A Tale That Never Was [Book 1 of Selvina's Tale series]

Chapter 4: Captain Hook

"So how are we going to find Captain Hook?" Selvina asked Red as they rode Bigbad down the Western road King Midas had directed them on. The wolf had returned to them after Red had called him a few times from outside the city walls. He had been licking the blood off of his lips as he arrived and Red had hoped it had not been blood from livestock. According to her, Bigbad had a difficult time differentiating a deer from a sheep, though she suspected he just preferred the taste of the latter.

"I've never really met him as he's usually sailing all over the place but I heard that he likes to frequent the Neverland Inn. I think he has a liking to Wendy, one of the barmaids there, but I've never asked her."

"You've been to the Neverland Inn?"

"Yeah, a few times."

"You're old enough to drink?"

"It's an inn, Selvina. I go there to eat, but...I have had a drink or two."

Selvina grinned. "How old are you, by the way?"

"I haven't celebrated a birthday in a few years but I think seventeen. I could be wrong. You?"

"Sixteen. Wait, how old is Wendy and how old is Captain Hook?"

"Wendy's older, in her mid-twenties I think and I have no idea how old the captain is."

They soon saw the town of Tortug in the distance, full of ramshackle homes and elaborate manors all crammed together in a potluck of wealth. It was a strange sight.

As they neared the town Selvina asked, "Do we leave Bigbad out of this town too?"

Red shook her hooded head. "No. They know about him and don't care too much. Some of the visitors to this town are far stranger and fearsome than Bigbad."

"Really?" Selvina glanced about but saw only a few people walking about, tending to their own business. None of them looked frightening, though some were eyeing Bigbad with wide eyes.

"All types of people come to this town from the sea. We have local fishermen, merchants, navy men, privateers, explorers, ambassadors, immigrants, and the occasional pirate or two."

They rounded a corner and were soon among the dockyard. Selvina's eyes widened in awe at the sight before her. Dozens of wooden vessels of all shapes and sizes lined the harbor amidst a thick forest of masts and furled sails. There was movement everywhere as dockhands loaded or unloaded ships and boats, merchants negotiated the prices of their wares, fishermen hauled their catches to the businesses that sold them, and wealthy men and women examined any vessels for sale as the previous owners bartered with them. Sailors, seamen, and buccaneers made their way from and to the nearest inns and brothels. Immigrants walked down the plank of one of the larger transport vessels, bags of supplies in hand. What surprised Selvina the most were the many different races present. Most were human but she noticed slender, pointy-eared beings she thought were elves, short and stocky ones she imagined were dwarves or maybe gnomes, as well as huge hulking ones she thought were either trolls or ogres. She even thought she had seen a few fairies fluttering about, or at least beings that looked very much like the fairies she had read about.

"No wonder Bigbad isn't that huge of a deal here," she muttered to herself.

Red guided the large wolf down the wide lane that flanked the harbor and glanced to the right, where a long line of inns, brothels, warehouses, stores, shops, and various other buildings lined the edge of it. A column of soldiers with King Midas's insignia upon their breasts marched to their left, their golden spears glinting in the sunlight. Seagulls flew about, complaining even as the many carcasses of fileted fish lay piled behind some of the fish markets. The scent of fish, sweat, salt water and wet wood filled Selvina's nostrils and she rubbed her nose in irritation.