Cursed Draw

Chapter 4: Considerations on The Thaw Princess

Alabaster

Alley awoke a few seconds later. His head was spinning, and his limbs felt like they were made of pudding. Darius was already pulling himself off of Alley, and getting to his feet. A moment later Alley joined him. Looking upon each other's filthy and bloody state, both boys quickly burst into laughter. The combination of amusement at each other’s muddy and bloody appearances, the adrenaline coursing through their veins, and the sheer joy at still being alive was all too much. So they laughed and clasped hands in celebration.

“There is an entire riverbank here, and you hit me!?” Panted Alley with amused incredulity.

His friend shrugged, also sucking in deep breaths.

“You were supposed to catch me.” Darius joked in return.

From there the two teens worked on getting the river dragon corpses entirely onto the bank. It would be some time before Alley could turn the second dragon into a card, but he could help his friend move the monsters, and then help him carve them up.

Like many creatures possessing resonances, the river dragon organs could be used for all sorts of creations and medicines. Hunters by trade the Knots family which Darius belonged to made their living acquiring such organs.

Grabbing a sack they had left behind in the reeds. The boys got to work hacking open the scaled creatures.

By the time they had removed the heart, fangs, and the fist-sized cerulean water gem that the monsters had instead of gills. Alabaster was able to create the second card.

It was around lunchtime at this point, and the boys opted to head back home so they could bathe and eat. Before meeting back up again for an evening hunt.

Passing through the wall of reeds the pair made their way further inland. Disturbing frogs and insects along the way. Cursed Isle was a grim place. All jagged rocks and dark woods. Frequently cold and wet. It still managed a somber sort of beauty in the early autumn sun. The center of the island was dominated by a pair of small grey mountains. The valley between them held the sole village on the isle and Alley’s home. The uncreatively named Valeton. Getting back to the village would take the better part of an hour. Slightly more if Alley detoured to drop Darius off first, which he would.

While his friend’s family stayed on the island for the colder months. They did so in their own little shack village out in the woods. It was near enough to the village that they could interact easily enough, but not so close as to put off the villagers with the stench of slaughtered monsters.

“Your family is going to the All Isles festival again this year right?” Darius asked. He seemed oddly coy for once. Very much at odds with his usual boisterous nature.

“Yeah obviously.“ Alley said, looking at his friend sideways. “ I’m finally allowed to enter the All Isles tournament this year. I would have to be dead not to go.”

Darius scratched the back of his head. And his reply was slow in coming.

“Yeah but…it’s not just your mother and you going right?”

Alabaster stopped walking. A mischievous smile slowly spread across his face, as an inkling of where this was going entered his mind.

“Yeah, I think my dad is coming too. He likes the markets at the festival.” Alley said with feigned ignorance. He knew for certain Darius was not asking about Alabaster’s father.

It didn’t take long for the red-headed boy to realize he was being played with, but it didn’t make his embarrassment seem any less prominent. Growing flustered he stumbled his words a little but managed to ask directly.

“ I..you know. I was thinking of asking your sister to the dance on the second night of the festival.”

Even though he knew it was coming Alley laughed incredulously.

“Hecatia has been the All Isles Thaw Princess for three years running! Are you crazy?”

Darius blushed but pushed on.

“No, she hasn’t. She won it twice.”

“Pfft! She won that first year too! They only took it off her because it was creepy that a fifteen-year-old girl had gotten so many votes in a beauty contest.”

Darius went silent at that. Playing with his dealer; The small metal bar that pierced the top of his left ear.

“ So you're saying I don’t have a chance?”

Alley shook his head in amused disbelief at the whole exchange.

“I’m saying if you wanted a chance you needed to be working on it weeks or even months ago. Do you know how many letters she gets from the other four river islands?” Darius raised an eyebrow as they started walking again.

“ What, like love letters?” He said. Embarrassment gave way to amusement at the idea.

“Ohhh yeah. Believe me every week she gets at least three letters. Usually on scented paper, or accompanied by dried flowers. Sometimes even jewelry.”

Darius snorted.

“Okay, I do seem a little out of my depth here.” He conceded. “But maybe I can win her over with my down-home enthusiasm.”

Alley laughed. “So you are going then?” He assumed the Knots family would be at the All Isles festival, as they tended to have a stockpile of wares to sell during it. Not always though. Some years the hunts didn’t go well, and Darius’ family had to just tighten their belts and be poor and hungry for the winter.

The times that happened Alley’s mother and father would help the Knots. Just as the Hunter family would help the Roe’s with materials, and resonance-filled organs when their bounty was great.

“Yeah we are gonna be there, we are bringing five boats worth of stuff.”

Alabaster Blanched. That was a lot of material ....a lot of dead monster. Especially given there were only five members of the Knots family to transport it all.

Seeing his friend’s reaction he elaborated. “ Dad is building a big barge to store it all, we will just be using the river boats to transport it from the barge to the big docks at Casari. If it works my parents could handle the whole cargo themselves.”

Alley nodded his understanding. “Hopefully we travel upriver with you guys again this year. I’ve never been on a barge.”

From there they chatted idly about previous years they had gone to the festival. Darius also confessed that if they did end up hosting the Roe family on their barge. The days of travel were where he intended to attempt to win over Hecatia.

Picking their way through the woods the pair of boys eventually hit the man-made

clearing that played host to the collection of shacks the Knots clan inhabited.

Darius’ twin younger siblings were the only members of the clan visible. The ten-year-old boy and girl were in the process of skinning a boar the size of a wagon. The beast was strung up with chains on a large iron scaffolding at the center of the tiny settlement. Alley’s father had helped the Knots family build the thing, and it served its purpose well. Able to hold up even huge monsters while they were harvested.

“Alright, I’ll see you tonight I guess.” Said Alabaster as he exchanged waves with the Knots twins.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to my parents about some bait ideas, and meet you near the docks.” Alley nodded.

“Perfect.” The two boys had decided they would camp out tonight in hopes of hunting an Abyss King Kraken. The enormous tentacled beasts occasionally entered the bay past Cursed Isle to hunt the MuckDwell River Dragons as they migrated into the ocean. Neither Alabaster nor Darius were quite sure of the best place to watch from. But they had narrowed it down to either the Eastern Cliffs or they could make the hour trip off the island to the cape of the bay. The plan was to assess how dangerous sailing Alley’s little skff across the water would be when the sun was down, and go from there.

Turning away from the clearing Alley heard Darius call out to his siblings.

“ Hey MuckRunners” he insulted them. It was in the way of older brothers, where they thought it was somehow affectionate.

“Where are Mum and Dad?”

Alley was too far away to make out the squealed reply.

He strode back through the woods with the comfort of someone who had spent seventeen years living on this little island. There was the occasional encounter with a monster or dangerous animal among the trees of Cursed Isle. But it was uncommon, especially this close to both the Knots settlement and Valeton.

Alley was more concerned that the dried mud and blood on him might ruin his clothes than the possibility he could run into something dangerous.

It only took him another fifteen minutes to make it to the edge of the gnarled woods. He could already smell the smoke coming from his village. There was always some cookout or bonfire event happening in Valeton. With the exception of Alley and his mother, every person in the village had a passion for cooking. Or at least a passion for showing off their own family’s ‘secret’ recipes.

Alabaster blinked as he made his way up the foothills to the village. It was about half a mile between woods and the settlement at the valley entrance. As he had done hundreds of times Alley hopped over a fallen tree and started up the path that had been forged by generations of villager feet. He blinked again, eyes starting to water.

It was the smoke. It lacked the sweet scents of roasting meat, and the strange clean smell of burning pine. It was far thicker and more acrid than the smoke produced by even the biggest bonfires, or the worst burned meat.

For the fourth time that morning, Alabaster broke into a sprint.