Shocked, I couldn't say anything. The wrinkled face was far away, in a distant time anyway, maybe feeling the mist hitting his skin as the Silver Dawning skimmed across the water. It was quite some time before he came back to the present and by then I was ready with a question.
"Captain Kenundrom died that day?"
"Yes, went down with the Dawning. And everything he had went with 'im."
"Everything he had?"
"Well...the Captain has this box ya see. He kept things in it and weren't nobody allowed to see. But one time, when he weren't paying me no mind, I caught a glimmer of something shiny in that there box."
"Coins? Jewels?" I queried.
"Nah, this were something different than them usual things. I couldn't really see it ya see, but I coulda sworn it was some sort of shiny...well, cloth. I know that sounds wrong, but that's what it looked like to me."
Cloth? This had to be the Mantle! But would it have been shiny? I didn't know.
"If yer interested in the Silver Dawning or in her sister the Mist Veil, you should go see my ol' pal Steelhand up in the town. He know all the stories. He were the First Mate on the ship, but don't tell nobody of his former profession. He got a reputation to take care of. Just tell 'im Gubber Blump sent you. He most likely be standing right outside the inn."
I thanked the old man and gave him 40 silver to pay for the grouper which I took with me. He seemed glad to have it, and he said before I ran back up the beach, "Keep that pole my friend. It be one of the famous Glump family poles. It will help yer with yer fishin'. "
True to his word, I found Gorbold Steelhand close to the Inn. He didn't seem surprised when I approached him.
"Let me guess," he chuckled. "That old scoundrel Gubber Blump has been telling tales again, has he? Ten or twenty times a day, he sends someone to me and asks them to keep his secret. Well, what's your tale Night Elf?"
Crestfallen, I asked, "So his story isn't true?"
"Oh no," Steelhand replied. "It's true, every word. Captain went down with the ship and the box which held his treasures is lost beneath the ocean, if those murlocs didn't get it. The Captain, though, he would have hidden it well. He was very particular about that box."
"Has anyone ever tried to find the shipwreck? Has anyone ever looked for it?"
"Why sure! The old fisherman sends people up here all the time and lots of men have gone looking for that wreck. Not many come back, Hunter. It's those murlocs. They resent humans, elves, dwarfs...any race but their own. They're mean and willing to fight to the death to protect that old turtle shell they live in. Goodness knows what they've got hidden in there. Old fish bones, I guess, that they like to gnaw on."
"I want to try," I told him. "Will you take me to the place where the Silver Dawning went down?"
"Take you? No way. Those murlocs just about killed me the first time and it was only by the skin of my teeth that I escaped. But you won't be able to miss the place. That big old shell is washed up on the sand about a mile down the beach and it will be swarming with the varmints."
"Okay. Well, wish me luck Mr. Steelhand. I am going to try and find that box."
"Good luck to you, Hunter." He fished around in his pocket for a moment and produced a small vial of a blue-colored liquid. "Use this potion. It's a secret family recipe. It will help you to breathe under the water. But don't stay down longer than half an hour or it will wear off and you will surely drown. I've given you enough there for five dives. Use it smartly."
"Thank you, sir." I said, palming the drink gratefully. "I will be the one that returns."
"I believe you," he called after me as I rounded the corner heading towards the cove. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Shalimara," I hollered back and then he was gone and I was dodging crab pincers as I ran along the waterside. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, I stopped running. There in the distance I could see the remains of a gigantic sea turtle, and true to the man's warning, it was swarming with the little blue-green creatures they had called murlocs.
No comments:
Post a Comment