The Scholar's Tale (Original Fantasy)

Book I, Chapter 8

"Alright, is there a law that says we have to meet in taverns? Just for once, I'd like something different. I've never met a mage in a library or a thief while he was breaking into a house, no, it's always a tavern. Some of those people didn't even drink!"-Ghyrra the Gilded after meeting several adventurers in the Dandy Lion tavern;

'Sorry for the spectacle,' Ib said after coming back down to the ship. By then, we had returned to the deck and started cleaning it. 'We are not fighters, but sometimes, you just have to...' it gestured vaguely at the gore-covered steamer and the Seaworm's remains.

'I know what you mean, Ib. I also kill mountain-sized monsters when I'm bored,' I said drily.

'Indeed? We'll have to spar sometime, then. Compare techniques,' he giant replied, sounding eager. I think I paled a few shades.

'Oh, let the boy be, Ib. Some us are modest when it comes to showing off our power,' Mharra said, dropping me a heavy wink. I couldn't say if he was being sarcastic. But then, I also couldn't believe he was keeping a ghost like Three and whatever Ib was in line with kind words.

Although, I hadn't sensed any magic from him either. But it wouldn't be the first time someone fooled me like that.

'Yeah, like me. If I didn't say it, most people wouldn't even notice I'm a ghost!' One of Three's bodies said, the others nodding sagely. I didn't comment.

'You can put that down, Dhalgo. I'll take over from here,' Ib said kindly, gesturing at my mop. I was about to give the giant the mop and bucket, if it wanted to clean, but it surprised me again.

Are you familiar with quicksand? Have you seen how objects and people sink into it without leaving any trace? I am. It doesn't compare to how Ib feeds.

The giant's body...unraveled, for lack of a better form. One moment, I was looking at a six-armed, humanoid body. The next, Ib was like a giant grey sheet floating over the ship. The sheet then came apart, pieces of it blurring over the steamer and absorbing the pale blood and guts into themselves. They weren't even stained as the worm's remains disappeared like pebbles into a murky lake.

A part of me noted how useful Ib would be for hiding corpses. I wished we had met earlier.

In moments, the ship was spotless, looking even cleaner than when I had first seen it. Mharra grinned, clapping at Ib's efforts, while Three's selves shouted, "Encore!".

I wasn't sure whether he was talking about the cleaning or the Seaworm's destruction. Knowing Three, probably both.

Ib assumed what I was starting to think of as its default form again, sighing like a man after a good meal. It wasn't until years later that I learned what a good comparison that was.

As Ib stretched like a satisfied cat, I took a good look at its body. It did not look larger-indeed, there was no sign it had absorbed anything. Almost as if the gore had been erased from existence.

'If I may be so bold...where is everything? Should you not have become heavier by now?' I asked the giant.

Ib's blank face morphed into a smile. 'Have you heard about pantries, Dhal? I don't instantly use everything I get my hands on, you know.' I waited for it to elaborate. It did not.

I looked at Three, who shrugged, and Mharra, who winked at me. Again.

Something told me that, however long this voyage took, it would feel like forever.

Three months later

Kapharna Island had been inhabited for centuries, and it had showed: the building had been old, the fields well-tended, the people content.

Complacent.

After our last show, we had offered to take some people with us on the steamer, in case a disaster struck the island. You never knew, after all. But the island's leader, an elderly woman who called herself the 'mayor', had declined, as had her council.

'Kapharna has been kind to us,' he had explained. 'We are isolated. There is little of value to take. Not enough to bother. The people who stop here are merchants, or circus workers, like you.' Mharra had looked constipated at that description.

'We do not wish to leave-indeed, we are afraid to. Who knows if we will find another island like this, in Midworld's waters? Better to die, having only known joy, than live in suffering.' I had understood her point. In the past, in rare moments of joy and peace, I had thought to end everything, rather than live more and find a new pain. But my cowardice had always won out.

And that had been that. We had not tried to argue with them, or change their minds. It was not our place. Our shows had bough some more joy and wonder in their lives, and that had been enough, as far as Mharra was concerned. We had seen stranger cultures on the sea, after all. If these people wanted an end brought by inaction, it was their right.

Ah, captain, my captain... I have not yet learned his hidden talent, if indeed he has one. But the things he can do with a few stage props and chemical tricks? I have seen people who know real magic do worse in front of crowds.

I had become popular, too. People came to me to share the memories of my joys, not that I had shown them anything incriminating. It was still better than most powders, or so my customers had said.

Still, it would be good to come to my room at night without finding naked women, men and others in my bed. Ib would let them in just to mess with me, I was sure. Bloody admirers...

Now, we were sailing again. We had accepted several gifts from the Kapharnans, because they had expected us to take something, anything we wanted.

In truth, Ib provided most of what we needed and used on the ship. It could absorb seawater and turn it into metal, food, clothes and so much more. But I, at least, felt unsettled wearing and eating what was essentially part of my friend. I had told it that once.

'It's alright, Dhal,' Ib had said cheerfully. 'It would only be cannibalism if I was human.'

I tried not to have discussions like that with it too often.

As night fell and the Moon rose, Mharra disappeared belowdecks, to join Three. They were always the happiest in each other's company. They did not have any issues with others joining in, but I did. Ib seemed not to care, one way or the other.

Hours after nightfall, when the crescent moon hung in the sky like a flung blade frozen in midair, I saw a light on the horizon.

Well, I say I did, but Ib saw it first. I wasn't sure how its senses worked, or what their limits were, and neither did it... but they were far sharper than mine, at least.

'Let them come, Dhal,' my friend said. 'We'll learn their intentions when they approach.' The giant smiled thoughtfully. 'Unless they start throwing things at us before that. Then we'll be sure.'

'Them?' I asked.

"Oh, yes."

As we and the light approached each other, Mharra and Three came above to join us.

'Travellers meeting at sea! Maybe we can become friends, or enemies! Hope it will be the latter, foes are easier to loot!' Mharra exclaimed boisterously, fists on his hips. He was wearing his usual multi-coloured captain's coat and three-cornered hat. Three was wearing insubstantial engineer's coveralls and had his arms crossed, floating a meter above the deck. He took one look at the light and groaned in exasperation.

'Zhaarhax take me, one of those...' Before I could ask what he meant, I heard a booming sound, like an enormous struck drum, though it left no echo.
As the light came closer, I saw it was a ship, a sailship, three-masted, with azure sails. It was not glowing because of anything it carried onboard, no: the wood itself shone like it was gold, and the sails sparkled in the moonlight. Magic.

When the ship was a hundred metres from ours, a figure appeared on its deck. I do not mean it rose from belowdecks or dropped from the crow's nest-it appeared, out of nowhere. The figure jumped, closing the distance between our ships in less time than it took me to blink.

I was surprised at the temerity, but not alarmed. If the figure had been a threat, Ib or Three would have stopped him... her.

The woman standing before us was gorgeous. Dark-skinned and dark-haired, scarred, tall, clad in thick, glasslike plate armour that changed colour as the light fell over it.

And here I had though Mharra was flamboyant.

She walked closer to us, smiling in greeting, one hand raised and open to show that she was coming in peace. But I took a closer look at her armour and realized its colour wasn't the only thing that constantly changed. Blades, of all shapes and sizes, formed and disappeared into the mirrorlike surface like fish in a river.

'Forgive my exuberance, fellow travellers. But we've been cooped inside that old tub for months, and you know how it gets...' The woman's left eye was gone, just ragged flesh where it had once been, and her lips could hardly be seen amongst old scars. I though she was still beautiful. 'Call me the Swordsaint.'