The Disjointed Tales Of Renryre Island

27-1: All Aboard

Tailfin waited impatiently at the docks, bright and early, precisely as discussed and agreed upon by all. He was ready. Ready for a light sail on the calm morning ocean. Ready for an adventure. Ready to find the elusive mainland that had plagued the island's desperate sailors for four decades.

Evidently, however, he was the only one who was ready.

"Lazy bloody bastards," complained Tailfin as he kicked a discarded length of rope into the water.

"Tailfin!" exclaimed a voice behind him. "You're early."

"You're not," he snapped.

Deklow shrugged it off, indicating via the vacant docks that he was clearly more punctual than the rest of them.

"It was a big night," suggested the innkeeper.

The stragglers began appearing slowly; Discreet, The Scribe, Arynlock, Merilyce, and Kyrnrie – hung over, the lot of them. Even the navigator arrived, without needing to be bound and dragged aboard against his will. And then, as casually as someone who belonged, Madrik arrived.

"What the hell are you doing here, Madrik?" asked the crime lord. "You're supposed to be staying in Helen's Bay and keeping my office chair warm."

"Don't think you're taking all the credit for yourself, Tailfin. If anyone is going to find the mainland, it's going to be me."

"Why, Madrik?"

"Why? Well, because it should be me. People know who I am. They need to know what I've done."

"They will know that you tried to take credit for something that you had absolutely nothing to do with. You didn't find any coins, or the navigator. You literally did nothing more than get in people's way wherever you could."

"Exactly," he agreed with an informatively pointed finger. "You couldn't have done it without me!"

"Godsdammit, Madrik," sighed Tailfin in resignation. "Well, I suppose if we need someone to distract the tailsharks, we can always throw you overboard."

"Hah! I'll be the one feeding you to the sharks."

"If you haven't learned from the last time you tried: that particular sentence is completely ineffective against me. The tailsharks don't eat me. And I don't drown. You might as well make me a cocktail and wave a large fan to keep me cool on a sunny afternoon."

"Don't worry, Tailfin," said Madrik with a wry grin, "I'll find a way to kill you."

"Of course, Madrik. I look forward to it. For now, shall we board the ship and get on with this?"

A few crewmen from Arynlock's ship were waiting with the tenders, and they began climbing into the two boats, ready to head out to the ship.

"Wait for me!" called Irikhart, jogging along the docks towards them.

"What are you doing here, Irikhart?" asked Kyrnrie. "Where's Ryleine?"

"Ryleine is taking Iryssah back to her cabin in the forest. I'm here because you need me. You need a hero on this... quest of yours. All quests require a true hero: noble, honourable. Someone such as... me."

Kyrnrie shrugged at Tailfin, who shrugged back in answer.

"Fine, you can come along, Irikhart. But why are you wearing that?"

Irikhart looked himself up and down. He was still wearing those tight shorts. And no shirt.

"What do you mean? Ryleine bought me these."