[coronatiger]

28th of Ratanu, year 412 (continued)

Ælios pulled me aside and asked what we were to do with Nillet and Korro. Grogg’s needle was required for their treatment, which the physician would like months for. I told him that was out of the question. Grogg would never accept giving up the needle, despite it being unusable for the time being. Ælios said he could try to rush the treatment. After hearing how fast he could potentially work, I informed my friends that we had to remain for several days. Xipil pointed out that we had no use of the needle in its current state, but I reminded him about Grogg’s possessiveness.

When Nynos came knocking, Ælios was busy with tidying up after the operation, so I answered the door. I asked Ælios if it was all right if Nynos entered, and he wasn’t totally opposed to the idea, so I let the spy inside. Nynos brought a question from Nulius. During tonight’s “action”, who among us should be counted as combatants, and who should be considered “valuable cargo”? I spoke up, declaring Yana, Hylda and myself as valuable cargo. I glanced at the other girls to see if I had overstepped, but Hylda nodded and Yana looked ecstatic at my choice to stay away from the violence. A sudden desire to hold Yana’s hand made me walk back to her before declaring that Xipil, Grogg and Wolfram could speak for themselves. Wolfram was initially hesitant, being unwilling to be the only declared combatant, but both Grogg and Xipil said they would fight if necessary, so Wolfram agreed as well.

I found the conflict between Nulius and the locals to be unrelated to Your divine plan, so I didn’t feel obliged to join in. If the fight spilled onto the ship, I would much rather be in a position to protect Yana than being tied up with inconsequential orders elsewhere.

Nynos asked if we required anything, and Xipil asked for food. Nynos left, and a couple of minutes later, the ship lurched a little. Xipil and I went to look out the hatch in the sleeping alcove. My quick glance outside wasn’t enough to say whether we had started moving, but I realized I didn’t care. Not much, anyway. I went back to Yana and let Xipil satisfy his curiosity on his own. He reported that the ship was being pushed out from the dock and turned. After a period of little happening outside, Xipil began looking through Ælios’s stuff. He asked permission to read one of the physician’s books.

The food arrived after a while. Ælios paused his tidying to answer the knock, but he just pulled the small cart inside and left it there. I took it upon myself to serve. Grogg was still sluggish after the sedation, and didn’t react when I handled his food.

Wolfram decided to spend his time after the meal with woodcarving. He got out his tools and started decorating one of our cargo crates. Grogg talked to Kraa, trying to make the spirit raven enter his arm so he could use it. I wasn’t certain it was healthy to try using the arm so soon after the surgery, but Ælios didn’t seem to mind, so I didn’t speak up. I soon realized that Ælios hadn’t noticed what Grogg was doing, for when Grogg started making a fuss, he was quick to warn the troll not to try to move his arm before we removed the plaster. Hylda distracted Grogg with more food. Yana and I exchanged looks, but we didn’t laugh out loud, for that would have been rude.

The activity outside the ship started up again and Xipil returned to the hatch. I stayed at Yana’s side. Xipil reported what was happening anyway, in case we didn’t understand from the sounds. An officer started to shout about some permission not being given. I presumed he was talking about the ships preparing to leave, but the officer wasn’t allowed to finish, for three crossbow bolts struck him down. Another voice gave the order to attack.

Xipil and Wolfram patted their weapons to remind themselves they were ready. I suggested that they took position inside the laboratory entrance so they could stop a fight from coming in and destroying Ælios’s things. I wasn’t sure if Grogg was ready to fight yet, but he and Wolfram followed my suggestion. Xipil stayed at the hatch, unable to take his eyes off the commotion. He peeled off his clothes, revealing his camouflage skin.

I brought Yana to sit down at the small table, took her hand and patted it. The sounds of violence were quite far off, and she didn’t seem particularly nervous, but I wanted to prevent her panic from building up. I briefly considered reapplying venom to the knife that had killed the guard outside the shop earlier today, but I didn’t want to let go of Yana’s hand, and I didn’t want to let her see me handling a weapon either, for I thought it might make her uneasy.

After a series of splashes, which Xipil said was Nulius’s men dumping dead palace guards into the water, things quieted down outside. A few minutes later, our ship started moving out of the enclosed harbor. Grogg reminded Xipil to watch out for dragons approaching, and Xipil replied that he saw signs of them in the distance, but it would be some time before they arrived. Xipil asked Ælios if Grogg’s plaster would dissolve in water, and the physician said it would be a bad idea for Grogg to take a swim. Xipil believed the ship might sink, but Ælios disagreed. At least he said he disagreed, but I wasn’t so sure; I thought he just said so to relax us. “Can you swim?” I whispered in Yana’s ear. “No. Help me,” she signed, using our secret language. “Yes. Love,” I replied.

Grogg said he smelled something strange and fruity. I don’t have a particularly delicate sense of smell, but I agreed that there was a certain sweetness on the air. Grogg asked Wolfram to use his bear senses, and Wolfram asked what we were trying to detect. Xipil informed him about the smell, which he described as citrus-like. Wolfram transformed, and Xipil bade me keep an eye on what happened in the lab; his curiosity had him glued to the hatch, but I could tell would give anything for the ability to split in two and go to the laboratory as well.

Yana and I stood up and stepped into the door opening. Ælios seemed to have the same suspicion as me, that some container of his was leaking. I reported to Xipil that Ælios was checking his bottles. Xipil asked for information about Grogg and Wolfram too, so I told him that Wolfram had transformed and was sniffing around and that Grogg was sitting and staring at the floor. Wolfram opened the door slightly, a difficult task with bear paws, and someone outside shoved the door closed. Soldiers, I presumed, guarding the “valuable cargo”.

Grogg got up and came past Yana and me into the alcove, but he quickly turned around and sat down to smell the floor again. Wolfram transformed back into a human and asked Grogg what he was doing. Grogg didn’t reply, so Wolfram asked if Hylda knew, but she only turned to Grogg and asked if she could do anything to help.

Grogg knocked on the floor and something knocked from the outside, but it was impossible to determine if the other knocker was under the floor, above the ceiling or outside one of the walls. Considering what was about to happen, I’m pretty sure the source of the response was supernatural. Grogg even muttered something to that effect, although he was still hazy and not entirely reliable. Neither Ælios nor the guards outside cared at all about the knocking; they might not even be aware of it.

Xipil stepped over to Yana and me to see what the noise was all about, but the hatch closed behind him and he turned to open it again. He asked Wolfram if anything demonic was happening, and Wolfram told Grogg politely to stop the knocking. Wolfram and Hylda helped Grogg get back on his feet, but Grogg was unwilling and Wolfram had to employ his wrestling skills.

Just as I heard Xipil open the hatch again, the door blew up, and instead of seeing the insides of a ship, I witnessed a desert stretch out before me. Xipil exclaimed that he too saw desert outside. Beyond the door, mostly blocking the view of the desert, stood a giant man, as large as Wolfram, holding a barrel on his shoulder. Wolfram tried to shove him away, but the figure suddenly stood behind him.

I suddenly realized I had lost track of Yana, and I searched frantically for I don’t know how long. I finally found her hidden in a bush with yellow flowers. Yana said she was fine where she was and instructed me to help the others. I looked around. There was no ship, no laboratory, no Ælios. Only a small stone building. I opened the door and went inside. Xipil, Grogg and Wolfram were there, but they didn’t look like themselves. Xipil and Grogg looked like they had done in the oasis illusion from last month, and Wolfram’s skin was black. The three of them were saying something incomprehensible about pirates and that we were supposed to go across the wind. Xipil said that Darvan would lead us to Volkir and that we had to hurry. Why one demon wanted to bring us to another was beyond me, but I decided to trust my companions. I felt like I had missed something vital while I was preoccupied with the search for Yana, but knowing she was safe more than made up for it. I looked down on myself. I too had the illusory appearance. My knives didn’t look like they should either, but touching them, and knowing this was all an illusion, comforted me.