In the Hammer and Fin

A cloaked figure moved through the crowded streets of Black Rock, a coastal port of Cypria that had been named for the large volcanic island that rose like a dark specter off it’s coastline. A small light house on the Rock, as the locals called it, served warning for friendly ships making their way into the shores of Cypria and to the Armies of Krygon the Great that enemies approached. The light would suddenly go dark allowing the armies to prepare as the enemy attempted to blindly navigate the barrier, usually unsuccessfully.

The figure slipped from shadow to alley until it arrived outside The Hammer and Fin, a run down brothel with a faded sign of a hammerhead shark encircled with a mako. Once inside, the noise of shuffling feet and the quiet conversation of the street became a raucous din of laughter, music, and the gruff derisions of sailors at dice and cards.

Suddenly, a loud voice shouted out, “You cheated!”

Another shot back, “Did not! You’re just an idiot!”

Then just before the two went to blows a buxom brunette swept in with two pints of fresh ale. The men accepted the drinks kindly and returned to their game. The apparition used the disruption to quietly slip to a table in the back of the room, lost again in shadow.

As the hooded figure continued to scan the room in search of something, the same brunette who had stopped a brawl with her winsome way stepped to the table. “Can I get you anything?” she asked with little care for the obvious effort toward anonymity.

“A pint of ale will be fine,” returned the calm, lilting voice of a young woman.

Surprised the serving wench, looked over her shoulder in both directions, then slid into the booth across from the girl.

“Sweetie, this is no place for a young lady. You may want to move along,” the server’s voice implored.

“Thank you for your concern, Madam,” the hood responded.

“Arianna,” the server replied, “My name is Arianna, and this is my bar.”

The hood nodded, “Thank you, Arianna, but I assure you, I am not unhinged by this lot of rabble.” Arianna looked as if she might object to her regulars being called rabble, but then glanced around the room again and stayed quiet. “But perhaps you can help me find someone. I am looking for the captain of the ship known as the Razor’s Edge.”

At this Arianna, slumped, “The Razor’s Edge,” she said, “If you're looking for Captain Griffin, you’re braver than I thought. He’s indisposed at the moment,” she said suggestively, “but I’ll get you that pint and send him to you when he’s free.” With that she turned back to the room and began serving again as if nothing had happened.

The lady in the dark corner had barely begun to sip her drink when a new commotion began in the pub. A loud voice from the top of the stairs that lead to the few rooms used for entertaining began to sing,

"My home is a dark hole of ravenous beasts,

but I will sail on,

Though black is the blood on fangs and on teeth,"

"I will sail on!" Came the response of most of the common room.

"Yes, lads!" The man making his way down the steps called out and then sang on, stopping halfway down the steps to use them as a stage.

"For deep in a cavern away from the harm

Lies a maiden of fairest beauty and charm

Who's light will one day shine so bright

To banish all fear and end all night.

She'll cut off the head

Of the serpent so dread.

So I will sail on."

The poetry was no masterpiece, but the lady had to admit the man's voice was unexpectedly pleasant. She also noticed beneath a face not recently shaven was a strong jawline and his other features were strong and trim, if older than she expected.

As the man made his way into the foray, others picked up the song, which made the lady wonder if they knew what they were singing and that each of them would swing at the end of a hangman's noose if the Emperor's army heard it. The song was a rebel song designed to bring hope to an oppressed people that somewhere the rightful king's daughter would return and remove Krygon the Usurper, as the rebels called him.

She watched as Arianna deftly moved through the crowd ignoring the cat calls and groping hands to whisper in the ear of the sailor. At his glance, she knew this was the man she came to see.

Captain Griffin made his way to the back of the room greeting sailors and harassing women all the way and plopped onto the bench across from the mysterious woman.

“Mistress Arianna, says you are looking for me. I don’t owe you money do I? Or maybe you owe me and we can settle up today?” Griffin offered a crooked grin. The eyes beneath the cloak glared.

Finally after a brief pause the woman spoke, “I come with a message, though now that I see you, I am not sure you are the man she thinks you are.”

“She?” Griffin said wantingly, “Give me the message, and perhaps I will prove more man than you imagine me to be.”

After another moment of hesitation the lady said, “The Sun is on the Horizon.”

At this Griffin’s face turned hard, “Careful girl,” he said, “I don’t know where you heard those words, but believe me, if you persist in this line you will not only experience my manhood, but my blade as well.”

Griffin searched the eyes of the messenger to see her hesitation, the weakness that comes from fear when one knows they are snared. He saw nothing. He relaxed and forced a smile onto his face. “Perhaps you have stumbled into something unexpected and want to simply move on.”

“As much as I am quick to flee this rat infested hole, I cannot. I must have your answer.” The woman was steady.

“May I have your name?” Griffin was stalling.

“My name is unimportant, my message is all that matters.”

“If you don’t give me your name, girl,” Griffin hissed, “Not only will I think you a traitor of that devil Krygon here to entrap me, but I will cast you to this lot,” He nodded to the room, “and that will only be the beginning of your grief.”

The lady smiled and said, “Perhaps, but how long will these ‘friends’ of yours follow a eunuch.” At this she tapped the inside of Griffin's leg with the dagger she had pulled without his notice. Griffin did not flinch.

As their eyes searched each other for weakness, the lady finally relented, “I am Sylania.”

Griffin’s eyes began to water, then he blinked and the tears disappeared. “We need to go somewhere private, now. These are good men, but the mice talk.” At this Griffin gave the quickest glance to a group of four men sitting near the door dicing, but remaining considerably calmer than the rest of the room. Sylania caught the look and pulled her hood forward.

“Arianna!” Griffin was boisterous again, “Have these drinks brought to my room, this girl and I have ‘things’ to discuss.” At this, various men around the room cheered and laughed at Griffin’s good fortune to be returning so quickly to the pleasures he experienced in his room. As for Griffin, he played to their calls, loudly exclaiming to one of his men, “De Borg, be a dear, and see that we are not disturbed.” As he turned holding Sylania’s hand to take her upstairs, Griffin’s eyes met De Borg’s, and a secret message was passed. De Borg took a place at the bottom of the steps, and casually leaned on the post, but he was now watching the men by the door even more carefully.

When they entered Griffin’s quarters, more cat calls were offered up, then silenced as Griffin shut the door and locked it. Turning to the woman, she finally removed her hood to reveal a beautiful blond woman only a few years younger than Griffin of clear and royal bearing. He stared for a long moment, then rushed to embrace Sylania.

After a moment, Griffin stepped back, “Let me look at you, sister. You’ve aged a bit.”

Sylania slapped Griffin on the arm and said, “Well, you look like something caught in the nets a week ago, and smell like it too.”

They both laughed and watched each other closely. Suddenly, Griffin returned to himself, “Fifteen years, sister,” he said a bit angry, a bit shocked. “Not a peep, and now you show up out of nowhere and say she’s here. Where have you been? Where has she been? The people are lost and dying. Those men out there are strong, so they have survived, but they have lost. Why have you taken so long?”

Sylania let her brother rant. Glendous Griffin was still quick with a laugh and just as quick with a fit. When his steam ran out, Sylania calmly replied, “Rebellions take time.”

“Rebellions take time. That’s it! That’s all you have to say, I have stayed in this cesspool and waited for fifteen years, and all I get is ‘Rebellions take time.’ And I suppose she is . . . what? grooming herself for the ‘Appearing?’”

This time Sylania slapped him hard across his face. When he turned back she saw the mark of her hand on it. “You have no idea the hardships she has endured.” Now Sylania was angry. “She has survived the death of her parents, the Forest of the Rangors, the sea of the seven serpents, and all while moving the pieces of the board into place, so that in two days time she can ‘Cut off the head of the Serpent’ that your friends sing about. AND brother of mine, she has done it without once losing her love for an ungrateful boy of a man who thinks he deserves answers!”

At this Griffin looked rightfully ashamed.

Meekly he responded, “You think she will still love me, when she sees me?”

Sylania laid her hand softly on his stinging cheek, “Why, I will never know, but yes brother. She waits on the Rock even now, for the boy who saved her to come again and bring her home.”

Few knew how to navigate the Rock and fewer where to land and remain unseen, but the Griffins had grown up in the hills north of Black Rock and so were among those few. Furthermore, as children they had discovered a hidden cavern on the island that could only be accessed at the evening's low tide. The cavern was hidden from the shoreline and ran the breadth of the Island. In fact, owing to the dark color, even in full daylight one could only see the cleft if one knew where to look, and it appeared as only a shadow.

When Princess Tirean remembered Glendous telling her of the cavern in their childhood, she and Sylania had created a plan to land a few men on the island at a time. Sailing a single ship in the night close enough for one small boat to release out of view of the Light House. The fishing skiffs would be carried to the shore side of the Island through the cavern then at the next low tide the men would sail ashore. In this way, Tirean had sent spies for years to infiltrate the Emperor’s ranks and give her a chance to plan her return without ever raising an alarm.

Thus no one took note, when a small fishing boat sailed from Black Rock into the lagoon carrying four sailors and one hooded apparition. No one saw or raised the alarm when Princess Tirean returned to Cypria to reclaim the throne.