Alcingeria Volume Three

Chapter Five: Giovanni

Chapter Five Giovanni:

Monday June 4th 1724

Twenty minutes later, we were seated around a fire somewhere in the jungle. We ate strange pink fruit that was kind of like an apple on the inside, but when heated the meat liquified and you could drink it. The man, who introduced himself as Giovanni, had constructed himself a neat little camp complete with cooking utilities, a sleeping hammock woven from vines and strong sticks, and a few personal belongings here and there including a battered holy book.

"This actually isn't bad," Minerva commented, slurping the liquid insides of the fruit. "Kind of like cider."

"I think the traders call this stuff lovefruit," Giovanni commented. "It's not alcoholic, but it makes you a bit too friendly all the same."

I regarded it with a strange look, but Minerva didn't seem to care.

"Just a bit won't hurt you, you're fine. Drink up."

He pulled some skewers of meat from the fire as well and handed them to us. He then got to work dressing my wounds.

"Jungle rat, caught one in my pitfall trap earlier today. These ones don't carry diseases, they're more like dogs than vermin. Same size, too."

"We have something similar in Hell, except they have tubular mouths that take up their whole head. Spiral rows of teeth, they usually get people screaming."

It wasn't every day she talked about that place. It wasn't that she wasn't allowed or that she didn't want to, it was more that I didn't want to hear about it. I couldn't explain why. It wasn't that I wasn't curious, because I was, but at the same time it felt like a lot more than talking about a hypothetical place. I knew it was real, and I never forgot what Minerva said about me when we met. She had told me it didn't matter how much I regretted my actions. I'd committed many sins in my time, and there was a good chance I'd fall downstairs after I kicked the bucket. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

"So what, you're some kind of demon?" He asked, not disturbed in the least.

"That's right. I can prove it to you if you want."

"No need, I believe you. More jungle rat?"

"Sure."

I ate my skewer and found it actually didn't taste that bad. It was very gamey and dry, but it was quite filling. It tasted kind of like jerky but not properly dried. I took a swig of the lovefruit and found the bittersweet flavor to my liking. I drank some more.

"So what are you doing camped out here, anyway?" I asked him, taking another bite. "You seem to know a bit about my people, have you been to Treigner's Point?"

"I have, a few times. It's a fine place, one of the few where the races of the island mingle freely on a large scale. Not a place like it anywhere on Rao Mansa."

"I actually know quite a few people there," I commented. "Chief Aluia of the Suli and Erin McDowell to name a few."

"You know Chief Aluia?" He asked with a whistle. "Personally?"

"You could say that. I was with the expedition that made first- well, never mind. Suffice to say, I ate lunch with her one time."

"Really?" He asked, impressed. "Not many people can claim that. You must be a lucky young man."

"I wouldn't say that," I said, glancing at Minerva jokingly, who had slid closer for some reason, which I found odd.

We all kept eating and drinking and eventually Giovanni brought out a lute and sang a few songs. He was actually pretty good, he had a bellowing baritone voice to him that was great for sea shanties, which was most of what he sang.