The Song of the Checkered Court: A dark fantasy novel (The Servant's Lament Book 2) by Chris R. Sendrowski

Author:Chris R. Sendrowski [Sendrowski, Chris R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pine Fire Publishing
Published: 2024-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

The ship was hot and humid, the stink of sweat and shark flesh hanging thick in the air. On the far side of the cabin, men were prepping a new sail, which consisted entirely of dried shark flesh. The grizzly thing lay unfolded across the floor as men smeared foul-smelling lard over it. Many of the crewmen wore orange laptane suits covered in similar lard. For it was one of the most resilient materials on Reterac Daore, impervious to acid and any number of contaminants.

I watched as the men toiled away inside their greasy suits. The shark flesh looked incredibly uncomfortable, and I could only imagine what it was like to work inside them while traversing wet riggings during a tempest. But the suits were all that stood between life and death above deck. The General had already warned me that a man could die in seconds in the Acid without protection, so it gave me little comfort to know neither of us would be receiving a suit.

I sat down in one of the provided hammocks and stared out a viewport as the horizon rocked back and forth. Crayle had said no storms were present in the Straight. But the weather here was notoriously unpredictable. There were days the Straight was almost as placid as a lake. But occasionally a tempest rolled through it, churning up hundred-footfall-high waves.

I closed my eyes and lay back in the hammock. I could worry all I wanted to later. For now I had unanswered questions to deal with. The most important being what I would do when I returned to Sradin. A new lorianas was likely already in place, and by law I could not ask him to step down. A lorianas’s posting was permanent. Only the King could remove us from our stations, and I had yet to learn who that even was.

A hand touched my shoulder. “How are you enjoying your stay with us?”

Crayle stood before me, an adreena stick glowing in his mouth.

“It’s all quite fascinating, really.”

Crayle cocked an eyebrow. “That is not the normal sentiment I hear aboard this vessel.”

“I may be a landman, but I do appreciate the wonders of the rest of the world.”

Crayle sat down in the hammock opposite me and took a deep drag on his adreena husk. “So… you are a curious lorianas then?”

“I suppose we all are. What better way to serve than to better understand the rest of the world around us?”

Crayle nodded as he exhaled a green cloud. “Indeed, my friend. Indeed.”

A bell tolled above deck, signaling a shift change. Seconds later, a dozen crewmen stumbled down the stairs as their companions headed above deck for the afternoon shift.

“So why do you want to return to your old home, lorianas?” Crayle asked as the exhausted men collapsed into their hammocks. “I thought you lorianas were permanently bound to your masters.”

“We are… until they die or cast us out,” I replied.

“Last I heard King Wren is alive and well. And I doubt he cast out a lorianas with a reputation such as yours.

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