Through the night they go forth, fast moving shadows in the darkness trying to cover as much ground as possible without being noticed or delayed. Although the Kazarian can see in the low-light better than humans, he still uses the Bond with Shelove to guide him over the treacherous, mountain terrain, because her vision is even better in the darkness; getting an injury now would be catastrophic, so it’s better to be cautious and use every advantage at his disposal.
They come across scattered patches of snow, showing them the rapidly oncoming wintry season that will soon grip the land, and they see something else; a large bear paw print in a snow patch, it’s likely out trying to put on as much fat for its hibernation. This bear is likely as big as anything he’s ever seen in the deepest parts of the Helfire Mountains of his homelands, Koronos estimates that it stands about the height of more than two men when it stands on its hind legs. It would seem the bears rule the highlands, and the giant bird-beast rules the lowlands in this place. He thinks to himself, “If and when men move onto these lands, they will likely kill all of these majestic creatures and try to tame this rugged, wild wilderness, cut down the forest and raise sheep here.” It wasn’t spoken but nonetheless, Shelove understands it because of the Bond, and she doesn’t like the thought, not one little bit.
“When we get back to my lands, I promise to leave the mountains of my realm wild and free for you and your kind. The lowland and valleys will be for people, the mountains and highlands for non-people,” he reassures her, as they run through the dark forest. She is pleased with this idea.
Through the bond she conveys to him, “the more I see of the world of man, the more I dislike it.”
He shows his solidarity by saying, “I couldn’t agree more, Shelove, I couldn’t agree more.”
By the early gray dawn, they reach the black sands of the shores, out in the fog and mist, he can vaguely see the outline and silhouette of an island about a half of a league out in the small bay of the larger island. So, they start searching along the shoreline for the boat that Nombi spoke of, hoping it is still here somewhere. After searching for nearly an hour, they finally catch a break in their fortunes and find the boat. It’s filled with water as she predicted, making it extremely heavy, but the Kazarian is mighty; he pushes it over with all of his strength, dumping out all the water onto the cold, black sand. After dragging the boat into the water, he invites Shelove into the boat, she reluctantly joins him and the two of them are nearly too heavy for the watercraft. Fortunately, the waves are calm this morning, so he doesn’t have to worry about being swamped if he's careful. “I know Shelove, we haven’t had much luck with boats as of late, but this is the only way for us to leave this place and make it back to our homelands.”
Koronos rows for about a half hour before reaching the docks of the small rocky island. Some fishermen are readying their own boats to check their crab traps and give them curious looks. One of the young men is pointing at them, before an older one slaps his pointing hand to make him stop pointing, possibly his father or uncle.
The man that slapped the younger man’s hand is a dark-skinned older man with a beard and long mini braids in his graying hair. yells out to the approaching strangers in the Old Tongue with the same accent as Nombi, “Greetings stranger, I’m Cyron,” and he throws them a line, pulls them to the dock and helps Koronos tie off the boat. He follows up with, “is your beast safe?”
“I’m Koronos of the Thunderfel clan, and yes, Shelove is safe, as long as you stay clear of her, she doesn’t like eating people.” He says as he takes Cyron’s offered hand in a friendly handshake. “And I’m seeking boat passage to search this island chain and ultimately to Titans, but at this moment, some wine and a hot meal will suffice.”
Cyron gestures in the direction as he speaks, “aye, the former might prove difficult, but the latter is likely, there is a tavern and inn right yonder, the first building off the docks.”
As they walk to the tavern, a stray dog starts barking at Shelove, she hisses at the dog, and it runs away with its tail between its legs as it wimpers.
“Shelove, we are in an unfamiliar place, try not to terrify the locals.” He tells her simply, it’s not a command and he pets her.
In the front of the tavern, some fishermen are gathered, smoking tobacco while trading fish stories, but they stop talking when Koronos and Shelove reach them, and they simply step back, way back. because Koronos alone is imposing enough, but with a giant black cat next him, it’s simply beyond their frame of reference. Koronos simply nods at them and says, “morning.” One of the men drops his pipe out of his mouth. Only one of the trio of men manages to mutter a greeting back.
Shelove barely fits through the entrance, Koronos briefly thought about having her wait outside, but then decided that could be much worse leaving her outside and unattended in a strange and unfamiliar town. Inside it’s dark with the only light entering through a few glass covered windows and a central firepit. There’s a young tavern maiden sweeping the wooden floors and she simply freezes when she sees them enter the space and her jaw drops. A few patrons are at tables eating their morning porridge and they also freeze and stop conversing. Total silence falls over the space within.
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After a few awkward moments of silence pass, the tavern maiden manages to get out her words, after stuttering and fumbling, “h… g… I mean, greetings mister, um…”
Shelove pays them no mind, she curls up by the fire for warmth as if totally unconcerned, because she is, so Koronos takes his sword off of his back, leans it against a laid bearing post, and takes a seat at the table next to where she lies and he replies, “thank you, who can I speak to about passage off the island?”
The tavern maiden looks over to the table with the gawking men, “um, uh, they might know.”
The men she gestures to are still silently staring, frozen and gawking, but finally, the burliest and oldest amongst them gathers a semblance of wits and speaks, “aye, that might be a problem because the Lucky Lady is finished sailing for the season, I’m her captain. But for enough coin, you might convince ole Hidgken to charter her out to you, and you’ll need thirty men to sail her, but it might be cheaper to buy a boat. That is of course, if there was one for sale on the rock.” After a brief pause, he continues, “you’re one of the blue men from the Helfire Mountains, are you not?”
“I am, my name is Koronos.”
The burly man nods,“I saw one of your kind once, when I was in Octavia City, many years ago. I saw her fight in the arena… was a sight… And I saw the emperor himself there in his imperial pavilion.”
“You’ll see him there no more.”
The boat captain is even more interested now, “oh? Have you news of Octavia, why will he not be seen anymore?”
“I killed him and made his daughter, Cassiopeia, the new empress.”
Some time passes as he tells the tale of how he killed the emperor of the Octavian Empire and came to be on this island, the part about the white gorilla tribe and Nombi slips past his lips, and he immediately thinks perhaps he should have omitted that part. Showing great interest in the last part of the story, the boat captain takes him to meet the owner of the Lucky Lady, Hidgken.
Hidgken is also the leader of the community and lives in the biggest, fanciest house on the rock that is more like a great hall. The boat captain has Koronos wait a few moments outside the gate while he goes inside, but after a few minutes he returns and escorts the Kazarian in. Once inside, Koronos meets the boat owner, he’s a portly, older man, dark-skinned like everyone else on the island, with a blond beard but a shaved bald head and they make introductions and have horns of mead, honey wine, filled by his two, pretty wives. Hidgken tries not to stare at Shelove curled up on the floor beside Koronos.
“I want to charter your boat; however,I don’t have much coin on me, but I’ll pay you when I reach my realm or possibly a special trade agreement.” Is what Koronos says, attempting to strike a bargain with the merchant.
Hidgken takes a generous gulp of mead from a carved drinking horn, stalling as he thinks of his next words, “I think not, may payment could be many months away, if ever. The seas are perilous, especially this time of year, as you have already discovered. If I were to even consider such an agreement, I would need a substantial deposit up front, but as you have stated, you have no coin… But perhaps we can make another arrangement?”
Koronos doesn’t speak and waits.
“Those savages over there on the big island stole my bride-to-be, I know it. I’m rich, so why wouldn’t she want to be my third wife? Bring Nombi back to me, you know where she is, I hear,” the merchant says as he glances at his boat captain for the last part.
Koronos looks at Hidgken without expression, then replies, “not all women lust for treasures or care for such things, Nombi is one such woman, she is too good for the likes of a soft, lazy merchant, such as yourself. It’s clear that she doesn’t want you. So, my answer is, no, because you’re a fool.”
Hidgken’s face twists into rage, but he quickly remembers how big Koronos is and looks at his giant black cat, he’s not sure if his men could defeat such a warrior and he certainly does have the skills to personally confront him with violence. He leans his head back and he takes a deep breath because he’s not used to someone saying no to him, he’s used to always getting what he wants. “I see, since you won’t accept this, allow me to propose another. There is a witch on the big island, she or whatever it is is big and always in a black cloak, this witch can walk through shadows from place to place. The witch is what keeps my people from living on the big island, we could kill the big beasts there, with traps and things, it’s the witch. It only allows us to utilize the western shore, it won’t let us go inland. However, you were on the island and the witch didn’t bother you, so you can easily go back there. Find the witch, kill it and I’ll take you off the island.”
Koronos immediately knows it must be Soulseeker that the merchant is talking about. He must be pretending to be some kind of witch to frighten the locals, protecting the island from destruction by foolish, greedy men. However, he’s careful to mask his expression, remaining stoic and stone-faced, to reveal nothing. He doesn’t approve of lies and has no intention of killing Soulseeker, so he says, “I’ll find the witch if there be one.”
Hidgken does a wicked, victorious grin, “good, good, so it’s agreed. Once you take care of that, I’ll have my men retrieve Nombi, and eliminate the white gorilla savages, should be easy enough without the witch there, we have the numbers, afterall.” With no intention of sailing until spring, he believes he’s fooling the blue stranger; he’s not about to risk his ship. All he has to do is delay long enough until the sea-ice comes, then they have no choice but to wait, then sail in spring, which he always does anyway.
Koronos considers threatening this man to leave the village alone, but there is no way to ensure that the merchant will leave them alone once he leaves this place. He also briefly considers killing him, but this isn’t really his fight, this isn’t his people, this isn’t his lands, and he’s not willing to start murdering people; he’s a warrior with honor, not an assassin. So, he simply stands and nods, then walks on out, followed closely by Shelove.