Crowning Fantasy Book 1 (5 page)

For all their preparations, nothing happened at first. Gumus had been right, Manskliga and Elyun in a mix of dull used armor and regular dress sat around campfires drinking and eating or resting. A few Elyun glanced over at Mina. A slight figure the size of an Elyun child sat up at the campfire closest. Before Gumus could warn Mina she crouched and hissed. A blond-haired Asistan Ti stroked a thin mustache and grinned. He called out to them in a high-pitched voice, "I haven't seen a Mikachiari in ages. Ho, there!"

Gumus gave a tug at Mina's cloak as a lengthy string of what he was sure were curses in her own language flowed past her lips.

The Asistan Ti leaned back kicking his feet in the air as he laughed. It was a small tinkling sound in accordance with his size. "If the males only fought as well as the females cursed we'd have lost the battle for Patri Peyi," he said as he wiped tears from his eyes.

Mina tightened, ready to spring and Gumus had no choice but to stand, catch Mina around her middle and draw her back to his chest. She hung there cursing and scratching at his arms.

The Asistan Ti's laughter died as Gumus revealed his true size.

"Is she serious?" the Asistan Ti asked.

Gumus scooted Mina behind his back and moved away.

"We're all Aventyrare here Kertenkele and our allegiances are for the highest bidder. You two seem new to this trade," the Asistan Ti said as a single purple flame grew from his fingertip. "So just this once I'll let her outburst slide."

On the other side at the edge of the oasis they sat as Mina huffed and mumbled, her face twisted in rage.

"Mina, you have to calm down. You are Aventyrare now. You'll see Asistan Ti and you can't fight them every time. We will go to the port of Sanddyner. From there you can catch the boat to Dong Tochi or if things are right, settle in Sanddyner." When she refused to meet his eyes, Gumus continued. "Mina, I've done what you asked. I helped you reach a new place. It will never be as safe as the house of your Sayid. You must change."

"Where you go?"

"I'm not safe around anyone. I have to go far away."

"You fine."

"No," Gumus didn't want to explain he was starving himself to keep the Cinsel Iliski at bay.

A hunk of crab plunked down between them. "Eat this. You look hungry."

Gumus looked up to see an Elyun with a full, dark beard looking down at them.

"We're not a completely heartless lot," the Aventyrare said, not introducing himself. "If we could have made it in our own homeland we wouldn't be out here wandering the Galen." He eyed Mina. "There is plenty of work if you don't have passage to Dong Tochi."

"Passage?" Gumus asked as Mina picked at the crab. They were large here like the ones in Waha.

"Money to pay for the passage by ship. You are new to this. It's a long trip and there are pirates to pay off." The Aventyrare nodded over his shoulder. "She's right not to trust Asistan Ti, sometimes they'll buy or sell information to their kin and then next thing you know." The bearded Elyun drew his finger across his throat. "The only Asistan Ti you can halfway trust are the Black hats. Good thing they have to announce what kind of magic user they are by color. They're great in a fight. Never trust the Grey and especially the White hats. They are loyalists to the core. That Asistan Ti is a black hat." The Aventyrare pointed his thumb at Mina. "If they're trying to trick you, and they will, you can also tell them by the color of their magic. Purple is used by Black hats, blue and green by White hats. The Grey hats use a little of both magics but weaker colors, including yellow and orange." The Elyun Aventyrare squatted down in front of them. "How did you escape Dohla?"

Gumus tensed. "Where not from Dohla."

"Right. I can tell by your dress. I'm Elyun, I know what your kind wear in the mines."

Gumus ignored him. "The guard to Sanddyner didn't stop us. Why's that?"

"The only guards you have to worry about are the ones bordering nations. There isn't a large garrison stationed at any of the outposts outside of the nations so they tend to ignore everything that doesn't walk up and slap them." The Elyun Aventyrare stood up. "If you assaulted a guard in Dohla, my advice would be to never find yourself back there."

"Thank you for the food," Gumus said as the Aventyrare walked off.

"No money," Mina sighed. Gumus though her face was drawn down in mock sadness. Her eyes twinkled. The Aventyrare had given her an excuse for Gumus to stay on and help her.

"I know. Let's go to the Free Port and see about work then."

"Stay with me more?"

"Only until you have passage." Gumus took a bite of food since his starvation tactic wouldn't work if he needed to perform hard labor. He'd have to find some kind of balance to exist in control until he got Mina on a ship.

T
he Free Port of Sanddyner was surrounded by a large rock wall with it's back to the waters of Bred Hav, the great sea. Several miles directly across from the Free Port was the outpost. The brown buildings and water tower looked deserted except for wisps of smoke curling into the air from a chimney on one of the buildings.

The path to Free Port after the oasis was crowded with more people than Gumus had seen since leaving Rasima. A few more Asistan Ti appeared and several slender figures about Mina's size. If they had not been obscured by cloaks, Gumus could have sworn they were Mikachiari. If they were they didn't react to Mina's presence. There was a complete absence of any of his brothers which at first relieved Gumus then made him melancholy. All those years of working shoulder to shoulder with his brothers, gone.

Free Port guards stopped random people to check their bags or carts, otherwise they seemed uninterested in the milieu passing back and forth through the gates. Free Port itself was black and white. The sand and surrounding wall shone brilliantly in the sun. The buildings were made of a black porous material and in the background the Bred Hav glittered in varying shades of blue and green. The air reeked of fish. Nets were pulled tight over frames and fish or sea animals in every size and shape hung from wires strung between anything that would support the weight. Occasional drops of water or slimy liquid from half-dry fish fell on Gumus's shoulders and added to the stink of Mina's cloak.

The actual port was sealed off by a series of gates and fences and armed guards. Boats of varying sizes were either moored at the docks or drifted in lazy circles in the bay. They made their way up to the fence and guards immediately closed in and told them to back off. Gumus tried to ask questions but the guards banged sword to shield. "Move off!" one shouted.

Several people stood in front of the gates calling out deals on tickets to different locations. Gumus stopped and asked one about the price to Dong Tochi. "One thousand moneys," was the curt reply.

Mina slumped against him at the news. It was a fortune by any standard. Gumus wandered around asking about work. The cooking smells from familiar and foreign dishes made his mouth water so much he was afraid he'd start drooling. Without one money between them and no work in the port, they headed back through the main gate. At night the gates were shut and you were either locked in or locked out.

The area directly outside of Free Port, the outpost and the closest oasis, glowed with campfires in the growing darkness. Gumus wandered by several to ask about work. The only answer he could find was to hunt and fish and turn in the raw materials to different shops at Free Port. The remittance was small. Gumus did the calculations in his head and it amounted to months of hard labor.

Mina carried back crab to the small indent in the rock wall that surrounded Free Port. They ate in silence. After they finished, Mina curled up against his chest. He murmured, "We must begin tomorrow."

"Sorry, Gumus. No idea trip so long."

"All trips are long."

***

O
ver the weeks they became a hunting machine. They found another beach and even a secluded area a little ways up from the shore. It was an abandoned campground once used by others. As they explored the length and breadth of Sanddyner they found more of these abandoned niches that were claimed and then reclaimed by various Vartalf and Aventyrare.

Gumus was wary of the guards so he avoided any prolonged contact. They made few trips into Free Port and never camped outside the gates. He had no idea if authorities had posted rewards for their capture. This forced him to keep Mina away from others even though the Aventyrare and subsistence hunters like themselves seemed generally helpful.

Their stock of money, small coins used as currency throughout Varlid, was buried in a spot they'd picked near the secret beach. Time passed with a certain symmetry and order. Gumus Ay's Cinsel Iliski came and went. The color change Mina had noticed earlier in Gumus's eyes grew more pronounced until they were a swirling mix of the colors of the campfire they lit every night. Gumus kept his intake of food at a minimum. Just enough to keep him able to function.

Things were working, they were making progress, Gumus felt in control, at least since they'd arrived in Sanddyner. Mina had pains every so often. She complained so bitterly at one point Gumus offered to take some of their money and find a healer. She stopped complaining so much after that. Mina talked about her life in Rasima and Kazi, her best friend and she told Mikachiari stories that Gumus only vaguely understood. When she started repeating her stories Gumus knew she was homesick much in the same way he missed his brothers. He was not that surprised when Mina brought someone new to their camp and did not object when Mina asked if she could stay.

He watched as Mina fussed around the huddled mass wrapped in rags. When she was able to coax the hood off, a disfigured Mikachiari quickly covered her face with her hands. Mina pulled them away so she could begin grooming.

Gumus watched on, expressionless until the ministrations seemed too intimate for his monastic sensibilities, then he picked up a fishing net and left camp.

Kertenkele had no equivalent. They were close and had a connection, addressing each other as brother, but not in any demonstrative way.
Kertenkele.
Gumus rolled the word around in his head as he tossed the net into the water. He was Kertenkele, from Buyuk Col. Though he never saw another one of his kind he heard stories that not all Kertenkele made the Sabah Yuruyusu march to Rasima to beg for mercy from the Elyun. He learned that not all Kertenkele followed Onyx Ay's teachings or beliefs. His anger at Onyx Ay continued to grow and harden in his bones.

By the second night Gumus learned that the Mikachiari's name was Cita. Soon Mina was talking about Cita joining them and earning her passage to Dong Tochi too. Gumus hoped Mina didn't run into any more orphaned Mikachiari or they would never earn enough to leave Sanddyner.

When the newness of the strange Mikachiari wore off Gumus looked at her more closely. She didn't speak above a whisper and only directly to Mina, never to him. Cita's scars marred her face and one ear looked as if a lizard had chewed it off. Mina mentioned Cita had endured the Nodoshiku but for the rest of the damage there was no explanation. Her situation moved Gumus to pity and wonder again why these beings should continue to suffer.

Cita's deception took him completely by surprise and it shouldn't have.

Gumus had never heard Mina scream before. At first he thought she was having a nightmare so he closed up tighter around her only she wasn't there. He shot up, his bulk sending out a cloud of sand. A fiery torch swung across his knees, singeing the skin. Edges of blades, claws, blunt objects didn't come close to hurting a Kertenkele. Fire was a whole different matter.

He stepped back only to hit the rock wall surrounding three sides of the campsite. Torches barely above his knees let him see who was attacking, Vartalf. Lots of them. Three piled on Mina. Cita cowered to one side, alone. She was saying something to Mina. Although Gumus couldn't understand the words the tone sounded a lot like an apology.

Gumus balled up his fists and twisted his body from side to side, arms swinging wide to catch as many Vartalf in his wake. More poured into the camp as he scooped up Mina and headed to the water. The camp burned merrily behind them. The light from the torches reflected in the goggles the Vartalf wore and their whoops of celebration echoed in the night air.

"Did you tell Cita where the money's hidden?"

Mina wailed from the perch on his shoulder.

Gumus took that for a yes. "It's all right." He stayed as deep as he could until a pike fish tried to take a chunk from his leg. The Vartalf soon made off with anything of value from their camp and the money they had hidden and worked so hard for. Gumus and Mina waited on the other side of the beach until they were done.

Mina cried and repeated an endless stream of apologizes. 

"It's not your fault. I should have known better." The anger of the Cinsel Iliski danced inside. Gumus tested it. Found he could sip from it if he needed to. He would kill anyone who got in his way from now on.

They sat on the beach as the sun rose over the hills. Gumus truly did not know what to do now. Working day in and day out in the mines while being well-fed and cared for with his brothers had been easy. Half starved, his concentration taken up with trying to control the Cinsel Iliski while working all day to hunt and gather for a pitiful amount of money... and now this. Everything gone. Starting over. He could not think beyond it. His eyes trailed over the glittering water. He'd never heard how long it would take for a Kertenkele to drown.

Mina tugged at his arm. Tears, soot, and singed hair marked her face.

Gumus had to get her on a boat to Dong Tochi even if he had to toss her on deck from the shore. Tragedy followed them like a cloud. Aventyrare and Free Porters looked away and parted as they approached. Gumus took a couple of money, all that was left of their work over all these months, bought a steamed fish wrapped in paper and sat Mina down on a bench to eat it.