5. The Shieldfriends

In Gushersand, Ardex heard sentences he never thought he’d hear in his life.

“Can’t they visit four times a year? Start of each season?” grumbled a bear. “Now I have to fish in the sea myself to get proper food.”

“Too dangerous,” said a snake. “The gods wouldn’t appreciate it. It’s scandalous how blind they are to the Ancient Turtles’ grandeur.”

Ardex walked under a stone overhang, through a large opening, into the merchant’s shop.

“It’s scandalous how blind animals are to the Ancient Turtles’ wickedness,” he said.

The bear and snake eyes grew wide as pigeon eggs. They promptly cast them to the ground, along with the bag of fish they held together. Ardex lumbered toward them. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Feel free to say negative things about the gods. I only have questions.”

The bear wiped mud from his fur and tidied up the shop. “Name’s Hibb. Ask away.”

“Do you know where the Ancient Turtles are now?”

“They’re past the Tail Islands, that’s all I know.”

“Do you still have contact with Abrahon? Or know anyone who might conspire with them?”

Hibb and the snake looked at each other, frozen in place, conversing without saying anything. Eventually Hibb straightened his back and looked the tigergod straight in the eye.

“Ardex, how do you think this city was built? Where do you think our riches come from?”

Ardex sighed and muttered to himself: “You don’t just have contact with Abrahon. You work together year-round, because why not.”

“They travel great distances and bring back things from lands far away. So when they come to Gushersand, we trade. That’s how we receive endless square stones, large supplies of fish, and news from the rest of the world.”

Ardex tapped the rows of expensive wares displayed in the shop. He’d never seen anything like it. This one place had to be worth as much as ten Darusstones. It surprised him thieves weren’t at the door every heartbeat.

“News such as?”

“I don’t know if it’s all true, mind you. I don’t believe it all, mind you. But … they said creatures from other continents had come here to Origina. Beings who somehow crossed the mountains. And then you helped the original inhabitants fight back and drive away the invaders.”

“That’s true,” said Ardex, frowning. “Our laws on territory and clansteads are clear. Though we didn’t know the invaders were from another continent. We thought the animals fought beasts from the sea.”

The snake lazily slithered through the shop—and suddenly made a beeline for the exit.

“Stop!”

“I have an appointment.”

“Bella’s kidnapped. The Ancient Turtles are prime suspect. If you know anything … if you’re involved in any way and you’re lying to me … then you’ll soon meet—”

“The Fearvolcano, right?”

Hibb quickly stepped between Ardex and the snake. “That’s what the animals call it. News spreads fast here. But no, Your Divinity, we know nothing and aren’t involved in anything. The Ancient Turtles are good. They help us. They protect our coast from wars like in the West.”

The fire god’s eyes flamed. “Then they have you under a spell.”

“Not that we know, sir god,” said the snake, outside by now. His eyes spit venom. “If you don’t mind, o divine divinity, my wife was also abducted a week ago and they demand a hundred diamonds to release her. I’ve only fifteen so far.”

He slithered away between a sea of animal feet, which tried very hard not to step on him.

Those are the numbers on the door, thought Ardex. Ransom! The price we must pay to get Bella back. What was it again? A thousand? A thousand diamonds?

But there was no location specified. No one to meet, no drop point.

The chaos grew on the central market of Gushersand. A herd of Equids, protohorses in all sizes and colors, stamped the colorful stone paths even deeper into the soil.

“Bella’s kidnapped!”

“I know already!” Hibb shouted back.

Ardex didn’t like it at all that they made a game of it. Bella was in danger. They toyed with the gods, acted as if they were nothing. Maybe they were hurting her. Maybe she’d been tied up for days.

The Fearvolcano bubbled and spat small streams of lava.

The Equids had more to tell. “They say she’ll be murdered if the gods don’t show up within a day.”

“What?”

Ardex spontaneously combusted. Hibb quickly shoved him out of his shop. He already sprinted away from the city again, toward where his family was headed, until he skidded to a halt right behind the Equids.

It’s a distraction, he thought. I’m getting closer. The Ancient Turtles are clever. They want me gone.

He turned around, strp;;ed back and gave two Equids a pat on the shoulder.

“Nice try. Now tell me where the real abductors are.”

The Equids neighed and shuffled, eager to depart again. Their hooves scattered piles of sand from the coastline through the town. “We only bring the news, as fast as we heard it.”

“Can you also bring news to the Ancient Turtles?”

“Maybe.”

“Tell those ugly turtles I’m coming to burn them alive.”