The city of Taimen was quaint and quiet in spite of its proximity to Mer. Being so close to the capitol, one would have thought that news and goods would travel as fast as the winds that blew up from the beaches. Henry had chosen this city as his hiding place hoping to get as much intel as he could as to what had happened and where his cousin had gone.

It had been almost a whole month since word had reached Meja of Durvinna occupying the kingdom, and oddly, there appeared to be very little outward signs that war had ever been waged here. Well, war might be too strong a word, but assassination seemed equally ill-equipped to describe what had happened.

According to the tavern chatter, the Durvinnan had arrived seemingly out of thin air, stormed the castle before resistance could be mustered, and had turned all the castle cannons toward the sea to prevent any navy vessel from placing them under siege. Henry would have investigated the current state of the capitol himself, but his overprotective brother refused to let him go.

Nikolas had caught up to him in no more than twelve minutes after he had snuck his way out over the castle walls; a personal best for Nikolas that cost Henry two silver bits. Together, the two of them had made their way down to Taimen posing as mercenaries for hire. Nikolas hardly needed to act to play his part well, but Henry had to change most everything about himself to look more hardened and tough than his normal laissez-faire demeanor; he even wore an eyepatch for good measure.

“Ain’t any of my business who sits on that throne. Life for us workers will remain the same.” The voice came from a table in the back corner of the common room, close to the hearth. Jaspar Clements was a wool trader, well known in these parts for his snapping tongue and distaste for anything that wasn’t more brandy in his mug. Rough, unkempt beard and dark hair, and rotting teeth were evidence of the town’s opinion. Still, he was an honest man, if a little sour. “Wool for a king be the same as wool for the spinners. I still make the money and some bastard of the tower do come and take a part so I can stay a free man.” He said, and took a long swallow from his mug. “So you go and run off and get yourself killed fighting for whatever sense of justice you think is owed you, but we will still be here living as we always have.” He pointed an accusing finger at another one of the tavern occupants, a young man with short sandy hair. He was well built and wide with burly muscles; a blacksmith or apprentice, by Henry’s estimation. Apparently, loyalty was not one of the core tenets of Sirenians.

The two men continued to exchange heated words, but nothing ever came close to a real fight, so Henry sat quietly at the bar. For as often as he came here for info, Henry never could figure out the name of the tavern. The sign out front didn’t have a name, just a picture of the sun rising over Castle Sirene. Henry wondered absently if it was some sort in-joke for the town and decided it was best to simply not ask or draw attention to his ignorance.

Nikolas stepped through the doorway to the tavern and strode confidently over to Henry and took a seat. They never looked at each other and spoke only in whispers. Henry was also careful to always be looking in a different direction than his brother. Now that Nikolas had sat down, Henry turned around in his stool and watched the two men from earlier argue. “Another ship from Durvinna landed today. I didn’t see anything like weapons or soldiers.” Nikolas began, “Henry, it was just full of ordinary people coming here as if they intended to vacation, sell, or even stay permanently.” Confusion punctuated his words, but worry also wormed its way through.

Henry grimaced as he stared at nothing in particular. A nation with no unity, Durvinna peasants and merchants coming in droves to Sirene, and no sign of weapons or soldiers. All of this spoke to some greater plan that Henry couldn’t puzzle out. “Any news of my cousin?” Henry whispered.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Nikolas tapped the bar twice which brought the bartender over to get him a drink. Henry nodded and left the tavern. Two taps, second stall. It wasn’t late in the day yet, the sun still shone and only a faint tinge of indigo showed in the eastern sky. The air smelled of salt, dust, and sweat; the scent of industry, as Henry thought of it, of men hard at work. For all their apparent apathy to nation, they seemed to be a very industrious people.

Henry walked slowly through market street on his way back to their rooms at The Ocean’s Pearl. Most of the shops were closing, but many were still calling out to sell the last of their wares for the day. Henry took special note that not just one, but three stalls were run by Durvinna merchants, and they traded freely and openly with only a small amount of heckling and harassment from the locals. It took only a few minutes for Henry to find what he was looking for: a small note hidden away between two beams of a fishing stall, the second one just as his brother indicated.

Henry took the time to purchase some of the lads' fish, as much to avoid being conspicuous as to prepare for the ride to wherever they needed to go. Shelling out another six bits, Henry could feel his purse nearly empty. All he had left was two full golds and a handful of silver chips. Any longer in this town, and they would have actually had to try and be the mercenaries they were pretending to be.

Back in his room in the Ocean’s Pearl, Henry sat down with the note:

Two criminals north bound

five parties sent

Unknown crime

One month gone

Henry nodded to himself and held the note in the candle flame he used. Packing carefully so as to not leave any indication of his time there, he made his way down to the stables to mount his horse. So, a “criminal” so important as to send five whole search parties and to have evaded them for a whole month. Seems Bridget has good help with her.

At the edge of town, or what would pass for an edge as that’s where all the buildings became so far spread out as to think they all contained a plague, Nikolas waited on his own horse. They headed out north at a trot, not too fast to draw attention, and both finally relaxed out of their personas. “I don’t think dad would approve of how good you have gotten at evading attention.” Nikolas said with a chuckle.

“Well, maybe I’ve gotten good enough so he’ll never find out.” Henry said and allowed himself his first real laugh since leaving Meja. “How did you find out where she was, by the way?”

Nikolas smiled ruefully, “merchants know their gossip. Especially ones that have lost goods to ‘delinquents that done stole my potatoes and burned my house.’”

“Did she really burn down a whole farm just to escape?”

“Doesn’t really sound like her. But from what I gathered, someone is with her, and who knows what they are capable of doing?”

Henry’s grin faded for a moment before reappearing. “I can think of one person who definitely would do something like that!” He said in childish glee.

“Do you really think she would have allowed herself to get entangled like that?”

“If I know Katsumi at all, she wouldn’t abandon anyone if she could help, no matter how much she grumbles and curses about people being a bother.”

All Nikolas had to say in response was a loud harumph. He didn’t much care for Katsumi and thought Henry’s pursuit of her one of his more idiotic decisions. Still, he would support Henry no matter what, and Henry was grateful for it. His father would certainly have been furious if he ever found out of half the stunts he had pulled, and he had gotten away with them in large part due to his brother’s help. And yet again, he pulled through with getting him a lead to their cousin. Henry just hoped finding her up north wouldn’t take nearly as long.

“You know what all this means for us?” Henry asked his brother.

“That you’re far more stupid than I could have imagined?”

“Road trip!” Henry yelled, “Again!”

Nikolas groaned, but the corners of his mouth twitched up. Henry clapped him on the shoulder and together they wandered off to the north where hopefully they would find Bridget, and Katsumi too.