A Promise Broken

It had not been long at all before the clear sky had given way to a thick fog, thick and smothering. Vardia and Schon worked to control the boat as they sailed in the direction King Mnguni had told them to. Akaj sat in the front of the boat, napping with Arrow laying on his side next to him. Fulcher sat on the side of the vessel, staring forward at the drifting waves.

“- so, to make a long story short, I’m not allowed in the adventurers hall anymore,” Vardia concluded. Schon giggled to herself as she fixed a rope on the mast.

“You know, normally people say ‘to make a long story short’ at the beginning of a story, not after they told the entire thing,” Fulcher quipped, glancing back at Vardia.

“Oh hush!” Schon scolded. “I like hearing your stories, Vardia.” The Custodi glowed against the fog as Fulcher rolled his eyes. His smile faded slowly as he stared at the waves, looking over at Schon.

“Do you want to be Queen?” he asked. Her own smile faded quickly, as she leaned against the mast and looked into the water.

“What girl doesn’t?” she offered. Fulcher could tell her voice lacked conviction as he searched her for any hint of body language. At the bow, Akaj had stopped snoring, peeling an eye open to watch the conversation while he pretended to remain asleep.

“You can tell me your real feelings, Schon. I think you can tell by now I’m serious when I say I want change in the Capitol,” Fulcher said. Schon remained quiet for a time until finally, her voice found its courage.

“I never wanted to marry. Never wanted to come to your home. Never wanted to be your… captive. Who would? But it’s a tale as old as time. I know I’m not the first and I’m old enough to understand how the world works. As long as you uphold your promise to save my father, I’ll have no issue being quiet,” Schon said. Her hand gripped the mast tightly, nails digging into the wood. Fulcher stood and walked across the boat to her front, where he could finally see the quelled fury in her eyes.

“When this is over, I will be King,” he said. Schon kept his gaze, refusing to look away.

“You will,” she said. He studied her face before offering a soft smile.

“So, we’ll get a divorce,” he stated simply. She looked at him in confusion.

"A what?" she asked.

"Our marriage... we can dissolve it. Reduce it to nothing, and be free of it," Fulcher explained. Her fury melted away as the first painful slivers of hope began to fill her gaze. The kind of hope you fear to hold, in case it turns out to be wrong.

“I’ll make sure of it. You’ll be free, you can do what you want and marry who you please. In fact, I think I’ll outlaw arranged marriages altogether,” Fulcher continued. Schon wiped her palm across her eye as her face contorted.

“Thank you,” she said simply. Fulcher extended a hand towards her.

“So, can we start over? As friends?” he asked. She stared down at it before gently taking it in her own, her grip noticeably tighter than his.

“You’ve been a real jerk for a long time before you suddenly decided to flee the keep. I don’t think we can be friends, but,” she said, before gently pulling her hand away. “I’m willing to give it a shot. And if serving under you means freedom for my father, I’ll work under you too.” Satisfied, Akaj closed his eye and returned to his nap with a gentle smile on his lips. Fulcher too smiled wide, returning to his spot on the boat.

“Then let’s start over! We’ll forge a new kingdom together where we’re all respected as equals,” he declared.

An echoed laugh rose from the depths of the fog, a laugh that passed by the ship. Arrow jolted up, ears pointing off the port side of the boat as the others tried to locate the source of the laughter. Soon it came from the stern, then the bow, and finally the starboard side until the laughter surrounded the entire vessel.

“Such wonderful ideals! But ideals without action are lies, and Mankind is good at lying, aren’t you?” a voice echoed. Arrow growled as the others stood aside from Akaj, who slowly reached down to grab his sickle.

“Two humans of the middle kingdoms, how repulsive. And a Flame Prince? I’d ask for the honor of greeting you, but I have half the mind to simply dump you into the sea!” the voice called. It was a sweet melody, one that was broken by a wicked cackle that soared over the mast. Fulcher did his best to follow the movement of the origin of the voice, but the fog was impenetrable.

“And, oh… what are you? You are different. You are wrong. Both you, and your mutt,” the voice said. A whisper tickled Fulcher’s ear.

“Foreign soul,” it said. Fulcher spun with his sword at the ready to find the visage of a woman floating before him. Her body blended into the fog, her ghastly form transparent and hard to notice against the rolling precipitation. Her face was sunken, with hollow eyes of darkened hatred and two holes where her nose should have been. Her teeth were crooked and jagged, and her hair sprawled out in all directions as if she were floating on water. She wore a ragged dress fit only for peasantry, and her arms were curled in against her chest, thin and wicked. Her feet dangled from the bottom of her dress, gnarled feet holding long, ingrown nails. One of the cursed hands cracked and popped, reaching out to grab Fulcher’s shoulder.

“I wonder where you come from, stolen boy,” she said, her voice wheezing out. In a blur of orange, Akaj had stood and moved behind the specter. His sickle glowed with hot energy as he arced its blade around the ghost’s throat, grabbing at her arm with his hand as it glowed with fire. Despite her looking like a spirit, it was clear Akaj could touch her.

“Reanimation! Remove your evil hands from my friend at once!” Akaj threatened.

“Evil?” the spirit cackled again as it floated backwards through Akaj, his grip slipping as she escaped into the fog. “The only evil I see are tyrant apes, elemental menaces and invaders. You are the evil here.” The fog swirled and warped, spiraling around the boat. The waves began to kick up and threatened to tip them into the sea as each of them reached to grab whatever wood they could find. Fulcher did not hesitate, running to the bow of the ship and shouting out aimlessly into the mist.

“Stop! We are here to stop evil! To make amends and ease the wounds of the past!” he shouted.

“The lies of Men! I will not be fooled!” the voice called. The sea grew rougher, and Fulcher almost lost his balance.

“We aim to dethrone the Tyrant King Dilyniant! We wish to reinstate the Scribes and bring new knowledge to the Librarum!” Fulcher shouted. The seas stopped rocking and the fog slowed, as the entity reformed inches in front of Fulcher’s face, her disfigured face watching his carefully as a wheeze escaped her nose.

“My time is precious, my ears are not for all,” the specter said. “So tell me once, and only once, who you are.”

She already knows. It’s useless to lie, Fulcher thought.