Chapter 2-18: The Curse of the Storm Islands
(Preliminary design for Andrasio, made by myself in pencil, slightly painted).
Andrasio looked at himself in the mirror as he washed before dressing: he had changed a lot in the months since his escape from Tandras, but he hadn't had time to notice until now. The much longer hair fell to his shoulders and was now tied in a sort of bun. He also took notice of his now extremely bushy beard and moustache, and the much more pronounced musculature. He had a hard time recognising himself in the mirror. He smiled: if he had difficulty recognising himself, he could see how difficult it would be for his enemies, especially that rat Tulio Tanaris, to recognise him in turn.
He thought of Tulio Tanaris and how he had murdered the head of the Guard because he had refused to surrender the square even though the attackers had not even penetrated the outer wall. The memory was still terribly painful and he heard himself say:
- I hope you are dead before I catch you, because if not, you are going to have a very bad time, Tulio Tanaris!
But then he became aware of a knock at the door and, as he put on a linen tunic, he said:
- Come in!
The Captain came in and said to him:
- Good morning, Andrasio, have you had breakfast?
- No, not yet.
- Well, there is a special breakfast prepared for you. We're going to go on a tour of the island. You need to know this place.
As he gestured for Andrasio to understand that they couldn't talk there, Andrasio nodded silently.
Andrasio nodded silently as he said:
- I'm going to get dressed and go downstairs.I'm really hungry so I'm really having that breakfast.
He had slept well but was still worried about all the events that had brought him here. So he needed to know what was going on and, more importantly for him, what decision he was going to make once he knew.
The Captain nodded and left the room. Andrasio saw that his clothes, dirty and in need of mending, had been removed and others left for him in a chest at the side of the room with a note on it. After opening it, he took a tunic of some kind of green wool and put it on. It was light, which was surprising: the wool must have come from some animal on those islands. Then he put on some sort of boots that had been left there beside a very comfortable chair: he thought they were strange boots because they didn't cover the foot completely: only the sole, the toe and the heel.
Once he was fully dressed, he looked at himself in the mirror again and thought to himself that he looked like an inhabitant of these islands, which was remarkable considering that his family, though very humble, hailed from the southern mainland of the Sinardian Empire. He sighed: since he had enlisted as an archer and been posted to the Great Fortress of Tandras, he had not seen his family again, and now, with this situation, he hoped that they would not suffer the consequences of the treachery of the Governor of Tandras. He would have to seek them out and find out what had happened, but first he needed to sort out the mess he himself was in.
He went downstairs and saw that there was typical island food on the table, though he had little idea of what it tasted like. He opted for a round fruit, a piece of a ham on one side of the table, a sweet-smelling herbal tea and a sweet that contained cheese, honey and a dried fruit that he couldn't identify and which, he deduced, was also local.Everything was very good, which helped to somewhat diminish his lack of optimism about the situation he found himself in.
He finished everything and, as he was about to ask what he should do, he saw the Captain and Myärmirön enter and behind them came one of the house servants who began to pick up what he had soiled.
- Are you ready? - asked Myärmirön.
- Yes,’ said Andrasio.
- Good, then let's go out.
They went down the stairs to the ground floor and reached the stables. They took three horses that were already saddled and set off for a ride around the island. They went quietly until they came out through the town, following the line of the beach. A few kilometres later, Myärmirön led them to some rocks at the entrance of some caves. And there they saw that they were followed by half a dozen people.
Andrasio went to grab his bow but the Captain stopped him:
- They are men of the Supreme Fisherwoman, Aegöpliä. We must evade them, not confront them. Let us simply enter the cave carefully and wait until they deem it impossible to follow us.
Carefully, they entered the cave with the horses, descended to a lower floor, where they stopped for a while. They then heard noises coming from the entrance of the cave and heard their pursuers say:
- With those heavy horses they could not have gone any lower.
Andrasio saw that the Captain was smiling. Still they kept quiet, trying to keep calm and to keep the horses from neighing so that they would not hear him from above. So, when they heard them leave, they took a deep breath and went out the other exit of the cave several kilometres further south.
Myärmirön went out first and inspected the surroundings. No one was there, but he turned back and said in a low voice:
- I don't see anyone but that doesn't mean they're not around. We'll have to be very careful. They're following us, so I'm sure the Fisherwoman Supreme wants to know what we're going to tell you,’ and he looked at Andrasio.
The Captain smiled:
- On the one hand, I'm worried because I know she's uncomfortable and doesn't know where she stands. But on the other hand, I'm very encouraged by this, because I know she sees a real danger in your arrival. And that has never happened.
They set off for the coastal cliffs. They were in the southern part of the island and included a series of underground caves, some of which filled with water at tide but left parts of them isolated. There they could talk in peace, though he would have to watch for echoes and the chances of being heard from sea or land.
The captain, who knew the area well, took them to one that did not allow entry from land, but only from the sea. On entering, they saw why it had been the Captain's favourite: first there was a well which, when the tide came in, would make it impossible to enter. But at the back, there was a large room that could even be considered comfortable, even when the room was flooded.
Foto de Justin Wolff en Unsplash
So they entered that large cave, taking advantage of the low tide. The horses did not seem to miss it, so Andrasio understood that they had been there more than once. In that large back room, the Captain pressed a stone on the left wall and a door rose at the end of the room and they entered there.
The horses had food there and they sat in some fairly well-preserved saddles. Myärmyrön lit the fireplace because it was very damp in there and, if they did not light it, they would soon feel the cold in that back room. But, once the fireplace was lit, that room became warm.
Andrasio began by saying:
- Here we are. I would love to know what you have to tell me.
The Captain and Myärmyrön looked at each other and the former began to speak:
- Although you know me as a simple Captain, my real name is Aegöliör. Yes, I belong to the same family as the Fisherwoman Supreme, in fact, she is my cousin. But my side of the family and her side of the family have been at loggerheads for years over something that has been going on on the island for many years.
He stopped and stood up and continued speaking:
- I was a little boy when some strange beings came to the shores. They looked like normal people to everyone but I knew they were not. I couldn't say why, but from the beginning it seemed to me that they were just a disguise.
He ran his hand over his head as he continued to pace back and forth:
- And then the killings started. At first we didn't know who they were, but people were turning up dead in their homes in brutal ways. The islands have always been peaceful, even if there were some very brutal people, but they were usually more about punching each other. However, that kind of killing had never happened before.
He fell silent for a moment and at the entrance to the room, he stuck his ear to the stone and said:
- No, no, there is no one outside. Then, as I was saying, the murders began to be brutal: I won't go into details, but all of them had teeth marks and some of their flesh was missing. It didn't matter how old they were: they killed people of all ages and conditions in the same way.
- And what was the reaction? - Andrasio asked.
- My father was one of the first who thought it was necessary to investigate these deaths and find out what had happened. But others didn't like it: they considered it a punishment from the sea, although they couldn't agree on why we were being punished. But my father gathered some of those who wanted to investigate and they started to see which days the attacks occurred.
He stopped and then continued:
- And they discovered the monsters. They were beings that, under their human appearance, were a kind of monstrous fish with several rows of teeth and an insatiable thirst for blood.
Andrasio saw that they were both trembling.
- And what happened?
- Surprising them, they were able to catch one of them, muzzle it and tie it up. They took him to the main palace where they threw him at the feet of the Supreme Fisherman.
- I guess he was the father of the woman who doesn't even want to see me….
They all smiled.
- Exactly,’ said Myärmyrön. But the worst thing is that in that form they also knew how to speak. This being began to shout that they served a very powerful being and that they were the advance guard of those who were going to take the island.
- And they promised to do something but did nothing,’ said Andrasio.
- Very good,’ said the captain, smiling again.
- I guess,’ continued Andrasio, ’that the mighty being is the same giant octopus that prevented the ship from continuing and that is why we were stopped at sea.
The Captain and Myärmirön looked at each other. Then the former asked him:
- Did you see him?
- Of course, through a mirror placed in a particular way in the room.
The Captain smiled:
- Now I understand what the monster told me.
- What did he say?
- That he didn't want to let us pass, because someone was spying on him. I told him that was impossible because the only new guy coming in was too wounded to move.
- So that's why he came out of the sea and put the tentacle on the boat?
- Yes, he was trying to find whoever was spying on him.
- What would you have done if you had located me?
The Captain stared at him and said:
- I'm glad he didn't. In that case, at least, I would have launched those evil beings to kill you and, if I thought we were accomplices, I would have sunk the ship.
- So the giant octopus is the very powerful being that these things serve.
- Yes, the problem we have is that once that disgusting being revealed that it was him and that they were subjected to the octopus as you say, the octopus first came to the beach. He stuck his head out and said that he liked these islands and that either we did what he said or he would throw those things out to exterminate us.
- And I imagine there have been people over the years who have tried to get rid of them all.
- Yes, but none of them have returned.
Andrasio got up and went to the door.
- There are people outside. I have no doubt that these beings have come for us. One last question: What are you forcing them to do so that they don't exterminate you?
- We have to let them kill those people who the octopus considers to be a nuisance: people who criticise the form of government of the Supreme Fisherwoman who is now conducting negotiations with them.
- Well, is there another way out of here?
- Yes, but we wouldn't get very far.
Andrasio nodded.
- No, I think there is another way to convince them that they have simply wiped us out. For example, that we have drowned.
- But they'd catch us in the city on the way back.
- No, we have to be much smarter. They think we're going to confront them, but we know that hasn't worked. We have to do it another way… but first we have to get out of here without being seen and go somewhere concrete where we can just make it look like it was our destination.
The others nodded and silently opened a small back door and went out behind the cliff and shortly came to a large house in the middle of the cliffs. No one had followed them. A storm was threatening.
- I don't know if this would be incomprehensible but I have a feeling we are going to have an attack. Over there I see they are starting to come up. I've got the bow here.
Meanwhile, in the distance, some strange beings were starting to climb up the cliff and, after, were running towards the house…