Chương 45: Maitiú’s Deal

Late afternoon had faded into the first hint of dusk when Maitiú walked into the general store. Luíseach had stowed away her fruit stand; the heat of the late afternoon this time of year made the fruit ripen too quickly. The stand was pretty much an affectation anyway. She just liked being outside when she could. The store she managed had all the same fruit and more.

"Good afternoon," she called to the visitor as he walked slowly in.

"I'm surprised to see one of you here. I imagined Cian to be drilling you all to within an inch of your life by now." Maitiú stroked his graying beard and looked at all the food she had for sale. Or, rather, not sale - since everything was free.

"I opted out."

"You did?" Luíseach began wrapping up a delivery she was to make to Domhain tomorrow, two cartons of assorted fruits in wax paper.

"You're that confident in your ability to make it out already? Maitiú snorted.

"Even Cian knows I'm not making it out of here alive. What do you think? Do I have what it takes to escape the Walk?" Luíseach hesitated, looking the old sailor up and down.

"Honestly? I doubt it." He nodded.

"That's what I thought."

"Don't take it personally. Almost no one does." Maitiú nodded his head back towards the door.

"And what about my crewmates? Any of them seem the likely sort?" Luíseach shrugged.

"Maybe the pixie girl? She seems determined. But I can never tell. You never know who will be the one to make it and which will die on the way, or limp their way back here. There's a fair element of luck to it." Maitiú's expression grew sour.

"If that's the case, my former captain will probably make it, damn his Bodac hide."

"Not a loyal crewmate then?" Luíseach asked teasingly, wrapping up another coconut.

"I didn't even know he was a Bodac. He hides it well." Maitiú grunted dismissively.

"Well, long ago I decided it was better to live than to die, and now I'm thinking it's better to miss the sea than to die trying to get back to it. This seems a decent enough place to retire to, even if it's missing some small luxuries." Luíseach hesitated, then blurted out "If I could leave, I would try. Regardless of the risks." The old sailor cocked his head.

"Oh? Life so bad here?" She sighed.

"It's not, but it's… not really living. You can only hear so many stories from so many visitors before you start to miss what you've never had. You can decide to stay, but I can never decide to leave." Luíseach thought she saw the shadow of a smile tease Maitiú's face, but it was gone before it could really register.

"That's a shame," Maitiú said.

"If you've heard visitor's stories, you must have a place in particular you want to visit. What struck your fancy?" She stopped folding the wax paper and looked him in the eye.

"I'd go to the Einsreichh Market." A slow grin took over Maitiú's face.

"The Market? That's where you would go?"

"Of course!" Luíseach's eyes drifted to the ceiling, replaying her fantasy in her mind's eye.

"Food and goods from all over the world! Merchants vying for profit, schemes and plots turning on a dime or a drop of blood! Travelers and nobles and commoners all mingling together. It sounds like the most exciting place in the world." Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"It is," Maitiú admitted.

"You've been there!"

"I have," he said, leaning back on a table.

"It's just as you described it. No one goes to sleep in the Market who wants to make back their margin - it's awake at all hours of the night. Entertainment the likes of which you've never seen. Gambling, music… the red light district. It's the epitome of chaos wrapped up in a beautiful, grungy, filthy city. It's my favorite place too." Luíseach shook her head.

"What I wouldn't give," she said breathlessly.

"This whole… you lot being unable to leave business. How sure are you about that?"

"At least a couple each generation give it a try," she said, resuming her folding.

"They just fade away once they set foot off the island."

"It's not fair," Maitiú growled.

"Neither of us asked for this, did we? Now we're in the same boat, trapped by… the egos of 'greater' men." He spat. Luíseach shook her head.

"It's not Cian's fault. He didn't ask for this either."

"But his daddy did, didn't he? Face it, we're just puppets, and they held our strings from day one," Maitiú clenched the table he leaned against until his fingers went white. Luíseach shook her head, but she couldn't keep her anger out of her voice.

"My father was a visitor. Can you believe that? Had he not boarded the wrong boat at the wrong time I'd be free as a bird."

"Cormac told us he was hunting treasure. No one believed him, but he had enough gold to make a good payday seem real. And what did we get? Well, most of us got stranded at a fishing village in the middle of nowhere," Maitiú snarled.

"And one of us - one of us! Got stranded in Cianán's Walk, never to godsdamn leave."

"Cian doesn't understand," Luíseach said, her voice hardening.

"He's a prisoner too, but he's also basically a god here. Those are two very different things." They fell into silence for a moment, each boiling in their own anger.

"This whole thing… you not being able to leave," Maitiú said finally.

"It's because the only fórsa you're made of is his fake reality-stuff. That true?"

"That's how I understand it." Maitiú's eyes narrowed.

"What if I could get you some of the real stuff? Could you use it to become… more real?" Luíseach blinked.

"You mean like… material fórsa from the outside? I mean, sure, but I'd have to have a ton of it to remake my whole body in real-world terms. You hiding chests of material fórsa somewhere we didn't see?"

"Nah, nah. Not me," Maitiú said, a sly grin on his face.

"But I happen to know that Mr Cormac Fiadh has an object on his person at this very moment made of the most powerful material fórsa in the world."

"What do you mean?"

"My dear Captain is hiding a Drop of Intent," Maitiú said slyly, popping a cherry tomato into his mouth. Luíseach gaped.

"Seriously? That's… that's basically what Cian is made of."

"I'm told if you absorb it, you can go up one, maybe two Rings just from that." Maitiú flicked the stem away.

"More than enough to rebuild a body several times over I'd think."

"Does Cian know about it?" Maitiú shrugged.

"I haven't heard Cormac tell. My bet is that he plans to use it as his ace in the hole if he gets stuck out there. It acts as a compass heading towards the center of the Tir. He can't get lost, no matter what tricks the beasties in the jungle throw at him. Or, if he gets in a pinch, he'll just absorb it himself."

"That's not fair," Luíseach whispered.

"He brings a way out with him to the island and is just going to hoard it for himself?"

"Real peach of a fellow, is our Cormac," Maitiú agreed sarcastically.

"Maybe he'll give it to me," Luíseach said, her hands trembling against the wax paper.

"If I explain." Maitiú snorted.

"Oh, I'm sure he would. No, you mention that you know about it and you'll never see the thing again. You know he marooned his entire first crew because they didn't like how he was running things? He's not the sort of man who likes to share."

"So… you just came to dangle this carrot in front of me and tell me it's hopeless?"

"Nah, not hopeless. But we might have to get a bit sneaky." Luíseach's eyes hardened.

"I'm fine with sneaky. For the ability to leave this island, I'd be fine with… larcenous." Maitiú grinned.

"That's what I like to hear."

"Wait… Maitiú, was it? You can't let Cian know it's here. I've never seen it for myself, but any of King Cianán's stuff that comes in, he confiscates. I've heard stories about the same happening for Drops. He doesn't have fórsa natures or other things people typically have… so they say it's how he improves himself. My dad told me a rumor, that there's somewhere out in the jungle where Cian keeps them, every single one he can find. In all these years he's told no one about it."

Luíseach touched Maitiú's arm in alarm.

"It must stay a secret." He nodded.

"Then a secret it will stay."