Merchants of the Silent Shore 

Chapter IV

The countryside was beautiful. In just over a week, Marty saw mountain ranges with snow capped peaks. He passed a massive lake with a castle built on the island in the center. Next, he was told that there was going to be a forest with trees one hundred meters tall. The marooned pilot was never more excited and awed than he was now.

The convoy to the Guild States had been making good progress since setting off from Melur. The roads were well patrolled since the group, roughly fifty people all together, were using the main trade highways that led directly to the Guild States.

There was twelve carriages, each pulled by four house. Mounted guards rode alongside the wagons with two paladins at the front. Every day, they made about twenty miles before resting for the night. That slow pace gave Marty plenty of time to document everything.

Marty gazed out at the mountain range that was still visible way off in the distance. Even though the man had witnessed nebulas of a thousand colors, gazed upon the Pillars of Creation, personally witness the supernova on a research assignment and numerous other mind blowing celestial events, he had never taken the time to explore anything terrestrial. To him, breathing the fresh, unrecycled air and to see these thing which he never had seen before, made everything else pale in comparison.

"You're staring again," Felix said. He had seen it before, having traveled quite a bit. It was nothing new or spectacular. 

Marty didn't avert his gaze from the outside. Instead, an eagle high overhead drew his gaze. "This world is beautiful. I've seen images of other worlds like this, but to actually see it with my own eyes is..." he didn't have the words for it and ended up just staring outside more. "I wish they would let me out and go exploring. I want to catalogue everything." Only if his main scanner was still intact. It was a cumbersome, but still portable, box that took photos and biometrics. Sadly, it was in a dozen parts from the crash.

"Good luck convincing the to let you out of this box." Felix lounged back against the luxurious pillows that filled the wagon. Even if it was a box, it was very comfortable and there was a fruit bowl and wine along with salted meats for their pleasure. "Those guards have one mission. Keep you safe. They'll gladly sacrifice anyone else to keep you safe."

Felix had said it with no real intention, but the words sank into Marty a bit. He didn't want people to do that. As a Ranger, he had been told to be independent. It was just him, his ship and the universe. Suddenly he had more than just himself to worry about.

He had Felix to worry about. Hell! He legally owned the cat. Back at the home station, Marty had a fish tank. He nearly cried the first time one of his fish died. He was going to be the best slave owner ever to Felix and the cat seemed to reciprocate.

After Marty got Felix off that cold floor and into a bed, the cat had been more proactive. Before, Marty had to ask Felix to do tasks such as basic house cleaning. Marty helped clean as well with the thought process that everyone who lived under a roof helped keep it clean, but now Marty hardly found anything that needed cleaning and all Felix seemed to ask for was affection. A scratch behind the ear, a rub between the shoulder blades. BUT NOT IN PUBLIC! 

Where others could see them, Felix was his usual self which wasn't too far off from a cat back on Earth. He was lazy most of the time with short and spontaneous bouts of energy. His eyes, even when lounging, tracked movement. More than one time, Marty caught him staring down a bird outside, watching it with those eyes that gave Marty the feeling that any one of this world's denizens could kill him with their bare hands. 

Humans had to develop tools and weapons to overcome. They needed armor and all kinds of help to survive the wilderness while the same only seemed to be an addition to these anthropomorphic beings already natural set of claws and teeth. They had fur or scales to protect them already. A jacket or a steel chest plate just added to that. Marty was very aware that the only thing keeping him in his heightened state was his technology. He guarded it carefully.

The ship in Melur was under lock and key. The Church sealed the building that he had stored it and in addition, Marty made sure to get the security running again. It wouldn't open for anyone but Marty. He also made sure that no one got a hold of his weapons or tech. His rifle was leaning against the wall and the pistol was secured safely to Marty's belt. 

He rested his hand on his hip, near his gun, every so often. As beautiful as this world was, it was hard to forget that it was dangerous. The Fel left a mark on Marty's mind.

"Over there! Over there!" A squeaky and shrill voice cried out.

Marty looked in the direction of the noise and was delighted to see two familiar faces.

Both Vargus and Petrus were riding a horse. Petrus was desperately pointing at the eagle that Marty had been watching before. He pointed while prodding his father to get closer.

"Hold on. Hold on." Vargus directed their mount over next to the carriage Marty was in. "That's the third one. There will be more."

Petrus quickly lost interest in the bird as soon as he saw Marty. His face lit up, ears perked and that small tail going a thousand miles an hour. "Marty! Marty! Marty!" He waved, getting a few chuckles from the other guards on their horses. Petrus was the life of the party, everyone enjoyed having the little rascal running about, talking about everything. He was just as excited and awed as Marty since this was his first time leaving home.

"Hey." Marty grinned and leaned out of the window to mess with little wolf's head fur. He shook his head and laughed.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just let him run around." Marty said. The carriage as going at a snail's pace and with all of the guards that were with it, there would always be a pair of eyes watching out for him.

"It would be if this little mister didn't try and spook the horses." He looked down at his son who gave a sly smile while avoiding eye contact. "Nearly caused Ambassador Mortay's carriage to careen into a tree."

"It wasn't even close." Petrus kept that knowingly grin on his face. "I was just having a little fun."

"Well you can have fun up here with your dad." He squeezed his armored arms around his son a little tighter. 

Petrus crossed his arms in dismay. Sitting on the horse while dad made boring patrols was hardly what he had in mind. He wanted to go running and chase things. That was way more fun. So what if one of the horse thought he was coming at it. What would he do? Nibble on its hooves?

"You can leave him with me if you want." Marty offered. He hadn't had much time to talk to Petrus in some time and the little pup always had questions. It would help pass the time since Felix wasn't too interested in Marty's history. 

"No it's okay," Vargus politely declined. "He's never seen me on duty and I think he can learn a few things from these gray whiskers of mine." It was only partially true. Vargus did want Petrus to pick up a few things. The main reason though was Felix. Vargus didn't trust the cat. He was a bandit. An outlaw and as far as Vargus was concerned, he still was. He didn't want Petrus close to him.

"Yeah. Sure." Marty was a little deflated. He was now stuck with boring old Felix who had fallen asleep again. The cat was asleep for half the day and when he was awake, he always looked tired. Not much for passing the time with.

Petrus disagreed as well. "But. But."

"Ah-ah." Vargus frowned. "What was the agreement that we had?" He asked and waiting for a reply.

Petrus' nose quivered in agitation. "I would do whatever you told me." He said with little enthusiasm.

"That's right." 

Marty wasn't sure if he should have been there. It seemed like a little issue between father and son. He just watched silently.

"Besides," Vargus barked out happily. "It's still some time before we get to the Guild States. There will be plenty of time for you to hang out with Marty. Right?" He looked at Marty.

"Right," Marty answered and then waved at them as Vargus went on forward with his little captive to continue his patrol.

The days went by slowly as Marty found himself just watching the sun go across the sky. He was only allowed out at night to stretch in his legs. He did some exercises as well to keep himself in shape and then took a shower using water heated over the campfires. It made him wish that the nights would never end.

Another week went by and the scenery dramatically changed. There had been large rolling hill with the occasional grove of trees with nothing but farmland for miles. It was all rather dull. Nothing but crops in all directions and then just over the course of an afternoon, Marty was surrounded by the giant trees he was promised.

They entered the Giant's Garden The trees stretched up, seemingly grazing the clouds. The air got bit more cool and humid. Moss clung to the rocks and the entire forest floor around the path they were taking was green. Birds chirped and small animals darted through the branches. It was the perfect picture of nature.

Even Felix took some time, normally just sleeping or eating, to take a look. He had never been here before. Close plenty of times, but never had the chance to go in. 

He heard plenty of tales. Stories that the Gods had made these woods from a valley of grass, feeding it a special water that caused it all to grow tall and strong. Here they planted a garden of plants. The Garden was known for having plants here that existed no where else, making it one of the Church's main sources of income since the Guild State treasured much of what came out of the woods.

There was also plenty of mystery around the woods as well. It was a massive forest that had no business being there. There were no rivers or streams here, the surrounding area didn't get a lot of rain and yet the forest was alive. The moss was set and moist enough to squeeze a drink out of and the ground was dark with moisture. No one knew why.

"This is better than seeing the lightning storms on Venus." Marty recalled the one time he had been taken by Rem to a resort there as a thank you. It had really been just another way for Rem to flaunt his wealth, but Marty had to admit, watching those storms almost made it worth getting hired by that maniac.

"What's Venus?" Felix asked as he looked out of the carriage. He had left his throne of pillows and was right next to Marty, looking out of the same window. Their shoulders rubbed and that part of Felix felt invigorated. He wanted the contact and it scared him. Being around Marty was intoxicating. He told himself no, but his mind and body demanded it. He couldn't explain it and part of him just wanted Marty to reach out and pet him again. It was the reason why he had spent so much time sleeping. Being trapped alone with Marty... he might as well have been a recovering alcoholic locked in a room full of booze. 

Oh, he could have left the carriage. Marty would hardly complain, he encouraged Felix to go out and stretch his legs, but Felix lied to him, saying that as a slave he wasn't allowed to leave his master unattended. In reality, it was because Felix knew that he wasn't safe out there. The guards despised him and without Marty's presence to protect him, he was one unfortunate accident away from being trampled by one of the guard's horses. Nope. Best to stay in the carriage and deal with these feelings.

Marty didn't feel so bad about being in the cart while in the woods. The cool air breezes through the normally stuffy interior of the carriage and the air seemed to relax him. He was about to doze off when the carriage came to an abrupt halt.

Up ahead, a normal normal sized tree had fallen across the road and the guard were already busy at work. They pushed against the tree, but the two ends were wedged into a muddy embankment on one side and a pair of sturdy alive trees on the other.

One of the paladins stepped forward. He was a rhino with a large horn jutting from the top of his nose. He held a massive axe in his hand.

"Move aside," He said and the guards did so. They were in for a treat.

The rhino tossed his axe off to the side. He flexed his massive shoulders. He wasn't wearing armor, only a linen shirt that stretched whenever he moved.

He rolled his neck around, popping it. His legs widened apart and he raised his hand up, the palm opened and facing the fallen tree.

"Stop showboating." The other paladin, a boar with two tusks that had metal rings dangling from it, snorted. 

"Gotta give the little-uns a good show," The Rhino said and repositioned himself as before.

He barely took a moment of preparation before slamming his hand down. The ground shook. The horses all looked up, startled and the sound of the tree snapping in half was deafening.

The wood directly under the rhino's palm was turned into a fine powder and the rest of the tree, both halves, were thrown up in the air. They crashed back down and the guard quickly began clapping and whistling. It wasn't every day that a paladin showed off his truth strength by beating nature into submission.

The rhino took in the praise. He kissed his bicep.

Both Marty and Felix were laughing when the front of the caravan exploded.

Hot fire and blinding light forced the human and the cat back into the carriage.

Marty's ears were ringing and he saw bright spots above him that quickly turned into the shape of a familiar cat. 

"Get up." Felix grabbed either side of Marty's shirt and pulled him up. "I should have seen it. I should have seen it." He kept repeating to himself. His ears were turning at a dizzying pace, trying to track all of the commotion outside. There was fighting. The sound of swords clashing was unmistakable.

"What happened?" Marty asked, too dazed to understand that the caravan was attacked.

"Classic ambush technique," Felix explain. He kept Marty low and away from the window. "Stop a caravan with a fallen tree and then attack. I should have seen it." He hit himself on the side of the head.

Marty was going to stop the self abuse when another explosion sent him careening back into some of the pillows that had made up Felix's throne. Instead of fire and light, ice and snow cascaded into the carriage.

"They must have a mage," Felix's eyes widened. "Not good." He began to look around for a weapon. He wasn't about to die hiding in a carriage. He had no intention of dying.

Marty shook his head, slowly getting his bearings. He was already holding his pistol. Having drawn it from instinct and training. 

"Why didn't I bring a bow or something." Felix was tossing things everywhere are he looked for a weapon.

Marty got up slowly and peeked over the edge of the window outside. It looked like a twisted hell.

Soldiers and what looked liked bandits were fighting. They hacked at each other with more enthusiasm than Marty would have liked someone to show. The paladins were there as well, setting up barriers to catch a mix of fiery balls and icicles that came hurtling from the trees.

The rhino looked to be in bad shape. His skin was black and smoking and was moving a lot slower than his boar counterpart.

Up the embankment were to figures in robes. They carriers staffs and twirled them, sending fire and ice froM either tip. They were tying to hit pockets of soldiers, but the paladins' barriers, blue and wispy walls, caught them and dissipated the magic. Some bolts got through, exploding into a flurry of whoever element they were. Craters of ash or people, completely frozen through were left behind.

"What about this?" Felix held up Marty's rifle. He had no idea how to work it and was actually pointing the barrel at himself. Marty couldn't have taken it from him any faster.

"You'll kill yourself toying with that." There wasn't any threat. The weapon had a biometrical lock. Only Marty could shoot it.

Felix's ears flattened. He felt like he had just been scolded as a child who was playing with daddy's sword. Then it raised and he pointed behind Marty. "Look out!"

Marty turned and saw a skink in leather and not a soldier, running at the carriage. He had his sword up and was looking directly at Marty.

"False God!" He yelled out.

Marty raised up the rifle and fired.

The skunk fell back with a scorched crater in his chest where the laser hit him.

Marty kicked into survival mode, remember the times he had to fight off pirates. He drew a bead on the mate that was shooting fireballs. He turned up the power on his rifle to account for the greater distance. Marty pulled the trigger and the mage's hooded head erupted into flames. He fell out of sight.

A lighting bolt barely missed Marty, blasting a wheel off of the carriage. The entire structure collapsed where the the wheel used to be and Marty fell out of the window.

He looked up to see dozens more of these bandits charging down the embankment towards the soldiers who were outnumbered and struggling. 

Several more mages appeared as well and began to fire their own deadly blasts. The paladins could barely keep up.

Marty fired as fast as he could, but there were just too many.

Another bandit, a cheetah with a spear locked onto Marty and charge with the tip pointed down at Marty's waist.

Marty leveled his weapon and pulled the trigger.

"Insufficient charge." The gun vibrates and rang out an alarm.

"Shit." Marty reached for his pistol, but it wasn't there. He had dropped it when he was thrown from the carriage. It was till in there.

Marty turned and ran to the carriage, but tripped on a alarm piece of the shattered carriage wheel. 

The cheetah, seeing the chance, lunged.

Marty covered his eyes and expected to feel pain from the spear plunging into him, but there wasn't any. He opened his eyes to see Felix trading blows with the cheetah. He had the sword from the first bandit that Marty had killed.

The cheetah hissed and stabbed with the spear. Felix barley managed to parry it and he made a wide swing at the cheetah's main arm. He hit the spear's shaft instead when it was blocked.

"Stop staring and do something!"Felix yelled and partied another strike.

Marty clambered onto his hands and knees. He bear crawled to the broken carriage and quickly sifted through it. The pistol was laying on the side of the door and was easily found. He grabbed it and quickly turned and aimed it.

The cheetah and Felix were too close to fire without risking friendly fire. Marty's hands were steady but his faith in his aim was not. He couldn't take the chance.

Felix had to use both hands to support his blade from an over head slam. He was out of practice and had never been good with a blade to begin with. He much preferred a bow.

He pushed the spear away and tried to get the cheetah's neck with a quick jab. 

The cheetah danced away on his light feet.

Felix saw that Marty got his weapon back and knew that it was over for the other cat.

It wasn't a laser that killed the cheetah, but a large crystal spear that fell from the sky. It went rights through him from the top of his spotted head and out of his ground. The cheetah was impaled into place with the same determined face he had the moment he died.

Another crystal weapon, a sword, fell and impaled another bandit and then another. The bandits began to panic as crystal weapons began to fall onto them.

The frequency of the mysterious weapons increased from a few a second to dozens in an instant. It became a torrential downpour of blades that went around Church soldiers, only targeting the bandits.

They ran with their shields over their heads, but it did nothing. Hundreds of the blades fell to the ground. If one didn't break the shield, the second or the third would and then the bandit would be impaled by two or three blades ranging from spears, swords, axes and knives.

Then as the dust settled, the last of the bandits dead or having fled, a figure slowly began to drift down from the trees. It was a raven in a white, tight fitting jacket that had loose straps of leather all over it, mimicking feathers. He slowly floated to the ground and settled onto his feet.

"Who's that?" Marty asked Felix whose eyes were entirely dilated and his fur was on end. He looked like he was high on Jovian spice.

"Tha-that's" his voice was shaky. "The Symphony of Blades."

"Who?"

The figure turned to Marty. "I am the Symphony of Blades," He said seemingly hearing what he said. "Defense minister of the Guild States." He gazed around at his handiwork. It seems that I have come at the most opportune of moments."

"Petrus!" A voice cried out. "Petrus." Vargus came running from the back of the caravan. He was bloody and hurt, but his eyes were wild. "They took Petrus!" He completely ignored everyone else and he ran around frantic. "They took him!" 

The surviving soldiers, which was a majority of them, quickly began to run around, the sudden appearance of the Symphony of Blades no longer a priority. One of their own needed help.

"Perhaps not soon enough," the Defense Minister muttered. "I will do what I can to help. I know where these people have their base."