“There is a... an event shall we say. Down by the docks, tomorrow.”

“What sort of event?”

“There will be a series of duels- well... they’re called duels, makes them sound fancy I suppose.”

“I like duels, are we dueling?”

“No, not us, we are betting.”

“Betting?”

“We each bet on the outcome of each duel, whoever wins the most bets wins. If it is a tie, then we can duel.”

“I expect you’ll be cheating somehow?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Well I’ll be cheating.”

“I expected nothing less.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yes, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Emin wasn’t quite sure how he’d gotten himself into this mess. He was almost entirely sure that it wasn’t entirely his fault though. There’d been some sort of commotion on the ship, something had been stolen and Mangon was desperate to get it back, so they were staying in town until they did. Drengen had been the only one left alive by whatever had taken it. Rumours were floating about as to who had done it. Drengen had been sly with the details so Emin had heard that it was sorcerers, mermaids, krakens, and demons from various people. He thought the arrow through Fey’s head was pretty damning that it was likely just ordinary people.

Whatever the case they were stuck here now and somehow, despite the complete lack of respect Mangon had shown their host they were being put up in rather nice accommodation in the Undercity. It seemed that Rogo wanted more armed men around for some reason. This had all been fine up until whisperings of the Dreys had started.

Emin and some other pirates had gotten the story from one of Rogo’s thugs. The Dreys were an event held each month down at the old Drey storehouses on the docks. They had long been looted and turned over to the various criminals that had taken the city, including a rather notorious criminal, Shandry Grum. Grum wasn’t much of a threat to anyone anymore. He was an old man who had holed himself up in the storehouses and was protected only by a few members of his family. The reason he was so notorious had to do with what he’d done in the past and to do with the Dreys. A tournament he ran where anyone could enter and fight it out with everyone else for a prize consisting of enough money to guarantee your ticket out of the city, if you weren’t robbed first of course.

Emin, theoretically, had his ticket out of the city, but it was starting to look uncertain as Mangon had them staying there longer and longer. What’s more, all the other pirates were entering this tournament. So he’d somehow agreed to enter as well, it was rather boring waiting around all day underground, he was missing the sea already. So he’d signed up for this tournament and now here he was in an old storehouse crowded with what felt like hundreds of criminals and brutes united for the Dreys.

There were people from Rogo’s gang, from Salara’s gang, and probably from the Black Spider gang as well, although they were difficult to recognise since no one knew what they looked like. Plenty of people claimed to work for them though, even some Emin already knew worked for Rogo. There were others who didn’t work for anyone, who had never found their way to the Undercity and as such were victims of the carnage and chaos in the streets. It was difficult to find a safe haven in Nargathrum now that the last of the great guildspires had been taken and looted.

Then there were, of course, the pirates who fitted right into the general atmosphere of the room. They were missing a few key members. Fey, of course, who was dead, Drengen, who was still on the ship and Mangon and those he trusted most who he’d taken along with him to find what had been taken from him. He didn’t trust Emin of course, and well he shouldn’t since Emin had found out what was in the brig that Mangon hid away from them all. He knew what had been stolen, he’d known about it for a long time. Not that he’d told anyone of course, and no one knew that he knew. But he knew that it was actually a man that was locked away in that brig, a man that had now been rescued by someone, or something if the stories were to be believed. A man that Mangon needed to have locked away before he’d set sail. Emin had considered this for a minute before deciding that he wasn’t smart enough to figure out what was actually going on and instead decided to try and enjoy himself at the Dreys.

He wasn’t enjoying himself at the Dreys. Things were far too crowded and the thugs and criminals of Nargathrum were very loud. He didn’t mind such conditions on a ship were there was fresh air and the sea breeze but here in this sweltering room he was almost suffocating. So he wormed his way through the crowd and out onto the docks. Here was the fresh air and the sea breeze. He looked out at the dark ocean and sighed, it was so peaceful out here, so calm and idyllic.

Then a horrifically scarred man walked up to him and spontaneously threatened his life.

“What are you doing out here on the docks?” the scarred man asked, walking quietly up behind him. Emin turned around, he hadn’t been threatened yet but he was still wary of any strangers in this city. The man had three long dark scars down his face, impossibly dark, and impossibly ugly, they seemed to be glistening with black acid or something, Emin was mesmerised.

“Do you know who I am?” the man asked.

Emin shook himself out of his mesmerisation and answered the stranger. He did know who he was, this man was rather infamous in Nargathrum, particularly in Rogo’s gang.

“You’re the Minstrel, the man with a thousand shadows.” Emin resisted the urge to look around for more shadows, it was dark so it was hard to tell how many shadows the man had.

“Yes, that’s right,” said the man, “and you, young boy, are a competitor in tonight’s events.”

“Um... yes,” Emin replied nervously, the man was standing beside him now looking out at the ocean. He didn’t have a weapon from what Emin could tell, and he wasn’t especially big or strong looking, but the scars were terrifying on their own and everyone knew that this man was a bearer of the darkest of magics.

“You are going to lose your matches tonight, every one of them, or,” the man paused and looked at him with those terrible scars, “I am going to kill you.”

Emin nodded, it seemed the right thing to do. Then he turned around and went back inside, things were a lot less idyllic out here now. As he left the Minstrel called out to him.

“What’s your name, boy?” he asked and Emin halted, sweat beginning to trickle down the back of his neck.

“Fey,” he lied convincingly, it seemed the right thing to do.

Duren breathed. It had been a long time since he’d done that. He was buried under ash, mountains and mountains of ash. Ash so high and so endless the entire world must’ve been burned to make it. Under all that the ash filled his lungs choking them completely, it filled his eyes, crusting them over and shutting them beneath layers and layers of it, it sunk in through his mouth, through his nose, through his skin, and into his brain. Beneath all that he couldn’t think, he could do nothing but die. Except he hadn’t died, instead he had breathed. It had been a dusty, choky breath that wracked his body with pain, but it had been a breath nonetheless. Because now there wasn’t just ash, now there was a cool, calming water that began to wash the ash away. Now there was hope.

Karnell watched as Bara, the Storm Sorceress of the Seas worked the seawater around the Phoenix. He wasn’t sure exactly what she was doing, all he’d been told was that she’d know what to do. She was keeping him asleep somehow, which was important since he’d been getting angrier and angrier as they’d gotten closer to Nargathrum. Now he looked like he was finally at peace. One eye and half of his body was still dead and ruined from the battle at Fort Sundrick but the other eye, usually blazing with the fury of a raging inferno, was closed for once, it’s light only faintly shining through the eyelid as he lay in ocean by the beach, only his face showing above the water.

Karnell watched. He had done it, he had finally saved him.

Emin lost his first match on purpose. It had definitely been on purpose. It had nothing to do with the fact that his opponent was twice his size and ten times his strength. No Emin had let him win, as a good blackmailed person should. Unfortunately for him his next opponent was actually smaller and weaker than he was and he really didn’t want to have to lose in front of all the other pirates.

She was a small girl who seemed to be there against her will and was glaring up at him with all the rage of an imprisoned animal. Emin wasn’t too bothered though, he’d fought more adorable opponents both at sea and back home in the streets. Looks like that could be deceiving, and Emin wasn’t going to be deceived.

The bell rang and he stepped toward her but she moved and she moved fast. He tried to strike her but she dodged away and punched him hard in the ribs and back causing him to stagger. Then she followed up with a kick that almost sent him crashing to the ground but he recovered and swung around to fend her off, she darted lightly back.

It looked like he was going to be deceived. But that didn’t mean he was going to lose.

The next time she came he was ready. He’d fought fast people before, back on the streets there were loads of them, he’d been one. It seemed that life as a pirate with a weapon had made him forget how to fight without one. Well, he was going to remember and he was going to do it fast. All thoughts of being blackmailed had left him as he swung, and this time he made sure he connected.

It was a glancing blow and it threw him off balance but it threw her off balance more and they both staggered clumsily away. He wasn’t reeling from a blow to the head though and he recovered first, coming in for another swing. He missed this time and suffered a few more hits to his side but he lashed out and fended her off once more.

Then before she had a chance to recover, he lunged. She moved out of the way but he managed to get a hand around her arm. Both the hand and the arm were slick with sweat but he tugged at her anyway and slowed her down enough to land his other hand right in her jaw. She toppled to the ground and he stood there panting as the bell rang.

The pirates cheered and the girl scrambled back to her feet, glaring angrily at him. Then all the thoughts of blackmail started to come rushing back. He looked around for the scarred man and didn’t see him. Maybe there’d be a chance for him to slip out unnoticed.

There wasn’t, he had another match to fight. He fought in many more, including facing the girl once again, and this time he made sure to lose everything. He couldn’t afford to get caught up in the thrill of the battle again, painful as losing was.

By the end of the night he was bruised and bloody and looking around desperately for somewhere to go, somewhere to hide. He wormed his way out of the Dreys and ran.

“Looks like you lost.”

“...”

“I guess cheating isn’t the best policy for these things after all.”

“...”

“Anyway I earned a lot of money on all those bets. It seems that fate might just be on my side for this little game of ours.”

“We’ll see.”

“When shall we next meet? I’m rather-”

“We shall next meet when you’ve finished my game?”

“Your game?”

“Yes, my game is simple. There is a man in this city, a horrible man who has killed possibly hundreds of people. The first of us to kill him wins.”

“You want me to kill this man?”

“Yes, I’ll even give you an hour’s head start.”

“...Okay, how will I recognise this man?”

“He was the hooded man we saw on the way back from the fishmonger’s place the other night. I’d suggest you start there.”

“How will you know I’ve killed him?”

“I want you to bring me his eye.”

“His eye?”

“Yes.”

“How will you be able to tell his eye from anyone else’s eye?”

“Oh believe me... I will.”

Normally when a Phoenix was submerged in water it would be vulnerable. Unable to regenerate in the huge burst of fire and ruin that allowed it to return from the dead. However, the water that the Phoenix of Fort Sundrick was submerged in was carefully controlled to be harmless to him. This meant that when an arrow flew down from the beach, past Karnell, and into his head, he regenerated just as any phoenix would. In a huge explosion of fire and ruin.