Adventures of Captain Xdey (8 page)

“Where I’m from, there’s a hierarchy. Amorina and her brother Zaren are at the top of the top. They’re warriors and former pirates. Beneath them is the Council dressed in sharp clothes with voices to match. Usually you can find them arguing about what is best for the land. The legend is that Cap’n Ralu and his crew got twisted up in a storm at sea. The ship held thousands of cressings, hundreds of thousands of vessings, and even more of the titanium coins that we call hessings—which could buy Grittle.” She wasn’t too sure about that, but it was a lot of currency.

“Amorina and Zaren needed those coins for the land, so they sent out the best captains and their crews to go to the Perimeter marked 47. Ships raced in the choppy waters. Some cheated and fired upon each other. Out of ten ships, only three made it to the grid location. Cap’n Brighton’s ship—who was my Cap’n, Cap’n Towler’s ship, and Cap’n Pene. There was no way they were going to divide the coins. They already had to split it 60/40 with the hierarchy. Cap’n Pene was a tall man with long black hair, a long face, and nightmare eyes. He wasn’t a nice person. To show how serious he was, he and his crew swung aboard on Cap’n Towler’s ship and put the Cap’n in the keelhaul.”

Both Cop and Ramos made faces of disgust, unhappy with the thought of what it could do to someone. It was a better alternative to drown. “Well, what happened?” Cop inquired.

“Cap’n Towler didn’t make it and was let go to join the sea. Cap’n Brighton was infuriated by the acts of Cap’n Pene. The Cap’n is supposed to go down with the ship, not under it. He violated the code. The two ships clashed, exchanging fired shots, billowing smoke, and men armed in swords. Brighton told me it was a long battle that stretched from dusk until dawn. In the end, Cap’n Pene jumped overboard and was never seen again.”

A low rumble vibrated beneath their feet.

The ground then rumbled violently. Cop scrambled up and out of the empty lake. Ramos grabbed Xoey’s hand. “We gotta get out of here.”

She caught a glimpse of a shimmer in the dirt a few steps to her left. Ramos tugged and she pulled out of his grasp. “Xoey! It’s a quake. You can’t stay.”

She scooped up the small item just as Ramos pulled her up by her waist and dragged her out. When they were safe enough distance away, he set her down. “What caused a quake?”

“The great desert worm—sometimes he gets cranky and has to shift.”

It wasn’t too uncommon to hear of big creatures in the ocean. She’d heard of large tentacled creatures with teeth made of shells and jeweled eyes among others.

“What does the great worm look like?” asked Xoey.

“He’s the size of ten zeppelins with eyes that burn like the sun and a tiny, thin mouth. He doesn’t eat people.”

“Well, that’s good, at least.” Xoey opened her hand. She forgot how red they were from the slide down the ladder. A small gear pin fashioned for clothes rested on her palm. “This looks familiar.”

Ramos examined it with a questionable gaze. “Maybe my dad will know.”

“Let’s go ask him.”

Nadine found Mal sitting on the front porch, rocking in a chair with ice cream in hand. He licked the sides of the cone as it was melting fast. She narrowed her gaze already questioning his nonchalant behavior. “Mal, where is Decyl?”

Mal peeked over the cone. “He said he’d be right back.”

She could hear uproar in the saloon. “You let him in there!” As she ran, she could hear her brother mumbling excuses about the heat.

In the saloon, five men pointed the barrels of their guns toward a familiar gnome who stood on the bar. In his greedy little paws, he held several pocket watches, a few coins, jumper boots, and a locket. Nadine scowled at her brother and pushed her way through the crowd. It was a bit easier than she thought. Getting Decyl out of trouble, wouldn’t be.

“I’m giving you to the count of five to give back my watch!” a hardy voice yelled.

After she scrambled up on the bar, she waved her hands. “Wait!”

The guns didn’t move away from the gnome who twitched his oiled mustache. Decyl flattened his ears in annoyance as she approached. She smiled. “Come on, Decyl. You have to give back what isn’t yours.”

Decyl snarled, baring teeth. “I won them fair and square. They said I was a cheat.” He stood up straight and tall. “I never cheat.”

“Nobody wins every hand.”

Gnomes were notorious for counting cards.

Mal walked in licking his lips. He stopped in the doorway and barely peeped out a murmur at the sight of Decyl and his sister with guns drawn and pointed toward them. He looked for something to handle the situation. He turned to see the silhouette of Tymon in the distance. With one large step back out the doors, he ran. Huffing and puffing toward Tymon, he said, “Decyl and Nadine are in trouble.”

When they returned to the Saloon, he found Nadine sitting quietly at a table surrounded by a cluster of men. In her hands, she held a group of red and black cards. Decyl stood in the corner, items still in hand. He would have moved if a man sitting in the rickety chair didn’t have a gun pointed at his head. Tymon didn’t need it spelled out for him. He grabbed a ladle of meat soup, a green glass bottle, and a chair. With his white teeth, he gripped the cork in the bottle and pulled. He set the drink down and slurped from the ladle. Mal stared at him. “Well?”

Tymon lifted his hat. “Well, what? Your sister is occupied in a game. It’s a death sentence to interrupt it.”

Mal gulped, his throat parched. He sat down next to Ty. He whispered, in fear of interrupting his sister, “How do you play the game?”

Ty removed his hat and placed it on the back of his chair. “It is called All Things Dark. The object of the game is to end up with eight black triangles in your hand. The deck consists of eighty cards and requires four players. When a player sets a card on the table, the player to his right must outdo the card laid by placing a card that is worse or darker than the one facing up on the table. The card played can be objected to by the opposing players, but that’s rare. If they cannot beat the card, they must hand over a triangle card. This goes around until a player obtains all eight triangles.”

“What if they don’t have any triangle cards to give?”

Then they must draw a card from the deck. If it is a triangle, they hand it over. Anything else, they keep in their hand.”

Nadine sat quietly in the uneven chair. She was highly uncomfortable having three grown men staring intently at her. She looked down at the monster under the bed card that was played by the player to her right. It taunted her imagination—a pair of clawed hands reached from under the dirty cot. In her hand, she had six triangles and two cards—a small nightmare goblin resting on the bed frame, and a dagger in the back. She had played a lot of games when she was younger, but this was a very strange card game. Nadine rested her hand on the tip of the nightmare goblin card. She moved her finger over to the dagger in the back card and placed it on top of the monster under the bed card in the center of the stained table. There was a groan from the group.

The man to her right pursed his lips and adjusted the thin rimmed spectacles. His gray hair curled in every which direction. He sniffed, sighed, and handed over a black triangle.

One more.

Across from her, the man with slick black hair, arched brows, and dark eyes stared at her, down at the cards, and back at her. He revealed a sly grin. “Nadine,” he said with a sing song voice. “Do you think you’ve won?”

She gripped the cards a bit too tightly. “No.”

He rubbed the pointed goatee. “You should.” He handed over a triangle card.

Nadine sighed in relief as the men threw down their cards in disgust. She revealed the eight triangles. She noticed the man carefully placing his cards face down on the table. He winked, stood up, and waltzed to the other side of the room.

“Damn that Taire,” said one of the men at the table.

Nadine questioned Ty about the events. Amused, Ty shook his head. “That was the creator of the game. Luck was on your side, lass.”

Decyl pushed the barrel of the gun away from his face. “I’ll be going now.” He grinned a wide set of sharp teeth and headed out the door.

Mal rolled his eyes. “Bugger never said thanks.”

Nadine patted her brother on the head. “He did in his own way.”

Xoey walked in as Decyl walked out. “Why does Decyl have a handful of watches?” She heard Mal mutter bits and pieces of the story—it went in one ear and out the other. Instead of nodding, she ran across the room. “Taire!”

Taire went down on one knee, arms spread out waiting for Xoey to jump into them. She did so, losing her hat in the process, and wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed. They laughed as they each thought of times long ago. When she let go, he patted her white hair. “The last time I saw you, you and the crew were landlocked.”

“We would have been bored out of our skulls if you hadn’t been there. We could never forget the song about slaying gargantuan beasts with eyes as dark as the night and sharp razor teeth.”

Taire was a tall man dressed in a long, black, buckled jacket with heavy tassels hanging off the shoulders. His narrow black pants were tucked neatly into black boots. His ensemble would not be complete without a top hat. “Ah, the infamous tale that is so deadly that one could not believe their ears.” He revealed a sly grin. “The tavern would be empty if the beasts appeared—a very sad tale indeed.” He looked around the room. “Speaking of beasts, where is the crew?”

Xoey shifted her gaze to the floor and she retrieved her hat to avoid speaking. He understood her silence and so he said, “When the circus is all set, we could use an extra set of hands.”

Mal and Nadine exchanged worrisome glances. Xoey scratched her nose. “Can my friends come, too?”

Taire shifted his dark lined glance to the siblings. “Of course.”

He lifted up Xoey’s hat and ruffled her hair. “Now it is time for me to find a mattress to sleep on.” Taire bowed to the group and left.

Tymon removed his ten gallon hat from the back of the chair, placed it on his head, and nodded to the kids. “Let’s take a stroll. I need to find my son.”

“He’s just outside,” said Xoey.

Tymon pushed open the saloon doors to allow the kids to go first. They found Ramos across the dirt street, brushing a large, dark, six-legged beast of burden with long curled horns on the top of its head. Its mane was braided to the right side and its long red tail touched the ground behind him. There was no way Xoey could even reach the top of the animal’s back. “What is that?” she asked.