Cut Content: De'Vas Book 2 part 2

Alyndra sat in the shadows on the ship, her eyes closed. She didn’t want to see the blue hue that had encompassed them all. She knew what it meant, she had heard the stories. The Vanishing had come for them.

She could hear Kara wailing as she made promises and pleas to every god and goddess in the Elven pantheons. Begging them to spare her. A few of the geezers followed her example, while others wept about the works they never made. Before closing her eyes she had seen Captain Siraye open a bottle of wine and just stared out at the sea, silence her only company. Swordmaster Rory was the only one who seemed to be at peace with the Vanishing, resting calming, and serene. As if the end was a blessing to him.

Perhaps the vanishing was a blessing. Hopefully, it would be a quicker death than what had awaited them. Drifting in the ocean with dwindling food and water. Only a few days had passed, and rations were far from being low, but the bleakness of their situation had settled in for all.

She heard a cry go up and even with her eyes closed she knew a bright flash of light had happened. Then silence, she thought she was dead at that moment, only for the sound of glass breaking making her open her eyes.

“Where the hell are we,” Captain Siraye asked, the bottle of wine she had been drinking shattered on the deck from where she dropped it.

Alyndra stood and looked around. Her heart leaped when she saw the ship was just off the shore of a city. A rather wealthy city judging from the massive stone walls that surrounded it and the elaborate, if strange buildings. The ship started moving towards this city. Relief flooded her at finally being saved, only for the question of how the crippled ship was making its approach to worry in the back of her mind.

“Hey is anyone injured?” A voice called from over the edge of the ship.

Captain Siraye moved to the railing from the side the voice had come from. Alyndra quickly joined her. A Beastkin woman stood on a colorful board that was propelled through the water, matching the ship’s current speed. Her outfit was strange and scandalous, just red fabric that covered her breasts and privates. Strings hung from them and Alyndra was sure if one pulled on it the whole outfit would fall away from the woman.

“No injuries, at least not serious. Where are we?” Captain Siraye asked.

The Beastkin woman scratched her cheek in thought for a moment.

“That’s complicated, and I’m probably not the best person to try and explain things. The District Boss is waiting on the shore, I’m sure he can do a better job.”

The fact the woman’s tail swished when she mentioned this ‘District Boss’ had not escaped Alyndra’s attention. Before Captain Siraye could ask any more questions the strange board propelled the woman forward and ahead of the ship.

Alyndra thought the Captain was trying to chase down the woman at first as she darted to the bow of the ship, only to see the Captain pull out her spyglass and look towards the beach. Everyone was gathering toward the front of the ship now, even Swordmaster Rory was hanging in the back of the crowd. The geezers were flooding the Captain with questions, which she ignored.

“What kingdom is that?”

“How was The Vanishing stopped?”

“Are those Beastkin savages guiding the ship with Water Magic?”

The Captain looked away from her spyglass to the crowd behind her. Her eyes scanned the group with a stern gaze.

“The crowd on the beach is fairly diverse, though Beastkin and Lizardkin make up the majority. I would refrain from calling anyone savages, or other disparaging remarks.” Captain Siraye warned.

That caused a whirlwind of discussions among the geezers. The various types of Beastkins were known to only live in small tribes or family units and Lizardkins’ nests were not much larger. Neither group was known for creating towns, let alone cities as large as the one before them.

“There’s an Ice Salamander and a Dryad as well, both of them and a Wolfkin are standing by a man who looks to be in a leadership position. A lot of people are deferring to him. I….I don’t know what he is though.”

“I should be the one to make contact. I know Beastkins, having studied them in the wilds for my work ‘Our Savage Neighbors’.” One of the geezers said as he stepped forward.

“Weren’t you almost killed by the Beastkins you were studying? A fool like you would get us slaughtered before we even left the sands of the beach!” Another geezer retorted.

The two started arguing and another geezer stepped forward.

“Captain, it should be I who greets the leaders of this, unique, kingdom. My works are focused on the art of negotiation and records of the various Elven Kings of Everwood and their skillful endeavors of that art.”

Captain Siraye ignored the old man. Instead, she was focused on looking through her spyglass. The crowds of people on the shore were much clearer now and Alyndra could see the odd garments many of them wore. A few held rectangular objects in front of their faces, which they pointed at the ship. Their gaze fixated on the object.

“Alyndra will be the one to make contact.” Captain Siraye said after finally putting her spyglass down. A bewildered look on her face.

Protest erupted immediately from the geezers, even some of the ship’s crew joined in. Many were hurling the insults she had become used to during her time on the ship, and others demanded to know why it would be her to make contact. Alyndra herself was at a loss as to why Captain Siraye had selected her. This meeting could determine life or death for everyone aboard the Tempest, there were more skilled individuals than her.

“Because the person that is in charge is a human or at least damn well fits the descriptions of them.” Captain Siraye stated with a serious face. Not a trace of humor was upon her.

Silence fell over the ship, except for Alyndra. It started small as a series of chuckles from her, then it spilled forward, a burst of laughter. She cackled like a madwoman and saw everyone staring at her. A human, a human was waiting for her on the shore? What kind of god or goddess made this jest at her? Was she dead and was this some kind of afterlife?

“She can’t go alone, I will not put my life in her hands alone!” Kara declared while pointing a finger at her.

“I will accompany her.” Swordmaster Rory said as he approached to stand beside Alyndra.

She was still in a daze when the crew lowered the plank to the shoreline. Swordmaster Rory had to give her a gentle push to prompt her to start the descent. Her eyes fixated on the man waiting below for her. Human, he was human.

Round ears! Sexy round ears!

His frame and stature were between that of an Orc and an Elf. Amber eyes watched her from a rugged face that held the stubble of a beard, which she wondered how it would compare to those the Dwarves grew, and his most stunning feature, those round ears!

The dark-haired Wolfkin’s nose twitched and she narrowed her eyes at Alyndra as she descended the plank. A darting glance from her to the Ice Salamander conveyed something unspoken, then both girls moved closer to the human. The Wolfkin wrapped her arm into his and the Ice Salamander’s tail coiled around his leg. Both of them gave her a stern look, which the human was oblivious to.

“Hi, I’m Ash the Boss of District 114. Err… right you won’t know what a District is.” The human named Ash made an adorable face before shaking his head. “Let us start with the important matters. Do you need any medical aid, food, or water? Judging from the state of your ship, you’ve had it rough before rifting.”

Alyndra blinked when she realized the human had asked her a question. She felt her face flush from embarrassment. She had been distracted by his adorable facial expressions and hadn’t listened to what he said. An awkward silence lingered between them.

“Maybe they don’t have translation rings?” Ash asked the Wolfkin.

Swordmaster Rory stepped forward while giving her a side glance that made her even more embarrassed.

“No need for translation rings, we both have them. Thank you for the offer, but our most pressing matter is information. Such as where we are?” Swordmaster Rory said to the human.

“That’s very complicated. Oh, excuse me for a second.” Ash said as he pulled out a black slate from his trousers. He tapped it with his fingers and then held it to his ear. No runes glowed on it and she felt no magic from it.

“Hey, you got good timing. Yeah, they just rifted. Okay, see you soon.”

He lowered the slate from his ear and returned it to his trousers. Alyndra’s heart sank, the adorable human was insane. Speaking into a slate as if it could hear him. Her face must have betrayed the thought because the Wolfkin chuckled and pulled out a similar slate.

“They’re human devices for communication.” She tapped her slate and held it in front of her.

“Hey Boss what’s up?” a voice echoed from the slate.

Alyndra jumped when she heard it. Swordmaster Rory just tilted his head and looked at the object that functioned without magic.

“Hey Celeste, send some of the gang over with supplies.”

“On it Boss!” The voice chimed through the slate.

The Wolfkin tapped the slate again and slipped it into her trousers. Which was strange to see on a woman, but Beastkin were a less cultured folk. She turned to the human and Alyndra saw her hand squeeze the human’s while her tail swayed behind her.

“Cleo on her way here?” She asked.

The human nodded before facing Alyndra and Swordmaster Rory.

“A friend, I guess you could call her my boss, is on her way here. She can explain things better than I can.”

A group of Beastkins started bringing over boxes that must have contained the supplies the Wolfkin had mentioned. She and Swordmaster Rory looked them over, most were strange metal cylinder objects with images of food on them or boxes made of thick paper with similar images.

“You!” Swordmaster Rory said suddenly, his hand going to his sword. He quickly started moving.

She turned and saw a silver-haired woman approaching them. As she drew closure Alyndra saw her red eyes and realized she was a Banshee.

“Nightmare Queen!” Swordmaster Rory shouted as he drew his blade. “Fate has brought you before me again so that I might end what we started all those years ago!”

Alyndra’s blood chilled. That woman was the Nightmare Queen? That wasn’t possible, she had vanished years ago. Her Queendom had crumbled with her absence and fractured into small warring factions.

 The human quickly put himself between the Swordmaster and the Nightmare Queen. A blue hue filled the scar that was on his face and his hard eyes met with the Swordmaster. Others were moving quickly to arm themselves. The Wolfkin had taken a stance and the Ice Salamander had drawn her sword, now bright with active magic runes.

“Back away human. I have no ill towards you, but I will not hesitate to cut you down to get to that vile creature!” Swordmaster Rory stated with a snarl.

The human didn’t budge, tension rising in the air as Alyndra’s mind raced with what to do. The only one unfazed by this was the Nightmare Queen herself, she just stared at the human with her lips curled into a smile. After a moment she placed a hand on the human’s shoulder.

“Ash, I will handle this.” She said.

The human gave the Swordmaster a hard look before the blue hue left his face and he stepped aside.

“Swordmaster Rory of the Everwood Kingdom, it has been some time since we met on the battlefield. I too wish to settle things, but not here.” The Nightmare Queen stated.

Swordmaster Rory sheathed his sword and snarled at the Banshee.

“Then lead me to where we can end this.”

The Nightmare Queen nodded before turning and walking away from the beach.

“Follow me.”

Swordmaster Rory did just that, walking only a few steps behind her. The human watched them for a moment before he approached the Wolfkin and Ice Salamander.

“Stay here and help the gangs. I’m going to keep an eye on Cleo.” He said before turning and following behind Swordmaster Rory.

Alyndra hesitated at first, but then she started following behind the human. Every step made her question if this was a wise decision.