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Shaye stumbled into a puddle of mud; her gray dapple gelding, Finn, pranced at her side trying to avoid any more splashing. His legs were coated in brown just like her breeches and boots. Perfect, she thought to herself. Four weeks on a smelly ship only to find that dry land isn’t as dry as I had hoped. This was the embarrassing state in which she would be seeing her family for the first time in six months. Makeshift family. The words crept into her head, uninvited.
It was not fair to think that way. The Erland family had treated her as one of their own from the moment she arrived scared and bloodied, stumbling into their inn at ten years old. That had been merely two weeks after the uprising, but they had not balked at the sight of a Magi child in need. They had fed, clothed, and loved her. They had selflessly raised her alongside their own daughter, Brina, until Shaye was old enough to join the Merchant’s Guild.
They had supported her decision to join the Guild and had sent her on her way with a beautiful, embroidered coat, and a pack full of her favorite homemade sweet rolls. She had been so eager to prove herself... To show the world that she was not just another Magi orphan plagued by the trauma of her past.
It had been three years since she had left her home with them at the inn to sail with the Guild, and many months since she had last visited. So much had changed in that short amount of time. She had since then left the Guild to join a less savory crowd from the Padsu Harbour. She supposed in a lot of ways she had changed, too, becoming more comfortable in her own skin. Now, here she was showing up on their doorstep once again, covered in filth. She hoped they would not be disappointed when they heard the news.
“Nervous, love?” Haskell, an exceptionally tall man with light braided hair and a beard to match, put an arm around her as they strolled away from the docks. Finn snorted at him until he drew an apple from his pack. The enormity of her Skagan friend was drawing stares as they walked along the harbour. They strode confidently by the fishermen, ignoring the whispers that their presence invoked.
“Not at all,” Shaye lied. ducking from under his arm and raising a brow. “You’d better be careful, Haskell; Asterion doesn’t look as kindly on smugglers as Sagon does.”
“I’ll manage.” He scratched his uncombed, bearded face and smiled broadly. “Gonna miss me?”
Shaye took him in for a moment; Haskell was handsome in a brutish sort of way. Although he had tried often, she had never gone to bed with him; but they had been together on the job for so long that she had grown to love him. She loved their entire crew; they were like family. Like a slightly violent, bawdy, criminal family, but family, nonetheless. They had looked out for each other, and it had been difficult to part with them.
“Thank you for coming with me.” She smiled warmly at her companion, ignoring Finn’s attempts at digging an apple out of the pack she carried. Haskell had volunteered to sail down the coast with her while the others stayed behind in Norbrach. Bidding the crew farewell, she and Haskell had promised to return soon.
“It was nothing. Now go on, I’ve got a brothel to find.” He laughed as he strutted away.
Shaye straightened, swatting Finn’s greedy nose away from her pack. “Come on, Finn, time to do what we came here for.” They continued down the cobblestone roads, past neat rows of townhouses and shops. She had missed the brightly colored buildings that made up Asterion’s capital. Each structure stood warm and welcoming in various hues of yellow, red, and blue. She knew they would be nearing the street to the inn soon, but she spotted a gambling house first. Finn tugged at the reins as she pulled him to a post out front.
“Come on, Finn, just one drink. To calm my nerves.” She patted his muscular neck before tying him to the post and feeding him a ripe, red apple. He nodded in approval at the bribe, accepting it.
Shaye turned toward the small wooden building, tucked between two prominent townhomes. It looked out of place here, but no one had ever shut it down. The Wolves Den was a seedy, disreputable tavern and her favorite place to go for a game of chance. Inside there were a few men at the bar while others sat at tables playing cards or dice.
The bar was falling apart, the wood chipped and rotting. Shaye wondered why the owner had not invested the money to replace it after all these years. She supposed she had grown too used to the extravagant gambling houses in Padsu, where wealth from all over the world poured into its ports and went to good use to make the town a destination spot for travelers, tradesmen, and even pirates. Padsu, the small harbour in Sagon, had been an exciting and exotic place in comparison to the simple beauty of the Aramoor trade harbour that she called home.
Shaye ordered an ale from the bar, ignoring the bartender who gave her a sly smile before going to help another customer. She rolled her eyes and brushed off her filthy jerkin and breeches, thinking she really should clean up a bit before going home to the inn. She pulled her cascading auburn hair up into a leather string before taking her ale to one of the nearby tables.
She made herself comfortable, and in less than an hour Shaye had collected a nice stack of coins as well as a jeweled brooch, most likely stolen from its previous owner. The Asterion harbor was not known for crime and, for the most part, its inhabitants lived happily. King Allerick had done a fine job of cleaning up the city, and trade had continued to do exceptionally well once he had taken power. He had even strengthened it with the organization of the Guilds. But that did not stop the odd theft from taking place. It was no concern to Shaye, who was racking up her winnings with the loaded dice she had slipped onto the table.
Shaye was laughing at a story the old Skagan man beside her was telling. Skag was a rough country filled with warriors who lived amongst the dangerous mountain terrain. It was someplace she had no desire to visit, especially after his story having something to do with a brothel and a goat. She took a long drink of the sour ale when a commotion at the bar caught her attention.
An old man in a torn cloak was arguing with the barkeep. The burly man behind the bar threw the cloaked man’s money back at him. “We don’t serve your kind here, Mage. Leave before I show you the door myself.” He spat on the floor by the Mage’s feet. It was common to see less powerful Magi wandering the city. Many Sorcerers had escaped after King Allerick took the throne, but Mages and Witches still lingered throughout the city and in the countryside.
Shaye looked at the barkeep in disgust. To refuse service was one thing, but to spit on the floor of your own establishment seemed unnecessary and crude. She had forgotten how ugly the prejudices toward Magi were here in Asterion. Sagon was different in that matter; their king doted on Magi, and you could often find Sorcerers, Mages, and Witches offering their services in various establishments.
The Mage seethed with anger. His hands opening and closing at his side as if he itched to use the magic he no longer had. “I have done nothing to you! I was a border guard for twenty years, protecting ungrateful bastards like yourself from foreign scum.”
Sensing things were going to get even uglier from here, Shaye pushed her winnings and loaded dice into her pack and jumped from her seat at the insult. She put herself between the Mage and the offended barkeep before things could escalate further. “Please, Sir, he didn’t mean anything by that. We’re all on edge, let us share a drink and forget the whole thing.”
She placed a few coins on the counter hoping it would be enough to diffuse the situation, but the barkeep shoved them back at her. “Stay out of this.”
The Mage scoffed at her, “I don’t need your help sweetheart.” He shoved Shaye into a nearby stool. This was her thanks for trying to help him.
Shaye clenched her jaw, “I’m not your sweetheart.” She picked her coins up from the bar and readied herself to leave.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted a hefty bald man pulling a knife from his belt. Shaye waited for the man to make his move. So much for calming my nerves. This is what I get for involving myself in this crap.
The man lunged with his knife at the unsuspecting Mage, who was still busy spouting insults at the bartender. Ignoring Shaye, the bald man did not see her coming when she swept in from behind, using all her strength to slam his face into the bar. The man went down with a loud crash, taking several bar stools with him. When he stood, his face was a bloody mess where she had just broken his nose. Shaye stepped back, satisfied with herself, before all hell broke loose.