Nikias' Trap

Stepping up onto deck I can tell right away that Cassie’s warning about my barely contained fury combined with my reddened quivering face as I came had the effect she was hoping for as the crew was on their very best behavior as I passed by. It would take the bravest among them, or the most horny in the case of Grub, for anybody else to go sticking something through our privacy curtain without warning. In my time I’d commanded respect and even admiration among other men but this was the first time I sensed reverential fear. They saw me as something apart from them, above them. There was no jealousy or genuine worry I might harm them for no reason, they simply put me into a different category than themselves. Much like I had all my life when I met soldiers or veterans. The feeling of being on the other side of this type of respect was…new. A part of me wanted to assure them that I was just a farmer, not much different than them, yet somehow that humility felt false now.

As I pass through them I give them words of encouragement and watch as my words lifted their shoulders and made their eyes brighten with pride. Due to the rolling deck I stumble the last few steps to the cabin though quickly catch myself, already I was beginning to adapt to my shifting footing. I knock on the cabin door and Nikias quickly calls me inside.

“Quin.” He meets me just past the threshold to shake my hand. “Come through to my quarters.” Nikias leads me through a small room filled with maps and star charts and gadgets I couldn’t begin to understand then through an inner door to an even smaller room which looked to be his personal dining area. It was as sparse as the rest of the ship consisting of a short table with a bench on either side. There was an opening to his bed chamber to my left which revealed a double wide bunk with chests, a cabinet and clothes strewn about that room. Among those clothes I spot the unmistakable coppery fabric I had only ever seen on Kreer. On twin hooks above the bed hang a pair of sturdy chalmys cloaks for inclement weather, one in regular wool and the other with that golden sheen of telchis wear. My eyes flit back to the double wide bunk as my mind replays the interactions I’d seen between the pair. In an instant their easy camaraderie is put into a different light as I realize that our Greek captain and his first mate were even closer than I’d assumed.

As if timed to confirm my suspicions Kreer comes walking out from their private quarters, a glowing lavender colored crystal in his strange three-fingered hand. The crystal, obviously magical, sharpens my focus instantly.

Assuaging my worries Nikias pats my arm. “Just a meeting. I wanted you here for it.”

Kreer places the crystal in the center of the table. “I understand you have a phobia of magic.”

“More a distrust.” I say.

“Either way, a man in your profession will have to get used to such things.” He says, his intonation as flat as ever. “This is a communication crystal. You’ve heard of them?”

“Vaguely.”

“It is linked to a specific other crystal, letting both sides see through the other. The magic will not affect you directly.”

“A little trust goes a long way out here.” Nikias sits and invites me to sit beside him.

I pause a moment to take in the situation. I sensed no duplicity here. Rosa had a good feeling about Nikias and, honestly, so did I. I had nothing magical on me that might reveal Rosa’s obfuscation earlier and I felt the likelihood of Kreer using mind magic on a ‘hero’ like me at this point quite slim. With a nod I sit down beside the captain. He acknowledges the trust I’d shown just now with a small nod of his own.

Before I could ask for detail Kreer takes a seat on the opposite bench. From an unseen pouch or pocket he begins to pull out pieces of coral carved into geometric shapes and engraved cockle shells around the thumb size spindle shaped crystal between us. He mutters a few words of magic and the crystal begins to glow. There is a flash of lavender light and the next thing I knew I was not sitting in a ship cabin but in some sort of large hut. I could see two walls of the room though the other two faded into haze. The pale blue of the ship’s lamps is replaced by the warm glow of a nearby fire that I could not make out. For just a moment I thought I had been transported somewhere but the moment quickly passes as the smell of the sea and the rocking of the ship kept me anchored to my true location. Across from the captain and I was not Kreer but a bearded man and a woman of middle age wearing sturdy wool yellow and red tunics. As I focus on them I realize that with effort I could see through the illusion to Kreer and the cabin where we still sat.

The pair look at me with as much confusion as I felt then the woman says something to the captain in Greek.

Nikias says. “Our guest here speaks Latin.”

The pair look at each other then back to Nikias. The man says in accented Latin. “And who is our guest, Nikias?”

“A friend of mine.” Nikias says with no other explanation. “I’ve got your supplies on board and we are on schedule. I’m afraid with the sum you gave me I could only get a portion of what you asked for.”

Me suddenly forgotten the woman sighs. “We assumed as much. I’m sure you did your best.”

“I did.” Nikias clasps his weathered hands in front of him on the table. “On that other thing…”

The pair sits taller, their eyes full of desperate hope. The man says. “And? Is the Empire sending help?”

The captain shakes his head. “The magistrate I spoke to in Rome assured me that your case would be taken to the senate.”

“The senate?” The man’s shoulders slump. “We need fighting men not more politician’s promises.”

“I know, Theron.” Nikias says. “I did what I could.”

“We know you did, Nikias.” The woman says softly, the hope I’d seen a moment ago dying from her eyes to be replaced by grim despair.

The reason for my invitation into this meeting dawning on me I look at Nikias and whisper. “You son of a…”

“How bad is it?” Nikias asks, ignoring my whisper.

“Bad.” Theron says. “The goblins have bound a second beast to add to their number. Another Scylla-spawn, bigger than the first one and this one with chitinous armor.”

“A male.” Kreer’s voice enters the conversation from seemingly out of nowhere. “If the kobaloi have both a male and a female under their power…”

“Now is not the time for dire thoughts.” Nikias says. “They know the stakes as well as we do.”

Kreer asks. “The male is bound in the same manner?”

The woman nods. “A harness of chains connected by a knotwork rope.”

“The pattern of the knots is what holds the enchantment in place.” Kreer says. “Kobaloi sorcery is based on geometric patterns that…” He stops, perhaps sensing the details would be wasted on this audience. “Unraveling the knots are the key to breaking their control.

Theron says, his voice somber. “We lost five men trying to get near the female. Now a male?” He shakes his head. “We cannot go on like this. The balance of the island that has held for so long has broken. They’re growing bolder, raiding closer to the village. They’ve smelled our weakness. Captain, would you be willing to take the young and infirm with you when you leave here?” As Theron says ‘the young’ a stifled sob escapes the woman. He takes her hand as she turns to him and buries her face in his shoulder. With an ashen face he mutters. “One of the five…was our eldest.”

“Oh.” Nikias says softly. “Theron, Ora, I am so very sorry. Philon was a fine young man. The gods will take good care of his soul.”

“Thank you, Nikias.”

As the couple take a moment to deal with their grief Nikias looks at me square in the eyes. With Ora’s sobs in our ears he says to me. “The empire has turned her back on her most vulnerable to wage wars of hubris in far off lands. Once upon a time a hero might have emerged to right this wrong. Where is today’s Herakles when you need him?” His message couldn’t have been more clear. Was I truly the ‘Wingslayer’ or had those bard’s tales just been pretty words to pass the time.