The skies were almost perpetually clear in Freedonia, but once at sea, the weather took a sharp turn. It was not a good day for sailing, and Steven was not much of a sailor. Aside from the crew, there were two other passengers, Shopkeeper Eloise and Under-Spy Adora. The former was a freckle-faced redhead with gray-green eyes, the latter a strawberry blond dressed in black. Neither seemed to have a particularly good reason for accompanying Steven on this voyage.
Both women fared better on the open sea than Steven, though Eloise did periodically lean over the side railing and scream at the water below for no readily apparent reason.
"Isn't this awesome? This is so exciting!" Adora announced at one point when the ocean became particularly rough, "We might find a mermaid, or a ghost ship, or some pirates or a derelict, or.. or... or... maybe a whale!"
"WHALE!? WHERE!?" screeched Eloise, flinging herself to the railing and nearly over the side of the boat, searching in vain for the potential whale, "WHERE IS IT!?"
"I didn't say there was a whale," Adora said, "I only said that there could be a whale."
"Stop! Stop the ship here! Put down anchor!" Eloise shouted at the captain.
The ship's captain was used to Eloise and her quirks, having sailed with her many times, so he merely shrugged and let her do as she pleased. What she pleased was to heave a small metal boat over the side of the ship, snatch up a harpoon and leap over the side of the ship into the boat below, her skirts billowing out around her like the unfurling wings of a massive and colorful bird.
Steven realized too late what she was doing, and ran over to the railing just in time to watch Eloise land with surprising grace. She landed cat-like on her little whaling boat, untied the line that connected it to the ship, and rowed out into the heaving sea and gathering fog.
"Shouldn't someone go after her?" Steven wondered aloud.
"She always does this," Adora told him, "We'll get her on the return trip. On to Krull!"
"Kullervo," Steven corrected softly.
"Whatever! Let's go!"
When they were underway once more, Steven turned to Adora, "You seem awfully eager to visit Kullervo. You realize they're probably being terrorized by pirates at best, some sort of possibly supernatural monster at worst, don't you?"
"Oh, absolutely," Adora replied chipperly, "That's the sort of thing you need to really put spice into an adventure. Besides, it's absolutely not pirates or a witch or any of the other usual suspects, so there's an awesome veil of mystery that's just begging to be investigated by someone as obviously awesome as myself."
"I see," Steven said mildly, "And how do you know it's not pirates?"
"Please," Adora said coyly, wiggling her shoulders a little, "A spy cannot be expected to reveal her secrets. Least of all to a knight. You're all about justice and order and the good of all. And that's fine. You're a knight, it's your job to be utterly boring and devoid of personality."
That remark stung a bit as Steven found himself wondering if it was true, but he said nothing.
"But I, dear Knight-Boy," she said, gesturing to herself, "Am a spy. It's my job to be into sneaking, corrupting, assassination and theft," this statement was accompanied by a series of gestures and elaborate finger wiggles, possibly miming pickpocketing, from the look of it, "Which of course serves to make me a much more interesting person than you, because I do such a variety of things, you see. You just... hunt deer and teach people to hit things with swords."
Apparently, she was opting to ignore the obvious, which was that both herself and Steven were out here investigating what had happened to one of their ships. Only Steven had a reason for doing so, Adora seemed to be out here entirely for her own amusement. Steven decided it would be rude to say so, and so he didn't.
"Look, I'm not trying to be mean or anything," Adora explained patiently, "Next to anyone else, you would look pretty darn fine, especially with the sexy scar-eyebrow thing you have going for you. But I make elegant people look unappealing when I stand next to them, because -as you can plainly see- I am a thoroughly gorgeous creature, and incredibly talented and smart and totally awesome, if I do say so myself."
Aside from trying to keep an eye on her to stop her from picking his pockets, Steven had never really taken a good look at Adora. He had learned through painful experience in his youth that women didn't usually appreciate being ogled, except under very precise circumstances, and they were inclined to sic their fathers, brothers, husbands or boyfriends on anyone who offended them. Failing at that, the average woman tended to have a very engaging rightcross. Steven had spent a goodly portion of his formative years getting beaten up by men twice his size (and occasionally women half his size), but he had finally absorbed the lesson to such a degree that he really didn't take in much detail of a woman's looks unless there was something exceptionally striking about her.
But now he felt not only invited to look at Adora, but almost as if he had been instructed to do so.
Looking at her slim form in her rather tight-fitting black outfit, and the surprisingly delicate features of her face, the merry twinkling in her sky-blue eyes and the silken reddish blond hair contained within its astoundingly expensive looking hairnet of gold and emerald, Steven had to concede that Adora was not entirely wrong about herself. She was beautiful. Possibly not as beautiful as she seemed to imagine, but beautiful nonetheless. He decided to avoid saying so if at all possible, as it did not appear that her ego needed to be further inflated.
Fortunately, he was saved from comment by the guy in the crow's nest announcing that land had been sighted. Shortly thereafter, they docked at Kullervo.
"Hey, isn't that Sir Stabsalot on the beach?" Adora inquired, pointing.
Steven followed her finger to a figure out on the beach beyond the docks, and sighed inwardly.
"Yes," Steven answered wearily, "Yes it is."
Sir Stabsalot was a persistent thorn in Steven's side. Repeatedly had Sir Stabsalot come to Freedonia and dueled with Steven. Sir Stabsalot's claim was that he was seeking to become the greatest and most famous warrior in all the land, but continually he proved to be cocky, inadequately armed and armored, directly (even foolishly) aggressive to his own detriment, and otherwise thoroughly inept at combat. At first, he had been sort of amusing, but at this point Steven was simply tired of seeing him everywhere. Besides, these days, Steven preferred to save his fighting skill for actual threats.
"Don't worry," Adora said brightly, pulling a container with blue liquid from a pocket in her fitted jacket, "I got this."
"Drunk-me-not?" Steven asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't be absurd," Adora told him, quaffing the potion before pulling out another, this one green, "Now, you just go investigate your mystery. I'll handle Stabby-Boy."
Steven watched rather skeptically as Adora disembarked. Stealthily, she slipped along the dock, using fog as cover, then circled around behind Sir Stabsalot. She tossed her potion at him, causing the unwary fighter to cough and choke for a moment, long enough for her to draw her weapon, which Steven immediately recognized as a Precise Scimitar, not unlike the one used by Sir Geoffrey against Steven during the tournament some time ago.
Adora slashed at Sir Stabsalot from behind. His armor had improved from last time Steven had seen him. It was much lighter, and perhaps not as tough, but tough enough to block the damage from Adora's initial behind-the-back attack. Adora seemed disappointed that she hadn't killed Sir Stabsalot outright, but she settled into the duel rather than fleeing the scene.
Against Steven, Sir Stabsalot had always been hopelessly outclassed, despite the fact that he had more than once employed dirty tricks against Freedonia's knight. But it looked like he had improved his skills somewhat since last time Steven had seen him, as well as his armor and weapon. Adora wore no armor whatsoever and her sword-swinging technique was somewhat crude, but this did not appear to bother her a great deal, as she managed to dance out of the way of Sir Stabsalot's blade with little difficulty. Steven decided to leave her to it as it appeared she could handle herself.
Steven headed into the town square, wondering slightly at how quiet it was. Unlike in Freedonia, there were no people in the streets. Not even a town crier incessantly ringing their bell. In fact, the whole place seemed almost dead until Steven came upon a merchant stall, which was being tended by a very nervous looking man.
"Who are you?" the nervous man asked.
"Captain Steven, Knight of Freedonia," Steven replied.
"Freedonia? Like those fishermen from a few days ago?" the man inquired.
"Yes. That's why I'm here, in fact," Steven said, "Their ship was attacked. The survivors don't seem to be in any condition to give coherent answers, so I'm here to try and find out what happened."
"They went into the demon forest," the man told him, "We warned them it was dangerous, but they only laughed. When they left, they took the demon with them."
"When you say demon, what do you mean by that?" Steven asked.
"I mean demon," the man answered, "One was possessed by it. He must have killed its former slave, and become host to it as punishment. That's how it works, you know."
"So you're suggesting that one of the ship's crew was possessed by a demon, and attacked his own ship?" Steven inquired.
"Exactly," the man nodded vigorously.
"For what purpose?" Steven asked, "Killing the crew would risk stranding the ship on the ocean, with only one person to man it. Even possessed by a demon, surely he could not hope to man every station."
"Even if he couldn't move his ship, the waters between here and Freedonia are highly traveled by merchants and pirates alike. Either would investigate a seemingly derelict ship sooner or later. Finding the apparent survivor, they would either take him with them or kill him, thereby making themselves the demon's new slave."
Steven knew little enough about demons, but this certainly sounded like nonsense to him. Something had happened, but he had trouble believing the old man or his nephew had been possessed by a demon. Aside from severe disorientation on the part of the former, and the deep, unreasoning terror of the latter, they had both seemed fairly normal to talk to. Or human, anyway.
But Steven supposed that, if the Pit Beast could be deathly allergic to metal, anything was possible.
After thanking the man for his time, Steven continued on. He met few people, but got much the same story out of them. Some sort of horrible beast had been in the forest near Kullervo, attacking and killing everything and everyone in sight. They knew it wasn't a bear or a witch, but no one was entirely sure what it was. Some thought they'd seen a giant wolf the color of midnight, others said it was a humanoid of purest ink-black with giant bat wings and terrible glowing eyes. But all were certain it was a murderous monster of some sort, and that the fishermen from Freedonia had taken it with them somehow, though they seemed unable to adequately explain how they knew that.
Briefly, Steven explored the forest. It was similar to the forest near Freedonia, though clearly less traveled, with fewer discernible paths and thicker brambles. The wildlife was bolder here, for the people of Kullervo seldom ventured into the forest they believed to be cursed, but Steven encountered no animal that might explain the fear or loss of life associated with it, least of all a giant wolf or winged humanoid with glowing eyes.
Puzzled and concerned, Steven made his way back to the docks. He hadn't realized he'd been hoping that this attack had been the Pirates of Aarbyville until evidence suggested it wasn't. The gangs in Aarbyville were getting out of hand, and had been gathering for some time in apparently strategic positions around the borders of Freedonia and her annexed territories. This was a huge problem that needed to be dealt with, and the last thing Steven needed was some other, unrelated threat.
Returning to the ship, he found that Adora was waiting for him.
"What happened with Sir Stabsalot?" Steven asked.
"I left him vomiting on the beach," Adora replied, "By the way, you owe me fifty simoles."
Surprised, Steven asked, "For what?"
"For taking care of your problem while you went off and did your boring knight thing," Adora replied, adding, "You may as well just pay me, you know I'll take it off you eventually."
As this was entirely true, Steven simply handed over the money she'd asked for, despite the fact that he hadn't actually asked for her help, nor had any price for that help been discussed, much less agreed upon. It just seemed easier than arguing, and better for what remained of his dignity than being stolen from later. Besides, he was afraid Adora might collect interest while she was at it.
They returned to Freedonia without incident, picking up Eloise along the way. Eloise had lost her harpoon, but her boat was loaded down with gobs of whale meat, which she seemed to consider a fair trade. She did not scream at the sea any more on the way back, instead standing at the railing and gazing off into the fog with a look of calm serenity on her face.
Steven concluded that he would never be able to understand women.