She grinned. “I think we might’ve finally found something the big fellow is good at here.”
Trax was probably more dangerous than Krachma, but what was Trax going to teach these people to improve themselves? Simply move with inhuman speed and bite the enemy with your rows of razor teeth while letting their daggers bounce uselessly off your resilient aquatic hide? I’m sure such tactics would work out splendidly for our soft land dwellers.
Krachma picked out another student, adjusted his grip, then showed him how to block an overhand blow, turn into it, and slice his opponent across the neck. He actually nodded approvingly when the student did it correctly by himself.Krachma satisfied?That was a first.
It wasn’t magic, but they were learning something useful, and sweating builds character. It pained me to have to interrupt the fun, but it was time to make my speech. By dumb luck, thesepeople were my responsibility, so I wasn’t about to send them on a fool’s errand, blind.
“Alright, listen up!” I walked to the center of the room. “Here’s the plan.”
I’m a pretty good talker, by Fogo standards at least. I tried to remember how my father used to call the shots on Barge 519, because though he hadn’t been our bargemaster, he’d been our real leader. Men had trusted him with their lives. There could be lava shooting up over the sides, and he’d keep them calm, focused on the work, and even make them laugh to break the tension. I was no Myles Carnavon, but I was his son, so I’d try to make him proud.
“Contrary to rumors some of you circulated, Ozwald Carnavon is no quitter.” From the way Bognar and Rufus looked at their feet as I said that, I knew who’d been muttering behind my back; Morton hadn’t even needed to make his list. “However, I hold no resentment toward any among you who grumbled, because I’m not overjoyed about our predicament either. The Latrocinium has got us over a barrel. I don’t know what Rade told you about our deal last night, but it was either take this job or disband the academy.”
I’d not noticed Rade sitting at the back of the room, wiping the sweat from his brow with a rag. “It was a rather moving speech, if I do say so.”
“I’m sure it was stupendous. Anyways, if any of you have got no stomach for this sordid alliance with the Latrocinium, it’s best for you to leave now, and there’ll be no hard feelings. Because we’re going to have to pay a hundred Obols or do something of this dangerous nature for the Latrocinium every month from now on, or face eviction.”
There was a whole lot of swearing at that, because apparently, Rade’s call to adventure speech left out some minor pesky details. Like, how we were on the hook forever. It wasironic, as I was playing at being a leader like unto my dad, who’d had to handle the difficult day-to-day challenges aboard our barge, he’d had Bargemaster Gax who concerned himself more with thebig picture, just how I had Rade. Such was life.
“However, I have negotiated that this first expedition erases our previous months’ back rent—trogshit that may be—and wipes our debt clean. I’ve also negotiated that other than one specific item that Master Carcalla believes might be present which he in particular wants, any other treasure we find will be split evenly between the Latros and the Outcasts. Our half will be split in even shares among every one of us.”
Oh, they liked that part. Too bad I was about to ruin it for some of them.
“And byus,I mean those who go and participate in the dangerous bits. Henceforth, we’re having to change a few things around here. We can afford to give no more free rides. If you’re part of this academy, you’re earning your keep. Everybody chips in somehow or you’re out. If you’re not willing to delve beneath a haunted island, find another way to bring us a bunch of coins to make up for it. Sharing the formula to a spell got you in here, but it won’t pay for your element, our time, resources, or especially now, your rent. Got it?”
They seemed to. We might lose those who were inclined to laziness or cowardice, which I was fine with. I’d been put to work crawling lava tubes looking for Red dust when I was a little boy. I had no patience for shirkers.
“This isn’t the Collegium, land of silk and comfort. We took you in when no other school would, so by the sweat of your brow, you shall earn your keep. And if your only spells aren’t that strong and you’re physically weak…” I couldn’t help that my eyes drifted toward tiny Morton as I said that. “Come and talk to the student council and we’ll figure out something useful for you to do.”
Rufus the dwarf raised his hand. “When does Gaul Haddar get back?”
“Same answer as last time you asked me that. I don’t know. If you’re tired of waiting for the mighty rank ten to come and teach you correctly, feel free to leave. The front door is currently unblocked by the corpse of the monster you embiggened yesterday. And this isn’t an interview. Shut your trap and listen.”
Rufus slowly put his hand down.
“Good. We’ve got four days to clear out the dungeon beneath Korthican’s Warning and loot it of valuables. Carcalla told me a bit about it, but being the untrusting sort, last night, I went to the bay to hear what the locals have to say about the place. Sadly for us, their tales match. The city’s condemned that isle, same as our beloved Under Slump, so the watch leaves it be. But while our home is infested with robbers and ratlets, that island’s got some kind of deadly carnivorous amphibious creatures living upon it.”
“You say that like it is a bad thing,” Sifuso exclaimed, offended on behalf of his kind.
“Apologies.” I nodded toward our lacertian’s hurt feelings. “Not all carnivorous amphibians are bad, obviously. My best friend is a carnivorous amphibian.”
If Trax had been present, he wouldn’t have been offended. Whether they ate plants or meat, walked or swam, Squalo considered most other intelligent races to be food. Call a Squalo a deadly carnivore and they’d take it as a compliment.
“These monsters are unidentified. They hide in the tunnels or underwater during the day, and on rare occasion swim out to menace the locals at night. They sometimes kill livestock and have got no problem ripping up a full-grown pig or goat, but they don’t attack the people very often. At least not enough to for the watch to care about exterminating them.”
“That doesn’t sound too unmanageable.” Of course, Azarin had an upbeat outlook. She came from a realm where griffons constantly swooped down to pluck travelers from the mountainside to drop down steep cliffs. To her, danger was a relative thing.
“Unlesspeople set foot on the island. Then the creatures immediately swarm and rip them apart.”
She sighed. “I should’ve known to adjust my expectations.”
“The bay folk who’ve seen them say the monsters are about four to five feet tall, but they walk hunched over and shuffling. They’re slimy, and dark blue or green in color. They’ve got big bulby eyes that poke out the sides of their heads, beaks like birds, and long floppy arms with claws on the end. They make a kind of ascritchnoise when they’re sneaking up on you… Anybody know what those are?”
All I got was a bunch of head shakes. Our students came from six different realms and the Core, so I’d hoped to get lucky and someone would know. From the description, I figured the monsters had come from the Elemental Plane of Water originally, so Trax might know. Sadly, he was off doing his own thing, most likely observing humanity from the safety of one of the city’s many canals.
“Besides the unknown creatures who’ve moved in, after that, there’s the matter of any traps or curses the ancients may have left behind. The locals couldn’t help me there. Do any of you have any experience with that sort of thing?”
They shared awkward glances—of course nobody did. That was a rather select skillset, and if they were good enough to get paid for that, they certainly wouldn’t be slumming it here.
