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“No you don’t.” Sira pulled Grais back from where she was trying to climb up Clash’s harness straps. “New riders on Rook.” She pointed up at the huge rhinoceros beetle where a wooden platform was strapped behind the high curve of its shell. “I’m not scooping you up every five minutes after you fall off the high seat.”
She walked on between the beetles and riders until she found Cirrus leading Scarab out of the stable.
“Everyone’s ready to go, we’re just wrangling the passengers now.”
“Good, good. And our little shadow?”
“The rogue? Not sure. I haven’t seen him since the tavern, but that doesn’t mean he’s not still following us. What do you think he wants?”
“Money, maybe. Hmm… He doesn’t strike me as the thief type, though.”
The stables where Cirrus had paid to keep the beetles were part of the old fort that watched over the harbour. It was a huge stone-built thing, a rough box with walls that sloped in towards the top, and the stable ran around the outer wall at its base. The building wasn’t used much for defence now, and was mostly home to the town’s protector knights, a place for them to sleep that was provided and cared for by the townsfolk. Halfway up, it was cut in two at the side that faced the sea with an open slot across its middle where archers and cannons would once have fired upon enemy ships. Solbren paced back and forth along the walkway, glancing at the clocktower in the town square each time he reached the near end. He had ensured the pirates’ direction of travel by carefully recycling rumours around the tavern and he hoped they would leave soon enough that the Wooden Knight would not catch them. While he knew it was a risk to deal with pirates, it was necessary to protect the prince while ensuring he could speak with him somewhere less crowded than the busy streets of Port Isaris. The clocktower’s bells rang out across the harbour and Solbren cursed to himself as he ran back through the fort, down the stone steps that jutted from the inner walls, and out into the courtyard. He hung back at the corner, waiting and listening to the pirates as they packed and planned.
There was no actual road heading north from Port Isaris. To the east, where it curled around the coastline, it was paved with white flagstones, but to the north it was only a rough track that had been worn by the wheels, hooves, paws, and feet of those who travelled along it. It ran up to Serpent’s Reach, where the Great Iron Road swept west all the way to the Great Scar. The beetles ran along the grass at either side, carrying the pack and their passengers up into wilderness. The sun was getting high, and the road was busy with merchants and traders making their way in one direction or the other with carts and wagons. Cirrus led the ride with Scarab, while Rook was left at the back with Karin on the high seat, and the passengers sitting among the unused seats and a few bags of food and clothes on the platform at the back of his shell. Jarrah had insisted she ride with them and was sitting on the wooden boards talking at them almost continuously without pausing for breath.
“Have you ever seen the sail-wrecks?” she asked, then immediately answered for herself before anyone could speak, “I have. We slept in them for twelve nights when we came through the desert once. In one of them, we found spices that haven’t been grown for over two hundred years. I kept some of the seeds, but they never grew when I tried planting them. Maybe they don’t like the weather. Or maybe they were just dead.” She barely paused for a second before her next thought hit her. “Oh! Look!” She lifted one of the small collection of charms that hung from her bodice, a little woven thing made from string and feathers. “I made this from rainbow stork feathers! Have you ever seen one? They’re beautiful. But it got stained, so now it’s just kind of grey.”
“Why don’t you let someone else talk for a while!” Karin called back from the high seat.
Jarrah folded her arms and growled, but kept her mouth shut.
“If we raid someone,” Karin started, voicing the thought that had been running around her head since they left, “would you have to stop us?” She twisted around in the high seat to look past the curve of Rook’s shell to where Melody sat among the bags.
“It depends. If it gets violent, I would have to intervene to save lives. Most of the time, the motives of knights and pirates are at odds with one another. If I were to give any advice, I’d say don’t bring me on a raid.”
“Well, it’s nice to know where we stand. I’ll make sure Cirrus plans accordingly.”
The pause that followed was short lived before Jarrah couldn’t hold her questions in any longer.
“Have you ever seen spirit rays? They led our boat when we came from Greenvale. What about the ocean gods in the Roaming Isles. You’re from there, aren’t you. You probably have then. I haven’t. But I caught a glass wyrm once. With my fangs!” She bared her teeth. “They’re invisible when they’re in the snow, so I had to hunt it by scent.”
Melody found that she enjoyed Jarrah’s energy, and it rubbed off a little on her the longer they spent together. When the pack finally stopped for lunch, Asten and Grais were just glad to see her burning it off by running around rather than talking. Cirrus had stopped the beetles at a little area of grass that was generally flatter than the rest and Jarrah was immediately racing off to chase bugs and birds. Dog set a fire, and Karin hauled down some of the smaller bags from Rook’s harness. She pulled out slabs of tender meat and some vegetables she’d bought in Port Isaris and set up a frame over the fire to hang a huge metal dish from. She’d tried to get everything for the new recipes she’d gathered in the Deepstone night market and was keen to try them out.
Melody wandered around the little rises and rocks that sat around the area, looking back along the road. Stopping meant giving the Wooden Knight a chance to catch up to them, and she was ready to move on practically the moment her feet reached the ground. She watched Jarrah running off across the road and back again, and left her to her fun once the smell of something frying wafted across to her. Sira passed her a little wooden tray that was full of steaming food.
“Jarrah!” she yelled out, calling all the travellers on the road to stare at her, “Come on, food’s ready! Here.” She passed another of the wooden trays to Grais.
“Smells good. Karin’s quite the cook, huh?”
“I grew up in a little village on the border between Aarouan and human lands.” Karin told her, still standing over the pan to turn the meat, “Food was a huge part of that for me, I got to experience everything from both worlds. I couldn’t not learn to cook living there.”
“She picks stuff up wherever we go.” Ki added as she came to take her own tray, “If there’s a restaurant or a tavern, she’ll come away with something new to try out.”
“Don’t complain, Ki.” Karin said, waving a long fork at her, “You eat better than any other pirates out there.”
It took Asten and Grais a while to get used to the rowdiness of a meal among the pirates, but for Melody the laughter and chatter, the casual insults and gentle play fighting was something she always enjoyed finding on her journeys, she always thought it felt honest and real. As a wandering Knight, she met all types, and had eaten among barbarian clans, sailors hunting seagulls after months at sea, even with soldiers encamped on the battlefield. Aarouan pirates were just another to check off on her list.
Solbren looked ahead over the green hills and the grey track worn down to earth and stone. He spotted a thin column of smoke and traced it down to its base. The little flicker of a fire was far off along the road, but he could clearly see the beetles gathered at one side, and the movement around the fire of what must be the pirates and the prince. He set off again along the track, occasionally stepping aside to let wagons or carts go past. As he drew nearer, he sniffed the air and caught the slightest scent of fried meat. He approached along the track and made a show of calling out to them as he came level with the little campsite.
“Pack-sister!” he shouted with a smile and a wave.
“Our shadow.” Sira whispered to Cirrus.
Cirrus handed her tray to Sira and wandered slowly over to Solbren. She stood over him with one paw on the handle of the crossbow that hung at her hip.
“I come as a friend.” he said, raising both his paws to show her he had no weapons, “I need to speak with the prince.”
Cirrus dropped her arms. She had a sudden vision of a Cawcaasi in fine robes, with a crown upon his head, and couldn’t find the words to respond with. She turned, and everyone followed her gaze to look at Asten. Though she allowed Solbren to approach, she stayed by his side ready to pounce if she needed to.
“My prince.” Solbren fell to one knee and bowed before Asten.
“Get up. Please.” Asten begged him.
“My prince, I came from Silverdale to tell you… your father-”
“So a knight wasn’t enough for him.” Asten said, the silent fear in his mind suddenly voicing itself as anger, “He had to send a rogue to find me as well.”
“He did not send me. He does little these days. He is dying, my prince.”
Grais grabbed Asten’s arm, and he felt his anger fade away to a useless and hollow sadness.
“Over a year ago now, he took to the Spire and hasn’t been seen since. He hides away, counting down his last days while the realm falls into ruin.” It was clear in his voice that Solbren cared about the Endless Plains. “Trade routes have dried up, the people starve in the streets, plagues run unchecked through the cities. I’ve heard there is an exodus planned from the northern coast. My prince, your people need you now more than ever. The king has all but forsaken them.”
Asten sat silent. He had spent his entire life running from the path that was written for him before he was even born. Grais gave him a look that said she would stand by whatever decision he made. Melody’s face begged for him to return. He looked to Cirrus as the queen who ruled over this little group of people, but she was completely blank, giving up nothing. Eventually, he found a question that wouldn’t sound like he had decided.
“How do you know all this, rogue?”
“I worked in the Immortal Spire, just a cleaner, but I was there. Until your father fell ill and the Chief Viser ordered a purge of all non-humans from the staff.”
“Wormwood!?” Asten spat the nickname he had always known his father’s favoured adviser by. He had never trusted the man, and always felt uncomfortable in his presence. “Of course he would.”
“My prince, I must admit, I am here to save myself. I have done terrible things in the name of a terrible paymaster. If I can beg you to return, then I know I have set them right.”
“What master?” Cirrus barked at him.
“The immortal lord of all things rotten.” His voice darkened and his muzzle wrinkled as he snarled. “The Drowned King.”
She reacted instantly, pouncing on him with her fangs bared and her claws sunk deep in the leather bands of his armour.
“What do you know!?” She roared in his face.
Solbren whimpered and whined.
“I- I- I know he sent the knight to kill the prince!”
“What else do you know!? You’re the rogue he sent for the box!”
“The box. You… You were his pirate mercenaries.” Solbren stared wide-eyed into her snarling face as the scattered pieces of information he had collected clicked together. “You took what he really sought from the Jaraxans.”
“This!?” Cirrus pulled at the necklace that still hung from her, lifting the rod from where it lay on Solbren’s armour. “Why did he want it!? What was he planning!?”
“I don’t know! Nobody does! He gives us each a tiny piece of the puzzle, but we never get to put it together! I know no more than you.”
“Swear to me!”
“I know no more, I swear! I swear!”
She slowly lifted her paw from his chest, leaving five little holes dug right into the leather. Solbren scrambled backwards away from her and sat hugging his tail as she slowly sat down again. The Rust Knight stood between them, the empty eyes of her helmet looking from one to the other until she sighed and reached up to remove it.
-----------------------------------------
The Saga of the Iron Gods - Wormwood
Chapter 31: The Pirates and the Prince
“No you don’t.” Sira pulled Grais back from where she was trying to climb up Clash’s harness straps. “New riders on Rook.” She pointed up at the huge rhinoceros beetle where a wooden platform was strapped behind the high curve of its shell. “I’m not scooping you up every five minutes after you fall off the high seat.”
She walked on between the beetles and riders until she found Cirrus leading Scarab out of the stable.
“Everyone’s ready to go, we’re just wrangling the passengers now.”
“Good, good. And our little shadow?”
“The rogue? Not sure. I haven’t seen him since the tavern, but that doesn’t mean he’s not still following us. What do you think he wants?”
“Money, maybe. Hmm… He doesn’t strike me as the thief type, though.”
The stables where Cirrus had paid to keep the beetles were part of the old fort that watched over the harbour. It was a huge stone-built thing, a rough box with walls that sloped in towards the top, and the stable ran around the outer wall at its base. The building wasn’t used much for defence now, and was mostly home to the town’s protector knights, a place for them to sleep that was provided and cared for by the townsfolk. Halfway up, it was cut in two at the side that faced the sea with an open slot across its middle where archers and cannons would once have fired upon enemy ships. Solbren paced back and forth along the walkway, glancing at the clocktower in the town square each time he reached the near end. He had ensured the pirates’ direction of travel by carefully recycling rumours around the tavern and he hoped they would leave soon enough that the Wooden Knight would not catch them. While he knew it was a risk to deal with pirates, it was necessary to protect the prince while ensuring he could speak with him somewhere less crowded than the busy streets of Port Isaris. The clocktower’s bells rang out across the harbour and Solbren cursed to himself as he ran back through the fort, down the stone steps that jutted from the inner walls, and out into the courtyard. He hung back at the corner, waiting and listening to the pirates as they packed and planned.
There was no actual road heading north from Port Isaris. To the east, where it curled around the coastline, it was paved with white flagstones, but to the north it was only a rough track that had been worn by the wheels, hooves, paws, and feet of those who travelled along it. It ran up to Serpent’s Reach, where the Great Iron Road swept west all the way to the Great Scar. The beetles ran along the grass at either side, carrying the pack and their passengers up into wilderness. The sun was getting high, and the road was busy with merchants and traders making their way in one direction or the other with carts and wagons. Cirrus led the ride with Scarab, while Rook was left at the back with Karin on the high seat, and the passengers sitting among the unused seats and a few bags of food and clothes on the platform at the back of his shell. Jarrah had insisted she ride with them and was sitting on the wooden boards talking at them almost continuously without pausing for breath.
“Have you ever seen the sail-wrecks?” she asked, then immediately answered for herself before anyone could speak, “I have. We slept in them for twelve nights when we came through the desert once. In one of them, we found spices that haven’t been grown for over two hundred years. I kept some of the seeds, but they never grew when I tried planting them. Maybe they don’t like the weather. Or maybe they were just dead.” She barely paused for a second before her next thought hit her. “Oh! Look!” She lifted one of the small collection of charms that hung from her bodice, a little woven thing made from string and feathers. “I made this from rainbow stork feathers! Have you ever seen one? They’re beautiful. But it got stained, so now it’s just kind of grey.”
“Why don’t you let someone else talk for a while!” Karin called back from the high seat.
Jarrah folded her arms and growled, but kept her mouth shut.
“If we raid someone,” Karin started, voicing the thought that had been running around her head since they left, “would you have to stop us?” She twisted around in the high seat to look past the curve of Rook’s shell to where Melody sat among the bags.
“It depends. If it gets violent, I would have to intervene to save lives. Most of the time, the motives of knights and pirates are at odds with one another. If I were to give any advice, I’d say don’t bring me on a raid.”
“Well, it’s nice to know where we stand. I’ll make sure Cirrus plans accordingly.”
The pause that followed was short lived before Jarrah couldn’t hold her questions in any longer.
“Have you ever seen spirit rays? They led our boat when we came from Greenvale. What about the ocean gods in the Roaming Isles. You’re from there, aren’t you. You probably have then. I haven’t. But I caught a glass wyrm once. With my fangs!” She bared her teeth. “They’re invisible when they’re in the snow, so I had to hunt it by scent.”
Melody found that she enjoyed Jarrah’s energy, and it rubbed off a little on her the longer they spent together. When the pack finally stopped for lunch, Asten and Grais were just glad to see her burning it off by running around rather than talking. Cirrus had stopped the beetles at a little area of grass that was generally flatter than the rest and Jarrah was immediately racing off to chase bugs and birds. Dog set a fire, and Karin hauled down some of the smaller bags from Rook’s harness. She pulled out slabs of tender meat and some vegetables she’d bought in Port Isaris and set up a frame over the fire to hang a huge metal dish from. She’d tried to get everything for the new recipes she’d gathered in the Deepstone night market and was keen to try them out.
Melody wandered around the little rises and rocks that sat around the area, looking back along the road. Stopping meant giving the Wooden Knight a chance to catch up to them, and she was ready to move on practically the moment her feet reached the ground. She watched Jarrah running off across the road and back again, and left her to her fun once the smell of something frying wafted across to her. Sira passed her a little wooden tray that was full of steaming food.
“Jarrah!” she yelled out, calling all the travellers on the road to stare at her, “Come on, food’s ready! Here.” She passed another of the wooden trays to Grais.
“Smells good. Karin’s quite the cook, huh?”
“I grew up in a little village on the border between Aarouan and human lands.” Karin told her, still standing over the pan to turn the meat, “Food was a huge part of that for me, I got to experience everything from both worlds. I couldn’t not learn to cook living there.”
“She picks stuff up wherever we go.” Ki added as she came to take her own tray, “If there’s a restaurant or a tavern, she’ll come away with something new to try out.”
“Don’t complain, Ki.” Karin said, waving a long fork at her, “You eat better than any other pirates out there.”
It took Asten and Grais a while to get used to the rowdiness of a meal among the pirates, but for Melody the laughter and chatter, the casual insults and gentle play fighting was something she always enjoyed finding on her journeys, she always thought it felt honest and real. As a wandering Knight, she met all types, and had eaten among barbarian clans, sailors hunting seagulls after months at sea, even with soldiers encamped on the battlefield. Aarouan pirates were just another to check off on her list.
Solbren looked ahead over the green hills and the grey track worn down to earth and stone. He spotted a thin column of smoke and traced it down to its base. The little flicker of a fire was far off along the road, but he could clearly see the beetles gathered at one side, and the movement around the fire of what must be the pirates and the prince. He set off again along the track, occasionally stepping aside to let wagons or carts go past. As he drew nearer, he sniffed the air and caught the slightest scent of fried meat. He approached along the track and made a show of calling out to them as he came level with the little campsite.
“Pack-sister!” he shouted with a smile and a wave.
“Our shadow.” Sira whispered to Cirrus.
Cirrus handed her tray to Sira and wandered slowly over to Solbren. She stood over him with one paw on the handle of the crossbow that hung at her hip.
“I come as a friend.” he said, raising both his paws to show her he had no weapons, “I need to speak with the prince.”
Cirrus dropped her arms. She had a sudden vision of a Cawcaasi in fine robes, with a crown upon his head, and couldn’t find the words to respond with. She turned, and everyone followed her gaze to look at Asten. Though she allowed Solbren to approach, she stayed by his side ready to pounce if she needed to.
“My prince.” Solbren fell to one knee and bowed before Asten.
“Get up. Please.” Asten begged him.
“My prince, I came from Silverdale to tell you… your father-”
“So a knight wasn’t enough for him.” Asten said, the silent fear in his mind suddenly voicing itself as anger, “He had to send a rogue to find me as well.”
“He did not send me. He does little these days. He is dying, my prince.”
Grais grabbed Asten’s arm, and he felt his anger fade away to a useless and hollow sadness.
“Over a year ago now, he took to the Spire and hasn’t been seen since. He hides away, counting down his last days while the realm falls into ruin.” It was clear in his voice that Solbren cared about the Endless Plains. “Trade routes have dried up, the people starve in the streets, plagues run unchecked through the cities. I’ve heard there is an exodus planned from the northern coast. My prince, your people need you now more than ever. The king has all but forsaken them.”
Asten sat silent. He had spent his entire life running from the path that was written for him before he was even born. Grais gave him a look that said she would stand by whatever decision he made. Melody’s face begged for him to return. He looked to Cirrus as the queen who ruled over this little group of people, but she was completely blank, giving up nothing. Eventually, he found a question that wouldn’t sound like he had decided.
“How do you know all this, rogue?”
“I worked in the Immortal Spire, just a cleaner, but I was there. Until your father fell ill and the Chief Viser ordered a purge of all non-humans from the staff.”
“Wormwood!?” Asten spat the nickname he had always known his father’s favoured adviser by. He had never trusted the man, and always felt uncomfortable in his presence. “Of course he would.”
“My prince, I must admit, I am here to save myself. I have done terrible things in the name of a terrible paymaster. If I can beg you to return, then I know I have set them right.”
“What master?” Cirrus barked at him.
“The immortal lord of all things rotten.” His voice darkened and his muzzle wrinkled as he snarled. “The Drowned King.”
She reacted instantly, pouncing on him with her fangs bared and her claws sunk deep in the leather bands of his armour.
“What do you know!?” She roared in his face.
Solbren whimpered and whined.
“I- I- I know he sent the knight to kill the prince!”
“What else do you know!? You’re the rogue he sent for the box!”
“The box. You… You were his pirate mercenaries.” Solbren stared wide-eyed into her snarling face as the scattered pieces of information he had collected clicked together. “You took what he really sought from the Jaraxans.”
“This!?” Cirrus pulled at the necklace that still hung from her, lifting the rod from where it lay on Solbren’s armour. “Why did he want it!? What was he planning!?”
“I don’t know! Nobody does! He gives us each a tiny piece of the puzzle, but we never get to put it together! I know no more than you.”
“Swear to me!”
“I know no more, I swear! I swear!”
She slowly lifted her paw from his chest, leaving five little holes dug right into the leather. Solbren scrambled backwards away from her and sat hugging his tail as she slowly sat down again. The Rust Knight stood between them, the empty eyes of her helmet looking from one to the other until she sighed and reached up to remove it.
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A knight, given superhuman powers by a magical engine, a pack of wolf-like Aarouan pirates, and the missing prince of Silverdale travel across the world to reunite him with his dying father before it’s too late. But with a murderous stained knight on their trail, they unknowingly end up tangled in the strings of the Drowned King, an immortal being whose century-spanning plans they are now all a part of.
A knight, given superhuman powers by a magical engine, a pack of wolf-like Aarouan pirates, and the missing prince of Silverdale travel across the world to reunite him with his dying father before it’s too late. But with a murderous stained knight on their trail, they unknowingly end up tangled in the strings of the Drowned King, an immortal being whose century-spanning plans they are now all a part of.
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 120 x 120px
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