Chapter 4. The Mermaid's Pearl
Kyra eventually returned to the main highway through the Plentyful Plains and, at an inn, picked up another coach heading to the city of vices and fortune.
Galtin's Port was a city of mesmerizing size, exhibiting both the extreme height of wealth and the extreme depths of poverty, the wealth represented by the many impressive, gilded palaces situated on the outskirts of the city, but also, and most significantly, by the imposing stone cog over the city's bay, suspended high in the air by massive chain links anchored into the surrounding cliffs. Atop the Cog are lavish halls for the city's many famous guilds. In its center is a magnificent shimmering clock tower that juts up into the sky and serves as a beacon to all approaching ships.
The poverty is represented by the ramshackle tenements built into the seaward cliffs surrounding the Cog. One could see the poverty here by the number of tenements built atop one another. But what is on the cliff faces fails to show the immense poverty that writhes within the narrow passages that crisscross far within the cliffs. Inside these caves, the city's darker and, one might argue, more distinguishing characteristic, thrives. The city is a teeming anthill to most who inhabit it. An anthill where grit and self-reliance are needed to survive.
To stretch the money she had, she rented a cheap room in the basement of a brothel called the 'Mermaid's Pearl' in the bustling Fishermen's Quay district, which lay in the shadows of one of the poverty-laden cliffs.
The madam of the Mermaid's Pearl was Angelica, a fiery old lady who, in her youth, though may not have been the most beautiful, was nevertheless adored by scores of men on account of her affectatious charm. Legends have it she was courted by many men of the aristocratic circles of Merchant's Height despite her lowly pedigree. Although age had honed Angelica's charm into a sharp-bladed wit, she was more than anything else a caring mother hen to her whores, and despite her dubious profession, had a soft heart for all gentle souls who were down on their luck. When Angelica encountered Kyra at her door, she took whatever Kyra could afford for rent only on the condition that she finds her feet quickly. Kyra was grateful to her and quickly got her nose to the grindstone, with all her energy focused on tracking down the rapscallion that had cheated her out of her fair share of the treasure.
Kyra remembered what Scarlet had said about her connections with an alchemist dwarf, so, she first visited the cliffside and the cave markets to visit the shadiest Dwarven alchemists she could find. To her chagrin, dwarven alchemists were a dime a dozen. Most of them were tight-lipped. Some were downright hostile to Kyra. She was an unfamiliar face. A face that could be connected with the merchant's guild or other factions not too amenable to the washing and trading of grey and black-market coins. Everyone she talked to knew of Scarlet, but all were quick to deny that they knew her personally. Kyra realized quickly that Scarlet had too many streetwise allies here. Too many eyes and ears. And Kyra had none, except Angelica. She was entirely out of her element.
She had expended her savings much more quickly than expected, and it was rather hard for her to make any more money, despite the common belief that this city was brimming with coins. It was, in fact, brimming, but only for those with the right connections.
Angelica gave her room and board for sweeping the floors, cleaning the dishes, and making the beds, but she could not afford to pay her. So, Kyra needed to find work if she wanted enough money to fund her hunt for Scarlet. But work was hard to come by, even as a street witch.
Most were skeptical of a witch they did not know. A witch from out of town was held in the same regard as a stray dog, and for a good reason: many a traveling witch had parted good people from their coin with false spells and potions (sometimes to injurious or even deadly effect). Though Kyra may have thieved from the rich, she would never cast a fake healing spell on those ailing from sickness. Nevertheless, she could hardly convince a beggar she wouldn't cheat them.
One night, soon after Kyra had shifted her priority away from trying to find Scarlet to scrounging enough money to live on, she overheard one of the Mermaid whores chatting up a sailor at a bar about something that piqued her curiosity. The sailor told a tale of a marvelous ship that cruised city to city to provide pure hedonistic pleasure to those who could afford its princely luxuries. The size of a palace, this ship, the sailor professed, contained luxurious bathhouses, casinos, gardens, and the most divine concubines in the world. Of course, this sailor had never set foot on board the vessel, but he had recently sighted it out in the open ocean on its way to Galtin's Port. Most interestingly to Kyra, the sailor claimed that at the helm of this palace ship was no regular sea captain but a powerful sorceress.
Angelica gave credence to the story. Sitting at the far end of the counter, she said,
"I was on that ship for a time. I was one of them 'divine' concubines. It's called the 'Rose Narcissa.'"
All the Mermaid's girls and their sailor clients eagerly gathered around her to hear her story.
"It's exactly as he says. A magnificent floating palace with all the luxuries you could ever imagine. Gold lined every door and every piece of furniture. Gardens full of creatures and flowering plants you've never seen. Never even heard of. And the wine! Oh, how it flowed like a river! And the feasts! How they never ceased. They dressed me in the finest laces, taught me all the courtly etiquette, and presented me to the most powerful princes and dukes of Leinyere. Alas, a wine or two never fails to bring out the Galtin sass in me!"
"Bet you had those poor saps running for the lifeboats, eh Angie?" One of the customers shouted, to which the room roared with laughter.
"Too right!" Angelica guffawed. "You can take the girl out of Galtin, but you never take the Galtin out the girl! That's a damn sure thing! Needless to say, they didn't want nothing to do with me after one cruise. They heaved me out like a sack of rotten potatoes the soonest chance they got!"
"And the sorceress?" Kyra asked.
The room went hush. The merriment had been extinguished as quick as a candle flame being put out with a pinch. Kyra was behind the bar, rubbing a rag in a pint glass, when she asked the question. They all gave her a stare, then glanced back at Angelica to hear her answer.
"Ah yes, the mistress of the Rose Narcissa. A strange lady indeed. Now I only met her once, but you can say that she made quite an impression on me. A stunning beauty. A sight to behold. There was certainly magic behind that beauty. And certainly, there was magic behind the constant wind that filled the ship's sails and the perpetually stormless seas. Not to mention the never-ending wine. She was a powerful sorceress, and all that was good about that palace ship was undoubtedly because of her powers. Of course, there were hushed rumors of more devious magic. But they were only hushed rumors."
Angelica had everyone in rapt attention. Everyone was so keen to hear what she had to say about the sorceress that the only sounds were the muffled chatter and laughter in the streets outside the brothel. They all leaned in and perked their ears. A smile crept onto Angelica's face, and a twinkle came to her eyes. Enjoying the attention, she told her tale with a dramatic and dark voice.
"Think about it. What would a sorceress do with the most bountiful feasts, a harem full of the most beautiful women Leinyere had to offer, such as yours truly, and the freedom to commit debauchery that would make even the most debauch wine nymph blush?"
She paused and looked around the room for answers to her rhetorical question. Her question was met only with excited stares, so she answered,
"To dip her fingers into the pockets and minds of Leinyere's most powerful people, of course! Now, no one knows for sure how far her reach is. But they say every war and every peace in this realm starts and ends with her."
Kyra was struck with awe. All the assertions of this sorceress's power -- her ability to harness the wind and keep storms at bay. Her ability to keep the wine barrels constantly full and her sway over Kings and Queens -- all the sort of sorcery to make her fawn.
"What's her name?" Kyra asked eagerly.
"I know her only as Lady Bellona."
Angelica enunciated her name with a quiet and ominous air as if to speak the name too loud would have risked the sorceress hearing and putting a wrathful curse on all who heard it uttered.
Kyra knew the name. Her heart jumped with excitement, and she did an excited little hop. Bellona was one of her kind -- an elemental and a former student of the Topaz Order Academy. Her painting hung in the library rotunda, as with all alumni who have performed a 'Great Spell.'
Performing a Great Spell is a dream for the most ambitious and talented among the magic wielders of the Magical Academies. It is the pinnacle of achievement. A magician's magnum opus. And every Academy alumnus that performs such a feat is treated with the high honor of having a portrait painting hung in perpetuity in the hallowed rotunda of the Academy's Grand Library. Bellona's Great Spell was to cure a plague that raged through the women of Portoa. In many ways, Bellona was similar to Kyra. She, too, had her start as a lowly swallow child who was forced into the Academy only to be expelled just before graduating for casting a forbidden spell. Only years later, when Bellona had cured the plague of Portoa, had the school forgiven her for her crimes and subsequently blessed her with the highest honor an Academy magician could ever hope for.
The sailor that had begun the gossip of the Rose Narcissa said, "you know, they say this palace ship is supposed to pull in early tomorrow morning. It'll be a sight to behold."
That did it for Kyra. Having this image of such a wonderful place painted in her head, knowing now that at the helm of it was a Topaz Order Academy elemental sorceress just like her, she needed to get on board the ship. She needed an audience with the sorceress. She didn't believe in destiny, but this coincidence was too good. This could finally be her lucky break. If this sorceress took her in as an apprentice, she would regain the favor of the Academy, then all the doors would open for her.
Later that evening, when most of the sailors had either found a whore that tickled their fancy and took her to a room upstairs or had moved on to find another brothel or to a tavern, Kyra found Angelica in her favorite corner of the pub, smoking a pipe filled with sweet tobacco, enjoying nourishing thoughts of bygone days. Kyra interrupted her moment of tranquility.
"I want to meet Lady Bellona."
Angelica winced as she puffed on her pipe, then pursed her lips as she let the smoke stream out her nostrils.
"Why would you want that, dear?"
"I want to work for her."
"I wouldn't let you whore for me; I'll be damned if you ever do it for her. Besides, no offense, you don't have what it takes to be a concubine. You're young enough, sure, and maybe even pretty enough, but it doesn't suit you."
Kyra replied, "no, that's not what I... I mean, I want to be her apprentice."
Angelica raised an eyebrow.
