Nocturna League (Episode 2: The Mist Hour) (4 page)

Colette squints an eye as she relaxes
herself. “You think the Ganasteres stole the other
gauntlet?”

“
No one else but them could
have done it. Really I’m impressed more than anything. The moment
they got the other gauntlet they ‘kidnapped’ one of their own, and
another each night. By keeping to midnight only, not only could
they stay out of the suspicion of it being them, they’ve also
turned public opinion against us; not that it was ever
good.”

Colette leans in. “Yeah? Why
not?”

“
They run the mailing
service. A small operation but they have the printing press. The
WhiteWave Includer’s been including some very skeptical opinions
about us, presumably written by anonymous sources.”

“
Wow, that’s…” her initial
skepticism, melted into confusion, cools into a weary compassion.
His deep brown eyes carry his case quite well, she feels. “That’s
real shitty of them. But that does make sense… I guess. I guess I
should apologize,” she says, averting her gaze in some sort of
embarrassment. “Name’s Colette. I’ll do what I can to
help.”

The man, looking equally abashed,
brushes his forearm with a hint of pain on his features, and nods.
“Itrim Kalamest. I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s much we can
do at this point,” he says, looking through the halls and rooms to
the front window— lights and chatter are approaching.

“
So you think the kidnapped
people are with the Ganasteres, held up somewhere?”

Itrim nods. “Probably. Either that or
one of their farms.”

Colette strokes her chin in a very
Captain-like way. “You know, we can’t win this with so many. My
commander is joining in with the Ganasteres, but once he hears of
this, he’ll see things my way.” She leads him to the back door.
“Look, Itrim, you need to get back to your friends and tell them to
get the Ganastere estate noon tomorrow, I’ll have The Captain
turned around and we’ll blow this whole thing wide open. Fighting
the Ganasteres will be hard, especially when they have the
gauntlets, but if we show them to be the kidnappers the people will
turn on our side.”

Itrim smirks, and nods as they lock
the door behind them. “You got it. I… I don’t know what to
say.”

She smiles. “It’s an upstanding
captain’s duty to be a ready and willing help.”

Itrim’s smirk grows into a grin, and
he nods again. “Thanks, captain Colette.”

She’s quiet as Itrim rushes off to his
hiding place. It’s very cold, but there’s enough in her for her
cheeks to redden, if only a slight increment.

“
Captain
Colette,” she says to herself in awe. Colette
turns about to the main street, moving around through the woods to
avoid the Kalamest estate’s assault party. She then approaches the
back of the group, and finds The Captain and Boris at the front of
the crowd.

Chapter 4: The Captain,
the captain, and their Disagreeable Disagreement

“
Captain!” She shouts,
practically into his ear.

The bandaged man in officer attire
turns to Colette while he presses his glasses to his face. “Ahh, my
dear Miss Ketiere, what news of your watch?”

“
It’s…” she looks about the
crowd, noticing a few pointed gazes aimed at her “Can we talk
somewhere privately?”

“
Now is an inopportune time
for privacy, my dear doughnut. I’ve agreed to spearhead the assault
into the keep. Now what have you learned?” He says, stepping up to
the front doors with Boris. “Dear Boris, if you please.”

“
PLEASE OF WHAT?” the
hulking seasort asks, his long, lance-like whiskers twitching in
confusion.

“
That door called your
mother a bottom feeder,” The Captain says, nodding his head over to
the Kalamest front set of doors.

A splurge of saltwater and sausage
spit out from Boris’ crustacean jaws. “IS DOOR HAVING OF THE DEATH
WISH?”

“
And he also said your
shell’s the color ‘coral’ rather than simply ‘red’,” The Captain
adds.

“
BORIS IS HUMBLE MAKING OF
YOU!” the seasort expels, flying at the doors with more speed the
speed of a bullet. Cheering erupts from the crowd and Colette’s jaw
drops at the sight of Boris dividing the iron-reinforced doors into
a trashed heap of splinters and scrap-metal in a matter of seconds.
“YOU ARE NOW OF THE HUMBLE!” Boris shouts, pounding his huge claws
into the heap. For a few seconds until he turns around. “CAPTAIN! I
AM OF THE RED, YES?”

The Captain nods. “You certainly are,
Boris. You are the reddest lobster I’ve ever seen.”

“
THIS IS OF THE PLEASING TO
ME!” Boris shouts as he ranks back next to The Captain.

There is a massive, anticipating
silence among the crowd as they see that, not only is the door no
longer blocking them, there is no force field made by Kalamest
magic that would block their entry. For the first time, they can
step inside the mansion. The Captain turns to the group, and calmly
gestures into the house, as if to suggest entry. Suddenly a wave of
frantic enthusiasm overturns the armed crowd and they rush into the
estate, searching for their loved ones. Colette escorts The Captain
and Boris into the manor as she speaks again. “Captain- there’s
something incredibly important I have to tell you! Like, something
that’ll make you rethink this!” She says, her hands waving in wild
enunciation.

The Captain stops in the crowd of
Pro-Ganastere rioters, and shrugs. “So be it. Off to the
restroom!”

The three make themselves comfortable
in the fourth- floor restroom, two floors ahead of the raiding
party who, along with searching for the lost ones, are also looting
just about everything of value.

“
Alright, Captain. Gran
isn’t here, and neither are any of the others!”

“
Oh? Is this what you’ve
found?”

“
Yeah, I met one of the
Kalamests, Itrim. He told me that
their
gauntlet was stolen
.”

Boris gasps in shock, sounding more
like a wheezing, drowning pig than anything else. “CAPTAIN! THIS IS
OF THE MEANING THAT THE FOOD I WAS OF SMELLING-”

“
I am not asking for your
input at this time, Boris,” The Captain, adjusting his tattered
coat of the Lascardian Navy, says.

“
BUT CAPTAIN! I WAS OF THE
SMELLING OF
OTHER
FOOD!”

Colette squints at Boris.
“Boris, I’m not talking about food here. I’m talki-… Wait, food?
Don’t you use that word for
people
too?”

Boris nods. “YES! LITTLE FOOD. YOU ARE
OF THE RIGHT!”

Colette grins and turns to The
Captain. “See! He’s obviously smelli-.”

The Captain cracks his
knuckles, and Colette’s Pavlovian terror kicks in. “Miss Ketiere- I
do not desire input on this matter either. I simply wish to know
what you have
found out
, not what you advise.”

She presses her hand into
her face as she grinds her teeth. “But if you’d just
listen
, Captain!
I-”

“
Miss Ketiere, am I going
to have to take away your sailor card and put you back through
basi-”

Colette cringes. “Oh
gods!
No! Sorry! Damn!
Okay! Itrim told me that it was the
Ganasteres
that had done the
kidnappings!”

“
Thank you, anything
else?”

“
Yeah, he thought the
Ganasteres had both the gauntlets- there’s two by the way, and
they’re holding back with the gauntlet’s power to make it seem like
the Kalamests are misusing theirs! It’s such an obvious trick,
Captain! Of course a Ganastere would be the first one kidnapped!
Who would be so dumb to believe that the Kalamests would go
straight for their enemy! It’s so, so obvious!”

“
Is that all,
Colette?”

“
Well, I told him and his
group that I’d make you see things their way. They’ll be attacking
the Ganastere Estate tomorrow at noon to blow it all
open.”

The Captain sharpens his posture
diligently. “Excellent. Good thinking. So we will lie in wait for
them and ambush at the opportune time.”

Colette’s blank for a moment as a
raider busts into the restroom, and asks for Boris’ help moving a
gold-plated shower curtain rail. “Wh-what? What do you mean?”
Colette asks.

“
As I said, my dear muffin:
we will wait for the Kalamests and administer justice to
them!”

“
No, I think you’re missing
that it was
the Ganasteres
that did it!”

“
Oh my,” The Captain leans
in, his shining glasses glinting an aura of authority. “Could it be
you intend on disobeying my orders?”

“
Uh,
hell yes I do!
You’re helping
criminals, even when you know it’s the truth!”

“
We’ve helped criminals
before so long as they pay us.”

She draws back in confusion.
“C-Captain, are the Ganasteres paying us?”

The Captain shakes his head.
“No.”

“
Then why don’t we help the
good guys!”

“
Because the Kalamests are
not the
good guys.
”

“
Wh-
What?!
” Colette shakes her head about
dumbfoundedly.

“
My plan is the most
efficient solution to this island’s problem, and you must follow
along, or I’ll revoke your sailor’s card.”

“
Captain! You’re going to
hurt innocent people! You know the truth!”

The Captain’s silent a moment. “You
want the truth, Miss Ketiere?”

“
Of course!”

“
Would you believe me if I
told you?”

“
Duh!”

“
I already know Miss
Vereyrty is inside the Ganastere estate. She’s safe and sound in
the kitchen basement.”

“
Then why don’t we do
something?!”

The Captain smiles. “We will, but I
suppose your mind is made up?”

She searches his face for some answer
to his impenetrable idiocy. “Yeah. Tomorrow I’m going to do what’s
right, and if you’re on the other side of my sights, I sure as hell
hope I’m not you.” Colette turns around and starts for the steps
leading out of the manner.

He taps his boot, and it causes her to
look back once more. He smiles, and says, “I won’t stop you, little
croissant. Go on and show me just how far you’re willing to go out
on a limb for someone else. But before you go, I have a question
for when we meet tomorrow: Should I fight you like one captain to
another, or just an impudent sailor?”

She stops at the steps.
“Croissant? It’s
captain
croissant to you.” Colette then storms off into
the dark of the night.

The Captain watches her disappear as a
chandelier-toting Boris comes across him. “IS THE YOUNG FOOD OF THE
UNHAPPY?”

“
She certainly is, Boris.
The indignacy of her youth is too strong to do her any good. I’ll
have to stamp this one out personally… Boris.”

“
AYE?”

He straightens his glasses. “That
thing we talked about on the way here…”

“
OH, YES, CAPTAIN! IT IS OF
MUCH GOODNESS!”

The Captain looks out to the dark, and
enters a more casual composure as some of the raiders exchange
ideas as to where the kidnappees could be hidden.
“Excellent.”

Chapter 5: The Dirty,
Nasty Scheme

Time passes slowly for Colette. She
returns to the bar and slumps over in a corner table, is asked to
leave thirty minutes later by the barkeep, and then she tells him
that she’ll leave if he can finish a glass of vinegar. He leaves
her alone, and she wiles away the hours in that sort of half-sleep
that most find quite uncomfortable. Hours pass with strange,
shifting dreams of friends, family, and that damnable overlord that
tormented her home. Just when she gets to the part of the dream
where she has the means to fight back, does a hulking cloaked
figure bust into the bar. The figure scans the bar with two
vertical, crustacean eyes, poking out of two holes cut into the
hood, and finds Colette’s table. The sleeping bartender awakens,
and is just about to tell the figure to leave when the cloaked one
steps over to Colette’s table and slams down into a
seat.

She wearily opens her eyes and frowns
snidely. “You know, Boris, you’re not the sort that gets much use
from a disguise. Old Salt sent ya’ here to spy on me?”

The figure raises a massive claw to
pull up the hood. “THIS IS NECESSARY DISGUISE. CAPTAIN’S EYE IS OF
THE SHARP ONES, YES?”

She leans back and crosses her arms.
“I guess. So why’re you here then, Boris?”

Boris leans forward, his large lobster
whiskers pointing out from his cloak. “I AM OF THE AGREEING WITH
YOU. THE CAPTAIN IS OF THE CRAZY SINCE THE DAY I KNOW HIM FIRST,
AND WHILE CAPTAIN IS OF THE GOOD AS CAPTAIN, HE IS OF THE BAD IN
HEAD.”

She smirks. “Wow, I had no
idea,” she says with no sarcasm
at
all
.