The Tragedy of Renya

3.1 The First Ship to Anywhere

10th day of the fifth month, Tusiaga

The actors had skipped past the city of Caimu and instead headed straight for the city of Tusiaga in the east. When Erica had asked them why, they answered that actors weren’t welcome in the city of Caimu; the police department had noticed a sudden influx of thefts when actors were in the city, and although they had nothing to do with it, no actors were allowed in the city limits. No travelling actors, to be exact; there were many groups of actors in the city of Caimu itself and they were incredibly popular in the city. But travelling actors, like the group Erica was travelling with, were unwelcome in the city. And so they had moved past Caimu, Erica had seen the city’s gates in the distance, and instead were now at a market square in Tusiaga where they were performing a play. It wasn’t the play they had performed a few days ago; this play took place in a southern country, as the narrator told, where a wise king had died and left the matters of the throne in the hands of his three sons. Chaos ensued as the three sons tried to take the power, and at the end of the play nearly every character was dead. A tragedy, it was called, and by Erica’s knowledge this story had no origin in reality.

As soon as the play ended the actors went around and collected the money. Many of the people who were watching gave them a little, although it was not as much as they had allegedly gained in Caimu.

Then the actors moved on to another square in the city where they would perform a different play, or the same one. They’d told Erica she would not be able to travel with them unless she made herself useful. And while Erica had learned many things during her life, she’d never learned to act or do any sort of chores.

Which meant she was on her own again. Erica checked the bundle of cash she’d taken with her. It should be enough to get a position on a boat to… somewhere. Somewhere where she’d build up her new life (although she had not yet quite decided on the details), until her future husband had given up on her and it would be safe for her to return and discover what it was the Wyndri didn’t want her to know.

So she headed through the many narrow streets with tall houses on each side. She took a little time to realise the houses had once belonged to rich traders with the outside world, although nowadays most of the houses had been split up into many small and cheap apartments in which the families and loved ones of sailors lived. There were small canals running through the city. The canals smelled like shit, and sewers. Scents that had gotten into them in the last few centuries, when the city’d been overcrowded, and they had never left. On the days where the wind was still the stench penetrated the city.

Luckily enough today was not one of those days.

She headed towards the harbour, to ask if there was a place left on a ship. There were many grand ships in the harbour, in countless colours and with tiny flags carrying rainbow-coloured emblems. Many companies had a base in Tusiaga; its entire economy depended on the trade with other countries.

The sea in the distance was shimmering a bright green; Erica wondered if any of the mythical sea creatures she’d read about actually existed in the area around Tusiaga. As she looked at the sea she realised she could no longer dismiss the notion. The sea was grand, even the tiny slivers she got to see between the ships and that was only the harbour. Who knew what lived in those distant waters?

She checked at the dock of the first ship that looked like it could hold passengers. The owner, a squat muscular man, with a face that looked as if it had once met an anvil, frowned at her as he heard her request.

Then he laughed.

“Brat, we’re stuck here.” He said.
“How so?”
“Where are you from?!”

Erica wondered for a moment or so if she had to explain the situation.

“Talassi and Nerva are at war, remember? What rock have you been under?”
“Ah.”
“You’re not going to find anyone who’ll go out to sea this month. Too dangerous.”

And with that bombshell he turned around and chased after some seagulls who were “shitting on the perfectly clean deck”.

Erica frowned as she turned around. She asked a few others, but everyone told her the same thing. It would be suicide to go out at sea when Talassi and Nerva are fighting each other in naval battles. It was frustrating, but Erica could understand their feelings.

So what was she going to do now? Wait in Tusiaga until the day the two countries decided to stop fighting and then leave? Did she have the funds for that, she wondered. And where would she stay? She hadn’t found any hotels or cheap apartments yet, although she knew that also came because she had not bothered with looking for free rooms or apartments. She’d expected to be out of the region, out of the country, before the end of the day.

Erica could only curse herself for not having paid any attention to the state of the world. She should have known this would happen, she could have found a quicker way out of the country.

She wondered if it’d pay off to go through Viusi and leave the region over land.