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Part 13

By all accounts, Adras Kale wasn't a particularly good Basitin. He was scrawny and short, nearly a head shorter than his comrades, and his hearing wasn't particularly sharp either. He was also a terrible soldier, his footwork was poor and his accuracy with a bow was so woeful that he had never once actually managed to hit a target at the standard distance. The extent of his fighting ability was that he could just about figure out which end of the spear was the sharp end.

"You bring dishonour to your unit!" His superiors would shout as he yawned and shuffled from foot to foot. "You're a miserable excuse for a Basitin Warrior!"

Adras could not possibly care less about any of that. All he wanted to do was get his military service out of the way, inherit his father's boat, and spend the rest of his life on the water, fishing, napping, and heading to the bar.

Fortunately for him, Adras had a pair of friends, Ian and Seska, who seemed to be quite fond of him for some reason. They treated him like a little brother, even though he was a year older than both of them. Unlike Adras they were good with their weapons, and they would often help get Adras out of some little scrape or another. Best of all, they enjoyed his jokes.

If there was one thing Adras was good at, it was jokes. He had one joke in particular about the Grand Templar that had earned him many laughs and free drinks at bars over the years. Some of his jokes were in bad taste, but those were the ones that made people laugh. He'd also never considered himself a particularly nasty person, he never intended to actually hurt anyone.

So when he had told his friends a joke about the difference between western infants and eastern infants, a joke which for the life of him he could not now remember, he didn't mean to be hurtful. Unfortunately he had made the joke just loud enough for the Captain of the Thirteenth Company, Captain Kolvest, to hear. He also did not know what possessed him to accept her challenge to a duel after she had struck him and knocked him into the dirt. Perhaps his temper got the better of him.

Now, Adras and his two friends stood in the center of a circle of other Basitins, with a furious Captain Kolvest standing in front of them. The Captain's sword was drawn and there was murder in her eyes.

On Adras's left, his oldest friend, Seska, looked over her shoulder. "Adras, you stay behind us. You'll only get in the way."

"R-right!"

"I hear she's good," Ian said, gripping his sword tighter. "But she's crazy to fight us all at the same time."

"Overconfidence will do that to you." Seska replied, tossing her spear from one hand to the other, her tail thrashing back and forth in excitement. "Guess we'll see what the 'western captain' has really got."

From the perimeter of the ring, another Basitin stepped forward, a cloth held in his hand.

"One final time," the soldier called out, "Can not your differences be reconciled?"

"No," Marien snarled, raising her sword a little higher..

"You heard her," Seska called out, twirling her spear and aiming the point at Marien.

"Guys, are you sure about this?" Adras asked, the look in Marien's eyes sending shivers up his spine.

"Don't worry about it." Ian replied. "We'll teach this Westerner to have a sense of humour."

"But you owe us for this, so you're buying the drinks tonight," Seska added.

"Deal." Adras gulped. Despite his friend's confidence, he had a very bad feeling.

The soldier nodded. "Very well." he raised his arm high, "When this cloth touches the ground, you may begin."

===

Sieg shivered as he made his way towards Dauntless Fortress. The rainy season should have been showing signs of fading, but it was still as cold and windy as it had been for months. In the city the weather wasn't so bad, but on the hill leading to the fortress, the wind was much stronger, and seemed to whirl about, making it extremely difficult to stay dry.

It had been three days since the funeral, and Sieg hadn't heard one word from Marien. He had tried to be understanding, he had tried to be patient, he knew she was hurting. But no matter how hard he tried, the ember of frustration that had been smouldering inside of him refused to go out.

"She lied to me." The words echoed in his head again and again. "She lied to me."

"Did she just not trust me?" Sieg wondered. "Did she think I would try to stop her? I mean, of course I would have tried to stop her but..."

Sieg shook his head, "Dammit! We were finally going to be a family! Three years! And after that, if we had another, we could spend another three years together!"

"And then there is that scum sucking, preening, arrogant, twat of a bastard Lyon!"

With a sigh, Sieg tried to quiet the anger building inside of him. "It's fine... it's fine...." he muttered out loud. "I'll talk with Marien, we'll get all of this figured out."

Approaching the fortress, Sieg noted a large group of soldiers standing just outside the main gate. As he drew closer he could hear the sound of blades clashing, and then a scream of pain. Immediately he could tell that this was no training exercise.

Whether it was instinct that told Sieg that it was Marien who was fighting, or just a guess, even Sieg didn't know. Regardless, he immediately broke into a run, struggling not to slip and fall in the slippery mud.

As soon as he reached the ring he started pushing his way through the crowd. The soldiers were densely packed, and Sieg was forced to use his arms, his legs, even his claws, as he tried to push his way to the front.

As he fought towards the front of the crowd, Sieg caught the odd glimpse of the ring. Marien was there, she was fighting more than one opponent and her sword stained red. On Marien's face was a look that Sieg hadn't seen in years, a mask of blind hatred.

"Goddammit, move!" Sieg yelled, forcing his way through the crowd. "Marien! Marien stop!"

===

For Marien, the ring, the duel, none of it even registered. All she could see was her targets, they were the only things that mattered.

In front of her, two of her opponents were already down, both suffering from a multitude of wounds and groaning in agony. tThe male with the sword was missing half of his left ear and judging by the damage she had done, he would almost certainly lose his left leg.

The female with the spear had been a much better fighter, and in fact she still clung to the shattered remnants of her spear. But even she had been no match for Marien, and would go through the rest of her very short life with only one eye.

Marien's final opponent, the one who had told the joke that had started this whole thing, was on the ground, his sword held desperately in front of him as he scrambled backwards. She'd delivered a few small cuts to him already, not enough to seriously wound him, just enough to scare him.

"What's the matter?" She snarled, her vision tinged red as she stepped forward. "Don't have anything else funny to say?"

"Please Captain, it was a joke!" Adras pleaded. "I didn't even know you were listening!"

"You call that a joke?" Turning to one of Adras's friends, Marien stepped forward

Seska coughed and sputtered as Marien put a foot on her head and pushed her face into the mud.

Still glaring directly at Adras, Marien raised her sword, aiming the point at Seska's neck. "How's this, you make me laugh, or I'll cut your friend's throat."

"Please, I give up!" Adras whimpered. "I surrender! You win, please don't hurt them!"

Marien raised an eyebrow, "Is that it? I suppose that sounds like a joke, but it's not funny at all."

The soldiers surrounding Marien and Adras shifted uncomfortably, muttering amongst one another. They had of course seen their commander fight her fair share of contests, more than a few of them to the death, but they had never seen her act with cruelty before. But none of them had any desire to get between the Captain and her prey, and so they stayed where she had ordered them.

In desperation, Adras tossed his sword aside and raised his hands. "Y-you can have me, just leave them alone! Please, I give up!"

"That's not how this works." Marien raised her arm, her sword flashing even in the grey half light. "You better think of something funny, cause now you only have one friend left."

Finally, Sieg was able to push his way to the edge of the circle.

"MARIEN!!!"

Marien didn't hear Sieg's cry. All she could hear was the sound of blood rushing in her ears accompanied by a high pitched ringing.

Just as Marien was about to drive her sword into her opponent's neck, Sieg broke free of the crowd. With all of his strength he lunged at Marien, slamming into her at full speed. Marien was knocked off her feet, crashing painfully into the ground, sending a spray of mud in all directions.

With an infuriated snarl, Marien scrambled back to her feet, holding her sword out in front of her. She froze when she saw Sieg, his own sword drawn, standing between her and Adras.

For a moment the rage flickered, "S-Sieg?"

"Marien, stop this! Just stop!"

"What are you doing here?" Marien shouted, anger quickly replacing her confusion.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?!"

"This is none of your concern!" Marien swung her sword, a mixture of blood and mud flying off the blade. "Now get out of my way!"

"No!"

"Sieg, I'm warning you-"

"This won't bring Naomi back!"

Sieg's words froze Marien in place.

"You, get your friends and go." Sieg growled over his shoulder at Adras. "And do yourself a favour and don't ever let me see your face again!"

"Get out of my way Sieg!" Marien strode forward, bloody purpose etched on her face. "They're mine."

"I won't let you!" Sieg raised his sword into a defensive posture. "You want to kill them, you'll have to kill me."

"Oh no I won't." Marien tossed her sword away.

Before Sieg could react, Marien lunged at him. In one quick motion she batted Sieg's sword away with the palm of her hand and slammed her shoulder into Sieg's stomach. As Sieg stumbled backwards, Marien grabbed hold of his wrist. With a powerful twist, she sent Sieg tumbling into the mud, and sent his sword flying. Sieg coughed and sputtered, the wind knocked completely out of him.

As Marien started towards Adras again, a lance of bright white pain flashed from her rump up her back as Sieg had grabbed hold of her tail and pulled hard. With a cry Marien lost her balance and tumbled backwards into a deep puddle. Sieg, still gasping to get his breath back, rolled on top of Marien, pinning her shoulders.

"I won't let you do this!" he gasped, a rain of muddy water falling from his fur.

"Get off!" Marien yelled. She managed to bunch one of her legs under Sieg's stomach and kicked with all her might.

Sieg flipped over Marien's head and landed hard on his back with a painful "Oomph!". But even as he hit the ground he still held onto the front of her tunic.

"You don't know what they said." Marien yelled, trying to pry Sieg's fingers off her tunic. "They're dead! You hear me! I'm going to kill them!"

Finally freeing herself from Sieg's grip, Marien got back to her feet. Before she could take a step Sieg rolled over and wrapped his arms around her ankles, sending her sprawling once more into the mud.

By this time, Adras had managed to drag Ian out of the ring, and was working on helping Seska. Before Marien could get to her feet, Adras managed to get Seska to her feet and they had staggered into the crowd.

With a howl of frustration, Marien spun round and tackled Sieg, pinning him in the mud. "Damn it Sieg! Stop interfering!"

"No!" Sieg grabbed a handful of mud and threw it into Marien's face. As she reared back, rubbing at her eyes, Sieg leapt on top of her. She tried to brace herself but the ground was too slippery and she fell flat onto her back again with Sieg on top of her.

"This is not you," Sieg shouted, shaking Marien's shoulders as she desperately swiped at him with one hand and tried to rub the mud out of her eyes with the other. "Since when do you torture your opponents? You're not bloodthirsty!"

"You have no right to interfere!" Marien tried to bite Sieg's hand, but ended up catching his sleeve instead. The seems ripped and she ended up pulling his whole sleeve off.

"I have every right! I'm your husband! not that-" Sieg's words were muffled and strained as Marien put a hand under his chin and tried to shove him away. "-not that it seems to matter to you!"

"That's not true!"

"You lie to me about your deployment, you spend all your time with Lyon Chariot, and you're making plans to abandon me and Naomi the second you can!"

With all of her strength, Marien hauled Sieg off her and rolled on top of him. By now they were both completely covered in mud and freezing, steam rising off them as they fought, arms and legs thrashing wildly.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Sieg demanded, grabbing hold of Marien's wrists as muddy water splashed across his face. "Or-" Sieg spit out a mouthful of filthy water. "Or, were you just going to sneak off and just leave another note on the table!"

"Shut up!"

As Marien struggled to free her hands, Sieg was able to hook his leg around one of Marien's. Twisting with all his might, Sieg managed to once more get Marien on her back.

"You were going to abandon me!" He yelled, just barely dodging a swipe at his eyes from Marien's claws. "You were going to abandon both of us! Is that it? You don't want a family, you just want to fight?"

"NO!" Marien shrieked, her voice cracking.

With all of her strength, Marien reared up and drove her forehead into Sieg's nose. A sound like a tree branch breaking rang out and Sieg fell off Marien, clutching at his nose, blood running between his fingers.

With an enraged howl Marien leapt on top of Sieg. "I'm a soldier!" she screamed, drawing back a fist. "I don't know how to be anything else! It's all I have left!"

"That's not true." Sieg groaned, gritting his teeth. "And you know it!"

"You don't know!" With all her strength Marien struck Sieg.

Sieg's head rang with pain and dizziness as he desperately lashed out at Marien with his left hand. Marien dodged the blow and responded with one of her own, sending her fist crashing into Sieg's jaw again.

Sieg's mouth tasted of blood, but he still managed to speak. "So you're just... going to run away?"

"Don't you understand?!" Seizing hold of Sieg's collar, Marien pulled his face up to hers. " If I win, just once, people might not look at me like I'm the enemy! They might not look at you like you are a freak for choosing me! Just one time!"

With a gasping breath, Sieg reached up and grabbed the string of the pendant around Marien's neck. "I... have never... looked at you like... you're the enemy. And I... have never cared... what they think..."

Marien's head spun, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. Her heartbeat rang loud in her ears, her mind was a cacophony of pain, panic and terror.

"It's not fair!" She panted, unable to catch her breath, her chest burning and her head spinning. "It's not... it's not fair! It's not fair!" With an agonized wail she let go of Sieg's tunic and pushed him away. The strings of her pendant broke, sending the painted flower tumbling into the mud.

As she drew back her fist to strike Sieg again, all at once, the soldiers that had gathered around rushed forward.

Many pairs of hands grabbed hold of Sieg and Marien, hauling them to their feet and pulling them apart.

"Let go! Marien yelled, fighting against the hands holding her back. "Let me go! Let... let me..." Marien slowed, her struggling trailing off as she caught sight of Sieg, his left eye swollen shut, blood trickling from his mouth, nose, and ears

"Feel better now?" Sieg gasped, glaring up at Marien with his one open eye..

"You don't know!" Marien shouted, her anger replaced by sorrow. "Everything you've ever lost you've given up willingly! Not me! Everything I've ever had was taken from me! My mother! My father! Dauntless! My friends! My daughter!" Marien's voice cracked as she started to sob. "And I know... I know it's going to happen to you too."

Still gasping for breath, Sieg shook himself free of the soldiers holding him.

"So that's it, is it?" Sieg took a staggering step forward, one hand clutching at his aching chest. "You can't lose it... if you throw it away."

"I..." Marien couldn't find the words to speak as Sieg stumbled towards her.

Sieg paused for a moment, bending down to retrieve something in the mud. Straightening, he continued towards Marien until he staggered to a stop in front of her.

"You say... I've given up everything... willingly." Sieg's voice was strained with pain as he stared into Marien's eyes. "You're wrong... because everything I've given up.... I gave up for you... Which means... I didn't have a choice either..."

Before Marien could speak, Sieg pressed the hand clutching whatever he had retrieved from the mud against her chest. Marien looked down, it was her flower pendant, but the black pearl from the center was missing.

"Get your head straight." Sieg murmured, limping past Marien back towards the city. "I'll be waiting."

"Sieg... I... I didn't mean..."

As the soldiers parted to allow him to pass, Sieg undid his sword belt and dropped it into the mud. "You... can keep the sword. I'd hate... to break up the set."

Marien's hands slowly clenched into fists, tears streaming down her cheeks as Sieg limped down the long winding road towards Basikal City, a small trail of blood following him. Marien wanted to follow him, every part of her screamed at her to run to him, but something deeper stopped her. Whether it was humiliation, fear, or a combination of the two, even she didn't know.

With a shuddering breath she stepped forwards and retrieved Sieg's sword from the mud. As she did, one of her lieutenants stepped up to her, holding Sieg's sword belt and scabbard.

"Thank you Volfen."

"Aye Captain."

"Volfen..." Marien looked up. "What... what should I do?"

"Can't say ma'am... I follow your orders."

Marien looked around at her troops, but not one of them would meet her gaze. Never before in her entire life had she felt so utterly alone.

"Alright, we have work to do." She called out, "I want... I want training drills on the... on the catapults. Now!"

Slowly her troops dispersed, leaving Marien standing alone in the cold and mud.

===

"I gotta say Doctor, I'm really not sure about this."

"I understand ma'am. I promise, I won't touch anything."

"Well alright, just make sure you keep this between us. Goodness knows what my other tenants would say if they thought I let people just snoop around their homes."

With a low groan, the front door of Marien's old house swung open and Kallen stepped inside, followed by a portly old basitin woman with a large ring of keys in her hand.

"It's bad enough to lose Marien, she always paid her rent on time," The woman grumbled, closing the door behind her as she followed Kallen into the house. "But Hazel, oh she was a nightmare. Always late with the rent, left bottles everywhere, and jumpy too."

Kallen's nose crinkled slightly, "What is that smell?"

"Rotten fish stew. Hazel just left it sitting on the table. Didn't leave a note or nothing. Nasty surprise when I came to get her rent." The landlord shook her head. "Gonna take me forever to get rid of that damned smell. Disgraceful, young people these days."

"I see." Kallen made her way towards the kitchen, sniffing the air.

"So what is it you are looking for again?" The landlady asked, watching Kallen with a raised eyebrow. "Some kinda plant you said?"

"Yes."

"It's not that fox weed I keep hearing about is it? I don't want any trouble, I just rent this place."

Kallen shook her head as she poked around the kitchen, sniffing at the stove. "No, it would be yellow, with long leaves I think."

"And what is it? Some kinda spice?

"I'm really not sure."

"Well some trade ships from the continent came in last week, maybe they could help. As for spices," the landlady gestured at a small wooden rack nailed to the wall. "That's all they had."

"Huh... may I?"

"Doesn't bother me."

Carefully Kallen picked her way across the spice rack. "Pepper... salt... mint... cloves..." She paused as she noted a folded paper packet. Pulling the packet down she unwrapped the paper. Within the package was a collection of dried yellow leaves, roughly as long as Kallen's finger, attached to a long narrow stalk. Most of the leaves were broken and smashed, but a few were in mostly one piece."

Kallen's eyes widened. "This is it!"

"What was that?" The landlady stepped forwards, pulling a pipe out of her pocket.

"I found it." Kallen looked over. "I think this is what I am looking for!"

"What is it?"

Kallen shook her head as she turned the leaf over and over in her hand. The leaves were marked with a complex pattern of brown splotches between long red veins.

"I have no idea."

Bringing the leaves up to her nose, Kallen sniffed, but there was no hint of the smell from before.

"May I borrow a match?" Kallen asked, looking back at the landlady as she sparked up her pipe.

"I suppose."

Taking the offered match, Kallen struck it with her fingers and held one of the dried leaves over the flame. Immediately tendrils of acrid blue smoke curled up from the leaves and the air filled with the toxic scent of camphor.

"Bless the King!" The landlady coughed, waving her hand in front of her nose. "That is foul!"

"Yeah..." Kallen quickly folded the paper package back up and stuck it in her pocket.

"Hey, what are you-"

"Thank you for your help!" Kallen called over her shoulder as she ran for the door.

"I-" the landlady raised a hand, but Kallen was already gone. With a heavy sigh she took a long drag on her pipe.

"Doctors." she mumbled, "Never needed them in my day."

===

"So that's when I tell my helmsman 'drop the anchor of the port side, and give'er all she's got!' Anchor goes down, catches on the reef, we club-haul like you wouldn't believe, damn near everything that wasn't tied down went flying overboard. We miss the rocks by an arms length! The pirates... not so much!" Paul roared, slapping the bar with his hand.

The assembled crowd variously cheered and laughed as Paul mimed a ship sinking with his hand.

"Half the blighters survived and swam to shore," Paul added, taking a swig of ale. "And we damn near tore the port side of the Sellia off, but you should have seen the looks on their faces. Course the villagers were real happy to see us after that, 'specially the fox girls."

Again the crowd laughed, some of them whistling.

"Hammocks, good food, friendly company, still don't know why I didn't stay there. Oh that's right!" Paul raised his glass, "Here's to fox women, sunny and soft, but they can't brew a half decent ale!"

The crowd variously laughed and cheered before returning to their own business. As the crowd began to disperse, Paul heard the sound of the front door. He looked up to welcome the newcomer, but instead his mouth fell open and his eyes widened. "What in the hell?"

Sieg limped into the tavern, drenched and shivering. His left eye was swollen shut and his face stained with blood. The rain had washed much of the mud off his clothes, but he was still filthy. The left sleeve of his tunic had been torn off, and he was covered in scrapes and bruises.

"What happened to you?" Paul demanded as Sieg approached the bar and dropped onto a stool.

Sieg looked up. "Mr. Warret... that night, when Marien... when everything happened, you offered me a drink."

"Huh?" Paul shook himself from his reminiscing, "Yeah, yeah that's right."

"Is that offer still good?"

"Sure kid." Paul reached down and brought the bottle of rum up onto the counter. He bent down to get some glasses, and as he straightened he was surprised to see Sieg, bottle in hand, his head tilted back, taking great gulps.

"Whoa whoa!" Paul pulled the bottle from Sieg's hand. "Calm down there! I thought you said you didn't drink!"

"I don't." Sieg grimaced, as he leaned forward. "But you're the one who said it would help."

"Well yeah... but..."

"Then pour me a drink." Sieg laid his head on the bar, adding "please," a few moments later.

With a shrug, Paul poured Sieg a small glass of rum.

"One question boy, what does the other fellow look like?"

"I had a... fight with Marien."

"Aye. Looks like you lost."

"Yeah." Sieg rested his elbow on the bar. "Yeah... I lost."

"Still not talking to ya then."

"No... not really."

"Well don't worry about it boy, these things tend to work themselves out. When my wife and I were young, oh you should have heard the arguments we'd have."

Paul stroked his chin and laughed. "One day, oh we were having a good one. IN the end she threw a whole bucket of crabs at me. I'll tell ya what, I learned to see things her way when I ended up with a couple dozen crabs and their pinchers down my britches. And you know what, she was right, the sigh does look better blue than green."

As Paul chuckled, Sieg drank the entire glass of rum in one gulp.

"Easy boy easy!" Paul patted Sieg on the shoulder as he coughed.

"Doesn't seem to be helping." Sieg muttered, his words already slightly slurred.

Paul sighed heavily. "Look boy, alcohol will help with pain the same way a sword will keep you safe. It only works if you use it properly. It's a tricksy mistress, and not to be treated lightly. Didn't your father teach you that?"

Immediately a change came over Sieg. his eyes narrowed, his lip curled back to reveal his teeth and his ears flattened against his head. "My father... My father taught me a whole lot of things. When I was little, he read me all kinds of stories, until the day he told me 'you want to hear stories, read them yourself'. He taught me how to fight, and as a bonus how to stitch up a wound. He taught me how to swim, and as a bonus how to get water out of your throat when you're choking. He taught me how to spear a fish, and as a bonus how to get a spear out of my foot."

"I think I'm getting the point boy."

Sieg's hands clenched into fists, his claws carving narrow grooves into the surface of the bar. "But most of all he taught me just how stupid, how-" Suddenly Sieg reached over and grabbed an half empty tankard on the bar. With a furious growl Sieg threw the glass as hard as he could, "-how ignorant each and every one of you are!"

The tankard flew across the tavern and smashed against the far wall. The rest of the Tavern fell silent as Sieg got up from his stool, swaying slightly on his feet.

"That's right!" he snarled, his teeth bared. "Stupid and Ignorant, each and every one of you!"

Paul tried to grab hold of Sieg's shoulder, "Hey, calm down!"

Sieg stepped forwards, out of Paul's reach, his hate-filled gaze flicking from patron to parton. "You think you're so patriotic, treating my wife like she's the enemy because she looks western?!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Does it make you feel strong? You're all just cowards!"

"Pfft, westerners." one particularily drunk soldier grumbled into his glass. "Buncha worthless savages."

With an infuriated snarl, Sieg grabbed hold of the man's chair and yanked it out from under him. As the soldier crashed to the floor, drenching himself in his own ale, Sieg raised the chair over his head.

Before Sieg could strike the soldier with the chair, Paul, who had managed to get out from behind his bar, rushed forward and pulled it from Sieg's grasp. "Calm down boy!" Paul ordered, wrapping his arms around Sieg and lifting him off the ground.

"She's going to go and fight your war for you! You should be out there, fighting if it matters to you so much!" Sieg screamed, his arms trapped against his sides but his legs kicking as Paul dragged him towards the stairs. "I hope you choke! You hear me! Choke you bastards!"

"Now that's enough!" Paul threw Sieg to the floor as he reached the base of the stairs.

As Sieg sat up, Paul towered over him, arms folded across his chest. "You've had a hard time of it, I get it! You're angry, by the King I understand that, but get a grip!"

"I hate you, all of you!" Sieg snarled, looking past Paul at the crowd of Basitins still staring at him. "I hate you, you bunch of cowards!"

"Enough!" Paul bellowed, harnessing a voice trained to yell orders over the roar of a storm. Sieg paused and Paul raised a hand, pointing up the stairs. "You, up there, now! You can come back down when you decide to act like a civilized being again! Cool off and clean yourself up!"

Sieg wanted to argue, but he lacked the strength. With a final hateful glance at the staring crowd he limped his way upstairs.

Paul turned, all eyes in the tavern focussed on him. "S'all right." he called out, "Boy just doesn't know how to handle his rum."

Soon the conversation started back up and the soldiers turned back to their drinks. With a grumbling sigh, Paul made his way back behind his bar.

As he set about wiping up the spilled beer on the bar, Paul noted the Basitin that Sieg had pulled off of his chair staggering towards the stairs, his hand on his sword.

"Oi, Paris, better keep that blade in its place. You take one step up those stairs I'll cave your head in m'self, you hear me?" Paul called out.

The drunken soldier turned to glare at Paul before returning to his table, muttering under his breath.

As Paul let out another sigh he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" his wife, Kalli, asked quietly.

"The boy's hurting and hurting bad. I'll talk with him later, once he's had a chance to cool off. He'll sleep well, but he's probably gonna need some hot cocoa as well, lad's never drank before and just gulped down half a bottle of the creature"

"I'll see that there is some warmed for him." Kalli smiled, patting Paul on the cheek. "You're a good man."

"Someone's gotta look out for him." Paul muttered.

===

Despite the foul weather, the Basikal docks were just as busy as usual, hundreds of Basitins moving back and forth between the half dozen trading ships that had arrived just a few nights before. Many were huddled around flaming braziers, the smell of cooking meat and fish filling the salty air.

Turning up the collar of her cloak to the cold wind blowing off of Kaiser's Bay, Kallen made her way along one of the many walkways that spanned the Basikal docks. Her destination was a ship docked on the far eastern side of the harbour, the Jade's Echo. Unlike the fishing boats that had been docked for months, the trade ships had been built to withstand the dangerous seas of the rainy season.

Kallen had already visited two of the ships that had arrived recently. One had been carrying coal, a hard to come by commodity on Basikal, while the other had been transporting sheep from the continent. Neither the captains nor their crew had any idea what the mysterious plant was. Even the few Keidran on the crews had no idea.

A fourth trade ship had been docked, but had left the day before, which meant that the Jade Echo was Kallens last hope.

Approaching the ship, Kallen called out, "Excuse me!"

A massive wolf Keidran appeared at the railing. He was dark, almost black, with light brown streaks and a big white splotch on his muzzle. With a twinkle in his big brown eyes he leaned over the side of the ship and called back. "G'day little lady. What ken I do ya fer?"

"I have a question about some goods you might be carrying. May I come onboard?"

"You port authority?"

Kallen shook her head, "No, I'm a doctor." She reached into her pocket and withdrew the paper packet. "I just want to identify a plant."

The wolf stepped aside as a Basitin wearing a peaked cap arrived at the rail.

"You want help with a plant?" He called out. "Why would we know anything about it?"

"It's not from Basikal, or any other part of Basidian. Since you've been to the continent, and you have Keidran on your crew, I thought one of them might know about it."

Noting the captain's hesitation she added, "Please, it was used to poison a patient of mine, and I need to know where it came from."

For a moment both the wolf and the captain stepped away from the rail. Kallen couldn't hear what they were saying, but after a few moments the captain returned.

"Permission to come aboard." He called out. ""Kaiba will help you up the gangplank."

"Thank you Captain."

Kallen approached the gangplank as the massive wolf from before walked down. Kallen blushed as she saw that the wolf was nothing but a loin cloth and cloth wraps around his ankles.

"G'day miss." The wolf said with a wide toothy grin. "Name's Kaiba, first mate of the Jade Echo. And you are nothing if not the prettiest little Basitin I ever did see."

"I..." Kallen blushed again, "I... thank you."

"Now," Kaiba extended a hand. "If you will. Watch your footing, it's more slippery than you might imagine."

"I think I'll be fine." Kallen replied.

Before Kallen had taken more than five steps up the gangplank, suddenly she felt the plank shift and her feet slid right out from under her. Kallen tried to dig in her claws, but it was too late, and she tumbled off the side.

Just before she hit the water, Kallen felt a strong hand seize the back of her tunic and haul her back up.

"You aren't used to being on the docks, are ya doc." Kaiba observed with a chuckle, holding Kallen aloft as if she were a toy.

"No, not really." Kallen admitted. "Can I... would you mind?"

"Oh, fer sure. Hold on."

Kallen cried out as instead of setting her down, Kaiba instead heaved her over his shoulder and carried her the rest of the way up the gangplank like a sack of grain. Kallens face turned bright red as the rest of the crew laughed.

"Here ya go lil miss." Kaiba said, setting her down on the deck.

"Th-thank you." Kallen said, brushing herself off.

"Alright, back to work all of you." The captain called out as he stepped forwards. "Mr. Kaiba, would you please stop ogling the doctor and see to your station."

"Aye aye!" Kaiba looked back at Kallen and winked, "Sorry sweet thing, duty calls. But come pay me a visit. I'd love to show you around our fair ship."

"I'm Captain Duncan Halec, commander of the Jade Echo, pleasure to meet you." The captain said as kaiba and the others went back to their duties. "

"Kallen Hail, a pleasure to meet you Captain."

"Apologies for my first mate miss. Wolves are excellent workers, but tend to lack some of the more subtle social graces." He shrugged. "He means well and is truly harmless, I assure you."

"Was he..." Kallen blushed again, "Was he being serious?"

"Of course. Kaiba has taken quite a fancy to Basitin women since he joined my crew. He's actually proven himself rather capable in that area I might add. I'm sure he'd be most pleased to spend some time with you, if you're willing of course."

"Well I-" Kallen shook her head, "No, no of course not. I was merely curious."

With a light chuckle, Captain Halec gestured towards the stern. "Come, we'll talk in my quarters. Let's see if we can identify this plant of yours."

The Captain's quarters were small, yet surprisingly well appointed and comfortable. A small stove sat off to one side, a steaming kettle set upon it. The walls were covered with shelves bearing odd knick knacks and rolled up maps. A human skull with a candle atop it sat on the Captain's desk. Hung against the back window as a large flag bearing the letters "MMTG" stamped across a gold coin.

Captain Halec took Kallen's cloak and hung it on the wall before walking around to the other side of his desk and sitting down. "Please," he gestured to a chair sitting in front of his desk.

As Kallen sat she found herself unable to take her eyes off of the human skull, it's empty eye sockets seeming to stare at her.

"Don't mind Beany, he's a gift from Kaiba," The Captain explained, pulling a pipe from his pocket. "He claims it's the skull of a Templar, though I suspect it's just some poor peasant bugger killed in the war. Still, ol' Beany is something of a mascot, and gives me the impression that I'm not to be trifled with, so he does his job."

"I see."

"Now, this plant of yours."

"Yes, of course." Kallen reached into her cloak and withdrew the paper package. Carefully unfolding it she set the package on the Captain's desk.

"Hmmmm." The Captain leaned close and examined the leaves. "Where did you come across these, young lady?"

"They were used, I think, to try and poison a patient of mine."

"'Try', so the victim is alive?"

"Yes. but... her child died."

The Captain picked up one of the leaves and leaned back in his chair, spinning it around in his fingers.

"What you have here is a very dangerous thing indeed." He said after a moment.

Kallen leaned forwards, "So you know what it is?"

"I do indeed."

"Well? What is it?"

"Comes from the forest wolf lands, extremely rare and hard to get. The wolves call it "Nosgoth Fang". They use it as a spiritual cleaner, it... purges the body of any unwanted contamination. Generally, it's only used by high priests and the like, and taking it is usually a death sentence." the Captain raised his eyes, "Isn't that right?"

"It is indeed cap'm."

Kallen nearly jumped out of her chair. Kaiba was standing directly behind her, yet she hadn't even heard him enter.

Hairs on the back of Kallen's neck started to stand up as she felt the tone in the room shift. Suddenly she was very aware that she hadn't brought a weapon with her.

"See, fer Keidran, prison don't work s'well as it does fer humans or Basitins," Kaiba explained. "For a human, a few years in prison sentence, tis a dawdle. Fer us though, what with living only twenty five years or so, that's a lot of our life gone t' waste. But you can't jus' not punish someone right?"

"Uh... right."

"So, if a wolf commits a crime 'igh enough to warrant imprisonment, even death, the elders'll use this lil herb to... purge the evil from the offender."

"So... it is a poison."

Kaiba shrugged, "Little bit yes, little bit no. Yeh spend two or three days, coughing up, puking out, or otherwise evacuatin, everything what's in your body, short your blood and organs if yer lucky. After it's done, ain't no wolf that survives crazy enough to step one toe over the line again."

Kallen blinked in surprise, "That sounds awful! Barbaric!" As she spoke, she put a hand to her mouth, "Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that..."

"If it didn't work, it wouldn't be much of a deterrent, now would it." Kaiba replied.

"I suppose the effect would be somewhat less on Basitins because of our immunity to most poisons." Kallen crossed her arms. "Still, I've never heard of this."

"Well, that's probably because it is extremely rare." Captain Halec stood up from his chair and looked out over the ocean. "Cultivating even a single plant can take decades, and requires careful attention. The amount you have there is... well it is substantial."

"So this wasn't an accident."

"No. It was not."

Kallen paused. "Captain... how do you know about this, if I may?"

"That, I am afraid, is a question I will have to leave to another to answer." the captain nodded over Kallen's shoulder, "Mr. Kaiba."

"Sorry lass."

Before Kallen could move, Kaiba leaned forward and pressed a cloth that smelled strongly of chemicals under Kallen's nose. Kallen tried to cry out, but Kaiba clamped a hand over her mouth.

"It's okay, it's okay, just go to sleep." Kaiba said, holding Kallen firmly as she struggled. "Don't be afraid, it'll all be alright."

Kallen recognized the scent, lunamilk extract, the same thing she used to sedate her patients. Within moments Kallen felt herself slipping away.

She slumped in her chair, fighting to keep her eyes open as Kaiba released her.

Kaiba's voice seemed so distant as he spoke. "What should we do cap'm?"

"Contact Alwyn, tell her we caught a snooper."

"Right. An' then?"

"Put her in a barrel and take her to the hearth. Alwyn said she wanted to take care of any security problems herself."

"Right."

There were more words that followed, buut Kallen didn't hear them. Within moments she drifted off into a deep, dark sleep.

End of Part 13

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