Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Why did he just run like that? Monique thought as she sat at the table in the crappy tavern, staring at the drink before her.

"Honorable Smith, is there something more we can do for you?"

She looked up at the Da'xi, taking a moment to recall the Captain's name.

"Captain Xi'balak, are you sure there is no ship that can be lent to me to follow after Irwin?"

"I am afraid not. As I've told you, we are expecting a raid by a combined force of Nyzir and Galubs and need every ship to guard against them," Xi'balak said. "However, if you could assist us, perhaps by reforging some cards, I am sure The Daran will agree to help you in any way afterward."

I'm sure they would, Monique thought, annoyed but keeping her emotions from showing. Was this why Irwin had run? Perhaps he was afraid they'd gotten her to try and keep him here?

"You said Irwin came with you to scout the remains of the Shipyard?" she asked, still finding it difficult not to call Irwin by his title.

She'd learned within a minute of arriving that Irwin and the others had kept their cover, and nobody knew he was a cardsmith, and she was damned if she would be the one to expose him accidentally. If she did that, the chances of him helping her in any way would be zero.

"He did, and he was of great assistance," Xi'balak said. "I know you said it's none of our business, but perhaps if you told us why you need him…"

Monique didn't even bother to reply to that, going back to staring at her thick crystal mug.

Perhaps he found more information on what was going to happen, and that's why he fled? she thought.

A tiny part of herself shouted that she was deluding herself, that it was because she was there that he'd fled. Monique ignored it. She didn't want to, no couldn't believe that. If that was true, that meant there was already no chance of her plan succeeding, and that meant her sister would have to marry the Harborth Ungaryt, the Ungaryt Family's second heir. As she remembered the last time she'd seen the man when she was still very young, she recalled the dimly glowing red eyes and the narrowed eyebrows as the narrow-faced man had inspected her.

No, she'd be damned if she let her sister become another of that man's trophy wives.

"Honorable Smith, if you don't have any more questions, I will need to leave now," Captain Xi'balak said as he rose.

Monique looked up at him, annoyed that he was going to leave. Besides the ship she had come with, Xi'balak was the only person she knew here.

"If you need anything later, you may find me at the council building at the top of the port," Xi'balak said.

Monique nodded as she rose with him.

"I'll be going back to the ship that brought me here and see if Captain Prat is willing to continue," she said, knowing the chances were very slim. The grumpy old man had been clear that he would not go beyond Sesnanser Port. Still, she had to give it a try.

"I will escort you back to the docks," Xi'balak said.

Monique nodded absently as she walked through the tavern.

As she did, she didn't notice two purple eyes following her from within the wooden beams that chaotically covered the ceiling.

--

Irwin stood in the cabin he had claimed, which was no bigger or smaller than those of his friends. Daubutim and Greldo stood in front of him, their heads merely inches from each other. Even then, he could barely understand Greldo's whisper.

"So she has hearing like mine?"

"From what I understand, yes," Irwin replied as softly as he could.

Greldo pursed his lips in annoyance.

"There is no problem," Daubutim whispered. "We won't need to discuss anything troublesome until we reach the first potential portal, and we will be going inside without them anyway."

A sniff came from Ambraz, who was sitting on Irwin's shoulder.

"Stupid whispering," the Anvil hissed. "Anyway, aren't you afraid that they will leave with the ship?"

Irwin narrowed his eyes, and he saw Greldo react similarly, but Daubutim shook his head.

"Rindiri's desire for a world is perhaps larger than ours, and she is more than capable of keeping Bendi under control. Besides, the contracts they signed will not allow them to leave. If they did, they would never be able to return to the normal, civilized parts of the Portal Gallery, and the bounty on Bendi's head would likely dissuade him even more."

Irwin saw Greldo grin. "Right, I forgot about that one," his friend whispered.

"Alright, then we are going to that branch you indicated and search for the portal?" Irwin asked.

"Yes, but we won't find it," Daubutim said. "From what I could deduce by reading their logs, they searched it perfectly, meaning there is likely no portal there."

"Then-" Greldo hissed before lowering his voice to a whisper and asking the same question Irwin was thinking. "Then why are we going there?"

"Because it's one of the two branches I know for certain that widens instead of narrows. This means it will be very long, and we can expect large side branches, and those have the largest chance of portals. We need a world far from the known branches, preferably beyond a region of extreme cold."

"And how do you suggest we get through that?" Greldo whispered.

"Irwin needs to learn how to navigate and clean the sails," Daubutim replied. "He is the only one that can stay above deck."

Irwin grimaced, realizing how things had changed. Long ago, he'd been the weakest to cold, unable to even walk through a town during a cold day without fear of freezing. Now, he was able to resist, at least for a short while, the extremes of cold.

Clean the sails, he thought as he tried to recall what the kids had been doing. They had been polishing any bit of dust that landed on it with a cloth. He didn't see himself climbing up them, but perhaps...

"Can those sails become wet?" he whispered to Daubutim.

His friend nodded immediately. "Yes. There are sections of the Portal Gallery covered in odd clouds of drifting water so thick it's said to be close to swimming. Ships can sail through those with little issue to the sails."

Irwin wondered what those would look like.

"Alright, then I might be able to use my sweltering skill to clean those," he said. "Though I'm not sure how well they will do with hot water."

Daubutim looked at him, and slowly, his single good eye turned dull. It lasted for only a bit, then Daubutim shuddered and shook his head.

"I don't… know," he said.

"Don't worry, I'll ask Rindiri and Bendi," Irwin said quickly. It was so easy to forget that Daubutim could lock down if he had to try and come up with things he'd not learned before.

Daubutim nodded. "After we reach that new area, we will search for the least likely branches to take. Those others wouldn't due to either being too far, looking too narrow right at the start, or those with dangerous chaos space beings-"

"What?" Greldo and Irwin hissed at the same time.

Daubutim frowned. "Chaos-space is the area around the Portal Gallery, and there are beings there. They usually can't enter the Portal Gallery due to the barrier, but there are areas where the barrier is either ruptured or too thin. I couldn't find a reason for it, but it's something that has existed for as long as written history. Through those, weaker entities like the Bablibon we encountered manage to come through."

"Weak?" Irwin whispered, recalling the monstrous bird-like demon that he'd fought with. He wasn't sure if he could fight that thing on even grounds even now. He thought about what Daubutim had said, wondering about some things.

"Say we do that and are past some of those beings. What if we can't return?" he whispered.

"Then we continue till we find a portal," Daubutim said. "If we can't easily return, the chances of anyone attempting it here will be good, and Gelwin said that time is crucial. If we find a hub-world, all we have to do is determine if there are worlds beyond."

"And how do we do that?" Greldo hissed.

Daubutim's gaze landed on Ambraz, who snorted.

"Sure. Just like that beardy face to make me do all of his hard work. Whatever. Yes, I can find out if a hubworld has potential farming worlds. It's why I was sent out in the first place… Just don't expect any details on what type of world it would be. That's beyond me."

They continued hashing out some of the details before finally leaving. As they walked back on the deck, Irwin saw Bendi and Zender squared off near the mast. The young Yuurindi had his hands on his side and looked angry.

"-doesn't mean I'll do what you say!" he said.

Curious, Irwin walked towards them.

"Listen up, I've been on ships for twenty times as long as you were born," Bendi said, sounding bored and annoyed. "If I tell you it's better to focus on the center of the sail and not touch the edges too much, you should just trust that I know what I'm saying."

"If you explain why that is, I might," Zender said with a glare. "Or if you asked instead of ordered! You are not the Captain…"

Irwin stepped up next to them with a grin. "Someone called me?"

Bendi pointed at Zender. "Captain, I'm trying to keep our sail in top shape, but this young pup doesn't wish to listen!"

Zender shook his head, though Irwin saw a slight worry on his face. "He says I should ignore the dust and debris on the edges! But that makes no sense! What I learned-"

Irwin calmly listened to Zender's explanation before turning to look at the upper deck where Rindiri was. She had been looking at what was going on and seemed to be able to understand most of it. Irwin raised an eyebrow.

"Who is correct?" he asked loudly.

"Both," she shouted. "It depends on the sail and the type of soot and dust in the Part of the Portal Gallery we are in. Where we are right now, it's best to do as Zender suggests, but a few hours from now, it will become colder. When that starts happening, we will need to clean the center for when Zender and the other's need to go below deck due to the cold."

Irwin focused on Zender and Bendi, who were both looking at Rindiri. "You heard her. Any more questions?"

"Is she your navigator or second in command?" Bendi asked.

His question caused Zender's eyes to widen, and Irwin frowned.

"I'll explain how we run things in a few hours," he said as he turned to find Daubutim.

I wish Daubutim was the Captain, he thought. He'd much rather just do the fighting and the smithing.

--

"Another drink, Miss Smith?"

Monique looked up from her cup, shaking her head. She was already a bit woozy, and as angry as she was for having been stuck here, it wouldn't help if she got drunk.

The old waiter walked away, and Monique returned to glaring at her cup.

A whole week! That's how long she had been here.

The ship she had arrived on had also refused to take her further, but worse, Captain Prat had also refused to take her back. The grumpy old man had accepted the mission to help guard the port for at least a month, giving the members of The Daran Council time to return, which meant that she was effectively stuck here.

Not a single captain had been willing to defy that blood council either, not even when she promised to reforge ten cards for them!

Taking another angry swallow of her drink, she almost fell over with her chair as the entire building shook. Above her, wooden beams creaked loudly, and a moment later, there was another shake. There was a stunned silence and then screams from outside filtered inside.

Monique rose unsteadily, part thanks to the drinks and Part due to the constant shaking.

The door burst open, and a Da'xi guard appeared, face plates chittering.

"Everyone, head to the portal! There's an attack on the port!"

There was an instant rattling and cursing as a ragtag group of shipless crewmen and dock workers began rushing outside.

Dammit!

Monique followed the others out into the narrow alley. One route led to the square with the portal building, while the other led to the docks. As she was looking that way, a whistling sound came from the docks. A moment later, there was a distant thud and another massive shake.

The host of people ran away, heading to the portal door, but Monique remained where she was. Waiting for the rumbling to stop, she turned and ran to the harbor while gnashing her teeth.

If you think I'm going in there, you're crazy, she thought. She wanted to see the scope of this attack first. If it was obvious The Daran council would lose, she didn't want to be locked in some horrible backwater world with no way off! Those Nyzir might destroy the portal!

A massive shake caused her to lose her footing, and she fell sideways into the wall. She struggled back up, shaking her head to clear the stars. When she could see clearly, she continued towards the harbor.

It took her way too long to reach it, and when she finally leaned against the wall and got a clear look at the harbor, she held back an angry scream.

The main dock was nearly completely gone. Only a few feet of burning, charred wood remained. Above and beyond it were two dozen ships. Many were entangled with one or more others, and the Galub and Nyzir ships were easily recognizable. Laden, with more warriors than Monique had ever seen, kept trying to reach the two remaining shorter docks. Each time they made a run, one of the guardships rushed in to intercept, but it was clear to Monique that it was a matter of time before they managed to reach the dock.

Many of the ships of the guards were also heavily damaged, some with ripped sails and clothes with massive holes in the hull. Although the Galub and Nyzir ships weren't much better, it was clear they cared nothing for their ships as long as they could reach the port.

Worse, dozens of shadowy figures were moving around the lower buildings.

Nyzir… This place is lost, Monique thought as she scanned the ships. The battle might have been roughly equal at the start, but with so many more fighters on the Galub ships, the number of attacks fired from them was rapidly destroying the guards, and only two of the defender's ships looked capable of really defending themselves.

One was a sleek, fast ship that she recognized as belonging to Captain Xi'balak. She also knew the other, a slightly more bulky vessel that seemed like a cross between a merchant vessel and Xi'balak's ship. It belonged to some other Da'xi Captain who supposedly brought Irwin. Both were maneuvering through the melee with insane skill, managing to evade multiple adversaries while laying a constant barrage of green and blue balls of crackling energy on the enemies they passed. The bulky ship's movements especially surprised her. Far less nimble, the navigator had to be incredibly skilled to keep up with the others.

Then she noticed a third ship that seemed to be doing alright.

Seriously? Prat is still here? she thought, looking at the familiar ship.

She immediately saw why he was largely undamaged. Captain Prat obviously wasn't invested at all. He was hanging out near the edge of the fight, and she guessed that if there were any sign of the battle going south, he'd leave in a heartbeat.

Looking at the other two, they didn't look like they would be leaving, which left her with only one choice.

Focusing on Captain Prat's ship, she gnashed her teeth. She really, really hated what she'd have to do, but there was no other option. Reaching into her vest, she pulled out the chain with the locket she'd gotten from her grandmother.

Sorry, Nana, but I'm going to have to use your gift way earlier than either of us anticipated.

She stared at the square amulet, sensing the card's energy burn softly within. She was about to use it when a bright crackling beam of light burst from one of the Galub ships nearly blinding her.

Blinking away the tears, she saw a shimmering barrier of water appear before Xi'balak's ship, reflecting the beam through the sail of a Galub ship on the other side of the battlefield. The beam continued, fading slowly while illuminating the entire area before dissipating.

Due to its light, Monique saw tiny shapes move towards them.

More ships?

She was about to focus on the card hidden in the locket when two of the Galub ships dashed for the dock, distracting her.

This time, only a single guard ship was free to intercept, and one of the Galub ships slammed into the smaller dock. Within moments, dozens of Galubs streamed from the ship across the dock and towards the port.

Above, another beam of greenish light shot towards Xi'balak ship, and this time, the barrier appeared too late, shattering the main mast, Part of the hull, and the upper deck.

Monique swallowed as she saw the ship start to angle down, increasing speed before just vanishing out of sight. She felt sad for Xi'balak, wondering if he managed to escape at the last minute. Teleporters were rare, but not that rare...

Nothing I can do, its time to go, she thought.

She turned to see where Prat's ship was, only to find it was turning small in the distance. Feeling her heart rate spike, she grabbed her amulet, focused on the card, and tried to activate it while picturing the ship. There was a slight shiver, but nothing happened.

It was out of range...

How come they are moving this fast now? Monique thought, not understanding how it could have gotten so far in such a short time.

A soft grinding sound made her look up to find a towering Galub with four horns slowly thudding her way, grinning nastily.

Panicking, she looked for another ship, only to find that there was only a single ship still undamaged. It was the one Irwin had come on, and it was moving away from the battle and would soon be out of range. Without hesitation, she focused on the amulet and the card, and this time, there was a shiver that ran through her own cards as their energy was siphoned into the card hidden in the amulet.

There was a screeching sound, the world swirled, and the next time she knew, she was standing on a tilted deck, stumbling sideways before losing her footing and falling toward the railing.

Loud explosions and shouts came from all around. She barely managed to grab the railing, pulling herself back over. Sitting on the railing and holding it tight, she saw a Zura'ix crewman standing next to her, seemingly glued to the deck.

"Boarders!" he screamed.

"No! No, I'm a cardsmith trying to flee from the battle," Monique screamed.

The crewman was backing up, looking at her. Monique tried to look as unthreatening as she could.

"Captain! There's someone on the deck!" the crewmen shouted.

"Hostile?" someone replied loudly out of Monique's vision.

"I don't know. She says she's a smith!"

"I'm a friend of Irwin," Monique shouted, knowing that was likely pretty far from the truth. Still, she didn't think acquaintance would have the same weight.

The crewman's scaly brow rose.

"Says she's with-"

"I bloody heard her! Keep an eye on her. I don't have time to deal with it now; we need to get out of here!"

Monique felt her stomach heave as the ship tilted to the other side, causing her to slide from the railing back on the deck. As the tilting continued to the other way, she grabbed the railing, and then she was hanging from her arms, dangling above the nearly vertical deck. She looked down to see the Portal Galery ground far, far below her.

"Get ready. I'm going to overload the shield!"

Monique's eyes widened, and she clenched her fists around tighter around the railing just as the ship shuddered. Light gleamed down on her as the sail burst into a blue glare while the ship rightened itself. Just as her knees nodded into the deck, the ship shot forward, rapidly speeding up.

Finally able to stand on her feet, Monique looked over the railing and swallowed. The Sesnanser port was becoming smaller in the distance, while two ships were rushing after them. The others were either landing on the docks and just atop the buildings or chasing the other ships.

"Who are you, and why are you on my ship?"

Monique turned around to see a Da'xi standing behind her with two daggers out, looking more than a little angry.

"I'm Monique, and I'm trying to find Irwin," she said.

"So you said," the Da'xi said, sounding annoyed. "I'm Xi'kroak, and we don't have a contract. Give me a good reason why I should not toss you overboard?"

"I'm a cardsmith," Monique said quickly, pulling her braid across her shoulder to show the Topaz ranking crystal.

Xi'kroak frowned. "Those can be forged."

"It's real, you can test it if you want," Monique said.

"I will," Xi'kroak said.

She saw him hesitate, and then he snorted. "For now, you can stay, but we are going to be short on supplies very soon."

Relieved but confused, Monique shook her head. "Why?"

"Because the way back has been blocked, and there's only danger where we are going," Xi'kroak said.

"Blocked?" Monique asked, her confusion growing. "What is going on?

Xi'kroak's faceplates relaxed and slid back slightly.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter keeping it a secret anymore," he muttered.

He looked up at the sail for a moment before focusing on Monique.

"The members of The Daran Council were supposed to have been back days ago, and when they didn't return, I was tasked to find out why. It wasn't too hard. Part of the raider fleet that took over the Shipyard snuck around us somehow and blocked the narrowest strip just before the cold stretch that leads from Sesnanser to Fiverio. There's no way for us to get past their blockade, and there's probably no help coming either. Besides, if it does, it will be too late."

"What? Why would they be blocking the port?" Monique said, trying to remain calm and understand what was going on.

"Who knows," Xi'kroak said. "To kill us for our cards? For the world of Sesnanser? The Galub and the Nyzir have been a scourge in these parts ever since their worlds shattered and those that remained poured out of their portal. It's not hard to believe that they are just like the dozens of other races without a world, trying to get a new one."

Monique stared at him, dozens of thoughts running through her mind ranging from how she was going to find Irwin or even return home to wondering why those Galubs didn't just relocate to a known world.

"Well, whatever there is, we are going to The Roaming Shipyard and see if we can infiltrate it to get more supplies," Xi'kroak said.

As he walked away, Monique looked at her hands and then at the distant image of Sesnanser port.

What did I get myself into, she thought.