Our journey was to the Southlands, which was separated by an ocean. We had to stop by the only major city in the south held by the Kingdom of Revalia: Stormport.
Stormport was as large as Easthaven, maybe even slightly more so. We didn't have much time for sight-seeing though; Alexis hurriedly shoved us into a small ship that she had rented.
"Woah, you're really in a hurry, aren't you?" Ariel asked Alexis.
"Do I look like I have no other job to do?" Alexis said, sharply staring at Ariel. "Right, gather round kids. I need to brief you all on this, and quick. This ship's got a lot of enchantments, it'll arrive in 15 minutes."
She laid down a beautiful enchanted map, full of details, depicting the Southlands-or at least the more northern parts of it. Monica looked with bewilderment; Ariel with disinterest. "This thing is worth five times the two of you combined, so pay some bloody attention," Alexis barked. "The Kingdom in charge of the Southlands is the Nine-Jewelled Kingdom. We're heading to one of its nine 'jewels', the city of Al-Jins."
Al-Jins? Wasn't that the city of slaves that the old Drow told me about?
"You all don't know the language, and few people speak Revallian there, so leave the talking to me," Alexis said. "We'll-"
Chants. Warcries. Drums. Alexis and I took a glass telescope. A ship was moving towards us-no, we were moving towards the ship. And as we moved further forward, more and more ships came into our view.
"Orcs. It's an orc fleet," Alexis said. "Warpaint-hawthorn wood-leather covering, yup, it all checks out." 9
"What are they doing, Master?" Ariel asked.
"Looks like they're attacking Al-Jins," I said. "I see a couple burned ships with a gold banner."
Alexis sighed. "What do we do?" Monica asked, panic evident in her tone.
"We attack," Alexis said calmly. "Get them from the flanks."
"Are you mad? Four people against a fleet?" Ariel barked.
"Why, seems to be a fair fight. A tad unbalanced on our side, even," Alexis said.
There was no more time to debate Alexis, because our ship was already close to the orc fleet. Alexis drew a small black cube that emitted a loud roar.
We unsheathed our weapons with Ariel cursing under her breath. I could see the whites of the orcs' eyes; the green-skinned orcs were tall and strong and they carried large weapons. "Monica, careful," I said. Two ships of the orc fleet broke formation to outflank us.
Alexis raised her staff. Thick, grey mist swirled at its tip. She swung it, unleashing a cloud of dark mist at an orc ship. The ship rot immediately, its wooden hull collapsing and its crew turned to dust.
The other ship had boarded us. Orcs charged with their warchants and drums. I redirected the shining sunlight at the orcs. "Ariel!" I shouted.
The Elf was a blur in the air as she slew the line of blinded orcs. A hand in the air grabbed her and bashed her head against the wooden deck.
"Ariel!" I screamed. The figure stood tall, perhaps two and a half metres; a gargantuan female orc with a battleaxe to match. Whilst Ariel crawled to safety, the orc and I circled each other cautiously.
"Heah!" I produced a burst of fire hurled at the orc. A lust-powered punch landed squarely on her face.
She shoved me down, my spine slamming against the cold wooden platform. I rolled over like a maniac as she rained down her gigantic axe. I drove my blade upon her exposed leg. She roared in pain.
I bathed her in a tirade of fire, sending her reeling. The fires quickly quelled. "You are strong. You deserve to know my name. Ursa," she said in Revallian. "And yours?"
"Darryl," I said. The pain from my cracked spine was barely bearable.
She looked at the battlefield, and I did too. Alexis had been running around with reckless abandon, burning orc ships with black fire. Allied ships battered their orc foes with rams and soldiers boarded their ship.
"Until we meet again!" Ursa said. She leaped onto the last orc ship, which quickly sailed away.
I shambled upon Ariel. "Hey, are you alright?" I asked.
"Ghh ... broken bones. Gonna be alright," Ariel sighed.
"Ah, it's nice to flex your muscles a little, don't you think?" Alexis asked, her eyes mischievously fixated on Ariel. She drew a small knife and made a small cut on her own palm.
"Here, drink," she said.
She shoved her palm at me. The iron taste of blood filled my mouth. Alexis made Ariel drank her blood too. I could feel my spine repairing itself very quickly.
"What ... what did you do?"
"Blood magic," Alexis said.
"You're evil," Ariel grunted.
"I'm practical," Alexis replied. "I can break your bones again if you want, just in case you hate blood magic that much."
We entered the city. I could feel eyes fixated on us; curious and cautious. Before we could do anything, a man and a company of soldiers blocked our way. The man was dark-skinned and bearded. A small turban covered his head-and I wished I had one too, because the scorching sunlight was burning me (so much for solar magic). He was wielding a long spear and a kite shield. "Let me do the talking," Alexis said.
She spoke a few foreign words that sounded like "ashalam" or something like that. The company leader was visibly shocked before he returned the greeting.
They talked for a short while before the man and his company stepped aside. "What were you talking about?" I asked Alexis.
"The short version is that he agrees to let us meet their leader," Alexis said. "Or rather, their leader has agreed to meet us. Kalimah-she and her Council."
"Are we meeting the Council then?"
"No, just Kalimah for now," Alexis said as we walked the city. Alexis was walking so quickly Monica, Ariel, and I were barely keeping up. "Oh, and careful with your slaves. Everyone in this city is a slave-even the Council members are technically slaves."
"Really? That's quite interesting," Monica quipped. "Never thought a system like that could work."
"Well ... yes ... ah, we've arrived."
We stood upon a tower of white marble. We ascended it through never ending spiral stairs. "Is it so necessary to build this kind of high tower?" Monica complained.
"It's very useful for sieges," Ariel claimed. "It's hard to attack, and you can hurl spells and projectiles from atop. There'd be a magical shield around it too."
"And below it, unless you want it destroyed by earthquake spells," Alexis quipped. "You're quite knowledgeable about military tactics."
"All Shades learn it," Ariel said.
At the top of the marble tower we were met with a brown-skinned woman behind a desk. Her long, wavy, black hair contrasted her sharp eyes.
Alexis and the woman-presumably Kalimah-quickly delved into a flurry of speeches in a foreign language, leaving the three of us dumbfounded.
After fifteen minutes or so, Kalimah, in Revallian, finally said, "I'll continue in Revallian so that your companions can understand."
"That would be perfect, thank you," Alexis said.
"Right ... where do I start? You want to know why shipments of valuables are not reaching the Schauffenbergs' homeland. It is impossible for me to pinpoint the exact reason. There is a possibility that bandits have taken over the farms and mines from which these valuables came from. I understand a number of agents were sent. They travelled to the mines and were never heard of again."
"Bandits?" Alexis muttered. "Hmm. Has that been a big problem?"
"Somewhat."
