Nelida's Grace

Chapter 6 - Kyruss begins the hunt

“It’s just not like him” whimpered the old woman. Lavernia and Ralston Bendazram were sitting at their table, the former twirling an old, worn, smelly rag in her hands. The Bendazrams had a very profitable fish-oil business and were friends of the church. Donating a lot of wealth monthly to Khirstus, Ralston always said he would continue to do so as the good lord always ensured their haul was good. It was the disappearance of their son, Kosim that caused them to seek the knights out. Which is why Kyruss was here. It appears that Lord Ewart, head of the knights in Eddleheal, thought it would be good to send Kyruss to look into it because “This type of job was beneath the fair brothers who have earned their stripes here.” otherwise known as, “You’re the new guy, you get the crap duty.”

“Now why would you say that my good lady?” Kyruss questioned half-heartedly. Not fully paying attention, in fact, the spider crawling across the floor near Ralston’s boot earned more attention.

“Well, you see, it wasn’t until he started talking about a young woman, Armina Rutsk. She definitely snared his attention, but he refused to bring her here to meet us. Said she wasn’t of noble birth and we would never approve.”

“He found a barmaid that has won his heart,” Kyruss mused, a sly smile forming “Or she found his gold.”

“It wasn’t until the other day, where he came home early in the morning, reeking of brine and refusing to go out on the boats, talking about how the gods want to destroy Eddleheal, he even called it..” She started to sob into the smelly rag. At the mention of gods and destruction, Kyruss perked up a bit. Ralston picked up where she left off, his voice deep and filled with concern. “He called it, a haven for wicked profiteers, which was followed with a lot of nonsense about how the gods would bring their vengeance down on the fleet and all those profiting from the sea. I had to remind him that the clothes on his back, the food he ate, and the money he spent at night, came from profits that were provided by the sea.” as Ralston finished his last sentence, it was as the good lady Lavernia was trying to call in the seagulls with her wails, in between her sobs, and Ralston trying to calm her down Kyruss was able to surmise that young Kosim stripped of his clothes and marched off into the morning light, as naked as he was brought into the world.

Looking at the contents on the tabletop, Kyruss moved a few of the items around, picking up a pendant, it appeared to be that of a ship's helm, with an eye in the middle. He holds up towards Ralston, not saying a word. “We have never seen it, that’s why we have it here, it was wrapped in the rag the missus has in her hands, with that parchment there.” he pointed to a slip of parchment that had two lines of writing on it. The first line said “Two drams and no more” with the line below it “It’s all I need”

“Now I have been asking around and there has been an uptick in some of the youth talking about some new-fangled sea-god called the Forgotten King.” Kyruss sat straight up. “Say again sir,” “Yes, the Forgotten King.”

Grabbing the amulet and the slip of parchment he stands quickly, startling the couple. “I don’t mean to open more wounds, but do you know where he goes with the others when they leave for the night” They both shake their heads in the negative. “I need to take these to Lord Ewart, I am not sure anything will come of it, but let it be known to all around here, the Forgetful King is an abomination and shouldn’t be listened to.”

On hearing the word abomination, Lavernia lost what little semblance of decorum she had and put her full face into the rag, and began to weep louder.

“Why the hell do you think this is our problem!” Lord Ewart shouted, slamming his hand down on his desk. Kyruss stood in front of the desk, loosely at attention.

“Sir, anything that denounces the current gods is an abomination, per our training, is that not correct?”

“That is correct Lord Kyruss, but you need to use common sense here. It’s merely a group of kids, acting like fools. We have no proof, and now you tossing that phrase around Ralston, he has the entire leadership of the boatman’s guild breaking my door down. Look at all these” Splaying his hands out above his desk, “I think I have a letter from every single leader and person of importance within the guild. I even think I have letters here from some of the leaders of the other guilds.” Picking up some of the letters, he tosses them towards Kyruss, grumbling, he sits back down and takes a deep sigh. “Let me tell you what you are going to do. You are going to find these kids, you are going to put the fear of Khirstus in them and then you are going to reply to every one of these letters, apologizing for inciting fear. Do I make myself clear!?” The last was finished with a shout. “Dismissed.”

Kyruss turned and left the room, he got what he wanted. The ability to hunt this cult down and eliminate them. This wasn’t the first time he had heard of the Forgetful King, it was just the first time he was able to deal with them entrenched in a city. The pendant was new, this meant it was a bit more serious, big city, big players. The parchment was something he had seen before, just not like this. Key phrases to be said at the taverns and inns throughout the city. Roughly doing the math in his head for the number of taverns in Eddleheal, which was roughly fifty, give or take, it was going to be a fun, busy week investigating.