Chaxin room to enter.

  Chaxin slowly moved in and knelt down onto one knee. He peeked under the cot on the other side of the room. There was nothing there. Chaxin let out a sigh of relief and stood up, taking in everything else in the room. It was a very confined space. An empty shelf and a cot on the far end, with another bunk above it to allow two occupants to sleep in the room. There were two chests, one on each wall. Chaxin went over to the one on the left and pulled on the lid. It didn't budge and seemed to be locked.

  Chaxin glanced around for a key, while Deloris turned and went to the next room.

  There wasn't much of anything in the room. No body, no stray items, no place to stick a key. He shook his head. Well, on to the next one.

  Deloris pulled open the doors, one by one. She waited long enough for Chaxin to finish with the previous rooms before going on to the next, as she needed him to check under the cots—it was more difficult for her to get down on her knees in her armor. She didn't want to put herself at a disadvantage, if something were to be watching and waiting in one of the rooms. They'd made enough commotion by now to have easily alerted anything in the ship.

  To Chaxin, Deloris seemed almost relaxed. But he was practically sweating, his heart pumping. He rummaged through the rooms, one after another. The chests were bolted down to the floor, and all of them were locked. Almost every room was just like the last. In the seventh room, he found a dirty sock on the floor beneath the cot. In the tenth room, he found a nail as large as his index finger. He pocketed it, for no other reason than hoping it might come in handy for all the effort they were going to.

  "I've been wanting to ask," Chaxin spoke up, after things had become particularly quiet. They hadn't said much of anything since they'd started checking the rooms. "Why do you and Kaiz trust me? I mean, in the sense that you trust me to fight at your side? I only arrived yesterday, and everything is just so overwhelming. Is this how it always is for people?"

  Deloris stopped, mid-reach for the next door. She turned to Chaxin and looked him in the eyes for several seconds. "Unless you're born here, everyone arrives the same way, but we all arrive at different times, and under different circumstances," she said. "Vol and Tiris arrived pretty close to each other, and they've stuck together through and through. Sometimes you arrive in a good place at a good time. Other times, you m
ay arrive only to be killed within moments of taking your first breath. The Graymos doesn't care. It'll eat you up and spit you at Purgatory the first chance it gets. All we can do is… trust those around us. It's easy to trust and put your faith in a new arrival. You've yet to be corrupted by the life we must live. It's unlikely that you'll backstab me, since I'm one of the few things standing between you and death. Not to mention, we saved you. Kaiz is usually a good judge of character. He trusts my judgement, and I trust his. And I also happen to trust that you have a desire to stay alive, if nothing else, than to discover why you're here. Why any of us are here. You seem to be one of the curious types, which is good, but don't let it put you in danger."

  Chaxin watched and listened. There was a tightness in his chest that he couldn't describe or explain. "Thank you," he said quietly. "I know I didn't arrive on the best of terms, and… well, I even almost died, but thank you, for everything."

  Deloris smiled, just a little. "Of course."

  "Can I ask," Chaxin spoke up quickly. "That thing you said, Graymos? What is it?"

  Deloris nodded. "Yeah, I didn't understand the word when I first arrived either. Strange, isn't it? It's essentially… everything. Everything is part of the Graymos. The spheres. The gray strands of light up above us, which create our daylight. Still not sure what any of that is, but it's all the Graymos."

  "I see," said Chaxin. "Well, thanks… again."

  Deloris nodded. "Of course. Let's wrap this up and then we can do another sweep of the cargo hold. I'll feel a lot better once we do."

  "Sure thing," said Chaxin, as he stood at the ready.

  Deloris pulled the next door open.

  Once again, it was empty, save for the usual furniture.

  Chaxin checked inside, then proceeded with Deloris to the next room.

  There were a total of twenty-four rooms, and beyond finding a dirty tunic and a few empty chests which hadn't been locked, there was nothing noteworthy in any of them.

  Deloris stood at the end of the hall, with the captain's door just a few feet away.

  "Did you check the captain's quarters entirely?" asked Deloris, looking over to the door.

  "Yeah, it's clear. Just some books, which didn't seem to be of any importance. I found an um… pocket grimoire? Along with the manifest," said Chaxin, as he remembered the book in his pocket. He pulled it out and held it up.

  Deloris turned back to him. She spotted the small grimoire and her eyebrows lifted. "Oh, wow, that's quite a find. I didn't expect to find anything useful in the crew quarters," she said. "But I'm glad they're cleared out and empty. That grimoire is a nice piece of loot though. You still have those soul crystals from this morning, right?"

  Chaxin nodded. "I do, why?"

  "The grimoire is capable of more than just showing you your stats. I'll show you what I mean once we finish re-checking the cargo hold."

  "Alright," said Chaxin.

  Deloris maneuvered around Chaxin in the hall, and headed back the way they'd come. Her armor clanged with every step. Once again, they entered the cargo hold. They only had two sets of eyes to inspect the hold with, but now they were extra cautious with what they were perceiving.

  Deloris remained ahead of Chaxin, acting as a bulwark for any terrors that might still be lurking unseen. She stepped around some of the crates and held her lantern with her shield hand, using it to illuminate the dark recesses of the ship.

  "Look around, but don't step too far away," she said.

  "I won't," Chaxin confirmed. He wanted to help speed the search, but he knew that he was more vulnerable than she was. What if there was another diseased hiding somewhere? At least if they tried to bite Deloris, they'd get a mouth full of metal.

  Before long, they progressed all the way to the back, where the two sarcophagi sat. Deloris checked behind them, revealing the last dark corners that anything could be hiding in.

  "That's it," she said, before turning back to Chaxin with her lantern held up. She lowered it to her belt and fastened it once more. "Unless there's something in one of these crates, then there's nothing here that we should be worried about. We can rest and wait for the caravan."

  "But what if there's something in the crates?" asked Chaxin.

  "We can't go checking them all," said Deloris. "We might ruin some of the supplies or prevent their transport, if we go breaking open all the crates. Best to let that be, until the caravan arrives. They'll have the proper tools and manpower to check everything. There'll also be more fighters. We're just the temporary caretakers."

  Bang!

  The sound of the sharp crack coming from above, and through the thick wooden floors of the ship, was subdued from when Chaxin had heard something similar earlier that day. It took several seconds for him to realize what he was hearing.

  "That's Kaiz's spear," said Deloris. "Move!"

  Chaxin didn't need to be told twice, as he immediately turned and rushed through the crates. He outpaced Deloris by half a dozen feet, but her lamp was enough to allow him to navigate.

  His boots smacked against the steps as he ascended them. Once he reached the crew deck, he turned and headed up the next flight of steps.

  The light of day had waned significantly. It was harder to see into the distance, and the minute details of the deck were obscured unless Deloris's lantern was within lighting distance.

  There on the end of the deck, was Kaiz, with his spear aimed over the edge of the railing.

  "What's going on?" Deloris called, the moment she was up on the deck.

  Chaxin rushed over, looking out to the shore below. The only thing of note was the dull embers of the shot Kaiz had fired. It smoldered in the ground, but with each passing second, its glow dulled further.

  "He's gone!" Kaiz replied in a gruff voice. "He started heading toward the village. He yelled back, but it's so far, I couldn't hear him." Kaiz turned and looked back to Chaxin and Deloris. "I yelled for him to stop, but he kept going. That was a couple minutes ago, so I fired a shot to remind him to get his ass back in sight." Kaiz turned and looked back to the village. The burning shot from his spear was no longer emitting any sort of glow. "It's getting darker by the minute, and I can't even make out the glow of the torch he had with him. It should be easy to see, but there's nothing."

  "I knew I should've kept him on the ship," Deloris hissed as she joined Chaxin and Kaiz at the front of the deck. The three of them stared towards the abandoned village. There was no movement. No light. No sounds.

  "Do you think he found Kalo's tracks?" asked Chaxin. "He might've found something and… maybe he's inside one of the structures?"

  "If he doesn't come back in the next couple minutes, I doubt he's coming back at all," said Deloris. "Something's out there. This doesn't feel right."

  Chaxin turned, looking up at Deloris. Her gaze was still out toward the village.

  They waited another sixty seconds. Then five minutes. Then ten.

  The night crept on. Occasionally, the cloud cover alleviated and allowed the dim glow of the gray ether strands of the Graymos to ebb through. The ether strands provided all light on the world, and whatever force had dictated that their light be more substantial had now abated significantly.

  Deloris detached her lantern and set it on the deck amidst the three of them.

  There had been an eerie silence as they awaited Jerem's return. But his return was not forthcoming.

  Finally, Kaiz spoke, "I guess that's it then. He knows better than to be out alone in the dark. He would've came back. He would've." Kaiz let the words linger on the air, his head shaking slowly.

  "My concern," Deloris murmured, "is less about the fate of Jerem, and more about what befell him. Not that any death isn't tragic, but… we're now down to three and we have no idea what could be out there."

  "You don't think the merfolk are responsible for this, do you?" said Chaxin in a calm, calculated voice. Chaxin had picked up on the fact that if the people around him knew what was wrong, and what was responsible, th
ey usually blamed it. Neither Kaiz nor Deloris were blaming anything.

  "That's right," said Deloris. "The merfolk would've looted anything of importance, and then withdrawn after the attack. Their personal losses are meaningless, as they are able to procreate rather quickly compared to humans. They have a matriarchal society, in some fashion, and the shamans are all female. Not much else is known about their culture, if you can call it that, but what we do know is their behavior. We know how they fight, and how they act. At least, people like Kaiz and I do. We've fought many merfolk in our time, along with many other monsters. Merfolk don't do anything remotely clever without the direction of their shaman, and the shaman does nothing without the full retinue of her clan or tribe, whatever they're supposed to be."

  "So if it were merfolk, we'd definitely see them, is what you're saying?" asked Chaxin. He turned around and slowly slumped against the railing of the deck.

  Deloris nodded. "I'd say that's at least one of the factors. Merfolk don't usually ambush. They've been known to patrol in small groups, but there's too many things that aren't making sense."

  "Hope that caravan gets here soon," Kaiz grunted.

  "Why?" asked Deloris. "You looking forward to the safety of Grittin? We both know you're more of a frontiersman."

  Kaiz managed a chuckle. "Maybe with all the shit that's been going on, I should take a good step back and take things slower."

  "Sitting around on your ass is only good for losing experience and getting fat," Deloris chided.

  Kaiz sighed. He tapped his spear on the deck and looked up into the night sky. "Sometimes I wonder how we even managed as long as we have," he said.

  Chaxin glanced over, ruminating upon a great many things, but he decided to act on one of his questions. "How does your spear work?"

  Kaiz glanced over to the seated Chaxin. His lips curled. "This ol’ weapon is a thing of beauty, isn't it? I could tell you were eyeing it earlier."

  "Now you've done it," Deloris murmured. She turned and stepped over to a crate that had managed to weather the fire without too much damage. She tested it with her hand and cautiously sat upon it, facing both Chaxin and Kaiz. "Kaiz and his damn spear."