By: Bryant R. Haake, Honors College, Presidential Honors Student, English Major
“Crimson, will you shut your clam trap and just eat breakfast?”
Jacob glared at Crimson as she made yet another jab at him and Georgiana for having walked out of the same room. Of course nothing had happened, but Crimson wasn’t letting up anyways. Luckily, their saving angel sat down before she could joke again.
“Hello friends!” Seraph exclaimed. “I trust your excursion last night was fruitful?”
Jacob and Georgiana glanced at each other. Crimson had originally walked off all somber-like, but yet she had been there this morning to wake them both up with some of the loudest knocking Jacob had ever heard. They hadn’t been able to discuss it yet, but Jacob suspected much of her attitude had been due to alcohol, as she showed no sign of being anything less than her normal boisterous self. The transformation may not have taken all the effects of it away.
“Aye, we cleared her up–” Jacob jabbed a finger at Crimson, “–and got some time to talk. It was… nice.”
“I’m glad! Now, what are your plans for the day? Did we ever go over what you’re doing in town? I can be fairly forgetful, so I apologize if I’ve forgotten anything.”
“We’re just here on our way to Athens, sir,” Georgiana piped in, waving her fork at him. “We merely needed a place to stay for the night, but we’ll be off today.”
Jacob nodded in affirmation. “We’ve gotta go see someone named Dr. Cleary. Don’t suppose you’ve heard of him?”
“Heard of him? Of course I have!” Seraph sounded mostly normal, but Jacob thought he could hear some hesitation. “He’s one of the most famous professors in that whole city. Why in the Rivers would you three need to visit him, may I ask?”
The three privateers shared a look.
“We’ve got some business with him, angeldust.” Crimson took another swig of water, a punishment from Georgiana for last night. “What we’ve got with him is our business alone–”
“–Unless you can help us along,” Georgiana interrupted. “Do you know how to reach him? It can’t be easy if he’s famous.”
Seraph leaned back in his chair, far enough to make Jacob uncomfortable. Was he levitating or something?
“I know how to reach him, but I seriously suggest finding something else to do. Dr. Cleary is a terrible person, and I wouldn’t wish an interaction with him on my worst enemy.”
Jacob and Georgiana gave each other another look, both of them clearly spooked by his words. Crimson seemed unaffected.
“Ah, he can’t be too bad,” she boasted. “I’m sure whatever he throws at us won’t be anything we can’t handle, eh? Plus,” she rose from her seat, “I’ve never been to Athens, and I wanna see what there is to see. It gets a lot of press on the seas for being one of the only land-locked cities. That always made it sound boring to me, but I’ve been surprised by less before.”
Seraph sighed. “Well, if you’re insistent on going, then at least allow me to guide you. At the very least the trip should allow me time to visit some family. Will you allow me that comfort? It just wouldn’t feel right to let you visit him without protection.”
“We’d love that,” Georgiana rushed to say, both her and Jacob wary of the seething look settling on Crimson’s face. “Thank you for the gracious offer.”
“You’re very welcome, madam! I will see to it that the journey is done safely, and I will be sure to accompany you while you visit that old pretentious creep. Let me gather my things, and we’ll be off.”
Seraph left swiftly. As his cloak disappeared into the stairwell, Crimson opened her mouth to speak.
“Eh!” Georgiana interrupted.
“But I–”
“No!”
“Oh c’mon–”
“Nuh uh.”
Crimson stared at Georgiana. Then, to Jacob’s surprise, she merely frowned and left the table, also disappearing into the stairwell.
“Do you think she’s going after–”
“No, I don’t,” Georgiana interrupted. “She’ll stay away from him, and it gives us some peace and quiet finally.” She took a sip of brown liquid—coffee, though Jacob had never tried it—and closed her eyes. Steam rose from the cup, dancing through the air as the air from her sigh whipped it around.
Jacob was perplexed. First Crimson started spilling her guts about her past. Then Georgiana actually tried talking Crimson down, and succeeded. What was the world coming to?
Georgiana caught sight of Jacob staring at her.
“What?” she asked, almost sounding apprehensive.
“I’m just surprised that worked is all,” Jacob admitted. “I’ve never seen anyone really talk her down like that.”
“It’s a gift.” Georgiana flashed a sarcastic smile and downed the rest of her coffee. “Whew. I feel more awake now. Are you ready to go?”
Jacob nodded and hoisted his small bag onto the table. It contained the few things he wanted to keep on him, such as a small compass Deighly had once given him and a simple change of clothes Georgiana had acquired yesterday, but hadn’t given him out of fear of him dressing in the wrong clothes for the event. She’d probably been right.
Georgiana slung her own bag over her back and stood up, stretching out her morning muscles with a groan.
“I’m glad you slept well Jakey, but don’t expect me to sleep in a chair again.” She yawned. “At least not one of those chairs. They were not meant for sleeping.”
Jacob’s face went red in embarrassment. “I wasn’t expecting you to fall asleep in the chair, nor did I want to wake you up at all. I thought it was morning already, and I–”
Georgiana held up a hand. “I’m fine, and I don’t blame you. It was my choice to do what I did. I was only joking by saying that. Also, I was happy to help, so don’t complain.”
Jacob opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by squabbling from the stairwell.
“We don’t need you coming along, angeldust,” Crimson’s voice hollered. “You’d just get in my way.”
“Great…” Jacob sighed, standing up and following close behind Georgiana as she stomped over to where Crimson was barking at Seraph.
“Miss Crimson, with all due respect–”
“That’s Captain Crimson to you, bud.”
“Yes well, Miss Captain Crimson, I promise you I will do no such thing. I only offered due to my preconceived notions of Dr. Cleary, all of which I fully believe I am correct in saying, but if you don’t want me to–”
“No Seraph, you’re coming,” Georgiana said. “Crimson, let’s just get going already. We don’t need to waste time with your bickering just because his glyph magic makes you insecure.”
“Woah there, Georgie.” Jacob pulled her back into a hug. “She didn’t mean that, Crimson.”
“Yes I– mmft!”
Jacob put a hand over her mouth and gave an uneasy laugh. “I think she’s just tired is all. Let’s get going now.”
Jacob led Georgiana back to their table and sat her down, taking the seat right next to her. She glared at him.
“Look, I know you’re tired of her; so am I! But, that doesn’t mean we should be making her mad.”
Georgiana looked confused. “I’m not tired of her, Jakey. She just doesn’t need to be doing something like that. Seraph agreed to act as not only our guide, but also our bodyguard essentially, and after yesterday I’m inclined to want him along. Do you not agree?”
Jacob nodded furiously. He did want Seraph along.
“Yes, but even if Crimson is risking that chance for us, I still think it’ll be better for everyone if we don’t antagonize her.”
Georgiana stared at him a moment, blinked, then nodded. “I think… I need more coffee.”
They bought a one-pound bag of coffee grains for the journey and set off, Seraph making sure to keep ahead of them all on his own horse. The rest of them sat in the back on the cart Seraph had provided them thanks to already having owned one of his own from his own adventures around the world.
As they rode, the angel man told them stories of his heroics, daring-dos, and mercenary/vigilante works across the world. Jacob suspected there was probably some considerable tall-tale-telling going on with most of those stories, making him wonder if Seraph may have some sailor blood in him, but the stories were entertaining nonetheless.
Despite the extra coffee—a whole three extra cups before they left, as well as one already on the road from water boiled over a small mess kit fire—Georgiana fell asleep within the first few hours of travel. She’d layed out a bed of sorts for herself in the front of the cart, closest to Seraph. How she could sleep through his theatrics was a mystery to Jacob, but he was glad she was able to do so. Even his eyes began to droop a little towards the end of the day, lulled by the melodic clop clop of the horse’s hooves against various materials: stone, then dirt, then grass, and more stone when the ground became rockier. There was very little in the way of larger shrubbery the closer they got to Athens. The ground was too rocky for much more than the occasional olive tree.
“It won’t be until midday tomorrow when we’ll reach Athens,” Seraph said as he pulled on the horse’s reins, setting sun illuminating him in a halo of heavenly light. “We can go ahead and stop here for the night. Anyone care to go olive picking with me?”
Jacob scooted a little closer to the still-sleeping Georgiana, his bolo rope grasped firmly in his hands.
“No, I think I’m okay. You two can go if you want, but I’d rather stay and watch the cart.”
“I’m sure that’s why you’re staying, squido,” Crimson taunted as she hopped off the cart. The whole thing shook as she did so, losing the weight of her muscles in a single powerful heave. “You two have fun while I go a different direction to this landlubber here to find better olives than him.”
Seraph seemed none the worse from Crimson’s comments. Jacob couldn’t tell if he was smiling or not, but due to his usual pompous and theatrical nature, it was hard to imagine him without one. He’d tried to imagine what Seraph may look like without the mask a few different times, more so to keep his mind occupied than anything, but the boredom had still gotten to him on the trip out.
As the two older adults walked away, heading in separate directions as Crimson had said, Jacob began to keep watch. The trail ahead got a little rockier before the city, even rising a bit into the form of some steep-ish hills they would have to traverse in the morning.
That’s bound to be a fun ride, Ren noted sarcastically.
“Ren, I need a favor,” Jacob said without warning.
Hmmm. What is it?
“I need you to stop interrupting my sleep with these dreams. I know you said you didn’t cause the one from the other day, but last night wasn’t good for me.”
Jacob braced himself for the disappointed remarks and possible sadness from the squid god, but nothing like that came.
Alright, if that is what you wish, Ren said instead, sounding fairly sincere. I cannot promise to fully stop them forever, since that is the time in which I can have deeper, longer conversations with you, but I will agree to at least stop them for the near future. Is that a satisfactory answer for you?
“Yes, thank you,” Jacob sighed in relief.
Beside him Georgiana stirred, turning over in her sleep to face him. The cords of her hair flopped about aimlessly, needing no comb or additional styling. Jacob wasn’t sure how they stayed in place after so much travelling and through the battles they had fought, but he was glad for her that they had stayed.
“I can feel you staring, Jakey,” Georgiana said, quite clearly despite her previous sleep.
Jacob’s face glowed hot. “Do you not want me to watch over you? The others are gone, so I thought…”
Georgiana smiled, still refusing to open her eyes.
“No, you can keep staring. I just thought it’d be funny to make you blush.”
That didn’t help in the slightest.
Georgiana finally opened her mesmeric serpentine eyes and stretched, immediately looking around for the bag of coffee grains. Jacob grabbed them before she could and hid them behind his back.
“Oh no you don’t,” he joked. “It’s almost nighttime, and we don’t need you up through the whole night bouncing off the olive trees.” He paused and handed the bag to her. “How’d you sleep?”
Georgiana admired the bag for a moment, then put it back in its proper spot. “All things considered? Not too bad, I guess. Pep sent me another dream. She said she’d been trying to get ahold of some of the other monsters or something, but it was over quick. I don’t think she can hold one of those dreams longer than a few minutes.”
Jacob inspected Georgiana’s face, her eyes still glued to the bag of coffee. Despite their talk aboard the ship, they hadn’t spoken much about their relationships with their monster… friends? Acquaintances? Whatever they were, they hadn’t talked a lot about them since then.
“Ren sent me another dream, too, though that was last night before I woke you.” Jacob leaned back against the side of the cart. “He had me play a card game with the reanimated corpses of Captain Leafy and one of his crewmates.”
Georgiana squirmed in her homemade bed. “That’s… certainly something, Jakey.”
“Aye, though that wasn’t it. He also explained a few things to me, like… did you know the monsters are actually gods? Apparently they’re no different from the gods, and the term was just something people used to differentiate the ones they liked from the ones they disliked. At least,” Jacob pointed to his head, “that’s what he said.”
Georgiana frowned. “Pep has said a few similar things.” She began picking at a splinter in the wood of the cart, digging her nails into the wood as if she was kneading the dirt in her garden. “Do you think we can take them at their word for something like that? I mean, that’s a huge part of Krakenland’s history… I know they’re older than human civilization, but is there actually any truth to what they say, or is it all deception?
“Why would they lie about that?”
“To get us to trust them.” Georgiana’s eyes met Jacob’s. “I’d love to trust them, but people don’t just call something a monster for no reason, right? Even if they’re right, that doesn’t make them inherently good… does it?”
Jacob didn’t know how to answer. Instead, he scooted closer to Georgiana and pulled her into a hug. She laid her head in his chest and he leaned back. They stayed there for a while, moving their conversation onto topics a little easier to understand, like the concept of different types of metals and other materials used in alchemy.
Jacob still didn’t understand that one, but he was happy to listen to Georgiana rant about it.
As they talked, Jacob could feel drowsiness starting to take hold of him. He understood Georgiana’s words less and less as time went on. He fought to stay awake, trying to just keep at least one eye open, but eventually he fell into the darkness of unconsciousness, Georgiana still rambling, though slower now as sleep began to take her as well.
When they awoke, the cart was moving. Jacob’s arms were around Georgiana, a position he was fairly certain he’d not been in the previous night. He raised a hand to wipe the sleep from his eyes, but felt something pull back against his movements. He tried again, this time both hands smacking together as he pulled.
Rope. His hands were bound in rope.