by B J Hanlon
“We’ve got the finest ale and whores this side of the city,” the man said. “Get in or get out, looking ain’t free.”
“Gonna let out the old sea serpent first,” he said trying to sound a little more like the pirates.
The man laughed, it was a hearty belly hurting type of laugh. “Sea serpent?” he said between breaths. “That’s a fine one… gotta use it meself.” He turned and disappeared inside. “Ya’ll gotta hear this…” He called as the door shut.
Edin waited for a moment before walking toward the outbuilding. The smell of crap was overpowering.
The door opened and a man stepped out fussing with a thin black string that could’ve been mistaken for a belt. A cutlass was strapped to his waist.
The only pirates he could’ve recognized were Bandana and Ginnis. The man eyed him and grinned showing a jagged line of teeth. “Left a good one for ya mate.” He chuckled and rammed his shoulder into Edin.
Edin grabbed his wrist and spun him around ramming a knee into his groin. The pirate gasped and cried out seemingly at once in the high pitch of a female crooner. Edin whirled him back toward the outhouse.
He kicked the door open and was nearly blinded by the acrid fumes. Edin gagged. He wasn’t going in there.
The man pushed to his knees, “I’m gonna…” his voice like a young girl.
Edin kicked him in the side causing him to flop to his back. Edin grabbed the man’s arm and dragged him by the leg toward the next one. He pushed open the door and found not only was it empty, but it smelled halfway descent. Large wooden tubs separated by mere feet told him why. It was a bathhouse.
A few candles lit the room. Spilled mugs and plates of food were scattered on the floor like the remnants of a great battle. Edin caught a quick glimpse of a rodent scurrying about the wooden floor.
The pirate grabbed at Edin’s hand. Edin took out his sword and thumped the pommel into his wrist. He howled as Edin tossed him up the small step and inside and slammed the door.
“Gostal. Where is he?”
“I’m gonna kill you,” The man tried to sit up.
Edin set the point of the blade at the man’s throat. “I only killed one with this blade, you want to make it two?”
He grumbled something as he stared at the cutlass.
“The captain.”
“Inside… you’ll never get at him.” He grinned, “captain’ll cut you up like a ship on the reef.”
“The girl… where is she.”
“What girl?”
“From the jungle. The one your dead mates tried to kidnap, before I slaughtered them.”
He huffed. “You was crushed by the river.”
“Clearly not. Where is she?” The man swallowed and looked around as if trying to find help. “What’s your name?”
“Luir.” The man swallowed.
“Where is she? Or do you want to be known as Luir the armless?” Edin moved his blade toward the man’s arm. “Or how about Luir the dickless.” Sliding the tip toward the man’s groin.
“She’s in the cellar, waiting for the collection. The owner lets the captain keep his prisoners down there.”
“What collection?”
“Usually it’s with the slavers… but this one’s different. I think we’re doing business with those black cloaked blotards.”
“How do I get down there?” He remembered Ginnis saying the kitchen… hopefully the man confirmed it.
“Um…” he looked up as if trying to find the answer somewhere on the moldy ceiling. “There’s a trap door… in the kitchen.”
“Thanks,” Edin said. He quickly kicked the man in the side of the head. Edin found a filthy towel in the corner behind a small bench. He cut strips and tied up Luir before shoving a healthy wad into his mouth. As he left, Edin blew out the candles.
The rear door was still closed as he approached.
It burst open and a man stepped out, he leaned heavily on the railing as he stumbled off the single stair and made for the outhouse.
Edin slipped into the hallway. In front of him was the great room alive with the wild carousing of drunken cutthroats. To the right and left were closed doors.
He tested the handle of the door on the left. He pushed it open and saw a dark closet with a broom as frazzled as his mother’s morning hair, as well as chairs, hammers, nails and all types of material needed to clean up after a night of debauchery.
He closed it and tested the right.
The light wasn’t much brighter, a single candle lit up a galley-style kitchen. Knives were strewn about the wooden tables, dirty pots piled up in a large basin. On a stove sat a large soup pot that smelled of stew.
Edin crept toward the back of the galley looking for the trap door. He couldn’t find it.
Then behind him, he heard the latch click. Edin ducked as the door was pushed open.
In the dim light, he could barely see the man’s face, but his odor overpowered anything from the stew. Edin thought he was headed for the pot to get more food, but he stopped just before it.
The man bent over and threw a small runner rug out of the way. Hinges squealed as the man lifted a small square of wood about the size of a window. He grabbed the lone candle and the light washed over Edin, though the pirate didn’t notice.
The pirate looked like the rest of them, dirty, scruffy, Edin thought there was a scar across his face and a piece of his lip was missing. The man slowly disappeared down the whining steps.
“’ello sweet,” Edin heard the man say. Silently, he skimmed the cabinets and looked down into the trap door.
A flicker of fire light lit a ladder down to the dirt floor.
He heard a muffled cry reply but couldn’t be certain it was Arianne.
“Captain says you tainted abomination and we shouldn’t touch you.” He cackled like a wild beast. “But since you be dead soon, I figure I could get me some use out of you. Save me some coin.” The man paused. “Pirating is hard business ya know.”
Edin felt his face burning. The ladder was creaky and he needed to be quick.
More grunting and a loud slap.
Edin grabbed the lip of the opening and swung. His feet barely missed the last rung before he landed silently on the compacted floor. He felt the connection to his talent sever almost instantly.
In front of him, facing the other way was the pirate. He stood over Arianne and was beginning to drop his pants.
Edin drew the cutlass. “That’s my girl,” he whispered.
The man turned, up close he was more hideous than any of the men. Probably couldn’t even buy a woman. Boils covered patchy white skin, his beard was gnarled and long. The man was drunk, his eyes, black in this cellar couldn’t seem to focus.
“She’s…”
Edin slashed the blade into the man’s throat, the dull eyes opened as he reached for his neck, pawing at it. A spray of blood colored the wall and Edin. He collapsed to his knees. Edin stepped over him.
Arianne was tied to a square post. Fresh blood ran down her head from a cut above the temple. It mixed with the dried blood and dirt that caked her face.
“Arianne? You okay?” He dropped the blade and pulled out the gag.
“Edin?” She said, tears rolling down her eyes. “You’re dead.”
“Not yet,” Edin said cutting her bindings and helping her to her feet.
She almost fell backward before he caught her.
“We need to go.” He wished he had a waterskin. Edin grabbed the candle and helped Arianne climb the ladder, his hand on her butt. She didn’t object.
Edin followed her up before shutting the trap door and replacing the runner.
Arianne was leaning up against a table her hand wrapped around a necklace. “Take this off.”
He cut the necklace and held the cold stone in his fingers. Touching it sent shivers down his body.
Edin dropped it and kicked it into the wall.
“Come on,” Edin said pushing her toward the hall door.
“
They have the gems...” she said. “I can’t leave without them.”
“You’re more important,” Edin said. He looked her in the eyes. The beautiful sparkling eyes were faded, but he could see determination in them. He took his sleeve and wiped her face.
“Please,” she said, her jaw quivering. “You can use your talent and kill them all.”
“We’re in Alestow, trapped… we’ll be found out and hunted.”
“The Por Fen know I’m here. The pirates… they hurt me Edin. Beat me…”
“I’m getting you to safety,” Edin said. “We can make them pay later.” He had to nearly drag her out the back but she followed.
The man he’d seen heading to the outhouse was coming back the other way. Edin ignored him.
Arianne stumbled, her legs weak as they headed down Tavern Row, until just past the harbormasters. Edin turned quick left and they went down a dim street. She moaned and her right arm was limp, she said it was dislocated. There were few people around, they all ignored them.
They’d been moving for a quarter hour or more trying to keep to the shadows. He heard feet behind him and he tried to glance back but saw nothing.
Edin turned down another street, then into an alleyway, then another. He was lost and couldn’t help the feeling that he was being tracked.
Arianne moaned, her head lolling like a pendulum. “We’ll find a healer soon,” Edin whispered.
She didn’t answer.
His heart was pounding and his body was sticky with sweat despite the cool sea breeze. He turned and saw a pair of men appear from behind a stack of wooden crates. They drew weapons blocking the streets. Edin glanced behind and saw at least two more, maybe a third. Arianne whimpered.
Edin felt anger rising in him. An exasperation, a fury made him want to destroy the whole city. Like he was meant to become a mad mage…. He didn’t have time for this, they’d been tracking him waiting for the right time. Thieves or cutthroats, it didn’t matter. Arianne needed help.
“Can you point me to the nearest physician?”
“You ain’t gonna be needing one mate. You walking our alley without permission. That toll is your death.”
“Arianne,” Edin whispered. “Don’t move.”
Edin lowered her to the ground and drew his cutlass. “I have no wish to kill you all…” Edin said. “But I will.”
He could almost see the grin on the man’s face. He barely heard the footsteps from behind him. Edin spun and saw a blade coming at him. Without a thought, he caught the strike, deflected it into the wall and twisted the blade back across the man’s unprotected chest.
The attacker fell back. A second man, a half a step behind tried to stop but Edin buried the heavy cutlass into his head.
Edin spun to see the rest had gone, though it didn’t feel like they’d left. Edin glanced at the two on the ground. Young, mid-teens maybe. He recognized, one the gangly lad that eyed him earlier. He looked barely fifteen in the light…
After grabbing Arianne, they continued. He turned down another alleyway, it was slightly wider and had a few more lamps burning. The road curved, instead of heading up, it headed back down.
Edin was completely turned around. He stopped at a small bench and let Arianne rest on it. Her mouth was dry and cracked and she could barely speak. He looked around for people watching him.
If Edin were to plan an ambush, he wouldn’t announce himself next time. Just attack. Try to get the prey off guard and unaware.
He looked at rooftops, at dark alleys, and storefronts. It was a crowded city during the day, at night, it was deserted but for the bad element.
He saw signs hanging from doors, but none were healers.
“Arianne are you ready?”
She nodded and grimaced as she tried to stand. Arianne was tough, but he understood the pain. This was the first time he was taking care of her. He looked down other alleyways and streets as they passed, some headed up the hill, others down. More triangle-shaped buildings were posted at angular crossroads.
Then ahead of him, he saw a light bobbing. Moving up and down as if on a string.
The docks.
He was confused. How did he get so turned around? Edin pushed forward.
The docks weren’t deserted. Men were working on rigs, some loading supplies. He spotted a fishmonger stand he’d seen earlier, it was empty, but a sign read he’d be back at three tomorrow.
Edin saw a man leaning against an oil lamp post with his arms crossed and a pipe in his mouth. A lot of people here smoked.
“Excuse me, do you know where a physician is?”
The man took a puff and his face lit up in the ember. Dark eyes, tanned skin. He made a clicking sound with his mouth and pointed his pipe to a tall building across from the dock.
Edin glanced and saw the sign for healers, a caduceus. “Thank you.” He gasped as they hobbled over, Arianne’s feet dragging against the cobblestone. Her breath was weak.
Edin reached the dark door next to a planter in front of a large window. It held blue flowers that seemed to sparkle like moonlight on a dewy field.
A few floors above, lights were on. He called up. “Help… I need a healer.” No answer. He banged on the door and waited. Arianne was leaning. Then he felt her legs give out. She dropped and he caught her.
Edin pulled his sword and banged the pommel against the door for what felt like ten minutes before he heard movement and the clicking of a latch on the other side.
“Go away before I call the watch,” a cracking old voice said.
The door opened and he saw a lady well into her years with gray hair and leather skin.
“Please my lady is injured.” The woman looked down at Arianne, she couldn’t even raise her head anymore.
“You do it?”
“No ma’am, I got her away…”
“From who?”
“Bad men,” Edin said.
The woman lived by the docks, it was probable she knew the captain and the crew. Probably fixed up many of them. The woman bent down and moved her hand to Arianne’s forehead. She tilted her head back, then she grabbed at her shoulder. Arianne moaned.
“Please, I’ll give you all the coin I have.” Edin shook the purse on his hip.
The woman eyed him for a moment. Slowly, she nodded. “Help her in, the book I was reading was awful anyway.”
Edin lifted her up under the back and the knees and carried her.
The front room had wooden chairs and a couch on a pair of walls. Another was covered with shelves of books and the last had a painting of some old lady standing over a dying patient. A yellow halo seemed to pass from the lady’s hands to the patient. A stairwell sat to the right glowing with the light from upstairs.
“In the back,” she said before a coughing fit.
There was a short hallway, lit with a dim light before they came to a windowless room. In the center was a large hardwood examination table stained darker in spots with what he assumed was blood or other bodily fluids.
Edin laid her down. The woman proceeded slowly to light a few more candles around the room. Too slowly for Edin’s taste but it increased the brightness ten times. The flames burned white.
Edin tilted his head as he stared at them. It reminded him of ethereal light he possessed.
“It’s the oil, I get it specially made,” she said as if reading his mind. “Helps with the old eyes.”
The woman began to fill a tub with water from a basin. The house had plumbing, Edin remembered a bathroom off the hall they came down. She sprinkled a white powder into the tub then took out a cloth and began to wipe Arianne’s face. She had to rinse it multiple times to fight off the dried blood and grime.
Slowly, Arianne’s pale ivory skin began to show through. Edin held her hand.
The healer washed the cleaning solution around her neck and then down closer to her chest. The old lady paused without looking at him.
“I’m not sure your relationship with the girl, but modesty would decree you
wait outside while I finish this.”
Edin nodded.
“Clean yourself as well, you’ve got murder on you.”
Edin grimaced at that before he left and cleaned himself. It took a bit of scrubbing. Small stains remained in his fingernails. He tried water to get rid of the splatters on his new clothes.
It did nothing but smudge them. Edin sighed. Why did he even bother with new clothes?
The night wore on and Edin found himself dozing on the couch. His stomach growled and Edin wasn’t sure if he smelt food or was just dreaming about it.
A scream of pain came from the back room and Edin leapt to his feet. He charged down the hall and threw open the door.
“Edin no!” Arianne said, her eyes wide and standing topless. Her breasts were perky and supple. His mouth gaped and his heart raced. She quickly covered up with her hands and turned red.
“Out of here young man,” the woman hissed while pushing him out the door. “I just set her bloody shoulder.” The door slammed with a thud.
Edin sat back on the couch, he couldn’t get the image of Arianne without her shirt from his head. At the Crane back home, the tavern wench—Edin didn’t remember her name—tended to lose her top every now and then. That wasn’t a sight he wanted to remember. This one was.
Edin smiled and closed his eyes.
Sometime later, the door creaked open and he heard two pairs of footsteps coming down the hall. “Well, she’s patched up,” the woman said.
Arianne had a sling over her shoulder holding her right arm in place, her old torn up and dirty tunic was gone, replaced with a thick sweater that looked to have been knitted by a grandmother.
“Thank you,” Edin said. He grabbed his purse and held it out for her. She hefted it once, glanced at Arianne.
“You keep it milady.”
“I couldn’t…” Arianne said but the woman seemed firm. Arianne took the purse and smiled. “Thank you, Laural.”
Edin’s chest thudded and his mouth went dry. He hadn’t heard that name in a long time. He felt lightheaded and swayed on his feet.