Chapter Six.

“You’re going a little hard on these guys aren’t you?” I asked with some concern as soon as we were out of earshot of the office.

“They’re bureaucrats, Ray. I have no respect for them.” Leigh answered dismissively. “Bureaucracy is the only parasite that can feed off of itself to grow. Unchecked it will bloat and spread like a virulent plague-beast, assigning numbers to people so it can better swallow them whole. If we’d gone along with that clerk and filled out his little form, I have no doubt it would have gone into a folder somewhere ‘pending review’ for the next two or three weeks. Then we’d get a notice about needing to fill out more forms for some kind of ‘clarification’ nonsense and wait even longer, and finally we’d get our approval along with a note saying, ‘while you have been approved, during the approval process the caravan you were applying for has left the city. Please try back again in three to four months’— and then they’d have me arrested because of attempted arson again when I try to fix their paperwork backlog.”

“Wow, that was a really specific example… wait, what do you mean again?”

“Water under the bridge, Ray. Water under the bridge.” Leigh said happily as we approached a pair of sliding warehouse-style doors with the number “12” embossed above them.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tone it back a bit now that we’re dealing with a captain on the ground instead of the hierarchy behind him. We’ll be on our way to Terland in no time!”

Somehow, I wasn’t particularly reassured by his declaration.

A rune lit on the center of the doors as we approached and they slid open to reveal a large, rectangular open bay, thirty-ish meters wide and tall by more than double that in length. Most of the bay was dominated by a single imposing construction of blackened steel, partially disassembled but still enormous as it nearly reached the ceiling three storeys above us. A series of metal claw-arms ran down the sides of it, each ending in a metal shape like a kite shield taller than I was. The steel thing was segmented in two places with what looked like enormous, articulating joints, separating everything into three linked sections. The purpose of it all eluded me until I figured out the claw-looking things were legs.

Oh my god, is that a freaking landship?

From that simple change in perspective, everything became clear. It was essentially a walking steampunk battleship, divided into three articulating sections each with their own engine. The whole thing was covered in walkways and platforms with mounted weapons, ranging from ballistae to straight-up cannons. Pairs of smoke stacks peeked out from the top of each section, though they were folded down to fit in the bay. The center engine had been opened up and parts were strewn all over the bay, with over a dozen workers scrambling over it and shouting loudly back and forth to each other while they worked.

I turned, wide eyed, to Leigh.

“That’s our caravan?”

Leigh moved to respond, but was interrupted by a deep, gravelly voice from our left.

“That, is the Duchess Corinne, and she has served faithfully since before you were a twinkle in your father’s eye.” A middle-aged man dressed in a dark red coat with a golden guild badge on his chest stepped out of an office to the right. He had a weathered look like someone who worked outside their whole life, with tan skin and close-cropped, salt-and-pepper hair. His steel-grey eyes were locked harshly on me and I realized he thought I’d been insulting the ‘ship’.

“No no, it’s awesome! I’ve never seen anything like it.” I said excitedly.

The man gave me a suspicious look but seemed mostly mollified.

“And you likely never will, she was designed before the Silent Kingdoms and her Elemental Forge is almost impossible to reproduce— outside of Draethmar anyway. Each one that falls in the wilds is another piece of history lost.” He drew himself up and looked us both over. “I am Captain Teadran, commander of the Highlands’ caravan and owner of this vessel. I assume from your comment that you are looking for passage?”

Leigh took the lead here and stepped in.

“In a manner of speaking, sir. I am Leigh of Corman, Priest of Erranos, and would like to prevail on the standard guild contract for my presence. This is my ward, Ray, who will be seeking to make an alternate arrangement with yourself. We’re looking to get to the capitol if that’s your destination.”

Teadran looked at us inquisitively.

“You’re heading to old Thunderfell? The highlands are a harsh place for outsiders, I welcome the guidance of Erranos on our passage but I can’t guarantee the same for my homeland. You.” He indicated at me with a point of his chin. “Is ‘Ray’ your full name?”

“No sir, my name is Raymond Baines.” I said, keeping my tone respectful.

“Baines, eh? No house I’ve heard of. What sort of arrangement are you hoping to find with me?” Teadran asked.

I gave Leigh a quick, nervous glance and he made a discrete ‘go on’ gesture with his hands.

“I was hoping to be hired on as a mage for the journey. My skills are limited right now, but I can cast a good ward.”

“Warder, eh? And you’re not with a company? Are you certified?”

“No, though I do have some experience.” I replied, feeling a little pressured by the sudden interrogation.

“A guided hunt doesn’t count, boy. Have you ever been in the wilds before?” Teadran snorted incredulously.

Bristling a little at the man’s tone, I struggled to keep my tone even.

Keep it together Ray, you need this guy.

“No sir, but I have been to the Hollows.”

“Impressive, if it’s true. How deep did you get?”

Barely stopping myself from blurting out a snarky “all the way”, I carefully considered what I should actually tell the man. Despite how his attitude was rubbing me the wrong way, I didn’t want to outright lie as it felt risky to me (and honestly, I’m a terrible liar) so I settled on the last place I had a definite name for.

“The last place I remember was the Undersea—”

“Bullshit.” Another voice cut in from the side.

An absolute gorilla of a man stormed up to us, towering a full head over me and covered in bulging muscle. Beady brown eyes glared out at me from a face like an axe— all hard edges and planes. He looked about the same age as the captain, but was shaved completely bald. A bushy mustache covered his upper lip and hid most of the snarl directed at me. He was wearing a stained white shirt with suspenders that stretched to contain his bulk over a pair of dark red trousers and black boots.

“Mister Grafton?” The captain said, not sounding surprised by the interruption.

“No way in hell this snot-nosed brat made it all the way down to the Undersea alone, sir. It’d take a full company to delve that far, and none of them would let some wellborn child into the Deep Hollows.” The oversized ape said, looking challenging at me the whole time. My face was flushed and I felt my thoughts clouding over with my rising temper at his condescending tone.

“I wasn’t alone. I was part of a team.” I grit out, eventually.

Grafton spread his hands wide with a shrug.

“So where’s this team then? They kick you out for being useless? Or were they all as full of shit as you and you left them down there to die like a cowa—”

People say ‘seeing red’ a lot as a euphemism for getting angry. For me, the moment this asshole started talking about my [Blightlings] my vision turned black around the edges. I focused in on the smug bastard’s face like a laser-guided missile. I didn’t even know what happened until I felt a hard yank on my arm and I realized my hand was about an inch away from clawing out the man’s throat. Leigh was wrapped around the other and he frantically hissed into my ear.

“Not here! This is a test, look!”

Grafton was reeling backwards in surprise at how fast I’d moved, and the slight glimmer of shock in his eyes was intensely satisfying, but behind him were a dozen men carefully positioned in a half-circle around us. They were each armed with a collection of pistols, cutlasses and axes that they all looked ready to use. Even the captain had a pistol half-way out of his belt. I might be fast in this body, but I didn’t think I was ready to dodge bullets just yet. Grudgingly, I backed down for now— though I glared at Grafton and silently swore that if he said another word about my friends, I’d find out if I could dodge bullets after all.

“That was too far, Mister Grafton.” Teadran said carefully after I stepped back.

“Apologies, sir.” The burly man grunted out after running a hand along his throat, seeming to check it for damage.

“Nonetheless, I’ll not have someone on my crew without knowing what happened to their last, Mister Baines. Where is this team of yours?” The captain locked his eyes on me.

My blood was still burning with fury, and I wanted to tear this stupid building apart with my bare hands. Struggling to contain myself I tried to condense events into something believable while not outing my past as a monster.

“We’d been exploring around the Undersea for days. Watched some crazy battles between the big monsters and almost got ourselves squished more than once. One of my team spotted a swarm of something coming at us— weird leech things with tentacles— and we hunkered down to fight them off. I… went out of control.” Memories of my mercifully brief transformation into a shoggoth clawed their way out of my subconscious, an involuntary tremble coursing through me as they cut into my sanity with edges that time refused to dull. “I was killing so many of them… until something bigger came along and grabbed me. It hurt me, broke most of my power. My team surprised it and freed me, but it was too strong and we wouldn’t get far. They found a current that could carry me away quickly and then they… pushed me into it. I couldn’t fight back. I tried. Damn it.” Tears stung in my eyes by the end, but I was too pissed off to care. The helplessness, the violation, and the unrelenting hate came rushing out from everywhere I’d buried it so I could function like a normal person. I could feel it twisting in my gut like a living thing, malevolent coils lashing out in my mind and whispering that if I just let go I could burn this world to ash— and Dezzahn with it. A single thought held me back, like one little rock holding a crumbling dam together, and that was the tiny hope that somehow my [Blightlings] were still alive. That I could save them.

I will find you, Dezzahn.

Teadran gave me a measuring look while I focused on taking deep breaths.

“Alright. Show me your ward.” He said calmly.

Giving Grafton a withering glare, I snapped my fingers and summoned a bubble of hexagons completely around him, trapping the big man in place. He looked around cautiously, much calmer than he’d been a minute ago, to my surprise.

“Captain?” Grafton asked questioningly.

“Test it.” He ordered.

Grafton didn’t hesitate, quickly drawing a knife and activating an enchantment that made the edge spark and crackle before stabbing it through one of the palm-sized hexagons, shattering it. I let him start to scoff at my shield’s ‘weakness’ then made sure he caught the vicious smile on my face.

Gotcha.

My hex-shield snapped shut around the broken panel and spun, twisting the knife out of the thuggish asshole’s hand. I clenched my fist and the panels separated, peeling apart in layers and spinning to disorient Grafton while steadily shrinking the bubble. A low growl came out of my throat as I felt the urge to just squeeze the man into paste.

“That’s enough, release him.” Teadran barked.

I stopped, and for a second my common sense warred against the dark urge to punish this man for what he’d said. To show them all that I was still powerful. Prove that it hadn’t been my fault.

Prove I didn’t leave them.

The shield snapped off and disappeared, leaving a slightly dizzy Grafton wobbling in place. My anger vanished with the shield, leaving a hollow emptiness in my gut like a lead weight. After a moment the burly man straightened, giving Teadran a wolfish grin and a thumb’s up. The captain nodded and then addressed me seriously.

“The Duchess will be ready to travel at dawn in three days. As a ship’s mage you’ll have your own berth and meals are included in your wages. You’re signing on for passage, not a full contract, so you’ll be paid less but you’ll still earn fourty marks a week. Pay will be delivered on arrival by chit, which you can cash out at any guildhouse. You jeopardize my ship or my crew and I’ll dump you in the wilds. You understand?”

I considered for a moment, wondering if I still wanted to go through with this. Then I nodded, because ultimately this was the fastest way to get to Veris.

“Good. Do you have lodging in the meantime?” The captain asked.

Leigh gave an affirmative for both of us and Teadran made a satisfied nod before addressing me one last time.

“Be sure you’re here on time, the caravan will not wait. Bring your things— no more than a small trunk— and report to my XO on the morning of our departure, he’ll get you set up on board and you’ll be working under him for the duration.”

“Who’s your XO?” I asked quietly.

For the first time since I walked into the bay, the captain smiled.

“That would be Mister Grafton.”

The men around us guffawed and I couldn’t help but wonder how I’d managed to pass a job interview by threatening to crush the guy who would be my manager. After a minute I gave up, and the burly man gave us an exaggerated wave as we quickly left the building.

Leigh was remarkably subdued when we came out, and I just felt drained by the unexpected intensity of meeting the captain.

“I’m truly sorry about that Ray. I knew that highlanders could be abrasive and that they’d want to test you before they hired you on, but I assumed it would be a simple test of ability, not… that.” Leigh eventually said as we walked back.

I waved him off and kept silent. It had to happen for us to get out of here, and it was over with already. It wouldn’t do any good for me to get pissed at Leigh now, so I resorted to brooding quietly while we made our way down the main street.

We almost made the turn to start heading back to Joan’s when we noticed a change in the crowd around us. People were streaming in mass back the way we came from, and I could hear shouts and cheers starting from back at the Way-Station. Leigh caught someone by the shoulder as they were hurrying towards the disturbance.

“Excuse me sir, do you know what’s going on?”

“It’s the Marshals! They’ve sent a full squad here to investigate the Calamity!” The man said excitedly.

Leigh’s polite smile instantly became a little forced.

“Ah, well they’re certainly here a lot earlier than I expected. I imagine the governor is pleased, but why all the excitement from everyone else?”

“It’s not just any marshals here, priest.” the man gestured widely. “It’s Lord Hakkon! The Doombreaker himself has come to save Delmoth!”

“Ohshi— *ahem*, That's wonderful! The city’s safety is in excellent hands now. I’ll leave you to it.” Leigh kept a smile plastered on his face and waved the stranger along before quickly pulling me into a side street. As soon as we were out of sight of the main road, he visibly deflated.

“Well, we’re dead.”