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Divine: Merchants of the Silent Shore

Chapter IX

Marty never had it in his head that negotiations would be exciting. He knew that it wasn't all yelling and cursing or sly and cunning tricks that would inevitably come to a mutually beneficial conclusion. He expected it to be boring and lengthly. Yet, he was still surprised at just how right he was.

Talks began early the following morning, just as the sun came up and the city began to stir.

Marty could see the indigenous marine like people come out of their homes and head down to the shore and towards their boats where they would go out and set their nets. Others were starting to set up their stalls for the day. The city had a schedule, set by years of repetition which made everything flow smoothly. Then the window slats were closed for privacy.

Shortly after, doors at the far end of the room from where Marty and the Church's delegation had been seated, opened. A concession of mostly orcas, whales, dolphins and sharks, came into the room. They were dressed in what Marty assumed to be fine wear in the Silent Shore. It was tight fitting leather that had been treated to the point where it almost looked like plastic and even then, there wasn't much of it. A lot of skin was shown around the forearms, chest and lower legs. Their heads were adorned by shells of a rainbow of colors.

Then at the end, the Defense Minister, the Symphony of Blades, the raven in his white coat with feather like straps came in along with the representatives of other Guild State members which helped even out and diversify the types of species in the room.

"Welcome," he said with a soft and hospitable smile. "The Silent Shore and the Guild States welcome you."

"Why thank you," A Church diplomat, a gazelle with a set of long spiraling horns, gave a slight nod of his head. "The city is quite beautiful." And so the long and dull negotiations began.

Marty was quick to realize that he was there for no other reason than face. He was noticed a handful of times by various other diplomats, but never asked anything. He was simply meant to sit there and be pretty which only made the boredom worse.

He tried to listen in on the conversation which went over current trade details and military strengths of everyone. That was spaced out by long conversations about whatever the diplomats wanted to talk about. It was all very polite, but dull.

At about noon the negotiations broke for lunch. Marty did his best to hide his desire to escape the confines of the room, but he soon noticed that everyone else had a bit of a rush to their step. Negotiations were boring for everyone.

Felix was waiting outside in the courtyard. The cat's tail flicked back and forth like and antique grandfather clock.

"There's nothing to do around here," The cat moaned as soon as the human was in earshot. "Nothing."

"Sorry about that," Marty apologized as if he could do something about that. As a slave, Felix wasn't allowed to leave the compound without his master. "I promise we'll head into the city as soon as the talks are over for the day."

Felix's ears perked slightly. He could smell the fish from here and he desperately wanted to go and investigate. "I'll hold you to your word." He wagged a finger at Marty and then changed the subject. "How did the talks go? They shut your side of the building down."

Marty stretched his arms out and then scratched the back of his head. "I think they went well. I'm not entirely sure if they even started.

Much of the concession of delegates had moved out into the courtyard and were beginning to make their way to the tables that had been set up. Fresh fish and other local favorites were distributed and served to the hungry people who were animated and happy.

Marty was hungry as well and so the two headed over to the table and got themselves some plates. Felix couldn't wait to try out the fish and quickly scurried off with his food. Marty was going to follow suit, but was held up.

"I hear you came down in a falling star," a deep accented voice said behind Marty.

Marty turned around to see a stag in a vest and cape. One of the delegates from the guild states, though Marty wasn't familiar with them enough to know which one. In fact, he didn't know the names of any others but the Silent Shore.

"Excuse me?" Marty said, not catching to comment, but only recognizing that he was being talked to.

The stag cleared his throat. "I said that I heard you came in a falling star." He extended a hand, not a hoof. "Sir Cauthon of Wallias."

Marty didn't hesitate to shake hands, though it was strange that Sir Cauthon knew about shaking hands, no one seemed to. "I'm Marty." He put on his most diplomatic smile. "And I wouldn't call it a star."

"Of course not," Sir Cauthon chuckled heartily. "It's just what the rumors say and what better way to debunk a rumor than to right to the source."

"True," Marty nodded once. "If you don't mind me asking. You knew that I greet people by shaking hands. How is that?"

"You have been here for some time now, among us," He explained and then added, "word of you and your defining quirks have made the rounds already to those that are interested."

Marty wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but in the case of Sir Cauthon, he supposed it wasn't bad as of yet.

"Notice," Sir Cauthon continued and waved to the rest of the crowd. "You are not the singularity of everyone's attention."

Marty looked around and did see that. No one seemed to care that he was there. No more than they cared that anyone else was there.

"You are a curiosity to the individual person on the street, but with the war still looming, you've already been overshadowed by such matters pertaining to it." The stag had at some point retrieve a glass of a darkly colored liquid and took a sip from it. "I do not mean to insult you."

Marty thought about it. The last two months had been hectic with work on the ship and work with the church. This one moment was the first in a long time where he wasn't the sole focus. It was... comforting. "I'm not offended at all. I actually feel a little relieved."

"That is good," Sir Cauthon seemed to grow more sure of himself now, he lifted his head and up looked at Marty. "That means that no one will notice if you do not appear for the next session of talks."

"What do you mean?" Marty asked, not following what the stag was saying. "Aren't I expected to go to each of the meetings?" Not that he wanted to.

"Yes, but no one would care if you didn't at this point," Sir Cauthon put down his now empty glass which would be quickly picked up by one of the many workers. "Your presence at the talks is already known here and that has allowed you to say all that has needed to be said. Everything else is up to the diplomats you traveled with.

The crowd began to shift and people began to head back towards the room to continue the negotiations. Marty and Sir Cauthon made no motion to move.

"Why do you want me to stay away from the talks?" Marty asked. At first the conversation seemed normal enough, but now it was obvious that Sir Cauthon had a motive of sorts.

The stag's face remained unchanged. "You got the note last night?" He asked and Marty nodded with a bit of excitement coming to his face. "Good. I'd recommend heading down to the docks. I hear the people there are quite friendly and the view stunning." He turned away without another word and began to head back inside.

Marty didn't waste any time. He found Felix with a second plate of fish and told him that he felt like going to the water. Felix was all too happy to go along without question.

Even though the shoreline was visible from the compound, it was much farther than appearances made it out to be. No single road went straight to the shore. It splintered and zigzagged constantly as if the road had to hit every hotspot along the way.

Marty liked it though. It had been some time since he had walked any distance. Inside Melur, it was always from his home, to his ship or to the cathedral and nowhere else.

Long walks was something that Marty always enjoyed, since he was a child. It was a way to put distance between himself and the shack that had been his home. It allowed him to see what freedom looked like, even enjoy his own facade of it at time when the smog cleared and he could see the sky and the infinite expanse beyond.

When he had gotten ahold of that freedom as a Ranger, he had made planet fall more than a few times. To be able to be the first living thing to set foot on a planet... the feeling was beyond words. Each step was a first until Marty's suit's low oxygen alarm was going off and he was half a click from his ship.

Now here he was, not the first living thing, possibly not even the first human, yet it still felt like the first. The sense of adventure that had been fading and been replaced with disaster after disaster or moment of panic was coming back. He had a mission, a purpose, even if it was as terrifying as killing a god could get. That was well beyond the horizon still. For now, he had Merchants to meet.

It was nearly an hour later by the time that the two reached the shore where the people were busy at work.

Fisherman brought in their boats to the docks where more workers helped unload the fish and get them to the markets for immediate sale or onto heaps of salt for long term storage.

The first thing that Marty noticed was the overwhelming smell of fish. It was unlike anything he had ever smelled before. It was sickly and made his head swim. He had never been around so much fish before.

Felix notice the smell as well, but instead of hitting a wall of nausea, he could barely contain himself.

"Look at it all." Felix was like a child in a candy store. "There's so much and so many types." Indeed there was. Fish was piled up nearly as tall as the large marine people and some of the fish were as large as them as well.

The colors were mesmerizing as well. Blues, green and reds dotted the piles, often matching the colors of the locals' clothing which in Marty's opinion was somewhat lacking.

The Silent Shore experienced long days of harsh sunlight which made Marty think that more clothes to protect the skin would be better and yet the opposite seemed true.

In the city, away from the shore, the people did where what amounted to a normal amount of clothes, but on the shore, they wore little or nothing above the waist and what they did where was often for practical reasons such as a thick arm band to stick fish hooks into it. Below the waist, they wore chaps made of leather and often covered in scales of larger fish that covered the ground and the front of the legs while keeping the rear exposed to allow free access of the tail. It also exposed much whenever they bent over. Marty tried to avoid looking, but with so many, it was impossible not to.

As much as Marty didn't want to give the underdressed locals, they watched him.

They glanced up whenever he walked by but glanced back down to their work. It didn't stop Marty from noticing the increase in chatter when he passed by on his stroll down the docks.

"Maybe I should have let the guards know that I was slipping out," Marty said to himself. "Vargus probably would have come." He mentally hit himself for forgetting about his friend so easily. The canine had been acting strange since he rescued his son. The good weather and calm walk would have done anyone good.

"Don't worry," Felix appeared out of nowhere with a small fish in a paper bag at his side. Marty hopes that he bought it and hadn't fallen back to his roots as a thief. "They'll look but won't do anything. The Guild States are a very relaxed place."

"Good to know," Marty replied and then asked, "how much do you know about the Merchants of the Silent Shore?"

Felix shrugged. "Not much. Never read much or listened to history stories. I just know that they carry very old and very expensive relics. Some could be from your people, maybe?" Felix's voice raised at the end in uncertainty.

"That's the hope."

The wind shifted at the time from the sea to out the sea, but it was still too little to even stir the water. It did however mean something to the locals.

Immediately, they began to pack their equipment, storing under the decks of their oar powered boats. Those in the water were already coming in and then they Stowe's their fear away and began to make a hasty retreat back into the city.

The flurry of the crowd dazzled both Marty and Fenix. It was a hectic, yet controlled until there was no one left around. The entire shore line was abandoned and the slats to all the buildings closed.

"Uhh." Felix did a few high speed turns to get a three hundred and sixty degree view around him. "What just happened?"

"I have a feeling we're about to find out." Marty pointed at a lone figure that stepped out of a side street and onto the docks.

The individual was an ape, a moderately sized gorilla who walked on his knuckles save for one hand that was on a cane. He wore a brown robe that hung to him comfortably and had a satchel dangling off to one side that seemed burdened by whatever was in it.

The ape stood some fifty meters away and stopped, seemingly waiting for them.

Felix looked up at Marty and then to the ape. "Friend of yours?"

"Maybe." He squinted to get a better look. The ape remained passive, unmoving. "Let's see." He took several steps closer to the ape and when nothing changed, he began walking.

Marty couldn't decide where to look. The ape's gaze wasn't challenging to meet, it was persistent though and made the human feel awkward after prolonged contact. He elected to looked just over the ape's left shoulder instead.

"It gladdens us to see that you have come," The ape said in a surprisingly high voice. "More so that you have brought the other as well, but you forgot to bring the third and his child."

Marty cursed silently. He knew that he should have asked Vargus to come and to bring Petrus.

"Their fates are unknown to us now." The ape extended his hands to Marty, who stopped just short of them. "However you are here and that is what matters. Come." He turned and began to walk back into the city. "We will go where unwanted eyes cannot follow easily."

Marty gave a shrug to Felix and followed as well.

No more words were said as the group went into the city and began to weave through its maze like roads.

Whenever it seemed like they were walking down a dead end, there would be a turn hidden behind the cleft of a wall. When it seemed that they were going to enter a building, the merely walked through it to enter the street on the other side. On top of that, there were none of the residents.

Their clothes and drapes still hung on lines that crisscrossed overhead, but the people tending them were gone, hidden completely from site. Not even the children could be heard.

"Where is everyone?" Marty finally asked.

Without turning, the ape replied. "The enemy will be looking for you soon. They will ask of you and by hiding, the people can say nothing. This is to protect you as much as them."

The enemy. Marty mouthed the words and wondered if he was talking about Aetin or about Edwin Kelm. Possibly someone else that he didn't know about?

Eventually, they did reach what appeared to be a crafter's shop. There were tools meant for fishing on display inside and the smell of freshly carved wood wafted out of the building.

The ape opened the door and beckoned the two inside, but did not follow.

He spoke one last time before closing the door. "Another will come to welcome you. I have another part to play."

"What an odd guy." Felix began to walk around the shop.

There was everything from harpoons to fishing line adorning the walls. It was all in mess with gear hanging over each other, but Marty found that it had been arranged as such to make the place look aged, but so that a person could walk around the store unimpeded.

On the far side, away from the door, was a counter with a lock box on it.

To keep money in during the day. Marty guessed.

Behind that was another door that led to the back of the shop.

"This the real reason why you brought us down here?" Felix asked. He was testing the point of a harpoon with his finger, pressing against it just enough for him to feel that it was indeed very sharp.

"Yeah," Marty nodded. "One of the diplomats from the talks said that I should come down to the shoreline." Marty chose to stand by the counter and watch as the curious cat went from on thing to the next. "I had gotten a note the night before, saying I would be contacted by the Merchants soon. Never expected it to be this soon."

"Can't imagine they have a long line waiting to see them," Felix said, abandoning his curiosity to touch everything to stand next to Marty. "I hear people talk about their very expensive wares that they rarely even sell."

"Thought you didn't know anything about them?" Marty said playfully.

Felix's ears flattened, but only for a moment. "Slipped my mind and even then, it was only talk about rumors. I don't know anyone who's has ever met them or even seen them. I'd almost be willing to bet that they may be way over exaggerated. Perhaps they had been great and wonderful at one point, but power wanes." Felix said it casually, but it got Marty thinking.

It had, for some reason, never occurred to him that the Merchants may not be all they were hyped up to be. Maybe he had been blinded by hope or just faith in what had been fed to him. He had taken a lot of information at face value in the past few months. He could have easily been manipulated, such as coming here to add to the chips the Church had on their bargaining table. Marty made a note not to be a blind follower anymore.

It wasn't much longer that a small mouse came through the door behind the counter. He wore a round pair of spectacles and a green vest.

"Ahh, yes," He said quickly as soon as he saw Marty. "I'm glad you made it, they are waiting for you. Please. Please. Follow me. There is not much time."

"Time till what?" Marty asked as he followed the mouse into the door, checking to make sure Felix was there as well.

"They will tell you. They will tell you." The mouse spoke very fast as if spaces were optional. "Yes. They will tell you. Quickly! Follow me."

Behind the door was the storage room for the shop. There were even more racks of fishing gear stacked up to the ceiling, making Marty wonder if the mouse had done it all or if there was a helper they had yet to meet. Maybe the helper was the ape?

At the back of the that room was a trapdoor which had to be uncovered since there was more inventory on top of it.

"Down! Quickly," The mouse said expeditiously. "The Merchants are down there." He lifted open the trap door that was nearly his size with little effort.

Marty gazed down the hole. There was a sturdy looking ladder leading down a dozen meters to a stone floor beneath. It was lit by braziers.

"Quickly," the mouse insisted. "Not much time. Not much time at all." His foot began to tap rapidly on the floor.

"Okay," Marty said uncertainly. He stepped into the hole, testing the first rung and when it didn't even groan from his weight, he proceeded down.

"Just follow the hall!" The mouse yelled down as soon as Marty reached the bottom and Felix had begun to climb down. "Quickly!" He then shut the trap door.

"And we're alone again," Felix said with a hint of annoyance as he stepped off the ladder next to Marty. He gazed down the stone tunnel which took an immediately left turn. "After you and remember. Quickly."

Marty sighed and began to walk. The tunnel had a slight decline that was only noticeable from the small trickle of water that seeped down the edges of the hall. A slight drafted of cool air floated from deeper within and smelled of sea salt.

The braziers burned hot and bright, making it easier to navigate and in no time, Marty and Felix arrived in what both of them assumed to be their final destination.

It wasn't a large chamber with the ceiling only fifteen or so meters up and the room itself covering no more than twenty meters in any direction.

In the room were an array of pedestals and displays in rows. Each one had an item of interest on them and Marty could tell that many of them were old tech. He spotted an old sliding door mechanism from before the use of magnetic slid locks where a wheel or set of wheels would manually move the door. Across from it was an emergency self contained breathing apparatus that would attach to the back side of an enviro suit for use in hostile atmospheres or even the vacuum of space in dire situations. All around him were reminders that he was not the first human to visit this world.

At the center of the room was a large desk filled with papers and rolls. Small wax candles burned at each corner, casting a soft yellow light versus the braziers' harsher orange glow. The papers appeared to have sales figures on them and trade information.

At the far end of the table, opposite of Marty were the Merchants of the Silent Shore.

There were three of them, but Marty had no clue of they were the only three of just the three that had decided to meet him.

One was a swan with a long neck that arched back and then forward again in an elegant 'S' shape. She wore a gown of white that matched her feathers.

Second, was a beaver, short and seemingly having difficulty seeing over the table. He wore brown robes and hid his hands in his sleeves.

Last was a shark. His eyes were black and it was impossible to tell where he was really looking. He wore very little, matching the garb of the fishermen from the shoreline.

"Welcome Messenger," The swan bowed her head modestly, moving slow as if any sudden movements would break her long neck. "We are all very much excited to see that you have made it here without coming to harm."

"Uhm. Thank you," Marty replied. He couldn't stop looking at all of the objects on display. He recognized so much as he was automatically sifting through the list in his head of what he needed. There was definitely enough here that he could make general repairs, but there were a lot of very specific pieces he needed as well.

"We were unsure if your coming here would be noticed," the shark said, his voice was sharp and almost sounded accusing even though he hadn't made any accusations at all. "You have brought many enemies to our home and they all wish to see you dead."

"However, your disappearance was almost entirely unnoticed," The swan added on. Her voice was soft and slow, soothing in comparison to the shark's.

"Now with you here and the decoy in place," the beaver said this time. His voice was nasally and he had to stop to clear what sounded like a nasty nasal infection every few sentences. "We can address all issues without delay or press of time."

"Decoy." It was the only word that Marty could focus on.

"Yes," the shark nodded. "Morgan, the one who brought you to Mr. Klonus' shop. He is an expert on glamours."

"It's a spell that disguises a person as another." Felix leaned in and whispered to Marty, feeling helpful. He knew only because he had seen it before once when he had been caught robbing a potion brewer. The city guard had hired a glamour expert who disguised several guards as helpless potion brewers. It was both amazing and frightening to see a person morph into another person.

"He has taken your position at the talks between the Church and the Guild States," the shark continued. "He will remain there to give the illusion that you are still there until our business here is done."

"You will then return and he to us," the crane said as soon as the shark stopped. It was like their minds were connected. "Now shall we begin?"

Marty looked again at all of the tech littering the room and then back at the Merchants. "Let's begin."

"You come to seek parts to repair your ships?" The beaver asked, although the inflection indicated it was less of a question and more of a statement to set the grounds for the conversation to come.

"Yes," Marty started and brought up his wrist to access the list he had stored there. "I have everything I need listed here. I just need to look at your inventory to decide..."

He was cutoff by the shark who raised his hand with his palm facing Marty. "We merely asked if that was why you came. We did not say that is what you will do."

Marty blinked. "You're not going to sell me anything?" His voice raised in obvious anger. "I went through a lot of shit to get here. People died."

Felix stepped back. He found that there were times to talk and times to step back and let his friend vent because Marty needed to vent. Not once during the entire time he knew the human, did Marty ever truly express his stress and unhappiness that had always been there.

"And we regret all that had happened," the crane said without changing her tone. "However we will not sell you anything until you part is done."

"What part?" Marty threw up his hands. "Kill Aetin, the psycho scientist who got a bit too greedy in his search for the fountain of youth? The Holy Grail? Or any other ridiculous trinket that gives eternal life." He paused to catch his breath, but didn't let them say anything. "Or maybe you all like to see me run around like a chicken with its head cutoff. You all, the Church, the Heretics and now you all send me here or there to do jack shit. I'm tired of it. I just want to go home. Is it too much to ask? Huh? You want me to kill Aetin? Fine! Just point me in the right direction and I will shoot him. Not because he's evil or something, but so I can get away from you medieval bumpkins and back to actual civilization where toilets aren't fucking holes in the ground!" He came to and end, panting and sweating. He glared up at the Merchants who remained impassive after the rant.

"He may never be ready," The beaver finally spoke after a long period of silence.

"No," the crane agreed.

"But he is the only one who can," the shark said.

"We will sell you what you need," the crane bowed her head. "But only after your purpose is fulfilled."

"Fucking whatever," Marty rolled his eyes, still winded from all the yelling he had just done.

Felix saw an opportunity to say his own part and took it. The feline stepped back from the shadows. "Why him? Why does Marty have to do it? I've seen some powerful mages and paladins. Why can't they get together to kill Aetin?"

Marty looked back up at the Merchants. "He makes a good point. There are armies out there. Thousands of soldiers, all who are sworn to defend their lands against the Fel. Why me?"

The Merchants all looked at each other for a moment and then gazed back to Marty and Felix.

"For reasons we not others who know have been able to discern, you are without corruption," The swan spoke.

"You cannot be corrupted," the beaver said.

And then the shark. "He cannot turn you like he can all else. For this, only you can kill him and finally return home."

"Why me?" Marty muttered under his breath and then spoke up. "You're asking a lot of me and I'm not sure I'm cut out for the job." As much as he had felt pumped after his meeting with the guardian in the Giant's Garden, the doubts had been gnawing at his mind.

"If you do not," the shark said. "Then no one will.

"There is no one else," the beaver said.

"Only you."