Here be Dragons!
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Welcome everyone to 2020
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Chapter 12
They had most of the day left to them and they still had one section left to search. For both of them to reach it meant swimming across and while they did still have some water breathing potion left, neither of them had any swim potions left. So for Rick to reach it meant he had to remove his armor so he could swim normally across. Plus it was a long swim since they only had one way in and out of where they were.
"You may not have to do this," Kate said since without his armor he could be hit far easier.
"I'm not letting you go over there alone. Dog, stay, guard." He meant guard the stuff he was leaving behind. Kate even took off her backpack. She left her staff behind, waded out into the cool water, and began swimming. Rick with his sword in its scabbard was right behind her.
In the end they found one unfinished boat and lots of material to build it with. There was even a boom arm used to lift heavy material to help build it. Then they found a room that was part quarters and was filled with diagrams on how to build the ship that was being built. There was nothing else of interest and the place was one big dead end.
Once back across they were now both soaking wet and since being naked around each other wasn't a problem they both stripped and found a way to hang up their wet clothes to dry.
"Not such a bad place for a Pirate base. Maybe a little gloomy," Rick said as he looked around.
"Not where I want to live. So we need to think of a way out of here. …All of us." Kate looked at Dog who was watching both of them closely.
Rick dug through his backpack, pulled out some jerky, and gave it to Dog. Then he walked over to Kate and placed his hand on her stomach. "You're sure?" Kate saw him smiling a little but also looked worried.
"Pretty sure. I'm also a little queasy and not really hungry." She had morning sickness so that was a big clue to her.
"We really need to finish this then. We need out of here then find a town and another ship to get us into the city." Rick took out his dagger and walked out to the sand with Kate right behind him.
"The main land is something like this where most of the Pirate bases might be since there's probably more than one." Rick drew some more. "Now out here are 50 or so islands of various sizes. Since it looks like they built this one into an island I'm going to guess one of these two big islands up here.
That will put us about a day or more likely two from this tip here. There are no cites of any size that I know of even close to there. They're either way back here or way down here. Far enough down here is a capital city called Alaghon. Maybe about 75,000 people. Over 50% of them are elves. Beyond that I only know the city is built on the ruins of a deep dwarves city so below the city are really deep caverns that could hold anything. We should be able to get a ship there to take us the rest of the way. The only trick is…" Rick let Kate finish.
"How to reach it." Kate was following easy enough. "No ship large enough and even if we did I can't work a ship. Not sure I even know all the words for a ship." Kate was starting to feel defeated.
"Neither do I. Swimming is out. I don't have teleport or even your Dimension Door. Besides I'm not leaving Dog behind." Rick watched Dog wagging his tail since he was being talked about.
"Neither am I. Do we go searching for another Pirate base and take a ship that we can't sail? Force them to take us somewhere or we kill them? What are the odds their captain is another shifter Black Dragon?" Kate asked.
"Hopefully pretty bad. Though they may not need to take us to a city. Just get us close to this tip and we can go from there." Then Rick offered an alternative. "Or…we could risk shifting to Dragons and flying it. We're faster than any ship. Two days to a ship is less than that for us."
"I've never shifted that long before." She wasn't afraid of shifting that long, it was just that she had never done it before.
"Neither have I," Rick admitted. "There's one more thing to consider." He had another idea to search for another Pirate base and get them to take them somewhere. "If we damage another Pirate base enough but still enough to man a ship to get us where we want to go, it would help the people that sail through here all the time."
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They had room to set up the tent, however, they only used their sleeping bags in the common area room. "I'm not sleeping in a filthy Pirate bed riddled with fleas." Technically Kate didn't know that for a fact but she wasn't going to risk it. "Besides there are dead men back there." They hadn't gotten rid of the bodies.
Come morning they found their clothes were dry enough to put back on. Then one by one with Dog left behind to guard the place they shifted into Gold Dragons and started to fly over various island to the east and south of them doing a little survey.
Rick thought he saw something promising on their first day out.
"Did you see it? A nice tall tower built on a small island with a dock and a ship with 2 masts." Rick wasn't sure it was a Pirate base but out here, what else could it be?
"Four maybe five floors tall? Yeah, I saw it but how do we make sure it's a Pirate base? Maybe it's some reclusive magic-user and his ship and crew?" It wasn't unheard of after all. Some people were only too willing to get away from it all.
"Point taken. We can go looking again tomorrow," Rick relented though he still thought he was right. Except how they were going to land and shift and then convince the occupants to take them where they wanted to go was another problem.
"What's that noise?" Kate thought she heard someone yelling.
Following the noise got them to the jail area. "I forgot all about this area. Sounds like there is at least someone here." Rick was at fault and he owned up to it.
Finding the key he unlocked the main door and two doors down they found a guy dressed suspiciously like a Pirate. "About time! Someone finally shows up to free me after paying the ransom. Come on, let me out," he told both of them.
"He's lying," Kate stated flatly and glared at him for even trying.
"WHAT! I AM NOT LYING!" he countered forcefully.
"Another lie. Let's go." Kate was done with this guy. He was clearly a bad guy and was in here for a reason.
Rick locked the door and just to make sure unlocked the other one and searched all the cells located here which was twice the number as the other one. All but that one were empty.
He was still yelling and now banging against his bars to regain their attention.
They found food and a way to cook it so they ate it using the tiny kitchen the pirates had. They used their own drink though.
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Next day they were out and went looking yet again. This time Kate thought she's spotted something, circled it, and watched until she followed Rick home.
Once on the sand she took Rick's dagger and drew in the sand. Kate described what she saw. "It was three small islands with one that was really small. These two had a wooden structure between them and a dock with a two mast ship sitting at the dock. This rock here was partially hiding it at sea level. I think I saw a few openings in the rock on each side but it was hard to tell how deep they went.
"The ship was maybe a little bigger than what our ship was. I only saw two people and they were human but they were the only ones. She made dots. "The tower's over here, this is here, and we're here."
"Actually closer. A ship of that size will mean fewer men than this place. Maybe a dozen or more onboard. They would want a ship that was more our size and skip the big guys," Rick suggested.
Kate told him her plan. "I was thinking on the way home that if I landed on this little rock out front I could get their attention or you could. Then one of us uses your rope to swing down onto the ship and convince them it's in their best interests to do as we say. While the Gold Dragon roars at them a lot to reinforce our point."
Rick considered it and looked at her map. "Based on the last time someone did some swinging on a rope that would be you with me up top roaring away and maybe even a little gas breath weapon to scare them a little."
"Hope I'm up to being intimidating," Kate said doubtfully since that was going to be the hard part for her.
"Are you kidding? You just landed as a Gold Dragon and roared. Then you turned into a human and now you were standing on their ship with another Gold Dragon roaring right behind you. …Easy." Rick was all smiles.
Kate thought about that for a minute and thought that just might work. "What about Dog?" He was family now.
"Again easy. They sail close enough to here and he simply blinks on when called, then we go where we tell them to. Not sure we can press them too far. Maybe at least a little close to Alaghon. Enough that we can reach it, then we let them go. That's the deal. Who knows, maybe it'll even scare them straight." Rick offers.
"Put Bahamut in their hearts," Kate said and smiled.
"We can but try," Rick agreed. "We start in the morning."
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Come next morning Rick and Kate were ready. Kate had Rick's rope and Dog was staying here. Rick was to hang around above until Kate shifted to human form. Then he would swoop down and land where she had.
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Kate lazily circled the site again and this time she thought she saw more movement. Maybe that was good or maybe it was bad. Still they needed this ship and they needed them to man it.
She swooped down, slowing way down, and could already tell that she'd been spotted as suddenly people were running all over the place. The one thing they'd forgotten about was the Frightful Presence that every Dragon had. Just seeing one made weak people run for their lives. Suddenly maybe this plan wasn't going to work like they had planned it.
Kate landed and didn't see anyone. Still it was part of the plan so she roared at them to make sure she has everyone's attention. Not seeing anyone moving she shifted to human form, took out the rope, and threw it to get it to wrap around part of the wood holding the sheets. Testing it first she swooped down onto the deck and held onto her rope for now.
Her end had a weight attached to it so in theory she could throw it up to Rick when he landed. Kate more heard Rick land than saw him since she had eyes on everywhere but up and behind her.
Then she heard Rick roar. All that was going to do was make sure everyone stayed inside so there was no one to talk to. "SHIFT, BABE!" It was time to change the plan. Then she swing the rope up to him. Except it took her four tries before he caught it and swooped down to join her.
"We forgot about the Frightful Presence a Dragon has," Kate said.
"Ohhh!" Yeah, he had forgotten about that part. The idea was to scare them to death all right. Just not force them to run away. So both of them just stood there until heads popped out to look.
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Rick whistled. "Here boy! Come on Dog!" They were sailing past the large opening and Rick watched him blink his way out to the rock holding the ballista. Then he was blinking all around him and barking. "Good boy!" Rick hugged him and ruffled his fur.
Kate was in charge around here. She was the one these Pirates saw as a Gold Dragon and worked out that if they didn't do what she told them to she would be a Gold Dragon again and kill all of them.
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They sailed all day and all night as Rick and Kate took turns keeping each other awake all night long.
It seems they knew of an abandoned old town just miles away from the capitol city they wanted to reach. They even found an old dilapidated dock to come up next to. So Rick and Kate jumped out and watched the Pirates make an escape before the Gold Dragon changed its mind.
"That actually worked." Rick was all smiles as he and Kate stood there and watch the Pirate ship make a hasty retreat back to its base. "Not sure we made any headway on converting them to the teachings of Bahamut though."
"No, but we tried to save their lives," Kate agreed with a smile. They couldn't save everyone but at least they had tried and they hadn't even killed anyone from that base.
Now they just needed to get from this abandoned and ruined town and down the coast to the Capitol city.
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The sun was going to set soon when they started to see the first farm house and his crops. It told them both that they were getting close.
They decide that instead of walking it they would start jogging until they saw the walls of the city.
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It was getting really late in the day when they were allowed entrance through the now closed gate since it was late. All Rick had to do was grease his palm with a number of copper pieces and they were in. Now they just needed an inn to stay in. One that Kate would accept.
Naturally the one she finally relented and selected was the most expensive so far. It did at least have its own restaurant so they could finally eat some hot food.
Everything else was going to have to wait for morning.
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The room was nice enough though they both used their sleeping bags but had to sleep separate this time.
The port area was easy to find but what they wanted was more potions and maybe more scrolls but potions were high on their list.
The city they soon learned as they asked a few questions was that it was broken into five districts. Merchant area to purchase anything you might want was far to the south which took them almost an hour to reach.
Walking around separate from the other they bought a combined 5 swimming potions, 4 water breathing potions, and 4 fly potions.
Another hour later and they were back to the dock area and Rick asked about a merchant ship willing to take passengers and defend their ship that was headed east.
Then back to their inn to rent another room for the night.
Much like last time they had learned that ship captains would talk to Rick before they would talk to a woman. While it pissed Kate off, she knew it was just the way things were. Just so long as she got to go with him she let him do all the talking.
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It took them a week to find a captain who was going to a city called Cimbar which was the capital city for the Chessenta region. Thinking it would be large enough to find another ship they accepted, paid the gold necessary, and the gold for Dog.
They both found his ship was a duplicate of their last ship. They even knew where their room was located and where the galley was located. It too had a captain, first mate and a crew of six.
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Three and a half days later of uneventful travel for a change they were standing on the docks of Cimbar and headed into town to find another inn and get some decent hot food. That ship didn't have a very good cook and wasn't all that good even with Kate's spice cup.
This city was more to Kate's liking. She was guessing around 90,000 people. The city was broken into two distinct areas instead of districts. There was old Cimbar and new Cimbar. Old Cimbar held a palace and a university. New Cimbar had the port with almost as many docks as Westgate had. It also held most of the homes, shops, theaters for live plays, a hippodrome and even an arena if you liked that kind of thing.
Kate found an even more expensive inn for them to stay in for the night before starting to look for a ship that could take them the rest of the distance. It was even still spring still so they were actually on schedule or ahead of schedule depending on how you thought about it.
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Kate and Rick were enjoying the time in the city or more accurately the time in their room while they make love to each other. It no longer mattered if she was indeed pregnant.
Rick really wished that this was over. He worried that if Kate got hurt she would lose the baby. But they hadn't completed their task just yet and her combat skills were going to be needed.
The next day they went back and bought 4 invisibility potions then went to the docks to find another ship. That was when they got lucky. There was a merchant ship willing to take them and he was headed for Geldaneth which was their final destination. However, he wasn't leaving for another 3 days while he confirmed all of his cargo.
"We'll be here and thank you." Rick shook his hand.
It meant more time in the city and they even attended an outdoor play at one of the theaters for a distraction.
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Three days later and Rick, Kate, and Dog were standing at the dock and watching as more cargo was being lifted into the hold of the ship. This ship was basically a duplicate of the Pirate ship that had a shifter Black Dragon for a captain. Though so far in the last couple of cities neither of them had come within range of another shifter no matter what animal he was.
This captain wanted a little more gold but they had that and a lot more so they paid for themselves and Dog. This time they were way in the stern of the boat, next to one of the crews quarters where they and the crew would be eating. The captain and the first mate ate together forward of the ship.
Their fresh food bags were full mostly of meat for Dog since the crew was feeding them as part of their passage.
Thankfully they were now far away from all of the Pirate cities and Pirate bases and with no storms to make the transit that bad, unlike one of this ship transits, it went smoothly.
Five days of travel later and they were standing on the dock of Geldaneth. It was getting late in the day so they went looking for yet another inn to spend the night. Then come morning they would go searching for the Library and Horustep III so they could unload these Green Star metal crystals or whatever they were to him and get paid and be done.
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"Almost done, babe." Kate was naked next to her naked husband and was ready to get on with her life, their lives, and find a magic-user that could teleport them to their new home.
Rick placed a hand on his stomach just to make sure it was still there. He could always feel it but he felt it even more when he pressed there.
"Given much thought about what home you want?" Rick asked since he had an idea of what he wanted it to look like.
"A little, mostly just what's inside it. Not so much what it looked like. You suggested something on wood stilts possibly. I was thinking of leaving that to you. At least until you explain it to me. Maybe a sketch or two so I can see it," Kate replied.
"I think you'll like it. Three bedrooms, two on one side and ours on the other. Two bathrooms, one on each side. Nice large living room in the center with a kitchen and dining room on one side in the middle. A deck all the way around and maybe even a greenhouse so we could grow a few things ourselves.
"Staircase on the back down to the beach. Another out front that is a boardwalk out to the dock area where deep water is and our friendly Dragon Turtle. Maybe even a gazebo out there for us to just sit and watch. Maybe possibly a bridge across the water to the mainland then walk the beach to reach the city if we can't figure out how to sail a little boat. You'll see when we get there.
"We'll need shutters for the windows for when we have a storm roll in. Also try and not kill as many trees as we can get away with," Rick added since he liked all the trees. Even if the entire island was all sand.
Kate sighed. "Almost." She hadn't really thought she would be doing this when they'd started. Except Rick had proved to be irresistible.