Author's Note:
Thank you once again to Whisperwings, for her marvellous betaing skills.
"We will be shortly landing in Corsla Bay -capital city of Romano- thank you for travelling with La Vitesse and enjoy your stay in Romano." The announcement ended as the vast ferry landed in the main spaceport.
The hundreds of passengers were guided out of the ferry while workers from Romano unloaded goods from the ferry's cargo hold.
Rebecca looked around the port city. As opposed to the crowded and confusing streets of Los Terrano, Corsla Bay was less crowded and the streets were open, possibly because it was raining.
"C'mon…" John guided the group through the cobblestone streets with a sharp knowledge of the city's layout. "There are carts that can transport us teh me hometown, just up ahead." The group followed John's lead through the rain.
Without warning, a particularly large carriage bolted through a pool of water that had filled in a pothole in the street. John leapt in front of Rebecca, so the young woman wouldn't take the splash herself.
Rebecca gasped, looking at the now-soaked young man, as the carriage passed by without a second's pause.
John shrugged nonchalantly. "If I 'ad a nickel for every time that happened… I'd be richer than a king." He smiled widely.
Rebecca smiled back. "Thanks, John."
A rolling thunder sounded far above them, warning them of the coming storm.
"Let's go…" John motioned as they neared the stables where the transportation carts were kept.
"John Silver!" A friendly voice greeted the young man as he entered the corral in which masses of four legged creatures were hitched up to carts. "Didn't think I'd see the likes of you any time soon!"
"How's business been Kenny?" John titled his hat politely to the alien tending to the beasts of burden.
"Same old, same old." Kenny shrugged, tying up the creature he was tending to and he walked towards the group.
Kenny was a tall and thin prawn-like alien. His bright green exoskeleton had black stripes like those of a tiger. His had beady-black eyes that were perched at the ends of stick-like antennae on his head. He had pincers and stood on two feet like a humanoid.
"Kennedy!" A barking voice sounded from behind the stable boy, who turned around.
A stocky man, of the Ursa species, entered the stable. He had a wide frame, a pair of floppy dog-like ears, and a dark bronze tone to his skin. He had broad facial features and wore a leather apron over a loose burgundy shirt and dark brown trousers.
"You're shift's almost over." The man stated bluntly. "Are you heading home tonight, or staying?"
"I was thinking of heading back to Grenad Harbour for the night," Kenny stated, "but with Hurricane Jasper coming in… it's definitely going to take a while to get there."
"Ah…" The Ursa turned and looked over John with dark amber eyes. "Good to see you, John…" He greeted the young man with a broad smile. "It's been what, six months?"
John rubbed the back of his neck. "That long?"
The Ursa chuckled. "Are you looking for a ride to Grenad Harbour as well, Silver?" He offered, scratching his cheek. "I'm sure we could arrange a discount price for you and your friends here." He gestured to the group.
"As a matter of fact, I am…" John smirked.
The Ursa man and John left the main stable as the entourage looked around.
Rebecca walked up to one of the four-legged beasts. "What are they?" she enquired.
"They're Khorasan Rhinoceroses." Kenny stated as he escorted one of the mighty beasts across the stable and began to hitch it up to a cart.
"Doesn't seem very fast." Juanita thought aloud, remarking how the beast seemed to take its time walking.
"They're more for endurance than speed." Kenny replied as he wove a cocoon of thick leather and metal chains around the beast's middle, serving as a saddle of sorts. "And here in Romano, when it rains the majority of the year, endurance is definitely the way to go." He cleared his throat. "But if you get one of them riled up, they can charge quite fast, and you don't want them to do that."
Rebecca stepped closer to the animal, looking over it. The animal's hide had a leathery texture to it, however it was composed of a brilliant assortment of colours like that of a woven tapestry.
John and the Ursa man returned to the main stable. The two men spoke in hushed voices; the Ursa man clapped John friendlily on the shoulder before nodding and leaving the stable. John looked up and smiled broadly to his companions.
"We're good teh get teh Grenad Harbour." He stated.
"Excellent." Kenny responded as he escorted the Khorasan Rhinoceros towards the exit of the stables. "If you're all ready to go now, we'd best be off before the hurricane hits."
John nodded, motioning to the entourage to follow Kenny out of the stable so they could load up the cart outside.
The Khorasan Rhinoceros vigilantly pulled the cart through the pouring rain with Kenny at the reins of the cart. The cart was box-like, the walls lined with benches to sit on, and the back of the cart had a small staircase hitched to the door to assist people into the cart.
John and Rebecca sat together on the smaller bench behind Kenny's driver seat. Sitting on the benches on their left side was Juanita, Jarred and Scroop, and sitting on the benches on their right side was Henry and Martin.
Scroop was curled up at one end of the bench, tired from the day of travelling, and fast asleep. The four mercenaries were having a hushed conversation, leaning forwards in order to hear each other.
Rebecca looked at John and smiled. "Who was that man at the stables?" She asked. "You seemed to know him…"
"The stable master?" John raised an eyebrow.
Rebecca nodded.
John shrugged. "His name's Hans Bowman… a relative from me mother's side of the family, third cousin or something like that."
"An Ursa?" Rebecca raised an eyebrow.
John chuckled warmly. "I'm part-Ursa meself, yeh know." He lifted his hat off of his head and a pair of small floppy ears came into view. He scratched his chin and rubbed the back of his neck as Rebecca looked at him.
The young woman laughed to herself weakly. "You'd think that I'd be more observant."
John shrugged, replacing his hat. "Pretty much, every human on Romano 'as a bit of Ursa in 'em." He explained. "But the physical traits of the species aren't really recessive, per se, it's more the spirit that lives in us." He smiled.
Rebecca nodded, settling against the wooden wall of the cart. She sighed gently as she listened to the pouring rain hammering against the roof of the cart.
The lightening could be seen out the back window -dancing across the sky- and the eventual thunder growled like a slumbering beast. The Khorasan Rhinoceros would occasionally let out a lowly snort as it trekked through the unappealing weather.
Rebecca closed her eyes and let her body relax as she fell asleep.
The misty atmosphere returned in the arachnid's dreams as he slept soundly in the cart. A new landscape, similar to an expansive countryside along the edge of an ocean, came into view and a light overcast filtered bleached sunlight onto the ground.
In his mind's eye, Scroop climbed over the crest of a light and looked out onto a graveyard. A series of tombstones were lined neatly in rows, some with flowers laid around upon them.
An aged woman stood in front of a tombstone while Scroop stood watching from a distance. She had grey hair loosely tied back in a braid and her amber eyes were full of tears. The elderly woman affectionately patted the gravestone and turned away, leaving the cemetery. She looked up, seeing Scroop, and the arachnid was thrown out of his dreams once more.
Scroop's golden eyes flashed open as he hesitantly lifted his head to look around. Most of the passengers in the cart were still awake, with a few heads nodding off.
Rebecca was sleeping soundly; she had curled up against John's shoulder in her sleep, though it was evident that the young man didn't mind this.
Juanita and Jarred were both trying to stay awake while Martin and Henry remained alert.
The thunder had ceased outside of the cart and the rain had lightened up a little. The cart clacked against a new cobblestone road, indicating that they were nearing their destination.
Rebecca opened her eyes, noticing that the rhythm of the cart had changed with the terrain, and then she noticed that she had been sleeping against John's shoulder. For a moment, she debated whether she should move, as her head was quite comfortable resting where it was. But the cart began to slow down as it entered a town, and Rebecca knew that they'd be moving soon any way. She slowly lifted her head from John's shoulder and looked at the rear of the cart. The cart came to an abrupt halt and Kenny opened the door to the cart.
"We're at Grenad Harbour." The prawn stated. "Your house is just up ahead, John… the road's too narrow for the rhino to get through."
"No problem, Kenny." John rose from his seat and shouldered his duffel bag. "Thanks for taking us."
"It was a pleasure." Kenny stated friendlily.
The entourage unloaded themselves from the cart and faced a lengthy lane towards a large house.
"Wish this road was shorter…" John muttered to himself as he led the group down the laneway. The rain had picked up again and the evening was drawing to a close.
The warm light of the house ahead of them was so inviting that it strengthened their spirits to trudge through the rain. The ground under them was slick with mud, and it made the trek longer than would have been necessary.
They finally came up to the entrance of the house. John knocked on the door. It came to be a great surprise that the first thing they saw once the door opened was the muzzle of a double-barrel shotgun.
Author's Note:
Anyone ever watch "District 9"? If so, then I'll have you know that Kenny is a similar species as the Prawns.
Pronunciation guide: (just because)
Corsla- "core-sla"
Grenad- (like grenade with "add" instead of "aid" sound at the end)
Khorasan- "koh-ruh-sahn"
Romano- "row-main-oh"
MG#6