At the heart of Docks Harbor, cradled between stair-carved cliffs and tide-weathered bridges, was the giant bounty board of Bilgewater. It was the size of a castle gate, pinned with names of criminals too much even for the lawless city. At the bottom, notes protruded like the teeth of a wharf rat, their bounties valued the same too. The higher one aimed, the larger the bounties grew in tandem with the dangers. The highest price had once belonged to the Reaver King. Now only a bleak imprint was left of the dethroned ruler.
A figure in pale fur sat atop the bounty board. She plucked a bow while humming a melody, her hoofed legs dangling. Her eyes glowed behind a black mask as she looked towards a cave past the bridges.
"I've always liked this place." Next to the figure, dark smoke shaped like a wolf-head with a white half-mask ran around in circles. "I can taste fear everywhere!"
"The salty air enhances it, dear Wolf."
Wolf stopped his running and coiled himself around the white figure, resting his snout on her shoulder. "What prey are we after, little Lamb?"
"This one's not ripe for hunting yet," Lamb said, brushing her twin's inky fur. "Her name's Illaoi and we simply want to ask her a question."
"Questions again?" Wolf grumbled. "Didn't we ask enough of them in that oil-stinking place with metal and gas?"
"The daughter of Nagakabourous might have a different answer as to why humans fear us."
"Such a long name for a spirit."
"Perhaps the Bearded Lady is easier on your tongue," Lamb suggested, "or maybe the Great Kraken? The deity of the Serpent Isles goes under many names."
Wolf broke out a toothy grin. "We have more."
Below them, people walked past the bounty board and shuddered without knowing why.
"Let's play a game," Wolf said. "A game of who catches this Illaoi-thing first."
"It would become a hunt with no kill. Would you be happy with that, dear Wolf?"
"Then another game! I call it bite-if-prey-does-not-answer."
"A threat would have the opposite effect on a person with faith as hers. She'd close up like an oyster, refusing to hand out her pearl."
"I hate oysters. Their shell sticks to my teeth."
"We have to be patient and wait. Until she feels safe enough to seek us out."
"Too long," Wolf snarled. "Let's forget about her and hunt for other things."
Lamb scratched Wolf behind the ear. "Perhaps it's cruel of me to have you sit here when there's so much to chase."
"So cruel."
"Why don't you roam around? I'll stay."
Wolf's eyes flickered behind his mask. "Alone?"
"Never, dear Wolf. You will be within my presence and I within yours."
She watched as her twin flew away, a black veil in the sky.
As the sun sank below the horizon, so did Lamb's expectations of the Kraken Priestess seeking her out. Lamb was certain that Illaoi had felt their presence and the lack of activity was a clear rebuke. The fear of death was one of the strongest sensations for humans but there were methods, although fleeting, to stave it off.
Lamb plucked her bow again, thinking how to proceed, when she caught a peculiar sound. It was faint and far, drowned by vendor shouts and crashing waves, but the words it repeated tugged at Lamb and reeled her in.
"Ina. Ina."
She jumped off the board and followed the sound to a district reeking of rot and blood. Fish and sea monsters piled on the dirty ground with butchers chopping, then dunking the pieces into giant vats to be rendered. Heaps of fire fueled the process and dusted the air with ash.
The source had come from a shack with a broken tavern sign. Inside was a woman slumped over a bar counter, surrounded by empty bottles. She clutched a bundled dress and in between sobs cried out a name. "Ina. Ina."
Lamb nudged a shoulder and was met with misty eyes.
"Who…?" The woman's breath alone could drink sailors under the table.
"You called," Lamb said and took off her mask. "I'm Ina."
The man stared at the new waitress. His scarred eyes widened as they traveled up a pair of goat legs poking out from a tattered dress, a belt where a black mask swung next to a dishtowel, up to a face framed by white hair thick like a lion's mane.
"Welcome to The Saving Grace," Lamb said. "Alone or with a group?"
The man continued to stare. Lamb waited, her expression blank like a white canvas.
"Uh, alone," he finally said. "Sorry, you…eh… you took my breath away."
"That is my nature," Lamb spun around, her long sheep ears swinging like pendulums. "Follow me."
The small bar consisted of half a dozen tables and a counter. Old lanterns in the ceiling burned a smoky yellow, painting the patrons' skin with jaundice as they drank in silence. Lamb's hooves left no sound nor imprint on the dusty floorboards as she led the new customer to a seat by the corner.
"What would you like to order?" She caught the man staring again, his eye whites a stark contrast to his ebony skin. He was a brawler or at least a person confident in defending himself. Otherwise, he wouldn't have entered a pub in the Slaughter Docks while flaunting a necklace and earrings made of gold.
The new customer cleared his throat. "Any recommendations?"
"Many, all with the same inescapable end."
The man's chuckled, his posture relaxing. "Any that starts off tasty?"
"The onyx crabs, stewed in a vat of greens and spice, have fallen prey the most tonight."
"Let's have that and an ale." He gave a nod to the black mask. "Nice costume, I see that you're eager for the next All Kindred's Eve."
Cackles erupted from a neighboring table with three patrons dressed in filthy clothes.
The largest of them, a bull-necked brute with a large ring piercing his nose, laughed the loudest. "You might have something worse than scars around your eyes if you think that's a costume. She's clearly a Vastaya." His grin had more grease than his hair. "And she's a tasty-looking one too."
"Hey, waitress," one of his companions called. "Can I have some lamb chops on the side?"
"Or a whole goat leg," the other suggested.
"Not a bad idea," the bull-necked man said, his gaze trailing low on Lamb. "I'd fancy a rump steak with how juicy it looks."
"Ina!" a voice rang out from behind the bar counter. "Ina! Deep-fish stew is ready for pickup!"
Lamb left the three leering patrons and the scar-eyed man, hurrying to an older lady with misty eyes and hair like tangled seaweed.
"Everything alright?" the woman asked. "If it's too much, you can hide in the attic until they leave."
"You don't have to worry, Margareth," Lamb said. "I've been called worse."
The lady's face seemed to break and she grasped Lamb's hand. Her fingers were skin and bones, yet there was a tenderness in the way she brushed her thumb against Lamb's knuckles. "I swear I'll protect you this time, Ina."
The mist in Margareth's eyes was thick as if she gazed at the world through the fogs of a dream.
Lamb, however, found no reason to wake her up yet. "Yes, Margareth."
"Please, call me Ma with a smile, just like you used to."
It was vague on her face, a thin outline on a vast canvas, but Lamb smiled. "Yes, Ma."
"That's my Ina. Let's go to the shrine later and give proper thanks to the Blue Bird of the Sea for guiding you back to me."
"I plan to visit the harbors tonight, Ma."
"You can't!" Margareth's hands clamped down on Lamb's. "I forbid it!" The older lady then flinched at her own remark and softened her tone. "I mean, I just remembered that Sally called in sick and can't make it to the graveyard shift tonight. Would you be a dear and take it?"
Lamb glanced at the fingers of the woman, like talons gripping onto prey.
"Please, Ina, I don't have anyone else I can rely on but you."
The words sounded strange to Lamb. It was a line she'd never been fed before but as soon as she tasted it, she found herself hungry for more.
"I can," Lamb said. "I promise to —"
Five fingers ran up Lamb's skirt.
"What a nice ass." The bull-necked man cupped a hand around her shape and let out a moan. "I'll eat well tonight."
"Hey!" Margareth shouted, "Get your hands off —"
The bull-necked man stabbed a dagger on the counter. Margareth's face turned ashen by the crossguard shaped like a jagged hook. His two companions had pulled their own blades and began patting down the other customers.
"You don't want to mess with us right now," he said, wrapping a thick arm around Lamb's waist. "We're like rabid dogs without an owner. And you," He drew a pistol with his other hand, pointing at the ebony man who had stood up from his seat. "Don't try anything sneaky."
Lamb didn't resist. Instead, her focus was on Margareth, wondering what words the lady would say and how they would taste.
What came out of Margareth were not words but a shriek. She pulled the dagger out of the counter and charged the man holding Lamb, managing two steps before she was struck down and crumbled to the floor. When the brute pointed his pistol towards Margareth, a mark bloomed across her chest, a target craving to be hit by an arrow.
A loud blast, followed by a shaky gasp.
Margareth clutched her chest, searching for a wound that wasn't there.
"How did that miss?" The bull-necked man asked in a baffled tone. He then howled and fell to his knees, pistol clattering to the ground.
"My arm!" he cried. "You broke my arm!"
Lamb squatted next to him and observed his pale face with an air of indifference. "You broke the peace."
His cries stiffened to whimpers as Lamb traced a finger over his nose.
"Wolf doesn't like metal with his meals," she said.
Blood splattered on the floor. The man let out another cry, writhing in pain.
"It sticks to his teeth." She flicked away the nose ring and turned to his two companions frozen in fear. "Take him with you and run. Wolf will find you soon enough, but not now, not yet." The outline of a smile returned to Lamb's canvas. "Thank you for visiting The Saving Grace."
The three patrons scrambled out the door.
"How are you, Ma?" Lamb asked, hurrying to Margareth still sitting on the ground.
The old lady stared at her with eyes clear from mist and dreams. "Who are you?"
Lamb stretched out her smile, thickening the lines on the canvas and dabbing it with crinkles and blush. "I'm Ina."
"You're not! My Ina wouldn't do anything like that!"
Lamb tried to approach but halted when Margareth reached for the dropped pistol.
"Demon!" Margareth screamed, pointing the weapon at Lamb. "Don't you dare come near me!"
Around the bar, the customers began to mutter among themselves.
"Is… is that really her?"
"The Pale Death."
"Lamb and her swift arrow!"
"It's Kindred."
"The Eternal Hunters."
So many names, all spoken with trembling breaths.
Lamb's smile faded, leaving the canvas blank.
"Devil!" Margareth broke out in heavy sobs. "You took my daughter! Give her back to me!"
The floorboards creaked. A giant woman bowed her head and entered the bar. She surveyed the situation and when she spotted Lamb, a deep frown sank into her face.
"You," Illaoi said. "Come with me."
Past the Buhru's grotto, there was an oasis filled with life as if blessed by Nagakaburous. Legends told how the Buhru, in gratitude, wished to make a shrine for their deity but lacked planks and timber to build it when the Great Kraken decided to fling a ship into the oasis.
Lamb and Illaoi stood at the bow of a marooned ship, looking down at the waterfalls cascading into the Well of the Mother Serpent.
"I've heard some strange rumors the last few days," Illaoi said, "Why would a spirit like you decide to serve in a run-down bar in Bilgewater?"
"To make you open your shell," Lamb replied.
The giant woman hefted the golden idol over her shoulder. "You used my curiosity to lure me out and search for you?"
"We have a question."
"To me or my goddess?"
"Is there a difference?".
Illaoi snorted. "There is none." She pointed to the edge of the bow where wooden beams extended past the side. "If you want guidance from Nagakabourous, it's only right to offer a tithing."
Frothing water rumbled more than a hundred feet down.
"What would she like?" Lamb asked.
"What does Kindred have to offer?"
Lamb unlatched her belt and stripped off her tattered dress, rolling the clothes into a bundle.
"An interesting tribute," Illaoi noted.
"They belonged to a daughter who shared my name," Lamb said. "She took my arrow and sank to the bottom of the sea. It's only fair to return the clothes back to her."
The garments plummeted like a bird with broken wings.
Looking at her arms, Lamb noticed black specks against her white fur. She tried to brush it off but failed. With the mask resting on the back of her head, Lamb walked back to the ship's bow where the Kraken Priestess waited. The rich green robes over the dark skin made Lamb think of a tall mahogany tree. She looked up at the woman twice her height.
"Why do humans fear us?" she asked.
Green eyes of life held their own against the pale blue of death.
"What makes you think that I'm afraid to die?" Illaoi asked.
"You're tense, ready to swing your weapon. It's not an insult, Truth Bearer. You can't be brave without any fear and you are braver than most."
The waterfalls roared.
"I sense motion in your question," Illaoi said, "like a cat near a bubbling cauldron, dancing around but never approaching. You're hiding something."
Lamb tilted her head. "What would Death want to hide?"
"Let's find out." The Kraken Priestess retreated a step and bellowed a shout, raising her idol up in the air.
The sky darkened as a glowing mist spewed out from the icon's mouth, swirling into a tentacle. Wood groaned as more large tendrils sprung out from the planks and masts. They attacked Lamb, delved into her, and pulled out a rigid copy of her, holding a bow and wearing a mask. The echo floated closer towards Illaoi.
Lamb tried to catch up but the tentacles cut off her path, slamming down and forcing her to withdraw. The crushing motion of Nagakabourous's limbs shook the marooned ship, tearing masts and puncturing the deck. Each attack tipped the ship closer over the cliff's edge.
The echo of Lamb was now next to the Truth Bearer. Sweat poured out of Illaoi as she removed the mask from the image. Behind the mask, was a canvas crumbled and twisted like a crying child.
"Why are you afraid of me?" the echo shouted. "What can I do to make you stop fearing me? What must I —"
"You overstep."
An arrow pierced the heart of the echo, rupturing the image and bursting it into a thousand glimmers. The arrow continued right into the mouth of the golden idol, the force knocking the Kraken Priestess off her feet and sending her overboard.
The tentacles withered to dust.
Illaoi held onto a wooden beam with one arm when it cracked under her weight and she plunged towards the bottom of the well when white fingers grabbed hold of her wrist.
"Why would you taunt me?" Lamb asked. "I have your life in my hands."
The Kraken Priestess looked up with blood dripping from her nose. "Motion is the essence of life," she said. "To struggle is the same as to live. You might be the spirit of all's end, yet here you are struggling to accept your own question."
Droplets splashed onto wood and fur. The dark sky from Illaoi's summon had brought out rain.
The tree branch that was Illaoi's arm was thicker than the brute's in the bar, yet both would break just as easily if Lamb wished.
"Those question are wrong," Lamb said. "Those are not questions of Kindred."
"No, it's something better. Those are your questions." The pulse in Illaoi's wrist beat strongly with life and faith.
Lamb loosened her grip. "We're never one without the other."
"Then where is your other half?"
Hundred feet down, the waters rumbled for another tithing.
Lamb pulled Illaoi up the deck.
"Assume that those were my questions," Lamb said. "What is your answer?"
"My answer is that you can't stop it." A sigh escaped from the giant woman as if years of fatigue had overwhelmed her. "Imagine a man thrust into the stormy seas. Dark clouds, high waves. He sees no land, no raft to hold onto, nothing in sight. What keeps him afloat? His limbs? His lungs? No. It's his fear of drowning."
The rain poured harder. White needles fell from black clouds, hitting Lamb and washing away the ash in her fur.
"The moment we stop fearing you," the Truth Bearer said, "that's the moment we stop living."
The rain disappeared as quick as it had come and the night wind ruffled the soaked papers on the bounty board of Bilgewater. Perched at the top was Lamb in thoughtful silence, gazing at the full moon's reflection swimming in the black sea.
A shadow darker than the night rushed closer and nuzzled her neck.
"Did your hunt go well, dear Wolf?" she asked.
"So much prey!" Wolf growled with glee. "So much fun! Did you hunt go well, little Lamb? Did you find our answer?"
"I found an answer, but not the one we were searching for."
Wolf groaned. "Will we ask more questions?"
"Maybe in another place and another time." Lamb scratched her twin behind the ear. "I missed you."
Wolf grunted in confusion. "But we were never apart?"
"We weren't, yet I found myself missing you. Isn't it strange?"
"So strange." Wolf agreed. "What does it feel like?"
"Furless in the rain."
"Sounds cold."
"It was."
In the cover of the night, a group crept past the bounty board. Their faces were hidden but their leader's words failed to escape from the Eternal Hunters.
"I'll burn that pub down. Burn it and kill that sheep-freak, but not before I've had my way with her. She dares to injure me?"
Saliva dripped out of Wolf's mouth. "They smell ripe for a chase! Is it because of the salty air?"
"It's due to the new bounty pinned on the board," Lamb said. "I made sure to put him high on the list. Look, it seems that someone's on their way to claim the price."
Another gang began to move, stalking the first one. Their blades and guns glinted against the moonlight. Among them was the ebony man with scars around his eyes.
Lamb rose from her seat. "Are you ready to hunt some more, my dear Ani?"
Without missing a beat, Wolf replied, "I'm always up for a chase, little Ina."
"Then let's hunt until daybreak." Lamb put on her mask and readied her bow. "I promised to take the graveyard shift after all."
Thanks for reading! I wrote this fanfic for a commission and the client was really kind and allowed me to share it around.
Let me know what you think of this rendition of Kindred and Illaoi.
If this was canon, where in the timeline would it fit in?