“You didn’t have to come out here to greet us,” Cobal said to Guthir.
“Nonsense, you have done us a great service.”
“Maybe you should take his advice father, you know how hard it was to push this wheelchair all the way to the pier?”
“A bit of exercise is good for you, you spend all day behind a desk.”
“Whose fault is that?”
Cobal chuckled. “You sound more like a married couple than father and daughter sometimes.”
“Are you calling me old?”
“Uh,” Cobal froze. “So anyway, we brought back almost all of the missing villagers, safe and sound. I’ll give you the details when we get a little bit more privacy.”
The missing villagers had stayed on the deck of the ship until Diana, Guthir and the few villagers of Ravadier that were still awake arrived. Fareh had spent a lot of time checking all of the villagers for health problems and to see what remained of their memories. All of them commented that they saw a light in the ocean and felt compelled to walk towards it. Once they reached the light, they woke up on the deck of the Tidesetter. Everything that happened in between was completely gone from their memory.
After giving a quick summary to Diana and Guthir, they sent one of their servants into town to collect the families of the returned villagers. Two people were requested to come to the tavern instead, and meet up with them there.
Cobal walked with Diana and Guthir, while Mana and Eliana stayed behind on the Tidesetter. Cassandra had already run off to her home to check on her parents and tell Sebastian to come over to the inn.
After settling in the main room of the inn, it didn’t take long for Sebastian as well as a man that Cobal had not met before to arrive. They both gave a polite greeting to Guthir and Diana before sitting down.
“I don’t believe you’ve met my brother in law yet,” Sebastian said to Cobal.
Cobal shook the hand of the unfamiliar man. “My name is Dobas, I am Fred’s husband.”
Cobal nodded. He knew that Fred’s husband was called over as well.
“I’ll spare you the details for later and I’ll tell you the main thing we know first. The villagers were possessed by strange ghosts. When we figured out the way to undo this curse, all of the ghosts willingly let go of their stolen bodies except for one. A pirate captain named Bartew was the one who took over Fred’s body, and while we were looking the other way he badly wounded one of ours and ran off to sea. To put it simply, we don’t know where he is, and we are very sorry this happened.”
Dobas and Sebastian both listened closely. “How could you let this happen?” Dobas said. There was anger in his voice.
“Like I said, I’m very sorry this happened, and our friend, Captain Tidescreecher, will depart from here soon to try and find your husband.”
Sebastian put a hand on Dobas’ shoulder. “These are capable people that did us a favor, I’m sure they’ll find my brother.”
Dobas sighed. “I know, I just, I hope he’s doing fine.”
“I may have only known Fred for a couple of days, but he seemed like the kind of person who would be fine no matter what happened to him.”
Dobas smiled. “He’s the light of my life after all. He’s the kindest soul you’ll ever meet.”
“I’m sure Eliana will find him and bring him back.”
After Dobas and Sebastian left the inn, and the innkeeper had gone back to bed as well, it was just Diana, Cobal and Guthir left, sitting at a table. Cobal swirled the wine around in his cup before taking another sip.
“So tell me,” Diana interrupted his thoughts, “what exactly went down on Shark Tooth Island? What about the mage tower?”
Cobal sighed. “It was a lot. There is a very powerful mage who built that tower, and the pirates that tried to rob him once were turned into ghosts, wandering aimlessly in search of their redemption. Taking control of the Ravadier villagers was their last ditch effort to find the key into the tower. The way we ended up solving this whole ordeal was by more or less giving the ghosts what they wanted so they could pass on peacefully and return the villagers to us. That’s how it got to one of them running away, not wanting to give up on life.” Cobal paused. “But the much more scary and pressing matter is the mage himself.”
“Did you meet him?”
“Not in person, but we spoke through some sort of magical device he created. He called himself Abu, and he is currently residing in the empire of Severanti. More importantly, he is from the same world as Mana.”
“Another person from that world.” Guthir asked.
Cobal nodded. “That’s the second one I’ve talked to now, and he seemed very different from Mana. Not to mention that he’s been in our world for a century or more, and he still looks to be no more than middle aged. It’s making me think what the true damage will be that people from another world can do.”
“So what your ministers have been shouting in the streets?” Guthir asked.
Cobal nodded. “I don’t agree with them on most of it, they’re the ones that accepted this summoning, and they only changed their mind when they realized Mana wasn’t some sort of unbeatable fighter. But the core of the argument, that bringing people from civilizations with very different technology to our world could cause a lot of damage.”
“What if it just helps us get more advanced faster? It’ll give us a leg up against some of the other continents, and if we can justify travel to them, it’ll open up all sorts of possibilities.” Guthir continued.
“Maybe. We know that my family originally landed here from another continent, but I honestly never looked into why we did so, and what pushed us to leave. All I learned about it was that it was a grueling journey that wouldn’t be easy to replicate. Although I’m sure with our more modern ships now, we should be able to cross the ocean. It’s interesting that it doesn’t happen more often.”
“Maybe this Abu person you spoke with knows more about it?” Diana suggested.
“Maybe.” Cobal spun his glass around slowly, thinking about a hundred things at once. “Or maybe he’s just some weird mage that likes toying with the dead.”
“Only one way to know for sure,” Guthir said. He put his hand on Cobal’s shoulder. “You’re going, aren’t you?”
Cobal nodded. “Even if I didn’t, I know for certain Mana is going. We also happen to know that two of our friends are currently in Severanti and they seem to be caught up in some strange thing. I think there isn’t a world in which I’m not going.”
“Then you’d best consider the state of things here and get some stuff in order first,” Guthir said. He winked at Cobal. “But first you should get some sleep, you’re welcome to come join us in the manor, your friends are welcome too.”
Diana and Guthir insisted that a celebration should be held in town for the heroes who brought back their missing villagers. Word had spread rather quickly that Fred was still missing, but with the rest of the villagers returned, faith in the pirates had grown tremendously. Where the villagers were very hesitant to allow them anywhere near Ravadier when they first docked a few weeks ago, they now welcomed them into town as they set up a large feast in the inn and the surrounding square. It was a bit cold to celebrate outside, but bonfires were lit to make up for it and the guests of honor of course had space reserved for them inside the building. Sebastian and his wife had spent all day baking for this feast and many of the other villagers brought fruits, meats and whatever they had to offer to thank Cobal, Mana and the crew of the Tidesetter for bringing back their friends and family safely. Even Dobas had joined in the celebration, despite it having a bit of a somber edge to it for him as his husband was still missing. Cobal let himself go in the joys of celebration and quickly found himself drinking more than he usually did. He spent some time talking with many of the different villagers that he truly forgot some of his troubles for a little bit. It wasn’t until much later in the evening, when most of the villagers had already gone to bed and only three dozen or so villagers were still celebrating with the pirates, that Cobal found that his head was becoming too unfocused for him to continue drinking. He needed some fresh air, so he left the inn and started a walk to the outskirts of town, to cool down his head a bit. After taking a leak on the side of a hopefully abandoned shed, he walked to where the town ended and the beach started and sat down in the sand for a while. This was where it felt like it all started. He met Mana only a few days before they set out for Ravadier last year, but they spent a fair bit of time there, and this was the place where he first started to realize that there might actually be more to this timid woman that had suddenly been thrust into his life. He let out a deep sigh as he listened to the sound of the waves hitting the shore and retreating back. The fresh air turned his chaotic head more clear and although he still felt a pleasant buzz, his thoughts were definitely becoming a bit more organized.
“Beautiful view, isn’t it?” A voice said behind him.
He let himself fall backwards into the sand to see who approached him. He tried to desperately regain some of his composure when he realized it was Diana who had walked up to him on the deserted beach.
“Would you like to join me for a walk?” She asked.
Flustered but in no place to say no, Cobal agreed and the two set off for a slow walk along the coast, the moonlight being their only guide in the dark winter night.
Opal Kaharis 