The Key: Book 2 The Rose Tree Chronicles

Chapter Three: An Island for the Immoral

Arcor was an ungoverned city where the most dedicated criminals came to smuggle and trade, where the outcasts came to live, and where the bloodiest of pirates came to hire their crew. This gave it a reputation of being the most unpleasant city in the world and it nearly took up the entire island.

Unlike Rein, Empress Renée was unmolested on her way to Arcor and she shored the same day as Rein was carried onto the pirate ship. The empress took cover in a snowed-out wooded area away from civilization as all the ports and beaches seemed to be in constant use by filthy, crazed Arcorians. She kept her light gray cloak wrapped tight around her and pulled her hood on to hide her streaming blonde hair and most of her face. Then she waited in the frozen air of the woods for a while where she struggled to invoke the courage required to enter the city.

Arcor's screams of terror and shouts of rage reached the empress's ears and kept her planted in her chosen spot unable to move. The only solution she could summon was that perhaps she could flow through the streets as a stream, but that would only attract more attention if someone were to spot a shimmering body of water coursing through the grimy roads. Renée paced in the crunchy snow, kicking about the black rune-like patterns the wind blew across the surface.

"What should I do?" she growled, pressing her fists against her temples. "Where should I go? Where do I even start looking?"

Turning back was not among her list of choices. She absolutely had to enter this city to find the merchant who knew where she could locate the Mystery Miracle Worker. She had to prove her friends and the empire wrong about her, and this was the only way she could do that.

After a couple more minutes of pacing and speaking to herself, Renée focused harder to gather the strength to enter Arcor. She cautiously approached the edge of the wood and peeked out from behind a tall, skinny gray tree. She caught sight of the ratty townsfolk arguing, trading, stealing, drinking, fighting, singing, vandalizing, anything and everything that would be considered careless or even lawless anywhere. She hesitated again, then conjured up some water from the snow and formed it into a dagger to keep with her for an emergency. Finally, with a deep breath to calm her frenzied nerves, Renée entered the unholy city of Arcor.

The empress kept to the center of the street where there was less commotion. Every once in while she had to dodge people fighting, people stumbling drunk, people fleeting. She was even almost run down by rampant horses towing a carriage where the product it held was aflame. Death and violence surrounded her and it filled the air with the odors of sweat, rust, and decay. It was clear to Renée that no one bothered to rid the streets of the putrid bodies and rotting trash anymore. The red blood and black muck mingled with the brown snow on the ground and buildings. She had learned through a rumor that whatever rules existed were unwritten and they happened to be mainly trading rules, such as, "I'll give you something if you give me something in return." There was also one peace rule: "Don't bother me, I won't destroy you." But since all who came to Arcor were narcissistic to say the least, these rules were often completely disregarded and she made sure to keep this in mind.

To Renée's surprise, few of these people paid her any mind, but this was probably because many found it easier to snatch the attentions of the willing promiscuous women who coaxed them from the balconies of some of the rarer sturdy buildings. Yet there were a few Arcorians who took a moment from whatever they were doing to stare at Renée suspiciously, but no one bothered to approach her until she passed a tavern where one drunken satyr was thrown out. In a sputter of profanities, he stumbled into Renée and nearly knocked her into the sloshy ground.

"So sorry, my Lady," he slurred. "But you were too delicious to resist. Come with me and I'll show you how to have a good time!"

"How dare you!" Renée spat as she pushed him away.

"Oh! You're one of those types, huh?" the satyr laughed.

"Unhand me!" Renée hurled the satyr to the icy mud. "Curse you and your entire race!"

"Oy!" he cried, enraged. "Nobody shoves me!"

Suddenly, a number of his satyr friends exited the same tavern and waved their mugs around, spouting unintelligible words, though Renée managed to make out a few sentences.

"Oy! What are you doing shoving my friend?"

"Come try sssshoving one of us and see what happens!"

"Go shove someone your own size!"

Renée scurried away before they decided to come after her, and as she took off, they gave chase. However, their hooves didn't tread well with the icy ground and they quickly tumbled on top of each other and their friend. Renée didn't bother stopping, and it wasn't until she turned a corner that she decided to peek out from behind the building and see if the drunken satyrs had progressed at all. She was thankful to find that they had already forgotten about her when they all ended up in the mud, and were pointing and laughing at each other.

This newfound relief did little to calm the anxiety which emanated from the city around Renée. She glanced about at her dilapidated bearings, her eyes bouncing from ruin to trash heap to dead tree to another ruin. At last, across the street she spotted a crusty sign above a door bearing a picture of a book. It was the city library, depreciated and apparently unused. Perhaps she could find some useful information on the Mystery Miracle Worker inside.

The empress scuffled across the street through the smoky air and entered the library, and what she found was very discouraging. There were many shelves and bookcases, but there were hardly any books to be seen. The books she did find were poorly taken care of; they were dusty, missing pages, missing covers, and the bindings were falling apart. In addition, the librarian was nowhere to be found, which was fine with Renée. The last thing she needed was another dicey encounter to slow her down.

Renée quietly strolled up and down the aisles even though she didn't know where to remotely begin her search. Since there weren't many options, she thought to glance at the books until one stood out as having some potential. Besides her soft footsteps, the quiet surrounding her sent goosebumps creeping up her skin. However, Renée found that she had preferred the quiet when she suddenly heard a second pair of slow and steady footsteps coming from behind the bookshelf she stood beside. They crept to the end of the aisle and turned the corner to reveal the mysterious stalker. It was who Renée assumed to be the librarian: an old, fat, clay golem. Golems were mainly used as slaves on land, and because the librarian was a golem, Empress Renée immediately felt great contempt toward her. She almost decided to walk out of the library and forget about looking for the Mystery Miracle Worker there.

"What are you doing here?" the librarian asked. It was clear that she too felt disdain toward Renée. "I don't tolerate trespassers."

"Are libraries not open to the public?" Renée asked.

"This hasn't been a library for years," the golem answered. "It is my home now, and you're trespassing."

"I'm searching a library for information."

"You won't find any information here."

Renée hesitated for a moment. She didn't wish to speak to the golem anymore, but her search was too important to give up. "Very well. Then would you happen to know where I could find the Mystery Miracle Worker? Or perhaps the merchant who knows her whereabouts?"

The golem laughed. "Is that what you're looking for?"

Renée showed little physical response to being mocked, but it was all she could do to keep from drowning the golem. "Yes."

The golem tilted her head at the empress. "What do I get out of giving you that information?"

Renée took a moment to think. Her malicious feelings toward this librarian were only increasing at a rapid pace. "I can pay you." Pay a golem? That phrase left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"How much?"

"How much would you like?" Renée asked through gnashed teeth.

"How much do you have?"

The empress was ready to explode on this slave material. The golem should be thankful she was getting anything at all. Renée molded some gold coins out of the water particles in the air behind her back before showing them to the librarian. "I have... a full moon." A hundred dollars.

"Crescents don't do anything here."

"Except for the fact that they're pure gold, which does something everywhere."

The librarian's eyes widened and she reached out for the money. Renée quickly pulled back and made sure her words were comprehensible when she asked, "Where can I find information on the Mystery Miracle Worker?"

The librarian glared at Renée. "The merchant seadog you're looking for is several shops from here. I don't know if he's there at the moment since he is a seadog."

"What's the name of the shop?"

"Worldly Trade. There's a picture of Xyntriav above his door."

Renée considered her answer. She didn't like how vague the information was, but what could she do? Perhaps this was all that this useless golem could provide, which shouldn't surprise her. Reluctantly, she handed the money over.

"If I find this information to be false, I will come back for this money. If it's not here, I'll take the payment in some other way, if you catch my drift." With that said, Empress Renée left the library.

Renée glanced up and down the street to avoid any trouble-seekers before she rushed away from the rickety structure. She hopped over broken wood planks and severed body parts as she kept close to the deteriorating buildings, guardedly making her way down the street and being sure to keep an eye out for any unruly citizens. She found the little, "Worldly Trade," shop just as run-down as the library, but she found it open and she felt a rush of relief to get off the streets again. Dealing with one or two rowdy people was way preferable to dealing with an entire chaotic city. She entered the shop and looked around for whoever might be inside but only saw a large desk, a bunch of maps, and a variety strange objects used for voyages and navigation.

"And what might someone like yourself be looking for in a shop like this?" came a voice from behind.

Renée spun around to find a man standing by the door with his arms crossed over his chest. She looked at him directly and hesitated to speak when she saw his feet were on backward. She had never heard of an abarimon before, so she didn't understand that this was only normal for his ethnicity.

"I'm looking for the merchant who I was told works here," she uttered.

"What do you want from him?"

"That is between me and him."

"Is he expecting you?"

"No..."

"Then you must go through me first. What is it you're looking for?"

"The location of a certain someone," Renée answered. "And that is all you're going to get out of me."

"And what if I told you that I'm the merchant you want?"

"I wouldn't believe you for a second. Now if you would, I'd like to speak with him."

The abarimon laughed and he approached his desk to pack up the maps spread out on top of it. "I'm afraid, my dear, I am the person you wish to speak to. However, I'm pressed on time, so we must hurry with your business so that I may go."

"Prove it to me that you are whom I search for," Renée's demanded as she placed her hand on her hips.

"I'm afraid that's not possible," said the merchant as he placed the maps against the wall beside a bookcase. "Now either you can ask me what you want or I'm going to leave." The merchant approached his door to exit.

"I'm looking for the Mystery Miracle Worker," Renée spat.

The merchant paused and closed his door. "What business do you have looking for her?"

"Now that business is between her and myself, and there is no way you could possibly convince me that you are her, so there's no point in trying."

"Right," said the merchant as he crossed his arms again and leaned leisurely against the door. "But I will ask for something in return for this information."

Renée rolled her eyes. "Everybody wants something! What is it you'd like?"

"That key you so carelessly wear like a steel chain around your neck," the merchant answered.

Renée put her hand over the key and tucked it into the blouse of her dress. "The key is off limits. What else do you wish for?"

"Nothing else. It's the key or no information. Make your choice, and quickly please."

Renée thought fast. "Very well, but you will only receive the key when you have told me everything I need to know. I can't trust that you'll tell me once I give it to you."

"Well then we seem to be at a stalemate as I can't trust that I'll get the key after I reveal the location," the abarimon replied.

"It seems as though we cannot reach an accord. Thank you for your time. I must go and find the information I seek elsewhere."

Renée approached the door to leave the shop, but the merchant stopped her. "Hold on," he said. "We'll do this your way. Unfortunately though, the information you want is at my home on the other side of the city, which is a day's journey from here. If you give me until tomorrow, I shall return here by noon with everything you need know. Then we can make trade. What do you say?"

Finally, Renée was getting somewhere. "I'll be here at noon."