Chapter 15: Big Day

“When in Tumba, keep an eye on your friends. ‘Cause if you let them out of your sight, you might never see them again.”

-The Golden Son, account written by biographer shortly before the latter’s death, date unknown.

Stephan shuffled up the slope under the oppressive sun, a hand on the side of his thumping head, the other steadying the satchel hanging from his shoulder.

Mouth dry, vision blurry, limbs shaking, he was already sincerely regretting the previous night’s excursion.

He didn’t remember wrapping up the presents, but he must have done it before passing out in bed, because they had stood on his desk in the morning, artfully put together with bows and all.

I must be some kind of savant when I’m drunk, he thought idly. I don’t think I could make a present that nice while sober, even.

Yin led the pack up the shrubby hill, strutting with light, effortless steps. Kurko was close behind her, complaining so incessantly of the sun that Stephan was put off from doing the same. Taira struggled near Stephan, panting from the exertion, her short-sleeved shirt wet through with sweat. She evidently didn’t get out much.

“Did you enjoy your night?” Taira asked between huffs.

“I don’t remember most of it,” Stephan admitted. “Although, I suppose that was rather the point.”

“Come on, hurry up!” Yin shouted. She turned to walk backward, looking down at everyone. “We’re missing out on valuable time!”

“We do have all day for this, you realize?” Stephan called up to her. He wiped sweat from his brow and stopped for a moment to steady himself before trudging on.

“We need to make the most of it! My first Najun has to be special!”

Yin and Kurko made it to the crest of the hill. It took several painful minutes for Stephan to catch up, Taira right behind him.

The hill led to a steep cliff on one side which overlooked the gently lapping, sapphire-blue ocean. Yin sat down on the edge, skinny legs dangling over the side, and closed her eyes as the sea breeze ruffled her hair.

Stephan’s legs shook badly, threatening to buckle under his weight. He sat down on a rock to catch his breath and held his mercilessly aching head in both hands.

Kurko fumbled inside his oversized, rough-spun shirt and brought out a small ragdoll adorned with animal hair. He gave it to Yin, who clutched it against her breast.

“Thank you!” she said. “I’m a little old for dolls, but I’ll keep it where I can always see it.”

Taira was next. She gave Yin an adventure book about the Golden Son, the most famous pirate who ever lived. Even Stephan had read a few of them as a child, all the way in the Concord.

Yin looked disappointed when she took it, but her eyes lit up when she started flipping the pages. “Oh, it’s written in True Speech! And it’s got pictures, too!” She turned the book around and showed everyone a drawing of the legendary pirate blowing a hole through a demon’s stomach with a burning slug from his equally famous weapon, the revolver known as the Golden Gun.

“It took some searching,” Taira said, hiding her mouth behind her sleeve.

Stephan was up. He unslung his satchel and gave the three presents to the green-skinned girl.

“Be well on your starday,” he said, giving her head a clap.

She tore open the wrapping to the chocolate with a precise cut from one of her swords. While chewing on that, she unwrapped the necklace and threw it on.

“Thank you!” she said, smudging chocolate on the metal disk as she turned it over. “I love pretty things!”

Lastly, she opened the flower, which had hardy, broad stems, waxy petals, and small, red flowers, some still budding. She leaned in close and smelled the flowers. A smile spread across her face.

“There were lots and lots of flowers in the Living City,” she said. “Growing from walls, roofs, windowsills. Everywhere. Whenever I see a pretty flower, it reminds me of home.” She looked up, eyes watering. “Thank you, everyone. I, um… Thank you. I’ve never really had gifts before.”

Yin cut free one of the plastic bows from the wrapping and put it in her hair. Then, her gaze grew hard, and she turned her weapon on all of them. “If you tell Torch or Kazzul about any of this, I’ll kill all of you. They’d never let it go.”

Kurko chuckled. He agreed that none of them would speak of it, but that wasn’t good enough. Once they had all promised, she nodded with a self-satisfied smile.

They headed back towards the ship. This time, Yin was the one lagging behind, gaze fixed on her shoes.

Stephan slowed down and fell into step with her. The necklace dangled around her neck and she clutched her other gifts in her arms. She had insisted on carrying them all herself.

“Is something bothering you?” he asked.

She looked up quickly. “No! Well, um…” She shrugged. “It was over so quickly. It was a nice feeling. I wish it could have lasted longer.”

Stephan smiled and hiked up his glasses. “You underestimate me, little pea.”

“I’m not a pea!” Yin shrieked, face going purple. “I’ll kill you if you call me that again!”

Stephan chuckled, and she kicked him in the shin, hard enough to topple him onto all fours. His head swam, and he groaned as he stood back up. Luckily, she hadn’t caught his left leg, still badly scarred from the shark attack.

“Regardless,” he groaned, “I have more in store for you.”

Yin’s eyes widened, going almost perfectly spherical. “What is it? Tell me!”

“Try asking politely. That might yield better results.”

Yin blew out her cheeks. “Why?”

Stephan shrugged. “Just humor me. We Concordians are big on politeness.”

“Fine. Pleeease tell me what you’ve got planned.”

“A little joyride over the ocean,” Stephan said with a secretive smile. He held up a hand. “Don’t worry. As far as Kazzul is concerned, we’re casting off so I can catch some crabfish.”

Yin hid a childlike grin behind her sleeve. She seemed to have an abundance of energy again, and inside a few seconds, she was once more at the head of the pack.

They returned to the Perch and found their way onto the Tits Up. The ship was a little quieter than usual.

Quintilla met them at the landing ramp leading to the cargo hold. She ruffled Yin’s hair, slapped the girl playfully on the back of the hand when she tried to retaliate, and told her that she had a gift waiting in her room. The Aqithi girl dashed up the stairs, and everyone else was left smiling at her vigor.

“Have you seen Kazzul?” Stephan asked the captain. “I want to know if he’s ready for that, ahem, fishing trip we had planned.”

“About that…” Quintilla said. “Our pilot is currently unaccounted for.”

“Unaccounted for?” Kurko asked. he stooped down to look the captain in the eye. “What do you mean?”

“Unaccounted for, as in, I don’t know where the fuck he’s at. Neither does Torch, and evidently, neither do you. I was just about to head out to look for him. Now that you’re back, Kurko, why don’t you check his usual haunts for me?”

Kurko nodded. “Yes, Captain.” With that, he headed out.

Quintilla put an arm over Stephan’s shoulders. “And you’re sure you don’t remember where he might be? I heard you had a big night out yesterday.”

Stephan frowned, straining to remember.

“It’s imperative that we find him,” she continued. “He’s his own man, of course, but Kazzul has a unique tendency to get himself into all kinds of trouble when he’s away from… adult supervision, shall we call it.”

Stephan searched his blurry, chopped-up memories of the previous night until he exacerbated his headache.

“I think…”

Yin came down the stairs. She leaned a sword against her shoulder the length of her entire body, and as wide as her torso.

“Look what I got, Lordling!” she called and lifted the massive hunk of steel with one hand.

“Bought it at an antique for hardly the price of the metal,” Quintilla said with a wry smile. “Polished it up a bit, good as new.”

“A warcleaver,” Stephan said. “Popularly used by physically enhanced individuals until about a century ago. That one looks to be in decent condition. Concordian, most likely.”

Quintilla glanced over at him, eyebrow cocked. “A keen eye. Didn’t know you were so well-versed in warfare.”

“I’m not,” Stephan admitted. “As I believe I informed you when we first met, I take an interest in antiques.”

“Hey! Over here! Look!” Yin whooped.

She had placed the sword against the floor, point down, and hoisted herself up so that she balanced on the pommel of the oversized blade with only one hand.

“Very impressive,” Quintilla said. “Why don’t you run along, child? We have something that needs discussing.”

Yin leapt down on her own two feet and reset the warcleaver over her shoulder. “We killing someone?”

“No. But if we’re unlucky, someone might be dead.”

“If something’s going on, I want in.”

“It’s your starday. You shouldn’t have to do any work today. Go have some fun, okay?”

Begrudgingly, Yin wandered off with her new weapon in tow.

“Now, Mr. Lordling,” Quintilla said, “have you recalled anything that might lead us to Kazzul?”

“Something about… girls,” Stephan said. “A brothel, maybe. I must have accompanied him, because I woke up covered in…” He coughed into his fist. “Anyway. I remember very little after we were thrown out of Sweet Devil, and certainly not where we might have gone.”

“Hmm, that doesn’t narrow things down much. Almost as many whore houses as homes in this city.”

Kurko returned not long after. He hadn’t found Kazzul, and no one had seen him after he had left Sweet Devil.

Quintilla sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I’m afraid this is a crisis situation. Until we have found our idiot of a pilot, everything else must be put on hold. I want all hands on this.”

“What about Yin?” Stephan asked.

“Her birthday will have to wait. There are lives at stake.”

*****

Kazzul awoke with a splitting headache. His mouth was dry as cotton, and his skin was flaking from dehydration. His stiff limbs ached something fierce.

When he tried to move, he found his arms and legs restrained. His wrists and ankles were tied to a chair with plastic bands.

“What the fuck?” he muttered, starting to come out of his haze.

Looking around, he observed that he was in a room, small cuts of daylight coming in through boarded-up windows. A bed took up one corner of the room to his right, and there was a table with a pair of chairs on the other side. There was a door opposite him, but it was closed. Other than that, the room was mostly empty, apart from a pile of clothes on the floor. His clothes, he realized.

Kazzul looked down.

He was stark naked, limp manhood tucked between his legs.

“Hey!” he called. “Someone! Where am I?”

He kept shouting until his throat became prickly and he started coughing.

No one answered.

Kazzul leaned back in the chair and sighed. This wasn’t the worst state he had woken up in after a night of whoring, but it was close to it.

Footsteps sounded on the other side of the door.

“Hey!” Kazzul screamed. He jumped in his chair so that the legs tapped on the floor. “Hey, come get me! I’m a little tied up here!” He struggled to recall his safe word. “Uh, erm, magenta! Magenta!”

The door came open, and a human woman stepped into the room. Quite a fetching one, too. Curvy legs wrapped in tight denim, a slim waist, and a bust that filled out nicely beneath a black top. She had straight, brown hair, worn in a ponytail. The only thing that fouled her appearance was the ugly scowl that screwed up her face.

She walked up to him, and Kazzul tried to wriggle over so she could get to his bonds and release him.

Instead, she drew a pistol and placed the barrel against his forehead.

“Oh,” he said. “It’s that kind of a day, huh?”

The woman smiled a venomous, joyless smile. “Only for you. I’m going to enjoy this.”