by Jeff Sabean
A soft knock on his door interrupted his contemplation, and he rushed to answer it. The door opened silently, revealing Gabrielle standing in the shadows of the torch light. Her platinum blonde hair was pulled back into a bun, revealing the delicate features of her face. Her piercing blue eyes bored into him and he stood dumbly staring at her face, then he stumbled as he stepped to the side to allow her entry to his chambers and attempted to close the door in the face of her bodyguards, whom he hadn’t noticed.
“Bodyguards again, my lady?” he asked with a smirk, attempting to cover his bumbling at the sight of her this morning. “I am going to start taking this personally.”
“They are here to help me back to my room once you are through the portal,” she replied with a twinkle in her eye. “As I told you, this is going to be extremely draining, and I would not want anyone to see me walking out of your chambers looking disheveled. I doubt that would help your plight to be accepted by my subjects.”
“Very well, lady, I will accept the chaperones if it will maintain the innocence of our friendship,” he replied, giving an exaggerated bow to cover the smile he couldn’t keep off his face.
“I see you are ready to go,” she replied, admiring his armor. “It’s been a while since I have seen you dressed for battle. It suits you.”
“I wore this armor for so long that I must confess it feels like I have slipped back into my own skin wearing it again. I had hoped that I would have a longer period of peace before needing it, however.”
“This is for a good reason, my friend. It is not like you are going to war because your people are being attacked again, you are going to save your brother. This is a good thing. But when you are done, I expect you to return to me to live in peace, and bring your brother with you, I would like to have more time to get to know him. Last time we met he was preoccupied with killing my family.”
An awkward silence fell over the room, with the bodyguards shuffling their feet uncomfortably in the background. Finally, Gabrielle coughed and shrugged her shoulders dismissively.
“Well, I suppose it is time for you to go. Please contact Heishi so I can focus on his location, otherwise you could end up in the middle of the sea, and we wouldn’t want THAT now, would we?”
When Heishi answered the call, Di’eslo turned to look Gabrielle in the eye.
“I will return soon, lady,” he said, then dropped his gaze to the floor.
“I know,” she replied quietly.
Her eyes misted over as she began focusing on the signal coming from Heishi’s communicator, the strain evident by the wrinkles on her forehead. Gradually, the blue of her eyes faded until all that could be seen was white, and as the last of the color disappeared, she waived her hands around in a circular pattern, and an oblong blue hole appeared in the air in front of her, with light wisps of smoke swirling around the edges. As the portal solidified in the air, the color returned to her eyes, and she stepped back a few paces, keeping her hands outstretched toward the portal as if holding a physical door open.
“You must go quickly, my friend, I cannot maintain a portal across this distance for very long. Go, find Fion, and return to me.”
Nodding and putting a stoic look on his face, Di’eslo stepped in front of her and walked through the hole. His first step seemed rather normal, like stepping through the door from one room into another. His second step, however, made the whole world spin. He felt a blast of air hit him as he stepped forward, and felt the path he was on narrow until it felt like he was walking down the blade of a sword. Everything around him was a swirl of different shades of blue lights, and there was a dropping sensation in his stomach, even as he stood still. He wasn’t sure what would happen if he fell off the edge of the blade he was walking on, so he balanced as best he could and continued forward, gritting his teeth as the edge of the blade dug into the soles of his feet.
Time lost all meaning as he walked: he couldn’t tell if he had been in the tunnel for seconds, minutes, or even days as he slowly took one step after another. The colors gradually stopped swirling as he took another step, and he could see that the blue beneath him was the ocean, and the blue above was the sky, with white clouds swirling around as he stepped tentatively forward. Each step he took seemed to send him miles across the water, and before he knew it, he could see a ship on the horizon ahead of him. One more step, and he found himself balancing in front of another blue portal identical to the one he stepped through in his room.
He took another step, and was suddenly on the wooden deck of a ship. He no longer felt the blade of a sword beneath his feet; it was replaced with wooden planks, and as he tried to take another step the deck of the ship shifted in the waves and he fell unceremoniously onto his knees. As his whole world seemed to spin, he looked into the eyes of his friend Heishi and threw up all over the man.
Laughter surrounded him as his vision went black, his body slamming the rest of the way down on the deck of the ship.
Chapter 4 – Interrogation
Di’eslo woke gradually, the world exploding into light and color as he opened his eyes, blinking rapidly as his vision adjusted. He had been taken below deck into a cabin, but even the dim light given off by the lantern hanging above him seemed to be brighter than the sun.
“I think he’s awake,” a voice growled from his left, and when he turned toward the speaker, he was greeted with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth grinning back at him.
“Master Tylo, always a pleasure,” he croaked, his voice raspy.
“Care for some water?” Heishi asked from his other side, reaching forward with a wooden cup. “It isn’t cold, but I figured you could use it after you dumped your breakfast all over the deck.”
Di’eslo sat up slowly as he accepted the cup of water, his head still swimming as he tried to focus. Looking around the cabin, he assumed he was in the captain’s personal quarters, as he was in the only bunk in the extravagantly decorated room.
“You had us worried for a bit there, my friend,” Heishi stated into the awkward silence. “We were starting to wonder if you were going to die on us. Tylo was telling us he had never heard of anyone creating portals to moving objects like the deck of a ship before, so we were pretty interested to see if it would work. I take it the trip was a bit...disorienting?”
“You could say that,” Di’eslo responded slowly as his head cleared. “How long did it take for me to arrive? I lost all touch with reality while in the tunnel.”
“We heard Gabrielle tell you to go, and a split second later you appeared on the deck. How long did it feel like?”
“I took many steps, although I could not say how many for sure. As I got closer, I could see the water racing past under me with each step, but it was very disorienting.”
“Well, ye be here now, elf,” Tylo exclaimed with a laugh, “and there be a prisoner who ye’ll want to be talkin’ to soon’s yer ready.”
The mention of the prisoner was exactly what Di’eslo needed to clear his head, and his red eyes began to glow brightly as he focused on the chondri captain.
“Take me to this pirate who claims knowledge of my brother, if you will be so kind,” he said, his voice taking on a steely tone.
“Aye, right this way...”
The small group walked in silence as they left the captain’s quarters and descended to the lowest deck of the ship. Any small leaks in the ship eventually drained here, resulting in a perpetual puddle on the floor of the brig. A haughty looking man sat on a bench in the cell, the hate evident on his face as he stared at his captors.
“You have no right to keep me in this cell, Tylo the yellow belly coward!” the captain bellowed as the group entered. “You made an agreement with me to drop me off in a port if I gave you information. I gave it to you...”
The pirate broke off in mid-sentence as he noticed the shadow elf stalking into the room, the hate evident in his red eyes and shadows curling angrily from his skin.
“Hey now, who’s this? You keep that demon aw
ay from me!” he cried, jumping to his feet and moving back against the wall, pressing against it to get as far away from the angry shadow elf as he could.
“Ere now, shaddap, you!” bellowed Tylo, kicking the bars of the cell. “This be the brother of the one ye say is held prisoner. Ye may want to tell ‘im what ‘e wants to ‘ear.”
The room went silent other than the creaking of the ship as it rolled in the waves and the sloshing of the water on the floor with the movement. The pirate captain continued to press against the wall, never taking his eyes from the three standing by the cell door. No one moved, no one spoke, and everyone waited for Di’eslo to speak.
“Open the door,” he finally said quietly, his eyes fixed on the pirate. “Then leave me with this worm.”
With a grin, Tylo unlocked the door and stepped back, handing the elf the key and giving him room to enter the cell. He then turned his back and walked out of the room, grabbing Heishi by the shoulder and pulling him along.
Di’eslo stalked into the cell, sliding his flail from his back.
“What are you gonna do with that?” the pirate asked, his eyes drawn to the flail even as he tried to add bravado to his voice. “You can’t kill me; you need me to tell you what I know!”
Di’eslo swung the flail a single time, the spikes on the ball digging into the pirate captain’s chest. The weight of the blow splintered bone as he was crushed against the wall, then dropped to the floor in a quivering heap. With a sinister grin, Di’eslo took a step back away from the crumpled pirate and watched him writhing in pain on the floor. He had spent a lot of time in the past months convincing the citizens of Harmonui that shadow elves were not inherently evil, and this torture flew in the face of all he had accomplished, but this man had information about his brother that needed to be told.
After a moment of watching the man try to scramble to his hands and knees, the elf composed himself and reached out a hand toward him; a thin line of blue light snaked from his palm across to the man on the floor. As the light touched his chest, the wound from the flail began to close, the smashed bones knitting themselves back together, and the bleeding stopped immediately.
“You are correct. I cannot kill you, but it is amazing what I can assist you in living through.”
The pirate rolled onto his back and sat up, resting his back against the wall as he stared at the shadow elf.
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know, you demon! Just stay away from me!”
Di’eslo lifted the flail again, the spikes glowing with internal power as if the weapon were hungry for destruction.
“I swear, I’ll tell you whatever you want!” the pirate wailed, curling into a ball as he stared at the weapon in the shadow elf’s hand.
An hour later, Di’eslo walked onto the deck, blood dripping from the flail he still carried in his hand.
“Do we even need to find a port to drop him off?” Heishi asked, a somber look on his face.
“He lives, but his memory needed some prompting,” the elf replied flatly.
“What did you discover?”
“When this Aldith woman left Harmonui, she found Fion floating face-down in the harbor. Recognizing him as the leader of the attacking army, she had the ship’s crew pull him out of the water. This pirate we are holding was the captain of that ship, and he said my brother was breathing when they pulled him aboard.”
“Wait, he was face-down in the harbor, and he was breathing when they pulled him out?”
“How could I be so stupid?” Aki interrupted, a distressed look on his face. “Do you remember that sword I found in the cave? It granted the bearer the ability to breathe underwater...”
Silence descended on the group as the full weight of that statement fell on them.
“We should have looked for his body,” Aki finally said somberly.
“The fault is mine. He is my brother, and I accepted too quickly that the fall killed him or that he drowned and was then swept out to sea. Do not concern yourself with the guilt, it is mine alone to bear.”
“And you are sure that he is still alive and being held captive?” Heishi asked.
“Yes, this pirate states that the king of Rattanda charges him a percentage of his loot in return for a safe harbor where he can put in for repairs and go to the market. He delivered this Aldith woman to his safe harbor and dropped her off along with her equipment and my brother.
“He claims to land there every few months, the last time being no more than three weeks ago. As he was trading in the market, he heard the rumors that this other-worlder had a shadow elf captive and was performing experiments on him. She apparently believes that he is the key to opening portals to other planes of existence.”
“She thinks she can get home?” Tiane asked, the hope apparent on his face.
“That is what this pirate claims, if he can be believed.”
“Where is this port where he dropped Aldith and Fion?” Heishi asked.
“The capital city of Rattanda is inland at least a day’s journey from the port city of Aibara. Captain Tylo, how far is this place from our current location?” Di’eslo asked, turning to face the captain.
“Six, maybe eight days from ‘ere, iffin the weather be good,” came the reply.
“Is there a place we can drop this pirate in between? I do not wish to bring him into his home port to call guards down on us.”
“Aye, that be possible.”
“Good, let us make haste, good captain. My brother awaits.”
As Tylo peeled off from the group to plot the fastest course to Aibara, Heishi put his hand on the elf’s shoulder.
“You have been living in Harmonui for some time now. I need to ask you a question that has been bothering us since the battle: do you believe that Queen Linnie actually died in her sleep?”
“No, I do not believe in coincidences, my friend. But the people are convinced that the bard’s story was true, and that is what matters. Why?” Di’eslo asked.
“If we are going to be breaking into a city to rescue Fion, I was thinking that having Hankish and Abugraic along would be beneficial. Before inviting them to join us, I was just wondering how much we should trust them,” Heishi replied.
“I spent quite some time with them while searching for you,” Aki interjected. “I believe they did what they needed to do to keep Gabrielle’s hands clean of her sister’s blood, and for that we should be grateful and never speak of this again.
“No one ever suspects the two of them because Hankish is so likeable and people assume Abugraic could never be sneaky because he is a dwarf, but that is how they get away with whatever it is that they do together. Deceit and misdirection are their greatest allies, but I trust them with my life, if that means anything to the two of you.”
“You know it does. I suppose we should see if they are available to join this little adventure,” Heishi replied, unable to hide the grin spreading across his face at the thought of having the little bard around again.
Chapter 5 – The Bard
The pile of gold and jewels in the center of the table was so tall the halfling could barely see over it to look at the human across from him. Everyone else at the table had thrown their cards down in disgust as the stakes were raised, but the stubborn human had continued to call each raise.
Hankish Silentfoot glanced to the side to see if his brother, the surly dwarf Abugraic Emberspine, was still at the bar. Making eye contact with his brother, he winked and turned his attention back to the human across the table from him.
“Well, good sir, it would appear we have reached the time in our relationship where I say, ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,’” Hankish grinned. He had been drinking wine steadily for several hours while playing poker at the table, and the purple beret he always wore was crooked and partially covering his left eye as he blinked his eyes slowly.
The human, who had refused to drink anything intoxicating while at the betting table, stared hard at the little halfling. The man clear
ly was disgusted with the drunken bard who continued to interrupt the game to sing little ditties and distract the rest of the players, and the look on his face made it clear that he wanted to take all the treasure from the table to teach the halfling a lesson.
With an evil grin, the man placed his cards on the table, showing a full house and daring the halfling to beat his hand.
Hankish stared at the cards for a moment, scrunching up his face until finally he lifted the edge of his beret with his left hand, looked at the cards, then covered his eye with his hand before looking again, focusing on the cards. A look of shock registered on his cherubic face, and he shook his head in dismay as he dropped his hand to the table and looked at the cards in his right hand.
“Well, good sir, that is a mighty fine hand, yessir it is. On a normal day, I would say that you are now a very wealthy man.” He paused and stared off into the distance for a moment, losing focus on the conversation, then snapped his eyes back and continued. “Pardon me, where was I? Oh, yes, that would be on a normal day. Unfortunately, today is not a normal day.”
The halfling smiled widely as he dropped his cards on the table, revealing four aces.
The human stood, his hands trembling as the shock registered that the drunken bard had just taken everything he had. He stalked around the table to stand beside Hankish, his face turning almost purple as the blood rushed to it in anger.
“Get up, you!” he shouted, causing all activity in the tavern to come to a screeching halt.
“Why, do you wish to see who is taller?” Hankish asked innocently as he leaned back in his chair and put his bare feet on the table. With a grin, he slid his lute from the back of his chair and began playing a soothing tune.
“I’m saying that you are a cheat, and if I find hidden cards, I’m going to kill you!” the man screamed as he reached his hand into the left sleeve of his shirt and brought it back out holding a slender dagger.