It was the night, and it was his time. He was a creature of the night. He was the night. Too long, he had forgotten who he was and where he was supposed to be. Too long, it had been since the last time he had succumbed to the powerful instincts inside him and allowed them to join to his human consciousness seamlessly and without struggle. Too long, had he turned his back on his kind.
Too long, he had been aboard the cursed ship.
Tomorrow they were supposed to get to Dayise, and it would probably be in the rain. The front line was barely a mile behind them, moving slowly as it chased the ship that day, an abrupt beginning of cloud that separated the sky. He could smell the rain when the wind gusted from behind them, smell that it was a steady rain that farmers enjoyed, a rain that would last for a whole day and methodically saturate everything exposed to it. He would be on dry land. It would be among people, and it would only be an island, but it would be enough. Two months trapped on this moving prison had nearly been more than he could stand. Only the presence of his sisters, Dolanna, and Miranda had kept him calm enough to endure it. Tomorrow would be a reprieve, a temporary stay of his punishment, where he could put his feet on soft earth and feel the wind in his hair, smell the scents of life once again. Even if they were going to be smothered in the miasma of a foul-smelling city.
Dolanna's warning was still in the forefront of his mind, but it would be worth the risk. They may run into danger, but better to face danger than be pinned aboard the vessel for another day.
Looking up into the night sky, Tarrin's mind wandered. He wondered how his family was doing in Dusgaard. He hoped that his little mother was doing alright. He worried for Tiella and Walten, who were still in the Tower. He wondered how Sevren was doing, trying to discover the spy within the Tower. He feared for Aldreth, over the rumors that the Dal army had marched over his home village. He hoped Jesmind was well, wherever she may be.
Jesmind. It had been a long time since he'd thought about her. Part of the reason was because an idle thought of her conjured up more and more thoughts and memories. There was a great deal of emotion tied up with his fiery-tempered bond mother, both positive and negative. And though it seemed strange to him, even the bad memories could make him smile. He understood her better now, understood what she was trying to do. He missed her. Even when they were enemies, he had a great deal of respect for her, and he looked up to her. Few women-few living beings-could match her raw ferocity when fighting, a ferocity that could intimidate anyone. She was fierce in everything she did, from fighting to looking for dinner to making conversation. She attacked life, subdued it, lived every day as if it was both her first and her last.
He doubted he would ever see her again. He walked a different path, a path that would take him well away from his own kind, and it was a path fraught with danger. He didn't know if he would live much longer. And if he didn't, then so be it. He was more concerned about his friends and family than himself, and so long as they were alright, then he was content. They mattered more to him than him.
Sprinkles of rain began to patter onto the deck. He loved the night, but he hated getting wet. It was time to go below.
Tomorrow was a new day.
GoTo: Title EoF
Chapter 4
"Incredible," Dar mused.
The city of Dayise was presented for them dead ahead, and it was amazing. The city was situated on a large island, and it spilled over onto two smaller islands that were very close to the first. The three islands were ringed by a large network of small rock spires and islets, creating a natural breakwater that protected ships from stormy seas. The central island had a large hill at its center, and built onto the sides of that hill were some of the most extravagant and fanciful estates and homes Tarrin had ever seen. There were even two huge stone bridges that spanned from the center island to the smaller ones, spanning so high that a galleon could pass under it without losing its mast. Like Den Gauche and Roulet, Dayise's skyline was absolutely dominated by red, from the red tiles that they used to roof their homes and buildings. Those buildings stood like trees in some vast forest, totally dominating the three islands upon which they rested.
And the ships! Ships of every type imaginable stood in the harbors, or sailed to or from the islands. Ungardt longships, rakers, galleons, cogs, caravels, Wikuni clippers, even the military Wikuni frigates jostled with one another on the seas and along the docks, as smaller fishing vessels and private ships, even longboats and rowboats, moved between their larger neighbors. The flags they flew represented nearly every seafaring nation, race, or culture that existed in the world and plied the twenty seas, from as far away as Godan-Nyr, Sharadar, Valkar, even the Utter East empire of Shin Lung, a place which only the Wikuni visited. Only the hated Zakkites were not represented in the harbors. The ships were packed in, and many of them sailed near to the islands, sharing the warm waters and taking up the wind
The grand magnificence of Dayise assaulted the young onlookers who stood at the rail. Only Keritanima seemed unimpressed by the great metropolis. Even Allia, with her dislike of the sea, stood gaping in wonder at the large city resting on the small islands. But Tarrin was slightly disappointed. He was hoping for a city on an island, not an island that was a city. There was only a little green, and that was near the top of the hill on the central island. The city had infested the rest of the land. Nowhere but there could one look and see something other than the hand of man shaping the world to suit him. He admitted that the city was impressive. Grand, even. But he was more impressed by a thousand year old oak tree than any construction ever assembled by human hand.
"Arkhold is larger than this, but it's the way you see it," Dar added, staring at the city in the afternoon sun.
"There are no farms. How do they eat?" Allia asked.
"Their food comes in on ships, Allia," Keritanima replied. "At least everything but the seafood. Fish is something of a staple in Dayise, because imported food tends to be more expensive."
It looked to Tarrin to be a good idea gone spiralling out of control. He couldn't fathom why they would build a city on an island some fifty longspans off shore, and a small island at that compared to other human-bearing islands. And why had it grown so large that it had totally displaced the natural habitat? There was no food to grow, and nowhere to grow it. What did they do to earn their livings? There had to be alot of people on the islands, but a city could only sustain itself so much on inns and shops. "How do they make money?" Tarrin asked curiously.
"Most of Dayise is devoted to trading, Tarrin," Keritanima replied. "Merchants and agents of governments come here to buy and sell large amounts of goods. The city itself is mostly made up of inns and boarding houses for the many sailors that come to port with the goods their employers are trading. More money changes hands in Dayise in one day than an entire month in Sulasia."
"Shace must be rich," Dar said. "All that revenue must generate staggering taxes."
"They wish," Keritanima replied. "Dayise is a Shacean city, but they pay no taxes to the crown. Why else do you think so many merchants choose to do business here?"
"How did they get away with that?" he asked.
"When Dayise was founded, it was something of a penal colony," she answered. "The king then had to make people come here, and part of the incentives were that nobody living on the islands had to pay a brass bit in tax. Where King Louis screwed up was that he extended that moratorium to business done on the island as well, to entice craftsmen to move to the island, and the decree was made in such a way that it couldn't be repealed. Merchants began to start taking advantage of it. That is the result."