"Billy the Squid"
Feb. 23rd, 2025 10:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"Billy the Squid"
2/19/2025
I.
The small lean figure of Demrak Jin shot up out of the waterway like a missile fired from a submerged submarine. She easily cleared the SEA LARK by ten feet and landed neatly on the deck, crouching and seemingly ready to fight. Taken entirely by surprise, Calvin Calvert squawked and fell over onto his back with a painful thump.
Only three inches over five feet tall, Jin was a dramatic sight in her tight tunic and leggings of grey shark hide. Strapped diagonally across her narrow back was an ivory sheath that held a knife with a wide, three foot long blade carved of bone. The Gelydran woman straightened and untensed as she decided this man sprawled at her feet was no obvious danger.
"I have seen you before," she said without a trace of warmth. Demrak Jin had an odd but charismatic appearance. Her wide flat face with its sullen blue eyes was topped by short white hair that bristled stiffly. "You are the journalist who gets in the way."
Lying on the deck in front of her was a tall, lanky man in his late fifties. Calvin Calvert was wearing a lightweight white suit with a blue necktie pulled down and the top button of his shirt opened. He had greying red hair over a weather-beaten face and, in an attempt to appear nautical, was wearing a black-billed captain's cap instead of his usual battered fedora.
"What? You wound me, miss, I have been a great help to your fellow KDF members, my blog WHAT REALLY HAPPENED gets an average twenty-five thousand hits each day and I have enough subscribers to pay for coffee and donuts. I have been on the staff of numerous newspapers across this fair land of ours.. Awrkk!"
Calvert made that sound because Demrak Jin has grasped the front of his shirt and casually lifted him up off the deck entirely, so that his feet dangled free. She did this with one hand as easily as if picking up an empty T-shirt. As Calvert gasped in surprise, she walked over to the dock to which the SEA LARK was tied and tossed him over on to it.
"I did not give you permission to step on my boat," she explained.
Calvert scrambled clumsily back up to his feet. "I can see you've been going to the gym, young lady..."
"I am a Gelydra of Ulgor!" she announced. "Human I am not and never was."
"Say, that's a real poetic turn of phrase you have there," he gushed. "Have you ever considered doing a lengthy interview? Would you like surface people to understand more about Ulgor? Do you worship sharks?"
"What? No, we are KIN to sharks. A Gelydra is born at the same time a shark hatches and the same spirit lives in us both. But why am I telling you? I say, go about your business and trouble me no more."
"Your teammates can vouch for me..."
That seemed to irritate her even more. "I have read the cases filed by Jeremy Bane, Megan Salenger and Timothy Limbo. They agree that you cause trouble rather than resolve it and that you make their activities more difficult. I have not their patience. I will not put up with you."
"Ah, but I do have information useful to you, miss. You have come to Florida searching to find whoever has been looting yachts and killing the crews. I've already done some digging."
"Very well," she grated as if holding back an urge to commit grievous bodily harm. "Very well, I will hear you out for a second. What can you tell me?"
"I have found a name, the pirate behind these crimes. It sounds as if he's a Gelydra from sunken Ulgor, same as you. They call him Billy the Squid."
Demrak Jin glared for a second, then relented. "Come aboard, then, and talk. But do not think we are working together."
II.
"Untie that rope," the Gelydra said, dropping into the chair fixed before the controls.
"You mean, 'cast off the line,'" replied Calvin Calvert, undoing the nylon cord from the metal cleat on the dock.
"Don't give me a hard time!" Jin growled with genuine menace in her voice. "You know what I meant."
But all his life, Calvert had disregarded threats, implied or overt. "Port is left, starboard is right. You don't want people to think you're a newbie." He tilted his captain's cap back on his head and grinned at her. "I'm impressed someone from a city at the bottom of the ocean can pilot a speedboat at all."
"I have lived with you surface people for twelve years," she said, a bit less angrily. "I can drive a car with a stick. I can ride one of your horses. I have learned many useful skills."
Calvert had wandered back to where the outboard propellor was churning the water. "I can feel vibration further up the hull. You know what? I bet this boat has one of the Trom impulse engines, like your CORBY helicopters do. This craft has been upgraded by the Trom, hasn't it?"
"Don't ask questions like that," she answered. On the far shore across the mile-wide inlet, buildings could be seem with their lights coming on as dusk fell. It was a muggy sixty-five degrees in southern Florida.
"I mean, come on. You've got an actual instrument panel with a monitor screen and twenty dials and gauges. On a boat not more than maybe thirty-five feet long? Most boats this size have controls no more complicated than a motorcycle."
Jin did not reply. Instead of the usual wheel, the craft had a control stick like a helicopter, and she thumbed a button on its side. The windscreen briefly showed a vertical row of green numbers in a heads-up display. The SEA LARK smoothly accelerated.
Out of nowhere, Calvert said, "I still miss Megan Salenger. Our little Trom Girl was so patient with my nonsense. She was a sweetheart."
Demrak Jin softened her tones for the first time. "We honor fallen comrades by keeping their memory."
"Her and Archie both." Calvert launched into long reminiscences about the times he had gone along with the couple. The killer scarecrow of the Harvester cult, the manifested tulkas of a religious fanatic, the serial widow and her three murderous adopted sons. But mostly he started telling stories about Megan listening to jazz for the first time and loving it, of her friendship with Unicorn, of her taking so long to eat that Calvert and Archie had once started playing cards at the table.
Jin gave one of her extremely rare laughs, a low staccato burst of amusement. "Yes. She chewed each mouthful forever and sipped water between bites. No one could rush her! It was the way the Trom brought her up, she said."
Taking a seat on a bench built along one side of the gunwale, the journalist sighed. "Anyway. We're obviously looking into the same suspicious events. A rented boat was found drifting in a waterway. The three people who should have been aboard were missing entirely. No signs of violence. That was February 12th. Just a week later, a luxury yacht worth three million dollars sailed out one morning and was never seen again, nor were the six passengers and the registered captain."
"Pirates! I hate pirates...!" she growled.
"It happened I was was already in the area because there were reports of Gator Joe being seen," Calvert went on. "I couldn't find any trace of him and his scaly hide, but the missing boats got my attention."
The SEA LARK slowed as they saw a miles-wide beach with a boardwalk, which had high-rise hotels and casinos looming up behind it. Boca Inez had been a resort town since the land boom of the 1920s.
"I'd keep heading the way we're headed," Calvert suggested. "It's been a year or two since I've been here but the Feral Boys used to loiter at the far end of the beach... the bad part of town, so to speak."
Barely moving the boat forward, turning on the white and green front lights, Jin said, "I've wanted to meet these Feral Boys for a long time. Mr Calvert, do me a favor. Open the cargo container next to you and pull out the knapsack."
Calvert was pleased that this pugnacious warrior had become relatively comfortable with him. He handed her a canvas knapsack two feet wide and four feet deep. Demrak Jin opened a compartment and took out a handcrafted pistol with a needle-thin barrel, examined it and clicked a magazine into place.
"Hey, the anesthetic dart gun," Calvert said. "I've seen you guys use those things. Very cool."
"I am required by our captain to carry some KDF equipment on missions. I do not like using them."
Jin had shrugged off the sheath holding her bone-bladed knife, secured it inside the knapsack and then strapped the knapsack to her back. She did this within seconds with the smoothness of long practice. Under a thin flap held by Velcro, the hilt of her weapon was within instant reach of her right hand.
Drifting slowly past the last mooring spot with its regulations posted, the SEA LARK rounded a stone outcropping and came upon a small cove where three hand-made canoes were pulled up on the mud. Standing in the gloom with long sharpened sticks in hand were five men in rags.. the Feral Boys.
II.
"Amos Joseph! Is that you?" called Calvert.
"Hallo, Calvin," said the oldest man there. His white hair was pulled back in a ponytail, his beer gut pushed out his white T-shirt to its fullest. "I do believe you are wearing the exact same suit you had on three years ago."
That stirred a round of low chuckles. Three of the Feral Boys were short wiry men with dark ruddy skin and straight black hair, but two were taller, more heavily built with light brown curly hair. All wore shorts or cut-off jeans, plain T-shirts of various colors and low slippers. The staffs they leaned on had been sharpened at one end to imply use as weapons.
The journalist laughed good-naturedly. "I understand salvage has been good lately. You guys of the Unseen Nation have always recovered valuables from sunken or abandoned boats and ships. Nothing goes to waste with your tribe."
"That has always been our way," said Amos Joseph. "Two hundred years ago our ancestors were driven south by the soldiers' guns! We survive. We grow and change. Now many of our kin walk in every state and city. We have skins and eyes of every color, but among us we still use the Real Speech and our loyalty is to our Unseen Nation."
Stepping up to the bow of the SEA LARK, Calvin Calvert lowered himself to sit, holding on to a metal strut. "And I've kept our bargain, chief. Not one word about you on my blog or on in the newspapers or on my YouTube channel. Although God knows it's been hard for me to keep silent."
Amos Joseph snorted. "I believe that. You are a talker by nature. Tell me, my glib friend, have you brought the donation we agreed on?"
"You bet. Five thousand dollars in small bills, easy to spend without drawing attention." Calvert added, "None of my business, but I hope it will go to food and medicine."
"Rest easy, redhaired man. Few among us in this State have health insurance. We must take care of our own." He lifted a still sinewy arm at Demrak Jin. "But who is your companion?"
The Gelydra stepped silently forward. As the Feral Boys saw her face clearly, they muttered to each other. Their chief barked, "Thomas Jack! William Andrew! Be still. How do you introduce yourself, young woman?"
"I am Demrak Jin, a Gelydra of Ulgor," she announced. "Proud mate of Galvan of Androval and mother of Demrak Pol. Would you know more?"
The leader of this band of Feral Boys did not answer for a long tense moment. "I think there is someone you should meet..."
III.
Jin tied the SEA LARK up to a tree which overhung the water. A steel shutter slid closed over the instrument panel and control stick, locking into place. Then she armed the defenses with a signal from her Link and warned the Feral Boys that the boat was now electrified. "The charge will paralyze but probably not be fatal unless someone has a heart problem," she said as if remarking on the boat's color scheme.
"I don't even bother to lock my car's doors most of the time," Calvert said.
It was only a few minutes walk through brush and mud before they were stepping onto the rear of a parking lot which housed a liquor store and Chinese take-out. Escorted by the Feral Boys, Jin and Calvert made their way down a street marked by Dollar Stores, a pawn shop. a check cashing and quick loan place and a dubious fried chicken restaurant. The stained and damaged sidewalk, the generous amount of litter and the esoteric spray painted slogans all added to a depressing atmosphere.
And yet, only a few blocks to their left could be seen the bright flashing neon of a tourist trap center, including an actual casino. Boca Inez was a town with a sharp division marking the bad side. Amos Joseph brought the party to a halt and pointed across the street to a twenty-four hour laundromat called SUDS, which had several cars parked close to the doors.
At the far end of the parking lot, up against a boarded-up concrete block building, stood an unmarked white Dodge van. No one was in sight. Amos Joseph led his kin there, with Jin and Calvert in their midst. One of the Feral Boys hustled ahead of the party and rapped with his knuckles on the van, and the side door slid open. When the man inside hopped nimbly out, everyone present froze in place.
He was clearly a Gelydra, similar enough in appearance to have been a brother to Demrak Jin. Slightly over six feet tall, with long arms and legs, he had the same short stiff white hair, the same wide pug-nosed face, the same surly blue eyes. He was wearing only a pair of black swim trunks, and the long sleek muscles revealed showed he had spent a lifetime swimming against tremendous water pressure.
"YOU!" he roared as soon as he saw Jin. "You filthy traitor to our Race, you spawned an abomination fathered by one of the Melgarin. How can you live with such shame?"
"You should not talk!" she shouted, "You pirate and murderer! Slaying unarmed Humans ranks you in the lowest of scum."
"I usually enjoy trash talk," Calvin Calvert said to the Feral Boys, "But it's not going to be safe anywhere near these two." And as he warned them, everybody backed off a considerable distance.
"That there's Billy the Squid," said Amos Joseph, pulling a reluctant Calvin Calvert by the arm. "He breathes underwater, he snaps men's spines in his hands..."
"Cute name you gave him," was all the journalist could manage.
The Gelydra male jabbed a thumb against his chest. "I know you, you shameless disgrace to Ulgor. Know that I am Dorcas Tok, oldest son of Dorcas Rem! Down on your knees, I say, and I may let you live!"
Jin's response was to shrug off the knapsack containing her bone knife. She and Dorcas rushed straight at each other without further words and at arm's length, she leaped up to head height with her right fist swinging back up for a downward blow. A single crashing backhand from the male Gelydra not only stopped her, it threw her violently back to tumble along the asphalt.
Rolling over to her hands and knees, Jin found it was taking her a few seconds to get up. Before she could rise, Dorcas slammed a savage kick to her ribs that spun her over on her back. He knelt astride her and brushed her punches aside.
"You're so weak!" he laughed. "And slow. Have you been on the surface that long?" Straddling her, Dorcas started punching her in the face. Jin swung her head from side to side and tried to block, but his blows went through her attempts at defense.
Then Calvin Calvert grabbed the Gelydra's wrist with both hands. His Human strength could not have even slowed that punch but sheer surprise at his audacity made Dorcas pause. Releasing Jin, he stood up and shook the journalist off. "You seem to have more nerve than sense," he said.
Calvert forced an unconvincing laugh. "Oh, I've heard that before. But you might notice the people watching you from the laundromat? They're on their phones and are likely calling 911 right now."
The Gelydran male fixed a venomous glare at the small group just outside the open laundromat door. He runbled deep in his chest.
"I mean, I realize you Gelydrim like to keep your disputes to yourselves," Calvert went on. "But honestly, the town police won't see it that way and they tend to be well-armed."
"What a nuisance! Surface man, keep this Demrak trollop away from me!" With that, Dorcas swung up into the driver's seat, started up the van and sped out onto a side street. As soon as he was gone from sight, the Feral Boys gathered again.
"You are a brave man," Amos Joseph said.
"Who, me? I almost wet my pants doing that! My hands are shaking," Calvert scoffed.
Denrak Jin had managed to sit up, hunched over and still catching her breath, but she managed to say, "You kept him from killing me. I owe you a great debt, Mr Calvert."
The redheaded journalist beckoned to the Feral Boys. "How about some of you young guys help carry her? The cops'll be showing up any second."
As two of the tribe carefully lifted the battered Gelydra, Calvert made sure to snatch up the knapsack which held the bone-bladed knife. He followed the Feral Boys into the darkness, wondering what had gone so terribly wrong. The other KDF members had always described Jin as a nearly unbeatable fighter.
IV.
Calvert awoke with a start and was completely disoriented for a few seconds. Where was he? Why was he sitting in the chair of a speedboat with the morning sun in his eyes? Memory came back in a flood. Over a long career investigating the paranormal, he had often found himself in such unlikely circumstances first thing in the morning.
Wincing at the stiffness in his neck, he turned to see Demrak Jin climbing up over the side of the boat. Her face was swollen along the jawline and a dark bruise surrounded her mouth. With water dripping off her shark hide outfit, she gave him a friendly nod. "I did not mean to wake you."
"That's okay," he managed between yawning and stretching. "I guess I fell asleep right after we got back here last night but I've been running on naps for a long time. How are you feeling?"
"I have been hurt much worse than this and hardly noticed," she said. Strangely, her hair had dried instantly. Its texture seemed almost like seal fur. "Sleeping underwater helps."
"I don't suppose this boat has a coffee maker...?"
"No." Jin gestured for him to vacate the chair. Seating herself, she took her Link from a water-tight pocket inside her waistband and retract the steel shutter from the control stick and instrument panel. She waited until the status lights were all showing green and blue, asked him to cast of the line (this time using the correct lingo) and backed the SEA LARK out into the waterway. A young couple on a jet-ski flashed by with a cheerful wave.
At the far end of the beach was a cluster of small buildings which included a souvenir shop, a bistro and a garage which did minor repairs. Jin moored on the final dock and led Calvert into the CRESCENT MOON bistro, which had a warm dry interior filled with tempting aromas. Most of the tables taken by happily chatting tourists. Jin and Calvert found an available one in the corner and settled in with the glossy menus.
The young waitress was visibly distressed at seeing Demrak Jin's battered face and gave a basilisk glare to Calvert. But the way Jin was obviously in charge, telling Calvert to order whatever he wanted and charge it to her KDF expense account, mollified her. Calvin Calvert immediately downed a cup of black coffee and asked for a refill.
"That got the blood flowing again," he said.
Shortly, Calvert was digging into a double serving of scrambled eggs, thick pancakes with blueberry syrup and hashbrowns. Demrak Jin did not think it would be a good idea to mention that she had actually already eaten a raw fish that morning that she had caught with her hands, so she made herself eat strips of bacon and two pieces of wheat toast. She had grudgingly learned to go along with Human customs even if she didn't like them. Caffeine didn't affect her Ulgoran metabolism, but she had come to like the taste of coffee for its own sake.
As Calvert began to mellow with some food behind his belt, he finally asked Jin about the fight the night before.
"This is hard for me to admit," she said in a low voice. "But I have lived on the surface world for twelve years now. I have not been in the depths for too long. Without the great pressure of the water to resist, I am afraid my muscles have declined."
"Well, that makes sense," Calvert said sympathetically. "Astronauts who stay in space for too long lose muscle tone without gravity to fight."
"And the loss has been so gradual that I overlooked it. When I lived in Ulgor, I could have defeated Dorcas Tok with no trouble."
"You still seem pretty strong to me," Calvert said. "I mean, yesterday you lifted me off the ground with one hand."
The waitress brought over a coffee pot to offer refills, which made Calvert beam. "You've got my number, all right," he thanked her.
A stricken look took over Jin's face. "And... this means I can never return to Ulgor. The water pressure would crush me as if I were a surface Human."
"Your husband and son are on the surface," Calvert said with unusual gentleness. "Your friends at the KDF are here. Maybe it's none of my business, but I'd say there's more for you up here than back in Ulgor."
"My people did exile me. When the ruling family was overthrown, I was spared execution but cast out from the realm. I am no princess, you understand, merely a distant relative but that was enough." The sullen blue eyes narrowed. "You are right! Galvan and Pol are precious to me beyond understanding. Everyone at the KDF has treated me with respect and warmth, from Jeremy to Sable to Timothy. They are my family now." She took the bill which the waitress had left and pulled her expense account card from its slit in her waistband. "Come, Mr Calvert, the day is passing and there is much to do."
Making sure to get the last drop in his cup, the journalist pushed back his chair. "What's the agenda, sweetheart?"
"My task is to bring down Dorcas Tok before he slays more innocents," She replied with a remarkably sinister grin. "And this time, I will not fail!"
V.
Back aboard the SEA LARK, Jin opened her knapsack and explained some of the gadgets within. She showed Calvert the hidden safety latch on the dart gun. "It is set to single shot. The darts are effective but they will not penetrate heavy clothing." She handed him what looked like a translucent surgeon's mask with ear tabs. "This is an oxygen membrane. It will allow you to survive underwater but will not provide enough oxygen for strenuous activity."
"Better than a life jacket! Thanks." Calvin Calvert carefully tucked the device into the right hand pocket of his suit jacket.
"I will want it back, of course. I do not think I am justified in giving you any of the resonance grenades or smoke bombs or flares."
The journalist shook his head. His stubble growing in was white. "I'd just as soon not carry explosives around on me, thanks anyway. You know, I saw our friend the Dire Wolf pull everything from little tear gas bombs to thermite strips out of his pockets. I always wanted to ask him if he wasn't worried about setting off a bomb when he was reaching for his car keys."
"Jeremy is careful," she replied absently because she was examining the bone-bladed knife she had crafted herself.
"I have to tell you more about the Feral Boys. They're an odd bunch even by Midnight War standards. I still say 'American Indian' but that's way outdated, anyway lots of different Indian tribes were driven south by settlers in Georgia in the 1700s. They ended up in Florida and merged to become the Seminoles. Follow me so far? But some of them were too violent and weird to be accepted. Some letters and newspapers of the time accused them of being devil worshippers. They formed their own nation, which ended up being called Feral Boys."
Jin regarded him thoughtfully. "Some of them we saw yesterday did not look like your Indians or Native Americans?"
"That's what is so interesting and a little scary about them. They have spread out over the entire country, intermarrying but somehow still keeping loyalty as Feral Boys. They speak a secret language that scholars don't know anything about. It's like what they call themselves, they're the Unseen Nation."
"I have heard of such a thing before," Jin said. "The KDF has fought cults and criminal organizations that are loyal only to themselves."
Calvert went on, "I've gotten to know some of their chiefs but I had to promise never to put any information in my blog. Have you been following WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? It's got eighteen thousand subscribers."
"I am very busy."
"Oh. Sure. Anyway, most of the clans here in south Florida aren't too bad. They mostly stay to themselves, hunting and fish and doing odd construction or landscaping jobs. I've helped them out a little bit. And that's why I think your Billy the Squid is right in this area, the Feral Boys have been selling off loot he's taken from the boats he sank."
"Dorcas is not named Billy. He does not look like a squid."
"Yeah, that's a pun. There was a famous gunfighter in the Old West named Billy the Kid. It's a Feral Boy sense of humor."
"Ah. I know a little about the Wild West. So they think this nickname is funny? I suppose. Calvert, where can we find Dorcas before he kills more surface people?"
Calvin Calvert settled down on top of a storage bin and took off his captain's hat. The greying red hair was matted with sweat. "We'll have to meet up with Amos Joseph and his crew again. They should be there by now."
"Very well." Jin started up the SEA LARK and eased the boat carefully out on the water. The marina had quite a few boats and Jet skis moving about by then. As she went to the east, the water became more shallow and people became scarce. Once Jin sailed past a rocky promontory, there was no one else in sight. In a few minutes, Jin swung into the same cove she had entered the previous day and pulled up to where the Feral Boys were waiting.
Over a small fire, the members of the Unseen Nation had two cleaned fish hanging from a stick. They were watching the cooking process with great interest. Of the five Feral Boys present, only Chief Amos Joseph was not holding a dark green beer bottle. He waved a hand in greeting.
While Calvin Calvert gingerly stepped down from the side of the SEA LARK to the muddy ground, Demrak Jin leaped off the boat and landed lightly within reach of the startled group. "I thank you men for carrying me to safety last night," she said.
The old chief bowed his head. "Our clan has been unhappy dealing with Billy the Squid. Salvage is one thing, fighting the Harbor Patrol or town police is one thing, but murdering innocent tourists for loot crosses a line. We are glad you have come to fight this pirate and we support you. Even though he will certainly kill you when you meet again."
Demrak Jin normally had a surly, even pugnacious expression but it eased for a second as she seemed to find that statement amusing. "He can try."
"Smells like your fish fry is just about ready," Calvert interrupted. The Feral Boys took this as a cue. They placed the steaming hot fish on a spread of clean leaves and squatted down to eagerly pick at the fish with their fingers. Calvert added, "If I'd known, I'd have brought some lemon juice..."
Studying Jin's face, Amos Joseph nodded. "There are tales handed down of Ulgor, the City Beneath the Sea, whose people have the shark as their totem. Never did I expect to meet one of the Gelydrim, let alone two at the same time."
"We seldom leave our realm these days," Jin said. "Can you point me to where I can find Dorcas Tok? Or Billy the Squid, if you will?"
"The water is shallow. You will come with us in our skiffs. If he sees us coming, he will wait. If he sees strangers, he may flee or hide. Micah Francis, Alan Chester, are you ready? Is the fire completely out? I had better not find a spark. Okay, then, we go."
There were three handmade flatbottomed boats that were not much deeper than rafts. Jin and Calvert got into separate ones, the chief in the third. Then each skiff was manned by one of the younger Feral Boys. They used a single oar or a long pole as needed, sending the lightweight craft skimming quickly along. To Calvert's great disappointment, not a single alligator showed itself. No snowy egrets or spoonbills, just some ducks. "I can see ducks anywhere," he said out loud.
Demrak Jin sat scowling in silence, her hand inside her knapsack where it grasped the hide-bound hilt of her long knife. The Feral Boys openly stared at her, not in lechery but in uneasiness. Eventually, the party pulled up on an island centered around a massive cypress tree shrouded in lacy Spanish moss. There squatted a shack no more than fifteen feet to a side, with two windows covered by oiled cloth rather than glass. The door hung on leather straps.
As the three skiffs pulled up to the island, the Feral Boys hopping out to tug the craft up out of the water. Calvert and Amos Joseph disembarked more cautiously, while Jin was eager to confront her countryman. She pulled the bone-bladed knife out and shoved the knapsack into Calvert's arms.
Striding around from behind the crude shack was a man now wearing baggy pants and an open denim vest. Dorcas Tok brandished a steel machete in a dramatic swirl and stood with feet well apart, waiting.
VI.
"We take no sides in this dispute," announced Chief Amos Thomas. "Nor will we speak of it to outsiders." He joined the three Feral Boys sitting cross-legged on the ground off to one side. Calvin Calvert said nothing as he went to lower himself on to a fallen tree trunk, clutching Jin's knapsack. All four settled in to watch the duel.
Stepping forward to stand fifty feet away from Billy the Squid, Demrak Jin slapped the flat of her blade against one hand. "First, I wish to speak."
"May your last words be brave ones," scoffed the Gelydra male.
"It is the code of our people that I should face you in open combat. Even though you are certain to slay me, I am supposed to face that fate without complaint. I should leave my son without a mother, my husband without a wife and my friends without a teammate. How foolish that all seems! Suddenly the war code seems empty and pointless. I have nothing to prove. I reject the idea that I should hurry to my death without good reason."
Dorcas laughed outright. "What, will I have to chase you? Be a Gelydra! Make Ulgor proud of you."
But Jin stuck the point of her knife into the soft earth and folded her arms. "I choose another way."
The Gelydran man slapped at the side of his neck as if stung by a mosquito. Then his eyes rolled up, his knees gave way and he fell face down to the ground. The machete landed just out of reach of his limp hand.
Calvin Calvert lowered the dart gun and exhaled sharply. "Whew, damn. I have never been so scared. If I missed, he would have sent my head flying away!" He walked over and handed the weapon and the knapsack back to Jin.
"Thank you, Mr Calvert," she said. "I am glad your nerve did not fail you. I was counting on you."
Rising again, the old Chief of the Feral Boys smirked. "How disappointing! We were looking forward to some flashy swordplay."
2/23/2025
2/19/2025
I.
The small lean figure of Demrak Jin shot up out of the waterway like a missile fired from a submerged submarine. She easily cleared the SEA LARK by ten feet and landed neatly on the deck, crouching and seemingly ready to fight. Taken entirely by surprise, Calvin Calvert squawked and fell over onto his back with a painful thump.
Only three inches over five feet tall, Jin was a dramatic sight in her tight tunic and leggings of grey shark hide. Strapped diagonally across her narrow back was an ivory sheath that held a knife with a wide, three foot long blade carved of bone. The Gelydran woman straightened and untensed as she decided this man sprawled at her feet was no obvious danger.
"I have seen you before," she said without a trace of warmth. Demrak Jin had an odd but charismatic appearance. Her wide flat face with its sullen blue eyes was topped by short white hair that bristled stiffly. "You are the journalist who gets in the way."
Lying on the deck in front of her was a tall, lanky man in his late fifties. Calvin Calvert was wearing a lightweight white suit with a blue necktie pulled down and the top button of his shirt opened. He had greying red hair over a weather-beaten face and, in an attempt to appear nautical, was wearing a black-billed captain's cap instead of his usual battered fedora.
"What? You wound me, miss, I have been a great help to your fellow KDF members, my blog WHAT REALLY HAPPENED gets an average twenty-five thousand hits each day and I have enough subscribers to pay for coffee and donuts. I have been on the staff of numerous newspapers across this fair land of ours.. Awrkk!"
Calvert made that sound because Demrak Jin has grasped the front of his shirt and casually lifted him up off the deck entirely, so that his feet dangled free. She did this with one hand as easily as if picking up an empty T-shirt. As Calvert gasped in surprise, she walked over to the dock to which the SEA LARK was tied and tossed him over on to it.
"I did not give you permission to step on my boat," she explained.
Calvert scrambled clumsily back up to his feet. "I can see you've been going to the gym, young lady..."
"I am a Gelydra of Ulgor!" she announced. "Human I am not and never was."
"Say, that's a real poetic turn of phrase you have there," he gushed. "Have you ever considered doing a lengthy interview? Would you like surface people to understand more about Ulgor? Do you worship sharks?"
"What? No, we are KIN to sharks. A Gelydra is born at the same time a shark hatches and the same spirit lives in us both. But why am I telling you? I say, go about your business and trouble me no more."
"Your teammates can vouch for me..."
That seemed to irritate her even more. "I have read the cases filed by Jeremy Bane, Megan Salenger and Timothy Limbo. They agree that you cause trouble rather than resolve it and that you make their activities more difficult. I have not their patience. I will not put up with you."
"Ah, but I do have information useful to you, miss. You have come to Florida searching to find whoever has been looting yachts and killing the crews. I've already done some digging."
"Very well," she grated as if holding back an urge to commit grievous bodily harm. "Very well, I will hear you out for a second. What can you tell me?"
"I have found a name, the pirate behind these crimes. It sounds as if he's a Gelydra from sunken Ulgor, same as you. They call him Billy the Squid."
Demrak Jin glared for a second, then relented. "Come aboard, then, and talk. But do not think we are working together."
II.
"Untie that rope," the Gelydra said, dropping into the chair fixed before the controls.
"You mean, 'cast off the line,'" replied Calvin Calvert, undoing the nylon cord from the metal cleat on the dock.
"Don't give me a hard time!" Jin growled with genuine menace in her voice. "You know what I meant."
But all his life, Calvert had disregarded threats, implied or overt. "Port is left, starboard is right. You don't want people to think you're a newbie." He tilted his captain's cap back on his head and grinned at her. "I'm impressed someone from a city at the bottom of the ocean can pilot a speedboat at all."
"I have lived with you surface people for twelve years," she said, a bit less angrily. "I can drive a car with a stick. I can ride one of your horses. I have learned many useful skills."
Calvert had wandered back to where the outboard propellor was churning the water. "I can feel vibration further up the hull. You know what? I bet this boat has one of the Trom impulse engines, like your CORBY helicopters do. This craft has been upgraded by the Trom, hasn't it?"
"Don't ask questions like that," she answered. On the far shore across the mile-wide inlet, buildings could be seem with their lights coming on as dusk fell. It was a muggy sixty-five degrees in southern Florida.
"I mean, come on. You've got an actual instrument panel with a monitor screen and twenty dials and gauges. On a boat not more than maybe thirty-five feet long? Most boats this size have controls no more complicated than a motorcycle."
Jin did not reply. Instead of the usual wheel, the craft had a control stick like a helicopter, and she thumbed a button on its side. The windscreen briefly showed a vertical row of green numbers in a heads-up display. The SEA LARK smoothly accelerated.
Out of nowhere, Calvert said, "I still miss Megan Salenger. Our little Trom Girl was so patient with my nonsense. She was a sweetheart."
Demrak Jin softened her tones for the first time. "We honor fallen comrades by keeping their memory."
"Her and Archie both." Calvert launched into long reminiscences about the times he had gone along with the couple. The killer scarecrow of the Harvester cult, the manifested tulkas of a religious fanatic, the serial widow and her three murderous adopted sons. But mostly he started telling stories about Megan listening to jazz for the first time and loving it, of her friendship with Unicorn, of her taking so long to eat that Calvert and Archie had once started playing cards at the table.
Jin gave one of her extremely rare laughs, a low staccato burst of amusement. "Yes. She chewed each mouthful forever and sipped water between bites. No one could rush her! It was the way the Trom brought her up, she said."
Taking a seat on a bench built along one side of the gunwale, the journalist sighed. "Anyway. We're obviously looking into the same suspicious events. A rented boat was found drifting in a waterway. The three people who should have been aboard were missing entirely. No signs of violence. That was February 12th. Just a week later, a luxury yacht worth three million dollars sailed out one morning and was never seen again, nor were the six passengers and the registered captain."
"Pirates! I hate pirates...!" she growled.
"It happened I was was already in the area because there were reports of Gator Joe being seen," Calvert went on. "I couldn't find any trace of him and his scaly hide, but the missing boats got my attention."
The SEA LARK slowed as they saw a miles-wide beach with a boardwalk, which had high-rise hotels and casinos looming up behind it. Boca Inez had been a resort town since the land boom of the 1920s.
"I'd keep heading the way we're headed," Calvert suggested. "It's been a year or two since I've been here but the Feral Boys used to loiter at the far end of the beach... the bad part of town, so to speak."
Barely moving the boat forward, turning on the white and green front lights, Jin said, "I've wanted to meet these Feral Boys for a long time. Mr Calvert, do me a favor. Open the cargo container next to you and pull out the knapsack."
Calvert was pleased that this pugnacious warrior had become relatively comfortable with him. He handed her a canvas knapsack two feet wide and four feet deep. Demrak Jin opened a compartment and took out a handcrafted pistol with a needle-thin barrel, examined it and clicked a magazine into place.
"Hey, the anesthetic dart gun," Calvert said. "I've seen you guys use those things. Very cool."
"I am required by our captain to carry some KDF equipment on missions. I do not like using them."
Jin had shrugged off the sheath holding her bone-bladed knife, secured it inside the knapsack and then strapped the knapsack to her back. She did this within seconds with the smoothness of long practice. Under a thin flap held by Velcro, the hilt of her weapon was within instant reach of her right hand.
Drifting slowly past the last mooring spot with its regulations posted, the SEA LARK rounded a stone outcropping and came upon a small cove where three hand-made canoes were pulled up on the mud. Standing in the gloom with long sharpened sticks in hand were five men in rags.. the Feral Boys.
II.
"Amos Joseph! Is that you?" called Calvert.
"Hallo, Calvin," said the oldest man there. His white hair was pulled back in a ponytail, his beer gut pushed out his white T-shirt to its fullest. "I do believe you are wearing the exact same suit you had on three years ago."
That stirred a round of low chuckles. Three of the Feral Boys were short wiry men with dark ruddy skin and straight black hair, but two were taller, more heavily built with light brown curly hair. All wore shorts or cut-off jeans, plain T-shirts of various colors and low slippers. The staffs they leaned on had been sharpened at one end to imply use as weapons.
The journalist laughed good-naturedly. "I understand salvage has been good lately. You guys of the Unseen Nation have always recovered valuables from sunken or abandoned boats and ships. Nothing goes to waste with your tribe."
"That has always been our way," said Amos Joseph. "Two hundred years ago our ancestors were driven south by the soldiers' guns! We survive. We grow and change. Now many of our kin walk in every state and city. We have skins and eyes of every color, but among us we still use the Real Speech and our loyalty is to our Unseen Nation."
Stepping up to the bow of the SEA LARK, Calvin Calvert lowered himself to sit, holding on to a metal strut. "And I've kept our bargain, chief. Not one word about you on my blog or on in the newspapers or on my YouTube channel. Although God knows it's been hard for me to keep silent."
Amos Joseph snorted. "I believe that. You are a talker by nature. Tell me, my glib friend, have you brought the donation we agreed on?"
"You bet. Five thousand dollars in small bills, easy to spend without drawing attention." Calvert added, "None of my business, but I hope it will go to food and medicine."
"Rest easy, redhaired man. Few among us in this State have health insurance. We must take care of our own." He lifted a still sinewy arm at Demrak Jin. "But who is your companion?"
The Gelydra stepped silently forward. As the Feral Boys saw her face clearly, they muttered to each other. Their chief barked, "Thomas Jack! William Andrew! Be still. How do you introduce yourself, young woman?"
"I am Demrak Jin, a Gelydra of Ulgor," she announced. "Proud mate of Galvan of Androval and mother of Demrak Pol. Would you know more?"
The leader of this band of Feral Boys did not answer for a long tense moment. "I think there is someone you should meet..."
III.
Jin tied the SEA LARK up to a tree which overhung the water. A steel shutter slid closed over the instrument panel and control stick, locking into place. Then she armed the defenses with a signal from her Link and warned the Feral Boys that the boat was now electrified. "The charge will paralyze but probably not be fatal unless someone has a heart problem," she said as if remarking on the boat's color scheme.
"I don't even bother to lock my car's doors most of the time," Calvert said.
It was only a few minutes walk through brush and mud before they were stepping onto the rear of a parking lot which housed a liquor store and Chinese take-out. Escorted by the Feral Boys, Jin and Calvert made their way down a street marked by Dollar Stores, a pawn shop. a check cashing and quick loan place and a dubious fried chicken restaurant. The stained and damaged sidewalk, the generous amount of litter and the esoteric spray painted slogans all added to a depressing atmosphere.
And yet, only a few blocks to their left could be seen the bright flashing neon of a tourist trap center, including an actual casino. Boca Inez was a town with a sharp division marking the bad side. Amos Joseph brought the party to a halt and pointed across the street to a twenty-four hour laundromat called SUDS, which had several cars parked close to the doors.
At the far end of the parking lot, up against a boarded-up concrete block building, stood an unmarked white Dodge van. No one was in sight. Amos Joseph led his kin there, with Jin and Calvert in their midst. One of the Feral Boys hustled ahead of the party and rapped with his knuckles on the van, and the side door slid open. When the man inside hopped nimbly out, everyone present froze in place.
He was clearly a Gelydra, similar enough in appearance to have been a brother to Demrak Jin. Slightly over six feet tall, with long arms and legs, he had the same short stiff white hair, the same wide pug-nosed face, the same surly blue eyes. He was wearing only a pair of black swim trunks, and the long sleek muscles revealed showed he had spent a lifetime swimming against tremendous water pressure.
"YOU!" he roared as soon as he saw Jin. "You filthy traitor to our Race, you spawned an abomination fathered by one of the Melgarin. How can you live with such shame?"
"You should not talk!" she shouted, "You pirate and murderer! Slaying unarmed Humans ranks you in the lowest of scum."
"I usually enjoy trash talk," Calvin Calvert said to the Feral Boys, "But it's not going to be safe anywhere near these two." And as he warned them, everybody backed off a considerable distance.
"That there's Billy the Squid," said Amos Joseph, pulling a reluctant Calvin Calvert by the arm. "He breathes underwater, he snaps men's spines in his hands..."
"Cute name you gave him," was all the journalist could manage.
The Gelydra male jabbed a thumb against his chest. "I know you, you shameless disgrace to Ulgor. Know that I am Dorcas Tok, oldest son of Dorcas Rem! Down on your knees, I say, and I may let you live!"
Jin's response was to shrug off the knapsack containing her bone knife. She and Dorcas rushed straight at each other without further words and at arm's length, she leaped up to head height with her right fist swinging back up for a downward blow. A single crashing backhand from the male Gelydra not only stopped her, it threw her violently back to tumble along the asphalt.
Rolling over to her hands and knees, Jin found it was taking her a few seconds to get up. Before she could rise, Dorcas slammed a savage kick to her ribs that spun her over on her back. He knelt astride her and brushed her punches aside.
"You're so weak!" he laughed. "And slow. Have you been on the surface that long?" Straddling her, Dorcas started punching her in the face. Jin swung her head from side to side and tried to block, but his blows went through her attempts at defense.
Then Calvin Calvert grabbed the Gelydra's wrist with both hands. His Human strength could not have even slowed that punch but sheer surprise at his audacity made Dorcas pause. Releasing Jin, he stood up and shook the journalist off. "You seem to have more nerve than sense," he said.
Calvert forced an unconvincing laugh. "Oh, I've heard that before. But you might notice the people watching you from the laundromat? They're on their phones and are likely calling 911 right now."
The Gelydran male fixed a venomous glare at the small group just outside the open laundromat door. He runbled deep in his chest.
"I mean, I realize you Gelydrim like to keep your disputes to yourselves," Calvert went on. "But honestly, the town police won't see it that way and they tend to be well-armed."
"What a nuisance! Surface man, keep this Demrak trollop away from me!" With that, Dorcas swung up into the driver's seat, started up the van and sped out onto a side street. As soon as he was gone from sight, the Feral Boys gathered again.
"You are a brave man," Amos Joseph said.
"Who, me? I almost wet my pants doing that! My hands are shaking," Calvert scoffed.
Denrak Jin had managed to sit up, hunched over and still catching her breath, but she managed to say, "You kept him from killing me. I owe you a great debt, Mr Calvert."
The redheaded journalist beckoned to the Feral Boys. "How about some of you young guys help carry her? The cops'll be showing up any second."
As two of the tribe carefully lifted the battered Gelydra, Calvert made sure to snatch up the knapsack which held the bone-bladed knife. He followed the Feral Boys into the darkness, wondering what had gone so terribly wrong. The other KDF members had always described Jin as a nearly unbeatable fighter.
IV.
Calvert awoke with a start and was completely disoriented for a few seconds. Where was he? Why was he sitting in the chair of a speedboat with the morning sun in his eyes? Memory came back in a flood. Over a long career investigating the paranormal, he had often found himself in such unlikely circumstances first thing in the morning.
Wincing at the stiffness in his neck, he turned to see Demrak Jin climbing up over the side of the boat. Her face was swollen along the jawline and a dark bruise surrounded her mouth. With water dripping off her shark hide outfit, she gave him a friendly nod. "I did not mean to wake you."
"That's okay," he managed between yawning and stretching. "I guess I fell asleep right after we got back here last night but I've been running on naps for a long time. How are you feeling?"
"I have been hurt much worse than this and hardly noticed," she said. Strangely, her hair had dried instantly. Its texture seemed almost like seal fur. "Sleeping underwater helps."
"I don't suppose this boat has a coffee maker...?"
"No." Jin gestured for him to vacate the chair. Seating herself, she took her Link from a water-tight pocket inside her waistband and retract the steel shutter from the control stick and instrument panel. She waited until the status lights were all showing green and blue, asked him to cast of the line (this time using the correct lingo) and backed the SEA LARK out into the waterway. A young couple on a jet-ski flashed by with a cheerful wave.
At the far end of the beach was a cluster of small buildings which included a souvenir shop, a bistro and a garage which did minor repairs. Jin moored on the final dock and led Calvert into the CRESCENT MOON bistro, which had a warm dry interior filled with tempting aromas. Most of the tables taken by happily chatting tourists. Jin and Calvert found an available one in the corner and settled in with the glossy menus.
The young waitress was visibly distressed at seeing Demrak Jin's battered face and gave a basilisk glare to Calvert. But the way Jin was obviously in charge, telling Calvert to order whatever he wanted and charge it to her KDF expense account, mollified her. Calvin Calvert immediately downed a cup of black coffee and asked for a refill.
"That got the blood flowing again," he said.
Shortly, Calvert was digging into a double serving of scrambled eggs, thick pancakes with blueberry syrup and hashbrowns. Demrak Jin did not think it would be a good idea to mention that she had actually already eaten a raw fish that morning that she had caught with her hands, so she made herself eat strips of bacon and two pieces of wheat toast. She had grudgingly learned to go along with Human customs even if she didn't like them. Caffeine didn't affect her Ulgoran metabolism, but she had come to like the taste of coffee for its own sake.
As Calvert began to mellow with some food behind his belt, he finally asked Jin about the fight the night before.
"This is hard for me to admit," she said in a low voice. "But I have lived on the surface world for twelve years now. I have not been in the depths for too long. Without the great pressure of the water to resist, I am afraid my muscles have declined."
"Well, that makes sense," Calvert said sympathetically. "Astronauts who stay in space for too long lose muscle tone without gravity to fight."
"And the loss has been so gradual that I overlooked it. When I lived in Ulgor, I could have defeated Dorcas Tok with no trouble."
"You still seem pretty strong to me," Calvert said. "I mean, yesterday you lifted me off the ground with one hand."
The waitress brought over a coffee pot to offer refills, which made Calvert beam. "You've got my number, all right," he thanked her.
A stricken look took over Jin's face. "And... this means I can never return to Ulgor. The water pressure would crush me as if I were a surface Human."
"Your husband and son are on the surface," Calvert said with unusual gentleness. "Your friends at the KDF are here. Maybe it's none of my business, but I'd say there's more for you up here than back in Ulgor."
"My people did exile me. When the ruling family was overthrown, I was spared execution but cast out from the realm. I am no princess, you understand, merely a distant relative but that was enough." The sullen blue eyes narrowed. "You are right! Galvan and Pol are precious to me beyond understanding. Everyone at the KDF has treated me with respect and warmth, from Jeremy to Sable to Timothy. They are my family now." She took the bill which the waitress had left and pulled her expense account card from its slit in her waistband. "Come, Mr Calvert, the day is passing and there is much to do."
Making sure to get the last drop in his cup, the journalist pushed back his chair. "What's the agenda, sweetheart?"
"My task is to bring down Dorcas Tok before he slays more innocents," She replied with a remarkably sinister grin. "And this time, I will not fail!"
V.
Back aboard the SEA LARK, Jin opened her knapsack and explained some of the gadgets within. She showed Calvert the hidden safety latch on the dart gun. "It is set to single shot. The darts are effective but they will not penetrate heavy clothing." She handed him what looked like a translucent surgeon's mask with ear tabs. "This is an oxygen membrane. It will allow you to survive underwater but will not provide enough oxygen for strenuous activity."
"Better than a life jacket! Thanks." Calvin Calvert carefully tucked the device into the right hand pocket of his suit jacket.
"I will want it back, of course. I do not think I am justified in giving you any of the resonance grenades or smoke bombs or flares."
The journalist shook his head. His stubble growing in was white. "I'd just as soon not carry explosives around on me, thanks anyway. You know, I saw our friend the Dire Wolf pull everything from little tear gas bombs to thermite strips out of his pockets. I always wanted to ask him if he wasn't worried about setting off a bomb when he was reaching for his car keys."
"Jeremy is careful," she replied absently because she was examining the bone-bladed knife she had crafted herself.
"I have to tell you more about the Feral Boys. They're an odd bunch even by Midnight War standards. I still say 'American Indian' but that's way outdated, anyway lots of different Indian tribes were driven south by settlers in Georgia in the 1700s. They ended up in Florida and merged to become the Seminoles. Follow me so far? But some of them were too violent and weird to be accepted. Some letters and newspapers of the time accused them of being devil worshippers. They formed their own nation, which ended up being called Feral Boys."
Jin regarded him thoughtfully. "Some of them we saw yesterday did not look like your Indians or Native Americans?"
"That's what is so interesting and a little scary about them. They have spread out over the entire country, intermarrying but somehow still keeping loyalty as Feral Boys. They speak a secret language that scholars don't know anything about. It's like what they call themselves, they're the Unseen Nation."
"I have heard of such a thing before," Jin said. "The KDF has fought cults and criminal organizations that are loyal only to themselves."
Calvert went on, "I've gotten to know some of their chiefs but I had to promise never to put any information in my blog. Have you been following WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? It's got eighteen thousand subscribers."
"I am very busy."
"Oh. Sure. Anyway, most of the clans here in south Florida aren't too bad. They mostly stay to themselves, hunting and fish and doing odd construction or landscaping jobs. I've helped them out a little bit. And that's why I think your Billy the Squid is right in this area, the Feral Boys have been selling off loot he's taken from the boats he sank."
"Dorcas is not named Billy. He does not look like a squid."
"Yeah, that's a pun. There was a famous gunfighter in the Old West named Billy the Kid. It's a Feral Boy sense of humor."
"Ah. I know a little about the Wild West. So they think this nickname is funny? I suppose. Calvert, where can we find Dorcas before he kills more surface people?"
Calvin Calvert settled down on top of a storage bin and took off his captain's hat. The greying red hair was matted with sweat. "We'll have to meet up with Amos Joseph and his crew again. They should be there by now."
"Very well." Jin started up the SEA LARK and eased the boat carefully out on the water. The marina had quite a few boats and Jet skis moving about by then. As she went to the east, the water became more shallow and people became scarce. Once Jin sailed past a rocky promontory, there was no one else in sight. In a few minutes, Jin swung into the same cove she had entered the previous day and pulled up to where the Feral Boys were waiting.
Over a small fire, the members of the Unseen Nation had two cleaned fish hanging from a stick. They were watching the cooking process with great interest. Of the five Feral Boys present, only Chief Amos Joseph was not holding a dark green beer bottle. He waved a hand in greeting.
While Calvin Calvert gingerly stepped down from the side of the SEA LARK to the muddy ground, Demrak Jin leaped off the boat and landed lightly within reach of the startled group. "I thank you men for carrying me to safety last night," she said.
The old chief bowed his head. "Our clan has been unhappy dealing with Billy the Squid. Salvage is one thing, fighting the Harbor Patrol or town police is one thing, but murdering innocent tourists for loot crosses a line. We are glad you have come to fight this pirate and we support you. Even though he will certainly kill you when you meet again."
Demrak Jin normally had a surly, even pugnacious expression but it eased for a second as she seemed to find that statement amusing. "He can try."
"Smells like your fish fry is just about ready," Calvert interrupted. The Feral Boys took this as a cue. They placed the steaming hot fish on a spread of clean leaves and squatted down to eagerly pick at the fish with their fingers. Calvert added, "If I'd known, I'd have brought some lemon juice..."
Studying Jin's face, Amos Joseph nodded. "There are tales handed down of Ulgor, the City Beneath the Sea, whose people have the shark as their totem. Never did I expect to meet one of the Gelydrim, let alone two at the same time."
"We seldom leave our realm these days," Jin said. "Can you point me to where I can find Dorcas Tok? Or Billy the Squid, if you will?"
"The water is shallow. You will come with us in our skiffs. If he sees us coming, he will wait. If he sees strangers, he may flee or hide. Micah Francis, Alan Chester, are you ready? Is the fire completely out? I had better not find a spark. Okay, then, we go."
There were three handmade flatbottomed boats that were not much deeper than rafts. Jin and Calvert got into separate ones, the chief in the third. Then each skiff was manned by one of the younger Feral Boys. They used a single oar or a long pole as needed, sending the lightweight craft skimming quickly along. To Calvert's great disappointment, not a single alligator showed itself. No snowy egrets or spoonbills, just some ducks. "I can see ducks anywhere," he said out loud.
Demrak Jin sat scowling in silence, her hand inside her knapsack where it grasped the hide-bound hilt of her long knife. The Feral Boys openly stared at her, not in lechery but in uneasiness. Eventually, the party pulled up on an island centered around a massive cypress tree shrouded in lacy Spanish moss. There squatted a shack no more than fifteen feet to a side, with two windows covered by oiled cloth rather than glass. The door hung on leather straps.
As the three skiffs pulled up to the island, the Feral Boys hopping out to tug the craft up out of the water. Calvert and Amos Joseph disembarked more cautiously, while Jin was eager to confront her countryman. She pulled the bone-bladed knife out and shoved the knapsack into Calvert's arms.
Striding around from behind the crude shack was a man now wearing baggy pants and an open denim vest. Dorcas Tok brandished a steel machete in a dramatic swirl and stood with feet well apart, waiting.
VI.
"We take no sides in this dispute," announced Chief Amos Thomas. "Nor will we speak of it to outsiders." He joined the three Feral Boys sitting cross-legged on the ground off to one side. Calvin Calvert said nothing as he went to lower himself on to a fallen tree trunk, clutching Jin's knapsack. All four settled in to watch the duel.
Stepping forward to stand fifty feet away from Billy the Squid, Demrak Jin slapped the flat of her blade against one hand. "First, I wish to speak."
"May your last words be brave ones," scoffed the Gelydra male.
"It is the code of our people that I should face you in open combat. Even though you are certain to slay me, I am supposed to face that fate without complaint. I should leave my son without a mother, my husband without a wife and my friends without a teammate. How foolish that all seems! Suddenly the war code seems empty and pointless. I have nothing to prove. I reject the idea that I should hurry to my death without good reason."
Dorcas laughed outright. "What, will I have to chase you? Be a Gelydra! Make Ulgor proud of you."
But Jin stuck the point of her knife into the soft earth and folded her arms. "I choose another way."
The Gelydran man slapped at the side of his neck as if stung by a mosquito. Then his eyes rolled up, his knees gave way and he fell face down to the ground. The machete landed just out of reach of his limp hand.
Calvin Calvert lowered the dart gun and exhaled sharply. "Whew, damn. I have never been so scared. If I missed, he would have sent my head flying away!" He walked over and handed the weapon and the knapsack back to Jin.
"Thank you, Mr Calvert," she said. "I am glad your nerve did not fail you. I was counting on you."
Rising again, the old Chief of the Feral Boys smirked. "How disappointing! We were looking forward to some flashy swordplay."
2/23/2025
no subject
Date: 2025-02-25 04:31 pm (UTC)Calvin Calvert is not quite as flippant and self-promoting as he usually is, but he's probably reining himself in because he doesn't want Jin to keep throwing him in the water. He's good as dealing with questionable groups like the Feral Boys, too. I am not sure what happens to Dorcas Tok; the KDF usually repatriates outlaws like him to their native realm but Ulgor might think he did nothing wrong. Dorcas seems like he might return as a B-level bad guy for a few rmatches.