A Court of Queens

Night Terrors

That night Jazlyn set the bright beacon on her window sill and scaled down the tower when Aldini arrived. He held his hand out and pulled her onto the camel with him. "I thought you weren't gonna show," Jazlyn said

"What kind of Royal Guard would I be if I didn't put your life in danger for your own amusement."

"Exactly," she said. They rode until they reached the town called Munjar, which wasn't much of a town to speak of at all. Munjar was a makeshift slum of shacks and shanties built into the side of a steep cliff. They dismounted the camel and Aldini tied it to a post.

 They descended down the creaky wooden steps into the jhuggi, beggars slept in hovels crafted with discarded boats and shipping containers. They reached the bottom of the cliff where there was a hastily built port on the shore housing a few small fishing boats and some traps. 

"Is this what you were dying to see? Aldini asked. Jazlyn noticed a sea cave just a stone's throw away along the coast.

 "There, I wanna go there." she pointed. Aldini groaned but ultimately complied. They walked along the rickety dock towards the sea cave, the closer they got to the cave the less reliable the boardwalk's integrity. Planks of wood were either missing, broken, or rotten. Eventually, it became unwalkable."Looks like we might have to swim the rest of the way," Jazlyn said.

"Are you okay swimming?" he asked. 

"Yeah." They dived into the water and swam the rest of the way. Dim moonlight illuminated the inside of the cave, as they ventured further Jazlyn swam past the largest boat she had ever seen in her life. Inside the cave was a massive port with multiple levels connected by staircases and ladders. The port housed an armada of small boats on the low levels. The upper decks held goods, shipping containers, carts, and wagons.

"Woah" Aldini muttered.

"Yeah."They swam to the lowest level of the dock and pulled themselves up by the ladder. They headed up the stairs to the second and third floors of the port. Jazlyn inspected the shipping boxes and noticed the Murhabi farm name and logo on the container, and not just one box, not just one rice sack, dozens of them. 

In the distance, a large boat sailed through the narrow cave river, Jazlyn and Aldini hid behind the crates. As the vessel came closer a cluster of faint green lights shined from underneath the water. The vessel came into view, there were two men sitting on the vessel rowing. One of the men had a complexion Jazlyn had never seen before, his skin was a light pale color, and his hair was orange. The sailor must be from either Assax or Batavick, she had seen what those people look like but only in old paintings never in person. The sailors slowed down to dock the ship. The luminescent glow from underneath the water approached the surface.

 A group of humanoid creatures peeked their heads out of the water. They had long braided black hair and brown skin, just like Jazlyn and Aldini's, albeit with a scaly snake-like texture and translucent film over it. Each of these humanoids possessed a unique pattern of colored scales on their bodies, predominately on their arms, legs, and neck. They dwindled their bioluminescent light and approached the vessels.

"Those are fucking Aquestrians, why aren't they running?" Jazlyn whispered, her heart pounding. The men must have been led into a trap. She braced herself for the inevitable. The Aquestrians surrounded the ship and boarded it. Jazlyn closed her eyes to avoid watching the carnage unfold. The Aquestrians shouted, laughed, and spoke. They spoke Agrahbic, or a dialect of it, with a strange accent on top of that. However, it was easy for Jazlyn to understand, even the pale foreigner was intelligible despite his thick accent. The Aquestrians helped tie the boat to the dock and carry the crates off the boat. When they finished one of the sailors used a crowbar to pry open a crate, he pulled two glass bottles from the crate and handed them to the Aquestrians. They opened the bottles and smelled the contents. The Sailors and the Aquestrians held the bottles in the air, clinked them together, and passed them around to share. The men all sat for a moment drinking spirits, smoking tobacco, and playing cards. Once they had their fill they picked a few small boats from the lower deck and paddled to the main port.

"Still think they're just rumors?" Jazlyn asked rhetorically."I'll be honest I didn't expect this either," Aldini admitted. "We should leave."

"Yeah, I agree."