Nobody Likes Fairytale Pirates (44 page)

“How can you tell?”

“Because I’m looking up at it right
now.”  He turned her body so that she was facing it too.  “The sun is currently
shining off it, which is why you’re confused about the direction.  It’s
gleaming
off of silver.”  He leaned closer to her.  “It’s sitting up there on the cliff
above us, Ransom.”  He sounded so excited and eager.  “It’s waiting for us!”

“What are we just standing arou…
holy shit.”  Ryle gasped, coming up beside them.  “Is that like…?”

“I would guess so, lad.”  Uriah
assured the boy, obviously beaming.  “Welcome to Nar Ta’Tel.”

Ransom couldn’t speak for the
entire blind community, but to her, discovering a lost city simply wasn’t that
big a deal.  She was assured by her partner that the city itself looked
beautiful; a checkboard of silver blocks and Adithian sandstone, creating all
manner of towers, walls and arches.

But Ransom couldn’t see it, so she
didn’t really care.  It could have been constructed of twigs and hair, for all
she could tell.

To her, the place was simply a
mixture of snow and stone under her feet, and chamber after chamber of
seemingly empty space.  She’d grown up around Adithian architecture, all trying
to copy the same historic styles.  Endlessly repeating what her people saw as
their cultural height.  So this was nothing special, even if it was older and
constructed with lots of silver bricks.  And knowing her people, they weren’t
even
solid
silver blocks; they were plate.  Adithians only ever cared
about appearances.  Bragging rights for seemingly having the most expensive
city in the world. 

Her footsteps echoed off the high
walls and through vacant courtyards, and Ransom didn’t think there was anything
else to the city.  Just the smell of stale mold and the sounds of the
occasional rat scurrying away as she walked by.

They had arrived in Nar Ta’Tel
about an hour ago and from what Uriah had told her, the mythical city was
pretty much intact.  They had made their way up the countless stairs to the
entry gates and then down the fabled ceremonial road to the main buildings.  “City”
was perhaps a misnomer, as it had always been mainly about the central
structures. 

Countless generations ago, her
people had decided to expand their borders and had marched through the then waist-high
grasslands which would one day become the endless salt of the Great Nothing. 
Her proud Adithian ancestors had built the holy center of their new land here,
in Nar Ta’Tel, as a symbol of their power.

Then Uriah’s ancestors killed and
ate them all.

Or something.

Honestly, Ransom had never really
paid attention to the stories, mostly because she never thought the place
actually existed.  But it apparently did.  And according to Uriah, it looked
like everyone just left one day.  All of their shit was still here, slowly
falling apart as the centuries wore on.  And since in addition to being the
holy center of the new Adithian province, Nar Ta-Tel had also been entrusted
with a significant percentage of the kingdom’s treasury at the time, that was a
good thing.

This place was said to have all the
treasures of her people hidden somewhere in it depths.  The things thought too
precious to leave on the home islands, for fear of theft.  And if all of the
other legends were true, she was guessing that was true as well.

To Din and Uriah, it wasn’t even a
question anymore.  In their minds, the gold was already in hand.

But Ransom wasn’t so sure.  She had
more experience with her people than they did, and she recognized the fact that
telling
someone you had a city of unimaginable wealth, and actually
having one, were two different things.  You got to show everyone how rich you
were, feeling good about yourself, and if someone called you on it, you could
just say that inferior races had become jealous and now the city was lost.  You
could even send generations of young Adithians out questing for it, trying to
reclaim that lost glory, making yourselves seem even more valiant and
important.

It was a pretty good cover, all
told.

Ransom had spent most of the last
hour moping however.  If they actually found what they were looking for, then
she’d be forced to have
that
conversation with Uriah, and she wasn’t
looking forward to it.  They had agreed when their job was finished, they’d
discuss their… whatever it was… and that would be awkward.  Things would
change.  It would mean that she’d have to drop defenses she had long since
gotten used to, and she wasn’t sure she had the strength to do that.  Ransom
was already unsure, and her newfound “Jinshu” memories caused her to become
absolutely terrified.  In her previous life, she had never let anyone in.  Not
ever.  And especially not one of the pirates she had dedicated her life to
killing in gruesome ways.

Honestly, it was much easier to
just hope that their job never ended.  If they never found the gold, then
Ransom could avoid discussing their relationship.  Guilt free.  It was the
perfect solution.

Her happy thoughts were interrupted
by another crashing sound and she winced at the noise.  The design of the
buildings amplified every single sound, almost to the point of pain.  She could
hear each footstep and small movement of the people around her, which would
have ordinarily been helpful, but not so much now.  She didn’t really care what
they were doing and all the noise was hurting her ears.

“I think we’re almost through!” 
Din cried excitedly, almost manic now.

“Uh-huh.”  Her partner didn’t sound
happy, breathing hard from his exertions.  “So, maybe it’s time for
you
to take a turn.”

“Nonsense!”  Din took on an
insulted tone.  “I paid you to get me to my treasure.  You haven’t done that
yet.”  Their client’s voice sounded far away, almost dream-like.  “But you will
soon.  It’s just through that door.  I can feel it…”

“That’s not creepy at all.”  Ryle
told him sarcastically.  “Don’t worry.”

Another booming sound as her
partner tried to break down the heavy wood and iron door using only his own
weight and muscles.

“That’s the story of your life,
‘Rai.”  She told him calmly.  “You just throw yourself into obstacles, waiting
for one of you to break.  Like a bird and a fucking window.”

Another crashing sound as he
slammed into the door again.

“The difference is that…”

*WHAM!*

The door apparently gave way suddenly
as he hit it again, bits of wood and broken metal scattering across what
sounded like a slick tile floor inside the building.

“Somewhere there’s an Adithian
historian crying over the fact you destroyed that, Uriah.”  Ryle told him
seriously.  “It looked old.”

“The fucker can bill us.”  Ransom
snorted.

Din’s footsteps hurried inside and
it sounded like he shoved Ryle out of the way.  The boy made a soft sound of
surprise and irritation, his footsteps stumbling back on the sandstone.

Their client’s creepy laughter
continued from inside the room, obviously delighted by whatever it was he was
seeing.

“If that’s the gold, I vote we just
kill him and split it amongst ourselves.”  Ryle told them seriously.  “I don’t
like him.  I don’t think I’ll like him any more when he’s ungodly wealthy.”

She frowned slightly.  “Uriah?” 
She said softly.  “I’m scared.”

“Me too.”  Her partner agreed
solemnly.

“I’m kinda almost sorta starting to
like the Swab.”  She breathed with something close to horror.

“I know.”  Uriah took her hand
supportively.  “Hopefully it will pass.  Because I don’t want to live this
way.”

“Oh, shut up.”  Ryle started off
into the building.  “Now I’m thinking of killing you all and just taking
everything for myself.”

“He’s really starting to understand
the basics of the piratical arts, Dove.”  Uriah sounded so proud, adding a mock
tightness to his voice as if genuinely moved.

“Well, we’re good role models.” 
She agreed.

“We are.”  He gently led her
through the doors.  “But as my mother always said,” he began, then trailed off,
“…holy shit.”

Ransom’s brow furrowed in
confusion.  “Not one of Maggie’s best, ‘Rai.”  She teased.  “I mean, I
personally like to imagine your mother as some kind of wise but drunken warrior
woman, who…”

“Do you see this!?!”  Din shouted
excitedly.  “I told you!”

The room didn’t tell her much.  It
sounded large and empty, exactly like the dozen others they’d been in this
morning.  The air smelled sour and musty, like no one had been here in hundreds
of years.  But… wetter.  There was a water source somewhere nearby, adding
moisture to the air and giving the room a damp feel, but the body of water
wasn’t so close that she could hear dripping or anything.

“Umm… Uriah?”  She asked softly.

“We are standing in a large room,
maybe… sixty feet by seventy.”  He breathed.  “In front of us is a large mural made
up of gems and silver.  The room is ringed with random piles of… well… treasure
and weapons.  There is an altar looking thing in the middle of the room and a
series of chests on the right wall.  Five of them.  Four of them are blue and
the second from the left is white.” 

“White?”  She repeated.

“Yep.”  He didn’t say anything for
a moment.  “Looking around the room, I get the sense this isn’t the
actual
treasure
though.  Just…”  He trailed off, too distracted by what he was seeing to go on.

“Overflow.”  She supplied for him.

“Yes.”  He agreed.  “Absolutely.” 
He thought about something.  “The weapons are scattered around, like they were
either expecting a fight or left in a hurry.  I don’t see any bodies, but I get
the sense that something
bad
happened here.”

“This is all mine!”  Din announced
with certainty, staking his claim in case anyone doubted him.  “All of this is
mine!”  His footsteps traced from one side of the room to the other, pacing
back and forth in excited agitation.  “But where is it!?!”

“Where’s what?”  Ryle asked,
kicking something—which was no doubt priceless-- so that it jingled across the
tile.  “Looks like there’s enough here already.”

“We should split up.”  Din
decided.  “We could find it faster.”

Ransom and Uriah let out identical
barks of laughter at that idea.

“
You
split up.”  Uriah
retorted.

“My partner and I stick together…” 
Ransom continued.

“…unless tactically necessary.” 
Uriah finished.

“Yep.”  She nodded.

“Or if there are bugs.”

“He doesn’t like bugs.”  Ransom
explained.

“I don’t like bugs.”  Uriah agreed.

Dinner busied himself by scurrying
after something on the far wall, making excited sounds.

“I want it!”  Din insisted, paying
no attention to them.  “I need it!”  He dashed off towards the back corner of
the room and his footsteps echoed as they descended what sounded like a flight
of stairs.  “WHERE!?!”

“What’s he looking for?”  Ryle
asked again, standing next to them.

“If he finds it, you’ll know.” 
Uriah informed him cryptically, following their client.

“Why?”  Ryle called after him,
trying to catch up.

“Because I’m going to kill him and
take it.”  Her partner said, a tinge of fury and something else in his tone. 
It almost sounded like… hope.  Or anticipation.

“Uriah?” She made her way to the
edge of the stairs.  “What’s going on?”

Her partner dashed back up the
stairs, swearing to himself.  He took her hand to help her down.  “Sorry. 
Forget about the stairs.”

“You ready to tell me what it is
you’re so anxious about, ‘Rai?”  She asked him again.  “Because this is getting
annoying.”

“I want something that’s here.”  He
kept his arm on hers to provide her balance and to help her judge where the next
stair was.  “It’s the entire reason I came.”

“And what
is
it?”

“A lamp.”  He reached the bottom of
the stairs, his boots making slightly wet sounds on the slick rock floor.  “And
it’s
mine.
”

Ransom’s stomach dropped.  “Is
this… is this a stupid magic thing?”  She breathed.  “Because you
know
how I feel about magic.”

“It’s not ‘a’ magic thing.”  He
insisted.  “It’s ‘
the’
magic thing.  It’s the power to do whatever I
want. 
Have
whatever I want.”

“Genies are bad news, Uriah.”  She
shook her head.  “Nothing is so important to risk dealing with them.”

There was a strange noise from
somewhere deeper in the dank room, audible even over the sound of the freezing
water as it dripped from the walls into this subterranean space.  The building
overhead had protected the stairway, but this chamber was clear of its imprint
and the snow on the mountain was leaking into it as it melted.

The strange sound came again and
she was finally able to place it.  Echoing laughter.

“Thaaaat doesn’t sound good.” 
Ransom heaved an expectant sigh, recognizing that her day was going to get
pretty shitty, despite the discovery of a lost city filled with gold.

“I’m sure it’s fine.”  Uriah
started off towards the noise, leading her by her hand.  “Our client is just a
little excited, that’s all.”

“He’s creeping me out, Uriah.”  She
told him bluntly.  “And I’m the woman who made Fridays in Adithia ‘Death by
Impalement Day’ just because I found it funny.”

He stopped in tracks for a moment,
then let out a sharp bark of delighted laughter.  “I know I shouldn’t, but I
simply
adore
hearing stories about you being evil.”  He kissed the back
of her hand and then continued leading her towards the noise.  “I find it such
a turn-on, strangely.”

“You
are
a complicated
man.”  She told him dryly, repeating his earlier description of himself.

The noise got louder as they exited
out through a tunnel into a larger room.  She could hear water rushing into…
something.  It sounded like some kind of waterfall was emptying into a deep
crevasse in the mountain, but she couldn’t tell if they were still inside or
not.

She stepped closer to her partner, feeling
oddly unnerved by the space.  Something here was… wrong.  “U-u-uriah?”

“We’re inside a cavern, Dove.”  He
explained.  “On the far side is a literal
mountain
of golden objects and
trinkets.  There is a path to it across the void, but it’s narrow and crumbling.” 
He cleared his throat, uncomfortable about something.  “And… uh…”  He didn’t
finish that thought.