Gamori

Part 2

 We assembled the core of our expeditionary party at Sindar's villa. I had brought along some general hired help, but Sindar had really splurged, for he had even paid for eight burly litter-bearers and a posh palanquin. Both of us had, of course, hired bodyguards, but none of them compared to the towering hulk of destruction who walked into the sun-dappled courtyard alongside Jezrin.

"Top o' the morning to you. This is Thok," she announced. "Thok, no kill. Do not kill anyone here."

The unbelievably immense brute made a low growl of disappointment. No one spoke for a long time. Birds chirped happily in the fruit trees.

"Thok here was a Tarkeshi gladiator," Jezrin said after we were all sufficiently intimidated. "He smashed and ripped and chopped and sliced his way through the arenas of Urvasa. Then he got bored and fought in some wars. Of late, there has been far too much peace for his liking, so now he works for me."

Lying in the north of the Urvasan Empire, the unforgiving lands of Tarkesh produce the most feared warriors in the world. They often elect to become pit fighters because the pay is good. The giant standing in Sindar's courtyard seemed terrifying even by those standards. He still wore his gladiatorial armor, though at the moment without a helmet. His exposed skin was covered in tattoos and scars, including his shaved scalp. His left eye was milky, and a great scar ran across it. In his ogre-sized right hand was a very big spiked mace.

Jezrin then introduced Umbreen Wentletrap, a cartographer and lore keeper from the Thousand Isles of Thool. She was a statuesque, aloof woman, with porcelain skin and fiery hair, dressed in a form-fitting suit of some unknown, ultramarine material, and wore the kraken pendant of Nomo the Sea Mother. Her kelp green eyes had all the warmth of an eel, and her expression had a haunted intensity. The vaults beneath the Great Library of Thool are rumored to contain knowledge more ancient even than the founding of Gish, and her presence led me to believe we would find more than the lonely desert wind.

Visitors from the Thousand Isles are nearly always accompanied by a few iquolo: those servile, ichthyic, amphibious bipeds, of which there are many breeds, such as bruisers, walleyes, small fry, beachcombers, and swabs. Umbreen had none with her, for iquolo need frequent moisture, and she did not wish to consign them to dehydration. Instead she brought along three human slaves, captives from the balmy country of Wux.

The other person of note in Jezrin's entourage was a young, slightly built Nasadi woman named Ardat, another bodyguard. She wore black scale armor, and was armed with a light crossbow, shortsword and two daggers. Ardat moved like a liquid shadow. It was clear that between her and Thok, anyone who even grimaced in the general direction of their employer was done for.

I did not see Jezrin's little vloon, so I asked where he was. "Backbiter is sleeping peacefully in my pack. He hates mornings, even late ones."

More terse and uncomfortable introductions happened. Then Sindar climbed aboard his posh palanquin, and our motley if not merry band set off for the docks.

The first three ships bound for Vindazag did not have enough cabins for our party. The fourth did, the Witch's Purse, a sleek merchant vessel. We asked to speak to her captain, and soon a grizzled man of advanced years limped down the gangplank, wooden leg and all. His right eye was squinted nearly closed, perhaps due to too much exposure to lemon juice.

The white-bearded mariner pointed to his ship with pride. "Arr. This be the finest ship e'er sailed these waters, or any o' those other places they call waters. She's got the finest crew ye could hope to find to boot, and a well-seasoned cap'n." He jerked a thumb at his chest. "And I just happen to be that cap'n. Arr."

Jezrin squinted one eye and said, "Well, arr, yourself! The last three captains we talked to said the same thing you just did, word for word. Do you bottom-feeding bozos all get together and have meetings about what banal thing you're going to say to prospective passengers? Your ship looks like a fertilizer barge. Your crew looks like they're about as smart as the planks they're walking on. And I don't know where they dredged you up, Squinty, but you appear to be more hermit crab than human. Wait, where the hell do you think you're hobbling off to? I'm not finished!"

The well-seasoned captain was limping back up the gangplank, weeping. The insults were just too much for his old salty heart to bear. Sindar and I both looked sternly at Jezrin, and she realized that maybe her interpersonal skills needed polishing. She rolled her eyes, and quickly caught up to the saddened sailor.

"Hey, old timer," she said, "that was just some sarcastic landlubber humor! Plus, we got plenty o' clams! Here, see?" She thrust a small bag into his gnarled hand.

It took some more convincing by Sindar and I, but honeyed words and the clink of coin prevailed.

Thok had to be quartered in the cargo hold as he was simply too enormous. My cabin was adjacent to that of a certain ex-assassin, which made me ridiculously giddy. The voyage was pleasant enough. The captain and crew were not made fun of to their faces, and no one died. Sindar regaled us all with fantastic tales that went nowhere. Backbiter went where he pleased, exploring the ship down to the last rope and brass fitting. He seemed to enjoy being up in the rigging more than the sailors.

Three days after I saw Seal Skerry Lighthouse disappear below the horizon and said farewell to my beloved home of Portsgate, a regal dandan swam around and beneath the ship. Its scales were a brilliant silvery-blue, and it looked at us with curious azure eyes. The dandan is the largest fish in the ocean, and is also known as the boat eater due to its habit of biting at or gulping down the odd small craft. We were privileged to have the leviathan accompany us for nigh on two hours, until it spied a school of hammerhead sharks and veered away to prey upon them. The crew was overjoyed at the event, taking it to be an auspicious sign. Even Jezrin and the coldly distant Umbreen were amazed, and both dropped various victuals into the water which the great beast consumed.

One sunny afternoon I went up on deck and saw Jezrin snoozing in a hammock, Thok leaning against a mast, guarding her, contemplating things known only to him. I quietly asked him how he was finding the cargo hold. He turned to me and actually smiled.

"Good down there. Rats and me have bond." His smile widened, and to this day I've not seen anyone happier. I was astonished, and pleased for him.

I sat down near the railing and lit my pipe. "Careful," Jezrin said, her eyes still shut. "Stare at me any harder and your face is liable to be melted off.... with acid." Thok softly chuckled. She opened her eyes and got up from her nap. "I didn't survive coming up in the alleyways of Botha Binn by letting looky-loos get the drop on me."

She came and sat down cross-legged near me and laughed, though not unkindly. "You're easier to startle than a meepling! I'm not upset, just play'n with ya. Look all ya want, although Umbreen is considered the stunner on this chum bucket, especially by me. This is a damn pleasant afternoon.... pleasant enough for ale and talk, no?"

Jezrin whistled at a deckhand. "You! Ale, and keep it coming!"

"Eagle Eye's Finest?" the sailor inquired, adroitly guessing we would want only the finest.

She gave an affirmative signal by snapping her fingers and pointing at him, and off he went. We talked well into the first watch, and she offered me bloodflower to smoke, of which I lightly partook. I told her of my childhood, and of how Sindar Pesh had taken me under his fin, like a male snugfish doting on his fry, helping me to become established as a merchant. Jezrin spun a harrowing tale of her time in Botha Binn; of dreadful occurrences in shadows and beneath streets; how she progressed from waif to apprentice killer to master assassin. Her travels far outnumbered mine, for I had seldom left Portsgate. The marvels of Thool were not unknown to her, nor were the misty towers of Ithaquay. Much of Urvasa she had seen, and she had ranged even to the far North. She had been to Gish once before, to hunt down a target, to "expunge that pusillanimous little slime". Jezrin went on, with relish, to describe how he was expunged. At times she evinced alarming cruelty, and I felt like an insect being drawn down the mouth of a cobra plant.