The Book of Terrus: The Ghosts of Goran

Chapter 13 - A Fire from the East

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Vinie awoke feeling even more stiff than if she had spent the night back on her cot in Utunma's prison. She and Gideo had gone back to bed shortly after their talk by the window. Getting comfortable on the narrow bed between two other people was next to impossible. If Bakko's bony knees weren't jabbing into her one way, then she was coming dangerously close to kicking Gideo the other. How her dad managed to sleep so soundly, Vinie had no clue. Their voyage from Utunma to Moaan must have drained the meager old man even more than Vinie or Gideo. Come morning, that still did not make Vinie feel any more like a dawn rooster.

Breakfast was a bowl of porridge with a slice of slightly soggy bread. The bread was warm and tasted of cinnamon though, so none of them even paused before wolfing it down. The pudgy innkeeper pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow at them from the counter as they ate. She seemed to have recovered her first look at Gideo the day before enough to really notice how rough the three of them looked. The innkeeper even claimed that refills were on the house when Gideo tried to pay her for topping up their mugs of cider.

With no more immediate needs to guide them after breakfast, the inevitable question rose to the surface; what now? Sitting in their tiny room at the Gull's Nest, Vinie quickly grew restless. She stood and went to the window, adjusting her washed and dried vest across her shoulders. Her still recent freedom had done nothing yet to restore much in the way of flesh to her scrawny frame. Even sitting for too long on hard surfaces was uncomfortable.

"The markets are opening," she commented, peeking through the wooden window slats.

"Mmm, yas." Gideo paused in the middle of the push-ups he had been doing out of sheer boredom. "I can already hear the crowds gathering."

"We could probably go out and mingle safely enough. There must be almost a thousand people out there already," Vinie said.

"Yas, thousands of Moaanese." Bakko got up from where he had been lying back on the bed. "We're darker than they are, more noticeable. What if someone sees you?"

Vinie huffed. "Dad, there are Utunmans out there too. I saw a group of fishermen walk by just a few minutes ago. We can't just sit about in this stuffy room all day."

"We can't just go wandering about like everyday folk!" Bakko looked horrified at the thought, the wrinkles around his eyes multiplying tenfold. "We're wanted criminals now, and they'll be looking for us."

"Bakko, Vinie was barely even an accomplice to a crime that was judged over a decade ago. All that you and I did was sneak in through an unlocked prison door and make get some exercise. I seriously doubt anyone beyond Utunma knows or even cares about us."

Gideo pressed himself up on his hands, giving his spine a good backward curl before hopping up onto his feet. Without waiting for further debate, he went to the door and threw it open.

"I'm going out before we turn this room into a breathy sauna. Anyone up for joining me?"

"Come on, Dad." Vinie went to Bakko and pulled him the rest of the way up off the bed. "We're not doing any good in here anyways."

"This isn't safe," Bakko bemoaned, but allowed himself to be dragged down the narrow stairway.

Once they got out into the hot, salty, sea port air, Bakko seemed to take on a new brightness despite his earlier reluctance. Vinie wondered if being here made Bakko feel like his younger self again.