The Princess and the Blood of Eternity

Chapter 7: A Man Named Davik

Over the years, the docks of the capital had grown into a wooden maze of stilted piers built over several square miles of ever-expanding tidal flats as they followed the ocean's continuing withdrawal. The older sections of the piers had long since become the homes of the poorer residents and migrants inside the city. Many lived in a variety of shacks, hovels, or tents, anything they could get their hands on—built along the sides of the platforms. The homes were often tacked on the edges, suspended, or even bolted onto the support pillars underneath the pier itself. Anywhere and anything, as the saying went for housing amongst the less fortunate.

"Time to get this over," he mumbled, shaking the moisture off his cloak. The soft bottoms on his leather shoes hardly made any noise as he made his way along the floating dock and up the steps and onto one of the larger piers. The people that filed passed—they paid him no mind. Many were foreign traders prepping for a return voyage or looking for a master merchant to help price and move their goods. All of it had nothing to do with him.

First, he would pay a visit to his friend's tavern on the edge of the docks next to the large market, then he'd visit his wife and kid on the edge of the city at the barracks. Business would come last. When the time came, he'd meet his connection along the main avenue inside the city.

His previous assignment had taken him to the city of Tervaska. If things had gone smoothly, he would've returned with the start of the trade season. Stubborn fools. The council of merchants had no one to blame but themselves for the riots that had left half the city burned. His own role in the fire's start was wholly irrelevant.

Picking a path through the docks had never been a straightforward task. The continuous expansion and cultural influx of foreign traders ensured a steady flow of change. Looking around, he tried to determine how much was different since he'd last been home. Usually, it was easy to determine the visitors or immigrants based solely on how much color remained in their clothing. It took time for the mines and harsh environment to burn everything away.

Several minutes of uneventful walking led to a more established section of the docks. With it came the milling masses of unwashed bodies. Tired, dirty faces, fresh from the mines in the mountains, and then there were the sweaty and equally dirty laborers out of the forges on the northern edge of the city. He also passed groups of squatters. Tired and broken bodies, nowhere to go and nowhere to be. There were more than what he was used to seeing. Dressed in large black ponchos, barefooted—they sat around waiting for handouts or a crew desperate for another pair of hands.

The nearby food cart filled the air with the stench of dried, fermented fish. The crusty yellow filets hung on a piece of string, suspended between two vertical rods as their fluids dripped and sizzled on the few remaining coals. His stomach growled. Fermented fish along the docks was one of his favorite delicacies.

Innocuous screaming beneath the platform signaled the passing of some children. Peering through the thick beams, he spotted a half dozen of the little urchins wading through knee deep mud as they dug in the muck with their hands for anything of value. Sewage, muck, and a lack of clothing mixed with young age made gender impossible to determine. One creature had found a clam, and a fight had broken out. Several onlookers on the docks had stopped to make bets.

Ahead, he noticed the crowd being systematically split by some unseen force. Possibly an overturned vendor cart. He ignored the disturbance and continued forward, rehearsing his report for the upcoming meeting with his connection.

The people eventually cleared, and the disturbance revealed itself to be a pair of city guards bullying their way against the flow of traffic. Armed with short lances and dressed in black plate. They lacked their iconic, egg-shaped black helmets with the built-in visor and breather.