Chapter 13

Vic was surprised and honored to learn that the lion who had saved him was none other than Prince Gaius Faulkner himself, the second son of King Fabius and Queen Babette of Delmaron. After introducing himself to the prince and his entourage (the scorpion was McGrath, the rat was Zobel, the cobra was Zane, the owl was Sienna, the skunk was Cindy and the spider was Kiana), he decided to walk with them for his own safety. He still felt a little hurt from his fall but, luckily, he didn’t break anything and he could at least walk without wincing too much. As he walked with the prince and his companions however, he decided to keep things to himself for the moment and only told the prince that he’d been attacked by the battle chimeras as he was walking through the streets.

“Strange,” said Zane the cobra. “I could’ve sworn those were the same battle chimeras the biomage had brought with her at the governor’s speech earlier.”

“Well, you can never be sure,” said Zobel. “It’s never for certain until you see them up close.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Zane, raising an inquisitive brow.

“Well, put it this way,” Zobel said as they walked. “My father had a whole stable of kiloraptors when I was younger. While my mother and I walked through the market one day, we thought we saw one of his kiloraptors running around the place. So we tried going after it but it ran away before we could catch it. When we came home, we found out that the kiloraptor we thought that got loose was in our stable the whole time. We just went after the wrong one.”

“I suppose that’s possible,” Zane thought about it. “But there are no feral chimeras around here. All of them come from Zoral. It’s awfully convenient for a feral chimera to come attack someone just when a dignitary from the Magocracy is in the city.”

“It’s just too bad that we couldn’t take the corpses with us,” Cindy the skunk said, hefting her rifle with bayonet over her shoulder. “They decayed too rapidly to be brought along.”

“Aye, that is a problem,” Zane said. “In fact, chimeras need constant maintenance with various alchemic juices to prevent their bodies from breaking down. This needs to be done on an almost daily basis so as to assure their optimum performance. Once dead however, the decaying process accelerates, their flesh rapidly liquefying to black jelly.”

“So, tell me friend, where do you stay?” Gaius asked Vic.

“I stay at the Intoxicated Whaler,” Vic answered. “It’s where I’ve stayed since my sister and I first got here.”

“The Intoxicated Whaler?” Gaius asked. “That’s where we’re headed ourselves!”

“Really?” said Vic. “I could lead you there.”

“I take it your sister’s waiting for you?” Gaius said. “Does she work there?”

“No, Your Highness,” Vic said. “No to both questions.”

The lion regarded the lemming with a sense of surprise.

“My sister doesn’t work at the tavern,” Vic said. “She and I are farmers from Vermil, a town a few leagues away from here. We came to Cormalen to trade our goods from our family’s farm. But then the cultists and the pirates attacked.”

The lion’s eyes widened in fear.

“The pirates took her,” Vic said. “Admiral Sebastian has my sister.”

+++

The Intoxicated Whaler was unexpectedly crowded that night with the crew of the Golden Bride.

Zenaida found herself serving as a tavern wench tonight considering that most of the other girls were absent. Many of said girls lost their homes during the burning of the city and some lost even more. Poor Brianna, for one, had left earlier this afternoon, saying that she’ll be staying with her relatives in Vermil.

Captain Meralco the mink, Khayyam the crocodile and Yvonne the fruit bat raised their mugs and cheered as Edgar himself brought out a freshly roasted whole pachycephalosaur while Kathleen and Zenaida brought out four dishes of fried velociraptor. Sanchez the dog, Meralco’s first mate played poker with Marx the seal, Walt the otter, Gustaf the tortoise and Karl the rabbit in one corner of the tavern. In another, Camia the parrot, Captain Meralco’s interpreter, discussed current events with Father Stanwick the badger, the chaplain of the Golden Bride. It was quite obvious that Edgar and Kathleen were bringing out everything they had this night and while the crewmen were in a festive mood, it was clear that something was wrong here.

“I don’t think we can pay for all this Mr. Montague,” Beryl Meralco the mink said to Edgar, as the old rhinoceros served as the establishment’s barkeep this night. “We only have so much.”

“Ah don’t worry about it!” Edgar said and laughed. “It’s all on the house!”

“On the house?” Khayyam the crocodile asked. “Are you closing down or something?”

“Yep,” the rhinoceros nodded. “We sure are. My wife and I are going back to Vermil tomorrow at noon. There’s no point in staying in a city without people.”

“But what about your business here?” Beryl asked. “What about your establishment?”

“Captain, I think my family and I are lucky we lived through what happened that day,” Edgar raised his hands. “The fact that the tavern’s still standing and can still be sold at a good price is miracle enough for us. That’s why we’re selling it tomorrow and starting over. The only thing that really bothers us now is what to do with the girl.”

“Huh?” Beryl asked. “What girl?”

Edgar turned his eyes over to Zenaida who was trying to serve flagons of rum to Camia and Father Stanwick.

“We’d like to take her with us,” Edgar said. “But there’s not much for her there.”

That was when the tavern doors opened and Prince Gaius entered much to Edgar and everyone else’s surprise. Behind him followed a rat, a scorpion, an owl, a cobra, a skunk, a spider and a lemming whom Edgar, Kathleen and Zenaida recognized. But how had he met the prince? Also, why did everyone look as if they’ve been to the Abyss and back? Especially the cobra who looked like he had been smeared by a black, tarry substance that reminded Edgar of substances best not dwelled upon.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen,” Gaius said to everyone in the tavern. “I’m looking for a number of able-bodied men and women to be part of my crew. Note especially that I’m in dire need of a new captain for my ship. If any of you are interested, come to the docks tomorrow near the ship called the Chenodia.”