by C S Vass
Rukaro turned to Geoff and bared his rotten teeth. “Old knight, I used to keep a pet parrot as is the custom for us pirate captains. He liked to say the same thing over and over again too and ended up in a pot of stew one night when my crew grew bored. Would you like to end up in a pot of stew?”
Geoff eyed the captain angrily. Fiona could see the vein bulging in his head and knew that the captain was getting dangerously close to pushing Geoff too far. No matter how far away from home he was, Geoff Hightower was a powerful lord and would not tolerate disrespect for long.
Another blast of lightning interrupted them, and Fiona felt the cold spray of rainwater and wind against her face.
“Captain,” one of the crew said. “The storm draws in fast. Perhaps it’s time.”
“Time?” Geoff asked. “What are you talking about?”
Rukaro only laughed. “Ignorant Tellosian savages,” he said. “You may know of the mountains and the plains, but you’re as blind as babies when it comes to the gods of sea and sky. I told you not to worry about a little rain. We will be protected.”
Geoff’s face hardened, and he placed a hand on his sword. “If you are telling me that your plan is to pray away the rain then we are going to have a very serious problem.”
“Captain, you want me to feed him to the whales?” a burly crew member asked as he stepped forward.
Rukaro merely laughed. The rain poured even harder and a great wave crashed into the ship, rocking them all. “Let the old savage be. Maybe he’ll learn something and take the knowledge back to his people. Prepare for the ceremony!”
Fiona felt the elements storming all around them as if they were in the middle of an angry hive of bees. “Geoff,” she hissed, tugging at his arm. “What should we do? Have they lost their minds?”
Geoff sighed. “They’ve made this journey many times,” he said uncertainly. “I fear there’s nothing we can do but trust them. Would you have us fight them all only to be left to man the ship ourselves?”
Resting their fate in the hands of a group of pirates did not sound like a solid plan to Fiona, especially ones that were likely as drunk as they were mad. All the same, Geoff had a point. She didn’t know the first thing about sailing. Storm or not they were better off trusting Rukaro than themselves.
“The prize!” Rukaro shouted over the ever-increasing winds. “What in hell’s name is taking you bastards so long? The storm gods move quickly!”
Fiona and Geoff watched transfixed, wondering if they were sailing towards their graves. Suddenly, two men appeared from below deck dragging a prisoner with a sack over his head.
“What is this nonsense?” Geoff roared.
“Shut your mouth, old man,” Rukaro spat. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and count the snails on my ship?”
The two pirates dragged their captive before Rukaro and removed the sack. Underneath it was a plain-faced man with close-cropped black hair and a fearful expression.
“Rukaro, I didn’t do it!” the man exclaimed.
“Shut your bloody mouth, you dog,” Rukaro growled. “Get him on the mast.”
Fiona’s eyes widened with horror. “Geoff!”
The old knight swept forward. Two pirates drew their swords and commanded him to step back. “What godforsaken madness has possessed you?” Geoff roared.
Rukaro laughed. “This is Morrordraed territory you’re in now, old man. We don’t do things here like you Tellosian dandies. This man wronged me, and the seas are angry.”
“I didn’t do it!” the man screamed while the crew tied him to the mast. “Rukaro, I swear on my life, on the gods, I didn’t take it!”
“What did the man steal?” Geoff roared. “Surely you can’t sacrifice a man for theft?”
Rukaro spat. “The physical item he stole is inconsequential. He stole a piece of this crew’s honor. He stole our dignity. He stole from the spirit of our sacred brotherhood. And now he’s going to pay!”
“Rukaro!” the captive roared as he struggled against the ropes with all his might. Fiona could see blood trickling from his wrists and veins bulging in his neck. “I’ll kill you! If it’s your precious honor at stake then why don’t you fight me? Have a fair duel. Any weapon you want! We can settle this like men!”
“There’s no honor to be had dealing with a scoundrel such as yourself,” Rukaro spat. “So now you have to accept your punishment. Can you do that like a man, Malvec? Or are you going to die screaming like a cockroach under my boot?”
Malvec definitely was going to die screaming, but he couldn’t seem to decide on if it was better to beg or go out defiantly, so he kept switching between the two.
“Please Rukaro! It wasn’t me! I’m loyal. I love this ship. I love you!”
Rukaro fetched a torch.
“You bastards! I’ll take all of you on at once!”
Rukaro dipped his torch into the brazier.
“Please, I’m sorry! I stole the silver. I admit it. Please Rukaro! Mercy!”
Rukaro approached as the winds continued to howl and the rain fell even harder.
“Rukaro!”
Fiona couldn’t watch for another second. Feeling sick to her stomach she ran forward. “Stop this madness,” she roared. All around them the storm raged while the sky transformed from grey to black. Lightning streaked the sky like heavenly blood vessels.
Rukaro turned to her, but for once he was not smiling. “What’s happening here is sacred,” Rukaro said. “This is not for you to interfere with, girl.”
“I won’t watch a man be burned to death!” Fiona shouted.
“You’ll shut up and do what you’re told,” Rukaro growled back.
“No.” Geoff stepped forward. “Fiona is right, Rukaro. We’ve endured enough of your madness. I am the Lord Defender of Haygarden and you are a criminal under my authority. I will not allow you to burn this man. You’ll just as likely set the ship ablaze and kill us all.”
“You dimwitted fools! Don’t you understand? This is how we get to Morrordraed. If we don’t sacrifice the thief, then we are all going to be killed. This storm is looking more like a hurricane every minute. We have no more time to spare. Already we’ve waited too long.”
“The storm may kill us,” Geoff conceded. “But if you burn that man, your death is a certainty.”
A bolt of lightning blasted across the sky above them and boomed so loudly that Fiona momentarily went deaf. The wind raged and it became a struggle to maintain her footing.
“Captain!” one of the men shouted. “There’s no more time. Do it!
“To your death,” Fiona growled. Her demon-pommel blade was alive in her hands. She took an offensive stance, sword pointed towards Rukaro from her right hip ready to thrust outwards.
Whatever else he was, Rukaro was no coward. “Very well,” he said. “Kill them.”
The ship exploded with violence. Fiona flew towards Rukaro like an arrow shot from a bow, but a brawny man wielding an axe blocked her path and took a crushing downward blow at her. She dodged to the side easily and slid her blade across his stomach.
That same instant another sword came shooting towards her head. She didn’t have to block because Geoff was at her side descending like a wolf on the pirate. The blow the old knight landed was so harsh it nearly cleaved the enemy in two.
Back to back they stood, facing down ten encroaching pirates.
“Stop this insanity, Rukaro!” Geoff shouted. “There is nothing to be gained in this fight!”
“You damn Tellosian’s don’t know your place,” Rukaro complained. “This isn’t your business. But you had to go and make it your business.”
Geoff opened his mouth to say something but nobody heard what it was because that moment the fiercest blast of lightning yet crashed through the heavens and blinded everyone with its light before striking the ships mast and lighting it on fire.
“Ah!” Rukaro cried. “See, fools! You’ve delayed us in performing the ceremony and now the gods have grown angry and d
one it themselves.”
“You’re crazy!” Fiona shouted.
“You don’t belong in Morrordraed, girl,” Rukaro said. “The old man you’re with ought to have known better. He’s been to our swampy lands. He’s seen a demon or two. Morrordraed is no place for Tellosians, and you had best leave it!”
“Enough!” Geoff roared.
“Indeed,” Rukaro agreed. “Kill them and finish this while we can still do our duty to the gods.”
The men swarmed them but before they came to blows, everything went horribly wrong. For a moment Fiona thought some hellish god of the sea really had been angered and rose up before them to strike at their ship for its blasphemy.
With terror she realized that it was no god though it might as well have been because a titan of a wave so tall it blocked out half the sky had risen before them. Men shouted with fear as their ship quickly began to turn with the tide of the wave sending them all creeping upwards in a terrifying ascent.
Rukaro screamed incomprehensibly.
“Fiona!” Geoff roared.
Fiona herself was oddly calm though she was also paralyzed. Fighting that wave would be as ridiculous as fighting a mountain. There was nothing left to do but quietly accept what was about to happen. The sounds of screaming men, the sounds of howling wind, it all blurred together and washed away with the rushing thrush of water as the boat flipped completely upside-down. Direction became meaningless as a torrent of death swirled them all together and flung them around as carelessly as autumn leaves in an updraft.
The violent waters carried her away.
Chapter Two
She dreamt of frozen waters.
When Fiona opened her eyes, she saw dirty rays of light illuminating a cosmos of dust and a wooden ceiling above her. Slowly, she blinked, and then attempted to move her fingers and toes. Yes, this was her body. She was miraculously alive. But where was she?
Fiona tried to sit up but a sharp pain in her side immediately caused her to roil in pain. She was on a mattress which appeared to be made of straw.
“Oh, goodness! You’re awake.”
The voice was soft and masculine. Fiona turned her head to see a plain-faced man in his middle years with clear blue eyes and thick black sideburns. She wanted to respond, but it hurt to breathe.
“It’s all right,” he said. “You’re safe for now. You don’t appear to be in any kind of life-threatening danger.” It was all Fiona could do not to laugh. If only he knew.
“You’re in my house,” the stranger went on. “In the village of Barrowbog. You must have been in a shipwreck. I found your body on the beach.”
Slowly, painfully, memories crawled back into Fiona’s mind. The fight with Rukaro and his men. The ceremony. The heaving monster of a wave…
Fiona clenched her eyes tight.
“It’s all right, it’s all right,” the man cooed “Whatever you’ve been through the worst is over.”
Suddenly, with a heart-rending pain, she remembered. “Geoff?” she asked. “Where’s Geoff?”
“Geoff?” the man gave her a puzzled look. “If he’s the swarthy old man you were with, he’s here too. He hasn’t woken yet.”
Fiona forced herself to sit up. It felt like her chest was on fire.
“Hey, easy.” The villager stooped over to help her. “There we go, relax a bit. Everything is going to be just fine, okay.” He helped sit her up properly. The first thing she observed was Geoff’s body on another mattress opposite to hers.
“He’s alive?” she asked him.
“Yes, he’s alive,” the villager said. “Please, don’t exert yourself.” He rose and began to burn an oil. “This will help you calm down.”
Fiona inhaled deeply. In truth, the fumes had the putrid stench of burning fat but now was no time to be rude. “I suspect that I owe you my life,” she said. “Thank you for helping me.”
The villager smiled. “It’s quite all right. I’m just glad the two of you are okay.”
“The others,” Fiona said. She didn’t even want to think what dealing with those pirates in their current condition would be like.
A shadow passed over her new acquaintances face. “I had hoped you wouldn’t ask. There were other scattered bodies. I’m sorry. All were dead.”
A wide grin broke out over her face that brought horror to the villager’s eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said at once. “They were… bad men. Pirates.”
“Ahh,” the villager said. “Say no more. I hate pirates. They killed one of my best friends many years back. Terrible bastards. Looks like the gods of sea decided to sort them out and judged you two worthy of life.”
Fiona grimaced as a shooting pain went up her side. “I certainly don’t feel very full of life. My name is Fiona.”
“Fiona, a pretty name that. I’m Harken.”
“Harken, thank you for everything that you’ve done to help me. If I can pay you back—”
“Not necessary,” Harken said. “I have the means to house you, at least for a bit, so worry about your strength. Your friend has not woken up yet, but he’s old enough to be my own father so I would expect as much.”
Fiona gave her thanks. Looking around she realized that she was in a one-room cabin. Every crevice of the place seemed to have been stuffed to maximum capacity. Knick-knacks and trinkets littered the space in an assortment of unlabeled bottles with cork stoppers, wood carvings, quills, strong-boxes, cups, and every other object one could imagine. From the ceiling a plethora of cloves, garlic, herbs, dried flowers, and other plant-life Fiona had never even seen hovered above.
“Harken,” Fiona began. “Where exactly are we?”
“Like I said, we’re in Barrowbog.”
The look on her face gave away her confusion.
“Not from around these parts? That’s all right, Fiona. We’re friendly enough to strangers around here. At least I am.”
“Well, where is Barrowbog?” A horrific thought struck her. What if they weren’t in Morrordraed at all? What if the sea had swept them farther than she could have imagined to some place where she would never know how to get home and she would be lost forever?
“Easy, easy,” Harken said. “Barrowbog, we’re a small village in the Kaishi Province of Morrordraed. Is that enough to answer your inquiry?”
Fiona breathed a sigh of relief. Well, whatever else might go wrong they were at least on the right continent. That wasn’t too bad of a start. “What can you tell me about Kaishi Province?” Fiona asked. “I’m from far away. I really don’t know the first thing.”
“Well… now you and your friend are armed so I can see plain as day you’re no pushovers. I won’t try to deceive you. Kaishi Province is undergoing some rather… difficult changes. Maybe it’s best not to speak of them.”
“No,” Fiona said quickly. “I mean, please. I don’t know anything about this place, so I just don’t want to be caught off-guard. I’m not here to judge, I just don’t want to do anything stupid. You understand, don’t you?”
Harken smiled at her. “Very well,” he relented. “The first thing that you ought to know is that this village is overseen by our elder, Greythor. He’s a good and kind man. I’m a strong believer in him, and would follow him over the edge of the earth if need be.”
Fiona found herself hoping that was just a manner of speech, but decided against asking any questions about his understanding of the spherical world.
“Now, under Greythor we’ve all done quite well. Our biggest problem at the moment is a man by the name of Ra—” he made a pained expression, “Lord Raejo.”
“Lord Raejo,” Fiona said. “I’ve heard of him.”
“I’m sure you have. He’s the big shot around here. You see, his father was our provincial lord until two years ago. He was a hard ruler, but fair by any standard I can set. His son is quite different. Lord Raejo… he’s a man with two faces and it’s near impossible to tell which one is worse.”
“What do you mean?”
; “Well most of the time he’s a lout. He drinks, gambles, and whores which all is bad enough, but he uses provincial money to carry out his debaucheries. He has a bad habit of siphoning off our taxes to pay for his lifestyle.”
“Why don’t you do something about it?”
Harken laughed. “Money buys swords as well as whores, Fiona. Lord Raejo has built himself up quite a powerful mercenary force. But even the vices that I’ve named are not the immediate cause for worry. No, his real crimes are much darker than that.”
“Tell me,” Fiona urged. The last thing she wanted was to be caught off-guard by some mad provincial lord in a kingdom she had no understanding of.
Harken’s face grew very taut while he contemplated his words. “Well first off, his obsession with money has led him to use forbidden magic to dig deeper into the silver mines here than anyone has ever gone. He’s caused all sorts of disturbances, everything from arousing long-sleeping vampyres and cave-zombies to spewing strange poisons into our swamp waters.”
“That’s terrible,” Fiona said. She was suddenly reminded of the old Duke Redfire and all the other leaders who saw fit to section off and exploit the Moonwood.
“It is,” Harken agreed. “But it gets even worse. Quite frankly… The man is a monster. A beast in human skin. There are rumors about what goes on in his castle. Terrible rumors. Things he does to his servants, to women, for amusement. It burns a man’s ears just to hear of them, and I’ll not repeat it to you while you’re recovering. But you should know that’s the man who has dominion here, and you’d be wise not to cross him.”
“Thank you for your honesty,” Fiona said. “I know that it was a risk for you to even mention that to me.”
Harken’s face whitened as though he had just considered the prospect that perhaps Fiona was not exactly who she said she was.
“It’s okay,” she said, while trying to keep herself from laughing. “I won’t go telling anyone what you told me. It’ll be our little secret.” That seemed to be enough for Harken, who breathed a deep sigh of relief.
“I feel like death,” Fiona said to change the subject.