Chapter 3

  On the ground lies a small piece of metal. It is gold in color and intricately shaped. It looks like the belt buckle of a decorated soldier's armor. Despite lying on the ground Minot can feel the magical energy it is radiating. It feels like the warm summer sun shining on his face, but it's coming from a small metal artifact on the ground dropped by a mysterious bird. Minot has never seen an object like this. The surprise and curiosity even makes him forget the pain in his arm. Befuddled he bows down trying to touch it.

  "Hands off, idiot!" Iv comes out of the cabin carrying a small pouch. In all the action and twists he also didn't notice the ship has slowed down from its earlier sprint.

  "Don't touch things you don't know!", Iv scolds Minot while carefully moving the leather pouch to scoop up the artifact. "That weird bird dropped this and you're just gonna touch it?" Minot shrugs, still a bit lost in his thoughts.

  Iv sighs. "Go inside and get the medibag." Minot goes inside.

  She has to fiddle around with the pouch to get the object inside without touching it. After successfully inserting she grabs the string, flies up and lifts the pouch off the ground. It is surprisingly heavy, for a fairy.

  Minot is sitting on the bed with the leather medibag opened and several medical items scattered around. He drops a bit of alcohol from an old bottle onto a "clean enough" tissue and puts it on his wound. The stinging pain returns while he cleans his wound, his teeth gritted strongly while he suppresses the urge to groan in pain. Since the blood is somewhat fresh it comes off his arm rather easily.

  Iv flies in. She hangs the pouch on a hook in the wall next to the console.

  "Alright, lemme see", Iv requests while flying back to Minot. He puts the bloodied tissue down and wipes his mouth from a streak of saliva he couldn't stop. On his shoulder is a wide horizontal cut. It closes and opens as Minot contracts and relaxes his muscles.

  "Yeesh. That thing got talons", Iv remarks. "Keep the arm relaxed." She grabs a needle and threads it.

  "Want sum' to bite on?"

  "Just do it."

  "Oki."

  Iv slowly moves the needle through Minot's tanned skin, piercing it, pulling the thread through and piercing again. The wound closes stitch by stitch. All while Minot concentrates on not twitching from the pain.

  "Don't you have any healing magic?", he asks to distract him from the pain, and because he wishes she had.

  "My healing magic is ass. We still gotta close the wound for it to be effective", she replies.

  He chuckles. "Of all the fairies I get the one that can't heal for shit."

  Iv finishes up and slaps the now closed wound in reply. Minot jumps from the sudden jolt of pain. "Instead you got one that can steer a ship and make your job possible," she exclaims loudly.

  "Sure, that's good, too. Thanks."

  Iv concentrates and her arm starts glowing. She puts her hand on the wound while Minot observes very carefully what she is doing. A stream of magic flows and spreads inside Minot's arm. The pain is slowly fading and it looks like the wound is now closed a bit more shut. Not fully healed, but the healing process definitely got shortened by a bit.

  The ship continues its course to Porto Branco. It is only a few minutes away. The harbor has become visible in the distance. The true outline of the island is obscured by the large stone floor of the docks decorated with heavy port machinery, tall and dirty lampposts, chain railing to keep people from falling off and rows of half-dried potted plants. The floor hasn't been clean for as long as anyone can remember. The constant foot traffic, fish deliveries and dirt caused by the nearby mechanics accumulates and sticks over time.

  "What're we gonna do with that thing?", Minot asks, pointing at the pouch with his right hand. "It's gold alright, but wouldn't wanna sell it just yet."

  Iv crosses her arms thinking. Minot continues: "A freaky bird I've never seen before spewin' dust and cuttin' iron dropped that thing. If anything, this could mean something very bad together with the waves on the Night Ocean."

  "Fair point", Iv replies. "We should let Callan give his opinion on it."

  "The nerd? Why?"

  "He's a nerd, but he's smart. He's boutta have an idea what this means."

  Minot chuckles. "To the nerd, then! After we sold the fish of course."

  "Yeah, don't wanna bring the smelly fish into his little antique shop."

  The two laugh while making preparations to arrive at the docks. At last they arrive at the long stone piers, stop the ship and place it on a metallic frame to keep it from descending while the engine is off. Minot jumps out with the bag full of fish hoisted over his healthy shoulder and lands on the dirty ground. Shortly after Iv exits and examines the damage. She is carrying the pouch.

  "Man...", she says feeling her chest tighten a bit.

  "We'll get it fixed. Just a few scratches", Minot replies with a soft smile towards her. He wants to cheer her up.

  "Thanks, Minot." Iv takes a breath. "With my magic it will be a pain to fix the wood. Prob a solid hour of concentration."

  "That's a future problem. Let's get paid first."

  "Aye, and then we'll get some good grub for dinner!" Iv's mood has improved a bit.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The port is full of people barking orders around, machines clanking and creaking, seagulls screeching somewhere while fighting over a rat. The stench of salt and oil hangs in the air. Minot and Iv walk down the long docks and see a large building. It combines customs, administration and daily life of sailors and port workers, the Rosavento. Its walls are made of treated dark-brown wood in iron framing and grey stone pillars. The old-school Hesforian architectural style. The rust on the frame is strongest wherever the ports are, but the maritime designs carved into them are still mostly visible: Anchors, wheels, fish iconography and a lot of ropes. Large horizontal windows line the walls, but the dust and dirt on the glass make it hard to look through.

  The building is 5 stories tall with an observation deck at the 3rd floor. It is shaped like the bow of a very large ship, supported by two rows of cylindrical stone beams that reach the floor. Those beams are also decorated with chiseled patterns, lamps and a collection of ropes coiling upwards. There are actually 4 of those pointing in the cardinal directions. The ground floor is where most of the workers and sailors work. Restaurants, cafes, sleeping quarters and shops are on the second floor, but because of that it is treated as the first floor and the docks as the basement. The 3rd floor covers the administrative and logistics wing of the harbor. The better restaurants and leisure activities are situated there, too. Lastly the 4th and 5th floor are the apartments, gardens and mini docks of the harbor officials. It is hard to see how they look from the lower levels, but speculations of the finest wood and marble with gold filigree get shared among the sailors. Only decorated captains ever get to the 4th floor.

  A large ship reaches the docks. Many sailors and workers stop in their step to turn and look. Especially the younger ones look with excitement at the arriving ship. It is massive in scale. Even after docking it stands several meters above anyone's head. It casts a long shadow across the docks, surprising the seagulls why it has suddenly become night. The smooth and long hull bears the name of the ship in large cursive letters.

  "By the Great Oak! It's the Cloudbreaker!", Iv yells excitedly. She seems very cheered up now.

  The Cloudbreaker is a large fishing vessel renown for its durability and ability to pass the Frontier and catch huge fish on the other side. It has harpoons and hooks on both sides of the grey hull and on the deck, too. All fully mechanical and easy to use for a trained sailor. Despite the many years this ship has served it is still in pristine condition. On deck there lies a big fish as long as a normal fishing vessel. It looks more like a whale than a fish. A group of sailors are roping it and preparing a crane to lift it off the ship.

  A metal ladder is dropped on its starboard side and a few sailors climb down to help with hauling the fish. One of those men looks very familiar. He notices Minot who has also stood still to look at the Cloudbreaker and walks over to him.

  "Ahoy, Minot! Been a while." Schalk greets him with a swift move of his hand and a wink. The man wears reinforced leather gloves and boots, a short-sleeve black shirt, brown leather jacket and grey trousers. There are some noticeable stitches on his clothes showing that it has seen its fair share of struggle. Despite working on deck a lot his skin is still light, but his light-brown hair and beard show the stress of working on such a large vessel.

  "Ahoy, Schalk!", Minot returns the greeting with similar excitement to Iv seeing the Cloudbreaker. "Thought after joining the Cloudbreaker crew you'd never show up to this sorry ass port!"

  Schalk laughs. "Hah, don't worry. I'll always convince Cap'n Loi to take a mission from Porto Branco whenever there is one." The two men fist bump.

  "Tsk, he must be regretting taking you in by now."

  "Trust me, I am one of the more reasonable sailors of his crew." The two share a lighthearted moment of banter. It has been around 2 years since Schalk joined the Cloudbreaker crew under respected Captain Loi Temperal and hasn't shown up at Porto Branco again. The crew is famous across the world and takes missions from every nation, from hauling cargo to escorting important people. Even some research and fishing missions beyond the Frontier are part of the busy Cloudbreaker crew's work.

  "How's fishin' been for ya, Minot?", Schalk asks. He glances at Iv who hasn't taken her eyes off the ship ever since it arrived. A bit of drool is running down her mouth.

  "Uh..."

  "Ignore her. She's gone." Minot drops the heavy bag. "Fishin's been good more or less. Hard to get a good pay when a dick is behind the register."

  "Ahh, yeah. We get some of those, too. I guess the Cap'n has enough of a presence to make them fold."

  "I hope not literally."

  Schalk laughs. "Hah, thankfully. I don't wanna get caught in those vices that he calls hands." He notices the wound on Minot's shoulder. "Oh, shit, what happened to you?!"

  "Nothin'", Minot lies, not wanting Schalk to worry. Especially because he himself can't explain what happened. "Got into a fight again and they had an unfair advantage." He is technically right.

  "Damn, it looks real bad. Hope it doesn't leave a nasty scar."

  Minot doesn't want to talk too much about what happened and points at the scene in front of the Cloudbreaker. The large fish is being lowered slowly. The crane holds the fish while two men are pulling it with ropes. Schalk and Minot look at how the crew is handling the haul of such a large creature and joke about its appearance, smell, size, weight and a share few speculations on how it would taste, too. Suddenly, the rope in the crane snaps and the fish begins accelerating towards the ground. The two sailors are unfortunately below it. Onlookers are watching and preparing themselves for a gruesome scene. A young man next to the crane jumps just in time to grab the rope and pull it down with all of his strength and slows down the fish just enough for the two men to leap out of the way. They land on the hard floor. A split second later the fish drops with a loud and wet slapping sound.

  "Well done, Hagen!", Schalk yells towards his crew mate. The people at the port all collectively sigh in relief, except the morbidly curious in the background.

  "Twas nothin'! But now I need somethin' for the burns on my hands, haha!" Hagen is also part of the Cloudbreaker crew and has been there for a lot longer than Schalk despite his young age.

  "That would've been ugly", Schalk comments quietly, getting uncomfortable imagining the scene.

  "Yeah. Guess maintenance on the crane is due. The rope shouldn't snap like that." Porto Branco is not well maintained despite its importance as a trade and fishing port. The Empire doesn't seem to care as long as they get their wares.

  "How long are ya gonna stay here?", Minot asks.

  "A few days at best", Schalk replies. "We got a private escort request on short notice. Someone really wants to go past the Frontier somewhere."

  "Sounds like a reckless mackerel to me."

  "I almost thought the request came from you, haha."

  "Pfft." Minot definitely wonders who would be able to pay the Cloudbreaker to pass the Frontier. Where do they even want to go to? Private request means someone has set up a mission at the harbor and had it delivered to suitable crews who can complete it. Usually only wealthy people can do that. Official Harbor Missions are issued by the harbor administration and involve tasks given by the rulers of nations themselves - or the respective wings depending on the mission.

  "Aight, I think I'll go help em out with the catch", Schalk says. "Was nice catching up with ya. If you need help with anything I'll still be around for a while."

  "Iv got some documents about her boat she needs help filing."

  "Nah, mate! Anythin' but that. I don't like doing bureaucracy." The two laugh. Schalk helped Minot and Iv in the past setting them up to go fishing and do missions on their own, and he hated every minute of it.

  "I'm gonna sell this bag of fish then. See ya around, Schalk!" Minot waves his friend goodbye, hoists his bag up again and turns to enter the Rosavento. Iv is still fixated on the ship. She hasn't moved much.

  "Oi, Iv. You can daydream about the ship later. Let's go."

  "What I wouldn't give to get on that beautiful ship." Iv sighs dejectedly and follows Minot. "Also, don't call my ship a boat!"