One colored map with beautiful scroll lines illuminating its edges hung prominently on the wall. It was of Eel Port and its districts. The city had two main gates and a harbor. Its streets appeared to be arranged around its many marketplaces.
He discovered a bundle of bound maps stuffed into a case next to the front door.
Blades placed the closed sign in the window as he paced. Then he paused to examine the label of the bottle the lawyer had brought him. “Ah-rah-zhoo…Air-zoo…Are-zwa…”
The lawyer set down a glass on a coaster next to a reading chair and gestured for Blades to sit. “Arzuaga. Down by Bahia. That is their chardonnay. It was best when young, but this was bottled just five years ago and should still hold most of its vibrancy and strong pear notes.”
Blades knocked the top of the bottle off with the back of his short sword. The shattered neck and intact cork landed on the carpet. He poured sloppily and filled the glass while spilling an equal amount on the floor. He sipped and made a face.
“You didn’t say this was white wine. Get another bottle. The red stuff. Or if you have any, the kind with the bubbles.”
The lawyer hurried off. Blades finished his glass and refilled it. “Not bad, actually.”
Spicy pored over the maps. One displayed the southern portion of the Inland Sea in good detail. The map also featured a delta to the south, Pinnacle to the west at the center of a large bay, and in the center at the southern shore of the sea, Orchard City. Several labels hovered over tiny dots that must have been towns or villages. Nestled around the northeastern side of the bay were several peaks, but none of them were Devil Mountain.
He folded the map and slipped it into his pocket.
“Find what you’re looking for?” Blades asked.
Spicy froze. He looked over his shoulder. Blades had plopped down into the chair and was facing the window.
“Not yet. It will take some time.”
Blades made a vague hurry-up gesture and drank. Spicy got more books off the shelves. The lawyer returned with a second bottle. Spicy wasn’t offered any. In fact, he ignored Spicy completely, which was just fine.
The lawyer opened the second bottle with a corkscrew.
Spicy took down a random book from a rear bookcase and pretended to read, all the while keeping an eye on both men. Then he noticed the script wasn’t in letters he knew. But he recognized it. It was the same language Fath was teaching him. But these words were written top to bottom in neat columns. He saw a few characters similar to those he had memorized. None of the page made sense. But somehow it struck him as important that the humans had the script as well.
But looking over the page was taking too much time. He shoved the book under his shirt. Then, as the lawyer refilled Blades’s glass with red wine, Spicy went down the hallway and found a back exit that led to a brick alley and the streets beyond.
Chapter Thirty-One
Alma elbowed her way into the main town square where a central open amphitheater now held what must have been a large part of Eel Port’s population. Commander Zane stood on top of a bench and waved his arms as he spoke. The town’s alarm bell hung on a massive redwood stand next to him.
“Maybe the commander forgets the zealots at our gate?” someone called.
“I haven’t forgotten anything,” Zane answered. “I heard the report. A group of them ran at the wall and were driven back. I told you all we’re safe. But right now, there’s a monster in the warehouse by the harbor. I need every man who can take up arms to join me.”
His voice carried quite well. Alma continued to get closer and ignored the hostile looks and grumbles from the men and women as she shoved past.
“A monster?” a voice in the crowd asked. “Are you sure?”
“I swear by my life’s blood I’ve never seen such a creature,” Zane said. “Talons as long as a man’s head…skin like steel…it killed twelve men just now. Straight down from the Monster Lands, I tell you.”
Several in the crowd were asking questions, until one woman outshouted them. “Who?”
Zane appeared confused. “What?”
“Who did it kill? Which men?”
Zane took a moment. “The entire day watch that was at the guardhouse.”
The crowd fell to a hush.
“My husband Goa was on duty this morning. Was he…was he with you?”
Zane looked down at her and nodded. She began shaking her head and wailing. Another woman grabbed her to keep her from collapsing. A general murmur rose among the crowd.
A man in a wool suit shouted, “So we kill the thing. What are we waiting for? Burn it out!”
Hands raised, Zane got their attention. “No! No! No fire. It will spread. You know that. I need anyone with a hunting bow or spear. We surround the place and get it to come out and face us.”
The response was subdued.
“Cowards, the lot of you,” the widow shouted.
“Bring some of the men off the river wall,” the man in the suit said. “You said the zealots were nothing to fear. The guards are trained and have weapons and armor. It’s what we pay them for.”
A general clamor followed. Zane was fielding a dozen questions at once as Alma made it to the front of the crowd. She grabbed the dangling hammer and struck the bell three times. A hush followed. Commander Zane looked at her as if not registering who she was.
“I can get rid of that monster for you,” Alma said. “No need for fire. No one else needs to pick up a weapon and get hurt. I know how to deal with dragons.”
“You were there, and you didn’t help,” Zane said.
“I didn’t help because fighting a dragon is suicide. I’ve seen what it can do and just now, I saw it again. It kills people.”
“What do you propose?” the man in the suit asked.
“We give it a way out. It came here for a reason, and now it’s trapped and scared. The commander and his men backed it into a warehouse so it did what any predator would do—defend itself.”
“It was in there already,” Zane said. “My men tried to kill it.”
“Let her talk,” the widow said.
Alma studied the faces before her. “There’s a black boat at the end of one of the harbors that’s the right size. I can lure it out to that boat and inside its cargo hold. I’ve hunted the creature and know what it likes. We trap it in there. It will eat and fall asleep. Then we lock it away and take it out to sea.”
“That’s preposterous,” the man in the suit said.
“Is it? You have no idea why it’s here in the first place. Would any of you like to come to the warehouse now and see what this monster is capable of?”
The man in the suit blushed.
“You said you’d take it out to sea?” the widow asked. “What then?”
“The creature will be at our mercy,” Alma said. “I can kill it there.”
Many nods followed. Their needy looks fed something inside Alma. She tried to restrain her grin but failed.
“Wait,” Zane said. “Using the black boat is out of the question. There has to be another alternative.”
“No, she’s right,” the man in the suit said. “It’s the largest boat still at dock. I should know.”
“There are other boats. We could set up a cage or lure the beast out towards the zealots.”
“None of that will work,” Alma said. “We don’t have time to fashion a trap. The beast won’t stay in the warehouse for long. And once it gets out, it will continue to work its way through town. How many more people need to die, Commander?”
“Stop pressuring me. How can you be so sure it will do as you say, anyway?”
“Like I said, I’ve faced it before and I tracked it here. You don’t have to use my plan. Go ahead and try fire or waste time with a cage and see what happens. But first, ask yourself how much room you have in your graveyard for the poor souls the creature doesn’t eat.”
“I like her plan,” the man in the suit said quickly.
“How do you pr
opose to lure it from the warehouse?” Zane asked.
Alma rubbed her thumb in the glyph on her bow. “All you need to know is it’s what I do. I hunt. And now we need to agree upon my price.”
“Your price? That thing is here because of you, isn’t it? Your tale of coming here to get reinforcements is all a lie. You’re no hunter, just a deserter looking to profit off our misfortune. I should have you arrested.”
She gave the bell a small push and turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” the widow asked.
“I’m leavng,” Alma said. “I didn’t come here to be insulted. Your commander has the situation under complete control. I can’t force him or any of you to do what you don’t want to. I wish you luck with your dragon.”
The man in the suit got in front of her. “You can’t go!”
“I don’t work for free.”
“Commander, the city surely has enough funds to hire this hunter. For god’s sake, give her what she asks for.”
Zane pointed at Alma. “This hunter is a deserter from North Fort. If she and her mercenaries had done their job, we wouldn’t be facing a siege.”
“I’m no deserter,” Alma said. “I intend to sail south to Pinnacle, or ride if I have to, for the sake of those still trapped in the fort. I have no duty here.”
“But if we pay you, you’ll help,” the man in the suit said. “Commander, pay the woman. You said you lost twelve men to this thing? We can’t spare any more.”
Other voices sounded off, all in agreement. Zane had a bewildered look.
Alma raised a hand and waited for silence. “That’s not all I’ll need. The black boat takes eight rowers. Good ones. If you do as I ask, the creature won’t harm a single one of them.”
“Give her what she asks,” the widow said to Zane. “Pay her. Hire the rowers. Let her kill the thing.”
Zane stepped down off the bench. He moved close to Alma and leaned to speak in her ear. “I don’t like you. I don’t like this. You’re up to something, and it’s going to cost this town.”
“I’m just looking to get paid. Never give your work away for free.”
“There’s more to this, isn’t there?” he asked.
“We all serve the archduke, Commander Zane. That creature just killed one of my men who’s been with me since we joined Lord’s platoon.”
Zane scoffed. “You hardly seem broken up.”
“And you sound overly concerned about a certain boat loaded with goods. If we were to go to the harbormaster and ask who might be the owner of that boat, what name would come up? It sounds like the boat was prepared for departure. And you with an army outside your wall?”
“What are you insinuating?”
“We’re on the same side, Commander. You come up with the coin, and I’m going to handle your dragon problem. How’s your rowing arm?”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Spicy made his way back to the waterfront and the docks. He wanted to set eyes on the boat Fath had mentioned before returning to the warehouse to see if he could free Rime and the others.
None of the townspeople paid him any mind. Another goblin slave to be ignored. He still wasn’t accustomed to the unyielding cobblestones underfoot. The buildings lining the streets made him feel claustrophobic in a way a forest never did. He had to pass too close to horses, and people jostled him as they hurried past.
Looking out at the boats of the harbor, he realized there would be no way he could get any of them sailing even if he managed to free his friends. Rowing would be feasible with the smallest of the boats, but still it meant going out on the water.
“Hog, where are you?” he said softly to himself.
He walked out along the dock that ran closest to the city wall. There was no one in sight. Hog had come in through the nets but he had lost track of her. Perhaps she had made her way to the river and fled. There was no reason for her to stick around, as she feared and hated humans and the stinking sea.
A barrel of fish heads and guts sat next to a boat that had been hauled up onto a hoist. The boat had several patches in the bottom. It reeked of solvent or glue. Spicy did a shoulder check and saw he was still alone. He dumped the bucket of fish parts into the water. Once it was half-empty, he brought it to the far end of the dock and poured the remaining contents out. The water bubbled and turned pink. Fish eyes and intestines floated up. But soon the water stilled.
Hog wasn’t coming.
A soft whimper came from underneath the wall at the edge of the harbor. Clinging to the stone was what Spicy had assumed was a slime-encrusted net overgrown with moss. He squinted at the mass in the shadow and made out the barely distinguishable outline of an arm with a hand. As he stared, he recognized it also had two legs. It was Hog, and she was huddled up out of the water, lying among the rocks and washed-up garbage.
He ran up the dock and over to a ladder that led down to the water. He saw he’d have to jump to the wall’s base. He did so with a splash and almost fell in. The rocks were slick and difficult to move across. He had to wade through waist-deep water in a few places that carried a layer of foamy filth. Once out of the water, he confirmed the book and map remained dry.
When he made it to her, he placed a hand on hers. She didn’t react. Another whimper escaped her throat.
“Hog, what happened? What’s wrong?”
Her mouth hung open. She smacked it a few times and panted as if to catch her breath. “Meat?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Meat. I’m here. Are you sick?”
Even in the shadows, he saw her green skin was now a pale yellow.
Her body convulsed. She puked up white spittle but didn’t have the strength to move her head. She stank of the concentrated smell the water carried.
“It’s the sea here, isn’t it?” he asked. “It’s filthy. The human town is, too. Tell me what to do. Tell me how to make you better.”
She let out a sigh.
“Please, Hog. You’ve brought us this far. You can’t die. We’re going to get out of here. If you can swim out, you might be able to get to clean water out in the river. That would take you home, wouldn’t it? Would that help? Clean water?”
Hog wasn’t answering. Spicy looked around helplessly. If any of the humans saw them, they would kill her.
“Wait here. I’m not abandoning you. I’ll be right back.”
He made his way to the docks and was shivering by the time he climbed up the ladder. A few men were working nearby, loading a boat. Once their loads were stored, they headed up a plank and into an open warehouse. Spicy followed and waited by the corner of the open loading bay. There were five men. Once all five had carried a new load past and headed down the plank, he ducked in through the doorway.
A sixth man sat at a table and was writing in a ledger. He didn’t look up as Spicy walked past.
The warehouse was mostly empty. Stacks of empty crates lined a wall. Bundles of dry goods were all arranged near the man at the front. Spicy smelled fish and saw casks stained with red. The casks and bundles all had numbers and letters written on them, which must have corresponded to an organization system.
So what would make the troll feel better? As Spicy picked through the items, the workmen entered. Spicy ducked down among the stacks of goods.
“Hey, who got water in here?” a man barked.
Spicy’s breath caught in his throat. His feet and pants were soaked and he had left a trail.
“Something’s leaking is all,” another answered. “Spillage happens. Let’s get this loaded.”
Hands grabbed at the nearest goods. Spicy didn’t move as a load next to him shifted. The men grunted and soon their boots plodded back out the warehouse. Spicy rose slowly. Then the sacks above him tumbled. One broke open and spilled dried walnuts out onto the floor. Spicy was up and ready to bolt when he saw the man at the table hadn’t looked up. The man had thin hair but didn’t look old. As Spicy watched, he continued to scribble. But he wasn’t putting down numbers or letters. He was drawing.
Then he saw Spicy.
The man smiled. He showed his book. On the page was the harbor outside. The rendition was perfect. Every boat, every pier, with men working and birds flying in the sky.
“It’s beautiful,” Spicy said.
The man put the ledger back down and continued to draw.
Spicy grabbed a small cask and the spilled half bag of walnuts. He marched straight out before any of the men saw. No one called out or shouted an alarm. He moved down the dock to a rowboat and placed the cask and sack within. Then he stepped on board and tried not to panic as the boat seesawed back and forth until he sat. Once he’d untied the boat, he managed to row over to Hog.
She remained where he had left her.
“Hog, I’m still here.”
She wasn’t moving or making a sound. He slipped and fell as he climbed out and hauled the boat onto the rocks. He got the cask out and then grabbed the nuts. From the wall above, he heard the guards talking. If they looked over, they’d see the rowboat, so he shoved it away. The lapping water pushed it back against the rock, where it thudded repeatedly.
He crawled over to Hog and pushed the mop of hair from her face. She caught her breath as if she had been holding it.
“You’re still alive. I brought you something.”
“No fish,” she said. “Fish gets spit up.”
“The fish must be as poisonous as the water.”
He let her smell the bag and began to crack walnuts in his hands two at a time and placed them in her mouth. Her spit was dry and her tongue hot. She chewed and swallowed and opened her mouth for more. His hands grew tired as he kept opening walnuts and feeding the troll. Then she began to cough.
The men above went silent.
Spicy shushed her and huddled against her as she got her cough under control.
“Boat down there,” a guard said. “Tell the sergeant. I’ll wait here. Get the harbormaster to get it before it drifts away and damages something.”
Spicy glanced upward. A guard was squinting and looking down. But then he vanished. Men would be coming, Spicy knew. But the troll made no signs that she was well enough to move. He pulled the cask up the rocks and had to use his teeth to get the cork out. The cork almost split when it finally pulled free.
The Goblin Reign Boxed Set Page 34