Docks and Arrows

“So, since my year of captivity, I've had incentive to look up everything I could find about the noble House of Roses and the Faith of Favor,” Lana was saying to her audience of four: her brother, her cousin, a paladin, and a cleric. “Turns out they're pretty much the same front. The House of Roses has been managing the political end of things, while the Faith of Favor handles the religious and... necromantic aspects.” Lana took a deep breath and continued.

“On that end, there's another wedding planned between the House of Roses and another noble house. It's just a few day's journey by boat.” She handed her brother Maxim a wooden box full of gold. “I'm willing to pay for your passage and then some. All of you must stop the wedding and get this other noble house to ally with us. We'll never be able to take on the House of Roses and the Faith of Favor without a strong force behind us.”

Maxim examined his fingernails. “Noble politics and sailing – two of my least favorite things,” he grumbled.

Lana looked her brother in the eye. “Maxim, you know that I'm always going to be grateful for everything you went through to save me. That being said...” She raised her eyebrows and grinned. “Suck it up,” she said.

Maxim rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said. Maxim, his cousin Victor, Jume the paladin, and Aeva the cleric began making preparations to depart. Maxim gave Lana one last hug.

“Be careful,” she told him. “You and your friends need to get back here in one piece.” Maxim promised her that they would.

They made their way down to the docks, where there were over a dozen dark-skinned and pointy-eared individuals milling about. It was an overcast day, but whenever the sun came out, they all pulled their cloaks around themselves and averted their eyes.

“Shadow fey,” Victor observed dryly.

“I wonder what they're doing here?” Jume said.

It was at that moment that they saw two figures walking down the street – one of whom they recognized.

The first was a one-armed dwarf named Vorro, who had betrayed Aeva the cleric some days ago for the Faith of Favor. Yet the irises of his eyes were a cloudy whie – he'd been blinded. His remaining arm was a mottled grayish color and hung limply at his side.

The second was a red-haired halfling holding a map and talking non-stop. “Well, if we take this route once we get off the boat we should definitely get a lead on how to get your curse fixed, yessir, I was going to take another way, but I certainly didn't like the looks of them, uh-uh, oh! Hello, how can I help you sirs – and madam?”

Maxim knelt to the ground to shake the halfling's hand. “I'm Maxim, and these are my friends Jume, Victor, and Aeva. Would you happen to know where we could get a boat around here?”

The halfling shook Maxim's hand vigorously. “Oh yes, very good to meet you Mr. Maxim, my name is Lyle Barrelmaker the 9th, you can call me LB, everyone else does, but I'm no good at barrelmaking so I'm seeking adventure and another profession on the road, one day though, I want to have a son and he'll be LBT, like the sandwich, you know – that'd be funny!” LB was rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, full of energy.

Victor stared in disbelief. “Don't you ever stop talking?” he asked.

LB's face fell. “That was not very nice,” he replied, slower, “but I understand where you're coming from.”

“Excuse my cousin Victor,” Maxim apologized, “he can come off as rather callous.” He paused for a minute, looking at Vorro. “Aeva, isn't this the dwarf that betrayed you?” Aeva sighed and nodded.

Vorro spoke up. “Well, I realized I made an awful mistake, framing Aeva and turning to the Faith of Favor. So I told Nathan, my mentor, that I wanted to get out.” The dwarf turned away in shame. “Seems he didn't approve of that. He gave me a cursed ring, and I lost all the strength in my remaining arm and hand, as well as my sight.”

“Now,” Victor, a former member of the Faith of Favor, chimed in, “that's why you don't tell them you're going to leave.”

Vorro nodded as he recognized Victor's voice. “Well, I just thought Nathan would understand. He was nothing but kind, to me. And Aeva,” he added, “I don't expect you to forgive me, but one day I hope you will. Once I get these curses lifted, I'm going to try my best to make things right.”

Aeva didn't give Vorro the satisfaction of a response, only folding her arms and huffing derisively.

“How did you end up with LB, though?” Jume asked.

Vorro shrugged. “I'm actually not sure.”

“You see,” LB started in, “I was walking the docks like I usually do in the afternoons, and Vorro was wandering around all confused-like 'cus he can't see and he totally crashed into my barrel, which was kind of a bummer – no offense, Vorro – but I helped him up and he told me about his curses and I was more than happy to try and help him best I can, 'cus I want to get out of here anyway, you know, so I've got us passage on a boat, yeah!”

“I think we're going to the same area as you,” Victor said. “Could you get us passage on that boat?”

LB nodded. “Oh yes, sure I could! But...” he said, dropping his voice low, “there's a bit of a problem.” He beckoned Victor with a finger. “Crouch down, if you could, so I don't have to whisper to your crotch. A little lower, yeah, that's good.” LB cupped a hand to Victor's ear. “Now those strangers about, no one's been able to leave since they arrived, everyone who tries to go on a boat wakes up somewhere else with their pockets a little lighter, you know? So we have to get rid of them, but we can't just attack them outright, can we? So I'll just make my way to the dock, completely minding my own business.” The halfling gave Victor a knowing wink.

Victor shrugged. “The shadow fey are stopping people from leaving,” he said aloud, “but LB has a plan to help us. Unless anyone has any other ideas?”

No one did, and so they all watched as LB made his way down the dock. The sneaky halfling walked close to one of the shadow fey, purposely getting in their way. He let his foot get stepped on by them, and feigned a spectacular trip, splaying his coin purse as an extra touch. “Oh no!” he cried out. “Please don't hurt me!”

It was a dishonest way of picking a fight, but a clever one, Maxim had to admit. LB's instigation gave the group of them an excuse to engage the shadow fey in combat.

A few months ago, Maxim would have never picked a fight with the odds stacked three to one against the four of them. But they made a good team. With Jume's swinging sword, Victor's spells, and Aeva's mace, they were pretty evenly matched with the shadow fey. Maxim let forth an epic lightning blast, and Aeva's fireball caught a good number of them.

Thunk! Maxim suddenly had an arrow sticking out of his chest. He looked up to see that he was out in the open – a prime target for the archers. He prepared a magic missile spell, but felt a pain in his shoulder. Maxim glanced down to see another arrow sticking out of his body.

He took stock of the fight around him, which seemed to be winding down. Several of the shadow were unconscious and the rest of them appeared worse for the wear.

“Can we stop fighting now?” Maxim pleaded. “I have two arrows sticking out of me!”

One of the nearby fey chuckled. “My child,” he said, “I have had no less than eight arrows in me before. You've barely been scratched.”

Jume, with his sword, had better luck convincing them to end the battle. Aeva raised a hand. “Let us heal ourselves and we'll discuss things in a moment.” She healed herself and Jume – somehow Victor had managed to not even get hit – and walked over to Maxim, who was sitting on the ground.

“Don't worry, I'll pull these out,” she said.

“Shouldn't you just push it all the way through his chest?” Jume suggested.

“Don't be silly, I'd puncture his lung,” Aeva said, kneeling beside Maxim. Maxim's eyes watered from the pain as she pulled the arrows out. But once Aeva had removed them, she healed Maxim's wounds and he felt as good as new.

The four of them approached the leader of the shadow fey. “Well, that was quite a spectacle,” the leader said. “I should tell my boss about this, but...” He shifted on one foot.

“Who's your boss?” Victor asked.

“Rook,” he said, and Maxim grimaced. They had encountered Rook before, and they didn't particularly want another run-in with him.

“I can heal everyone, and then there will no need to call over Rook,” Aeva offered. The leader agreed, and Aeva motioned to the other fey. Once healed, they went into their ship and made preparations to leave.

LB and Vorro, who had been standing clear of the conflict, joined back with them. “Wow,” LB said, “that was great, you guys can do magic and sword fighting and stuff, I didn't think you'd be able to do it, but you beat 'em back good, now I can go off and talk to the captain of the ship so we can leave!” He ran off toward one of the ships.

A few moments later, LB returned looking downhearted. “What wrong?” Maxim asked him.

“The captain said everyone could board, but not me, he said I was sneaky and manipulative and he didn't trust me as far as he could throw me.” The halfling looked like he was about to cry. “Now I'll be stuck here forever!”

“Nonsense,” Maxim said. They tried to negotiate with the captain, who eventually agreed to give LB passage for fifty gold as opposed to the normal five. Though it was a sizable sum, Maxim was willing to pay with the money his family had given him. The halfling had grown on him – and after all he had helped them get past the shadow fey.

LB hugged Maxim. “Thank you so much, how can I ever repay you, now I can help Vorro and go on adventures and it's going to be great!”

The ship left port a few hours after the shadow fey left. Maxim stood on the deck, watching his hometown grow smaller and smaller on the horizon. Victor joined him. “I'm disturbed that there were that many shadow fey at the docks,” Victor said.

Maxim shook his head. “Guess it just proves how important it is that we stop this wedding.”

“I just hope we're ready to face whatever the Faith of Favor has planned,” Victor concluded, and the two cousins headed back below deck with the others.