A Disaster of Fugitives - an MCYT D&D AU fanfiction

10: Martyn

I needed a break from writing.

But now I am back with a vengeance. 

And chapters. 

1 minute.

It takes about a minute for our hopes of an easy exit to disappear.

'Did you know the crown prince Bdubs is staying in Seadragon Port?' Scott casually mentions as we head through the town. I'm not the only one who nearly stops in my tracks..

'What?!' Grian bursts out, tail raised. 'That's...' A pause, stopping himself from revealing what happened 'That's mad... Do you know why?'

'No... my brother Xornoth told me there was a robbery in Dryadalis but... That's all... Hey! Joey!'

'Yeah?' A human sailor looks over from a decent sized boat we've reached. 'Scott? And who are this lot?'

'Our crew... But we still need to head further along the shore to keep this wagon somewhere.'

'Scar, Doc, do you want to stay on the boat with me and look around?' Grian's quick to suggest. I instantly realise what he's done: they're the ones everyone knows are guilty. Stopping them from getting caught.

'Cub? Do you want to stay too?' Scar's eager to ask too.

'We'll need enough pairs of hands to carry whatever we're bringing back to the ship... I'll go with Ren and Martyn to do that.'

'Oh, alright! Stay safe!'

Scott with us, we lead the wagon further along the dock towards one of the houses along it. There's a decent place area at the side for us to store our wagon, just about to grab our stuff when another Triton interrupts us.

'Another group of refugees?'

His scales and fins are purply red instead of blue, but otherwise it's clear he's Scott's brother, Xornoth.

'They're not refugees. They just wanted to get across to the Great Empire.'

'With so much stuff? This is definitely an escape mission...' I snatch up Ren's guitar from his hands

'Stay out our wagon. We've had enough morally ambiguous people rifling through it recently.'

'Alright...'

He stops, frowning.

Staring at Cub.

'Cub... Heading to the Great Empire? Just a holiday or...'

'Just a holiday.' He grabs a box of food. 'Martyn, can you get Jellie's stuff? It's just in that box there.'

'How's Scar doing?'

Cub ignores, but I notice his pace increase. I grab the box, aware of Xornoth just watching as we finishing getting our stuff, heading back to the boat.

'Sorry about him. He... Got involved in a bad crowd and became annoying.' Scott tries to explain. Cub still isn't talking.

'Are you ok?' I ask. Again, no reply... The boat comes into sight. No one's there. I assume they've gone inside. Cub breaks into a run.

'Hello? Sir? Are you ok?' The sailor Joey appears again. 'They've just gone inside... I didn't kill them...'

I follow slower as he jumps onto the boat, laying down the supplies, running inside to see...

'Cub? What happened?'

Scar's there, just talking with Grian and Doc. There's a sigh of relief before Cub hugs his friend. Staring at me over his shoulder, clearly concerned and confused, waiting for an answer, Scar hugs him back.

'Someone... I don't know. I'm just paranoid. Everything's ok... Everything's just fine...'

'Cub, what happened?'

'Xornoth scared him. That's all.' Scott replies, arriving with Ren behind.

'Xornoth...?' Scar's still frowning, hugging Cub. 'Who...'

'My brother. Got involved in a bad group. Maybe he met Cub at some point... I don't know. But we should get going now... Feel free to look around the boat.'

Though still worried about Cub's reaction, I do. It's easily over twice the size of the wagon, with huge sails above. Half is outside, and half inside, with a balcony above where the ship's wheel is.

'Scar, I've got Jellie's stuff here, where would she want it?' He realises immediately why I'm asking. So we can be alone. Talk about whatever that just was with Cub.

'Yeah! Of course! There's a good space next to the hammock I picked out...' We disappear into the boat. Outside, attention's turned to sailing away from the shore. Cub's helping with the sails. Grian's gone elsewhere... It's just us.

'What happened? Why was he so relieved to see me?' ...alive we both add silently.

'We met Scott's brother Xornoth at his home... He asked something about you... Cub had clearly met him before. He just... Silently panicked... Do you know Xornoth? Did you meet him before?'

'I'm bad with names... I don't know... You know Scott, do you know him?'

'Met him once. He was at one of mine and Ren's gigs but no more than that... Really introverted, Xornoth is.'

'What's this about Xorny?' I turn to see Joey there, bringing something in.

'Do you know much about him?'

'Oh... I know everything about my Xorny. He's my boyfriend... Soon to be husband but anyway... What do you want to know about him?'

Me and Scar exchange a glance.

'What's the group he ended up in?'

'It's nothing... Just a slightly criminal group he's part of. They're called the True Vengeance... Their symbol is kind of like a sword in a V thing... Like an anchor almost.'

Scar freezes. Recognition fills him, eyes widening.

'They... They took me captive before.' One hand rises to the healed scar across his neck. 'I know them... That's True Symmetry's group.'

'Yeah, her. She's nice. She apologises after deceiving you. Also connections with the Great Empire like me.' Joey continues explaining.

A shout from outside. A glance over from Joey.

'Well, I need to help with the sails outside. Y'all can settle down in here or help.' He runs off, leaving me and Scar alone again.

'Are you alright?' I ask. He nods, just staring at the wood below us. 

'I think Cub's in trouble.' Scar murmurs. 'The True Vengeance... they're not good.' One hand rises, not to the mark on his neck, but to his arm. 'They hurt people.'

'They... hurt you?' I have to ask. He pulls up his sleeve, not looking over at the scars he's showing me - still sore red, thin cuts in the shape of the symbol Joey described. 

'They mark their victims.' He mumbles, 'So they're never forgotten.'

'Oh my goodness... and you think...'

'Unless... Cub was still worried about before... I don't know. It's been too long since we saw each other and now...'

'Are you alright to go and talk to the others outside?' I ask, hearing laughter at some joke. 'Or do you want to stay here a bit longer?'

'No... no... I'll join you. See what everyone's up to...' I ensure Scar doesn't fall as he stands, following out onto the sun of the deck where everyone else is. 

It's been a while since I've written this... 

But next chapter is going to be very very good

:)