(RoS) Something is Strange - Ch. 52 (Patreon)

Humbol greeted the two pirates with a casual smile as they approached him. The thin man put down a shoddy looking copper dagger that he had been inspecting and waved farewell to an uninterested merchant.

“Are you enjoying your time in Greenhill?” Humbol asked.

“Not even slightly,” Cyll replied. “What in the four seas is wrong with this town? Everyone is terrified.”

“Well, your captain is walking around with a cloak of water around her shoulders,” the bedazzled pirate pointed out.

“That could account for a bit of it,” Maya agreed. “But there’s no way that’s the whole reason. There has to be something else.”

A passing woman flinched back when Humbol made eye contact with her. She quickly hurried into an alleyway and disappeared. Maya shot Humbol a pointed glance.

“Okay, okay,” Humbol sighed, raising his hands in defeat. “There might be something of a tyrant in power, and small offences can get you executed.”

Humbol discretely jerked his chin towards an alley at the far side of the pitiful market square. A thin man rested against a wall, shadows enveloping his face and upper body.

“He’s got watchers all over the city, and interaction with outsiders beyond the bare minimum is basically prohibited. They’re just trying not to get executed,” Humbol said.

“And you know this…how?” Maya asked, eying the man suspiciously.

“I’ve been here several times and had a run in with said tyrant during one of my visits,” Humbol said. “Turns out, if you have enough money, even tyrants don’t care much about you.”

“I see. This does feel like something you should have told us before we arrived. I don’t fancy the thought of someone with a lot of power suddenly bringing the entire town down on top of us.”

Humbol mimed hitting himself over the back of the head.

“My bad. Slipped my mind.”

Maya’s eyes flicked from the nearest alleyway to Cyll. Then she walked over towards it, Humbol and her cremate in tow behind her.

“Does this tyrant have eyes in every alley?” Maya asked, nodding towards the one they were approaching.

“Not at all,” Humbol replied. “Most are empty, but it only takes one person to notice something out of place to get you in trouble.”

“That doesn’t make me want to check this one any less, just to be sure,” Maya muttered.

She stepped into the alley. Cyll paused at the side, allowing Humbol to go in before he followed after the man. The light of the city faded slightly as the three of them made their way deeper into the darkness. They quickly reached a dead end, smell of rotten fish lingering in their nostrils.

Cyll slipped forward, wrapping his arms around Humbol’s body and slamming the other man into the wall violently. The dark-skinned pirate’s head thunked into the wall and the breath exploded out of his lungs as Cyll squeezed.

“Good job, Cyll. I wasn’t sure if you picked up what I was laying down. Now…no more games, Humbol,” Maya said, her cloak rising from her back and hissing like a serpent. “You’ve been playing with us since we first met. I’ve tolerated it this long, but you’ve hit the end of the line. What are you playing at?”

“I have no idea what you’re –”

Humbol’s sentence ended abruptly as Maya drove her fist into his stomach, knocking the words out of his mouth.

“If the next word out of your mouth is another slice of bullshit, I’m killing you and to hell with the consequences. You got one chance left, twinkle toes. What do you want with us?”

Humbol watched her for several moments, his lips pressed into a thin line and his face creased with pain. Then his features relaxed. The anger disappeared and he let out a laugh.

“Can’t say I was expecting that,” Humbol said, blinking the mirth from his eyes. “I honestly thought you were warming up to me.”

“Last chance,” Maya warned. “Why are you following us?”

“Very well. No more games,” Humbol said. “I’m afraid you’re fundamentally mistaken. I have absolutely no interest in you.”

“Bull-”

“I’m interested in your crewmate,” Humbol finished, cutting Maya off.

“Me?” Cyll asked, raising an eyebrow. “I can’t say I recognize you. Are you working for someone?”

“Not you, buffoon. I’m here because of your other companion.”

Maya’s guard lowered slightly. Her brows furrowed and she cocked her head slightly to the side.

“Patty? What in the four seas do you want with her?”

“It’s an awfully long story. However, it can be condensed to the relationship I have with her master,” Humbol said. “I must admit, a few small details of my story have been fabricated. As I am sure you have surmised, I have not been sitting beside that island for five years. In truth, my crew perished in Akrun’s dungeon about twenty years ago.”

Humbol licked his lips and Maya gestured for him to continue.

“We starved to death. All of us. But, for some reason, we were still there. Our souls remained, trapped in the room in which we had died. Five years ago, a powerful man arrived at the island. He made a deal with us and set my men free. In exchange, I had to do him a favor.”

“And that favor was…?” Maya prodded.

“I was to stay in the area near the island for the next five years. Whenever a ship escaped from the island, I was to search it to see if a certain animated puppet was on board. If they were, I agreed to protect her to the best of my ability. Only two ships ever escaped. Yours was one, and the other did not have the passenger I sought.”

“To be honest, it sounds like you’re spinning another story,” Maya said, her brow darkening. “You’d better have some way to prove this, or I’m going to leave your body in this alley for the next powerful man to save.”