by Michael Karr
"You don't need to know that."
She recoiled slightly at his cold reply. He saw it in her eyes. Was it pain? Perhaps he only imagined it. The next moment, her eyes hardened. Folding her arms, she let out a huff of annoyance.
They left the shop with the issue of trying to disguise Kendyl’s face unresolved. Though it made him uneasy, Skylar suspected that the issue would remain unresolved.
They stepped back into the streets in their new garments, blending in better with the local's drag clothing. Kendyl, on the other hand, refused to wear her disguise. Skylar had not pressed the matter. As yet, she was relatively safe in the companion's company. When it came time for her to depart on her own—that's when he would insist. He would have to figure out a way to do it without appearing to care too much.
Grüny led their group to an area of the city with an open street market, flanked on both sides by compact shops, pubs, eateries. They weaved their way through the myriad carts and stands, where vendors hawked wares ranging from exotic fruits, to bone necklaces, to ship parts and weapons. Eventually, they stopped outside a small shop with a broken front window. Judging from the rugs hanging in the doorway and behind the window, Skylar thought it a rug merchant's shop. He had no idea what Grüny would want with a rug. But the ship captain only said to leave the talking to him, then pushed open the door.
Mystified, Skylar entered the shop behind Endrick. Inside they found themselves in a forest of rugs. Stacks of rugs, piled as high as their knees, covered the floor so that only a few narrow and winding paths allowed access to other parts of the shop. Beyond the piles at their feet, pyramids of longer rugs rolled up like scrolls, stood like little mountains. The walls were nothing but a confusing pattern of overlapping rugs, some woven with intricate geometries, leaves and flowers, animals, with bright, vivid colors; others had only simple patterns and dull earth-tone colors. From the ceiling, hanging among the dust-coated air, were yet more rugs.
Showing not the slightest interest in the shop’s contents, Grüny made his way deeper into the forest. With all the rugs hanging down or mounded up, Grüny quickly disappeared from view. Endrick shot Skylar a quick look of doubt. To which Skylar only could shrug his shoulders and motion for them to follow. Carefully, they picked their way through the shop and found Grüny at a buried counter in the middle of the shop. A man, scarcely taller than the piles of rugs around him stood behind the counter. Grüny said something to the man that Skylar could not make out.
Skylar turned to ensure Kendyl was still behind him. She was walking reluctantly up the path, looking dubiously at piles around her.
“You came as this way to buy a rug?” she said.
Skylar shrugged. He had no clue what Grüny was up to.
They approached the counter.
“These are my companions,” Grüny was saying to the man behind the counter. “We’d like to see what you have in the back”
“In the back?” the man repeated.
“Yes. We’re particularly interested in foreign goods.”
“I see,” replied the man, eyeing Grüny suspiciously. “Any particular color?”
“Puce,” said Grüny, without a moment’s hesitation.
Puce?
The man pursed his lips and seemed to be weighing something in his mind before responding. After a few moments, he shifted his gaze to the front of the shop, as if looking to make sure no one was watching. Satisfied with what he saw, he nodded, then turned and walked toward the back of the shop. Despite his stature, the man moved his stubby legs swiftly. Skylar, Endrick, and Kendyl found themselves trying to keep up as Grüny gave them the signal to follow.
At the back of the shop, the man stopped and once again checked that no one was watching. Not that everyone could have seen them from the front of the shop. He then drew aside one of the hanging rugs on the wall, revealing a door. Taking a key fastened to a chain about his neck, he unlocked the store and hurriedly ushered them through. On the other side, they were met with a dark space. Behind them, the door clicked shut.
Skylar felt suddenly vulnerable. The memory of being attacked while traveling through the tunnels that burrow beneath the Boldúrin Mountains came rushing into his mind. He reached for the blaster holstered at his side. For the first time, he felt glad that Grüny had insisted that he and Endrick procure blasters to carry. The next moment a pale yellow light illuminated their surroundings. They were in a sort passageway—no ruffians in sight. Skylar relaxed slightly.
The shopkeeper moved through them in the tight space and opened yet another door on the wall opposite the door they had just passed through.
"Where's this little magician taking us?" muttered Endrick under his breath.
Skylar desperately wanted to know what was going on, too. Obviously, though, now was not a good time to pull Grüny aside and have a chat. Why hadn't he discussed this proceeding before they came to the shop?
This second door led them into a larger room, a warehouse, stocked nearly full with boxes, crates, and barrels. In the middle, was a clearing. A group of men, sitting around a table, playing cards occupied it. The shopkeeper led them over to the table. As Skylar drew closer, he took in each of the characters. There were four total. He wouldn't have wanted even one more of them. They were a rough-looking lot, who seemed displeased at having their game interrupted.
"What's this?" cried one of the men with long black hair and a gaping hole in his left ear.
The little shopkeeper went up to the man’s good ear and whispered something in it. After listening a moment, the man with the mangled ear grunted and looked up at Skylar and his companions.
“Well? What would you be wanting to…er…transport?” the man asked.
“We’ll get to that,” said Grüny. “First off, where’s Deznin?”
The man eyed Grüny appreciably, then spat in a glass jar.
“Deznin is on a run. My name’s Tanks. How might I assist you fine folk?”
Tanks smiled, showing rows of ragged teeth.
“When will Deznin get back?” asked Grüny.
Tanks spat again in the bottle.
“A fortnight, maybe more. I’m sure I can help you with whatever you’ll be need’n. Deznin and I are partners, you might say. And these here are me business associates.”
The three other men at the table nodded agreement. Grüny glanced back at Skylar before replying to Tanks. Skylar sensed some uncertainty in Grüny’s glance.
Don’t trust him, Skylar thought, as if he could communicate to Grüny using telepathy. We can’t trust this dog.
“We need you to take us to Gorgoroth.”
“Gorgoroth, is it?” replied Tanks, smiling that same discomforting smile. “The four of ya?”
“No, just three. The girl won’t be going.”
“What a pity.”
Tanks looked right at Kendyl when he spoke. And there was a tone in his voice that made Skylar wished they had already disguised Kendyl and sent her back to Haladras. The girl shifted nervously. The urge to knock in the remainder of Tanks’ teeth flamed up inside Skylar. But he gritted his teeth and kept his peace.
“Well, you’re in luck,” Tanks went on, returning his attention to Grüny. “We’re making a run to Gorgoroth in two day’s time. We already have a full load, but I’m sure we can squeeze you in.”
The men around the table let out a few chuckles, which did nothing to improve Skylar’s confidence in Tanks and his men.
“The fee’s five thousand imperial dooks per customer,” said Tanks, amiably.
Skylar heard Endrick choke back a cry of disbelief. The sum was far more than Skylar expected either.
“You pay half up front, and the other half when you arrive safely at your destination.”
“We’ll pay four,” replied Grüny.
“Done. Be here at noon, two days from now.”
Endrick cast a sidelong look at Skylar that reflected Skylar's own sentiments.
If we make it there at all…
Ten
“Are you mad!” cried Skylar, once the companions had walked down the busy street some distance from the rug shop. “There’s no way we can trust—”
Grüny whirled around faster than Skylar had ever seen him move before, stuck his face so close to Skylar’s that he could feel hot breath on his skin. Grüny’s eyes were narrowed, and his voice bit when he spoke, despite its low tone.
“I’d keep my mouth shut until we were alone, if I were you,” he said, then straighten and continued leading them.
With a self-conscious glance to either side of him, Skylar pressed his lips firmly together and kept walking. He didn’t want to wait to talk. Already, the plan felt out of control. He knew, though, that Grüny was right. They needed to find somewhere more private to regroup.
Grüny soon found a place for them. An old inn called the Rookery smashed between two larger buildings without any signs. So derelict did the inn look that were it not for the support of these structures it would probably crumble to the ground in a heap. Once again, Grüny charged them to leave the talking to him as they prepared to enter.
“If we keep letting him do all the talking,” muttered Endrick, “we’re going to end up ground into sausages and sold in the market.”
They passed through a weathered door, which bore signs of having been painted green decades ago. The interior of the inn impressed Skylar less than its exterior. The heavily rutted wooden floor of the lobby creaked and groaned with such protestation that he feared it would give way beneath their feet. And, save a few crooked wall hanging, nothing of furniture resided there. Not that there was any room for any furniture. The lobby was scarcely large enough to accommodate all the companions. Besides a lack of space, the room contained no front desk, nor innkeeper to greet them. Just a closed door on the far wall.
Skylar began to wonder if maybe the inn had been abandoned.
For the second time that day, Grüny showed no sign of confusion or hesitation. Instead, he walked right up to the wooden door and rapped on it three times. For several moments, nothing happened. Still, Grüny stood there facing the door, undaunted. Then came the sound of scuffling from the other side, and a muffled voice. A slit peep-hole in the door, which Skylar had not noticed before, suddenly opened, and a pair of beady eyes peered out at them.
“What do you want?” demanded a raspy voice.
“Lodgings,” replied Grüny.
“Is that so?”
In a rapid motion, the eyes jumped from one companion to the next. When the eyes rested on Skylar, his insides squirmed. Something in the way they stared at him, made him feel uneasy. When they moved on to Kendyl, he felt relieved.
Without warning, the eyes vanished and the peephole closed with a bang.
The companions looked at each other in confusion.
“I don’t think she liked the look of you, Grüny," said Endrick, after it was apparent the person on the other side of the door had no intention of letting them in.
Grüny did not respond but remained with his eyes fixed on the closed door.
“We’re probably better off, too,” went on Endrick. “This place gives me the creeps.”
Just then there was a loud knock which came from the other side of the door. Then several clicks. Then an ear-splitting screech as the rusty hinges turned and the door swung open. On the other side of the door stood a wrinkled old hag, with one hand on her hip and the other wielding a soup ladle. She stood scarcely taller than the man at the rug shop, but looked twice as vicious as any of the smugglers. Her lips were curled up in a snarl as she glared at them.
"Don't just stand there like lumps of spoiled milk," she said. "Get moving, if you want lodgings. I don't have time to deal with louts."
With the old hag's ladle directing them, the companions passed through the portal into a more spacious hall. No sooner were they inside than the hag barred the door behind them.
Skylar took quick stock of the room. What the previous room had lacked in size and appearance, this one more than made up for in both categories. While by no means extravagant, the hall was clean and comfortable, with a blazing fire on the hearth and padded armchairs for lounging or reading. The muffled sound of many voices, mingled with the clink of dinnerware drifted in from another room.
The old hag came back over to the companions and inexplicably whacked Endrick on the arm with her ladle.
“I’ll have no tomfoolery in my inn, you hear?” she said, holding her ladle up threateningly to each of them in turn. “If I have so much as an ounce of trouble from any of ya, I’ll throw you all out into the street. The rate’s 200 common a night, paid in advance—no imperial dooks. And no refunds, under any circumstance.”
Endrick paid the innkeeper, who made it a point to check the genuineness of every coin before dumping two keys in their hands and trotting off to the kitchen.
Despite Endrick’s petition to have an early supper, the companions went upstairs to one of their two rooms. With the door bolted securely behind them, they discussed their situation.
“I don’t like the looks of Tanks and his men,” said Skylar, in a low tone, so as not to be overhead outside. “What makes you think we can trust him?”
“I wouldn’t trust that little weasel to swab a deck,” answered Grüny. "I'd much prefer if Deznin were in charge. But I don’t see that we have a fortnight to wait for him. If Tanks is going to Gorgoroth—and I don’t see why they wouldn’t be—I don’t see that they would have any trouble bringing us along. They’re smugglers by trade, not murders. They only kill if they need to.”
“Well that makes me feel much better,” said Endrick. “Smugglers first, murderers second. Sounds like they have their priorities in order.”
“What I want to know,” added Kendyl, “is why you’re going to Gorgoroth in the first place.”
Grüny let out a grunt of irritation. He turned to Skylar.
“I told you we should have gotten rid of that one.”
We should have at least waited until she was on her way back to Haladras.
Now Kendyl knew exactly where they were planning to go. If word got out that he, Prince Korbyn Ducädese, had flown to Gorgoroth—the very heart of their mortal enemies—pure mayhem would ensue. It was enough merely for people to discover that he was missing to create a nightmare of a time for Krom, who would have to try to quell the masses. Kendyl knew too much.
“All I can tell you is that we’re trying to rescue someone,” said Skylar. “And that’s already more than you ought to know.”
“I don’t understand what the big deal is,” she replied. “I already know where you are going.”
“Which you shouldn’t know, and you must promise to let no one know about it. Not even to say that you saw me.”
Kendyl cocked her hips to one side, folded her arms, and shot a stubborn grin at Skylar.
“If you take me along, you won’t have to worry about me saying anything.”
“She’s got a point there,” said Endrick.
“No she doesn’t,” replied Skylar, exasperated. “Bringing Kendyl is not an option.”
“I’ll trust that you’ll honor my request,” he said stiffly. “And you’re not coming with us.”
There it was again. That hint of pain, momentarily clouding those deep blue eyes. As before, she didn’t give him time to feel confident that’s what it was. Turning her back on the companions, she walked over to the door and sat down on the floor, with her back against the wall.
A twinge of guilt filled Skylar’s gut.
Why is she making this so difficult?
Skylar was glad she didn’t try running away. They would have to keep a close watch on her.
Neither Grüny nor Endrick appeared to care how Kendyl felt. As soon as she had finished her protest, Grüny got right back to business.
“Tonight, I’ll go to the port and secure passage for the stowaway on one of the vesse
ls headed to Ahlderon. Tomorrow we’ll need to—”
“Wait a minute,” cried Skylar. “We haven’t settled the matter of the smugglers.”
“What’s to settle? I didn’t think delaying things by two weeks, or more, was an option.”
“You’re right, it’s not. But maybe we can find some other smugglers to do the job. Ones who don’t seem so…treacherous.”
Grüny laughed mockingly, but stopped abruptly and cleared his throat.
“Begging your pardon, but that’s pure foolishness. They’re as good as any we’ll find, you can mark my word on that. And since they know Deznin’s a friend of mine, they might even be safer than most.”
Skylar didn’t know how to respond. Walking over to the window, he drew aside the black curtain and stared down onto the dusky street. A few scattered people hurried by. Fear drove their unnatural gait, the subtle, darting glances in the direction of anything that moved.
What a strange place. To be constantly in danger. How does anyone live here?
“What are your thoughts, Endrick?” he finally said, still peering out into the street.
“I say that we have a better chance of surviving with the smugglers than traveling again in the Luna.”
“Then you think we should trust them?”
“I think we should go eat. The rest of this mission is just madness. I’ll leave this decision to you.”
In the end, Skylar agreed to continue with their current plans. Though, he still felt appreciable misgivings about Tanks. He simply saw no better alternative. And calling off the mission...that was something he could not bring himself to do. Still, he worried that he was doing the right thing. It was one matter to put himself in danger. An entirely different one to put Endrick and Grüny in danger, too.
After finalizing the details of their plans for the next day, the companions went to supper. Not that Skylar felt hungry at all, but he welcomed any kind of distraction from his burden of his thoughts. Grüny likewise had no appetite, and instead went to see about securing passage for Kendyl. So, Endrick, Kendyl, and Skylar ventured to the inn’s dining hall alone.