Thieves
Thank you all for the great support I've received in this project. The City of Duhr was originally a one off, something I was just throwing out there but due to a lot of requests and feedback, I've continued the story.
We're building quite the backlog of stories now so make sure you start at the beginning. These are not meant to stand alone.
Here's where to start:
This is #4 Thieves and I hope you enjoy.
Thieves
Shoving our ship
from angry waves to bursting swells
the Sea of Storms
lives up to it's name.
Half the crew is scrambling on the deck
battening down this or that
preparing for our capsize
the other half
praying
pleading for the strength to hang on against
gusts of wind erupting over the hull.
In this chaos
I sit against the hull wall
crashing waves washing away the crust and crud from my journey
a deluge dripping off me as I drink water from my canteen
the canteen I filled in Vezun
waiting
watching the running, the panic,
the dwindling hope for a tomorrow in the crew's eyes.
Beside me
a man with no tomorrow
regardless of the ship's fate
his white cloak ripples as the water falls over him
his face down
hands outstretched, scorched flesh weighed down by
adorned brass manacles chaining him from wrists to ankles.
Checking my hand again
the hand with the golden glowing compass
from the golden eyed girl in Vezun
from the night of my beating.
Where there were once letters
N, E, S, W
now only a circle
and needle pointing where I need to be
pointing to the man beside me.
I offer him my water
he waves it away
I shout over the yelling and screaming of the storm
"Not thirsty?"
he waves me away.
At port I saw him loaded onto the ship
more guards than ship's crew.
In whispers I heard him called the Phantom of Caliburn
quieter whispers told of his deeds
murder
loud barking from his guards made his fate clear
he's to be keelhauled off the coast of Caliburn
the ship's destination.
If we survive tonight
Caliburn is tomorrow's port.
"Did you do it?"
I yell.
His white hood sinks lower
shoulders following.
"I've done a lot of stuff. Murder was never one. Didn't get caught for most I did."
I laugh
"But, maybe if I did get caught, caught early enough...
I wouldn't be talking to you right now."
Caught before the lies and drinking and endless attempts to be someone else
then maybe the City of Duhr wouldn't be so far out of reach.
"No."
A faint voice carries out from the hood
creeping through the crashing waves
the screams of those washed overboard
so soft and precise like a velvet sword.
"You'd still be here."
his hood turns towards me
revealing a face
freshly mangled by a torturer's flame.
"People like you don't learn until you're here."
"People like me? What do you know about people like me?"
"You've been to Duhr. It's grace carries on you just like everyone who set foot in the City of Light, the City of Duhr. If you're here, you were cast out. You don't look like someone who'd leave Duhr by choice."
"What do you know of the City?
A murderer,
a thief of the worst kind,
one who takes what they can never return.
If a liar like me isn't allowed in the City of Duhr
the phoenix that cast me out
would devour someone like you."
He laughs into the storm
a madman's laugh
"I abandoned the path to Duhr long ago."
Lightning strikes the crows nest
igniting it to flames whipping with the storm
quickly crawling down the mast to the deck.
The man watches it creeping toward him
his face
serene
almost hopeful
"Why do you want entry to the City?"
he extends his feet to catch it
courting it to him.
"To..."
the words fall from me
another thought ignited by the question.
I knew why, to see Julia,
but is that why?
After being cast out
so many times
I can see her every time for a moment
and moments can add up but that isn't why.
I've been trying to steal into the city for so long
I have forgotten the truth.
The ship's crew
those left on the deck
jump to the blackness of water in night
seeking a reprieve from the fire in darkness.
I sit
take another swig from my canteen
drinking it dry.
With nothing left in it, I stand on the ship's deck
looking to my hand
the compass still pointing to the man.
Boiling in me
the truth that has been sparked in me
that twists in me a sickness from the worse kind of lie
that you tell to yourself.
Finally
the truth spills from me
"To take back what the City stole from me!"
Lighting whips through the sky
the end cracks with thunder shaking the sea
splitting the sky
for a moment revealing the Moon through a veil of clouds.
The Moon
white
pure
a gleaming coin in the storm racked sky
lighting the man's manacles exposing the manacles
are unlocked.
He sees me seeing him
unbound.
Standing
throwing off his shackles
the man steps into the flame
kneeling down
the Moon eaten by the storm
steam boiling off his cloak
"Then do you want to get into the City?
Or do you want to reclaim what it stole from you?"
His face lifts up
the flame catches him
curling up his body
he smiles
laugh like a man struck by enlightenment
vanishing in the smoke
silenced by the storm.
The compass on my hand
glowing golden
points to the stern of the ship
away from the fire.
I run the direction I'm told
no one is left on the ship
I am alone
again
and for a moment
I enjoy the solitude
quickly eclipsed by the joy of seeing the last life boat.
Sliding into the life boat
I cut the ties with a hatchet on board
dropping
to a swell's belly
rolling
drowning
emerging.
Reborn
The night passes
the storms follow
and I slide back the life boat's cover
take out my oars
and row towards the Caliburn shore.
A few strokes in
I look down to my feet
remembering the burning man
seeing his shackles on the floor of my boat.
Remembering now
I grabbed them in my escape
the Moon suggesting I do so
and inside the brass shackles
engraved with the King of Caliburn's seal
was something roughly etched...
55, 89, 144, 233
Jackal Corner
With each stroke of the oars
the thought festers like an infection
red
angry
ready to burst
"Cancer didn't take Julia.
The City of Duhr did.
And now
I'm taking her back."
If only I was so bold
when I was alive
I could have done more with my life.
<end>
I hope you enjoyed this installment of the story. I think we have about 2 or 3 more stories in this tale so stay tuned. Subscribe to keep up with our exile's journey. After all the stories are told, I'm thinking about packaging this up in an ebook for everyone to enjoy. There will be some other stories like a tale of the Golden Eyed Girl and expect an appearance from the Phantom of Caliburn.
Special thanks to our Poetry Friday host Laura Purdie Salas. Check out her blog here: https://laurasalas.com/poems-for-teachers/opening-of-snack-snooze-skedaddle-poetry-friday-2/
Your support and comments have gotten this story this far. Thank you! What I thought was a one off has turned into much more thanks to you all.