Deus Ex Machinarium

After Brandt, in no uncertain terms, told Anh how monumentally reckless it was to associate with the church people, the tanai went to great lengths to avoid his hoomin companion. It was an achievement in and of itself, considering they were trapped on a barge about fifty mers long and ten wide. Nonetheless, for the remainder of their journey, none of them spoke a word to each other. Brandt made it his custom to keep an eye on his companion though. This bizarre situation lasted until disembarking in Katzburg. To keep himself busy Anh started to scribble notes about the flora on the shores of Orda. Doing so with tiny letters to preserve parchment. This activity also gave him an excuse to ignore Ksintsax. The courser tried to strike up a convo with Anh, but the former just hid behind ‘doing research’ and ‘being busy’. Which in tanai-speak meant avoiding someone.

They arrived at Katzburg late afternoon on the sixth day. The town’s haven was tiny in comparison to the one in Isdelburg. The ‘Bertha’ barely fit by the larger of two rickety wooden piers the Katzburg river port consisted of. Its stern stuck out a good five mers over the end of the pier. Despite its overwhelming size, “Bertha’s” crew was very skilled at anchoring and mooring the barge. The docking was quick, considering how large ‘Bertha’ was.

Not much longer than an hour later Anh and Brandt stood among their luggage by the gate to the port warehouse. It was a spacious, wooden building located between the ends of the piers, with access from both. Both men were somewhat beside the path of dock workers unloading military materiel crates from ‘Bertha’ and carrying them, either by hand or with a two-wheeled pushcart, to the warehouse. The templar whom Anh and Brandt traveled with left just after the barge had docked. Soldiers quickly formed a column and marched away in silence. Ksintsax floated away with them but threw a glance at Anh and Brandt before they went away.

The boat was taken over by the port staff, who, judging by their uniforms, were also a part of Maargaridan military… of some sort. All were dressed in the same black linen pants held by leather suspenders. Underneath they wore a grey shirt. All, except one in charge, were also belted with a wide leather lumbar support girdle. All also wore a simple black cap and had chevrons sewn to the shoulders displaying their position.

The unloading operation was carried out in an orderly, military fashion. The one in charge was a stocky, balding, bearded man in his forties. He held a board with a piece of parchment pinned to it. For every crate his subordinates carried off the ship, he made a note, then gestured one of the other, younger men to where to carry the item. Some were loaded on a horse-drawn cart, others to the warehouse.

Anh was watching the unloading process with a tanai level of interest. Registering the order and destinations of each crate, but also looking at the allocation of men to each task. It was … beautiful.

-” If you keep staring”- Brandt finally broke the silence -” they are going to consider you a spy”

-” Right” - Anh was a little bit abashed, but quickly composed himself, then took a look around him - “I was, quite honestly, expecting more” - he finally said.

It was difficult to call Katzburg a town, at least not from their vantage point. There were a few other warehouses, smaller than the one they stood next to, then there were the two piers with the most notable thing being a crane on one of them. All of the buildings were surrounding a sizable area laid with flushed stone. A muddy road led away from the site, through the, presumably, swampy wilderness overgrown with tall, brown grass.

-” That being said. How do we continue from here?”- Anh was surprisingly chirpy as if arriving at their destinations made him forget the events from a few days ago - “I presuppose you have a plan?”

-” Regarding your first comment. Katzburg proper is a few kimers west from here, away from the Orda floodplain.”

Hearing this, Anh took a closer look around him. He noticed thin lines of brownish sediment on the walls of all of the buildings, which marked how tall the flood waters could reach.

”This is just the riverport and locals allow it to flood and rebuild it if necessary. This is also why this place is so tiny, considering the volume of traffic. Regarding our transport, it should have waited for us already. I don’t know what the holdup is.”

-” So we wait?”

-” Yes. Pray we won’t need to spend the night here.”

-” I will pray, yes. But my intentions are not going to be as petty. Anyhow. Until our transport arrives, I’ll take a look around.”

Brandt sighed in resignation

-” Just avoid being too nosy.”

-” You, Sir Zerster, are paranoid in excess.”- the tanai floated away in a seemingly random direction -” What could possibly happen here?”

Brandt followed him with his gaze. The tanai first floated towards the end of the pier ‘Bertha’ was moored to. But quickly was chased away by a stern look of the officer in charge of the unloading. Then he unceremoniously floated over the river, presumably to the other shore.

The carriage that was to carry both men from the port to Katzburg arrived about a candle after their arrival. The driver was apologetic and claimed that he was held at the checkpoint on the road to the city. There was also, apparently, increased traffic to and from it due to a sprawling military camp surrounding the town. Brandt was understanding and ensured that this was not much of an issue.

None of this mattered though, as Anh was gone for at least another candle, and returned with his pockets filled with a variety of … grass. When Brandt noticed it, je just gave the tanai a bewildered look.

-” What? I don’t know what these types of flora are.”

-” It’s … grass.”

-” Oh no, Mr Zerster Sir, this is not just ‘grass’. This is… actually… I don’t really know what this is." - he cleared his throat almost nervously - " I could at this point mention that none of these particular specimens figure in the Catvgvm Flurens Aramothvm im Vihrs Exscellsio, updated annually of course, however, I am fairly certain it won't interest you in the slightest. For us… well for us, cataloging it will make for a fruitful evening.”

Brandt slowly and deliberately blinked. And then he also cleared his throat.

-” Fine. Right. Now please, Mr. Trawins. We need to get going. Evening is almost upon us and I don’t know about you, but I am hungry.”

Anh froze as if he was reflecting upon something. Then he answered.

-” Now that you reminded me I realized I am hungry as well.”

The carriage was a very simple wooden vehicle without much in terms of comfort or convenience. While being roofed, such was more of a place to store more cargo with protection of elements being a mere side-effect of its existence. The vehicle was made almost entirely of wood, without even springs for suspension. The only metal parts were railings aiding stepping into the sitting compartment. There were not even traces of doors and benches were made of planks of lacquered wood. Anh moaned when he saw what sort of accommodation awaited him.

-” We need to get our luggage on the roof.” - announced Brandt, and immediately picked up his travel sack. Then sprung on the step of the carriage and threw it on the roof. Anh, once again, moaned in displeasure but concentrated a bit and a few moments later his bags started to lift, as if on their own, and slowly, over several drips floated onto the roof. During this time Brandt went towards the driver of the carriage.

-” Where iz die netz fur baggage?” - upon hearing this the driver lazily gestured toward the rear of the carriage. There, in a small compartment, Brandt found a tangled ball of a net used to secure the load on the roof of the carriage. He took it out and after a short struggle managed to ready it for usage. Just in time when Anh finished floating his bags on the top of the vehicle.

Once their things were secured, both men entered the carriage. Brandt sat heavily on the bench.

The tanai threw a quick gaze on the benches and scoffed, offended.

-” I’ll float beside the carriage. My people are not” - the tanai hung his voice for a second - “fond of hard benches. I hope, Mr Zerster, you can imagine why.”

Brandt pondered this problem for a few brief moments. Tanai were skinny, by hoomin standards, emaciated even. This was somewhat in contrast to the amount of food they were consuming, at least when judging what Trawins was doing in that regard. That being said, skinny, bony tanai and hard wooden benches were not a good match for each other.

-” Yes. I imagine” - Brandt finally said - “we should be in Katzburg in an hour.” - he said, then shouted towards the driver - “We kan go!”

The cart creaked a little when the horses yanked it forward, the started to move. Anh followed beside it, just to be next to Brandt.

-” Speaking of which” - said the tanai - “do you expect we’d find a bookshop in Katzburg.”

-” Are you again out of paper?”

-” No, no” - responded the tanai uneasily - “ nothing like that. I just would like to get an updated area map. To position ourselves better on our journey. As you can imagine, detailed maps of southern Maargard rarely surface in Sheridawn. I want to be sure we’re on the right way towards the site.”

-” Is it really necessary?”- inquired Brandt -” Didn’t you take some maps with you?”

-” I did take some. Yes. But the best maps are always drawn locally and rarely leave the vicinity.”

-” I see what you are getting at. Considering all this soldiering around, I’m afraid maps will be in short supply. ”

-” I’ll see what I can manage to find. I want to spend as little time in this town as possible. Too many soldiers, too many prying eyes around.”

-” I…” - Anh hung his voice for a few moments, then he replied unsurely - “... understand. I’ll plan our path out of Katzburg with what we have and I’ll map as we go along.”