by Joe Jackson
On the eighteenth day of their journey, the ship approached a small chain of tropical islands in the middle of endless water. Kari wasn’t sure what to make of it, as Master Surallis had only mentioned a stop on the west coast of Terrassia along the way. It was clear the rest of the group was excited by the prospect of feeling solid ground under their feet again once the news that land was ahead spread, but Captain Galdur requested a meeting with his passengers before the ship made its final approach. At his request, the group met in his quarters, and sat around his large table. In the center of the table was a partial map of the world that showed Askies Island on the right southern half and Terrassia on the left northern half. Between the two was the small chain of islands Kari assumed they were approaching, and she looked to Captain Galdur curiously when he entered the room and sat at the head of the table.
Captain Galdur looked over each of the adventurers before him, and then gestured toward the map. “As you can see from the map, we’re approaching the islands known as Salkorum,” he said. “Now, as we’ve agreed to keep your mission a secret, I am requesting that you make this stop a secret. These islands are home to a people that many don’t know exist. And they prefer to keep it that way. You won’t be welcome on the island until I’ve had time to talk with the elders, but after that you’ll likely be allowed to go down and meet the people. Just understand: they’re going to be suspicious of you, and the greeting may not be warm.”
“How long do you plan to stay here?” Erik asked irritably. “We are scheduled for a stop at Flora and then nothing more until we reach Tsalbrin, so what is this?”
Captain Galdur held Erik under an impatient gaze but gestured for calm. “We will be here for one night only,” he said. “We’re here on a mission of mercy, for these islands are home to the seterra-rir.”
A collective gasp rose from the group, and Sonja’s eyes went wide as she tapped her small claws on the table in recognition. “Of course!” she exclaimed. “Jori-an is seterra-rir, isn’t she? That’s why she keeps her belly covered and she has those odd blue eyes.”
Captain Galdur nodded with a suppressed smile, and his passengers began muttering amongst themselves. The seterra-rir were thought to be extinct or extremely close to it, as they’d been the target of a genocidal war that broke out after their creation. They were what was described as a “more human” type of rir: they had red blood and were connected to their mothers via umbilical cords during gestation. Rir were normally born of a magical process that involved a pregnancy but no umbilical cord connecting mother and child, and thus they had no navels. The seterra-rir had navels and thus were easily identifiable apart from their other rir cousins, even before their red blood gave them away.
The results had been horrific: the general rir populace assumed the appearance of the new race was some sort of plot by the Devil Queen to further weaken and infiltrate their bloodlines. War broke out on the fledgling race soon after their creation, and the seterra-rir were chased from the Isle of Morikk, where they had been created. They were thought to have been killed off – at least to the point where their bloodline could not sustain itself – but if what Captain Galdur said was true, they had escaped to the tropical islands and survived. Even still, two centuries later there remained no records of who they were created by or why, and Gori Sensullu had long been silent on the matter, even to his most trusted priests. And though all this had happened after Kari’s death, she’d heard all about it from Kris during the Apocalypse: it was something even he and his father were still at a loss to explain.
Kari studied Captain Galdur and wondered if perhaps one of his forefathers had aided the seterra-rir people in their escape. The rir people as a whole were uncomfortable traveling across the oceans, so Kari assumed when the seterra-rir escaped, they likely had the help of the humans. A smile creased the demonhunter’s face as she stared in wonder at the captain, and he smiled in return as he noticed her gaze. As he’d said, it was a mission of mercy: Captain Galdur was there to deliver supplies to them, to help them survive.
“What did you bring for them?” Kari asked after a silent minute had passed, and the others regarded her curiously before looking to the human.
“Lumber, bricks, mortar, weapons, foodstuffs – just the things a people hanging on for survival would need,” he answered, and he folded his hands on the table before him. “You must understand that these people are afraid of strangers: any word of their existence reaching the mainland could be disastrous if your people decide they still want to finish what they started. They may not be as scared of you half-demons, since your people have been persecuted in the past and still are, somewhat. Karian, you may not receive the same benefit of the doubt if they recognize you’re not half-demon. To them, you’re a rir, and your people were the agents of their destruction.”
Kari pursed her draconic lips and sighed. “I understand,” she said. She was saddened to think her very presence might cause the people discomfort, but she was thrilled to hear that their people had survived, and Sonja seemed just as excited. The others looked mostly indifferent: it was clear they understood the need to exercise caution when dealing with the people, but Kari saw no signs that they had any interest in the seterra-rir themselves whatsoever.
“If you’ll excuse me, I will go make ready to head onto the island,” Captain Galdur said, rising from his seat. He bowed his head curtly toward his passengers and made his way quickly from the room.
The others rose and began to follow, but Kari stayed where she was and let out another sigh. She wondered briefly if her people had ever truly won anything: whether the defeat of the Devil Queen and her demonic creations simply meant that now mortals could concentrate fully on killing each other. While there had been few major wars among the various rir races in their just over three thousand-year history, the ones recorded were brutal, usually resulting in some nation being completely wiped out, as the seterra-rir nearly were. It was hard to dismiss the possibility when she was on her way to prevent racial civil war only weeks after the Apocalypse ended.
Sonja stopped at the door, and she came back to stand across the table from Kari as she sat thinking. “Are you all right?” the scarlet-haired woman asked.
Kari looked up. “Will this ever end?” she asked. “People killing each other; will it ever end, now that Seril is gone?”
“No,” Sonja said, shaking her head lightly. “Kari, Seril was evil but she wasn’t the source of evil. I know your Order concentrates on fighting demons, but they’re not the source of evil, either. It doesn’t take a demon to turn a man bad. All it really takes is a selfish heart, and enough people who are either the same or just not strong enough to fight against it. The history of the humans is full of examples dating back to before they even came to this world.”
“I guess I’m still a little bit naïve sometimes,” Kari said. “I had hoped when the War ended that maybe we’d find peace, for just a little while at least.”
Sonja gripped the back of the chair. “I’m not sure what it’s like for someone who’s been fighting as long as you have, but Kaelariel said something during the Apocalypse that I’ve always carried with me,” she said, and she tapped her fingertips over her heart. “‘You carry your peace in here; if you keep looking around you for it, you’ll never find it.’ We fight against evil, Kari, not against men. You can kill men, and demons, and whatever else, but others will just take their place. That’s why the fight never ends, but it’s also why we can never give up what we do. We’re not expected to win, Kari. Victory belongs to the gods; our place is to fight the good fight.”
Kari beheld her friend curiously. She’d heard that same tenet before, but she couldn’t put her finger on where at the moment. “You’re right,” she said, rising to her feet at last. “Let’s see if we can undo some past sins.”
Sonja half-hugged Kari as the two headed out to the deck. The ship sat at anchor in a horseshoe-shaped harbor on the south side of the largest island. Beautiful, white sandy beaches r
inged the islands, with tropical trees on the interior and quaint villages built up in the rocky hills that made up the centers of each island. The villages weren’t large, comprised of a mixture of low, flat-roofed wood and brick buildings, and the one at the center of the largest island appeared to be home to a few hundred people. Kari and Sonja watched as a rowboat manned by two sailors carried Captain Galdur and his first mate to the shore.
Already a small band of seterra-rir had gathered on the beach waiting for the rowboat to land, and Kari figured it had to be nice for Jori-an to return home to her people now and again. Judging by her own life lived on the road, Kari wondered if the sailor woman had a family or a home on the island, or if she was simply happier on the high seas. At the very least, it was quite an advantage for the captain to have a seterra-rir among his crew when making stops among the doubtless xenophobic people.
Kari watched from the deck of the ship while Captain Galdur and Jori-an headed ashore and were led through the tropical forest and up to the village. The men got impatient and began sparring lightly as they awaited the captain and first mate’s return. Kari received permission from Master Calhoun to take a short swim on the far side of the ship. Salt water or no, it felt good for the woman to take a makeshift bath, and to clean her armor and clothing in the process. The work with Aeligos was intense and sweaty, and while the ship was in motion she had no opportunity to take a swim.
Sonja and Eryn joined her, and the three women splashed around for a little while. They climbed back up a rope ladder to the deck just as Captain Galdur was returning to the ship in the rowboat. Jori-an wasn’t with him when he returned. Kari, Sonja, and Eryn stood under the strong, hot sun, and the ocean breeze dried them quickly. The captain stepped before them on the deck and fixed the group with a smile. He gave the three women a curious glance, but then chuckled away whatever he was going to ask.
“I have good news for you all,” he said. “I spoke with elder Elleraus and told him about each of you – even that you’re terra-dracon, Karian. They have no reservations, and have invited you all to spend the night on the island. As the crew will be busy bringing up the supplies we’ve brought, I’d like you all to head ashore now, so you’re not underfoot as the work begins.”
“Should we bring our weapons or armor?” Erik asked.
Captain Galdur shook his head. “There’s nothing dangerous living here, just the seterra-rir people, and while you’re their guests they’ll make every effort to keep you safe. This is probably the last chance you folks will get to relax on dry land until we bring you back home: the gods know you won’t want to let down your guard in Flora. So go ashore, try to be pleasant and polite, and let them fawn over you a little bit. They don’t have visitors often, so if they’re this excited to see you, you may as well enjoy it.”
While the distance to shore was short enough to allow all of them to glide across on their wings, such an act might have seemed hostile or at the least intimidating, so it went without saying that they should take the rowboat. “I wonder what kind of booze I can buy from them,” Eryn mused as the women lined up at the rail to take the first rowboat to shore.
“Rum,” Captain Galdur said with a knowing smile. “And fine rum it is.”
The ladies laughed and climbed down into the rowboat, and soon the two broad-shouldered sailors brought them to the shore. The men hopped out as the rowboat approached the sandy beach and dragged the boat full of women carefully through the shallow water to beach it. The women hopped out, looked back toward the ship momentarily, and were greeted by a pair of seterra-rir males. The young men looked to be brothers, as both had bright red hair and pale purple eyes. They were somewhat tall – though not so much as Sonja – and broad through the shoulders, and had the appearance of warriors, though they wore little other than loincloths and a few sheathed knives. They gestured for their female guests to follow and made their way up a dark-soiled path that led through the thick trees and scrub before it wound up to the hilltop village. Kari looked to the trees and noted that many bore coconuts, while others bore fruits or what appeared to be large nuts.
The soil of the path was cool compared to the sun-soaked sand of the beach, and the party padded toward the village while the rowboat shoved off to go retrieve more of their companions. Kari and her two friends walked up the incline to the cozy community behind their two escorts, and looked over the first few structures as they came into the village proper. The buildings were well-made box-like structures that were almost invariably painted white, and as they came up to the top of the hill, the women could see that the village had a main avenue and a central square.
Little shops seemed to dominate the square but the rest of the buildings appeared to be homes, and as Kari got a closer look at the village, she realized that the population was probably around five hundred at best. It depended on the family structures mostly, as larger families living in the domiciles could easily push the population over one thousand, but Kari knew little of the seterra-rir and whether they took single mates. With a population that had once bordered on extinction, the demonhunter understood enough about genetics to know that small populations often required taking several mates to keep the bloodline from becoming too inbred.
Several seterra-rir appeared on front porches and doorsteps as the three walked by, offering friendly waves or simply curious stares, and Kari and Sonja did their best to smile as much as they could. The seterra-rir people all seemed to have shocking hair and eye color combinations, from red hair with sapphire eyes to sapphire hair with purple eyes. They tended toward deep, rich colors, and the combinations – unusual for rir – were stunning to behold. The people were beautiful, and the prospect of them fighting so hard just to survive nearly brought a tear to Kari’s eyes. She simply couldn’t imagine what it must have felt like, even given the consequences that had awaited everyone if the Light forces had lost the War. To fight for survival against an evil force was one thing; to do so against your own people was quite another.
At last the two males brought them to a house near the central square, no larger or more luxurious than the others from what they could see, but the village elder was standing on the front step waiting. He was an older seterra-rir with weathered features, still handsome in a rugged sense, and had the deep red hair that seemed prominent among his kind. He was dressed in a dark blue robe belted at the waist, a garment that appeared light but durable. He gave a warm smile of welcome, and his intense amethyst eyes studied the three women as they drew near. Wordlessly, he held his front door wide and gestured them inside.
The interior was larger than it seemed from the outside, the single-story home partitioned by half-walls and well furnished. A sleeping area with a double-sized bed told the demonhunter that he had a mate who was not present, and the numerous chairs around the single, oval oak table near the kitchen area told her that he saw many visitors, possibly his own children. She was surprised to see windows in the homes, as their presence further told the terra-dracon woman that at some point Galdur – or those who worked charity with the captain – had brought glass, likely from the shakna-rir of Terrassia. The white walls were decorated with shell mosaics and small woven-grass pictures that lent it a sense of warmth that went beyond its tropical location.
“I welcome you to my home, and to the islands of Salkorum,” the elder rir said as he bowed before the women, and then he gestured to the chairs around his table. He offered them cups of water, and he went to get them from his kitchen area while the women took seats. Kari continued to look around, noting a hand-loom and woodcarving tools near the sitting area. There was a rear door with a lantern sitting on a high square table beside it, and in the center of the home was a sprawling hand-woven rug. As she had guessed from looking at the outside, it wasn’t particularly luxurious for the leader of this particular village, but that wasn’t surprising if the people were fairly destitute.
“So you ladies are on your way somewhere with Captain Galdur?” Elleraus asked as he brough
t them their cups of water. The cups were made out of carved-out coconut husks with the bottoms flattened so they sat properly on the table.
“Yes,” Sonja answered. “We’re actually on our way to Terrassia, and the good captain was kind enough to let us buy passage aboard his ship. We were rather pleasantly surprised to find he’d be stopping here to deliver supplies.”
Elder Elleraus nodded and took a seat at the head of the table with his own cup of water. “Galdur is a good man,” he said. “He has been bringing us supplies whenever his course has allowed him to for a little over fifteen years now.”
“Do you know Jori-an, his first mate, well?” the scarlet-haired woman asked.
“Of course; she is my niece,” Elleraus said, and then he chuckled. “Then again, so is about two-thirds of our female population. Given the number of our people, most of us are related at least a little bit by blood.”
“I assume you mate with men and women from the other islands in turns?” Eryn asked. Kari was surprised that the half-brys woman would ask such a question, even given her blunt nature, and Sonja seemed shocked as well.
“Yes,” Elleraus said with an appreciative smile. “Very rarely we introduce some fresh blood into the population when outsiders come and decide to stay, though we lose our youngsters to wanderlust far more often.”
“I can’t tell you how sorry we are for the way your people have been treated,” Kari said.
Elleraus waved away the comment. “Please, do not burden your hearts with such thoughts. You had nothing to do with it, and what is done is done and past. We are simply moving forward now, hoping for a day when we are accepted for what we are. Much like your own people have done for so long,” he added, looking to the two half-demon women.