Shimmer and Sear
So, I slightly forgot to upload this yesterday! So have a bumper upload today!
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Upon arriving at a new town, Kirsikka our intrepid thief is beckoned by a mysterious woman with a tumultuous past. She has heard rumors of the deeds done by the travellers, and wishes to employ them to rescue a princess. Now that may seem like old hat, but things are not what they seem, as Kiri and Celeste soon find out.
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Shimmer and Sear
Many call it the backbone of the world. The Union Firth, the grand waterway that splits the continent of Mahdol in two, and spreads through it like arteries and veins. Lives are lived upon its waters, and lives are lost as well. On one particular day, in the midst of autumn, when the trees were turning golden brown and the nights were drawing colder, one particular vessel was docking at a large market town. The boat of black and gold, unnamed to all but those who knew her, was tethered to the dock with heavy rope, thicker than even the ropes used to tie the great galleons further down at the coast.
“Kiri, I need you to do the shopping this time round, I have some business with the authorities here,” Celeste said as she rode down onto the wooden dock in her wheeled chair. Kirsikka brushed her brown locks aside from her face, and rolled her eyes.
“That sounds entirely unentertaining. I cannot promise I won't keep my hands to myself on this most boring of missions,” Kiri replied, her hands lightly resting upon the two handles at the back of the shiny brass and plush red velvet chair. Celeste let out a little chuckle, and shooed the girls hands away from the handles, rolling herself forwards using the wheels.
“I would expect nothing less of you. Don't forget that you need new ink, so you will need to find that somewhere too. You may buy it with any remaining funds,” she said, reaching into the pockets of the chair to pull out a small, heavy bag of coin, and a scrap of paper with words written on it in a swirling, cursive text.
“Fiiine, I will go buy you your trinkets. But I'm also gunna buy a cake, and eat it all myself, none for you,” she said with a pout. Celeste chuckled again, but did not respond, merely continuing to roll along the docks.
A few hours later, bundles of food and water hanging from her arms, Kirsikka was making her way back to the Rakas when she heard a noise.
“Psst, hey, leather girl,” a voice called from behind a large stack of barrels and crates. Kiri grinned widely, and set her shopping on the ground, casually pulling one of her knives from her boot. She paced over to the barrels, a smile on her face.
“You know, only my bandoliers are leather. The trousers are silkweave canvas, and my shirt is actually hide, not leather. It's softer. But good eye from that far,” she said, tossing the knife idly as she entered the darker area.
“Brown girl would've been a little insensitive, I think, but thank you for coming over anyway. I had hoped to speak with you about something very impotant,” the voice spoke, as a woman emerged from behind a barrel. She wore loose, baggy trousers, an armless tight shirt in vermillion red, and had white bindings wrapped around her left arm just above where her elbow should have been. Golden hair cascaded down her back, and her eyes were a fiery orange, and bore a great sadness to them.
“As much as I appreciate being lured into an alleyway by a vision of divine beauty, couldn't you have approached me like a normal person?” Kiri replied.
“It is too dangerous for me to be seen on the streets. The city guard are on the lookout for me, and if they find me, they will try to kill me,” she replied. Kiri arched an eyebrow at this.
“OK, I'm interested. What did you have to say?” Kiri asked. The woman took a deep breath.
“My name is Ling. I may not look it, but I am a member of a tribe of warriors, with many years of battle under my belt. My mother was a great hero in my home, and my father, a wanderer from the wastelands. My family were celebrated among my people as powerful leaders, sworn to protect our interests, and our lands. We fueded with many other tribes, but brought peace to our homelands, a peace that barely lasted. A wretched man, Baron Ashna, brought ruin to our sacred lifestyle, and could not be bargained with. A terrible war broke out, a war that decimated my people, and has me separated from them. I have been forced to beg and scrape to survive, taking on work whenever I could, to keep myself from wasting away even more than you see before you. Several weeks ago, I... yes?”
“Does this story have a break at some point? Only, I kinda have to go pee, and after that, I have a packed day of nothing ahead of me, so I'm busy busy busy,” Kiri replied, leaning back against the crates.
“I'm sorry that the plight of my people bores you so. Fine. I have met a woman who I owe a great debt, and before I leave this town and return to my people, I wish to free her from the local prison. I need help, because even I cannot take on dozens of armed guards alone, and without armour,” she said.
“What makes you think I can help you. Or that I even will?” Kiri asked.
“I have heard rumors. Tellings of a boat with no name, crewed by a woman who knows all secrets, and one whose momentum in a fight is never lost. They say that one is cold and distant, the other an outrageous flirt. You two arrived earlier, on a boat with no name. I took a gamble,” Ling replied. Kiri nodded her head a little, and smiled.
“Let me see what I can do, miss warrior,” she said, scooping up her belongings, and heading for the ship.
“I'm back! Did you get the shopping?” Celeste called as she tapped at the prow of the boat. Kirsikka poked her head up from the roof of the vessel, and waved idly.
“Got everything on the list, got my ink, found a cool business opportunity, and even managed to get in some practice. Oh, and I bought you some actual nice coffee, so you can finally be kind to your tastebuds,” she said, pulling herself along the boat as Celeste rolled up to the ramp.
“Hmm... you must be interested in this... opportunity... if you've neglected to ask me about my own activities,” the dark skinned woman replied, pushing herself up onto her leg, and pulling herself onto the rail attached seat that she used when driving the boat. A few catches were pulled and a lever lowered, and the metal planks that the wheeled chair rested on began to rattle, as the ramp began to slowly rise into the air, folding onto the deck with the chair on top of it.
“She's gorgeous, long golden hair, dazzling eyes, unh! I could do so many things to that woman, naughty, shocking things,” Kiri purred, rolling into her back, looking at Celeste upside down. “But yes, let's talk about your boring thing that doesn't involve a beautiful if overly verbose gift to the world,” she added, poking her tongue out.
“The negotiation went well. We will be arranging for a delivery of a dozen boxes to be taken to Yeshna, for a fee of ten thousand Denar,” she said. Kiri's eyebrows rose in surprise.
“Ten thousand? What are we shipping, slaves? I thought we didn't do that, Celly,” she said, rolling over and moving to stand.
“Calm down, we don't. I was quite emphatic about that. It's 'none of our business', so I did a little investigating, and we're taking White Tiger,” she replied.
“Drugs? Eww. Pass. You can deal with that, I'm not interested,” Kiri said, slumping back down onto the roof.
“That's perfectly fine. You'll just have to earn your own money for a while,” Celeste shot back at her with a smirk. “Well? What about your little opportunity?” she asked, using a little control panel to let the chair slide up along the solid rails towards the roof.
“You ever hear of the warriors of Tel'rethar?” the brown haired woman said.
“Can't say that I have. Why?”
“No real reason. I just think I met one of them. She seemed to be interested in a jailbreak. I'll be honest, I just want to see her fight. There was a legend about the warriors, that they only got stronger the more they got hurt, and this one's missing her arm. I get chills just thinking about it,” she said, biting her lip.
“Ah, is this the blonde? What do you see the prize to be? You can't be thinking so altruistically,” came the response.
“Well... I need to confirm it with the target, but, I think there's something more to it. You remember the time with that bard, and what went on? I've got the same tingles,” she said, rolling to her side to look at her partner.
“I have been a fool not to trust your instincts before, Kirsikka, but I must admit I am a little trepidacious. A jailbreak is no easy feat, and we are on a schedule now,” Celeste replied.
“Let me go back to her, I'll confirm a few things and come back to you,” she said, curling up slightly.
“Very well. Speak with your golden haired warrior tomorrow. And don't sleep on the roof again, you'll catch a cold. Hey. Kirsikka! Damn... you are a fool of a child,” Celeste said, as Kirsikka's breaths became more shallow, her eyes tightly shut.
