StarFall/HCC: Going Solo #6: Return to Freehold

Phantasm phantom_belcher at yahoo.com
Sat Dec 31 07:53:03 PST 2011


StarFall Comics
A Division of Pullemouttayerhat Productions
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Proudly Presents

GOING SOLO
#6: Return to Freehold

Cover: A gorgeous redheaded half-elf woman wearing a green tunic with
a red sash around the waist, with a rapier in one hand and a wheel-
lock pistol in another; a young man with light brown hair wearing a
light blue shirt and brown breeches, wielding a short sword; and a
young man with short black hair, wearing a traditional Chinese black
silk shirt and pants with a white undershirt, wielding a quarterstaff.

	I knew things were going wrong when the ship docked at port.  No,
scratch that; I knew things were going wrong when we got the letter
from our old friend Fenuku.  I just didn't realize how wrong until we
docked.
	Ke was nervous.  He didn't really show it, to be honest; he liked to
show a stoic exterior.  Fun fact: the more stoic he appears, the more
nervous he really is.  Ry wasn't nervous at all; being the cleric of
the goddess of luck helps in that respect, I guess.  Me?  I was just
glad to be away from the city where I have a price on my head for a
few weeks.
	Oh, allow me to introduce myself and my friends.  I'm Serena, the
tall, redheaded half-elf from the city of Penticon, where I was raised
on the streets.  Ryence is a childhood friend of mine; somehow or
other, Tyche took a liking to him and called him to her service.  He's
somewhat shorter than I am, pure human, with light brown hair and an
easy smile on his face.  Cheng Ke is the shortest and darkest of us;
he had to flee his homeland when the government there sacked his
monastary for no good reason, so he came west.
	Fenuku, you've probably seen him before.  He's a kobold mage.  Yes, I
know that's a stereotype, but he doesn't let it bother him.
	Now you know enough to go on.
	As it was, the caravel we were on docked at the city of Freehold in
early evening.  I knew right away things were going wrong.  Fenuku was
supposed to meet us at the dock, but he wasn't there.  I leapt over
the side of the ship, landing on the dock with all the grace of my
elven forebearers.  Ke landed next to me, just as softly.  Not bad for
a human, eh?
	Ry didn't land as softly or as gracefully when he tried the stunt.
Fortunately, he landed on someone else.  Tyche blessed him with luck,
but also cursed him with klutziness.  Get a few mugs of ale in him,
and he could pass for a drunken master.  As it is, he landed on this
elf dressed all in black who appeared out of nowhere just as Ry fell
on him.
	We'd been warned about him, too.  Theosonovus the Black, the current
vizier and former court magician for the caliph here in Freehold.  He
was also Fen's arch-nemesis, according to Fen's letter.  Him being
here instead of Fen was not a good thing.
	My rapier was out in an instant, as was my pistol.
	"Where's Fenuku?" I asked him, sticking my pistol's barrel up his
nostril.
	"I'm afraid he's all tied up at the moment," Theosonovus replied
dryly.  His eyes narrowed.  "So you're the ones he sent for."  He
leered at me.  "You're pretty. For a half-breed."
	That did it.  Bad enough I was abandoned on the docks by my parents
when I was born for being a half-elf, but that's in a nation where
half-elves are second-class citizens.  Everyone's supposed to be
*equal* here in Freehold!
	I kicked him.  Right in the grommets.  Then we ran.
	Fortunately, cities are pretty much the same throughout the known
world.  The back alleys are narrow, winding, and easy to get lost in.
	Problem was, we really didn't want to *get* lost!  Fortunately, it
turns out Ke had been here once before, as a stop-over from his
homeland.  He led us through the streets to a tavern.
	Don't let the cliche bother you.  We weren't here looking for form an
impromptu adventuring party.  Not much call for that outside of the
jungles of the southern continent anyways.  But a tavern is a good
place to get information, if you know who to listen to.
	I entered the tavern first.  I admit, I did it with style.  I try to
do *everything* with style.  Throw open the door, toss my hair back,
and strut like I own the place, my rapier and pistol prominent in the
sash around my waist.  With all eyes on me, Ry and Ke could enter
unnoticed.
	Hey, I'm a drop-dead gorgeous red-headed half-elf.  There's no way
I'm going to be able to hide.  So why bother?
	It didn't take long for the locals to hit on me.  I turned down most
of them; bunch of smelly low-lifes.  Like I said earlier, people are
the same everywhere.  There was one that is different.  I'm sure of it
as he approached.  He was neither drunk, nor did he stink of fish or
manure.  He's a rich kid slumming, and he probably assumed I'm the
same.  Happens all the time, believe me.
	"So, what brings you here?" he asked.
	"Looking for a friend," I told him.
	"Perhaps I could be that friend."  Like I haven't heard *that* line
before.
	"You're not him.  My friend would stand out in a place like this,
though.  He's a kobold."
	The guy paled.  "Only one kobold in town."
	"So I've heard.  He was supposed to meet me at the docks earlier, but
I'm told he's 'tied up' with something."
	"You met the Black, then."
	"Met *by* the Black."
	"Let's drop the innuendo," the guy tells me.  "I'm Prince Kalil.
Fenuku is a friend of my brother, Crown Prince Rashid.  They've been
expecting you."
	"Serena," I tell him.  "My friends Ryence and Ke are here as well."
I subtly point them out; they're not hard to spot.  Well, Ke's not,
and Ry is sticking fairly close to him.  "Can you get us to Fen?"
	"I can get you close."
	"That's all I ask."

	And so, we found ourselves in the dungeons.  Turns out Kalil was not
one of the princes - I'm told there are fifty of them - but one of
Theosonovus's eunuchs.  Still, we did some damage to the guards before
they took us down.  Even with my rapier, Ke's skills, and Ry's short
sword, there were too many of them for us to take down.
	Fenuku's here as well, and has been for the last week.  Theosonovus
came in to gloat the other day.  It seems he's got some plan to wipe
out Rashid and two or three of the other princes, but he won't tell us
all the details.  He just comes in to gloat that we won't be
interfering.
	I'd say this was just like old times, but I have *no* idea how we're
going to escape from this one.
	Tyche is a fickle goddess.  Maybe our luck has just run out.  Or
maybe we just need to make some of our own luck.

to be continued.
================================================

Author's Notes:  The story itself took 24 minutes to write from the
moment I first typed in "I knew things were going wrong" until I typed
in "to be continued".  I didn't count the cover description or these
notes, as these are just fill-ins.

Hopefully I'll get back to this sometime next year.

Serena, Ryence, Cheng Ke, and Fenuku were from a webcomic I wanted to
write set in my Renaissance Fantasy world setting, which I never got
around to writing more than the scene which nets Serena the price on
her head: winning a duel to first blood - not to the death - against a
drunken nobleman's son.  I never did get around to writing the
introduction to the others, nor did I ever draw it out.  (My friend
Paul was going to do the artwork, but he had a very hard time
sticking  to the script I handed him.)

Fenuku and Theosonovus the Black were last seen in Going Solo #4.


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