Chapter 13 A Fond Farewell
The Dastardly Daxarians
Nervously, Bes glanced over her shoulder to watch the Daxarian family that had saved them while they enjoyed their lunch. She and Hamil had opted to eat separately under the guise of giving the family some alone time, but really Bes was desperate to speak more privately with her friend.
“Where do you think they got it?” she whispered hastily to Hamil, who lounged at her side with his eyes closed and his face turned toward the sky.
He didn’t even crack an eye, which pricked Bes’s already delicate nerves.
“Who knows? They said the pirates are becoming a real problem, and we know not all of our Lobahlan ships make it back,” Hamil speculated lazily.
Bes twisted her mouth as her index finger tapped the back of her other hand nervously.
“What exactly are you afraid of?” Hamil asked.
“You know magically interfering with time is against Lobahlan laws!”
“Yes. And we are not in Lobahl. They can make their own mistakes.”
Bes shot him an incredulous look. “You can’t be stupid enough to think that Lobahl won’t be affected if they make a big enough mistake.”
Realizing he was not going to continue quietly enjoying his leisurely time in the sun, Hamil pulled his feet off the chair he had been using as a footrest. He leaned an elbow on the luncheon table where their empty plates sat and stared flatly at Bes.
“We have two choices. Tell them. Or don’t.
We’ve most likely already said too much, and telling them would probably mean they have a lot of questions,” he pointed out with uncharacteristic seriousness.
Bes shifted in her seat to face Hamil better. “What if there is someone in Lobahl making that stuff?”
“You heard them! The first witch and devil are out and about! One of them probably had something to do with it. But you never know, maybe they’ve figured out how to make magical tools in the other kingdoms.”
Bes scoffed. “Their government and kingdoms sound practically archaic. And they themselves seemed clueless. I doubt they’ve gotten that far.”
Hamil sighed. “So what do you want to do, O righteous one?”
Bes rolled her eyes at him. “First, I want to take a closer look at that watch and find out if it even works.”
“Mm-hm, and how do you think you’ll be retrieving their watch… from their room… in a locked drawer?” Hamil’s smile was taunting.
Scowling, Bes responded, “I figured we could sneak in or use the children as a diversion of sorts.”
“And what will you tell them when you get caught, and these people from a barbaric kingdom decide to toss you overboard?”
“You’re going to help me, Hamil,” Bes announced with implicit warning lacing her tone. “We’re in this mess because of you, and I want to know the situation with that magic tool if we are stuck on a boat with it for another week or two.”
“Goddess. Do you hear yourself? We’re on this boat only for another week or two! Why are you worrying? These ants are not coming into our home!”
Bes squirmed. “What if as soon as we get to Daxaria they do something terrible to us? What if we are imprisoned? Or they want to kill us? Or—”
“Why in the world would they want to kill us in their own kingdom when they could just as easily cut our throats and dump us overboard with no one the wiser?”
Bes clamped her mouth shut.
Hamil leaned back, a coy shine in his eyes. “You know what I think?”
“The fact that you are thinking at all is a big enough surprise.”
Hamil ignored her barb. “I think you are loving the thrill of these new people and the mystery and danger. I think you desperately want to get involved. Maybe you think you can enlighten these heathens and become their savior. Be a hero.”
Bes leaned back, incensed. “I do not!”
Hamil guffawed and turned his attention over to the Ashowan family just in time to see Luca launching a forkful of his lunch at Penelope, who shouted in protest. Lady Eli was quick to reprimand Luca, who barely smothered a mischievous grin.
The one called Lord Tam reached over to Penelope with a napkin.
“I personally want to ask them a lot of questions about the Sun Queen,” Hamil mused with a half grin still tugging up his mouth.
“I’m still not quite clear on whether she was always royal, or if she married into the family,” Bes remarked with an eyebrow raised.
Hamil tilted his head in agreement. “True. We don’t know if she was the daughter of the previous king, or if her husband was.
” He sighed. “See? It’s a good thing we took a little detour on our seafaring adventure!
Look how much we are learning! I understand about protecting our homeland, but we should be more aware of what’s happening in the rest of the world. ”
Bes didn’t object.
Another long span of time passed as they watched the family without comment, until Hamil let out a soft moan and turned to his companion.
“Alright. I’ll help you take a look at the watch.
But only because I’m curious about it. Maybe they call it something different and so it has different functions. ”
Bes smiled, unable to hide her excitement as she swiveled around in her seat. “Maybe we suggest to the children we play hide-and-seek, or… or we make them show us something that they find interesting, or—”
“Don’t you recall meentioning just now that it is in a drawer in Lady Eli and Lord Tam’s cabin?”
“Great! So we know where they’d keep it!”
“Both those drawers had locks. Like I mentioned before,” Hamil reminded.
Bes’s shoulders sagged.
Seeing this, Hamil chortled. “You’re so easily dissuaded. I can pick the lock. I’m just letting you know that it will delay us.”
Bes perked back up, her smile lightening her entire face.
“Bok.”
Hamil and Bes jumped aggressively when they realized that the strange chicken that everyone seemed to call “Duchess” had silently appeared on the table at some point during their discussion.
They jumped a second time, though slightly less clumsily, when they noticed the fluffy black cat called Kraken at their feet.
“Do you… Do you think this cat turns into that beast we saw earlier?” Bes asked in a whisper. “You know… the one that circled our ship.”
The fluffy cat blinked slowly, and for whatever reason, it made Bes gulp.
“Yes, I do seem to remember the giant winged cat! Dawit would be salivating over that ancient beast hybrid,” Hamil added offhandedly.
“Hamil! Focus! Is. This. That. Beast?” Bes didn’t take her eyes off of the cat for an instant.
“I can’t say. But this chicken… I don’t know why, but its eyes are terrifying me right now.”
“BAKA!”
Bes gave a short shriek, and Hamil made a garbled shout of alarm, even though the chicken had only moved one step closer to them.
“Everything alright?”
For the third time, Hamil and Bes yelped and reared back in surprise. Lord Tam had also appeared without them noticing his approach.
He shot them questioning looks, his sights drifting to the chicken and cat only briefly before moving back to them.
Bes pressed her hand to her chest and took a steadying breath. “Y-yes, we… we’re fine.”
“Tell me… Is this a… a… pet chicken?” Hamil ventured with a subtle tremor in his voice.
Lord Tam pressed his lips together as though trying not to laugh.
The chicken clucked quietly. How was it that it managed to sound indignant?
“No. The chicken is not a pet. But the chicken is important. Do not hurt the chicken under any circumstances.”
“W-why?” Bes croaked.
The Daxarian nobleman cleared his throat and rubbed his mouth. He seemed to struggle against wanting to laugh, and Bes desperately wished she knew why.
“Well, if you hurt the chicken… War will probably be declared against Lobahl. So mind her. Watch where you step on deck.”
Bes’s gaze darted nervously to the hen, who fluttered her wings, making her cringe back in her seat even more.
“A-a war? Over a chicken? Are you… You’re teasing us, Lord Tam.” Hamil tried to smile good-naturedly, but he also pointedly avoided looking at the chicken again.
Lord Tam shook his head somberly. “Not at all. Very bad things will come about if anything happens to that chicken.”
He turned as though meaning to walk away and let them stew on that ominous note, but Bes couldn’t resist asking, “What about the cat?”
Lord Tam froze. Then, looking over his shoulder, he responded, “He’s his own force of nature. I’d avoid annoying him. And maybe hide your shoes somewhere safe at night just to be sure.”
Bes opened her mouth to demand an elaboration, but Lord Tam had already placed a sizable distance between them.
Silence filled the air, until Hamil slowly inclined himself over to Bes and said, “I really wish he would’ve taken the animals with him if he was going to be so frightening about them.”
Bes didn’t dare take her eyes off the chicken. “What if neither of them are that giant winged beast, and it’s somewhere else on this ship?”
Hamil’s jaw flexed. Then he whispered, “Let’s snoop a little belowdecks when we go hunting for that watch.”
Bes would’ve said something along the lines of I told you so in reference to her concerns for their safety. But she found remembering to breathe a little troublesome as she was locked in an unfortunate stare-down with the chicken that could allegedly start a war.
★ ★ ★
“Hamil, might I have a word?”
The Lobahlan turned around and did his best to cover his yawn.
“How may I help you this afternoon, Lady Eli?” He smiled pleasantly as the noblewoman approached him in the ship passageway. A post-lunch nap had been his objective.
Lady Eli did not smile back at him.
She wasn’t the warmest of people, Hamil surmised.
“I… I was wondering if you might tell me a little more about that trinket that Penelope pulled out during Luca’s birthday.”
Hamil stiffened. “Erm. I’m sorry to say, my lady, I really don’t know anything—”
“I’m scared.”
The declaration was said with only a slight hitch in an otherwise level voice.
Blinking, Hamil lowered his chin slowly. “Are you… Are you scared of the chicken?”