Realm of Monsters - Chapter 690: Murkton Part 2

Chapter 690: Murkton Part 2

  As their boat crossed the light at the end of the tunnel, Beatrix stood to her feet, arms wide open. “Welcome to the Great City of Murkton.”

  The group winced slightly as their eyes adjusted to the sunlight and gave way to a massive pool of water in the center of the square. In place of streets, canals filled with water sprouted out from the main pool and stretched out as far as the eye could see. Between the canals were city blocks, each filled with stone buildings made from the same blue-stone that the walls were made from. 

  Every single building had a sign hanging over its doors, announcing a shop’s name or the wares they sold. There were dozens of floating platforms on the watery city square serving as stalls. Small boats floated to and fro, carrying potential customers browsing merchandise.

  “Whoa… it’s so pretty,” Kithina mumbled. Several others nodded in agreement. Even Stryg couldn’t help admiring the view.

  “I thought you’d all like it,” Beatrix beamed.

  “Is the whole city like this?” Belle asked.

  “Nah. This is the Water Market. I guess you could compare it to your city’s Trade District. Past the market, most of the canals close off and are replaced with good ol’ fashioned cobblestone,” Beatrix explained.

  “It’s so nice. It really makes merchandise easier to move,” Freya noted and sighed with envy. She could only imagine how such a system could be used back home. Hollow Shade was already diverting small streams of the Dire River into the city, but nothing to this extent.

  “It’s my favorite place in the city,” Beatrix said. “Sometimes I just come here to lose myself amidst all the water and merchandise.”

  “Who would have thought to make a place like this? It’s incredible,” Kegrog ran his hand across his dark hair and sat back in awe.

  “Goblins are not inherently brawn-inclined,” Stryg said. “The Lunisian architects used the natural rivers and lakes surrounding this land to their own benefit and carved out the canals to help transport vast amounts of building material into the city. Eventually, the canals stuck around and were used as a place for commerce.”

  Everyone looked at him, surprised.

  “I never knew,” Beatrix said.

  “Few do,” Stryg muttered.

  “I didn’t know you were so well-versed in this city’s history, cousin,” Belle said what everyone was thinking. 

  Stryg shrugged. “I read every book I could find about Lunis back at Hollow Shade’s library.”

  “Really? Reading history books? You always struck me more as a hands-on kind of guy,” Nora admitted.

  “He does give off that impression,” Gale noted.

  “Yeah, no, Stryg is the biggest bookworm I’ve met. You should have seen him with Plum. Those two would spend all day in the library back in our first year,” Kithina recalled. 

  Callum nodded in agreement, “There is a reason he was the number one mage in our academy.”

  “I thought it was because he was prime mageborn?” Tauri teased.

  “It’s clearly because of his noble heritage as a Veres. The talent of nobility always shines through, isn’t that right, Gale?” Freya said.

  “The Veres blood is strong within him,” Gale nodded with pride.

  “Damn elitists,” Kithina said under her breath.

  “What was that, Freckles?” Freya crossed her arms.

  “Oh, come on. Except Kegrog and me, all of you are from one Great House or another. That doesn’t mean you can say any elitist bullshit you want to,” Kithina said.

  Kegrog couldn’t help but smile wryly, though he said nothing.

  “I’m not from a Great House,” Nora raised her hand.

  “House Azol is still a noble family, albeit a minor one,” Kithina scowled. “Having a good pedigree isn’t everything, you know. Stryg worked harder than anyone to achieve his skills, it wasn’t because he was a noble. He didn’t even know he was a Veres.”

  “Doesn’t mean he wasn’t a Veres. The noble blood always flowed through his veins,” Freya said.

  “Being a Veres didn’t make him powerful. Hard work and perseverance did; the same thing any one of us can do. Noble blood be damned,” Kitty retorted.

  “Yeah, nobles be damned!” Belle pumped her fist in the air.

  “Isn’t your father an Ashe?” Kithina gave her the side-eye.

  “I, uh, identify as a titan?” Belle said weakly.

  Stryg ignored their bickering and was content to watch the other boats pass by as they sailed down one of the many canals. The sounds of the water beneath their boat were a lingering melody to his ears.

~~~

  After an hour of slow sailing, they docked their boat at a dock lined with various other small vessels. Beatrix hopped off first, paid a couple of guards watching the boats, then waved for the rest of her motley crew to follow.

  “My father’s castle is that way,” Beatrix pointed down a long cobblestone street. “But I think we should move through some of the poorer residential areas. Less guards and fewer prying eyes.”

  “Agreed,” Gale said.

  “Then follow me and try not to draw attention to yourselves,” Beatrix said.

  “That means you, Stryg,” Gale gave him a pointed look.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Stryg grumbled. He grabbed Svartna off the boat and did his best to hide it, but unlike Freya’s golden hammer, Oginum, which fit snugly underneath her cloak, the orichalcum spear was too large to hide.

  The glass-like dark metal drew too much attention. Stryg frowned in consternation. He needed a way to hide Svartna.

  Gale hopped back on the boat and with a subtle swing of her sword, sliced a piece of the sail off. “Here, try this.”

  “Thanks.” Stryg grabbed the offered cloth and did his best to wrap it around Svartna, but there was too little cloth, and a good third of the spear was still apparent. Stryg sighed, frustrated for being the one lacking. He wished the damn spear would just disappear. Suddenly, Svartna began to vibrate within his hand, emanating a feeling that Stryg could only describe as indignity.

  Then the glass-like metal rippled to life and shifted into the grain of wood, transforming into an ordinary walking staff, much to everyone’s surprise.

  “Well, that’s new,” Stryg blinked.

  “Orichalcum weapons contain shards of a soul. They react to their bonded. Mom’s sword always combusts when she’s angry,” Belle noted.

  “Any idea how this works exactly?” Stryg asked.

  “Not really. I don’t have an orichalcum weapon,” Belle said.

  “Questions later. Daylight is burning. We should move,” Gale ordered. “And you two, stay in my line of sight. I don’t want what happened at the docks to repeat.”

  “Yeah, yeah. We get it,” Stryg shared a smirk with Belle.

  “Can’t trust those two for shit,” Tauri whispered to Gale.

  “Tell me about it,” Gale nodded.

  The further they walked into the city, the more the architecture shifted. The buildings were still made of the same bluish-hued stone, but where others were pristine, these buildings were in clear need of repair.

  Stryg took a deep breath. “It smells different.”

  “What does?” Tauri asked.

  “This place. It smells different than how it used to,” Stryg said.

  “Huh? I thought you’d never been to Murkton.”

  “Not in this life.” Stryg walked on ahead.

  Tauri sighed, “Maybe I should have kept him away from that book.”

  “You don’t say?” Gale hummed.

~~~

  Stryg stayed near the back of the group.  Only Tauri stayed by his side, while Gale guarded the rear, one eye always on her ward. Stryg had slowly fallen further and further behind as he stared and studied the architecture of the homes.

  Beatrix claimed these homes were reserved for the commoners of the city, the servants of nobility and the everyday workers that kept the city running.

  But Stryg recognized this place differently. These neighborhoods were the ones the Blue Rose’s armies had struck the hardest. The damage from their siege was still visible on the hewn blocks of the houses he passed. Even after all these years, the orcs hadn’t figured out how to properly repair the blue stone.

  “Henry, stop!”

  It was too late. Before Stryg realized what was happening, a small boy bumped into him. The boy went from a full sprint to a full halt as he slammed into what may as well have been a brick wall.

  The boy fell on his butt, dazed. He touched his bloodied nose and began to cry like only children could do, gasping for breath after every howl. His scarlet complexion did little to hide the dark red blood dripping profusely down his nose.

  Stryg reached out hesitantly. “Are you okay—?”

  “I’m sorry, sir! It was an accident.” A girl, slightly older than the boy, ran to his side. She was no older than ten. Siblings, by the looks of it. “Henry, are you okay?” Her face melted with worry.

  “I’m okay…” The boy rubbed his bloody nose and struggled his best not to cry in front of his big sister.

  A pang of guilt struck Stryg’s heart. The children were dressed with somewhat shabby clothes, but their red cheeks were full and their hair was well-cut. They were poor, but someone had clearly gone out of their way to take care of them.

  “My lord. This place isn’t secure. We should keep moving.” Gale eyed the surrounding streets, searching for guards. Thankfully, there were none, yet.

  “Stryg, we should…” Tauri’s voice trailed away.

  The blue goblin crouched down and met the children at eye level. “I’m sorry, I did not see you there. Henry, was it?”

  The children got a good look at Stryg’s face from beneath the hood of his cloak and their eyes widened with fear. The girl stepped in front of her brother instinctively, but she nodded nonetheless. “I’m Anna.”

  “Anna? That’s a beautiful name.” Stryg picked a bit of weeds from between a pair of cobblestones and channeled Green. “As beautiful as a flower, I’d say.” The weed blossomed into a yellow flower in his hand to the children’s amazement.

  “You’re a mage?” Anna said in awe.

  “I am a simple traveler, nothing more.” Stryg beckoned the girl closer and slipped the flower into her hair. “There, much better,” he smiled.

  His smile was infectious and Anna blushed with her own. Stryg glanced at the boy, “Henry, right?”

  “Yes, sir,” he mumbled while holding his still bleeding nose.

  “That’s a strong name. Henry. A strong name for a strong warrior. May I?” Stryg raised his hand.

  The boy looked at his sister, who gave a nod. Henry lowered his hands and took a step closer.

  “Close your eyes,” Stryg said. After Henry did, Stryg channeled White and cast a healing spell. The boy’s nose righted itself with a quiet crack and stopped bleeding. With his other hand, Stryg pulled Krikolm slightly out of its sheath. The blood on Henry’s face floated and was quickly whisked away underneath Stryg’s cloak, and out of sight, safely absorbed by the scarlet blade.

  “There, all better,” Stryg said.

  Henry opened his eyes and touched his nose gingerly. “It doesn’t hurt.”

  “He healed you!” Anna said, delighted.

  Stryg pulled out four golden coins from his pouch and flipped them in the air. The sound of the coins drew the children’s eyes. With a deft hand, Stryg snatched the coins out of the air and placed one in each of their hands. “For your troubles. May you stay out of any more trouble on your journey, Little Ones.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Anna bowed.

  Henry was too excited by the shiny coins in his hands to even register his sister’s words.

  “We should get going,” Anna pulled her little brother along, her smile wider than ever.

  “Safe travels,” Stryg whispered as they ran off down the street. He stood up, dusted off his pants, and went to grab his staff. The staff was standing perfectly upright where he had left it. It hadn’t fallen over. Odd, he thought. 

  Stryg turned and saw Gale and Tauri staring at him. “What?”

  “You have no idea what you just did, do you, Traveler?” Tauri asked.

  “I healed a kid, so what? We’re not that behind the others.” He frowned and kept walking. 

  Tauri just shook her head and smiled.