Jesse, Leo, and Vagraad were riding underneath the marked trees Adaed had told them to follow to get to Salnas safely. The young demon had barely said anything since the night before, and judging by the dark circles under his eyes, had slept little. Jesse could feel Leo and Vagraad looking at him, their eyes piercing his back. He didn’t know whether to believe that voice or what he had lived until this moment.
“We should stop for lunch,” said Leo.
She had mostly recovered, thanks to Nokhu’s powers, but the pain was still there. All he could do was give her medicine to take every half-day to ease it, and even then, it made the pain bearable.
“I agree, the horses are getting tired.” added Vagraad.
Jesse sighed and muttered an “okay” under his breath. They found a suitable spot in between the trees from which they wouldn’t be able to be seen easily and sat to eat. The atmosphere was frigid, Vagraad shuddered at the look on Jesse’s face. He was angry. Not the type where he would be violent, but the one where he would usually stay in his room for days before coming back out with puffy eyes and a body empty of energy. He had been angry ever since Darya had mysteriously disappeared the night before. The three of them ate in silence, the singing of birds seeming too loud and annoying for Jesse who was irritated by it. Once they ate their lunch, they mounted their horses and rode through the forest until nightfall. Jesse sat alone, while Leo and Vagraad each had chosen a tent to sleep in. The demon laid on his back, looking up at the treetops, he observed the branches being moved by the wind and the stars appearing from behind the clouds, shining through them from time to time. He tore his eyes away from the sky, and grabbed the present Glavas had given to him, and took a swig from it. When the morning came, Vagraad gently shook Jesse awake, unwillingly smelling the awful scent on his breath, before they put their tents back into the bags that hung on the horses, and mounted them for the morning. Jesse led them through the forest, his eyes focused on the farthest point the environment could offer.
“I don’t think it was an good decision to send her away.”
He straightened up at Leo’s statement.
Vagraad elbowed Leo, a look of “what are you doing?!” on their face.
“She had promised to kill me before we arrived at Ravenwood. She lied to us.” he replied coldly.
“Out of the three of us, you knew her best. She would never have been able to carry it out. If you had forgiven her, she would still be here and we would still have a healer. You have sabotaged the entire mission with your decision.”
The air around Jesse became colder.
“Shut up.” he hissed.
“I’m telling the truth and you know it.”
“I said shut the fuck up!” he screamed. “The only person I could trust wanted to kill me and you’re expecting me to trust her again?!”
“Yes! I don’t care how hurt you are, the mission comes first!” she yelled back.
“Yours or mine?” he replied coldly.
Leo could only glare back at him.
Vagraad picked up his horse’s pace to get in front of Jesse and Leo, their arguing making their heart heavy. They felt invisible once again, as if only their grief existed. Jesse broke away from Leo and watched as Vagraad became more silent and closed up than he had ever seen them before. He quickly thought back on the argument and his words. His heart turned heavy with the realization; no matter how painful it was to feel like everything was going out of control and he was losing everyone he could trust, he couldn’t hurt Vagraad’s feelings like this. They were in the same situation, trying to get back the little smidge of family they could have.
“Vagr-”
A weighted chain flew out from between the trees to wrap itself around Vagraad’s shoulders and strike them in the back and the chest at the same time, emptying all air from their lungs. Vagraad let out a yelp of pain and fell off of their horse as soldiers ran out from behind the trees to circle them. Leo instantly put on the hood of her burlap cloak while Jesse fumbled off of his horse. Before he could even stand on the ground, soldiers grabbed him.
“Vagraad! Let me go!”
The soldiers maintained him restrained while he tried to free himself at all costs. He couldn’t help but watch helplessly as he saw Vagraad get put on their feet rapidly and thrown into someone’s chest. Leo dismounted her horse with a royal posture and a calm that Jesse had never seen before.
“Guess who’s gonna get to eat at Lord Uzelac’s table tonight?” shouted one of the eldest soldiers.
“The Kingfisher garrison!” they shouted back enthusiastically.
In a few minutes, they were tied up and brought to the limits of Salnas. The port town rose proudly in the middle of an uneven coast made up of rock beaches and cliffs on either side. The town didn’t have a castle or any particular temple associated with it, at least not anymore. Salnas had survived the Uprising in an incredible twist of fate but someone had wiped any sign of allegiance to a specific deity out. The entry consisted of a large stone arch, engraved with the faces of all the Oldeonian pantheon. At the bottom were characters representing each race, above them were the minor deities, above these the secondary deities, the primordial deities, Mother Anima giver of Life, and finally the oldest and shapeless entity, magic itself, represented as a simple circle. The soldiers paraded Jesse, Vagraad and Leo in the town, as if they were nothing but prizes from them. Their horses were following in the back and Leo and Vagraad had their hands attached to the back of horses with a rope and pushed by some soldiers on foot. They put Jesse in the front, tied his hands behind his back and he walked to the side of the second in command of the garrison. From time to time, he dared to lift his eyes and meet those of the people in front of him; most humans looked at him as if he had deserved this fate, other races averted their eyes, knowing they could do nothing but let it happen. Some only looked at the soldiers and spat in their way. The soldiers laughed at their prisoners, all their jabs were disgusting, but none attained Jesse; he had heard too many to be touched by it anymore. They brought them to the wooden docks on the other side of the city where a boat adorned with the royal crest waited for them. A man dressed in a uniform slightly more decorated approached the group, who were lined up along the dock. One soldier each held the rope that tied their hands together.
“Fine guy, you got here, Baron Moore.” the high-ranking man said, grasping Jesse’s chin and turning his face to see his eyes better.
“Be careful, I bite.”
“He talks too. Good.” he replied, leaving Jesse’s chin alone.
The young demon looked at the man with a killing glare, wishing he could just rip his face off. The first in command looked at Leo and seemed surprised. As she was about to speak, she broke in a coughing fit so violently the force of it bent her in half. For a second Jesse was worried but glanced at Vagraad, who had their hands firmly gripping their rope, just as Leo’s hands were doing. In a look between each other, Jesse, Vagraad and Leo ripped the rope and quickly stepped backwards into the deep ocean water that made up the docks. All Jesse could hear was the soldiers yell as he sunk deeper into the green water, the rope floating down with him, untethered. He slowly closed his eyes, feeling his body quietly hanging in this new environment. Just as he was about to let all the air escape from his lungs, he felt someone take him by the waist. He opened his eyes, and saw, as well as he could with untrained eyes and the blurriness of it all, a flash of gray skin next to him. The next time he opened his eyes, air filled his lungs and he could feel the water weigh him down.
“Thank you.”
“No worry lad, I’d do anything for a fellow shark.”
“What?” croaked Jesse, still trying to get back to reality.
“Your friend there don’t look fresh,” the person laughed.
“It’s been a long day.” replied Vagraad.
Jesse could finally see what was in front of him despite his curly purple strand poking him in the eyes. There was a man and a woman, taller and buffer than Vagraad. Both had grayish blue skin peppered with white spots, black eyes, gills on their necks, and pointy teeth. They also both adorned in their hair a hairstyle like Vagraad, shaved on the sides, except their hair were braided in different styles and patterns, tied with leather strips decorated with beads and fishbones. If it hadn’t been for her voice, Jesse would have never guessed the second hlêg was a woman. They both looked just as drenched as Jesse was.
“You two look dashing,” he turned his head toward Vagraad, “Where did you find them?”
“We were gutting fishes when you passed by.” the woman gave her hand to Jesse to help him stand up. “Then that one let out a help signal.” she explained, gesturing at Vagraad.
“We need to find the Kraken.” interrupted Leo.
The two hlêg looked at each other, visibly frightened.
“Why would you ever want to meet her? She guts people.”
“She owes something to Tao Shi.”
Leo’s resolve was much more visible to Jesse than it had ever been before; the confidence in her voice and the distant look in her eyes almost frightened him.
“Rumor has it she’s been staying at the pub for the last week with her regulars,” said the man.
“Regulars?” asked Vagraad.
“You know…” the hlêg shrugged.
Jesse let out a slight chuckle.
“She sleeps with them, Vagraad.” he added.
Vagraad gave Jesse a look he hoped he would never receive from them, one that meant that the hurt wasn’t gone. After some directions from the hlêgs and advice on which alley to take to avoid the soldiers patrolling the town for them, they went on their way. The group scurried in alleys smellier than those in Outer-Alvoort, the principal ingredients of the floor being fish guts and dead algae. After a few minutes, they finally came into view of a tavern. Multiple people were already throwing up outside of it, sometimes the puke ended up on the wall or right at the feet of the person. The door seemed run down and covered in scratches or deep cuts. Above it, an old and dirty sign hung by one of the two chains that used to keep it up, on it was written “The Sea Legs Tavern’’. Vagraad glanced at Jesse for a look of reassurance, but Leo came out of their hiding place and hastened to the door.
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“What are you doing?!” whisper-yelled Vagraad. “Are you crazy?!”
She kicked open the door, appearing to the people in the tavern like a shadowy figure in the entryway.
“Where is the Kraken?” she asked in a stern voice.
“Depends. Who’s asking for me?”
In the back of the tavern, a woman with dark blue skin, pointy teeth, gills on her neck, and braided hair decorated with heavy beads of glass, silver, and gold, sat on a bench. She looked to be around 45 years old and had her tricorn settled on the table next to her, her worn out blouse opened on her flat chest, her black boots came up to her knees and her loose pants were stuck in them, only held by a series of fabrics and belts attached around her hips. The women and men around her were also hlêgs and looked at Leo as if she had interrupted an entrancing tirade from the Kraken.
“Tao Shi sent us, you owe her.”
“Does she wanna come back? I got room on my ship!” she laughed before she took a swig from her pint.
“She said you could help us sneak into Ravenwood.”
The look on the woman’s face went from light to serious in a second. In a wave of her hand, she dismissed the people around her and invited Leo, Vagraad, and Jesse to her table. She proposed some ale, but all three of them refused.
“Listen, I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but I’m not risking my ship for three kids like you. Even if you’re coming from Tao Shi.”
“I’m killing Lord Uzelac and they’re getting Cecilia Numen out of Ravenwood.”
“You seem very sure of yourself.”
“I am.”
“What makes you think I’ll help you?” she leaned back.
“You got everything to win from this. If we can do it, you get to roam freely in the seas around Dobrin. If we don’t, you can pretend this never happened.”
The woman squinted and observed her for a moment.
“You’re pretty sharp for a rich girl.” She leaned forward and extended her hand to Leo, a smile stretching her lips, letting her pointy rows of teeth show. “Wilhelmina ‘Billie’ Quintin.”
“Leo.”
“Like the constellation. Earendil?”
“No, it’s just pretty.”
The woman nodded. Jesse saw Vagraad’s little shiver at the mention of the god of stars and navigation. Billie stood up, picked up her tricorn, and attached her pint glass at her waist with a little buckle that Jesse could only assume was there only for alcoholic purposes.
“Follow me.”
In a flash, Leo stood up, soon followed by Jesse and Vagraad. Billie showed them to a door at the back of the tavern that gave on a pier, to which a barque was attached.
“Get in.”
Billie stepped into the barque. The wobble didn’t phase her, and she sat at the paddles. Jesse went in awkwardly, trying hard to keep his balance. Leo was less awkward but had trouble getting in smoothly while Vagraad went in effortlessly and unmoored the bark without Billie saying anything. She let out a sound of pleasant surprise before she started to paddle them away.
“I take it you were her adopted children?” she asked out of the blue.
“What?” replied Jesse, taken out of his daze.
“Cecilia.”
Jesse and Vagraad nodded.
“How do you know?” he asked.
“Only her kids would ever try to get her out.”
“But she helped so many people around the capital.”
Billie stopped paddling for a second, looking at Jesse as if he had grown a second head.
“Not my job.” she muttered under her breath before she continued to paddle.
After a few minutes of silence, the shape of a great ship drew itself on the horizon. The sails were made of a faded blue fabric and the bow was adorned with a sculpture of a giant octopus-like creature with horns and bubbled skin that extended its tentacles up to the top of the figurehead and down to the hull. Many people worked around the ship, looking less and less like little ants as they approached. Some were up in the sails, others were down by the hull.
“We’ve been doing a little cleaning lately.” declared Billie.
She paddle for another few minutes until they arrived at the ship. Billie went up the rope ladder first, effortlessly, but Jesse got tangled in the rope before he got the hang of it and finally climbed on board. Vagraad climbed almost as well as Billie had, but still had some trouble.
“Welcome to the Kraken!” The pirates who were cleaning up all lifted their heads toward Billie. To the groups’ surprise, all of them were hlêgs. “Guys, I present to you Leo, Vagraad, and Jesse. We’ll lead them to Ravenwood tonight.”
All of them glanced worriedly around at the mention of Ravenwood. One of them stood up from his work on the deck and walked over to Billie, he whispered to her and they went to the captain’s cabin, slamming the door behind them. The group looked around at the crew. Jesse smiled awkwardly and waved. One person walked over to them, they were tall, almost as tall as an orc or a troll, which Jesse never thought could be possible. They wore earrings up the tip of their ears, their belts were full of teeth too big to be coming from any land animal, and a shiny scale hung from a chain at their neck. They had scars all over their naked chest and one covered their left eye with a white veil over their once black pupil. Their steps resonated throughout the deck in an immovable silence. Jesse’s heart jumped in his chest, convinced this person would kill them if the thought ever went through their bald head. The hlêg stopped in front of Vagraad, who looked whiter than they ever had in their life. The person huffed in Vagraad’s face, who welcomed it. Jesse glanced at Leo, but she didn’t have any idea what was happening either. Vagraad huffed in the hlêg’s face and for a moment, Jesse thought they would take out their saber and cut Vagraad’s throat. Instead, they turned around to their crew and yelled :
“We have a survivor!”
The crew yelled and screamed with glee and pure happiness as Vagraad was being dragged to a babbling group of overjoyed people. Jesse watched the scene with a bittersweet sentiment. Seeing Vagraad with tears of joy in the corner of their eyes as an entire crew of people like them cheered them on and hugged them with passion made a painful yet calming emotion appear in his chest, he almost felt at peace. After a few minutes, Billie came back from her conversation and stood up on the sterncastle deck.
“Tonight, we dine early!” she shouted.
The crew yelled in return, happy to have an evening of full rest. Everyone went to each sail, others to the anchor to lift it back up, and the man who had talked to Billie went behind the helm. The captain walked up to Leo and Jesse, a smirk on her lips.
“We will bring you close to Ravenwood, but I’m not risking my ship. We’ll leave you a barque to get there and you’ll have to do the rest of the road alone.”
Leo nodded. Jesse spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the ship; he went to the crew’s cabin, to the cargo hold, which held black powder, food, water, and rum, he walked from stern to bow, occasionally lifting his head to observe the crew work on the masts and in the crow’s nests. Jesse’s loneliness felt like a hole in his chest. Leo was speaking with Billie and Vagraad was spending their time talking about their past to other crew members. Eventually, around two hours before dusk, Jesse sat on the forecastle deck, his back on the wooden railing, observing the surrounding people, and how they seemed to fit into the well-oiled machine that was the Kraken. He closed his eyes, felt the salty wind sticking on his short curly hair and on his long ears. His braid floated in the wind, as did his earrings and the collar of his blouse. For a moment, he thought that if time could stop, he wouldn’t mind feeling the winter sun warming up his skin and drying his wet clothes for the rest of eternity. Someone sat next to him, also enjoying the sun and the wind, and let out a sigh of happiness.
“I think you should stay on that ship.” the demon opened his eyes.
“Why? Because you don’t trust me?”
“I’m sorry I said that, I wasn’t thinking it.” he sighed.
“I know. But you said it anyway, and it hurts.” Vagraad’s words cut his heart open. “I just thought you’d think we’d have more of a connection than you and Darya.”
“We do, it’s just that-” he sighed. “I’m really sorry I said that.” A moment of silence came over them like a suspense. “I think you should stay. You’d have more of a family here than you ever had with Cecilia and me.”
Vagraad turned around to Jesse, a look of surprise in their eyes.
“The crew is friendly, but you and Cecilia are the ones who rescued me. I owe my life to both of you.”
Jesse looked at Vagraad for the first time in the conversation. “Don’t say that-”
“You did. I’m not letting Cecilia or you get killed, period.”
Jesse thought he should have been happy, but he wasn’t. The shadow of imminent death for all of them still loomed in his mind. They sat in silence for a few more minutes.
“I find it funny that the first time I don’t run away might be the one where I die. I’m happy that it’s for this family and not the one I ran away from.” they chuckled drily.
“But you said they kicked you out.”
“Better lying than admitting they would have let me dry in the sun for changing my name and gender, right?” they chuckled drily. Jesse decided to not ask questions and let Vagraad speak freely. “My mom cried, but only because she thought I was doing it to hurt her. People like me are called ‘dréfend’ where I lived. It means ‘disturber’, because we are disturbing the minds of children and the order of the community.” Vagraad took in a shaky breath. “Who knew being myself and being happy could be a crime.” They looked around the ship, observing the crew. “What a lie.” they scoffed. “There’s at least ten other people like me on this ship and I don’t know how many more I have seen outside of my community, and none of them are criminals for existing. Even humans leave them alone.”
“You still have a community out there for you. You don’t have to feel so alone anymore.” Jesse turned toward Vagraad. “Promise me that if we make it out, you’ll stay with them.”
“Only if you’re there too, I’d miss my weird brother.”
Jesse’s heart lightened at the sound of it. “Count on me to always be there to annoy you, my liege.”
“I think it’s time I answer to you with a proper title, my duke.”
A soft laugh came out of Jesse. The hlêg stood up, bowed to Jesse, and extended their hand to him. He took it and Vagraad helped him to get on his feet. Vagraad spent the next two hours introducing Jesse to the crew members, who all hugged him and emotionally thanked him for keeping them in with Cecilia and taking care of them. Jesse, Vagraad, and Leo could eat a little something before they had to get to the barque and continue their road alone. The coldness that was coming from Leo wasn’t unfamiliar, but it was something he surely didn’t see coming. Ever since she had woken up, she had been like this; or maybe it started when she yelled at him for not telling about his knowledge of Ravenwood earlier. The crew hugged and kissed Vagraad’s face before they could set foot in the barque, which was hanging on the side of the deck, Ravenwood’s shadow looming in the distance.
“May Vriska protect you, kiddos.” said Billie as a last goodbye.
“If we do this right, she won’t have to.” smiled Jesse, the pit in his stomach getting deeper.
Leo and Jesse stood at the opening in the railing above the barque in which Vagraad and a voluntary member of the crew were waiting for them while having a little conversation.
“Don’t get in my way again.” whispered Leo in Jesse’s ear.
The look on his face went from a reassuring optimism to a forced look of happiness in a split second. He went to the barque in second and Leo was the last. Jesse was about to burst with anxiety as his eyes went back and forth between Billie’s silhouette, waving them goodbye as she stood on the deck of the Kraken, and the looming presence of Ravenwood, the outline of each brick and rocks hardened by the late evening lowering sunlight. He could almost hear the screams of pain and anguish people like him must have let out in that place. Did they know that their race would end this soon? Did they ever think they could get out of there? Did they notice the smell of their friends’ and families’ blood running into the sea? In that moment, the old drunkards who had told him these stories at the Night Elf inn and the other tavern or cabarets he went to deserved all his rage and pain. Jesse wished he would have told them to shut up or would have turned a deaf ear to their stories instead of smiling politely and trying to deflect the blow of their words on anything else but him. Had these men ever seen him as anything else than a remnant of their past?
A hand rested on the young demon’s shoulder, wanting to be reassuring. Jesse lifted his head to Vagraad’s eyes, saying ‘We’re gonna do it.’, he smiled softly.
“Did the drunkards say anything about how to get in there?” asked Leo coldly.
“There should be an opening in the back hidden by algae after a rather flat rock. It should lead us to a corridor.” Jesse answered.
The old man that had told him about it was, in the middle of his horrific monologue, talking about how he used to see his fiancée in this place. Jesse thought how strange it was to kiss and have a romantic moment in a place that was so awful. After a few minutes of paddling around the fortress, they finally found it. The place looked exactly like the drunkard had described it, down to the type of algae on the wall.
“That’s where I leave you be.” said the crew member. “May Vriska be with you.”
Jesse smiled one last time at the man, as did Vagraad, before the man paddled back toward the Kraken. The demon glanced at Vagraad, gripping their ax tight. He couldn’t help but think they should have stayed on the ship.