CHAPTER 6

It only took about another hour and half for Clayton and Catherine to travel from the asteroid where they rested to Alnilam. Rather than going right into the city, however, they held off and parked on piece of space debris that was large enough for them to anchor the StarGlyder, as well as hide from the amazingly high level of security that August had acquired.

“Okay. How do you suggest we go about this?” Clayton was taken aback that Catherine was asking for his opinion of the situation. “Hey, you’re the one who’s been in the city since August took over. I haven’t. Besides, this was your plan.”

Clayton had to think for a moment about his one and only experience in the town. “... I don’t suggest that you drop me off in the harbor; it’s heavily watched, and I would prefer you to have my back from the shadows.”

Nodding, Catherine asked, “Is there a place where we can anchor the StarGlyder that’s out of the way?”

“I’m sure we could find something that would do.” 

“Okay. So we find a place to hide the StarGlyder. Then what?”

“I remember the building that Captain Herring and his crew were in. You follow me there from the shadows and wait while I tell the Captain the story we talked about. Once I leave, I’ll have the paperwork that can get us out of the city and we can get out of here before any more trouble can occur.”

“You think you can lie to him? He’s a pretty perceptive bastard.”

“Do you have a better plan?”

Catherine shrugged. “Okay, but we gotta make it believable. Stand up.”

Clayton furrowed his eyebrows. “Why?”

“Do you wanna get out of this town alive?" When Clayton nodded, Catherine said, “Then you’re going to have to trust me.” Somewhat ill at ease, Clayton did as Catherine told him. Meanwhile, she rubbed her hands into the dust beneath her feet, dirtying her hands. Once she stood up with sooty hands and turned to Clayton. “Close your eyes.” Clayton did as he was told, quietly admitting to himself that making him look dirtier would make it look like he had been through hell getting back to Alnilam. However, that didn’t mean that he enjoyed having Catherine smother him with her dirty hands. She rubbed him all over his smooth cheeks and forehead. Once she had covered his entire face, she pulled away, saying, “Don’t open your eyes just yet. We need the final touch.”

“What fina–”Clayton was cut off by Catherine’s fist slamming right into his left cheek. The impact knocked him off his feet. Once he could, he opened his eyes to see Catherine standing over him, shaking her right hand out. “What the hell was that for?!”

“The story is that I knocked you unconscious, right? You need to have a few bumps and bruises in order for it to be believable. It could be a lot worse you know.”

“How?!”

“You still have all your teeth, and your cheek will only be swollen for a few days, worst case scenario. You could have a black eye, which takes a lot longer to heal, or a broken nose, which pretty much never heals.” Catherine looked at her hand, flexing the fingers as she winced. “And if it’s any consolation, I’m pretty sure one of my knuckles is gonna be swollen for a few days too.”

“Oh, you poor thing.” Rather than being angry at Clayton’s sarcasm, Catherine actually laugh a little before offering her hand down to him to help him up. As much as Clayton was surprised by the gesture and didn’t want to take it, he did anyways. Catherine went into the compartment of the StarGlyder and got her cloak out, throwing it over herself and pulling up the hood. “Let’s go.”

Jumping back on the StarGlyder, the couple took a distanced lap around Alnilam, trying to find a perfect place to tuck the StarGlyder away and out of sight. The best they could find was on the very edge of the town, where the buildings seemed to be abandoned for the purposes of heavy renovations and rebuilding. Tying the StarGlyder to some scaffolding, Catherine decided that they weren’t going to be in the town long enough to warrant covering it up. Aside from which, the sheet that she had covered it with was meant to camouflage with rocks rather than a town alleyway.

Once they had both de-boarded the StarGlyder, Clayton turned to Catherine. “There’s an Inn right across from the building where I met with the Captain the first time. Once you see me go in, find a table in the corner of that Inn and wait in there. I’ll come find you when I’m done.”

With a sigh, Catherine said, “I hope I know what you’re doing. For both of our sakes.” Re-adjusting the cloak around her, Catherine slinked in the shadows and whispered, “Lead the way.”

It took Clayton a while to find the building again, since he had been lead there from the harbor when he had first arrived. Once he got re-oriented with the parts of the city that he hadn’t seen before, he got someplace familiar and followed the path he had been lead down when he asked for an audience with Captain Herring the first time. As he walked, he would occasionally look around, subtly trying to find Catherine. He never found her, which he supposed was a good thing; if he couldn’t find her, he couldn’t think there were many other people who would.

Rather than taking over what had been the previous Town Hall of Alnilam, Captain Herring and the Chain Gang crew had opted to set up their base in a building that could’ve been anything from another tavern to a brothel before they took over. Right across the street from the building was the Victorious Chain Inn, just as Clayton had said. Clayton walked up to the door of the building, where two of the crew

members were guarding the building. One of them had also been on guard duty when Clayton had originally come to Almilam seeking help, so he opted to walk up to that guard and say, “I have returned with information about the Blue Lion.”

The guard didn’t give any sign that he recognized Clayton. “Wait here.” Turning to the other guard, he started speaking in a language that Clayton couldn’t recognize, though he was sure the conversation was about him. The other guard nodded, understanding his partner. The moments that it took for the first man to return were long and stressful for Clayton, but he had to control his anxiety as best as he could. If he didn’t... he didn’t even want to think about the consequences. He even jumped when the first guard came back. “The Captain will see you now.” As the crew member held the door open for Clayton, Clayton entered the building, subtly looking over his shoulder just in time to see the tail of Catherine’s cloak disappear into The Victorious Chain Inn.

The atmosphere of the building still made Clayton uncomfortable. The remaining members of the Chain Gang Crew were scattered about the building, drinking, laughing, gambling, and fighting. There were also several women who were obviously there to tend to the men’s carnal pleasures, regardless of whether or not they were in the privacy of one of the upstairs rooms. While most of the men were too occupied with one thing or another, a few saw Clayton and gave him dirty looks, silently warning him to not put a foot wrong in their presence... or in their city for that matter.

The crew member leading Clayton through the building took him to the same back room that he had been taken to when he came to Alnilam for the first time. He had to assume that it had used to be a private business or dining room for the higher priority customers of the establishment that used to own the building. The crew member knocked on the door in a specific pattern. The door, in turned, immediately opened. The guard shoved Clayton inside without following, leaving him in the room.

The door closed behind Clayton, warning him that there was a guard at the only exit to the room. Aside from that guard, the only man in the room was Captain August Herring. Captain Herring had a face that was everything that Clayton would’ve expected from the fiercest, most wanted pirate in the Galaxy; heavily scarred from battle wounds. His brown hair and beard were shaggy, untrimmed, and unkept. His matching eyes were dark life experience that was almost three times that of Clayton’s. His posture reinforced that he was a dangerous, powerful man; his boot-clad feet were propped up on the table, showing that he owned the entire town without even lifting a finger. The thing that caught Clayton’s eye the most was the red and black octopus tattoo on his right arm that peaked out from beneath the rolled-up sleeve of his shirt. “So, the loon returns!” Already the Unicorn Galaxy native was being far friendlier than he had been during their first meeting. Such friendliness made Clayton even more nervous rather than at ease. He got the feeling that such friendliness was very dependent on what he had to say about the Blue Lion. Taking a closer look, Captain Herring suddenly saw how Clayton actually looked. “I’d say ‘foos yer doos’ but judgin’ from yer manky, swollen fizzog, I’d say yer not well good.”

Clayton could only understand a few words that the Captain as saying. Everything else, he had to guess. “Ah, no, Captain Herring. I’m not ‘well good’.”

“Set yer arse down an’ tell me all about it. Bevvy?”

Clayton furrowed his eyebrows. “... I’m sorry?”

“Bevvy?” When Clayton’s confusion didn’t clear up, the Captain picked up his tankard and offered it to Clayton.

“Oh. No, thank you. I don’t think I could stomach one right now.”

The Captain shrugged, saying, “Mair for me.” He chugged down whatever was in his tankard, shaking and hissing as the alcohol started to sink into his blood stream. Slamming that tankard back down on the table, the Captain turned his entire attention back to Clayton, who had taken a seat across from him. “Noo, first thin’s first; where’s Brownsea?”

“Ah...” Clayton did his best to act like he had the worst news possible. “About that... I’m afraid... he’s out of commission... permanently.”

Captain Herring furrowed his eyebrows at what Clayton was saying. He leaned back in his squeaky chair, crossing his arms over his chest. “Noo, that’s a shock.”

“Why?”

“Ne’r ya mind. Ya found the quine?”

The best Clayton could tell was that that Captain was referring to Catherine. “Yes, we found her.”

“Where?”

“A place called ‘the Wandering Royal Inn’.”

The Captain scoffed at the answer, though Clayton couldn’t figure out what was so funny. “I take it she gave ya that.” He gestured to Clayton’s swollen cheek.

“Oh, yes. She did.” Clayton gently rubbed his cheek, thinking that if this plan didn’t ultimately work, he was going to be very angry at Catherine for causing him unnecessary pain.

“What happen’d?”

“When the Captain and I finally found the woman you had told me about, she attacked us on sight. She got me first and knocked me unconscious, so I don’t know exactly what she did to Captain Brownsea. When I woke up, he was... She was gone without a trace.” The Captain looked at Clayton intently. It made Clayton uncomfortable, but he did his best not to squirm under his gaze. If he had any chance of getting the Captain to believe him, he had to be confident in his answers.

“... How did ya get back here?”

“It took a bit of begging and searching, but I eventually found someone who was willing to give me passage on his ship back to Miessa with a stop here.”

“... Sounds like a well kind min. He got a name?”

“... Captain Rine... I don’t know his first name.”

“Captain Rine... Dunno the name.”

“He’s a very quiet man... I don’t think he’s from this Galaxy and he might be insecure about his English.”

“... Mibay so...” After a pause, Captain Herring snapped his fingers and the guard at the door brought him a few pieces of parchment, a steel-nibbed pen, and an ink well. Clayton had seen the Captain do this before; he was writing him a letter of passage to give to the men who kept a secure perimeter around the Miessa side of Alnilam. “Capt’n Rine, it was?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s spelled as it sounds?”

“Yes. R-I-N-E.”

“And when is the name of the Capt’n’s vessel?”

“... Actually, he doesn’t have a vessel. It’s a simple... SkyCraft.” Clayton wasn’t comfortable giving more information than he needed to, but, unfortunately, this information was needed if they had a chance of getting out of the city.

Captain Herring’s eyebrows raised on his cut forehead. “What kinda SkyCraft?”

“... A StarGlyder.”

Captain Herring nodded his head, impressed. “Wonder who he stole that from.” He finished writing out a quick letter of passage for Clayton, signed the paper, and handed it to Clayton while the ink was still wet. “Well, I’ll keep an ear ou’ fer the name Rine and I wish ya safe travels. I’m sorry I cannot aid ya more.” The Captain reached his hands across the table to Clayton.

Hesitantly he took it, allowing the Captain to grip his lower forearm in a vice that could’ve killed Clayton had it been around his neck. “Thank you Captain... for all your help.”

With another nod to acknowledge him, the Captain said, “Now, off ya go.” Returning the nod, Clayton turned to walk out of the room, keeping his eyes on the ground to avoid the gaze of the guard, as well as all the people in the main part of the building and the guards out the front. Trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, he swiftly walked across the street and pushed into the Victorious Chain Inn.

The Inn was just as busy and the Chain Gang Crew’s base building, but the people inside were just drinking and socializing. The place was a lot quieter and not as overwhelming. Just as he had told her to do, Catherine had found a table in a dark corner, though she still kept the hood of her cloak up. Clayton made his way over to the table and sat down across from her. Once he had, Catherine whispered, “How did it go?”

Clayton breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “That was so frightening.”

“Did he believe you?”

“I’m pretty sure he did. He didn’t ever look at me like he didn’t.”

“Hmm... How drunk was he?”

“Um... He did chug a whole drink when I arrived but... Why?”

“He’s just usually a perceptive son of a bitch. I thought it would be a lot more difficult. I was sure he was going to try to torture the truth out of you.”

“You just decided to tell me this now?!”

“Sh!” The partners looked around to make sure that Clayton’s outburst didn’t attract too much attention. A few people were staring at them, but they just shook their heads at them and didn’t do anything else about it. “Let’s just get out of here before we attract any more attention. There’s a back door right behind me that leads into one of the side alley ways. I’m going first. Wait ten seconds before you follow me. Got it?”

“Yes.” Without another word, Catherine slinked out of the Inn with such stealth that no one even looked in her direction. Ten second later, Clayton made a much more noticeable exit but no one followed him. Once they were both outside, the partners made the executive decision to not go out into the main street. Rather they were going to take advantage of the maze of back alleyways to get back to the StarGlyder. As they snaked their way through Alnilam, Clayton quietly asked Catherine, “Do you know if there’s any significance to the Captain’s octopus?”

“His what?”

“The octopus tattoo on his right arm.”

Catherine stopped in her tracks at looked at Clayton with wide, frightened eyes. “You saw the tattoo?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Shit.” Catherine started frantically looking to the ends of the alley way that they were currently in, as well as the rooftops above them. “Okay, screw stealth. We gotta get outta here.” She grabbed Clayton’s hand and started pulling him behind as she ran as fast as she possibly could while dragging a six-foot-two teenage behind her.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“I’ll explain when this dump is far behind us! Now move your ass!” Clayton didn’t pursue the subject, seeing how unsettled Catherine was for the first time since he met her. He wasn’t completely sure what worried her, but it had to be worthy of the worry to gain this kind of reaction from her. So Clayton ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

Rather than sticking to the side streets as they originally planned, the partners just cut straight through the Alnilam, throwing off any level of stealth and caution. When they finally got to the alleyway that had the SkyCraft waiting at the end of it, both Catherine and Clayton pushed through the exhaustion and the burning in their lungs to try and get to the machine.

Catherine skidded to a stop when they got to the end of the alleyway, but Clayton kept running past her. If Catherine hadn’t grabbed him by his coat tail and yanked him back, Clayton would’ve ran right off the edge of Alnilam. The near death experience made Clayton fall to the ground and breathe heavily while Catherine remained standing.

“... Fuck.” Clayton was about to ask Catherine was what wrong when he saw for himself. The rope that Catherine had used to anchor the StarGlyder down had been cut through. The SkyCraft was nowhere to be seen.

Starting to panic himself, Clayton looked up to Catherine. “What do we do?” Catherine didn’t even turn to look at him, and never answered his question.

“Nothing ya can do, lad!” Clayton looked behind them to see that the other side of the alley was completely blocked off by two men. The first was the man that he had come to know as Captain August Herring, and yet it had to have been the other man who spoke, as Clayton didn’t recognize the voice. This man was the same height as Captain Herring. His hair was longer and a lighter shade of brown. His blues eyes were piercing, and yet it wasn’t Clayton they pierced. They looked past him as if he were completely invisible and focused on Catherine, who still had her back to the alleyway. The man stepped forward, taking the initiative in the whole situation and not taking his eyes off of Catherine the entire time. “Hello Natalie.”