Chapter One: Misty Tares
Mist. For anyone who knew the ways of life on the southern coast, the autumnal mist was perhaps the easiest thing to predict of all. Some summers were particularly warm, some winters particularly cold, but the mist never changed. At the same time each year, the dense clouds would almost chase the remaining heat of summer from the region, engulfing every jetty, harbour and quay both at the day's genesis and its conclusion with thick, semi-opaque mist. Tavern owners rubbed their hands in glee at the extended hours their patrons would spend drinking the night away, whilst any merchants who had delayed launching their ships full of produce were forced either to wait until the next sailing season arrived, or risk his wallet finding men brave (or foolhardy) enough to risk the potentially lethal late-year seas. Though in all honesty the great dockyard was these days almost empty, and the majority of the goods passing through were destined to be sold on the black market.
It was ridiculous then, young Alarius thought to himself, as he trudged down one of the cobbled streets which led to the port, that he had to spend his life in a city which was dragging itself further and further into irrelevance. Even more ridiculous was the fact that his parents had ever thought that this was the place where they wanted to build their lives upon his birth. That is, of course, before the pair of them had decided to die on him, leaving him with almost nothing in manner of money or possessions. All of this had happened prior to any period he could remember though.
"Why don't I leave?" he thought to himself as the mist decided to ally itself with a downpour of rain, which had the automatic effect of quickening the pace of everyone who was not indoors. Everyone that is except for Alarius, who simply looked up at the grey expanse above, exhaled exasperatedly, and pulled his hood over his head. To him, the inconvenience of the rain was nothing compared to the hassle that people sprinting around him in narrow streets provided, who were seemingly unable to combine increased speed with the ability to avoid bumping into other people. As if to confirm these musings, no sooner had Alarius turned his gaze back to the street, he had to step briskly around two men jogging towards him. Sliding elegantly out of their way, the young man shifted himself to the side of the road, where it was slightly less congested.
What was he thinking about again? Ah yes, the daily thoughts he gave towards leaving Tares. Yet Alarius knew that these were nothing more than idealised fantasies, at least for the moment. He owed far too much to Alfonzo, both sentimentally and morally, had relatively little money, no horse, no weapon, no contacts, and no real clue of what he wanted to do. In fact, thinking about such things did little other than make the young man even more depressed. Doing his best to clear the mind of such pointless ruminations, Alarius continued walking sedately towards his destination, which he reached within a few minutes. He weaved his way through a couple of side streets, crossed very briefly over one of the main throughways, pausing momentarily to take a look at the not-so-distant harbour, before ducking once more into the narrow mini-labyrinth of side streets, shooting down an alleyway and opening a dark green door, though by now enough paint had probably peeled for said door to qualify as brown. This door was the entrance to the tavern known as "The Wolfo".
Upon entering, Alarius was greeted by the sight of the aforementioned Alfonzo. Of course to Alarius the sight was very much a normal one, but for the uninformed and unaware, first setting eyes on Alfonzo was a very intimidating task. Standing at well over six foot, with a shaven head and a frame to match his height, Alfonzo was a man who seldom chose to confront. The mini-colossus turned his head at the noise of the door opening, nodding his approval at Alarius' arrival. The young man had not yet removed his hood, but his black robes and light blue hood were known to Alfonzo almost as well as his own garments.
The room in which this pair made their silent greeting was the main room of the bar belonging to and managed by Alfonzo, ably assisted as he was by Alarius. Despite its time-ravaged door and isolated location, the establishment's interior was grander than one might have imagined. There were a good number of wooden tables of varying sizes and shapes, each supporting their allotted chairs, which lay on top, providing the space necessary to clean up each morning. All this furniture was elegantly carved, and many a cushion lay behind the bar if needed. The bar itself stretched along much of the building's far left wall, jet black in colour, with several stools littering the area just in front. The roof of the structure was relatively low, though there was a second floor, and the whole structure was held up by a series of sturdy wooden beams, which Alfonzo had taken to decorating in his spare time.
After taking in a sharp breath, Alarius removed his hood, and placed his wet coat above the fire, which was already very much alive despite it only being mid-morning. The young man that had previously dwelt under these wet garments was now fully visible, and although he was not as striking as his boss, he cut an impressive figure none the less. Standing slightly over six foot, Alarius was blessed with a pair of depthless blue eyes, and full, pale lips to complement his impressive physique. His nose was rather narrow, although not abnormally so, and the tone of his skin matched that of his lips.
What stood out most to the interested observer though was Alarius' hair. Its length was by no means unique, evenly cut as it was to a short grade around the head. Yet to contrast this, one would look upon the colour of the hair in question and at once be intrigued, for it contained a stripe the colour of silvery turquoise , closer perhaps to white rather than blue, but clearly different to the hair colour that most of us carry. Alarius had no explanations for this mini-phenomenon, but it rarely concerned him, especially when the local girls commented on just "how cool" it was.
With a minimal hand movement that signified a "hello", Alarius walked over to the bar and placed the little bag that he had been carrying over in front of Alfonzo, opening it as he did so. Inside were a large number of seeds, jagged edged with green and purple patterns upon them. Boka Baba seeds, used in many potions in times of old, and now as an illegal way of getting inebriated. As with many of the establishments in the economically deprived Tares, the black market was an important source of income. Alfonzo had been in the game for many years, and The Wolfo was known throughout the city as one of the premier establishments for procuring seeds, potions and any other such items which one could not usually procure by strictly legal means.
There was the odd raid carried out by the Tareian law enforcement agencies from time to time, but these rarely led to anything, usually because of one of Alfonzo's many moles providing him with a heads up. In reality, this was a result which worked out well for both parties. Alfonzo was able to continue to run The Wolfo relatively hassle free, whilst the city police and coastguard could continue to at least give the impression of caring about smuggling. Indeed, it was really in the law's interests for The Wolfo to stay open, as many of its regulars were men whose reputations preceded them. Alfonzo was one of the few who could keep them in check, and any closure of Tares' most popular vagabond locale would lead to a significant number of troublemakers seeking new drinking holes.
Anyway, I digress. Alarius placed the seeds on the table, and then looked up at his boss. Alfonzo looked briefly enough only to confirm the presence of the seeds, before he put the bag under the table.
"Same price I assume?" he asked Alarius
"Yeyeh" was the reply. "I mean, Balt is telling me that shipping is getting harder because of the new season and all that rubbish, but he's clearly lying. I know for a fact that most of the produce comes from within a hundred miles max, so any ships can coast-hug. In addition to that, he could bring it over by cart and transport it that way if he's so concerned about the money; in fact I'm pretty sure he does that anyway. When I pointed out that this would actually mean less production costs and therefore an incentive to drop his prices, he soon shut up. Same as usual, quantity, price, and one of the few things we can rely on Balt for is a quality product."
Alfonzo nodded silently, and thought to himself just how good his protégé was at dealing with the various characters that one inevitably encounters when dealing in the black market. He had no doubt that Alarius' physical presence was a help, but the young man had something else. A steeliness to his voice when he needed it, an intelligence which matched that of many of the most successful businessmen he had ever known, and an almost other-worldly approach to the whole process of negotiation. When Alfonzo considered Alarius' lineage, this was not really at all surprising. Men like him became what they did for a reason. He did not express any of this explicitly of course, but the thoughts were very much present in his experienced mind.
After this discussion on the local economic outlook, Alarius went to hang his wet clothes by the fire, before joining Alfonzo in preparing the tavern for the day's proceedings. The rain outside seemed to be getting heavier as the time passed, and the noise of spattering water grew louder and louder as the morning progressed. Over time, Alfonzo decided that it would make sense for him to check The Wolfo's upper floors, in case any leaks were about to spring or had already been sprung. He went upstairs and left Alarius to finish off the day's preparations, which were minimal, simply the removal of the chairs from their respective tables back onto the floor. Just as he was finishing this, Zuko entered. Zuko was the tavern's cook, and his dedication to arrive on time (or at least within ten or so minutes of it) had led to him getting thoroughly soaked during his journey. Not wanting his colleague to be in a bad mood all day, Alarius swiftly brought him a warm drink, before sitting down on a chair and pulling out the local newspaper.
It was not long before his peace was disturbed by the sound of the front door closing. Looking over his copy of the Tareian Tablet, Alarius saw a man standing just inside the entrance of the tavern. At first, Alarius wondered how on earth he had not heard the man enter until the door was fully closed. Admittedly he had been quite engrossed in the paper, but the front door had been squeaking for years, yet this male, who was of reasonable stature and weight, had been able to enter as if invisible. However, this thought did not linger for any period of time, because Alarius' initial surprise turned to admiration as he laid his eyes upon the figure who had just entered.
Despite his regular and vocal protestations to the contrary, Alarius knew that he was a rather vain and materialistic man. He thought that he was relatively good looking, and he knew that he was one of the sharpest dressers in town (although there was not much competition in that regard), and he often judged people early on based on their looks and style, though Alfonzo was of course the exception to this. As such, he could not help but be impressed by the sight of The Wolfo's latest customer.
The man was probably in his early to late fifties, wearing a pair of black shoes, made it seemed of velvet. They were elegantly shaped around the heel and pointed at the toe, whilst the sole was barely visible to the naked eye. As his eyes moved up to the body, Alarius studied the man's shapely black trousers, his well-cut maroon jacket, his graceful silken gloves and black cape, slightly damp as it was from the rain. These garments were capped both metaphorically and literally by the dark cavalier hat which lay on top of the visitor's head. Indeed, the look would have been almost ridiculous if the owner of the ensemble had not been so well built for the clothes he wore, or had he not been blessed with a remarkably attractive face, made perhaps even more impressive by the two minor yet visible scars that lay on his right cheek.
Beginning to realise that he had probably been staring for too long, Alarius briefly averted his gaze so that he could place his newspaper on the table. He spoke as he did so.
"Hello, can I help you?"
"I certainly hope so" replied the stranger, removing his hat to reveal head of thick black hair, cut to a medium length and complimented by a pair of very smartly trimmed sideburns which extended some half way down his cheeks. "I'm looking to eat here, could that be arranged?"
Alarius looked up at the clock and saw that it was quarter to twelve, fifteen minutes before they officially started serving food at The Wolfo. Making a funny sound with his lips, he turned back round to the visitor and motioned him towards a table.
"Yes it can, no problem. Just pick a seat wherever and tell me what you'd like. Give me a minute and I'll grab a menu. Would you like a drink?"
"Yes, please. A pint of Labrynna Ale if possible, if you don't have that then I'll get a Halperia"
"It will have to be the Halperia I'm afraid, no real luck getting any Labrynnian produce at the moment". Alarius was lying when he said this. Labrynnian Ale was indeed available to The Wolfo's customers, but as with many things one obtained from Labrynna these days, it was smuggled. As such, Alfonzo advised his staff never to serve such drinks to customers who were not regulars, for fear of them being undercover officers and the like.
"Oh well, that's no problem. Halperia is fine".
Alarius crossed over to the bar, neatly levering himself over it as he couldn't be bothered to walk around. Within a few minutes he had brought the customer his drink, taken his order of Looner fish with potatoes, and woken the sleeping Zuko from his nest in the kitchen. As he took up his position behind the bar and began to read the newspaper once more, Alarius glanced over from time to time to the smartly dressed man on the table nearest the far wall, who himself was reading a book, though Alarius could not make out what it was. As he glanced back and forth, Alarius got to thinking.
Just how had the man been able to open and close the door without his knowledge? Alarius could not figure it out, and in the end simply concluded that the rain coming down on the roof must have deadened the noise caused by the door opening. Anything to avoid admitting a failure on his part. The door incident frustrated Alarius slightly, but what was driving him mad was his inability to place any kind of identity or personality on this man. His clothes suggested he was not from Tares. Tares was dirty, wet, cold, and the only people who would be seen wearing those kind of clothes were the very small number of rich officials who lived in the higher area of town, who avoided the seafront at all costs. Yet these nobles were almost extinct in Tares nowadays, having all emigrated to Kardopolis in the north east.
What else could he be? His clothing was too ostentatious, especially if one considered that the whole point of smuggling was to draw the minimum amount of attention to yourself. Alarius was completely at a loss, which was especially exasperating, as there was something about the man which was somewhat familiar too. Even so, Alarius could not dredge up any worthwhile memories on the subject, and so decided to drop all notions of pretence and address the suave gentleman directly. As he was cleaning up the remnants of his meal, Alarius addressed the gentleman.
"Excuse me sir, would you mind if I asked you whether this is your first time in the establishment?"
"Of course I wouldn't" was the reply. "This is, I'm happy to say, not my first visit to this tavern. My name is Horos. I spend much of my time away from Tares, but I am good friends with this establishment's owner, Alfonzo. As such, whenever I am present in this city, I take the opportunity to get drunk at reduced prices available only through a longstanding relationship with one of Tares' most reputable businessmen." The final two words were said in a very suggestive tone, the stranger beaming a smile at Alarius as he did so.
"That's it!" thought Alarius as the man explained himself. He could place it now. The man had been in the tavern before, though not for many years, and he had spent hours and hours talking with Alfonzo at the time. Alarius had no idea how he remembered that, but he relayed this information back to the man in the maroon jacket.
"Ah yes, that must have been some...six years ago? My, how time flies. Alfonzo has often acted on my behalf, and he has never let me down. Speaking of which" he said, as the sound of footsteps emerged on the floor above the tavern's main bar area, "I believe he may be about to grace us with his presence right now".
As predicted, a few seconds later, the burly frame of Alfonzo entered. As soon as he caught sight of Horos, Alfonzo strode purposefully across the room, and embraced his long-time friend as he rose to greet him. Alarius could see the genuine affection that the pair had for each other.
"Horos, you decrepit old shyster! I wish I could say it was good to see you, but I'm afraid we no longer tolerate over the hill alcoholics in this place. People like you just bring our reputation down you know?"
Horos chuckled, before making a rather pointed remark about the owner's own reputation that is probably too explicit to print here. These insults continued for a period, before Horos pointed out that his mug was empty. Alfonzo's response was to disappear briefly and return with a full keg of the Labrynnian Ale which Alarius had previously denied was available. For the next few hours the pair were inseparable, trading insults, laughing uproariously, and generally creating enough noise so that someone walking past the outside of the tavern would have assumed the place was almost full.
During this period Alarius just went about his work. As the day progressed a few customers came into the tavern, mainly for a post-work beverage. Business tended to only really pick up in the evening, when the city's notorious felt safe enough to walk freely through the streets. In general, it was just a normal day, with the rather large exception of the arrival of Horos, and the drinking contest which he and Alfonzo were now engaging in.
After finishing their second keg, the drinkers were beginning to look a little worse for wear. Alarius couldn't help but be amused by the trouble that his boss was having in standing up properly. He couldn't help but be amused even more when he heard the sounds of a man throwing up in the toilets located in the rooms behind the bar. He had seen Alfonzo drink before many a time, but he had certainly never seen him out drunk, and certainly not by a man whose build was significantly slighter than the pillar-like structure that was Alfonzo, and although Horos was also very drunk, he was by no means as bad as Alfonzo.
When Alfonzo returned, he looked a little more stable, tough his face was as white as a sheet. Horos too was beginning to regain some of his original grace and poise, though not much. Alfonzo then led the latter towards the door, shook his hand, and opened the door so that his old friend could depart. Following this, he strode back over to Alarius, and leant over to speak softly into his ear.
"He'll be back tonight, and I'm gonna need you to help him out."
"A deal?"
"Sort of. You'll be collecting something together. To be honest Ally I'm not sure of the exact details, and I'm sorry to send you out again on a night like this, but he says it's pretty important, you know?"
"Yeah yeah it's not a problem. Think I'll enjoy hearing about some of your other drinking exploits from him anyway" Alarius said with a wry smile.
"Ha, well, just so you know, I was going easy on him"
"Hmmm. Can only hope you've gone as easy on the toilet" was Alarius' cheeky response, a speech coupled with a quick jump out of the reach of the paws that Alfonzo had as hands.
Alfonzo pretended to lunge towards the amateur comedian, before smiling broadly and informing him that he was just heading outside for a minute. Alarius responded with an action that attempted to be both a shrug and a nod, but wasn't really either. Alfonzo subsequently departed, ducking as he had to under the frame of the door because of his significant height.
Alarius smiled to himself as he watched the big man leave. He really was grateful to Alfonzo, and if the man chose to get heinously drunk from time to time, who could blame him? For the best part of thirty years he had helped keep the peace in what could often be a volatile city, and whilst his financial dealings were by no means completely legitimate, they never harmed anybody. He owed Alfonzo for the roof over his head, for the money he had to spend, and for the sporadic adventure that the backstreet shenanigans he did for the ageing man brought to his otherwise mundane life. On days like this, Alarius thought, I guess Tares isn't the worst place in the world.
As Alfonzo left the tavern, he walked briskly down the alleyway, before turning left into an even smaller enclave, a one way street which by this hour was engulfed in shadow, as the sun's final rays of the day were drawing in their heat. As he entered the space he whistled two times, sharply and briefly. Immediately from the shadows a figure emerged. It was Horos, who had sobered up particularly quickly in the chilly evening air. Lighting a Boko Baba joint, he moved close to Alfonzo and spoke in a hushed tone.
"You sobered up quickly."
"As did you." Alfonzo smiled.
"Oh, I can assure you that I'm certainly feeling it, but I've had enough of these to know how to deal with them". At this point Horos' tone changed quite dramatically. "He knows about tonight then?"
"Yes. He's very much game"
"I assume he still knows nothing about the nature of our task?"
"Of course not, he's as ignorant as the day you brought him. I was beginning to wonder when you'd show though. He's been ready for months. I can feel the talent that flows through him. He could be running the city single handed if he just applied himself."
"This is true. I've had the feeling that he's been ready for months. In fact, the only person who hasn't been ready for the past few months has been me. I've been shooting from one place to the next, reading this book, locating this person. Things are moving very quickly."
"And you're sure that he's the one?"
"He must be. Aluura is sure of her boy's potential, as is Swiftblade. She hates the child, but admits that he is the one. If that is the case, and I'm sure it is, then our young Alarius is the next one, and both of our projects will soon be brought to fruition."
"Hmmm. I guess the wheels of destiny are beginning to turn."
"Right you are, old friend. Profound as ever. You understand that I say this whenever I visit, but tonight may very well be the last time we see one another, you understand?"
"I know. We can but hope otherwise, but I am ready. As is he."
"Good. Well then old friend, I shall see you but briefly in a few hours. I'm sure the Great Explorer will be very proud."
Alfonzo's response to this was little more than a nod. Their conversation over, the two men went their separate ways. Alfonzo turned around and began the short walk back to The Wolfo, while the caped Horos deposited the joint into one of the puddles which lurked in the corners of the alley, and launched himself onto a nearby wall in one swift, elegant movement, disappearing as he did so into the night.
Hey all. Thanks for reading. Slow going at the moment I know, but I really am trying to set some kind of a scene here. I hope the last bit has wetted your appetite for the next chapter.