Here be Dragons!
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Merry Christmas everyone!
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Chapter 8
It is now one week later
They had a brand new sofa and two new chairs for the living room. All new cookware, dinnerware, silverware, and glassware for the kitchen. They even had bread sitting on a scrubbed clean countertop.
Kate had scrubbed and scrubbed to get the bathroom clean. They even had hygiene items for the bathroom, along with brand new towels.
Rick had scoured, blacked, and cleaned out the wood stove in the kitchen so that they could finally risk using it.
The concrete wall actually worked pretty well for about half the night before things started to cool down.
They had a brand new bed and new linens for it along with new pillows. Rick had taken out all of the drawers and dumped them outside then scrubbed them as well.
They had learned that to get hot water, you had to heat it on the stove and take it into the bathroom. If you wanted a shower you had to climb a ladder to dump the water into a container. Taking a hot bath like Kate preferred was far easier.
All the old stuff was downstairs under the stairs it took to reach their room.
The old sofa had been under the wall of windows. The new one was 90 degrees to that with the two new chairs opposite from it.
They still slept either in or on their sleeping bags since they were still more comfortable than their new bed and new linens.
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Kate was looking at what she had just brought home for dinner. If she wanted fish she only had to go a few feet and buy one. Everything else meant going deeper into the city. Every day she made sure their fresh bags were always full of fruits and vegetables.
Kate turned to look when the door opened and she watched Rick walk in wearing some new normal casual clothes. He needed something to wear while working in the warehouse.
"I'm just about to start dinner," Kate told him.
"Gives me a chance to get clean. Would you heat up some water for me, please?" Rick headed for their bedroom to strip his work clothes off and come back down naked to get clean.
Kate grinned as she watched his bare butt go into the bathroom. That was another thing about having a place to stay like this. They were making love at least once daily. Sometimes twice when Rick had a day off.
She'd gotten bored after everything was clean so she helped out for a few short hours each day. The men in the warehouse and out on the dock had quickly learned that she was far stronger than she looked. She was picking up things Rick was picking up that they couldn't even make move.
Then she smiled as a clean and naked Rick came back out. Her eyes went straight to his manhood. She was already thinking of what she was going to do to him tonight until she could no longer see him.
Dinner was ready when he came back down. Rick could smell it upstairs. "More fish."
"I thought you liked fish?" Kate was thinking he was tired of fish and she'd made a mistake.
"I do like fish. It's actually a welcome change to eating what we've been eating all the way here." Rick kissed her cheek. Her cooking was clearly better than his was.
They didn't have a table to eat on so they sat on their new sofa and ate there with drinks on a coffee table. "Is it still safe?" Kate asked him.
Rick patted his stomach. "I don't dare take it out or someone might scry it. However, I can still feel that something's in there," he assured her.
"Immortality." Kate shook her head as she ate her own cooking.
"Immortality is me finding you in the next life. That's my kind of immortality," Rick told her.
"That's sweet!" Kate leaned across to kiss him quickly. "I want to find you again, too."
"I will search for you through a thousand worlds and ten thousand lifetimes until I find you," Rick vowed.
Kate put her dinner down on the coffee table, took his from him, then worked at taking his clothes off. She knew she loved him and right now she wanted him.
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Their dinner was cold so she warmed it up after three rounds of sex. Kate handed him his plate as he was standing there looking out onto the bay and the lake beyond.
"Is that this Sea of Fallen Stars?" Kate asked as she took a bite of her warmed up dinner.
Rick shook his head. "No, that's farther east from here. That's called Lake of Dragons or sometimes The Dragonmere. Don't ask me why. I have no idea. When we go east from here the less I'm going to know. I don't know where the city we want exactly is. I just know where the land it's located in is," he reminded her.
"Are we going to make it in time?" They technically had until late summer. They'd already used up just over a month. Now it was late December and winter was coming.
"We should. Most of it is going to be by ship from here on out unless we lose our ship for some reason. Likely we'll lose our horses after this." Rick warned her. He doubted the ship they found would take horses.
"My magic saddle and saddle bags?" Kate questioned.
"Same as mine. The saddles go in a portable hole. The saddle bags are another matter. Dimension can't go into dimension. They'll destroy each other and everything in both will be lost."
"So that's why you keep taking your bags of holding off first." Now it made sense to Kate.
"Yep, doing so might take you with it if you're stupid enough. Lost forever until you finally die."
"I have almost nothing in mine that I bought before we left," Kate said.
"That may change. Portable holes are very handy to hold stuff. Ten feet by ten feet by ten feet will hold a lot. Then just fold it up into this little flat piece of cloth and tuck it away somewhere." Rick loved his.
"What about Pirates?" Were they really that dangerous. How did anyone trade with anyone else if they stopped everything.
"There are something like sixty islands in the sea. Naturally not all of them have Pirate bases. You're right, of course. If they stopped every ship there would be no commerce getting anywhere. It's simply another risk. Much like the risks we've taken so far." Rick wasn't that worried about Pirates.
"They're still sending ships out." Kate watched as one came in.
"I asked about that. Yes, they're still trawling for fish, however, several are fishing for crabs."
"Crab legs!" Kate had something new to look for tomorrow for their next dinner.
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This morning they were carrying bundles of cut wood up their stairs for their two wood burning stoves. Trip after trip after trip until they had two cords of wood up the stairs, one for each stove. They would have to do this again in a few weeks given how much they went through and it was only getting colder.
Rick was relaxing after hauling wood up the stairs by sitting on the sofa with a beer in one hand. It was even cold, like really cold. One of the benefits of winter.
Kate sat down next to him with her glass of wine, leaned into him, and sipped her wine.
"Any plans for after we finish?" Rick asked her and put his beer down on the coffee table.
"Hadn't given it much thought. My city was nice and I have to admit that I love living in a city. Westgate, though, isn't my idea of a city to live in. Teziir is nice but maybe a little too small. I don't know." Kate would think about it after they finished this.
"Maybe build a home on an island. Some place nice and warm with a beach. Get a little boat. Close to a city to get supplies from," Rick mused.
"Your dream home?" Kate grinned and set her glass of wine down.
"Can't travel forever. Four seasons are nice but maybe somewhere that's safe and not so cold in winter." Rick now had a free arm. He put it around Kate, pulled her in a little closer, and felt her come willingly.
"Privacy but still close to a big enough city might be nice. Just so long as I don't get seasick," Kate said.
"So you think you might like it? How about…," Rick held up what he had in his other hand for her to see, "if you had a husband to do it with?"
Kate drew in a deep breath just as she clapped both of her hands over her mouth. She only had eyes for the ring he was holding in his hand.
"You're…you're…" Oh my God, he was proposing. He was actually proposing. She knew she loved him even if she hadn't actually said it yet. Though maybe her desire to make love to him was enough to show how much she loved him.
There was so much about him to love. Kate didn't dare take the ring. Couldn't get her body to face him so she could see his eyes. All she could do was look at what was going to be her ring and cry.
When they finished this she actually had a future to look forward to.
Finally her body listened to her mind and she managed to twist so she could see him. "I love you!" There she had said it! She cupped his head so she could kiss him with passion as her tears fell. Breaking from the kiss she kissed him again then sat back a bit and adjusted her legs to a more comfortable position.
"So that was a yes?" Rick teased her.
She was about to say yes but her hands were over her mouth yet again. She didn't try and stop the tears. Kate nodded a few times. "Yes," she told him though her hands.
Then she let him take away her left hand and watched as her ring slipped onto her ring finger. She wasn't sure she would ever reach this point. Now here she was and she was engaged to an amazing and beautiful man.
Kate stared at her ring on her finger for a moment then kissed him again.
Kate eventually found herself being carried up the stairs to their bedroom. She wanted him to make love to her, to confirm their commitment to each other by making love to the other.
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Kate was still naked and lying partly on Rick after making love to him and basking in his love. She knew she was loved back and about to be married.
"So just where is this magical island of yours?" Kate was interested in hearing more.
Kate suddenly found herself alone in their bed as she watched as Rick pulled some scrolls out of his backpack. She grinned, pleased that he had obviously thought about this.
Then he was back on the bed only he sat cross-legged and rolled out the first scroll.
"This is Port Nyanzaru. It's an independent city. It gained its independence from Amn. Traders from up and down the Sword Coast came to their market to buy timber, spices, medicines concocted from jungle plants, dinosaur skulls and claws, iron, tiger pelts, carved ivory, Batiri and Grung handiwork, colored feathers, tropical fruit, monkeys, plesiosaur meat." Rick would let Kate read it later after he was done trying to sell it.
"Would you believe that they have annual dinosaur races through town? The dinosaurs are all babies. They and their riders are all painted in these wild colors. The dinosaurs are still wild and barely controlled. A few buildings take a hit or two but no real damage. More than one rider has fallen off and gotten stepped on." Rick was grinning wide.
"You've been there?" It certainly sounded like he had to her.
"Once. An emissary of Bahamut sent me there once to achieve a task. That was when I found out that this place had a Harbormaster paying tribute to a powerful Dragon Turtle out in the bay. In exchange for this monthly pay, the Dragon Turtle kept all other sea monsters from harming the port and hindering trade.
"However, the Harbormaster had died before passing on what he was doing. It was my job to find his replacement and talk to the Dragon Turtle and explain why he wasn't getting his tribute before he left them." Rick sighed. "She was a nice Dragon Turtle. My being there reconfirmed her commitment to Bahamut."
Kate leaned into him to kiss him for that.
Then Rick rolled out the next scroll. "This is Port Nyanzaru." He had a map of the place that really had Kate's attention. "Bay of Chult and River Soshenstar."
"The city is divided into three wards. Merchant Ward, Harbor Ward, and Market Ward. The Merchant Ward is generally a little more the upper-crust section of the city. The Harbor Ward is literally walled off from the other Wards. The Merchant Ward has green parks though most of the city's twelve thousand people live in the Market Ward.
"Oh, the city's walls were decorated with colorful paintings of geometric designs, animals, and mythic figures. Totally unique, I've never seen anything like it before or since." Rick wished he could show her the walls.
"It's located on the northern edge of the Jungles of Chult. The Jungles are lush, super thick, full of animals including dinosaurs, and full of insects, admittedly. Local meat and lots of tropical fruit to choose from." They weren't going to starve.
"The locals don't believe in Temples so there are none in the city itself. There might be one or more out in the jungle but I didn't go there much. There are a few shrines. Gond, Savras, Sune, and Tymora. I added one to Bahamut while I was there but it was simple and likely needs to be seriously updated by now."
That he had done that had Kate leaning across to kiss his cheek again.
"About 70% of the population was human. I did, however, see a few that looked like walking lizards. I didn't get too pushy to find out what they were. Not what I was there to do," Rick said.
"Lizard Folk. I've seen a few in the city. Don't know much about them either. …So where is this island of yours and do you already own it?" Kate was curious.
"It isn't shown on this map but it's out here in the mouth of the bay, just off to one side and really close to a sand peninsula. Basically right where the Dragon Turtle was making its home.
"About six acres more or less. Roughly a teardrop in shape. Pretty much all sand but it's full of trees, three of which are pretty good sized. There's beach on two sides though it's a bit rocky at the edge. It isn't very tall so a storm surge could be a potential problem, though if we build on stilts… And yes, I bought it. Here's the signed Deed." Rick rolled out the third and last scroll and let Kate read it. The fact that it had a symbol pressed into wax told her it at least looked official. She also saw three different signatures including Rick's. Then she read what it said about the island.
"I suppose you've designed the house you want, too?" Kate asked him since he had obviously put some serious thought into this.
"Nope, beyond thinking it should be on stilts to protect from storm surge if there is one. I haven't even given any thought just where on the island, which way it should face, or where the boat to get on and off the island goes let alone what boat. Got any ideas on that?" Rick questioned her as she was still looking the Deed over.
"I'll let you know about that." Kate rolled up the Deed and handed it back to him. "Right after the wedding and just when did you buy this ring?" Kate raised her ring hand again to look at it.
"Couple days ago here in the city. You know Port Nyanzaru is larger than Teziir," Rick reminded her since she was big on living in a really big city.
"I know." Twelve thousand was still a rather small city but it was bigger than here and it sounded better than here. And fixing up his broken down little shrine to Bahamut had a certain appeal.
"Just where is this place?" She had no idea where in this land he was talking about. Then she saw the look he was giving her. It had Please don't be angry written all over it.
"Um, you know where your city was right?" Kate nodded. She knew where she'd been in this land.
"Well… it's on this jungle peninsula between the Trackless Sea and the Shining Sea. A few thousand miles to the south of there." Rick hoped she didn't go nuts on him.
"Beyond Sword Coast?" Kate asked and he nodded. "Beyond Amn and Tethyr?" Kate watched him continue to nod.
"Just the very southern border of Tethyr then west a few hundred miles. Just before the start of the Trackless Sea." Rick tried to help her place it.
Well at least it was back on her side of the land and incredibly south of that. There was just one tiny little gargantuan problem.
"Just how do you plan to get us there?" Kate queried.
"The same way I got there and back again. Hire a magic-user to teleport us there. In my case I hired him, took him with me, and put him up in a room. He had to pay for his own meals," Rick explained. "He brought his wife with him. I think it was a vacation for them or something."
Kate opened the scroll that held the map of the city on it. She could just make out the wall around the Harbor Market. She wasn't sure what all the buildings were on this map but this city was tiny compared to what she was used to and what she would like.
At least it sounded safe from what Rick had told her. Far safer than Westgate was for a trading based city. "What's the name of the Dragon Turtle?" If she was going to meet it one day in the future she wanted to know its name.
"Rhaegal. I was thinking we could ask the temple of Helm to marry us when you're ready." He would have preferred a Temple to Bahamut, but then he didn't know of any of those.
Kate put the map aside and held his head so she could kiss him again.