"The Archives of Amme - Episode 1" by Seth Reedy

The Archives of Amme
I. Prophase

Episode 1. The wreck and the wench

            Radek was never a very skillful man, but he wasn't Radek, the Lucky for nothing. It appeared that his current situation was proof of this. He reluctantly opened his right eye and half expected to be dead. However, the high sun was beaming in on him and after his eye adjusted to the light, he noticed he was inside the grungy hull of his ship. The splintered support beams were spearing light from all directions. He pushed against the wall he had been laying crushed on and stood up. Below, he was boot high in sea water and floating debris and above he could see the lower half of the mast looming over him.

            There's no mast? He thought. There's no roof.

            It was true. The Osiris had come to an honorable end. She laid split in two against the beach with her mangled body hanging on the waves. Radek managed to climb out of the demolished hull and onto what used to be the deck. None of his crew was to be found and only the scurries of mice could be heard. The creaks of the ship moaning in pain beneath his feet suggested Radek take to the shore and leave Osiris to her grave. Exhausted and aching from the mere exertion of crawling out of the ship, he slipped over the edge and into the ocean. His knees scraped the sandy bottom and he managed to crawl onto land. There he collapsed and slept for several hours.

            Early the next day Radek opened his one eye, yet again surprised to be alive. Finally able to move with little pain, he sat up and found sadness at the sight of his battered ship and the missing crew.
            “Hopefully they managed to swim away like myself, but they’re not as lucky as I, are they?” he smirked. “The ladies are gonna love this one.” Radek chuckled to himself. He headed down the white coast of the crystal Fana Ocean, hoping to find other life; he was horribly hungry and weak. Several miles later, glittering lights had begun to shine in the distance and every mile closer Radek could hear more music and more noise. 

            Port Vega was not the cleanliest of ports. It appeared to only be a stop for shady sailors and hungry thieves. Outlaws and bandits cluttered the trodden muddy streets and the buildings seem old, neglected and misshapen. Clamorous noise erupted from what looked to be bars; Radek could only guess at this, seeing as the townsfolk never took the time to label their buildings.
            Still having some wits about him, he decided to take advantage of an old drunk stammering down the alleyway.

            “Excuse me sir, pardon my carelessness.” Radek had intentionally run over the drunk and slipped his hand into the man’s oversized pant pocket to retrieve a fair amount of money.

            “Sir, you surely are not finished this evening? You must be lacking more ale and I must pay for it as an apology” Radek led the drunk back into the bar and bought him a drink with his own money. The drunk was fooled and smiled at Radek for being so kind.           “Seeing as I have gained your apology, perhaps you could tell me where I am?”             “Yer en Lloyd’s tavern, pretty boy. Yer en my tavern. Whatcha lackin’ sailor?”

            The rumble behind the bar counter was the largest man Radek had ever seen. This says a lot, considering Radek, after all, had been with the crew of the Osiris. The Osiris crew was known for not being the daintiest of men, yet this barkeep had surpassed them all in size and stature. Lloyd towered over his bar in such a way that it was obvious his tavern fights were outside and not in. His hair appeared like it was washed from the greasy rag from wiping bar tables. His left eye twitched when he spoke partially because it was glass and partially because it was always looking to pop out and roll on the counter. His mouth was engulfed with massive bruised, dried lips and these lips encased several, if not missing, rotten teeth.

            Radek just smiled. “I lack a good table to relax from my travels.”

            “Well, then stop yer blabberin’ and git on with it. The wench will git ya yer ale.”

            Radek found a table out from the center of attention and sat for the first time in at least 10 hours.

            How good it feels to sit! He thought, sprawling out across the chair.

            Just when Radek was thinking how he’d ever return home, a flash of fire fell past him and landed with a loud thud on the floor. Quickly brought to his senses, Radek leaned over and found a bar maid trying to recover from her trip to the floor.

            “Forgive me, I am never this careless, my good woman!” he said with a suave grin.

            She quickly stood and met his gaze. Her hair glowed like fire and rippled down in curls like flames. With a bright and cheery face, she smiled with no missing teeth. Radek already liked her.

            “Good evening. I’m Astacia, what would you like to drink?”

* * * * *

            Who leaves a child on a doorstep of an old shabby tavern and hopes she survives? The child was at the tender age of four – a human child, defenseless, dirty and with only packs of garments. When found by the owner, she was only able to give her name and nothing else.

            Being nothing of a compassionate family man, Lloyd told his bar wenches to come see to the child and three women in particular, Mille, Drellis, and Fiona, took her into their tiny abode behind the tavern. They raised Astacia, taught her to be a barmaid and allowed her to live with them all this time.

            Astacia had grown to become a beautiful young woman of 18 and was usually pursued by plenty of men at the tavern. However, as beautiful as she was, she did not equal this with intelligence and was left clueless to most of the men’s advances. This lack of intelligence also kept Astacia sheltered and very inexperienced in the ways of the world. But, Lloyd had to have a heart somewhere within that greasy, hairy chest, because he always pitied her and never disciplined Astacia for all her mistakes – she made plenty. At least 3 sets of dishes, 6 sets of mugs, and 4 tavern brawls were the result of Astacia’s clumsiness each night. Lloyd groaned as he watched Astacia trip for the 15^th time this evening. Something was definitely different about this day. By this hour she should have been falling for her 25^th or 26^th time at least.

            Astacia was quite used to falling and was up as quickly as she was down. The man at the table was a typical site for her to see. He was tall and of the human sort like she.

            How boring.. She thought. Astacia loved to see new and interesting people. Her only medium for new experiences was Lloyd’s tavern and her curiosity was only fed by whoever wandered in. It was on occasion she would see some half-lings or half-elven men (never women). Dark men with hoods came around sometimes, but were quickly escorted out by Lloyd himself. Once she counted herself very lucky because she saw a dwarf and an elf all in one day.

            Even though he was usual looking, something in her was sparked by the man staring back at her. He had long, blond hair and a deep blue eye. The hair was messy but tied by a string and she found herself staring at the patch over his left eye. He was dirty, disheveled and stunk as bad as the rest of the men around her. Clearly he was a sailor or maybe…?

            Nah… she thought to herself. She’s never seen a pirate and today didn’t seem the day to see one.

            “Good evening, I’m Astacia, what would you like to drink?” The young man stared for half a second too long and forced himself to behave like he knew how.

            “Hello young lady. I am Radek Uberland and I’ve come all the way across the Fana Ocean for your famous Tops Ale” he lied. 

            “Uhh, she stammered, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to choose something else. We don’t have that here.”

            “Uh..you don’t?.. well... of course you don’t! But you’re missing out. One of the best ales I’ve tasted in all the world –“

            “- the world?” Surely, he didn’t mean the entire world, she thought.

            “The world!” he repeated. “Once my mighty ship, Osiris, was traveling along the treacherous Restam Straight and my crew and I came across a vessel made entirely of gold. When the battle was finally over, my victorious crew had seized their ship and took 4 barrels of gold and 6 barrels of Tops Ale each.” Astacia was now staring blankly at him.

            “Or how about something more manly than ale?” he quizzed.

            “Uh.. well…”

            “No?! Man, I once had liquor so ripe from the vine that it made men’s curly hair go straight. We found it off the shore of … of…” Radek quickly looked around to find no labels on anything, or any words to steal ideas from.

            Was this an illiterate town? He quickly added “... of Pirate’s Isle!”

            Astacia gasped. “You are a pirate!”

            “Well, yes of course, nothing less.” Radek bowed. No, Radek had never drunk liquor that strong or seen Restam Straight, nor had he ever heard of anything called Pirate’s Isle, but he was a pirate and that, there was no lying about.

            “How amazing!”

            Radek continued his half true stories and embellished them with glorious detail. The two could have sat for hours if it wasn’t for Lloyd. He didn’t like that Astacia had stopped working and he especially didn’t like that she had stopped working because of a man.

            Radek and Astacia looked up at the looming barkeep. Astacia just smiled.

             “You aint buyin ale, then leave!”

            “Radek was telling me of his adventures and how he needs to get home! He’s a pirate!!” Astacia gleefully exclaimed until she whispered Radek’s occupation.

            “A PIRATE?” Lloyd boomed.

            “Ah, sir, I mean to take this clueless girl of your hands.”

            “No you don’t! You mean to sit ere and start causin trubble in my bar!”

            “Wha.. what I mean is .. let me take this girl off your hands and we’ll both leave. She’s obviously dumb and speaks when ideas get into her head, without tossing them around first.” Radek looked around nervously at all the eyes glaring at the three of them.

            “What I mean sir is.. I could use the company for my travel home and Astacia here, was interested.”

            “You ain’t takin’ her!”
            “Here! I’ll buy her! Surely, it’ll replace a clumsy girl’s trouble and any ale I was meant to buy.” Radek slammed money on the table in sheer fear of being pummeled, when everyone gasped. He then realized he was handing over nearly 500 gold pieces for a clumsy barmaid. Radek gulped at his mistake for not tossing the idea around longer than he had.

            Lloyd peered down at Astacia and grabbed the gold. “Go on girl. You can’t stay here forever.”

            Radek jumped and grabbed Astacia to leave; gracious he had survived within an inch of being flattened on the floor. He had learned one thing during his pirate life of 3 years and that was when your identity as a pirate is given away to a large, drunken mob – run! And run they did!

            “Where are we going?” yelled Astacia from behind, still being drug by Radek.

            “Outta here! To the next village of course!”

            “But that’s Kowe and that’s at least a day’s walk!”

            “Good! That’s why we’re running!”