Richard Tuttle - Sapphire of the Fairies

The woman’s scream echoed through theFisherman’s Inn in Lorgo. Lorgo was once part of Sordoa before theCollapse of the Universes a generation ago. Now, Lorgo is in one ofthe many unclaimed areas of the continent, which hasn’t receivedthe attention of any of the marauding armies yet. Esta Tern, theinnkeeper, told the young boy selling rabbits to wait and hurriedhis bulky frame up the stairs and along the corridor to the room atthe end of the hall. Esta knew which room the scream must have comefrom because he had only one female customer this morning and hedidn’t stand for unregistered guests in his rooms. Esta bangedloudly on the door. “Innkeeper! What’s the problem in there? Openthe door.”

The door opened and the femaletraveler, dressed in a fine white robe, pointed towards thewindow.

“Somebody was trying to comein through the window,” she shrieked. “What kind of an inn are yourunning when decent people don’t even have privacy in theirroom?”

Esta trudged over and leaned out thewindow, looking in both directions. Only a skinny strip of wood ranalong this side of the building and a bandit would have to be crazyto attempt moving along it, the fall could kill him. Down below inthe street nobody was moving. The only movement visible was down inthe harbor area where the last of the fishermen were putting out tosea. Esta watched the small, drab boats heading seaward under thedim light of morning before closing the shutters and turning to thewoman.

“I don’t see anything outthere,” he stated. “Don’t think anyone could walk on the littlestrip of wood out there and there aren’t any ladders insight.”

“Are you calling me a liar?”she demanded. “I tell you, someone was out there and I shouldn’thave to pay for a room that’s not private.”

Esta made a motion to smooth hair onthe top of his head, hair that had disappeared years ago. He hadlong demanded that rooms be paid for in advance and occasionallyran into customers who would find fault with rooms just to gettheir money back. Placing his fists on his hips, he scowled at thewoman.

“Look,” he stated, “this is aprivate room, just what you paid for. Your door locks and thewindows have shutters. You want to go parading yourself around infront of an open window, that’s your business, but if yourscreaming wakes any of my late sleepers, I’ll have to kick youout.”

Esta stormed off, leaving the womancomplaining as he left. Everyone looked towards Esta as he reachedthe ground floor and the innkeeper just waved them off to indicatethat there was nothing to worry about. Back in the kitchen, hereturned his attention to the young boy who was selling rabbits tothe inn.

“Sorry, Arik,” he sighed.“That’s one crazy woman. First she travels around without a decentbodyguard, or as part of a caravan, and now she tries to sleep forfree. She wouldn’t even get to keep her coins if I did refund herroom price. The bandits would get her for sure. How many rabbits doyou have this morning, Arik?”

“Six good-sized ones thismorning, sir,” Arik replied. “What was the screamingabout?”

Esta looked up at Arik and rubbed hischin. “Nothing, I suppose. Where is your friend, Tedi, thismorning? Have you seen him?”

“No, sir,” the boy answered.“I suppose he’s sleeping late today. I should hurry along, though,if I’m going to fish with my father today.”

“Sorry, Arik,” the innkeeperapologized. “I saw him leaving while I was upstairs. I shouldn’thave kept you so long.”

“It’s okay, Master Tern,” Ariksaid. “He doesn’t really need my help anymore. The fish keepgetting smaller and less plentiful each season. Pretty soon, someof the fishermen are going to have to find other work.”

“Well, it’s a good thingyou’ve decided to branch out then,” chuckled Esta. “This is a finemorning’s work, Arik, the best batch of rabbits you’ve brought inthis month.”

“Thank you, sir,” beamed Arikas Esta counted out the coins for the young hunter. “Do you thinkthe bandits will attack Lorgo again?”

Esta leaned his bulky frame against thelong wooden table that was the centerpiece of the kitchen. “Isuppose they will,” he answered. “Ever since the Collapse, theworld has been a very unsafe place. The bandits will keep attackingand raiding until one of the great armies wipes themout.”

“Do you think we could send amessage to one of these great armies and get them to come help us?”quizzed Arik.

Esta laughed and scowled at the sametime. “Lad, the only difference between the bandits and the greatarmies is that the armies are bigger. They’ll loot and plunder usas sure as the bandits. The only reason that they will kill thebandits is to get rid of the competition.” The innkeeper’s browknotted with concern. “Sooner or later some of them are going tocome, though.”

Arik gazed at the innkeeper trying togauge his mood. For once Master Tern seemed to be talkative, butnone of the townspeople seemed to want to talk about the daysbefore the Collapse. Hesitantly, Arik broached the unspeakabletopic. “What was it like before the Collapse? Could you really seethe sun? Were there bandits then also?”

Esta jolted upright and hurriedlyglanced around the room before turning a frosty glare at Arik. Hisfists were clenched and he appeared to be struggling with himselfto avoid striking the boy. Arik stood toe-to-toe with the innkeeperand didn’t flinch. Although he was considered a boy in the town,Arik was already a year past Forgeno, the age when young menstarted their apprenticeships. Forgeno didn’t hold much meaning inLorgo anymore, as trade with other cities was limited to anoccasional merchant or caravan because of the bandits. Mostmerchants refused to travel except with the rare caravans. As aresult, most trades in Lorgo were of a similar nature to a smallvillage instead of the bustling seaport town it used to be and mostyoung men became fishermen.

Esta’s composure softened and the largeman relaxed his tense stand. “You should know better than to talkof times before the Collapse,” he admonished. “It is said that towish for the old times out loud is to bring down the wrath of theDark One on you and your kin.”

“But you don’t believe that,do you?” pressured Arik.

“Of course not,” blustered theinnkeeper. “Still, if anyone heard me talking, the town wouldboycott my inn. There aren’t enough travelers to survive on. Idepend on the townspeople coming in and eating and drinking. Ican’t afford to alienate anyone.”

“I won’t tell a soul,”promised Arik.

“Well, truth be told, you areof the age to be making up your own mind now and soon you’ll betaking a wife,” whispered Esta. “I suppose you have the right toknow the truth for what it’s worth.”

“I reckon I do,” smiled Arik,“but I’m not making promises to any girls.”

“A smart lad,” laughed Estawhile glancing around to make sure that they were still alone.“It’s true enough, it is. When I was a younger man, Lorgo was afine town, almost a city. It was a town in the great nation ofSordoa, which was so large that it would take a month on a fasthorse to go from border to border and everywhere that rider went,the sun would shine all day long. At night you could look up andsee the heavens, a thousand twinkling lights dancing around theblack sky. When the moon was full, you could read a book by itslight and it used to cast a long swath of golden light over thesea, calling lovers down to the beaches to marvel at itsreflection.”