Tall Tales: The Nymphs' Symphony (Scott T Beith's Tall Tales Saga Book 1)

by Scott Beith

  I nodded my head and said a lot of ‘uh huh’s, ‘yep, of course’s, and ‘not really’ as they sprayed me with polite verbal banter I only half paid attention to, with me only asking questions when I became worried about Anara and Vallah being able to fit through the hallways as the two of them awkwardly trailed behind us, striking portraits, curtains and the little things on display.

  On first inspection, the two-story house was rather dilapidated when in contrast to all of the counterpart hotels that were potentially on offer to us, but that was the case with these lower level zones, of which were mostly designed for cheap accommodation, and therefore happened to be the reason the two servants were both treating me to the grand tour of their facilities.

  I had a feeling the bellhop and receptionist even knew something was up with all the strange ghost sounds that came along from behind me, and yet chose to pretend they were oblivious to it. I had to give Anara credit on this one. The hotel was nice enough to settle in but not so lush and lavish that we would draw attention from others who might have once seen our faces. A tour concluding by the rooms of a second-story balcony, where I could look out towards the courtyard before the pool and a few other elderly guests lying on lilos and baking in what was left of a diminishing artificial sun.

  Past them were the ferns and shrubs that existed within this small canyon ridge, amazed to look out and see how natural it all seemed to be. I felt hot and sweaty just being there, and longed to swim in the pool as I stared down at it and the stylish bar before the stairs that led towards the old western rooms I was beside. The bellhop unlocking the door and showing me inside with his own master key.

  “If there’s anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask,” he said in final confirmation towards me.

  The room being old, small, and rather plain, but otherwise reasonably clean and comfortable. “Thank you,” I said to the bellhop, who bowed before leaving, pacing to re-join the receptionist, who waited for him by the door that led back towards the lobby.

  The coast becoming finally clear as I closed the door and gave Vallah and Anara a chance to look around and scout the place out, Vallah taking to the ceiling, weaving herself a cosy web beside the small bathroom at the furthest corner from the front door, Anara and I simultaneously dropping down to rest, each on a twin bed either side of this small two room apartment, exhausted after a long day of walking, sitting and waiting.

  15

  Underbelly

  “You hungry?” asked Anara after only the tiniest of naps, turning herself around to face the ceiling as if already bored, despite the ten second duration we had only been comfortably lying there for. “They have the coolest bars on the next floor up, you know,” she then added, attempting to convince me to continue exploring this place.

  “Anara, I really don’t think it’s wise to go back out there. We’ve been lucky so far, but I don’t want to push that luck.”

  “Not even for dinner? Come on, you won’t regret it. I promise,” she replied with a sprightly and upbeat reaction, yielding the confidence of someone who already knew she was going to get things her way regardless, yet jumping over and onto my bed to crash and bounce on it annoyingly, simply trying to disturb my peace long enough for me to give in and falter.

  “Look, just because you removed one letter in your name, doesn’t mean you’re no longer an enemy princess. What if someone here eventually recognises you?”

  “It’s just dinner, Kya. Besides, isn’t it easier to hide a tree in a forest – would it not raise more attention if we stayed locked away in this room, making every other resident think we must be protecting something important if we’re willing to starve over it,” she stated, still trying to convince me. “If you want to talk about being safe, then the safest thing we can do is go out,” she said with a smirking grin.

  My own rumbling stomach convincing me more than what she said herself as I eventually nodded in exhausted approval. “But just dinner,” I then had to emphasise. My cautious words never enough to dim her spirit as she jumped up in an instant, trying to take the keys from the side coat pocket I was wearing, impatiently hurrying me up from the bed as she moved over towards the door to wait.

  So Anara and I left Vallah in the room to sleep and made our long way through the dark and secluded Valley of Kings and back into the submerged corner cave pockets of the sunken temple’s bedrock level. Anara was always pacing ahead as I walked up the corner stairs in linger, following her as she kept her eyes to the roof, chasing one particular unlabelled marking above our heads.

  The markings she followed were dark and hard to see, without any glare of flash, unlike all the others. Those dim imprints were only scratched onto small handcrafted wooden signs or embedded into guiding arrow labels placed on the darker areas of the wall. It was some strange wavy symbol of two long thin sea-snakes wrapped around the same wooden stick or staff while they both ate each other’s tail in a figure-eight based coil. Perhaps it was a metaphor or message that I didn’t know or care enough to understand. But, nevertheless, and whatever it was, it was clear enough to me that it was not meant for tourists or new comers to this city, and must lead to some type of hidden dive-bar meant only for staff and regulars.

  And so, at the point of being lost from the endless dark twists and turns of the underground sea-less sea-floor, we entered a bunker-like pit very similar to the cave pockets of the floor we came from. We walked down wooden planks to enter the wide, dark and dank Underbelly Bar.

  Designed to maintain its patrons’ anonymity, the bar was already packed with miners and pirates, most of them standing crowded around the bar, leaving many of the corner seats empty. At the front, there was a stockpile of green and brown glass bottles filled with varying liquids collected from settlements around the known world. Appearing a bit like a place one would use for an alibi, if not the very same place where shady deals were also waiting to be schemed.

  This establishment didn’t appear to have the funds for bottling fancy fluorescent bugs like phytoplankton and glow worms, nor did it have the flattering streetlight shine that was apparent throughout the rest of the upstairs levels of this pyramid. Instead, there were candles scattered all across the walls and roof via unbalanced chandelier frames, lighting the bar in a dim glowing sway as they rocked under the commotion of the loud voices and chuckles throughout the bar.

  And although it was dark and muggy, I had to admit it was a pretty cool looking den; it had lounges, chairs, booths and standing tables everywhere, yet the bar was open like a dance floor that patrons all stood around, chatting to each other while they waited for their food and drink from the front. Hosting waitresses walking around in corsets and fishnet stockings, wearing makeup made to mimic scales and complete the bar’s scandalous sea-nymph theme.

  I spotted a small booth in a corner, under one of the few sturdy-looking chandeliers. “Over there,” I said, pointing it out, thinking it was the perfect dim spot to hide us away so that we could eat our meals in peace.

  Disagreeing, however, the princess pointed in the exact opposite direction, pointing right over towards the crowded bar and smiling at me in suggestion that we go there instead. Whether teasing or serious, I shook my head all the same, and then dragged her towards the booth I wanted instead.

  Someone here had to be the buzzkill, and I was going to remain adamantly strict about avoiding as much attention as possible, as, despite that skillset coming naturally to my friend, for Anara it was so hard for her to do. Because, quite simply, she was just somebody who didn’t ever want to be invisible.

  Without protest, she abided with what I wanted, walking over into the darker area without much restraint. Just as we dropped down into the booth – with Anara and I sitting across from each other – Anara’s friend Axel spotted us and began making his way over. He was still in the same scrubby work clothes as we saw him in before, having headed here straight after work, so it would have seemed. Bringing with him a work friend, who stopped politely in front of ou
r booth, waiting for an invitation to sit down, unlike his stumpy associate, who dropped down on my side of the booth to face Anara on the other side of the table.

  Axel’s friend was tall and rather stocky in size – another man in his mid-twenties; someone who could have been easily mistaken for a waiter if it weren’t for the similar work jacket to Axel that he was wearing.

  Holding a tray with four beverages upon it, this man remained quietly standing by the table as he awkwardly waited for his friend to make the introductions. I could tell he was clearly less confident than Axel, but was also considerably more polite. He eventually placed the tray with four mugs of fermented honey down on the table.

  “Back home, this jug would’ve cost more than my parent’s farmhouse,” Axel joked, “and here it’s cheaper than rainwater. So it’s my shout tonight ladies. Treat yourselves,” he said while he waved for his friend to sit down already, the princess and I both looking at him and then the table seat as a means of silent approval.

  “You say that, but how often does it even rain down here?” I replied in kind, making him chuckle slightly as if it weren’t meant as a form of witty joke.

  “Never. They import it,” he said. “I guess the price of things depends solely on where you live,” he added, only then realising by the lack of communication that he hadn’t introduced his friend yet. “So this is Jax.”

  “Hey there,” Jax then said with a small wave.

  “He works flight tech with me,” Axel explained, leaning back in his seat and letting his gut out slightly. “He’s a good lad, and I trust him to help you girls out tomorrow,” he stated, patting his mate on the back in a boastful kind of way. “He happens to be one of the very few workers here who can interpret ‘the dance’ and find you suitable transport to where you want to go – free of charge, of course, all thanks to me,” he then added in boast, kindly offering out his friend’s services on his behalf.

  “Well, thank you very much!” I said to Jax with true sincerity in my voice, quietly wanting to ask what ‘the dance’ he referred to meant, but interrupted by Axel long before I could.

  “Now, who are you again?” he said to me, wiping his nose on his already filthy sleeve as he turned to look at me beside him.

  “Kya,” I politely replied.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” he said welcomingly, although extending out his slobbery hand towards me to shake.

  “Thrilled,” I quipped with subtle sarcasm, lightly shaking his hands by the fingertips before discreetly wiping my hand against my coat.

  “She’s my best friend,” Anara added, trying to divert attention away from my disgust after having shaken such a slimy gross hand.

  “So where would you two like to travel?” Jax asked.

  “The Crystal Caverns,” Anara and I said in unison.

  Axel and Jax exchanging a look similar to that of parents worried about their children, their immediate thoughts going to that of naïve teenagers who were on the hunt for fool’s gold – which, fortunately for us, happened to be a perfect cover story of sorts.

  “Well, quite the little explorers, aren’t you two,” Axel remarked rather mockingly. “Trying to strike it rich and live out the rest of your days like princesses?” he then said with a laugh, slapping Jax on the back of the shoulders quite boldly, as though trying to include him in a combined mockery of us. The true irony being if he only knew who his friend Anna really was, then he would know she was a princess, and that we both already lived in a magnificent castle. “Hey, I’m not judging. That’s why I came out here too. I planned to go there myself not so long ago – make a little money, build a nice castle, be a princess. All of it,” he condescendingly joked.

  “What my associate means to say is that the Caverns have been locked shut for some time now, ladies,” Jax intervened politely. “Someone literally built a giant steel door in front of the main entrance, locking out everyone from entering inside… So I’m sorry to say it, but you might’ve wasted a trip,” he then said, while Axel loudly began glugging down more of his drink, still holding a smirk of humour over his face.

  “Do you know who by?” I enquired.

  “Not sure really, but it’s one pretty thick door,” Axel gargled out towards us between sips.

  “Yeah, I can’t imagine it was built by only one man,” Jax added. “But that was decades ago, girls. How haven’t you heard about that?” he asked.

  Neither of us talking but merely looking to each other, our suspicions of Midas living there becoming more and more valid as the boys continued to explain.

  “Well we’re not exactly from around here,” Anara admitted.

  “So you mentioned your brother is out there trying to mine it though… Foolish treasure seekers, always thinking it’s as easy as just rocking up there with a pick and shovel,” Axel said as Anara and I nodded, going along with the story he was happily creating for us.

  “Yeah, pretty much,” Anara responded, moving to sip some of her drink.

  “Well, I’m sure he’s fine,” Jax reassured us.

  “So how do you know Anna?” I asked Axel, taking the first sip of my drink, the taste of it like an explosion of sourness, but becoming sweeter and nicer with each smaller sip there after – it was something I could imagine only royalty drinking. A forbidden fruit. I could understand why some people would get addicted to it. Enough of a taste testing experience for me that I had momentarily forgotten that I’d asked Axel a question, and he was midway through explaining.

  “... then drafted into the queen’s army, and obviously I didn’t want to go, but at the time I was too young and dumb to know what desertion really meant,” he said before taking one last chug to finish the bottom of his drink before burping and continuing. “So then I ended up in her dungeons, convicted of treason and sentenced to meet the gallows that very afternoon,” he recounted. “That bitch of a queen said it was so I wouldn’t inspire others to do so,” he bitterly then mumbled to Jax, clearly still holding heavy resentment upon the bitch-queen he spoke off.

  As only then did I suddenly realise that Axel was once from The Borderlands, and it was actually Anara’s mother who he was talking about.

  “Anyways, so I had given up and already accepted my fate and was waiting to meet my reaper,” he said with a pause again, trying to take another sip of his mug, forgetting he had finished it already. “But then a child appeared right beside my cell – some sneaky little servant girl who handed me the keys to my cage and told me exactly which tunnels to take in escape,” he said, smiling towards Anara as he retold his crazy tale. “And even after all these years, I still have no idea how you got down there without being caught yourself. Or why you would bother to risk your life to save mine,” he continued. “But as I said back then, I will never forget that I owe you my life,” he sweetly and passionately said, looking to Anara. A sense of vulnerability in his voice, much like a pledge, the first time I saw something of an admirable quality within him.

  “If you get us on one of those big hornet blimps tomorrow, then you can finally call it even. Ok?” The princess tasked directly towards her gloomy friend, finding enough favour in him to want him to know that this would clear any debt he believed he still owed her, rather than simply saying ‘you’re welcome, anytime’.

  “Axel, I’m really sorry to hear that,” I interjected shortly afterwards, speaking directly to him sympathetically. “It’s really sad that you had to leave your homeland,” I added, feeling a great sense of pity for him, knowing just how easily that could be me in his shoes, if I didn’t have some small amount of friends and favour in The Capital to keep me from a similar fate.

  “Haha, are you kidding? Don’t be!” he loudly and abruptly announced, stealing a sip from Jax’s mug, if only to mask a small insecurity by exhibiting some fake sense of cockiness and pride. “Unlike you two, I am finally free of that place. Free of a tyrant queen, and a sycophantic suck up of a king,” he ranted. “I’m free from having to grind and grit my teeth while watching
the next glass cannon step up and take the throne,” he added, Anara and I keeping ourselves respectfully silent and composed while he belittled the entire royal family as loudly and carelessly as possible.

  “Come on now, be realistic though. I get your despise for the queen, but they ain’t all that bad,” I defended. Discreetly poking fun at him as I glimpsed towards Anara across the table, amused at how he could have just spent a full minute explaining how amazing the princess was, only to call all her family inept in their duties to rule over their domain. “I mean, I can’t imagine it’s easy to keep an entire kingdom safe, considering all the roads that need to be constantly patrolled for predators. Not without having the problem of being a little too strict at times,” I said in subtle defence of my king and future king alike. Wishing to defend Anara’s family’s honour on her behalf, although slightly afraid that I might have been compromising Anara’s clever ruse while doing so.

  But after having already fuelled the fires of the discussion to continue, the real truth was I felt like a complete hypocrite for the very words I was saying, recalling having said something very similar to Arlo’s face not so long ago.

  “The problem with the royal family isn’t that they’re strict, it’s that they’re all self-destructive,” I was then surprised to hear Axel so coherently banter back in steady debate.

  “Alright, I think you’re being a tad dramatic now,” said Jax, simply trying to defuse the growing tension of two stubborn opinions.

  During all this, absurdly enough, Anara was the only one who remained suspiciously quiet, almost as if she had no argument to make in her family’s defence. Perhaps even some actual acceptance in what the venting stubby man had to say concerning the matter. Allowing him to simply soldier on unrestrained by guards, his words reverberating like war drums that could have easily rallied an uprising, that is, if he had a big enough audience to hear it.

  “Look, to be fair to your beliefs,” he then pressed on to say to me, “I get the appeal and why you might believe in them while the sun is always shining upon their kingdom, but they have no idea how to actually lead a society. And I’m not the only one who thinks these things. Your next prince, for one, is just as unfit to rule – all heart and no head might get some poets into his bed, but in terms of actual leadership he’s just another reckless idiot, and that’s not exactly going to help him when it’s his turn to take over and rule,” he quipped, pleased with how well he’d phrased his statement. “Quite frankly, your entire homeland was doomed the very second the strong began ruling over the smart.”