The Lead Crown: Ch 1a, Flintlocked and Loaded
Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 1, Flintlocked and Loaded
The press of a crowd was something that always worried Kesst. He had arrived by horse that morning, which had been hours ago. Despite the strange sense of comfort he drew from his traveling companion, Kesst knew that he and Friar Juun would have to part ways. It was a simple and somber farewell, as they took different roads and, once more Kesst had found himself alone... well... aside from the hundreds and hundreds of people on the street.
During his first hour in the city Kesst found that his mount, the spirited and energetic Soyrian White drew far too much attention. When he sold the horse he realized that the merchant probably shorted him greatly on her value, but he didn't mind; the pouch of coin was several times more than he'd seen in his entire life. The surrounding press of travelers on the street led Kesst to deciding the best place for the pouch was somewhere very inaccessible and he stowed it away deep within the inner layer of his clothes, resting against the scales of his chest.
the young dragon had a habit of preferring everyone in front of him, but being surrounded seemed like it was inevitable in Newport. Altenburrough was one of the larger towns in the kingdom of Furro but that wasn't saying much, as the entire population of the nation was probably scarcely more than double Lehsunia's largest dock town. Rarely had Kesst felt more out of place... but the fact that nobody seemed to pay him the least amount of attention was reassuring to the traveler. It seemed strange that, for all the eyes that could have fallen on him, he felt as though not even one really saw him.
The next two hours were spent in randomly wandering the maze-like streets of the bustling port city. Kesst moved here-and-there without any real rhyme or reason... until he saw the seagull. In the young dragon's seventeen years he had heard countless stories of the ocean, but had never seen it for himself. At that point, he had a purpose... and he had a goal... and he had the drive-- unfortunately he lacked directions. Rather than engaging anyone in dialogue, the traveler snooped in on conversations until he managed to puzzle the way for himself.
If he thought the main thoroughfares of Newport were busy he lacked the words to describe the docks. It seemed that people were packed in shoulder-to-shoulder, which meant that his journey had come to an end; he couldn't risk anyone bumping into him and feeling his wings beneath his robe. The young dragon sighed, remaining out of the press of the crowd by taking refuge in a side alleyway. He learned a few moments later that he hadn't exactly chosen a good spot.
"Lots more a th' city t'see..." spoke up a slightly slurred voice from behind him. Kesst slowly about faced to regard a disheveled rat... a rat he had seen staring at him as he'd made his way out of the horse trader's paddock. He took a step back as the rat opened his coat, revealing a curved blade hanging at the ready, "... be a shame if you didn't live long enough t'see it all."
"I..." the dragon took another step back toward the crowded main street, but he collided with a rather firm obstacle. Slowly turning around, Kesst was surprised that a second man had blocked his escape. The elephant was larger than he, slightly portly, but just as bedraggled as the rat, sporting a torn ear and lacking one of his tusks.
"Well well... lookie 'ere..." the pachyderm announced with a smirk, "even looks like a tourist... big eyes an' all..." the bruiser glanced past Kell toward the rat, "Whatta ya think the chances are that--" but the elephant didn't have a chance to finish his sentence; Kesst's foot came up right between his legs and the man collapsed to his knees. Despite the powerful strike to his crotch, the man reached out toward the dragon, so Kesst followed up with a back-hand to the elephant's wrist and drove his head powerfully into his face. The stunned man was obviously dazed, no longer trying to stop the traveler as he quickly raced around the side and back into the crowd.
"Only makin' it harder on yerself!" the rat shouted after him, "Ya got nowhere t'run we can't follow!!!" Kesst didn't bother slowing; if anything, the threat encouraged him to more valiant attempts to navigate the crowd, more concerned about the sight of the knife than worry for anyone brushing against his wings. He knew he couldn't go to the guards... they would ask too many questions, and he had an idea of what they would think of a winged dragon. In the end, after almost fifteen minutes of struggling through the thick press of bodies, the young dragon finally began to calm down... and took stock of his surroundings.
Kesst had somehow managed to work his way through the outskirts of the docks and right into the meat of the boardwalk. All around him he could smell the press of unwashed bodies coupled with the saline tinge of the sea; he had moved beyond the trade center and directly into the midst of the dock workers and sailors. Unlike the majority of the people on the streets he had experienced, the movers-and-shakers of the docks apparently had little interest in watching out for others... and Kesst was almost knocked over... twice.
"Fuckin' tourist... watch where yer goin', fish-bait!" shouted the second man, roughly squaring his shoulder so it impacted against the young dragon firmly, causing the traveler to stumble.
The human who had been walking behind Kesst steadied him with a grab on the shoulder, "Woah there." the man stated. It took a few seconds for the dragon to register the comment as he was concerned that the human might have noticed his wings but, thankfully, it didn't seem to be the case. Hand still on him, the broad-shouldered, tanned-skinned man began pulling him to the side of the foot traffic, "Falling down in the street in these parts could get you killed."
Kesst analyzed the human's speech for several seconds, realizing that his accent was decidedly Lehsunian, but it lacked the drawl and flippant laziness of the dock-side locals. The human had all the indications of a sailor, except that he was much more cleanly presented. His nose also had a lot of input, and he found himself speaking before he censored himself, "You don't smell bad." the young dragon almost bit his tongue after the words escaped.
"Do you have something against humans?" the sailor questioned, crossing his burly arms over his broad chest. Kesst thought for a moment that it may have been an attempt at cowing him, but he realized quickly that it was more judgmental than intimidating. The human followed it up with a loud, grating inhalation through his mouth and nose, then turned to the side and launched out a thick ball of phlegm.
"Um... no-- no, sir." the dragon replied, watching the saliva's path onto the ground, "I... uh... just saw everyone else and--" it splattered against the wooden boards of the nearby building.
"And you started thinking everyone here wanders around mangling the Lehsunian dialect and says things like 'oi' and 'watch-yer-gaff'?" the human uncrossed his arms and leaned against the wooden structure, "Can't blame you..." the man's face hinted at a smile... but it never fully manifested, quickly returning to a gruff neutral. He straightened up and smoothed out his plain white shirt, "Just be careful out there... Newport may be a city, but not all parts of it are civilized."
"Ah... kay." Kesst nodded, "Thank you for your help... uh... sir."
"Nicholas." the man responded, and, not bothering to let Kesst introduce himself (not that the dragon was going to), the human about-faced, and headed back into the crowd. Glancing left, then right, Kesst made a quick judgment call, took a deep breath, and dove after him into the crashing surf of bodies.
"Ni--" Kesst raised a talon, and got bumped into from the side, "Sorry." he spoke quickly to the tabby who glared at him before walking off. The dragon double-stepped, heading through the crowd after the human sailor, who seemed to make navigating the press of bodies as easy as any hatchling chase game, "Nic--" but he was cut short again... this time by a paw grabbing him by the cloak and pulling him back out of the flow of travelers and into a quiet little shaded area between two high-stacked walls of crates.
"Told'ja we'd find ya." the rat announced, getting another paw on Kesst's traveling cloak. The dragon thought immediately of slipping out of it, much like he had done before while escaping the grasp of the Inquisition but, he realized, he was in the middle of a city and, despite people not caring enough to look closely at a cloaked passer-by, he had a feeling he would gain far too much attention if anyone saw his wings.
"Augh..." grunted the elephant, limping his way to block off the passing travelers' view between the crates, "I wanna pull off 'is fuckin' tail..."
"I might just let Suros do it...." the rat stated, glaring at the dragon, "But a few hundred crowns could convince me to let this one slide..." and he began squeezing the front of Kesst's tunic, "Where ya hidin' it, slag?"
"I'll start with th' tip, Grange... lemme pull off the tip... I bet 'e'll talk by the time I--" the elephant began, but his rant was interrupted by the solid sound of something thumping against flesh and he yelped. Out of the corner of his eye, Kesst watched as finely crafted cane rebounded off of the bruiser's rump and clattered to the ground. The large thug about-faced, seething, and picked it up off the ground before bellowing out in a roar, "The owner of this fuckin' stick better start runnin', 'cuz I'm gonna shove it up 'is ass!"
Having had some degree of success in the maneuver before, Kesst lashed out while the rat was distracted, swinging his leg forward and lifting it straight up between his assailant's legs, feeling the man's genitals compress against his body and the dragon's shin. The rat let him go in an instant, both paws finding their way to his bruised groin as he let out an agonized squeak and collapsed to his knees.
Kesst quickly skirted around the boxes, making his way around the crowd, pausing only as he saw the elephant approaching a well-dressed antelope, who was just picking himself up off the ground after what appeared to have been a stumble, "Um... my apologies... sir."
The dragon paused for a moment, watching the elephant lumber toward the pronghorn. He was torn between two very differing plans of action at that point; every fiber in his being told him to run and get away and remain incognito and inconspicuous, but a nagging voice in the back of his mind reminded him that the elephant would have done some very horrible things to him if not for the intervention (as accidental as it had been) of the antelope. He delayed a moment longer, and that's when he noticed the clasp on the well-dressed man's cloak.
"You're with the university!" Kesst announced, drawing the attention from both the pronghorn and the elephant.
As if suddenly remembering where he was, the large pachyderm dropped the antelope's walking stick and began stalking toward the dragon. "Where YOU goin', huh?"
Kesst could tell the elephant expected him to run; his father told him long ago that doing what someone expected was usually a poor response to aggression, so he did the opposite. Taking a step forward, the dragon raised his foot. The elephant may have been caught by surprise that he wasn't retreating, but the thug had already experienced wracking pain once and quickly responded by lowering both his hands to intercept Kesst's foot... but the attack never came.
Once the man left his face open, the dragon followed-up instead with a quick punch to his throat. The elephant raised his hands to grasp his neck... at which point Kesst followed up with another strike to the groin. Kesst grabbed the pronghorn, who had just knelt to retrieve his walking stick, and quickly pulled him off into the crowd. The man wasn't exactly his savior, but he had helped... and he was from the University!
"Woah... woah... woah... slow down." the well-dressed antelope objected, "What is--"
"They were trying to rob me!" Kesst announced, not letting go of the man's arm, "He probably would've killed you!"
The pronghorn finally managed to extract his arm from the dragon's grasp and cleared his throat. The man knew enough not to stop amidst the foot traffic, but he slowed enough that Kesst realized that he meant for the dragon to follow. Once Kesst stepped up to meet the man's pace, the antelope clearly announced, "You should go to the guards."
"I...." Kesst paused, "...can't."
You're not from around here."
"Is it that obvious?" the dragon inquired.
"Yes." the pronghorn announced, "To start, we're heading toward a dead end."
Kesst cursed under his breath, and glanced around at the pressing mass of bodies; not too far behind them he saw the looming form of the elephant towering over the rest of the passers-by; he looked angry... very angry. "Where can we go?" he asked.
"I must admit, I am not intimately familiar with the docks..." the antelope announced, "It isn't exactly a place I choose to spend much time unless absolutely necessary."
Kesst glanced back at him, noticing the pin in his lapel once more, "What about the University?"
The pronghorn's expression soured further, "Not always as helpful as advertised." he folded his overcoat smoothly around himself, "Besides... the UPU is halfway across town."
"How can people live like this?" the dragon questioned, moving more fully into the flow of pedestrians in an attempt to have the current help pull him further away from their pursuit.
"Not many prosper at it." the pronghorn confirmed, moving after him as he eyed the elephant from afar. Kesst quickly passed into an alley, hoping to get some distance between them and the thugs. The antelope followed, "City living is best left up to the rich or the criminals."
"Or the rich criminals." commented a voice from overhead, and a white fox dropped easily down from an overhang. The newcomer was dressed simply in a green tunic and brown trousers. Kesst was surprised to see that, rather than a mane, he had full flowing human-like hair, gold in color, and gathered up into two braids. "Like what you see?" the fox inquired with a smirk; only then did the dragon realize he was staring.
"Uh... sorry." Kesst glanced away, looking over his shoulder. He let out a sigh when he realized that the pursuit had apparently either broken off or had lost sight of them.
"This isn't the Rusted Gaff." the fox announced, eying the pronghorn.
"I apologize." the antelope bowed his head to the long-haired man, "I was otherwise occupied." Kesst didn't miss the fact that the well-dressed buck motioned his way.
"So not only do you give me the eye, but now you're threatening my livelihood?" the fox asked, ears up, and paws on hips. It took a moment for Kesst to realize that it was just an act-- a good natured jibe.
"Livelihood?" the dragon inquired.
"Man..." the fox chuckled, "he IS new to town, isn't he?" and he pulled a pouch loose from his belt and tossed it casually to the antelope.
"Careful!" the pronghorn objected, grabbing the package out of the air, fumbling with it for a moment, "Hydrated Ether is NOT supposed to be thrown around."
"You said it wasn't dangerous." the white furred delivery fox countered.
"It isn't..." the buck confirmed, "but that doesn't mean I want the jar breaking."
Kesst interrupted the exchange, "You're with the University?" he asked the pronghorn.
"Sometimes I question that myself." the antelope responded cryptically.
"My name's Kesst." the dragon replied, "I was hoping I could join." His declaration caught the attention of both men. The fox began chuckling, but the pronghorn's muzzle pulled back into a scowl.
"Now's not really a good time." the well-dressed man responded, stowing the satchel in his pack, "Here." he announced, tossing the fox a pouch in response. The fox caught it deftly and Kesst heard the distinctive sound of a good amount of money clinking.
"Pleasure doing business with you." the fox smirked, stowing the pack into-- Kesst really didn't know where it went, "Oh... Kesst, was it?" the fox cocked an ear to the side, "If you really don't want someone coming after your coin you should find a better place for it."
"Huh?"
"He's right." the antelope confirmed, "Anyone that passes you can see that bulge."
The fox snickered, "Yea... I've heard that more than once.", he headed off out of the alley, "If you need anything else you know where to find me, Mr Severna." and, with that, he disappeared into the wave of bodies, and out of view.
"Why do you need hydrated ether?" Kesst asked, "What do you need it for?"
Mr Severna reached forward; the dragon quickly suppressed his initial reaction to struggle, and stood passively as the pronghorn smoothed out his tunic and quickly shifted the sack of coins around to the space between his arm and his ribs, "Much better." the antelope commented, and motioned back to the street with his walking stick, "Come."
"What is the hydrated ether for?" the dragon inquired again.
"You've already asked quite a few questions, Kesst... if you plan on joining the University I think you should probably learn which ones are the right ones to ask." he made his way toward the street and the dragon jogged to catch up, "Besides... I plan on asking a few of my own."
Kesst tensed up at that but reminded himself that he would have to learn how to deal with personal inquiries if he was going to get along at the University. With any luck, Mr Severna would be a good first step toward safety; if he had the University at his back he would be just fine... or so he hoped.