For those who haven't notced yet, there is now a page for links to each post that contains a draft for "The Charlatan and the Elf"! (Look in the bar above the blog posts to find it.) Right now it directs you to the post in question and requires you to scroll down to find the draft, but if HTML code allows it I'll make it jump right to the draft in a later update.
In addition, the first draft of Chapter One is complete. Rather than ramble about it, I'll just let you read it below.
--------------------
The Charlatan and the Elf
Chapter One
Savia could feel the opportunity emanating from the hopeful, idealistic faces
crowding the docks. A fleet of ships was preparing to leave port for
adventures of every kind, drawing many to watch the explorers set off. If she
hadn't lived in Carista for the past few years, she might have thought that
the entire population of the city was here to see off the explorers. Even so,
it was impressive to see so many people excited about a single discovery.
The pickings were easy today, but Savia wasn't going to settle for small
change. She scanned the faces in the crowd as she gently squeezed through
whatever space she could find. There were plenty of crewmen and women saying
goodbye to their families, which were more trouble than they were worth. A
number of watchmen were forcing a band of slaves to the city onto the piers
and gangplanks, again too busy to be worth the time. There were plenty of
merchants and their children busying themselves with packing luxuries, but
even they weren't worth the effort today.
After looking over much of the docks, Savia turned and began to make a second
pass. There were more unoccupied marks on this return trip, but Savia was
holding out for someone exceptional. She was starting to worry that she was
setting her expectations too high when she found the perfect mark.
Stepping off the gangplank of his ship to converse with some wealthy
passengers, a captain with a finely tailored uniform and expensive hat stood
out to Savia. Even from a few yards away and pushing through the thinning
crowd, Savia saw his cheerful, guileless face and knew he was the perfect
choice.
"Sir!" she called to him once she was close enough to be heard over the noise
of the crowd. She noted with annoyance that the passengers hadn't boarded yet
and were glancing at her with confused expressions as the captain himself
turned to face her.
"Have we met before, lass?" came the captain's response. Savia inferred from
his tone that he was trying to be polite despite her sudden intrusion on his
conversation.
"You're heading to the island of Kilshan, aren't you, sir?" Savia asked,
knowing what the answer was and suspecting the captain knew she understood.
She glanced at the passangers out of the corner of her eye to make sure she
wasn't too unwelcome.
"Indeed I am, lass!" the captain answered. "Captain Vinattio, at your
service" he said with a bow, flourishing with his hat. Savia hoped his
politeness would hold out long enough, though such a display gave her hope.
"Before you go, perhaps you should have your fortune told so that you can
avoid as much danger as you can during your explorations?" Savia said as
elegantly as she could while rushing through the offer. She didn't want to
outstay her welcome before she had an answer, but she couldn't expect success
if she sounded insincere due to her haste.
Vinattio furrowed his brow as he considered the offer. One of the passangers,
a man with a deep frown etched into his face and an untrusting stare, shook
his head and gestured to Savia while adressing the captain. "Don't listen to
this girl. She only wants your money."
Not trusting Vinattio or the other passanger to speak on her behalf, Savia
interjected "I need the silver to get by, but I assure you that the fortune I
offer is worth the price."
Vinattio nodded, still thinking. The other passanger, a middle-aged woman
with a slightly chubby face that lent a softness to her features shrugged and
offered "It couldn't hurt us, and if our venture succeeds the price will be a
pittance."
"Well said" spoke Vinattio, coming to a decision. "I may have done things
differently had I known the dangers in my last voyage. Even a hint of the
future could be of great help."
"You won't regret this decision!" Savia exclaimed, hoping to keep the
untrusting passanger from cutting in again. "I just need a table to set up
on, and we can get started."
"Come aboard, then!" Vinattio invited Savia and the passangers to board the
ship. Savia was relieved when the passangers went their own way to their
cabins as she followed the captain to the back of the ship. Savia ignored
most of the crew; she already had her mark and wasn't going to be aboard long
enough to take any more on this ship before it set sail. She was also
suppressing her worry at Vinattio's comment about having been to Kilshan
before. She knew that others had begun to explore the island before, but she
didn't think she'd pick one who had as her mark.
A young woman intercepted them on the way to Vinattio's cabin, worry creasing
her face. "Captain! The food stores aren't enough to keep us for a trip to
Kilshan, let alone the return!"
Vinattio smiled at the woman. "Don't worry, Effie. We have some more barrels
of rations to load, and we'll find food for the return trip once we've
reached Kilshan."
"I hope you're right" Effie said, seeming to reach up for her ears before
rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm not sure if the elves are going to be
friendly enough to feed us, though."
"We'll manage, Effie" Vinattio reassured her, pointing to Savia. "I'm about
to get our fortune read. We'll not be going in unprepared."
"Alright..." Effied nodded slowly and crept away. Savia fretted about Effie's
comment about elves... perhaps she should reconsider using her usual method.
Once Vinattio had led Savia to his cabin she pulled her dice bag from an
inner pocket of her jacket and laid it on the table. She looked up at him as
he pulled two chairs and set them up for them. "You've met elves before?"
Vinattio nodded, smiling. "I have. The lass you just met, Effie, is an elf."
Savia felt a pang of worry, but ignored it and tried to keep calm. "That's
interesting. I'm told my mother was elven, but I didn't know her well." Savia
desperately hoped there was no distinguishing physical trait real elves had
that she couldn't explain away... there wasn't a drop of elven blood in her.
"A half-elf, hm?" the captain responded. "I wasn't aware we had any in fair
Carista. It seems I haven't looked hard enough."
Savia took each of the dice out of her bag and laid them in order. She
mentally rehearsed her explanations one last time before sitting in her chair
and looking up at Vinattio. "Stories say that these dice were created by an
elven king for looking into his future. But he was untrusting, and had them
crafted so only he and his descendants could use them. I'm not sure how true
that legend is, but they never seem to tell the future accurately unless I
roll them."
"Fascinating..." Vinattio whispered. "Does that mean you might be the
descendant of this king?"
Savia had to resist smirking at the captain's naivete. "Perhaps, but stories
of my anscestry aren't what you're paying for, and I suspect you wish to be
on your way back to Kilshan."
"Right." Vinattio nodded. "So how does this work?"
"First, ask a question that can't be answered with a simple yes or no. I'll
walk you through it from there."
Vinattio crossed his arms and lowered his head in thought. After a moment of
contemplation he looked up again. "What sort of dangers will we face in
Kilshan?"
Savia's mind started working as quickly as she could force it to as she
picked up the dice, rolled them onto the table with an unnecessary flourish,
and realigned them. She pointed to the rune on the first die. "This is an
ancient elven rune for 'fire.' One of your hardships will involve fire in
some way... are there many forests on Kilshan?"
"Yes" the captain answered slowly, clearly not sure how the rune on the die
applied to his life.
Savia was used to this early skepticism and hoped it would pass as she went
on. "At this part of the reading, the fire could be anything. It could be a
burning sail, a campfire sputtering out, a forest set ablaze... but let's
move on to the second die and try to narrow this down."
Showing Vinattio the symbol of the second die, Savia tried to come up with a
convincing narrative for the result. "This is the rune for 'elf' or 'person.'
This means that this fire... which is likely a physical, rather than
figurative fire from the clues provided, is going to affect one or more
people directly. This might mean that one of your crew might get burned, or
maybe injured by cannon."
"Gods forbid!" Vinattio exclaimed. Savia again had to repress a smirk as she
once more had the captain in her hands. Instead of stopping and possibly
losing momentum, Savia pressed onward.
"This third and final rune represents 'century,' or else a long period of
time. This injury... as that's what the evidence is suggesting... will linger
for a great deal of time, or else be felt for a long time by those who remain
afterwards."
"This is troubling news" Vinattio sighed and rubbed his temples. "We must be
more careful where there is fire or cannon involved... we will want to
prevent as much of this damage and injury as possible."
Savia felt the initial worry subsiding as she realized she was successful.
"Remember the runes in case they appear in unfamiliar ways: fire, person,
century. That way you'll be prepared for any shape the future takes."
Vinattio nodded. "I'll keep your advice and fortune to heart. In what manner
can I repay you?"
Before Savia could answer, the cabin door opened and Effie walked in with a
concerned expression. "Err, captain? Do you have a moment?"
Vinattio glanced at Savia. "May I have a moment for this?"
"Go ahead" Savia replied, confident that Effie wouldn't ruin her chances now
that Vinattio was satisfied with his fortune.
Effie took a deep breath as the captain turned to face her. Now that Savia
was paying closer attention, she did notice that the woman's ears were more
pointed than most of those on ordinary people.
"I considered your offer, but I think I'd rather not go back to Kilshan so
soon." Effie's face stretched in a conflicted, apologetic manner. "I'm sorry,
but I don't want to face the people I left behind so soon after running off."
The captain nodded. "I understand, lass. Here..." Vinattio stood up and
pulled out his coinpurse, counting out a dozen silver coins. "This should be
enough for food tonight and tomorrow. If you can't find any work by the time
that coin runs out, find my cousin Biana and ask her to take you in. I'm sure
she could use a baker like you."
"Thank you, captain." Effie made a little bow, and Savia found it hard to
tell if it was a foreign gesture or a poor imitation of Caristan bowing. With
that, the elf left the cabin.
Alone with the captain once more, Savia stood up and collected her dice,
packing up the bag and replacing it within her jacket pocket. "I should be
off before I become a passanger." Quickly calculating how much she could get
off the captain without arousing suspicion, Savia continued "two dozen silver
should be enough to see me through the week, even if work is slow after all
the explorers head to Kilshan."
Vinattio nodded in agreement. "I'm sure it would be enough, but I'll give you
an even thirty." He counted out the coins and handed them to Savia, who
slipped them into a coinpurse hidden within her jacket like the dice bag, not
adverse to a little extra coin.
"I wish you luck and safety, Captain Vinattio." Savia considered pulling out
one of her "elfstone talismans" ment to make marks think they have bought
just that, but she decided she should catch up to the elf as quickly as
possible.
"Thank you, miss-- I'm sorry, I never asked for your name! How rude of me."
"Savia" she offered. "Don't worry about it, you have an adventure to
undertake. Farewell." Savia gave a proper bow and recieved one from the
captain in return. The scam successful and the formalities done, she opened
the cabin door and left.
Savia paid little heed to the sailors as she walked to the gangplank as
quickly as she could without appearing to be in a hurry. Once back on the
docks, she looked around until she spotted Effie in the rapidly thinning
crowd, uncertainly making her way down the street.
Savia knew she needed to have a talk with this elf... it wouldn't do to have
a real elf saying anything that might contradict what she had been telling
people these past few years. Savia groaned inwardly, wondering why Carista
had to rediscover elves during her lifetime.
Pushing through the crowd as gently as possible while still gaining on the
elf, Savia was close enough to get Effie's attention in minutes. They had
left much of the crowd surrounding the docks behind, and Savia took the
chance to greet Effie.
"Hey, you're Effie right?" she said as calmly as she could, hoping she
wouldn't startle the elf.
Effie fliched a bit and turned her head to face Savia. "Oh, me?... Um, yes...
are you the fortune teller that was speaking with Captain Vinattio?"
"Fortune telling is one of my skills" Savia replied, planting the suggestion
she did other things, which technically she did, since she didn't tell
fortunes. "The name is Savia. Nice to meet you." Savia held out a hand,
hoping the custom of shaking hands wasn't foreign to the elf.
Effie hesitantly took Savia's hand and shook it. "Is there something you
wanted to talk to me about?"
"Very perceptive. I'm liking you already." Savia was exaggerating Effie's
perception, but it wouldn't hurt to compliment her before making the offer.
"From what I understand, you don't have anywhere to stay here in Carista,
excepting the captain's cousin's home. So I was thinking you could spend the
night at my place, at least for tonight."
Effie frowned with understandable skepticism and worry for someone who was
offered a place to stay by a stranger, so Savia continued on. "I'll pay for
food tonight, and show you around the city tomorrow, help you get acquainted.
If you don't like my home, you could go to Biana's tomorrow night and bake
for your lodging."
A surprising change came across Effie's face when the subject of baking came
up. "I'd rather not have to do any baking unless I need to." She studied
Savia. "Before I accept though... what do you want from me in exchange for a
place to stay?"
"For tonight, nothing but the promise to wander the city and talk with me
tomorrow. If you'd like to stay but don't want to work with me, I'm sure I
can find you something to do, and I'll only charge 2 silver a night. Sound
fair?" Savia had to resist holding her breath for the answer.
"Alright." Effie replied, much more quickly than Savia expected. "Why don't
you show me there, so I can put my things away?" She indicated a sack slung
across her shoulder that Savia had ignored before, suspecting the contents to
be personal items irrelevant to her offer.
"Right. Just follow me and stay close." Savia took Effie's free hand and led
her through the streets, holding her victorious smile in check just in case
Effie glanced at her face.
No comments:
Post a Comment