All Things New: Chapter Twenty

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CHAPTER TWENTY: A PIRATE'S TALE

“Oy, your mighty fine with sparring, Artham!” Donovan said with a laugh, when he had been beat again by Artham.

“You give me a run for my coin,” Artham replied.

Darian smiled. “You two boys are gonna land up putting a hole in this ship and causing the deaths of us all! Think more responsibly!”

The comment was made in jest, but Artham took it hard. Darian and Donovan did not yet know that he was a Throne Warden. There had not been a good time to mention any of his story. He did know most of theirs.

Darian was from Skree, Dugtown to be exact, and had taken over this job from his father, who had taken Illia so many years before. Donovan now went with his father to learn the trade, since Darian was getting older. They had been delayed because of a miscommunication on the captain’s part.

Artham took a drink of his water. “How long till we reach Symia?”

Darian looked ahead, and his face darkened. “We’re here.”

Artham turned and the salty smell of fish and sweat invaded his nostrils, making him gag. It looked so dark and dirty on the dock, and that didn’t give anyone much hope for the interior.

The ship docked, and Darian had a word with the boys.

“Look. All of these people are nothing but thieves and liars. Some of ‘em are even…dangerous, to put it nicely. That’s all pirates are. Yes, they can spin a mighty yarn, but it’s more than likely all lies. Be on your guard.”

Artham nodded, and Donovan did too. “We stay here fer two days at most. We just need to get some food, and then we head out,” Darian said.

The three men got off the boat and parted. Darian went to find food, while the other two were supposed to try not to get killed and find an inn.

Artham began to feel anxious. There were people pressing in on every side of him, and most of them smelled horribly. And they eyed the two boys with such a ferocious glare that even Donovan was losing excitement.

Finally, after wading through the crowd for what seemed ages, they arrived in front of a small inn. Inside there was a decent enough looking woman, and Donovan checked in with her for the night, and ordered some food, asking them to keep one meal warm for his father.

Artham sought out a table. He found one, deep in the corner, away from everyone, and sat down. Donovan soon joined him.

“Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. We have no clean sheets or blankets, which is the bad, but we have food coming, which is the good.”

Artham smiled.

“Oy, you hear about the Helmer boy, few years back? a gruff voice asked.

Artham’s ears twitched. He turned and saw a two men sitting at a table less than a mength away.

“I ‘eard he ran away from ‘ome. Not much else.”

“Aye! Takin’ after his father.”

One of the men chuckled. “There was not a man like Podo Helmer. Scale Raker. Man to ride a dragon. Man to kill the dragons.”

Artham heard no more of the conversation, only crude laughter, but when his food came, he lacked an appetite. Even when Darian came, he still looked disturbed.

He was worried. What if that was true? What if Wendolyn and Nia were in danger?

The night passed sleeplessly, though that was to be expected with Arundelle not being by his side.

But this new found information about Podo disturbed him. All of Symia disturbed him. The stench. The people. He was very happy to be leaving, happy that this long journey was going by somewhat fast. It had been about a month. That was good!

“One month down, five to go,” he sleepily whispered, and then, after another hour or two of tossing and turning, exhaustion kicked in and he fell asleep.

I hope you liked this! I know it's been awhile since I posted one, but I do have a quick little not about this chapter. It exists because I know Artham knows about Podo as a pirate. So, I thought it would be a good little transition, plus some great trauma!!!!!! Oh, and on a totally unrelated note, I just saw the live action HTTYD and it was AMAZING!!!!! GO SEE IT!!!!!