by C E Keene
Mira’s cabin looked like a Hilton suite by comparison, even though it had the same cramped living space as theirs.
“I trust you, you know,” she told him on the sly, as Galen and Zindar were unpacking their things. “We’re going to be stuck in a very small room with very thin walls in the middle of the ocean. I don’t expect you to be in an amorous enough mood to take advantage of the situation.”
Arheis let out a huff of amusement. “Maybe not. But it’ll be fine. Zindar’s snoring will probably run Galen off anyway, and I’ll be upgraded from hard, lumpy cot to hard, lumpy bed.”
“Well, if you change your mind…”
It was tempting. Even setting aside his less than noble thoughts—which he definitely wouldn’t act on, exactly because of what she’d pointed out—there was more room in her cabin. He’d have one of the bunk beds, and there was no way she made as much noise in her sleep as Zindar did. But no. He’d already agreed to share the cabin, and share the cabin he would.
As she headed to her room, Arheis suddenly remembered the gift he’d bought her in the market before they left.
“Oh, wait,” he said, following her out into the hall.
A glint of amusement lit Mira’s eyes. “Change your mind already?”
Arheis could feel a touch of heat suffuse his cheeks. “Not yet. I uh… I have something for you.”
Reaching into his pack, he pulled out the cloth-wrapped censer and handed it to her. The look of surprise on her face was already worth it, but as she gingerly pulled back the edges of the cloth to reveal what was inside, her entire face began to light up. There was something radiant about that look of pleasure, especially when it was turned to him with a smile.
“I’ve wanted one of these for ages, but I’ve never been able to find one. Do you know what it does?”
The excitement in her voice made him smile. It was good to see Mira felt the same way he did about getting new gear to play with.
“The woman who sold it to me said it was something to do with burning herbs…?”
He’d never really played a healer before, so he had no idea what it actually did. He just knew he’d seen them used before.
Mira grinned at him and explained. “The scent it creates can cause different effects, depending on the herbs. Slowing reaction time, putting beasts to sleep, things like that.”
Arheis’ brows rose. Impressive. “Sounds useful, then.”
“Very.” She smiled up at him, then used her free hand to pull him in for a hug, brushing a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Arheis.”
Mira gave him one last squeeze before heading to her room to unpack, and he swore he heard her humming as she did so.
Arheis smiled to himself and set his things down in the room he was sharing with Zindar and Galen, then looked for ways he could help the crew set sail. He knew next to nothing about manning a ship, but he was able to tie a decent sailor’s knot thanks to his time as an Eagle Scout. He did that a few times, starting to free the Lady Katherine from her mooring, when he saw a figure emerging from the jungle.
The sun had shifted positions by this point, and Arheis found himself once again at a disadvantage. He shielded his eyes, and after a long moment of squinting at a blurry, man-shaped blob in the distance—one that was covered in flashing sun spots, to boot—he was finally able to make out more distinct features.
Higrem.
Arheis’ brow furrowed. What was he doing here? Maybe there was some task the Guild wanted them to undertake while they were away. Maybe he was just doing his duty as mayor of Lacerda—a title that seemed to exist in name only—by seeing them off. Whatever the reason, he kept approaching the beach, not slowing until he was at the water’s edge, where the tide licked at the sand.
“I need to talk to you,” he called, his face set in stern lines.
Arheis headed toward the gangplank, making his way down to dry-ish land. Questions swirled in his mind, tugging at his consciousness, reminding him there was still a lot of unfinished business between them. The glimpse of the leather cording around the mayor’s neck made that even clearer, and all he could think about was Higrem’s cryptic warning that he would eventually have to make a choice.
Maybe he’d finally decided to share what the hell that meant.
But as Arheis came closer, he realized Higrem didn’t have the look of a man who’d come to drop off a bit of wisdom and then leave. He was wearing new armor and had a new sword strapped to his back, along with a pack that was loaded down with supplies.
“Take me with you.”
It wasn’t a question. There was nothing in Higrem’s eyes that suggested he would even consider the possibility of Arheis saying no.
“Excuse me?”
“Take me with you to Iskaral,” Higrem repeated, and when that didn’t magically work, he expanded on the demand. Somewhat. “You were going stir-crazy after two weeks of downtime. I’ve spent years here, killing the same entry-level beasts, grinding out enough XP to rank up. I need more of a challenge.”
“You have access to the same resources I do,” Arheis said, glancing at the man’s overburdened pack, “maybe even more. If you want to go to Iskaral, find yourself a ship and go.”
“In another month? Six months? A year? No one comes out here, Arheis. It’s the damn tutorial island,” he said through gritted teeth.
“It’s not my fault you got yourself stuck here.”
Red flashed across Higrem’s dark skin, and his eyes became the kind of cold that could have iced over all of Lacerda. “I didn’t get myself stuck here. I had obligations. People who were counting on me.”
Arheis blinked at the man. “You still do. You’re mayor of Lacerda.”
Higrem expelled a breath through his nose. “You know why I was given that title? Because the last mayor died decades ago, and the Guild thought it would be a good way to reward me. Outside of that business with the Nepondus Queen, it’s not a real job.”
“What about your son?”
The word came out harsher than Arheis expected, some unnamed emotion rising in his throat.
It must have done the trick, because Higrem looked away, his expression changing from that hardened certainty to something far more vulnerable. “He doesn’t need me. Doesn’t want me here… he still…”
Wherever that sentence was going, Higrem dashed it away with a sound of frustration.
“Do you want me to beg? Fine, Arheis. I’ll beg.” Dark eyes fixed on him, a lighter cast to them that spoke of… fear. Loneliness. Desperation. “There’s nothing left for me in Lacerda. It’s been that way for a long time, and I… I just need to be… somewhere else. I need to do something. I need to feel like my life matters beyond the same fucking stories in the same fucking Guild Hall.”
Arheis was almost overwhelmed by the sudden amount of emotion being thrown at him. Higrem never struck him as the most emotive person, and learning he was actually a player hadn’t changed that. If anything he’d closed himself off even more. But this was raw in a way that made Arheis a little uncomfortable. It felt like he was seeing something he wasn’t supposed to see.
It was tempting, then, to just give the man what he wanted. There wasn’t any room for him. Either Arheis would have to bunk with Mira after all, or Higrem would have to sleep above deck. But it wasn’t the logistics that kept him from immediately extending the offer. He had the upper hand here, for the first time since meeting the man.
He could ask for something in return.
“You can join us,” Arheis said, weighing his words to make it clear there were conditions, “but you have to tell me something first.”
“I can’t tell you when you’ll have to make that choice or what it even entails,” he protested, annoyed, “You have to—”
“Tell me one thing about you. One true thing.”
It was a gamble. Arheis hadn’t exactly defined what “true” meant. Higrem could just tell him something about his life in-game and that would technically fulfill the requirement
s Arheis had set forth. But the man met his gaze and held it for a long moment, saying nothing. He looked over Arheis’ shoulder at the Lady Katherine, then back the way he’d come.
Finally, Higrem spoke his truth.
“My name’s Paul. Paul Larson.”
7
The Lady Katherine set sail just after sundown.
Higrem—Paul—saved Arheis the trouble of making other sleeping arrangements by setting up a pseudo camp for himself above decks. He was tucked in beside some crates and spent the last couple of hours before cast-off reading a book, seeming completely uninterested in acting like a remotely sociable human being.
“Why is he even here?” Mira asked, catching a glimpse of the man when she’d joined Arheis to help free up the rigging.
“He said he needed this.”
Arheis hesitated to say much more. It felt too personal, despite how little information Higrem had actually given him. He’d seen the man in a moment of weakness, and were their situations reversed, Arheis wasn’t sure he’d want everyone to know about it. Mira didn’t press him for details, thankfully. She didn’t exactly seem content with the answer, or with Higrem’s presence in general, but she shrugged it off with relative ease.
Zindar and Galen noticed the man’s presence, too. But aside from a quick, questioning glance from the Pruvari, neither asked about it.
And so the mayor’s presence aboard the Lady Katherine shook out much as it had in Lacerda. The two groups largely avoided each other. The only difference being the fact that Higrem was missing the hangers-on he’d gained from the Guild Hall, and thus seemed a lot more subdued than he had originally.
It wasn’t something Arheis could worry about. They had a long trip ahead of them, and he was still mulling over what to do with the information he’d been given. For now, though, they had to focus on getting the Lady Katherine away from the beach. A daunting prospect for a ship her size, but once she was untethered and the anchors were pulled up to the top decks, it was just a matter of hoisting the sails to catch the wind. Arheis had no part in that, his Eagle Scout training definitely stopping short. Instead he remained at the bough of the ship, watching the sun as it dipped below the horizon.
That was until the Lady Katherine picked up speed.
He’d barely felt the gentle rocking of waves as they meandered toward the shore, but out on the ocean proper, even the regular ones seemed to slam into the ship. It was startling just how loud it was once the ship really got going, and how much it jostled such a large vessel. Storm clouds looming in the distance didn’t help matters any, and Arheis found himself completely stripped of any sea legs he thought he had.
At first he just had to take a seat below decks. But his stomach started to roil every time the ship was thrown about, and before long he made ample use of a pail Zindar nudged over to him before he and Galen left to presumably get away from the guy who was puking his guts out over a few waves.
The door to the cabin opened as he was midway through retching, and it was just his luck that it wasn’t one of the guys, but Mira who checked in on him.
“The mighty Hunter felled by the sea,” she teased gently, coming over to sit on the edge of the bunk near his cot.
It was embarrassing to have her here, seeing him this lovely shade of green as he emptied the meager contents of his stomach into a pail, but he honestly felt too bad to worry about it.
“The sea doesn’t exactly fight fair,” he countered before retching again.
His stomach hurt. His chest hurt. Even his eyes hurt. He just wanted to curl up for the next week and not be miserable every waking hour.
“Here.” Mira’s voice was gentle, sympathetic, and he saw her hold out a small bundle of something green that smelled like peppermint. “Chew this.”
At this point he was willing to try anything, and he took it gladly, pressing the bundle against the inside of his cheek and chewing. He felt the oils seeping out, coating his tongue in a way that didn’t exactly inspire him to stop puking. But as he closed his eyes and focused on breathing, the urge to retch slowly subsided.
Mira gently patted his back, the mattress creaking as she stood. “Give it an hour or so and you’ll feel better. I’ll leave a tin of this with your things. Chew it whenever you start to feel seasick.”
“Thank you,” Arheis said, sounding miserable to his own ears, but already feeling less so.
And very grateful when she left him to ride out the last of that misery alone.
Treyous must have gotten word of Arheis’ sickness, because he didn’t dare mention food until several days in, once Arheis was finally starting to cope thanks to Mira’s herbs.
“Feeling better?” he asked, finding Arheis above decks for the first time since they’d hit the open ocean.
“Much.”
The captain grinned and slapped him on the back, threatening to undo all of the progress he’d made. Fortunately Arheis managed to stay upright and keep the contents of his stomach where they belonged.
“Good! Very good. I invited your friends to join me for dinner in my cabin, but they wanted to be sure you could make it first. I’ll be happy to tell them you’re coming!”
Arheis hadn’t actually said that, but he also wasn’t going to argue. Feeling nauseated all the time meant the only thing he’d eaten for the last few days was a bland broth made from what tasted like leftover vegetables. Even at his sickest, his stomach had still growled for real food. It didn’t matter what it was at this point. He’d eat his fill of it.
“I’d love to,” Arheis said with a smile, “thanks, Treyous.”
> The Captain’s Table
Treyous has invited you and your companions to join him in his cabin for dinner. While it’s not likely to earn you any experience in combat—Gods willing—it could help you build your relationship with the captain.
Quest Level: Any
Reward: Increased reputation with Treyous
Huh. He hadn’t expected to get a quest for that. Treyous must have something he wanted to discuss. Either way, Arheis wasn’t going to miss out on free food.
“I invited the surly one, too. The one who’s holed up in the corner over there like a wharf rat.” Treyous pointed, but Arheis didn’t even have to follow the man’s gaze to know he was speaking of Higrem. “I assume you have some ties to him?”
“Some,” Arheis said, unsure what those ties even were at this point.
After all, it wasn’t like he could just come out and say Higrem was the only other player he’d met in a game he’d expected to have at least a somewhat decent launch presence.
Treyous stood there for a moment, his gaze on Higrem’s corner of the deck. The captain’s typically jovial expression was replaced by something much harder to read. His lips were pressed into a tight line, his eyes were unfocused, and he barely blinked.
“Sad state of affairs,” the captain commented, the words murmured in a way that suggested they were said mostly to himself.
“I’m sorry?”
As if realizing he wasn’t alone, Treyous looked over at Arheis and immediately brightened to that stock expression that fit him a lot better. “Nothing, nothing. The lad just seems lonely, that’s all.”
Arheis had gathered that, too. And while he didn’t think a dinner around the captain’s table was going to change anything, maybe it was a step in the right direction. It was better than everyone ignoring each other, anyway. Especially when they were all going to the same place.
That thought had Arheis wanting to see if he could hold an honest conversation with the man, so when Treyous went back to the wheel to steer the ship around a cluster of islands looming in the distance, Arheis searched out the resident wharf rat.
Before he could reach Higrem’s crates, though, Zindar called out to him.
“Oh, you’re actually above deck! Treyous said you were feeling better.”
The Pruvari was smiling, reminding Arheis that he hadn’t been when they first boarded. Everything had happened in
such a whirlwind, and then he’d been too sick to notice which way was up. Now the Pruvari’s smile just reminded him of that forced smile he’d seen when they’d first boarded.
“The herbs Mira gave me helped a lot. Though I feel a bit weird being the only person who apparently needs them…”
One of Zindar’s tufted ears twitched in a way Arheis was beginning to understand was a mark of curiosity. As he watched, the Pruvari reached into one of the pouches at his belt and pulled out a small bundle of leaves that had stained the parchment they were pressed inside. By this point the shape and smell were too familiar for Arheis not to know what they were, and he laughed.
“You just came prepared,” he said with a smirk.
“I did. And you’re doing better than I was. The first time I was on a boat, I was so sick I barely remember the journey. I searched my ancestors’ knowledge and found it’s a common problem for us, but thankfully one with a simple solution.”
So saying, Zindar plucked one of the leaves from the bunch, rolled it between his fingers to stimulate the oils, and popped it in his mouth and started to chew.
“One of the sailors said there’s some fishing gear kept above deck. I was going to check it out and see if I could get any bites once the ship slows a little. Would you like to come?”
Fishing. Of course that was a thing he could do. Somehow—despite having lived on an island for the past month or so in-game—Arheis hadn’t learned the ability. No time like the present, though he wondered what kind of fish they could even catch this far out in the ocean, with the ship and its crew making such a racket.
“Yeah, I think I would,” Arheis said, gesturing for Zindar to lead the way.