Six Warriors

Fugitives, Bounty Hunters and Pirates - (Miguel)

Roasted fish, barley bread, and a goblet of perry, this was the meal Victoria brought Miguel from the inn. He hadn't noticed before how hungry he really was and ate it all with satisfaction. While Miguel eating, Victoria explained what had happened, being interrupted from time to time by Yumi, Stanis just watched everything silently as he usually did. The story had basically been this: Miguel and the others were getting ready to go to the other world and go through the Perennial Gate, when something went wrong on the trip, bright lights flashed, the magic passage seemed to collapse and everyone ended up in a different place, everyone woke up confused in Lazuli, but Miguel, being on his first trip, was the most affected. It turns out that, according to stories heard by Victoria, Miguel had been teleported to a place where at the same moment the daughter of a local lord was passing by with her entourage and the sudden appearance of the boy there was seen as an attempt to assassinate the lord's daughter, so Miguel was thrown in jail even unconscious.

"Was that it, then? I just got really unlucky?" Miguel asked as he finished eating.

"Yes and I hope we don't have a problem with that!" Yumi said as if complaining, but Miguel made a face at her as if asking what his fault was.

"I think we might even have a chance to prove that Miguel's alleged attack was just a misunderstanding, but now that we've released those prisoners…" Victoria bit her lower lip.

"Wait a minute, you did what?!" Yumi asked pointedly, "please tell me this is just a joke. It's a joke, right?"

"Oh, they were really nice guys, come on!" Miguel defended himself.

"Boy! Do you know what trouble you got us into?! They were sentenced to death!"

"Guys, I got sentenced to death in this crazy place just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the guys looked like just two ordinary bums," Miguel shrugged, "they weren't dangerous, I bet."

"I very much doubt it, but it would be a good thing if by a very big miracle of fate you're right, boy!" Yumi growled at Miguel, "now if you guys have any sense you'll agree with me that we need to sleep and rest to continue our research tomorrow, so good night." Snorting the girl pulled the curtain that separated the part of the room that should been reserved for her and Victoria. Miguel wondered how someone so small could be so bossy and irritable. Victoria said good night to the boys too and went to the part of the room that was separated by the curtain, leaving Miguel and Stanis alone. Miguel motioned to his colleague as if to say the girls were pretty stressed and then the two went to sleep.

The next day they went down to the inn reception and went to take care of the payment, the old inn owner started to wind them up somehow, as if he wanted them to stay there as long as possible, which was starting to get weird.

"Old man, if you haven't noticed, we just want to pay and leave. Come on, if you just stop chattering and take our pay I'll even give you an extra silver coin!" Yumi spoke with her characteristic rudeness.

"Oh, yes, sure, sure," the old man said, "I'll just take your change and... wait, um, I need to count my copper pieces and give you the change correctly, forgive a lapsed old man."

"No, no change is needed! It's for you, okay?" She turned to Miguel and the others, "come on, let's get out of here soon."

"Wait, please, just a little longer!" The old man asked for a way to feel sorry for Miguel, to which Yumi replied very annoyed:

"Just shut up, old man, you pissed me off already!"

The old man made a cornered expression, sad and with almost watery eyes. Miguel was sorry.

"Hey, give it a break, he's just an old man wanting to be nice." Miguel said to Yumi.

"No! We woke up early for nothing? He's a pain in the a*s that..." Suddenly Yumi seemed to notice something strange, she quickly pulled out her staff and it looked like she was going to attack Miguel out of nowhere, but what she did was hit something that came at him in a menacing way.

When Miguel looked more closely he realized that the girl had hit an arrow in midair with her staff and had therefore saved Miguel from being hit by that thing. In a spot outside the inn, on top of the roof of a simple house there, was a figure holding a bow and already preparing to shoot another arrow. Yumi frowned.

"What the f**k…bounty hunters?" She turned to the old man, "Is that what you were waiting for, old man? For the bounty hunters to come get us?" The girl started to twirl her staff, but Victoria touched her shoulder.

"Let's get out of here, we don't have time for this, we have to get away." Said Victoria and reluctantly Yumi agreed, they ran to leave through the back door, but Miguel noticed that the figure with the bow jumped from the roof that was to another...

They went out the back door in an alley and came face to face with another guy... or girl, she was a dragonborn, an ancient race with draconic traits, in this case she had green scales and wore half plate armor and carried a battle axe.

"Yes, you are the fugitive." Said the dragonborn, "25 gold pieces, not one of the best rewards I've got but it's good to start the day."

Bow guy appeared around there on some roof, jumping up and down. He appeared to be a half-elf and aimed an arrow in Miguel's direction.

"You're wanted dead or alive so I could just shoot an arrow in your head and take the reward."

"We have more to do your parasites!" Yumi roared as he swung his staff and slapped it to the ground, "MIST CURTAIN!"

Steam began to condense in the air forming a haze in which it was difficult to see, Yumi offered the staff to her friends for them to hold and guide themselves by it and they did so, fleeing while the bounty hunters cursed. Miguel and the others ran away, knowing there were people on their tail. Yumi started to complain.

"Did you guys even imagine he might be wanted? Man, why didn't you at least put some kind of disguise on him before entering the inn?"

"S-sorry..." Miguel said.

"Our luck is that the person we're going to now is trusted by the Order, but we'll have to find some disguises and this time for all of us when we get out of there."

...

The house was in the noblest area of the small port town, it was the place where there were more guards hanging around, luckily Miguel and the others were not seen.

The owner of the house was an old woman, she looked over sixty years old, her skin was dark and she wore her hair up, her stylish dress flows from top to bottom and has a court neckline, which graciously reveals the refined dress worn below it. The ornate, corset-like tied fabric of her dress covers her stomach where the continuous flow is broken up by a small leather belt worn fairly low around her waist.

"This young man is being wanted by the law." Said the old woman with them already inside her house, while pointing to Miguel, "and consequently you will be too."

"He is with us, Izette, he is... important to the Order. Miguel, this is Izette Venter, she is an academic who has taught at several academies in Khand, she helps the Order a lot." Said Victoria.

"Don't tell me the boy is another one of those candidates to inherit the crystal the Order keeps recruiting."

"Huh, er...sort of."

"Oh... by the gods, he IS one of the chosen ones himself, isn't he? May the gods have mercy!"

"Izette, we don't have time for this," Yumi warned, "we have to find clues as soon as possible, what do you have for us?"

"Something much, much, much better than mere clues as to where the scroll might be, yes... in my research I found where the scroll CURRENTLY IS. In fact, calling it scroll is just a figure of speech, the writing plus looks like a stone tablet. Yes, I found out where one of the Metaphysical Configuration Scrolls is, the Order can thank me later with a fat bag of gold and some items I need for my next research."

"Whatever, just tell us what you have to say."

"You would need a ship and a crew, the journey itself is not that long, two, maybe three days of travel, but it could be dangerous as it is very likely that the scroll is on Trident Island."

"Trident Island? Isn't it dangerous to get there?" Victoria asked.

"Yes, it is, there is a sea monster that intercepts most of the navigation there, precisely because it protects the scroll. On the island there is a blue hole, a sinkhole that leads to an underwater cave or marine cave, it is a kind of makeshift temple where some treasures are hidden and where is the scroll."

"Is there any way to get there without having to go through the sea monster?" Yumi asked.

"Just the usual old story, someone with no ambitions, with a pure heart who doesn't want the scroll for personal gain..." The old woman gave Miguel a suggestive look, "who knows? There's no route to avoid it if it is what you want to know, is to rely on luck or on divine providence."

"Thank you for your help, Izette, we will communicate to our officers and you will be duly rewarded" Yumi looked at the others, "we need to go now."

"No, no, you can't go like that. The boy is wanted and even has a reward for him alive or dead. Allow me to help with that."

Izette presented the boys with other outfits, some of them with cloaks, hoods and other things to help their disguise, it was common for adventurers to walk around with such accessories so it wasn't so weird to walk around like that. Miguel wore a kind of Bedouin turban that served to hide his face. Everyone thanked Izette once more and she wished her luck.

"One last thing you need to know," Izette said, "you aren't the only ones looking for information about this scroll, it's good for you to know and apparently... people who also search for these scrolls are dangerous."

When they left Izette's house, Yumi was saying:

"Well technically our mission would be finished but, I don't know, I'm not satisfied what about you guys?" she didn't wait for an answer, "I believe that just as this information got to us, it might get into the wrong hands, I think we need to retrieve the scroll ourselves, as soon as possible."

"You must be crazy," Victoria said, "didn't you hear what Izette said? We'd need a crew, by the way, one who's brave enough to go to Trident Island, that wouldn't be cheap, with Miguel's situation just as well. it would be A LOT since with that we had to cover his reward, this is unthinkable, unnecessary risk."

"Have you heard Izette, who knows what evil forces are looking for the scroll, who knows if it won't be too late? What do you say, Miguel? Aren't you curious?"

"That would be insubordination." Victoria warned.

"That would be taking the initiative. At least let's investigate, if we get a crew and we can pay, we'll, if not, let it go, let fate decide, how about that?"

"Very well then." Miguel replied, "let's do it, let fate decide, 'fate guides the willing, and drags the unwilling'."

"Very well said, Stanis?" Yumi asked.

"I don't know," replied the big guy, "that the majority decides."

"Okay, two voted yes, one no and one maybe, yes won, let's go. There's only one place we can find someone crazy enough to take us to such a dangerous place, to take a RUNAWAY to such a dangerous place, the tavern known as The Blue Shell."

"The Blue Shell?" Victoria asked looking incredulous, "that place of ruffians, thieves, cheaters and pirates?"

"Only the scum has nothing to lose and everything to risk." Yumi said with a smile difficult to decipher.

...

The Blue Shell, according to the stories Victoria told on the way, that place had once been a respectable establishment and had been visited by the cream of Lazuli's adventurous and merchant class, but a plot made that place fall from grace. The former owner of the place had two daughters, one of them, the youngest, had the heart of a young naval officer, but this was not reciprocated. No matter how many attempts were made, the officer could never win the girl's heart and what was love turned into rancor and consequently hate. Unbridled passions lead people to commit follies that they would not commit in their state of pure reasoning, Miguel often judged them as a kind of reasoning disease, love, desire, envy, anger, all were illogic at its peak. What happens is that the young officer realized that establishment was everything for his young beloved's family, was the thing her family cherished the most, he also realized that his beloved's sister ended up falling in love with the gestures he dedicated to her sister. The young man married his sister and made her life hell, the young woman saw herself defenseless before her lover who had proved himself a monster, her father and brothers could not watch everything idly and planned something to get revenge on the young man, they didn't want to kill him, just teach him a lesson... they gave the officer a good beating, who didn't let it go, and arrested and sentenced his father and brothers to be hanged for hurting a naval officer. The two sisters begged for mercy but were not answered, the establishment then passed to the older sister, the young man's former lover, who found herself filled with old debts from her father that she was not aware of before, she would be bound to sell the tavern, but a mysterious man offered help...she just needed to store a few boxes in the tavern and the man would pay her a good amount of silver every month, what she didn't know was that that man was a smuggler who had already been arrested and his freedom was offered in exchange for this service, a trap for the young girl led by her sister's husband, the naval officer. After the young woman accepted that, the smuggler reported to the officer that the contraband was hidden in The Blue Shell and such a scandal was enough to take the young woman to prison and make the establishment fall from grace forever. A family friend bought the establishment so that it wouldn't be destroyed, but since then, the place has been frequented only by the scum, bandits and men of the worst kind.

When they got there, some drunks were singing a song about the devil's winds favoring the fearless, some men cast frightening looks at Miguel and his troupe.

"We need a ship and crew." Miguel told the innkeeper, all the men who listened immediately looked at Miguel's group.

"One hundred pieces of silver a day of travel, can take any cargo or person, no hassles on the part of the navy I have an agreement with them. Best offer you will not find fearless adventurer." Said a skinny man with a glass eye.

"This man's ship is a tub falling apart, it's less risky to get into the muzzle of a cannon and try to throw yourself out of it, MY offer is the best, one hundred and fifty silver coins, a little more expensive, a lot more quality." Offered a very short man with a thick gray beard.

"We will pay the fair amount for a crew that dares to go to Trident Island!" Yumi said, but her high-pitched, low-pitched voice made many men there laugh, thinking it was some kind of joke.

"Good joke, kid," said the short one, "no one approaches Trident Island, at least no one in their right mind." The men laughed more.

"She speaks the truth, our goal is Trident Island and don't bother those who aren't brave enough to sail there." Victoria spoke once and for all, in a haughty voice and no room for jokes.

"They're just arrogant kids who don't know anything about navigation, let them go, they shouldn't have any silver with them" shrugged the glass-eyed one and the others nodded and went back to their tables.

Yumi gathered all the money given to them by the Order (which, by the way, hadn't given Miguel anything, just for the other three, which he thought was very unfair) and the joining of the pockets formed a good pile of non-silver coins, but of gold. The men looked at it greedily.

"You are really too brave to show that amount of gold here," said the innkeeper, looking at them seriously as he wiped a mug, "or just too silly, seeing where you want to go."

"Didn't I hear right, or wasn't this where a song was sung about the devil favoring the wind of the fearless?" Miguel provoked.

"For the devil's winds carry yous straight to hell!" One of the men spat, unsheathing a curved sword from his waist, "That gold will be mine and my men's, Trident Island or no Trident Island, courage or not!"

"Don't even think about it Condoriano!" The innkeeper warned, "If everyone thinks like you, there will be chaos inside my tavern for this gold, I don't want fights or bloodshed here, that's the rule!"

"f**k that gubu rule! No begrudgery up my booty, do you dig? Ya get me? I got the idea first! Whoever dares, I'll kick the gowl! It will have donnybrook you filthy bogs!" Condoriano wanted to advance with his sword raised, but someone shot a pistol right in his hand, one of those flintlock pistols. Condoriano cursed as he dropped his sword, the shot coming from a corner of the room, where a guy wearing a tricorn hat that hid his face was sitting with his feet up on the table.

"You better sit your dirty a*s back in that chair, you sewer rat!" Threatened the flintlock pistol guy. The guy chuckled, "Too silly, huh? Too crazy. I guess that's how I like it." He stood up, his hat still hiding his features. "I agree to take you there, you don't need to pay me with your gold, but I will want the treasures we find there, you know, just to motivate my men." The man walked towards Miguel and the others, his steps were very audible on that wooden floor, everyone remained silent watching the scene, "I said we would meet again, didn't I, my good comrade Miguel?" The man raised his hat with his index finger and turned out to be none other than Jacques, "but I admit, I didn't expect it to be so soon."

"Th-that's Calico Jacques! Captain Calico Jacques the Inconsequential Fool!" exclaimed some men from the tavern.

"H-he shouldn't be dead?! What's he doing here?! He's so wanted!" Said others.

"I hope you accept the gesture of thanks from a humble pirate." Jacques said with a slight bow and a smile.