Of Maagik, Swords and Crowns (Chapter 8)

Of Maagik, Swords and Crowns (Chapter 8)

CHAPTER 8 – ARRIVAL

“We’re arriving at Dipthongg!” called a voice. “We’re arriving at Dipthongg!” The bell was ringing again.

I groaned. It had been a long night chatting with the other women of the ship. Glifádha had been gossiping with Vuitton’s young companion, while Conrrin was busy talking in a low voice with Vuitton himself. The ladies were actually very knowledgeable, I found. Not just the airheads I thought I would have to act out.

I groaned again and turned over in my soft bed. Someone started to shake me.
“Get up!” said a muffled voice. “Get up, Zai! Whoops, Zanda!”
“Gli,” I moaned. “Go away.”
“No,” said Conrrin’s voice sternly. “We’re arriving! You have to get up and get dressed.”

I sat up abruptly and scrambled out of my bed and into the bathroom with my clothes. I picked out a shirt, skirt, and socks. I pulled them on quickly, smoothed them out, brushed my hair and stepped into some slippers.

As soon as I got out, we all pulled out our bags from a cupboard and rushed outside. We felt the jolt of the side of the ship hitting the pier. Then the men on deck caught the rope that had been thrown and secured the ship so it wouldn’t float away while we disembarked.

My first step onto Dipthongg wasn’t a big deal to anyone else. But I moved slowly down the gangplank in wonder. This was a place I had never been before, and I wanted to cherish the moment. It was dry and hot, and the air over the beach shimmered as the salt spray from the sea flew onto the sand.

As we trudged across the sand towards the small town, Santa Mariae, I couldn’t see any of the block shaped buildings over one storey. The streets were quite compact and there were vines and flowers climbing up the walls of the little dwellings. The only thing that protruded from the level rooftops was the gold swan on the top of the church.

We lodged in a quaint little inn called the Banjo. Our room was quite small, all wooden, including the beds. We immediately put our blankets down to make it softer. Then we changed clothes and I changed Conrrin, Glifádha and my eyes back to normal. The Dipthongg people’s eyes were wildly coloured, ranging from a deep black to a strange pinkish white, like a pearl. Then we set out in search of someone to ask…about shipping records.

We started asking around in the hotel. The bar attendant knew where to find the records.
“Yah just go inta the centre of town, then yah head towards tha clock tower. Yah’ll find a chunky guard there that’ll tell yahs which room tah go tah. Good luck, but tha guard can be a bit stubborn sometimes, sah watch yah back once he lets yahs inta tha room!”
“I’m sure we’ll have no trouble,” Conrrin said gratefully.
“Yah won’t, what with those ladies with yah,” he chuckled, gesturing at me and Glifádha. We blushed.

When we saw the dark spires of the clock tower, we were filled with foreboding. The guard was indeed as the bartender had described him. Tall, muscled, surly, and stubborn.
“Whaddya want?” he growled at us.
“Me and the ladies would like to see the shipping records,” Conrrin replied coolly.
“Whaddlya pay?” asked the guard, small piggy eyes shining.
“What would you like us to pay?” said Glifádha in a musical voice.
“I offer this,” I said, and I kicked him between the legs. He crumpled up like paper in flame and crinkled down to the ground.

We stepped over him and through the doorway. In fact, the first door had a big chrome plaque saying ‘SHIPPING RECORDS: PAST 6 YEARS’. Just what we needed. We pushed the door open and cruised the shelves.

“What’s this?” muttered Glifádha. “Looks like the one: ‘King of Dipsworrd…slave ship…bound for Dipsworrd…it says the reason of the ship coming here and back was because of the heir to the throne of Dipsworrd. His birthday.”
“Yes, I heard old King Bonsham ‘Bloodlust’ Bannant had a son at last,” said Conrrin thoughtfully. “The boy’s supposed to be about 20 now, tall, and pretty good looking.”

There was a pause.
“What have we here?” hissed a malicious voice quietly. “Caught red-handed, yesssss?”
We turned. Standing, framed in the doorway, was a woman. If you looked at her face, you’d think well, that’s just a normal grey-haired, middle-aged woman with a slightly lined face! But then you’d see the stump of an arm and the ragged, well-worn clothes.
“Who are you?” I whispered.
“Sssssleveka…Izasssssa,” she hissed again.
“What is your business here?” Glifádha asked cautiously.
“What isss yourssss?” she retorted.
“We are checking records,” Glifádha said with sincerity.
“Really…” Sleveka said sarcastically.
“You have nothing to doubt,” I said. Where was Conrrin?

Suddenly, Sleveka’s eyes bulged.
“Who isss thisss?” she choked.
“Me.” A sword tip was visible on the side of Sleveka’s neck. “Come slowly and don’t make any sudden moves or I’ll have to hurt you,” said a warning voice that belonged to the owner of the sword.

We marched out of the building and onto the street. Conrrin took us to a small lane where he released a fuming Sleveka.
“Nicsssssse try,” she whispered. “I will not be ffffooled again! I ssssaw you wanted to go to Dipssssssssworrd…it sssseemsss at the moment I need go there too. We could travel together, then we could sssssettle our difffffferencessssssss…” Her fingers leapt to the small cut on her neck.

Conrrin shrugged, as if just taking the load of his back.
“A precautionary measure,” he smiled. “Won’t happen again, I assure you.”
“I’ll take your word fffffor it, boy,” she said icily. I shivered. This one armed woman meant trouble. She was the monster biding her time; we were the prey who were uncertain and scared.

In my dread, I sent a message to Conrrin and Glifádha via telepathy. I could see their faces change when they received it: she can come but we must have her under surveillance all the time. We may discover who she works for… Conrrin nodded and Glifádha looked scared.
“Does she have to?” she whispered. “I don’t like her.”
“You sound like a baby,” I said disapprovingly. Then I said in an undertone, “I can protect you, and you can protect yourself. We could find out valuable information about who she works for, and what they want with us. Why would someone like her be in the records room, saying we were ‘caught red handed’? She was looking for us.”

Glifádha creased her brow and pouted her lips. I shook my head. This had to happen. Beside,

“I hhhave a boat,” interrupted Sleveka. “We could leavvvve tomorrrrow morrrrning. Ifff, of coursssse, that isssss alrrright with you.” She raised her thin eyebrows in question. Glifádha bit her lip. Conrrin looked at me. I looked at Conrrin. We both nodded.
“Thank you,” Conrrin said. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

As we walked out of the alley, I snuck a peek into her mind…it was blocked.