The sun rose and set and Cristianno remained asleep, his breathing regularizing day by day. Tia’Zula continued to mend the scar around his neck and on occasion, she would insert a liquid in his mouth, followed by her whispering into his ear, telling him to keep fighting for his life.
However, Ziggly was growing impatient. “How much longer will he be like this, Tia? It’s been a week almost!”
“Hav’ patience, Ziggly. One canno’ jus’ cast a spell and raise da ded jus like dat. No one ‘oo plans to live righ’.”
The goblin pulled at his ears and looked at Cris. “Come on, man, wake up.”
Tia laughed and patted Ziggly’s head. “Joo two gud friends.”
Ziggly looked up at her, “There are very few we can trust out there.”
“Ya, I hear joo.”
*************************************************************************************
“Dammit, he did it again! Find that damn boy!” The goblin bruisers of Booty Bay shuffled to find the young goblin who once again had taken fish off the fishermen’s cart. They knew exactly who he was and why he had done it, but they were quickly growing tired of his shenanigans.
“We should just throw that damn boy in the sea. He’s nothing but trouble.”
“He’s just doing it to survive.”
“And he’s pissing off the fishermen! If we’re not careful, Baron Revilgaz will have our damn heads!”
The bruisers ran past the shops and the multitude of crates. As soon as the footsteps died down, the young goblin peeked out from behind the crates and chuckled, holding a fish in his hand. He walked off whistling when he walked right into a pair of boots.
“So it’s you they’re looking for.”
The goblin looked up and noticed an elf grinning down at him. “Oh, I don’t know. I just have a damn fish in my fucking hands! Out of my way, elf.”
The elf chuckled and pointed to some barrels, “If you hide in there, they’ll by-pass you!” The goblin snarled at the elf but the bruisers were getting closer. Quickly, he jumped into the barrel and held the fish next to him.
“No sir! He ran that way over there!” The elf pointed away as the bruisers ran from him and the barrels. The goblin lifted his head and smiled at the elf as he pulled himself out of the barrel.
“Are you alright?” the elf asked.
“Yeah, I’m cool.” The goblin began to walk away fish in hand. For a moment, he was tasting victory as he imagined how he was going to eat his prize, but then he turned and saw the elf sitting on top of the barrel he had escaped from and sighed. He quickly walked back. “Hey, man, uh, you want some of this?”
The elf smiled, his auburn hair blowing in the salty sea air. “Nah, it’s all good, man.”
The goblin nodded, “So, thanks for that. I owe you one. What’s your name?”
With a large smile, the elf said, “Wolf.”
“Wolf? What kind of name is that?”
“Seawolf. It’s my pirate name.”
The goblin laughed hard and almost dropped his fish. “Pirate name? Why do you need a pirate name?”
“Because a pirate needs a pirate name. Respect the name!”
The goblin laughed and gestured to the elf, “Come on, Wolf. We’ll share the fish. It always tastes better after you work hard to earn it.”
“But, you stole it.”
“It took me a long time to steal this and it was hard!”
“So what’s your name?”
The goblin looked forward and grinned, “Ziggly.”
“Ziggly? What kind of name is that?”
The goblin looked up and smiled, “My pirate name. Respect the name!” The two laughed heartily.
*************************************************************************************
“So joo become gud frens den?”
“Are you kidding me? Sure, he convinced the Captain to take me aboard with them, thus making me a pirate, but I still didn’t trust him that much. He was really close to the Captain. That either means he’s the Captain’s personal cabin boy…” Ziggly waggles his eyebrows at Tia, who rolls her eyes, “…or they were related.”
“I know da Captain no like boys.”
“Well, I know that now, but back then, I didn’t.”
Tia chuckled as she carefully pulled away from Cris and let his head lay on the pillow.
*************************************************************************************
“What is the damn deal with Wolf not doing anything?” Ziggly leaned against the mop while the other men watched the elf sitting on the edge of the ship.
“Just do your work, goblin.”
Ziggly sighed and continued to mop, however, he mopped his way toward the edge of the boat. “What the fuck, Wolf?”
Cris looked down at the goblin and smiled. “What’s up, Ziggly? Enjoying the open sea?”
“I guess. Hey, why the hell are you not doing anything? Everyone here is doing something but you!”
Shrugging, Cris simply let the wind blow through his hair. “You guys got this.”
“You are a lazy jackass!”
“What?”
“You heard me! You are a lazy jackass! What are you doing? Screwing the Captain? Are you his cabin boy?” Cris laughed loudly and jumped onto the deck. “Seriously? You think that?”
“Well, why won’t he yell at you?”
Cris looked around to see if anyone was looking and grabbed Ziggly’s arm, pulling him away and forcing him to drop the mop. They went to the far end of the ship and sat along the edge. “What the fuck, man? I’m going to get thrown overboard! I ain’t fucking the Captain!”
Cris laughed again. “Neither am I, fucker.”
“Then?”
“He’s…kinda like my dad.”
“The Captain’s your father?”
“I said kinda.” Cris grabbed on to a tight rope and stared out at the ocean. “When my father died, he told the Captain to watch over me.”
“They were friends?”
“Ay. Besides, it was either this or go back to the poor, desperate life of the Darkmoon Fair.”
“You’re a Darkmoonie?”
“Is that a bad thing? You’re an orphan goblin.”
Ziggly leaned against the edge and sighed, “Yeah I guess so.”
“Isn’t it weird to call a human your father?”
“No. My father was a human.”
“You’re a halfie too?”
Cris laughed and shook his head. “My real father is an asshole noble elf.” Cris’ sea-green eyes gazed out over the water. “But my father, the one who died, he was a good man.”
“Ah. Now it makes sense. And he lets you get away with not doing a thing?”
“Nope.” Cris turned around and jumped onto the deck. “He kicks my ass, but I just keep doing it.”
“I’m surprised he hasn’t kicked you off the ship.”
He shrugged. “He can’t. I’m the only family he has left.” Ziggly nodded and started walking back to his pail. “Oh and Zig?”
“Yo?”
“My name’s Cris.”
“Is that another pirate name?”
“No, jackass. That’s my real name. Cristianno.”
*************************************************************************************
“Many dun no ‘is real name, ja know.”
“I know. He tries to keep it personal. I knew he trusted me then.” He looked at Tia. “How do you know it? I never asked you.”
Tia’Zula smiled and placed a few batch of clean bandages on Cris’ neck. “Da Captain brin’ ‘im here. Firs’ time we met, ‘e was feelin’ sick. Da Captain, ‘e was worrie’ cuz ‘is son was gunna die.” Ziggly blinked and stared at Tia.
“He…said that?”
“Ya, mon. ‘E say ‘Joo ‘elp ‘im, Tia. Save Cristianno. Save me son.”
Ziggly looked at Cris and sighed. “I wonder if anyone’s told him yet.
“Da Captain will know. Dey ‘ave a special bon’.”
“Yeah. So do we. He’s… he’s my boy, ya know? We’re tight like that.”
“I know, even tho’ I donna undastan’ joo sometimes.” Tia chuckled as she moved away from Cris. His hand started to twitch again. “ ‘ees wantin’ ta come back.”
“He’ll come through. Any moment. You just wait and see.”
“Joo still gonna lie to ‘im?”
“Tia, I have to. For his sake.” The troll shrugged and went to the back the hut, cleaning a few fangs. Ziggly sat by the bed and leaned his head back. The sun was starting to set and another day was slowly slipping away. Deep inside, Ziggly was beginning to lose hope. It was then that he felt something fall on his head. The goblin slowly turned behind him and saw a hand reaching for his head again. “Tia! Tia!”
Tia’zula walked next to the bed and looked down, smiling, “Welcome back, Cristianno.”
The pair of sea-green eyes wandered at the ceiling and stopped at the troll. With a lot of effort, a faint whisper escaped his lips, “…Tia? What am I--” Ziggly jumped up and smiled widely. The sea-green eyes shifted and saw the goblin beside him. “…Zig?”
“Cris! Cris you’re back!”
Cris tried to turn his head and stopped. “What….what happened?” Tia reached toward him and began to touch his neck gently, checking to make sure that everything was settled right.
“You.. you died, Cris.”
A shocked whisper emerged from him, “What?”
“But joo okay nao. Dat joo are breatin’ is a gud sign. Joo is jus’ sore.”
Cris tried to move his head once more, going just a little further. “I…I died?” His whisper carried through to Ziggly, who nodded slowly.
“Yeah, man.”
His eyes closed and opened up, wandering a little as they adjusted to his surroundings. “How?”
“Joo head come off, Cris.”
He lifted a hand and reached toward his neck, feeling the fleshy scars that wrapped around his neck. “I…I don’t understand.”
“The spirits, dey like joo and gave joo a second chance.” Tia smiled at him and walked to the back of the hut.
Ziggly jumped up and smiled, patting Cris’ shoulder, which in turn made Cris wince slightly. “I’m going to tell the crew!” He jumped and ran out of the hut. Cris took a few deep breaths, his eyes wandering around the hut’s ceiling once again. He closed his eyes and opened them once more.
“Where’s Misae?” Cris closed his eyes, thinking of his wolf.
“On da ship, I tink.”
“Good.” Cris took another few deep breaths and closed his eyes only to open them once more, “Tia?”
“Ya mon?”
“Where’s….where’s Kahlen?”
The troll sighed and shook her head while she continued to soak a few bandages. Cristianno took a deep breath and closed his eyes once again as a roar of cheers resounded off the ship.
No comments:
Post a Comment