The ship finally reached its destination of a small town on
the western shores of Gueron after two days sail from when they first came
within sight of the island. There was a
strong wind behind the King of Suns resulting in a quicker journey to the
shore. Link stepped down onto land and
felt a little bit dizzy. Having been on
a ship for nearly a week, he had gotten used to the movements of the ship and
was not used to the stillness of the earth.
As they walked into town, there were a few moments when Link thought he
was going to fall down due to his lack of balance. Riku, Link, and Boko got off the ship. Boko had to log the ships travels with the
local dock master, and Riku and Link needed to get what food they needed for
their journey to the mountains. As they
went into market, they got several strange stares from the commoners going
around. Link was slightly confused at
first, then he noticed something: every person in this town was either an elf
or a human, and they had a half-elf carrying their goods for them. They found a food vendor that seemed to have
good prices. When Riku went up to
purchase what they needed for the trip, the vendor said,
“Price is double for half-elves
unless you show me the business card of your master.”
“Excuse me?” asked Riku. “What in the world could you possibly…” Link quickly jumped in front of Riku and
showed the vendor his citizenship of Galor card. Each citizen of Galor was given a magic card
that was placed in their hands at birth.
This card gave half-elves immunity from slave traders in countries that
had half elves as slaves. Originally,
these cards were physical pieces of wood or paper that were given to the people
of Galor. But when slave traders came up
with a loophole where they would throw their cards overboard and deny that they
were citizens of Galor and were legal slaves, Eraqus decided to use magic as a
foolproof way to make sure that never happened again. Some argued that other magic users could
remove the card just as easily as it was put in, but Eraqus found a spell that
only allowed the owner of the card to summon it and put it back inside
himself. If another person stole the
card or used a spell to remove it, another one would simply take its place
automatically. The vendor took one look
at the card and said,
“Price is still double for
half-elves.”
“This breaks all
international laws set in place by the Four Kingdoms Alliance. Should I call the Watch on you sir?” The vendor took a look at Link, and when he
realized he wasn’t bluffing, he sold the items at normal price.
“Have a good day
gentlemen. By the way, if you are going
on a journey, I suggest you wait here at the inn for a night.” Link was puzzled by this.
“Why do we need to worry
about this good sir?” asked Riku. “It
seems that this day is as normal as any other day.”
“Ah, but it is not. You see, once a month in our village, it is
said that a monster comes down from the mountains and tries to sneak into our
homes and attack all outsiders. This
being believes that all those not a part of our society should be removed. It is very strange indeed sirs.”
“Well, that’s a good
reason for us to get out of town tonight isn’t it?”
“Not if you’re heading
into the mountains. That is where the
thing hides. And if you go into the
mountains, it is likely that you will run into it and it will be the end of
you.” Link had this look on his face
that seemed like he didn’t fully trust him.
He was about to speak up about his lack of trust when Riku interjected
and said,
“Thank you for the
warning. Do you mind telling us where
the inn is?” The shopkeeper directed
them to the Boat’s Keep, a tavern and in that was fairly close to the harbor. As they checked in with the logkeepeer, they
made their way to the room. Riku told
Link to wait there as he was going to explain to Boko the plan. While Riku was gone, a bell began to toll
across the town as people began to scurry back to their homes and inns before
the sun set. Link was concerned. Did all these people fear this mysterious
person that much? And if they did,
why? There had to be a more logical
explanation for what had been happening.
He decided to take matters into his own hands. Riku nor the townsfolk didn’t need to know
about this. He dropped out of the window
and into a back alley with his sword in hand and decided to wait for something
to happen.
Time passed and the sun had been set for nearly a few hours
now. Link had been moving about the city
as stealthily as possible. He still
couldn’t find the mysterious stranger that everybody feared and despised. Suddenly, he saw a half-elf walking through
the streets without anybody else around him.
He didn’t have a look of fear, but rather a look of determination. Link followed him to the outskirts of the
town, and saw the stranger meet up with several other half-elves near a large
boulder that was placed precariously on a nearby ledge. A tall man in a black robe stepped up to the
stranger and said something that Link couldn’t make out. The stranger nodded his head, and the other
people around the robed man came up to him and made a slicing motion on his
wrist. As soon as they did this,
something fell off where the strange men sliced and hit the ground. The robed man picked it up, and threw it back
at the town saying something that Link still couldn’t hear. After that was done, the group including the
stranger began to walk off into the mountains.
Link was tempted follow but decided to investigate what they threw back
at the village. It took him a moment to
find it due to the fact that it was so dark but finally found it. He tried to examine it, but it was too dark
for him to determine what it could be.
He decided it was time for him to return to the inn, and walked
back. Suddenly, he saw the watch coming
towards him and he ducked in an alleyway.
As they walked past, they were talking about something strange.
“See anybody yet Jim?
“If I saw somebody, I
would have told you Jeff.” They checked
a nearby barrel for something but didn’t seem to find anything. Link could hear them. They were grumbling due to their lack of
finding something, but Link wasn’t even sure of what they were looking for.
“Who do you think smuggles
out half-elves anyways? I mean, not many
people here think that half-elves are more than slaves so, do you have any
suspects?”
“Again Jeff, if I did, I
would tell you. Look, all I know is
this: Once a month, some random person
in this town helps a good number of half-elves escape from captivity into the
mountains and we don’t know why or how.
Whatever the case, we need to make sure that the townspeople don’t know,
and that we make sure that our economy gets hurt worse than it already
has. Besides, Xelador pays good money
for slaves. If they find out we have
less slaves for trade, our town will go down into the sewers.” Link was stunned. Somebody was freeing half-elves and people
were trying to STOP it?! Wouldn’t they
be trying to help them gain freedom? He
made his way back to the alley by the inn.
When he got underneath his window, he found the rope that lead back to
their room. He climbed back up and Riku
gave him a hand back in and pulled the rope back up.
“Got your note Link. Did you find out anything?” Link picked himself back up and told Riku
about everything he had heard from the watch.
Riku pondered this and said, “It’s not a big deal. It’s good that the half-elves are being
freed. I don’t think we should worry too
much about it. However, it is possible
that we might run into this group on our way to the gate. We should be fine leaving tomorrow, but we
should be cautious. Let’s get some
sleep. We’re going to need it.”
“Why? How far up the mountains is this gate?”
“I’d say it should take us
about three days to reach the entrance to this mountain. Another day to go down to the town we need to
go to in order to rendezvous with the King of Suns.”
“But, why did you tell the
captain to wait for us as long as you did?
This seems like a quick in-and out sort of deal.”
“Link, the gates lets
stranded Guardians gain access to the Observatory and if I do manage to return
to the Observatory, then I will be forced to live within the time laws in that
place. So a few minutes in that place
would be a few days here in the mortal plain.
So if I needed to stay up at the Observatory for ten Observatory
minutes, that would be about ten mortal days.
That is why I want the ship to wait as long as it is going to. And also, if I am able to go through the
gate, you can head to the next village and tell the ship to wait for me unless
I tell you otherwise. But for now, we
need to make sure we are at our best going into the mountains.”
“Why do we need to worry
about all of this? Isn’t just a simply
walk up the mountain pass?”
“There is no pass. The thing is, the different cities and towns
are all controlled by different world powers and don’t want the other villages
to have anything to do with each other. For
example, this town here is controlled by Xelador, the town we are going to is controlled
by Hylia, a town to the south of that is controlled by Malendor, and so on down
the line. It matters not. With the protection that you have with your
Galorian heritage, we should be able to go just about anywhere without a
problem. Therefore, they have stayed
away from creating a path between the different nations. There is still a master castle for this
country, but is more of a building for ambassadors to meet to settle
disputes. While it doesn’t pertain to
our quest, it still hinders us from having a road to travel on to go between
the cities. The best we will have is
these maps from nearly thirty years ago, and hope it hasn’t gone out of
date. Now we must rest. Goodnight Link.” With that, Riku blew out the candle in their
room and they both fell asleep on each of their own beds.
“Master,
you seem troubled.”
“It would seem that while
I was away, the world has gotten smarter than anticipated. With my recent attack on Unto has caused the
countries to wish a peaceful discussion to talk about what Malendor’s goals are
and to see if they can resolve this problem peacefully. This does not help move the prophecy forward.”
“But won’t the wisdom be
at this particular meeting? You could
start two fires with one flame.”
“Explain Elitran.”
“The bearer of Wisdom will
likely be at this meeting, and his is a part of the Xeladorian alliance,
yes? Kill him, and take the Wisdom for
yourself, while also creating international tensions forcing the countries to
war.” Demise pondered this, and then
said,
“I was wise to place you
as my second in command Elitran. But the
King of Malendor will need a quick exit after I kill the King of Xelador. I will expect you to open the gates of
darkness when this happens.”
“Of course my lord.”
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