The rest of the voyage went smoothly, and we made it safely to the other side of the sea. At last, we are at least on the right continent now. After the battle, the captain had made a point to talk to us, find out where we were from and where were going. She is an oddly open-minded person. She never seemed bothered by my presence on board her ship… and she seemed actively pleased to have the lizardmen.

  I suppose if she works in this area, she is probably familiar with the lizardmen… but to not be bothered by a goblin is odd… especially for a woman. Most women are deeply unnerved by the simple mention of a goblin… probably because of how goblins treat women. But with her… nothing… no reaction… basically, it was weird is what I am trying to convey here.

  To thank me for backing her up on the boat, she gave us a map to help us find our way home. She is currently talking Damecus through the best route, while we stock our cart with supplies. Tadwick is finally agreeing to wear the clothes that Svampe gave him. I think the cold got to him… eventually. The shirt is too big and not particularly flattering but the britches fit fine.

  Nomius seems to be back to normal. He has taken Tadwick over to the market… they are currently looking at some large green spherical things…

  Dwynfel: “Umm… what are those two looking at?”

  Phoenix: “Watermelons.”

  Kiyui: “Oh, do we have enough money to get one? I love watermelon. I haven’t had one is forever. They never have them in Kataravonia.”

  Dwynfel: “I don’t think you need to ask… they seem to be buying more than one over there.”

  Kiyui: “Yay.”

  Kiyui started to do a little celebratory dance and Phoenix rolled her eyes. I couldn’t help but laugh. As I did, I looked around and noticed that everybody here had that same dark skin that the people in the Uddin Empire had. Clearly it isn’t a particularly rare thing… maybe I just come from an area which has predominantly lighter skin tones.

  Which I suppose makes sense… most people stay in the village that they were born in… and you inherit skin colour from your parents, so skin colour is bound to be quite localised… apart from the odd person who has travelled from elsewhere. I’m definitely thinking it’s a geographical thing now… kind of like how the lizardmen are the predominant species over the sea, whereas on this side it is mostly humans. Maybe I’m overthinking it… I just find this kind of thing really interesting.

  Eventually, Damecus came over and the captain waved us goodbye as she disappeared to sell her cargo.

  Dwynfel: “Did she say how long it will take to get back home?”

  Damecus: “If we take the route that she has laid out, then she says it should take no more than a month.”

  Kiyui: “Oh that’s good… we’re halfway home then.”

  Damecus got the map out and placed it on a barrel so we could all see it.

  Damecus: “It should be relatively smooth sailing for the first couple of weeks. Plenty of roads and little villages along the way. Vance said that once we get to here, we should head north slightly and head through this Violet Forest.”

  Kiyui: “What?”

  Damecus: “Apparently there is a forest that is purple instead of green. I must admit, I am intrigued to see it.”

  Kiyui: “We don’t need to go through the Violet Forest, surely… we can just stay south of it. We can stay on the main road and head north once we get to lake Farren.”

  Damecus: “Vance advised we head through the forest because the Anubis empire has been sending many expeditions north in order to procure more slaves recently. She claims that the roads are not safe for small groups.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  I have come across the Anubis empire in history books before. I know that they are to the south of Kataravonia and I know that we have been at war with them before… more than once. But I have to admit, I don’t actually know much more about them than that.

  I shall have to look things up in more detail when I get home.

  Dwynfel: “The Anubis Empire again… can I ask a question?”

  Damecus: “About what?”

  Dwynfel: “Why are they called the Anubis Empire? They aren’t even jackals… they are rats… I don’t understand.”

  Damecus: “I do not know of them, so cannot say.”

  Kiyui: “The slaves of the royal family are all Anubis jackals.”

  Dwynfel: “They named their empire after the slaves of the royal family?”

  Kiyui: “Yeah. The royal family has a weird obsession with them. The Anubis jackals allow them to keep the blood lines pure.”

  Damecus: “How so?”

  Kiyui: “The Anubi are basically the opposite of the Grim… if they have a child with somebody outside their species, they will not pass on any of their own characteristics to that child. So, if the rat king has a baby with his Anubi slave then the baby will be pretty much identical to the rat king.”

  Yup, definitely need to research these people. They sound insane. Then again, most rich people seem insane when you read up on them.

  Dwynfel: “Well, that’s a creepy thing to name your entire empire after.”

  Kiyui: “Yeah, those rats really are creepy.”

  Dwynfel: “How do you know so much about them?”

  Kiyui: “They used to raid Purresia for slaves a lot when I was a child.”

  Phoenix: “They are not a pleasant people. Them pushing north in an attempt to expand their empire and procure more slaves is why Vardan and the Equine Kingdom were in such a rush to form an alliance 6 years ago.”

  Kiyui: “Yeah… one of their prince’s hired me when he was on a diplomatic visit to Kataravonia a few years ago. He was an absolute creep. He is one of the few clients that I refused to see a second time.”

  I suppose when you are a rare species, like Kiyui is, then you will be popular amongst high class clients… but I wish he would be a bit more hesitant to speak about things he got up to back then. I know it doesn’t make him uncomfortable at all and he is perfectly happy with it… but the whole thing continues to make me uneasy.

  Kiyui: “So, anyway. You guys destroyed loads of those guys on the boat. We’ll be fine to just take the road, right? I mean, Flora’s still with us. she could probably kill them all on her own.”

  Flora tilted her head towards Kiyui, but said nothing. It is so hard to work out what she is thinking… the mask really isn’t helpful… but I dread to think about what is under it. I was really hoping she’d kind of disappear off somewhere once we docked, but she is still lingering.

  Damecus: “You have decided to stay with us a bit longer then, Flora?”

  Flora: “Flora’s home gone… will move to new home… eventually… until then… I remain.”

  Kiyui: “See, we’ll be fine.”

  Do I say something? I know full well why he doesn’t want to go… but he also doesn’t want these guys to know about why he left… urgh… shit… maybe if I just agree with him that we’ll be fine… but at the same time, risking being enslaved is a really bad idea… maybe I should just stay out of it and let him handle it… I hate not knowing what to do.

  Damecus: “Why are you scared of the Violet Forest?”

  Kiyui: “I’m not scared of it. It is just somewhere that I would rather not go… ok?”

  Damecus: “It is the land of your kin is it not? Do you not wish to visit?”

  Kiyui: “I really don’t.”

  Phoenix: “I am sorry, Kiyui. But risking conflict with the Anubis Empire is not something we can afford to do. Especially when we have a child with us.”

  Kiyui: “Ok, fine. But I’m staying with Nomius when we get there.”