Into The Labyrinth - a work of fiction

[Terquem]

Part 20

“Wait, what?” they both said after an awkward pause.

“You two should take a moment, later, and compare notes,” Kenny said, “but for right now, let’s clear up this whole barge situation. You,” he added turning his eyes toward Alo, “you did not come here with the barge, yes? Then you might want to know that a noble-woman, a walking octopus of your kind, sailed into the harbor. She claims to have information important for the safety of the nation, so I hear. The way I see it, you should be fine just walking out of here. You might be noticed, but right now, the people in this city are too worked up over that barge to worry about a little thing like you.”

“Kenny’s right,” Brendun said, and lifted his hands, palms together to his forehead, “I’m sorry for doubting you, Alo. Forgive me.”

“No, no no, thiisssthcan’tbehappening. Notth nowwwa,” Alo became visibly shaken. She closed the distance to Brendun and put a tentacle on his shoulder, took a breath, and then tried to calm down. “I am sorry as well. But, I cannot go up there if there are others of my kind who might see me. I still have the brand. They will know I am not with them and will wonder why I am showing myself publicly in a human-kind city. No, no, there must be another way. Brendun, I must find the Cryssalium, or stop anyone else from finding it. If there is a noble, an outcast prince or princess, here it can only be because they have finally learned what I learned a few months ago, and I was afraid that others would. When we have more time, and we are safe, I will explain. I promise, but for the moment, please help me get out of here and get Tabitha the help she needs.”

Kenny pushed Tabitha between Alo and Brendun, forcing himself into their space, and scowled, “Is there something wrong with your ability to talk?” He asked Alo, and then turned to Brendun. “This is what this is all about then. You, Brendun, Dun-man, you have taken a job to recover a thing legend says holds more power than the Nine-Jeweled Crown of Kalodar. Are you finally, truly, out of your mind? First, I think we all hope it doesn’t really exist. Second, if it does, why would it be in the labyrinth, and third, are you finally, truly out of your mind?”

“I cannot speak well at a normal speed,” Alo began to say slowly, but Brendun cut her off.

“We aren’t wasting anymore damn time!” Brendun barked.

Kenny stepped back, and Alo dropped her tentacle off Brendun’s shoulder.

Brendun went on, quickly, “Look, here’s the plan. Kenny, you go ahead of us. Make sure you are seen by those four other’s like Alo, and by the way, try not to use the “O” word around her. I’ll explain later. We will follow when I know it is the right time and trust me I will know. Alo, you pull your hood around as close as you can and keep your head down. I’ll be in front of you so keep a hold of my belt and stay as close as possible. Once you reach the door, Captain, go left toward the pier, get away from any street lamps, and wait for us. Alo, if we are followed, I’ll send you ahead and do what I can to interfere with anyone who intends to give us trouble. Captain, once we, or Alo, reach you, follow her. She knows of a safe place, and a safe contact in the city. She can lead the way but is not sure she can describe how to get there, so stay with her at all times. If I don’t find you by tomorrow, assume I failed, don’t come looking for me. Get Tabitha to help as quickly as you can. Do you both understand?”

“How do I know I can trust him?” Alo said to Brendun slowly.

It was Kenny who answered, “Oh, lass, lady eight, Alo, he called you, look, Brendun Mark has only three maybe four real friends. I’m not sure I’m one of them, but if this is his plan to get this Tabitha girl to someone who can save her, he is going to do everything he can to make that plan work, and if he trusts me to take her, he is probably more desperate than he is letting on, but given that, I think we need to get going. I give you my word that if I never see Brendun Mark again, I will follow you, for her sake. For his sake in knowing what she really means to him.”

Kenny turned away and headed for the stairs, and Brendun followed, pulling at Alo.

“Conceal yourself,” Bendun said over his shoulder. “When we get to the kitchen, let him get almost all the way across the tavern and then follow me, move as I do, and don’t get separated. If I think we have a problem, I’ll let you know and draw attention to myself so you can slip out. Go left out the door. The Fisherman’s pier is that way. The street here should be well lit by the oil lamps, but the pier is usually dark, so the men who work the boats can sleep on the pier if they want. Just find him. Get her to help.”


“You will be with me,” Alo said. “I need you.”

“I hope you are right, but please, Alo, if I tell you to go, you must go. I can, usually, take care of myself.”

“You?” Alo said clearly, with a laugh. “You can’t even avoid an ambush from a frightened A’Anawa and a hot headed Kanulaoa.”

“It was a lame ambush.”

“She could have killed you.”

“If she wanted me dead,” Brendun began, then watching as Kenny made his way across the tavern he saw what he expected to see and changed the subject, “look, there he goes, and he is getting a lot of attention, just like I thought. Quick now, follow me.”

[Terquem]

Part 21

Kenny pushed his way across the tavern with no regard for the spectacle he was making. Practically every eye was on him as he made his way right in front of the table with the four others of Alo’s kind. With what Brendun could tell was a deliberate bit of theatrics, Kenny even stopped, in front of that table, shifted Tabitha in his hold, grunted, and then went on. It worked.

The four octopus-folk followed the big man with their eyes, turning in their seats to watch as he approached the door. The crowd parted giving Kenny the space he needed as he came close to the door, and a short pudgy man moved to pull the big door open for Kenny.

This was Brendun’s moment. He rushed into the tavern, staying far to the right, near the wall, with Alo holding him by the belt and moving perfectly in step behind him. Kenny cleared the tavern door and the pudgy man stood for a moment holding it open, looking after Kenny and shaking his head in confusion. Brendun and Alo reached the open door before anyone noticed them at all, and it was a surprise to the pudgy man when they slipped through the door just as he was about to close it.

Brendun paused, slipping back against the tavern wall, out of the light of a nearby street lamp high on a wooden pole to his left. He pulled Alo next to him, turned to look back at the tavern door, then turned again to see Kenny striding purposefully toward the docks. Something didn’t feel right. Brendun Turned back to the tavern door, and then pushed Alo toward the street, “Go,” he said. “Catch up to Kenny, don’t hesitate. Take Tabitha to safety. I have a bad feeling.”

At first, Alo resisted, but then Brendun scowled, “Go, now.”

She slipped away and hurried to catch up to Kenny.

He waited a moment, and then another, watching the tavern door. Time seemed to slow for Brendun. He began to feel the ache in his leg from the injury of the rapier. His back grew stiff and sore from the long carry of the wounded Tabitha. The aches and pains cried out for his attention, and he still managed to push them aside as he kept his eyes on the door, waiting, and watching. As time went on and nothing out of the ordinary happened, Brendun began to feel as if he had made a mistake. Still, Brendun could not shake a feeling that something had slipped by him, or someone.

In the past few minutes he had seen and heard so many things that, at first, he had dismissed as irrelevant to his search. The barge, the warning from Kenny, the strange young woman at the table, how was it connected to the Cryssalium? How was it connected to him? He let out a long breath, and finally decided he had waited long enough. Brendun turned and ran for the docks.

He reached Kenny and Alo before the two of them had had time to begin worrying that he had gotten separated.

“What now?” Kenny asked.

“We follow, Alo,” Brendun said, and leaned close to Kenny to check on Tabitha. “She is getting hot, now. I don’t like this. I mean, it might be a good sign, but I don’t know. I’m not a physicker.”

“It’s not,” Kenny said. “Let’s get moving. Alo, where is the place you are taking us? Is it here in Greenwall, or more toward the center of the city, in Midtown, Millton, or further north? We need a Plan. Bayfield is huge. I know the best routes through the city, but I need to know what part of the city we need to get to.”

Alo looked around, “Ah, ah, allhhhriggg thh dohhk isssah hhea ahhn thhh.”

“Damn it girl!” Kenny growled. “Speak right. What is the problem?”

Alo shuddered and seemed to shrink away from Kenny. Brendun moved between them, keeping his back to the big man. “It’s alright, Alo. I know you must be scared. I am to, so slow down, you know, like you know how. Where are we going?”

She rose up, turned and looked northeast, “The way is toward the sail maker’s shop, that way,” she pointed with a tentacle, “then left, toward a green, with a gazebo, a large gazebo, and then past a lane with fountains, at the one with the robed woman, right, and into a narrow way with tall red brick buildings. He has a shop there. He teaches magic, I think. I never spoke to him. Only Tabitha went inside. She made me wait in the shadows between his shop and, and, a glass factory, I think,” Alo said as slowly as she could, pausing to make each thought clear.

“Marten Horne!” Both men said at the same time.

“Yes, that would seem about right,” Brendun said, starting off in that direction, staying in the deeper shadows of the street that lead away from the docks toward midtown. “It must be Marten, the dwarf apothecary. His place is next to Gandowils Glass, convenient for him, he always boasted about the rent and the access to the bottles. Let’s hurry. I know him. He might not like to see me, but I think we will be alright.”

The three of them made their way through the taverns, boarding houses, merchant stalls, and fish monger’s shacks of Greenwall, toward the large center street of the lower parts of the city. Here it was called Cooper’s way, while to the north it became Ambassador Row, or Fountain Way, depending on who you talked to. The street was lined, down its center, with decorative fountains, statues, and small parks. At the south end of the street, where Greenwall officially ended and the midtown of Bayfield began there was a large city park, Wrier’s Green, they called it, after Edmund Wrier, the great poet. There was a large gazebo there, just as Alo remembered. From the green, it was easy to get to Ambassador Row, then to the statue of Gewynn Trintoll, the woman who formed the first city council of Bayfield, with the governor’s permission of course. At her statue the east road, Crafter’s Street, and the west road, High Street, came together and formed a large intersection with Ambassador Row. It wasn’t that far, but it wasn’t as close as Brendun was hoping it would be. It would take almost an hour. Even at this time of the morning, before the sun was up and the streets began to fill with people. He only hoped Tabitha would make it just a little longer.

End of Chapter

[Terquem]

Chapter 4
Part 22

They reached the physicians workshop before the sun was over the eastern mountains.

Now, there was nothing more he could do but wait.

Brendun did not have a close relationship with Marten Horne, the dwarven apothecary. He had had dealings with the dwarf before, a few times at most, but, given the dwarf’s reputation and thriving business, it was no surprise to Brendun that Marten did not recognize him. Luckily, the dwarf knew both Tabitha and Kenny well.

He took only the time they could spare explaining the situation that led to Tabitha’s injuries, and when Brendun thought he would be challenged getting the dwarf to accept Alo among them, he was relieved to learn that Marten already knew about the Mauli girl. Marten was not a fellow who was ready to consider, without much evidence, one of the octopus-kin in any business transaction, but he was ready to let his reluctance take a side seat, as they say, until he knew more. Kenny was a great help, convincing Marten to trust them, all, and for that Brendun was in the big man’s debt once again.

So Brendun, Kenny, and Alo were shoved out of the operating room once Tabitha was on the table, and while the physicker did his work, they were left alone to wander among the rooms of Marten’s shop and home.

It was a three story, red brick building, with a high, slate roof. The first and second floors served as both his daily working spaces, small laboratories, bottle sorting rooms, and research libraries, as well as the front of the business itself, with a counter and long plaques on the walls listing all the remedies, liniments, tinctures, and services Marten would be willing to provide the customer seeking his expertise. The third floor was posh, by most standards, and showed that Marten did well, in his transactions. On the third floor there were four small, but well appointed, private bedrooms, a kitchen, pantry, and grand sitting room, along with two separate spaces for taking care of more private, often urgent body needs.

Brendun and Kenny kept to the first floor, and were not bothered by Alo’s request to seek some privacy. While she was away, Kenny took the opportunity to question Brendun about the girl, and he dug deeply into Brendun’s answers always being quick to remind Brendun that octopus-kin, all their kind, could never be trusted, ever. Brendun found it difficult to convince Kenny that, even if that were true, Alo had proven her loyalty to Tabitha, if not to him, more than enough times to earn his trust.

The two men had made their way through the first floor of the shop, with Kenny doing a lot of the asking, and Brendun doing what he could to tell Kenny just enough to keep him from becoming suspicious of things Brendun didn’t want him to know. They found themselves in a small library, with a large desk and padded chair. Books were stacked on the desk, and filled the book cases along two of the walls, while a third wall had a small fireplace, which was now unlit, and above the mantle a large, elegant, framed map of the Bayfield Sound.

Brendun studied the map, taking in the islands off the coast, the closer of these islands were home to many hundreds of old fishing families, and were reached by the ferries that worked from the docks at Greenwall, and the modest, but accurate rendition of the streets of Bayfield city itself; the northern, smaller, and much newer part of the city, the part called Bayfield proper, the older Midtown part, where most of the merchants and travelers stayed, it was a place of comings and goings that made it the busiest part of the city, the north eastern inland farms of Millton, and finally the southern part of the city, the part most people called Greenwall, where the ground was flat and the beaches filed with tide pools, marshes, and estuaries scattered with hovels and homes of the poorer folk. There was an old story that said the lands beyond the old sea wall were once much higher. Now covered often with the thick kelp of the deep sea of Bayfield Sound that washes up in storms and with the higher tides of the Threen days that easily sweep over the old stone wall. The green wall that gave the part of the city that name, used to be further from the sea, they also said, but time and tides have changed all that. The stories said that there was an ancient citadel here, southeast of the wall, a vast, pre modern town, with temples, and colossal stadiums where brutal and deadly games of death were once held. Below this mythical, ancient city, the stories went on to say, was where the Labyrinth was hidden, but every major city in Kijzta could make that claim. The Labyrinth was everywhere and nowhere, a place of unimaginable treasure, mysterious monsters, and deadly traps, and most of all, dozens, if not hundreds, of Gates.

Brendun could touch the map, it wasn’t set so high on the wall above the mantel that it was out of reach, and he traced the line of the sea wall from the docks near Midtown, past the popular beaches toward the southern city limits, and paused his finger at the place where he thought they had found the secret entrance to the old pirate or smuggler’s lair.

“You’re just not going to tell me everything, are you, Dun-man?” Kenny asked.

Brendun kept his focus on the map in front of him, looking, looking for any clue the map maker might have known, and possibly tried to hide. It was something Brendun had gotten used to doing. The maps, all the maps he had ever seen in this part of the world, were made by mapmakers, cartographers, who must have studied from the same masters. They all were clever, or often thought they were, and making maps that seem innocuous, but held hidden details, was a common pastime among them.

“Brendun, Brendun Mark, don’t be like you are,” Kenny said. “I’m your friend, or I was, last time I checked. If you are in over your head, I can help.”

Kenny’s tone was even, and he spoke with unmasked sincerity.

Brendun knew the big man was not letting this go. “I took a job, captain,” he said, “and it is not one I want to bring friends into without thought. It isn’t the money, because the money would be, will be, good, good enough for plenty of friends, but it is the danger. I know you can handle danger, but this one, this one has danger in it that even I’m not sure I was right to take."

[Terquem]

Part 23

“Fair,” Kenny said. “But, at least take into consideration what I’ve told you. There are rumors you are being hunted. Are you? I won’t ask you to tell me why, if you are, we’ve both been there before, but if these rumors are true, it is the sort of hunting that is often fatal, not just to take you out of the action for a while, or lock you up until a husband has cooled his heals. These rumors, the ones I’ve told you about already, they aren’t the only ones. I started hearing things a week ago that I dismissed, at first. Dun-man the dogsbody surely isn’t stupid enough to risk failing the queen herself. People just don’t do that, and live to talk about it. And the rumors say you are looking for something, that if found, would make the queen more powerful than she already is, maybe more powerful than the kings and queens of the Bright Islands. So, don’t tell me what you’ve gotten yourself into. I don’t mind. No, really, I don’t. Just try and lose me. Dun-man, Brendun my friend, I’m on you like stink on a Dreer. Till it’s over now, you understand, till it’s over.”

“It’s got to be close to where we were,” Brendun muttered aloud.

“Did you listen to what I said, Mark.”

When Kenny stopped using his favorite nicknames for him, and addressed him by his last name, Brendun knew he had to answer the man.

“Yes, I listened, Kenny. I listened to everything you said. I could lose you, you know I can, but I don’t need that trouble any more than what I’ve swallowed with the Mauli and my ex fiancée,” Brendun said, still looking at the map and slowly moving his finger down the image of the sea wall. “I am looking for an artifact for the Queen. I don’t intend to fail. I did not know I was being hunted, and I hope that that particular rumor is out of proportion; given how I ran into Tabitha tonight and she said she was looking for me to stop me from searching. Tabitha hunting me does not give me too much pause.”

Kenny coughed a fake cough, punctuating it with a particularly colorful word known to offend church going folk.

“Okay,” Brendun said with a chuckle, “point well taken. If she wanted me dead, she would have killed me easily. So, okay, yes, maybe a little pause, but everything worked out alright. The girl, the Mauli girl, she is the one who hired Tabitha so I sort of see why the rumors got spun out of control. An octopus-kin hiring a known ruffian, and often suspected assassin, to hunt me, would have caused a lot of people to start whispering my name.”

“Brendun,” Kenny said, “If I had heard a rumor that Tabitha was hunting you, I would have put down a bet she would find you before sundown and leave you in the Teldageri Fountain with your pants tied around your head. I didn’t hear Tabitha was hunting you. I heard the Green Tilted Hand was hunting you, and the Order of the Rampant Griffin, those kooky wizards out in Sarall, and the Winterrest Guild, just to name a few. Every organized crime outfit, every secret society, every bounty hunter with enough balls to think they can take you down within five hundred miles is said to be looking for you, and there is no price on your head. No, there aren’t any, ‘this much dead or alive posters to be found’. These people want you dead.” Kenny slammed his fist straight down on the top of the desk beside Brendun, and said, “Damn it Brendun, this isn’t funny. You know I’d put my life in front of you in a heartbeat, not a second thought, Dun-man, and I will do it. Are you really going to let me do it not knowing what you got yourself into?”

Brendun felt a chill run up his spine. He didn’t have the faintest idea what Kenny could possibly be talking about. It didn’t make any sense. Was he just trying to scare him? No, Brendun knew the big man wasn’t that sort of man. He wouldn’t lie, casually, just to get information out of Brandun. This was as serious as Kenny ever got, and at the same time that Brendun was struggling with these thoughts his finger felt a dimple on the sea wall where there shouldn’t be a dimple at all.

Brendun froze.

“Brendun, I’m sorry,” Kenny said. “Brendun, my friend, Dun-man, my dogsbody, my hero, I didn’t want to frighten you, but I’m frightened for you, for me, for both of us and anyone else who gets involved with you now. I don’t know if you know how much this frightens me. I’ve faced a lot of things that wanted to hurt me, wanted to kill me in fact, but I got a bad feeling that these people don’t just want to kill you, they are going to stop at nothing until you are dead, and that means they will kill anyone who gets in the way. Why? Just tell me why?”

[Terquem]

Part 24

“Kenny,” Brendun said as he kept his eyes glued to the spot on the map under his finger, “I promise I will tell you everything, but right now I need your help. Look in the corner of the map and tell me if the map notes mention anything about a labyrinth?”

Without a pause Kenny moved to Brendun’s left side, and leaned in close to the large map on the wall. “It says here,” Kenny said, “below the scale and mapmaker’s mark, known entrances to the labyrinth, but there is no symbol or mark.”

Brendun switched his right hand for his left, freeing it and the reached over to the map notes in the lower left corner of the map with his left hand. “Where, exactly?” he asked.

“Here,” Kenny took Brendun’s finger and placed it on the words.

Brendun slid his finger left and then right along the ink and then let out a breath saying, “I’ll be go to heck. It is right there.”

It was an indentation in the surface of the map, small, and not made by accident. The shape was vaguely diamond shaped, with the top point of the diamond shorter. If it had been drawn on the map, instead of imprinted mechanically, it would be one part of the mapmakers personal mark, which was shown next to the name, Loren Wou, a name Brendun did not know. The mapmaker’s mark was the same diamond encircled by the compass rose of the Cartographer’s Guild, famous for having an elaborate arrow pointing a bit to the right of north but with no cardinal marks and the initials LW, written to the right of the mark.

Obviously the mapmaker knew there was an entrance to the Labyrinth along the old sea wall, and hid the information in the form of an impression that could not be seen with the naked eye but only felt. The location of the entrance, on the map, was in the same general vicinity as the trapped wall that sent them; Brendun, Alo , and Tabitha, into the more conventional hideout below. He had to get back to that wall as soon as possible.

“Kenny,” Brendun said still studying the map, “You say you’ve heard of the Cryssalium?”

“Yes, why?”

“Good,” Brendun said. “That will make this a bit easier, for me. I’m looking for a Cryssalium, for the Queen. There is a reason, I don’t know the reason, to believe one of them can be found in the Labyrinth below the old citadel. Since few people have experience with the Labyrinth, and I’m one of them, the job was offered to me. If I find it, and return it to the Queen, I will be paid five thousand dollars. I’ll pay you five hundred to help me find it.”

“You don’t know what a Cryssalium is, do you?”

Brendun looked to his side, at Kenny and realized that the question had come from someone right behind him.

Brendun turned, quickly taking his hands off the map. Marten, the dwarven apothecary, was standing right there, between Brendun and Kenny, and the large desk just a foot away. Brendun had no idea how the short fellow had managed to sneak up on him so quietly.

The dwarf was staring at them, and had his hands clasped behind his back, looking up at the two of them. His bald head reflected light from the lamps on the walls in the room, and his wide dark beard concealed his mouth so that Brendun could not tell if he was smiling with curiosity or frowning in the frustration that a stranger was getting familiar with one of his belongings.

“I’m sorry,” Brendun said. “I was admiring your map. It seems new, and well made. Is it an original?”

“Haha,” Marten laughed, showing his teeth as he opened his mouth wide making a hole between his thick mustache and beard. “Nice try. Changing the subject, a simple and sometimes effective means of distraction used on the unwary. Tell me, Mister Mark, do you know what a Cryssalium is? Have you been shown one, or an image of one? I imagine if you do not know what a Cryssalium looks like, it would be reasonable to assume you don’t know what one is either.”

Marten Horne’s manner was direct, professional, and not confrontational in the least. He was a maker of concoctions, by trade, and a part time physicker with a reputation known throughout the city for fairness, thoroughness, and intelligence. Brendun considered misleading the dwarf, making up a story that he hoped would give the fellow a reason to let it go, for the moment, but with Tabitha’s life on the line, and too many mysteries piling up like cord wood, Brendun took a different approach.

He stepped away from the map, crossed the small room to stand on the other side of the desk, raised his hands, and said, “Look, Mister Horne, I don’t know what it is, exactly, but I was given enough information to make me feel I could identify one, if I found one. I was told to keep the job a secret, but no one told me anything that would make me believe searching for it would bring about all the trouble that seems to be surrounding the thing. I want to thank you. I don’t mean to drag you into anything you think puts you at risk, and if I did, I am sorry. I needed help, and Alo brought us to you. How is Tabitha? Is she going to be all right?”

Keeping his hands behind his back, Martin turned slowly as Brendun moved. When Brendun finished, he stood still, for a moment, and then clapped his hands in front of him hard, “All right then. Apology accepted,” he said.

“First things first,” Marten continued, “Tabitha will be fine, but not any time soon. She is still unconscious, and I suppose she will remain that way for at least a few more hours, if not a few days. She was in a deep state of shock. Her injuries were, or would have been life threatening. The sloppy application of the nacromoid oil helped, but complicated the surgery. Who was the idiot who dumped all that oil into her wounds? I want to speak to that person as soon as possible.”

[Terquem]

Part 25

Brendun’s mouth dropped open in surprise. What had he done wrong? He was sure he did what was right; after all it saved Tabitha’s life.

“That was me,” Brendun said.

“Well,” Martin said coming closer to Brendun, “alright then. Let’s start at the beginning. Macromoid oil is best used sparingly. Only a few drops are needed to seal a bleeding wound. You see, the oil, derived from a particularly nasty variety of necromancy infused fungus, expands significantly when it comes into contact with living tissues, while it contracts and becomes rigid, brittle, when it comes into contact with inanimate material, or non-living organic compounds, such as clothing. It seems as if you used an entire bottle of oil on the wound, which was not only wasteful, but complicated the necessary repairs to the blood vessels that were damaged. It will also prolong her recovery, by a few days at the minimum, possibly a few weeks, while her body processes the oil naturally and removes it. Son,” Martin said taking Brendun’s hand, “you did the right thing, and I understand why you didn’t, perhaps, know how to use the oil. I can make it, but I’m not supposed to, not in the city anyway. I don’t know where you got it, but if you have anymore, remember this. A few small drops, hold the bottle directly over the bleeding wound, and tap, do not pour, until a few drops enter the wound, then wait a few moments, a breath or two, and if the bleeding doesn’t stop, apply again to the same location. The oil will spread out as it becomes more viscous when it contacts blood and then as it reacts it speeds up the natural clotting property of blood. Usually, a few drops are all that is ever needed, and a second application is guaranteed to stop bleed unless it is the most severe arterial bleeds.”

Marten let go of Brendun’s hand, turned to smile at Kenny, and then said, “Keep your eye on this one, captain, he seems eager, and a bit rash, but a likable fellow nonetheless.” Still facing the big man, Martin then walked toward a bookcase on the wall to the right of the fireplace. “Now about that Cryssalium. I have one book, I know, that may be important to you.”

Alo’s voice came from the doorway behind Brendun, “Youaahhh tolduhh ahhhimm aboutah tthhhhh cryssalliahhhum!” She spoke in her hurried, anxious, and sloppy way that told Brendun the Mauli girl was upset. He turned and put up his hands again.

“I haven’t told him anything,” Brendun said.

“That’s because,” Martin said as he turned away from the books and went, instead toward Alo, “he doesn’t know anything, obviously. Now, you, young woman, it seems something is wrong with your ability to speak. I have heard you speak before, when Tabitha thought I wasn’t aware of your attempts to hide in the alley behind the building, and I have noticed your speech comes and goes, at times easy to understand, and at others, not, like just now. Tell me about the problem. Perhaps I can help.”

The dwarf’s kindness and sympathy surprised Brendun, and he could see it took Alo off guard. She stood as still as he had ever seen her stand, and spoke to Martin.

“It is nothing you can heal, sir,” Alo said slowly and clearly. “I have, was, it was,” she tried to say.

“Don’t be so sure,” Martin said. “Come with me. Let me take a look at the problem, in private. Let me see if there isn’t something I at least can recommend.”

“There is,” Alo hesitated and then raised her head, “Nothing to see. I was marked by my kind as a slave. My rostrum was removed. That cannot be healed.” She strained every word, taking a good moment to speak each one as clearly as possible.”

“Hmmm,” the physicker touched his beard gently with one hand, “so you say. I understand. Healing is out of the question, yes, but have you considered a prosthesis?”

“Ahhawhathh?” Alo said in a rush of air.

“Prosthesis,” he said. “It would be an artificial rostrum, much like false teeth in humans. I am sure I can fashion one, if I know the proper measurements and the condition of the muscles in the area. I am familiar with the basic anatomy or your kind, but an examination would be proper. Why, I once served as a surgeon on a galleon out of Port Yathur. I’ve performed surgery on Mauli, Aulini, and Fathuli. Come now, don’t be self-conscious. There is no need to suffer. If it is something that you think would improve your life, maybe open up your diet to foods you haven’t been able to enjoy, why not let me see what I can do, and I would love the opportunity to help you.”

“Why?” Brendun asked, not realizing he was only thinking it, and did not mean to say it out loud.

“Because it is a kindness to be repaid, master Mark,” Marten said. “I owe Tabitha much. More than I can probably repay just by helping to save her life. She has done more than that for me. A friend of Tabitha’s is a person I would care to know well, and not turn away for any reason.”

“I cannot pay you,” Alo said as her head fell, her words again measured and slow, “I have nothing. I relied on Tabitha for everything.”

“Here,” Brendun said as he removed his pack, “we have money, and jewels, jewelry, trinkets, and more. Look, here, a third of this is Alo’s share.” He took out the satchel he recovered from the chest in the pirate lair and dumped the contents on the desk in the room. “And, there is also this,” he said taking the bejeweled saber from his belt.

Kenny moved to stand behind Brendun, and whispered in his ear, “That was a dumb move, Dun-man. Not like you at all to show your hand so soon.”

“No, no,” Brendun said to Kenny, “It’s fair and square. She saved our lives when we got lost in a pirate lair under the streets near the sea wall, south of the docks. We, we all, can claim a share of this. One third each, that’s what I think. Marten, take what you need for Tabitha’s care, and whatever Alo needs I’ll help with that too.”

“Now it’s my turn,” Marten said. “Why? Is she that important to you? Does your quest for the Cryssalium rely on her?”

“No. Not at all, actually, I just think I’m stuck with her, and Tabitha, and this sack of muscles,” Brendun said as he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at Kenny, “and well, if I could understand her when she gets excited, that’s going to go a long way to keeping me from losing my mind.”

[Terquem]

Part 26

“Alo, let the physicker take a look,” Brendun said with a shrug, “maybe he can help.” Brendun was taking a risk, he knew. He only learned so much about her, in the short time they were together, but he relied on what he knew about Tabitha. If Tabitha took this octopus-folk under her care, there was a good reason, a very good reason. Tabitha didn’t take to strangers, not right away. Brendun had learned that, the hard way, but once you earned her trust, Tabitha was true to a fault. There was practically nothing that would set Tabitha against you, once you earned her friendship, well, practically nothing, and that didn’t include what happened once you became more than friends. So Brendun thought putting it out there, offering to help Alo in this way was a risk. He wasn’t sure he knew how she would respond. He certainly didn’t know enough about the ways of her kind. She might consider it an insult, but she might not. All Brendun could hope was that if he knew anything about Tabitha, at all, and Tabitha had become Alo’s friend, then maybe she might think he was a friend as well.

It seemed to him that Tabitha and Alo had become friends and possibly more. It wasn’t in him to judge Tabitha. He spent a good four years with her, maybe the best four years of his life, and when things had ended, he knew where the blame rested. But Brendun knew that at this point his search for the Cryssalium wasn’t going to be something he could just sneak away to get back to, disappear, and forget the past twenty four hours. Tabitha and Alo had been searching for him, to stop him, or so they said originally, and then there was Kenny, who had heard enough around the city to worry that Brendun was in over his head for maybe the last time. This had gotten bigger, bigger than just one of those simple find and retrieve an old artifact jobs, like so many he had done in the past. Something was different. The differences he hadn’t puzzled out just yet, but he decided he was going to need their help, or at least need them near until he got more information about the whole affair.

He meant what he said, at least he was honest about the treasure, and Brendun waited to see what Alo would do.

“Alrighttah,” Alo said, “I wihhhil lhhheeetah you seeah bhhuuut, noht heaah. Lahtaherah. Innha prahvate.”

She spoke quickly, again, and Brendun could tell she was nervous.

“That’s settled then,” Brendun said, hoping that everyone forgot what was being talked about before.

“Yes, good, it is settled,” Marten agreed, “but, it seems we forgot to finish. You, young Mauli, Alo, if I may call you that, are also interested in the Cryssalium. This has got my curiosity. Tell me, do you know what it is?”

Brendun looked at Alo, but he knew immediately she did not see what he was trying to tell her with his eyes.

“No,” Alo said. She took in a breath, and said slowly, “I know what it can do, and why it would be dangerous to have one, let alone hand one over to your queen, but I have never seen one.”

“You, Brendun Mark,” Marten turned to Brendun, “do you know what you are looking for? Do you at least know as much as Alo knows? I wonder.”

“I don’t know what it is, or what it does,” Brendun was again honest, hoping it would be the right decision. “I only know that it will be in a box that is sealed with magic that I can’t defeat, and that the box will be marked with this image,” he said taking a folded parchment out of his pants pocket.

He shook the parchment until it unfolded and showed it to the three of them.

Alo gasped.

Kenny seemed to not know what he was looking at, but it was Marten that had the most to say.

“That is very disturbing,” the dwarf said and went straight to the desk in the room taking a small key out of his pocket as he went.

“Yesterday, I received a large advance on a request for specific ingredients, potions, poultices, and liniments. This box,” he said as he unlocked the right hand drawer of the desk and removed a large wooden box, “bears the seal of the Queen’s accounts and was more than generous. The letter inside the box, signed by the governor herself, was specific in instructing me to take the utmost care in selecting and preparing the items on the list. The list itself was sealed in this envelope, which has the same image.” Marten held up a large parchment envelope.

The image was of a stylized Mauli-folk, with tentacles fanned out all around. The Mauli wore a five pointed crown, and the center point bore a three bladed sword.

“I was told,” Marten went on, “that this is the crest and seal of the Mauli Queen who calls herself Aonawydd. She rules a vast sea going population of Mauli outcasts, and it is her barge that is in the harbor as we speak.”

“The barge, right, people in the tavern were all spun up about it. Big news I suppose, and taking audience with the governor, so I heard,” Kenny said.

“Yes,” Brendun said as he turned toward Alo. “You know this symbol, Alo. You told me a story about being marked as untouchable, below even an outcast, you said, scarred and maimed as a slave for life, but you know this image, why? How do you know this?”

Alo raised her head high and then lifted two tentacles, and then said as slowly as she could, “I do not. I have never seen that before.”

“You’re lying,” Kenny said, tensing up.

“Yes, she is,” Brendun added, “but she isn’t doing it because she means to keep us in the dark. I’ve been able to learn a little bit about you, Alo, in the short time we’ve known each other, but you don’t lie easily, or with any confidence. You’re afraid. I can tell you are afraid, but why? There isn’t any reason to be afraid, Alo, as long as Tabitha will vouch for you, you have my trust and for what it’s worth, my friendship. If we can help you, we will. I don’t have any plan to expose you to danger.”

[Terquem]

Part 27

Alo shrunk. Her head dropped forward, and her body seemed to shrink as her tentacles closed in against her, she spoke slowly, “You already have,” and then she turned away from Brendun and raced out of the room.

“Go after her!” Kenny shouted. “She knows something and she is keeping it from you to protect herself.”

Brendun turned and was about to go when he felt Marten’s hand on his arm.

“No, let her go. Give her time,” Marten said. “A lot of things are happening and she must be overwhelmed. The image you showed us is related to a Mauli who she must know, that is easy enough to deduce. It will reveal itself in time. For now, let her think about what her next option will be. Tabitha hasn’t told me everything about the relationship she has with this young girl, but what she has told me is enough to convince me she isn’t going to leave, and she isn’t going to do anything to bring attention to herself. She must not have been prepared for the Mauli Queen to come here. She must have been convinced she and Tabitha could work together on whatever it is they needed to do, without interference, and obviously that isn’t the case anymore.”

Marten gave Brendun’s arm a gentle squeeze, and then moved away. “Yes, let her have a few moments to collect herself and think. It’s always a good idea to think, when you feel overwhelmed.” He moved, again, toward the books in the study in the bookcase on the wall. “For instance, let’s look at your situation, Brendun Mark, adventurer, explorer, and finder of artifacts stolen, lost, and forgotten. Yes, I know who you are, at least as much as anyone who lives in the city and likes a good tale told in the taverns when spirits are high can know. You present yourself well, always in control, always on the moment, so to speak. It shows a cool head, and a commitment to collecting the facts, but here you are, in my study, completely unaware of what it is you are looking for. You are chasing an instrument that few of any understand at all.”

Marten took a slim but large book from the shelf and handed it to Brendun. “This,” he said, “is the tale of Wehrin the Bard. It’s a children’s book. I used to read it to my son. In the tale, Wehrin, the young woman who sang the sea to sleep, is given an instrument, and the story says it was a Cryssalium. She played the instrument and by doing so was able to control a gate on the cliffs above the sea. But, it is just a children’s story. Nowhere in the tale does it mention how the Cryssalium was played, or what sort of instrument it was. Now, in this book,” Marten took another, smaller book, from the shelf, “The Cryssalium is said to be a device that came into being long after the creators of the gates had vanished from the world, which hardly makes any sense, because the explanation, given about the nature of the Cryssalium, is that it allowed the person who knew its secrets to control what would be on the other side of a gate. Think about that for a moment.”

Brendun took both the books and sat down in a chair in the corner of the room.

“No one has ever known who or what the creators of the ancient gates were, where they came from, or what their purpose was,” Marten went on, running his fingers from one book to the next as if he was trying to recall if any of them would help. “Most scholars agree that even what we know them by, the by many different words or names, it wasn’t a word used by them at all but something that was assigned to them by the earliest of those to ever record the experience of the gates left behind by someone or something lost to the dawn of time itself. It is the gates we know, or at least they are what lingers in our world to remind us that something made them, put them here, and gave them a power not anyone understands. But that is where the Cryssalium comes in.” Marten stopped, made a sound of frustration, and then went on, “I used to have another book here, but I must have loaned it away years ago. Anyway, the Cryssalium, some have written, is a device, or instrument, or who knows what, exactly, that has the ability to manage a gate.”

“That is nothing special,” Brendun said as he flipped through the large picture book, balancing the other book on his knee. “I have more than one gate key myself. I even have a universal key that I know can open almost any gate known, at least so far as my experience can prove. Opening a gate shouldn’t require a special instrument like this, unless it is some sort of special gate I’ve never heard of.”

Marten laughed, “The great Brendun Mark is confused. I suppose I need to slow down. Brendun, lad, I didn’t say open. I said manage. With a key, even a universal key of poor quality, a person with the right talent can get a gate to open, but as everyone knows, going through a gate is a risk. You better hope that what is on the other side isn’t ready to eat you, or melt the flesh from your bones, and if you are lucky, getting back through that gate won’t be too much trouble. But no, a Cryssalium is not a key. It is an instrument that will give the user the power to decide what will be on the other side of a gate. Nothing I have ever read, or heard about, can explain how that is even possible, but if it is true, if it is what a Cryssalium can do, it can change a gate from being a dangerous mystery, to a portal under your control. If you knew the secrets of a Cryssalium, you could go anywhere, be anywhere, be, well, be the most powerful person in the world.”

[Terquem]

Part 28

The last thing Marten had said before Brendun left the dwarf’s shop was that a Cryssalium could make someone the most powerful person in the world.

Days crawled by. Brendun moved through the city with Kenny, sometimes staying close together and at other times keeping just within sight of each other, for mutual protection. The goal was to find out about the octopus queen, why she and her barge were here, what she wanted, and how her presence was connected to the search for the Cryssalium.

It stayed in his mind how Alo had seemed defeated the last time they spoke. He had tried to bring up the subject, but she would not speak to him. It was uncomfortable, but Brendun knew enough to give her the space she wanted and not force the issue. Each day he would visit Tabitha, to see how she was coming along, and each time, Alo was there. As soon as Brendun came in the room, Alo left in silence.

Marten had said that there were a few occasions when Alo had asked him if Brendun was asking about her. It had a feeling of those times when he was still a young teen and talking with friends about each other was a skill that took great care to master. Marten told Alo the truth, that Brendun was sorry for any trouble he had caused, but he also told her it was best to talk to Brendun directly. Clear the air, he told her and be ready for what came next instead of second guessing what had already been, but Alo would have none of that, only saying to Marten that from now on, Tabitha would speak for both of them. And Tabitha wasn’t awake.

She continued to improve. Tabitha’s color came back. Her fur grew heavier again, instead of the thinning and stiffness it had developed right after her injury. She had lost some weight and her face had thinned, only a bit, and she had looked awful, or so Kenny was quick to say each day until Brendun reminded the big man that she could probably still hear everything that was being said, and Kenny had better hope she didn’t remember his criticism. It wasn’t that Tabitha was vain, she was not, not even in the slightest. She did not like people talking about her looks. There are many strange looking folk in the world, Brendun knew, from those that are difficult to look at to those that you find it impossible to not look at, but among them all the anthropomorphic Kanulaoa were among the most attractive.

It was fair to say that it was her beauty that first caught Brendun’s attention. He first saw Tabitha on the streets of the city during the high festival days of Long Winter. She was wearing traditional sailing garb, but with a thick wool coat that had a fur trimmed hood. The coat was long, and pulled tight around her small waist. The bright white fur of the hood seemed to frame her face in a way that took his breath away. Her dark brown hair coming down to a point on her forehead accented her hazel green eyes and golden brown complexion. He noticed her large eyes, full lips, and small dark colored block shaped nose and in that moment he fell in love.

Brendun Mark was in love with Tabitha. He knew it. His feelings for her, the love he felt, had never gone away, but it had been a strange thing, for Brendun, to learn that even if you love someone you can grow to understand that being together isn’t always what is best for either of you. They had different ideas about how to solve problems, different ideas about what mattered. She had a short temper, and he had a tendency to think that his mistakes where not a big deal. They came to a point where every job was complicated by one of those things, her temper, or his mistakes, and eventually the love he had for her wasn’t enough. They parted, as friends, almost, with a promise to not get in each other’s way, and a promise that if one, or both, of them could not keep the first promise, anything goes. For Brendun, that meant staying far away from Tabitha because getting in her way had been the last thing a lot of people ever had an opportunity to do.

Then they were in each other’s way again. But instead of her putting him down, hard, she had gone easy. He still didn’t understand why, and until Tabitha woke up, he wasn’t going to be able to ask her to explain.

Almost a full week passed by, the threen days, the monthly occurring conjunction of the worlds three moons, had ended and finally Tabitha woke.

She took some water, a little soft food, and complained about the pain, but seemed to be in good spirits. Brendun told Tabitha all that he and Kenny had learned about Aonawydd, the Mauli Queen, which was not much. The official reason for her “kingdom” coming to call was to offer a treaty of peace on the seas regarding her fleet, and all aligned under her banner, but the rumor was that she was had come to ask for an audience with the Queen of the House of Korr herself. She spent two full days in the governor’s residence. In that time, it was being said, she dictated a formal letter requesting some kind of favor from the Queen, and in exchange she pledged her fealty to the human kingdom.

Nothing like this was known in the history of relations between the different octopus-folk and the kingdoms of the world, though it was well known that some kind of relationship has existed, because it was not uncommon to encounter a walking octopus in one of the dungeon tests of the Queen of Korr. Tabitha took the information with feigned interest, asking only a few questions, and when Brendun finally came to the point, the point of what his intentions were, she took a hard stand.

“If you plan to keep searching for the Cryssalium, without me,” Tabitha told him, “you won’t find it. When I’m strong enough we are going to look together, and Alo is coming with us. If you want to bring the big muscle, that’s fine, but if you think you can take off without me, you are making the second biggest mistake of your life.”

Brendun held her hand, smiled at Tabitha and said with a laugh, “And what was my first biggest mistake, Tabitha?”

“Letting me send you away.”

His laughter stopped. He didn’t think that was funny at all. “I didn’t let you do anything,” Brendun was serious. “It was my decision to –“

She didn’t let him finish. With all her strength she pulled him down to her, and kissed him lightly on the lips. “That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it,” she purred.

End of Chapter 4