A Song of Askaldenfirsts and Dragons. Book one: The outlanders (Part I-IV)
Chapter 16: Tulvarick

“Tarrick, you were wounded,” the king said, “how can you walk so fast? I’m already out of breath! We have been walking for almost a week with a little rest!”

“Your Majesty, you wanted to come with me, and I suggested that you go back. You saw the fleet is gone, but it doesn’t look like it was sunk, or the wreckage of the ships would be washed ashore.”

“When the arqilunians attacked, several dragons headed north, and then on the coast, when we found no trace of your fleet, five winged beasts flew straight to your glorious islands!” the king reminded.

Tarrick stopped and waited for the tonnebeard to catch up with him.

“Your Majesty, it was your idea to take the damned monsters as your allies!” Tarrick looked up at him, the king stretched from that look, then Tarrick turned and walked on. The long beard of a king was thrown over his shoulder, but it kept falling off as he walked.

“I’m not sure of anything,” the king admitted, “I hope that at least in the fishing town we will replace a boat. But it’s still madness! Sail to the Larmar Islands by boat! Look, Tarrick, it’s already blackened on the horizon, Silenta is frying us here, and where the islands should be is impenetrable darkness!”

“Your Majesty, I will gladly leave you here in Farderland in your homeland, and even I’ll ask a powerful magician to escort you straight to the capital!

“Hmah!” chuckled the elderly larmarian.

“This is wonderful, resier, but I think I’ll risk my beard and sail with you,” the king said.

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” Tarrick replied.

They had been walking along the coast for quite a long time and now they’ve almost approached Fishgartard, the fishing town of the tonnebeards.

The next day, they finally got there. The corpses of those killed were not completely eaten by the animals, but some were already slightly decomposed and exposed to their bones. The heads continued to be impaled on spears, disfigured, they no longer resembled those tonnebeards and larmarians that had once been alive.

The king was furious.

“I want to cut off his head again, and replace everyone who did it! Find not only the azdairiks, but all their vile ashklahars and rip off their heads!” Tulvarick was very angry. “We must bury them!”

“We don’t have time for this, Your Majesty,” Tarrick said, looking at the heads of the larmarians, which were located farther than the heads of the tonnebeards, the dwarfs’ beards continued to flutter in the wind.

They reached the pier and found the surviving fishing boat.

“The dragons may no longer be on the island, Your Majesty,” Tarrick said, And we may die at sea, are you sure you decided to sail with us?”

“Yes,” the king said confidently, “but I need to do something first! I’m sure the fishing boat can handle a couple of tenliash kegs!”

“Do you think, Your Majesty, that alcohol was left here after the azdairiks invasion?”

“Yes! And I even know where to look.” And the king headed for a coastal building that looked like a tavern. Tarrick and Henriker followed him.

Tulvarick tried to open the door, but it was locked from the inside. And then he began to push the door with all his might until it gave way. As he stepped inside, he barely managed to dodge the knife that stuck next to his head.

“Stay back!” the swarthy isters woman shouted, “Go where you were going!”

Tarrick, who had followed the king, entered and opened the door even more and pushed back the table that supported it, he had already drawn his sword, but immediately put it back when he saw next to the isters woman a girl of about seven years old.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Tarrick said.

Tulvarick looked at Tarrick and then looked at the woman.

“Unless, of course, you try to kill the king again,” Tulvarick said displeasedly. “What are you doing here with a child?”

“Stay back!” She moved back to the table, holding a sword with one hand, while the other held her frightened daughter.

Henriker has already prepared to cast the spell.

“Woman, you have a king before you, and the resier, and the wise magician, you have nothing to fear,” Tarrick insisted.

“I know what women are capable of. A couple of days ago I saw what seemed to be a dying young arqilunian young woman, and she was hungry, just like me. But she offered me to eat my daughter! My daughter! And she had a dagger, the one that is now sticking out at the door. First, I gouged out her eyes, then I cut off her nose, and then I cut off her left breast and left her to die. I know what ermirians women are capable of, and I know what the men can do! A king, a resier, a magician... A killer, a killer, and another killer!”

“And we are talking with a killer as well,” Henriker noted.

“I am the king, and this is my kingdom, after all!” Tulvarick said irritably. “I’ll let you live in my kingdom, just let me go to the cursed warehouse and take the tenliash barrel for Sumnargish mother’s sake!” with these words Tulvarick moved toward the woman, and she stepped back, holding the sword at the ready. Tarrick drew his sword again and followed the king. Henriker folded his hands, preparing to cast a spell.

Tulvarick walked down to the cellar, pushing aside tables and chairs, and he turned to the little girl, “Your mother stopped believing in ermirians, but not all ermirians are evil and mean! When you grow up, don’t be like your mother!” and he went to the cellar, followed by Tarrick. The old mage stayed to watch the isterses.

“Yes, you do live here! What a smell! Worse than corpses outside!” the king was indignant! “The sea is near, darling, after all, you could wash something!”

The king know what to do, he replace two torch holders on the wall, that needed to be pressed to open the way down to the second floor of the cellar. And he pressed it.

“Hey, isters woman, I’ve got a present for you,” the king shouted, going down to the second floor, and discovering various supplies of tonnebeards, dried meat, canned vegetables and fruits, pickles and jams, barrels of alcohol and much more. The king began to roll out the barrels of tenliash.

“Your Majesty,” Tarrick said to the king, “maybe we can take more barrels of water than of tenliash?” He asked hopefully.

“Well,” the king said, “two kegs of tenliash and four kegs of water should be enough for us to travel.”

“That’s if you don’t drink tenliash, the alcohol will make you thirsty...”

“All right, all right, six barrels of water! The fishing boat is big, for a crew of ten tonnebeards, and they catch fish. So the boat will hold all our weight. I don’t want to die at the sea without a mug of tenliash!” the king grinned.

The king and Tarrick pulled the barrels to the first floor of the cellar.

“Henriker, help us,” the king shouted, “and you, isters woman, clear the passage for us, you’ll get a lot of food and water, you have enough for a few months, if you’ll be eating like me you can fatten yourself to my size!” and the king laughed.

Henriker cautiously went down, the isters woman stayed where she was and continued to hold the sword in front of her. When Henriker was completely out of sight, she rushed to the door and ran out of the tavern.

Henriker, Tarrick, and Tulvarick pulled whatever they wanted to the main ground floor of the tavern and began clearing a passage to easily roll the barrels. They went outside.

“Where did she go?” the king asked.

“She ran away, you probably heard her,” Tarrick replied.

Suddenly, the daughter of the woman ran out of hiding toward them.

“Mom, they’re not evil, look, the dwarf has a beard like dead dwarfs,” the girl pointed at the heads of the tonnebeards.

“You found a fine place for your daughter!” The King remarked in annoyance to the running mother.

“Don’t teach me! Look around, death, stench and fear are all around! This is a great place to survive! This is the home of death, and death goes from home to where it has not been yet,” the mother said.

“Quite imaginative,” Tarrick said and continued to roll the barrel to the boat.

“Woman,” the king turned to the isters, “There is a lot of food in the basement, you can stay, but if you want to leave, then... I don’t know where it is better to go. Although I am a king, but I cannot protect you either at sea, or in my country, or among the northerners. But you’d better not go to the forest elves, they are really evil, trust me… By the way, what’s your name?”

“Why do you need my name?” The woman asked.

Tulvarick rolled his eyes and decided to roll his barrel.

“Mom’s name is Isliya, and my name is Shagri,” the girl shouted smiling.

The king stopped.

“And I am Tulvarick VI Molotildar, the king of Farderland!” shouted tonnebeard. And then he rolled his barrel further. Henriker and Tarrick had already loaded a lot, while the king was talking.

After a while, the three travellers finally loaded everything into a boat and set sail from the shore. Tulvarick threw a last sad look at the isterses who were looking at them from the shore and turned his gaze to the horizon, where the sea merged with the dark sky.