Inside a single tavern the lights are still on and noises of talking people come from it. It is a bit odd that there are still people drinking and partying. I order the men to hold the position while I got into the tavern with two other soldiers. I grab the door-handle which slips right out of my hand. The metal is drenched in a slimy wet liquid. I smear the substance on my coat and reach for the handle again. The door opens and all noise suddenly becomes quiet. As we enter the tavern all guests lay their eyes upon us as we walk towards the counter. The people here got a strange look to them. All of them have an oily skin tone with large eyes. Fishermen all alike do not speak much and so they all stare in silence. The bartender rests his arms upon the counter and greets us in what must be the local dialect:
"G'day gentlemen. Wha' can I get you?"
"What about some liquor and answers. We are here on the behalf of the governor to free the town from the fishfolk." My answer seems not to kindle any good faith with the barkeeper.
"Haven't ya seen the sea folk 'round?" he says while poring out some pale liquor into a small glass. What he said does not make any more sense to me. Is he saying that we have not not seen any fishmen because there are no fishman or is he saying that he is surprised that we have not seen them yet?
"Pardon me?" I tell the man in a much more serious tone. "What do you mean?"
The man is looking right into my eyes. He puts the glass in front of me and says:
"Go 'tside, find what ya seek."
I reach for the glass. I could not have see him coming. An old man jumps of his chair and tackles me to the ground. The liquor and I hit the ground. A soldier takes out his rifle to point it at the old man.
"Looks like we found ourselves a fish." The soldier remarks.
"Don't, don't drink the-the l-liquor, good sir." The old man sits back against the counter holding his hands in a protective position.
"Damn old man, why would you do that?"
The old man grabs my arm. His fingers slender and pale. He looks up to me from beneath his hat. His eyes filled to the brim with tears he whispers to me:
"You good sir, I ne-need to t-t-talk to you." The man is clearly not well. I guess we should speak to him first of all because no one else seems to be interested in speaking to us strangers. I help him stand up and we leave the tavern. Outside we press him against a neighbouring wall where he shall justify his actions. The man's clothes hang on him by the last thread. His eyes rotate between the sky and the ground.
"Mister, what were you doing back inside the bar?"
"Sir, I a-am very s-s-sorry. If h-had t-to prevent t-that you drink-k the l-liquor. You s-see it makes folks go f-frenzy. All the folks a-around s-sold their s-souls to it." The man is talking nonsense. Sure liquor is a poison that clouds the minds and bodies of thousands of people. The town is no extraordinary example. No noteworthy industry and no moonshiners. I grab the man by his shoulder leading him the way back to the street.
"Mister, you should head for home today and rest." I think this will be the best thing for him to do but he pushes me away in a sudden burst of fear.
"Sir, th-there will be n-no home any more. The ocean w-will take us-s all. We all w-will d-drown. The sea folk is-s already among us-s. And they will c-come f-for every l-last of us-s." The man runs away still rambling about his insane thoughts.
"Sir, should we set after him?" a soldier that accompanied my into the tavern asks me as if he just waits on shooting the man.
"No. Let him run. We can't help him with our expertise." The man runs further and further until he fades into the darkness. We will find no friends inside the tavern so we should just stick to patrolling the streets until we find what we seek.
As we reach the marketplace in the middle of the town I stop the company. From here on out we can use the place as our base of operation. I order the some time later arriving rearguard to build up fortifications along side the four main roads. We split up to guard the base and to advance alongside the main roads. My group is about to get to the harbour. Even after splitting we we still hear no gunfire or encounter any fishmen. We also found no other residents rather than the ones inside the tavern.
YOU ARE READING
Once a God drowned here
AcciónAgain Joseph Hunter and his soldiers are tasked with killing what the humantiy should not have to deal with. A whole town is overrun with monsters from the oceans deapths.
