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As the days passed, Dizzy realised that she didn’t miss Tyria. Sure, she still had her parents in her thoughts, as well as her dead daughter, but the rest… Right now she just wanted to see what was waiting for here in Cantha.
She loved to see the sunsets when the sea was calm and just feeling a soft breeze in her hair. She would close her eyes and think about Cantha, her life and the future.
The other girls usually left her alone on these occasions, they realised she probably wanted to be alone.
One of those evenings, though, Stella and Tanya joined her. They stood quietly by her side for a long while and just looked at the sunset.
“Isn’t it lovely?”
Dizzy broke the silence.
“The warm sun and the soft wind, it’s good for the soul.”
“You like it here, don’t you?”, Stella asked.
“I like this trip, yes, but I long for Cantha now. I want to see it, feel it.”
“This is the last night onboard, we will arrive tomorrow evening. I just spoke to the captain.” ,Stella said.
“Ah, so this is the last evening with Tanya”, Dizzy looked at Tanya, “for now anyway.”
“We’ll meet again”, Tanya looked at Dizzy, “I have habit of turning up here and there”
“I would like to see you again, Tanya, I like you. You are so…..different.”
“Compared to what? Don’t think I’m different to other Canthan people. Maybe to you and friends?”
“Maybe, I don’t know. I was afraid of you, first time I met you, but not now. You are frightening sometimes, but I’m not afraid anymore.”
“Afraid of little me? So easily scared, you are. And you?” Tanya turned to Stella, “I scare you?”
“No”, Stella said, “You never scared me. You can be frightening sometimes, but I know assassins have some sort of honour.”
“I could be bad assassin, no honour. Thought of that?”
“It crossed my mind, nothing more.”
“You judge well. Be careful in Cantha, not all assassins good, some really bad.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“I wish you could come with us”, Dizzy said, “I think it will be more fun.”
“I think so too, but I have other plan right now.”
“What is so important?”
“Other friends important, family important, job important. You not center of the world, not to me anyway.”
“I never said I was.”
“No, you never said.”
Dizzy wasn’t sure if Tanya emphasised the last word or not.
“You have my address, when you come back from Shing Jea, you come visit. Maybe I’m home, maybe not, but you leave message, ok.”
“We will.”
“I’m cold, I’m going down below”, Stella said, “I will prepare something to eat and drink.”
“I’ll be there in 10 minutes”, Dizzy said.
Tanya looked at Dizzy.
“How do you feel, Dizzy, I mean really?”
“Honestly, a bit mixed. I’m actually happy to get away from Tyria, but somehow sad about the way, I mean why I think it’s necessary. Sometimes I look at my hands and I remember the way they looked that evening at home, the evening I ran away. All I can see are my bloody hands and I’m afraid that if I look in a mirror I will se my bloody face. I remember the pain. I’m not afraid and it doesn’t scare me, I just wonder when it will go away, if ever. Will there be a time when the memory fades away?”
“No, you will always remember, but the memory will not be clear and you will only remember when you want to remember. The memory will not be in your life as now, no. Never been in that situation, so really don’t know.”
“Have you never been hurt?”
“Many times, many wounds, lots of scars. Some in soul too.”
“Because of love?”
“No, never love. Betrayal, not love. Hurts too.”
“So what did you do to him?”
“Let’s just say his lovemaking is not functioning properly. Gave him a present too.”
“Present?”
“Yes, gave him the knife. Was a good knife, very sharp.”
Dizzy started laughing.
“That’s not really true, is it?”
“Well… Present true. Stuck in his leg, in a bone, couldn’t pull it out. I was in hurry. Heard he limping now. Was good cut.”
“Let’s go and have something to eat, I’m hungry now.”
Dizzy put her arm on Tanya’s shoulders and they went down to Stella and a table full of food.
“Stella, where did you get all this food? Did you hide it from us?”, Dizzy asked.
“A little bit here and a little bit there and yes, I have hidden lots of food just for this night. It’s our last night onboard, the last night for our little group and I thought we should celebrate.”
The girls had a wonderful evening, they ate and sang and talked late into the night. Dizzy felt very warm inside when she went to bed, this last night on the boat.
The next day Dizzy woke up early, got dressed, put a blanket over her shoulders and went out. She wanted to see Cantha.
The sun was just above the horizon to the east and the sky was red as fire. To the south she could see something hazy, it was definitely land.
“Home”
Dizzy turned around in surprise and she could see Tanya just behind her.
“I didn’t hear you”
“I can be very quiet. It comes with the profession.”
“You feel good, coming home now?”
“Yes, coming home always good, doesn’t matter where home is.”
“Is that an island over there”, Dizzy pointed to the right, “Is that Shing Jea?”
“Yes, Shing Jea Island. Nice monastery, you like it.”
“We will be going there tomorrow or the day after.”
“Yes, no problem finding boats to take you there and no pirates here either.”
“Pirates?”
Dizzy almost yelled.
“Yes, trade on the sea means pirates. Always. Safe here.”
“Could pirates have attacked us on this journey?”
“Sure, happens sometimes”
“Why didn’t you mention that in Lion’s Arch?”
“If I do that, how this trip be for you? You worry every minute and no relax, no enjoy. This good trip for you, no?”
“Yes, I liked it. I still think you should have told me. Did you tell Stella?”
“Stella knows already, she go before to Cantha. And yes, you are right in a way, you should have been told. Are you angry?”
“No, I have too much fun to be angry. I want to enjoy this.”
“Good”
“Let’s go down and wake up Stella. I’m hungry.”
The rest of the day the girls spent much time on deck. Tanya told them stories about the history of Cantha and places they should visit. All this made Dizzy realise that travelling over Cantha would take a long time, she also realised how little of Tyria she had seen. In fact, she hadn’t seen much else than Ascalon, and not even all of it. Ascalon had been all her world, but then just a part of it.
As the day passed, Cantha came closer and closer and Dizzy could see Kaineng and all its buildings.
“How big is the harbour?”, Dizzy asked Tanya.
“Very big. In the north only for royal family, then from Kaineng Center way down south of Marketplace. Very big.”
“So where will we stop?”
“We stop near Marketplace, south of Kaineng Center.”
“Hey you two”, Stella shouted, “we have to pack our things and carry the bags out on deck. When we dock I’ll try to find someone to carry them to the inn.”
They all went below and started packing. Tanya had the smallest and lightest bag and Dizzy wondered how she could cope. She looked at her own bags. Really too much for a journey like this. I must remember this for the next trip.
By the time the bags were packed, the ship had docked and they could leave right away. Dizzy looked back at it for a while.
“I got a strange feeling, leaving it like this”
“Why?”, Stella asked.
“Don’t know, just a feeling”
“Feeling or not, I leave you now.”, Tanya said, “Help for transport of bags is over there”, she pointed at some men with small carts, “You can trust them. Come visit when you can.”
“I will miss you, Tanya, take care.” Dizzy gave her a big hug.
“I actually miss you too. And you”, Tanya turned to Stella. “Take care of each other”
“See you, Tanya”, Stella said.
Dizzy and Stella watched her disappear in the crowd of people, then they looked at each other. Both of them had tears in their eyes.
What they didn’t know was that a few people had their eyes on them.
“Watch the bags Dizzy, I’ll go and talk to these men about our luggage and then we’ll walk to our inn. It’s just south of Kaineng Center.”
Dizzy looked around. The harbour was indeed very big and a lot of people running around, to and from the ships that were docked. The houses looked awful though, old, badly built and dark, everything was dark.
“Come on, let’s go. In an hour it will be really dark and I want to get to the inn before that.”
“Are the streets dangerous, Stella?”
“In a big city like this it’s always risky, especially for tourists.”
They went through the busy marketplace and walked north over a bridge with a view of the harbour.
“Look Stella, isn’t it beautiful!”
“Hmmm, yes.” Stella answered with a worried voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“We are being followed.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes”
“What are we going to do?”
“Turn right, I want to go to a less crowded street”
They could hear someone running behind them, but the steps died out.
“Whoever that was, he wasn’t running after us. Our followers are still with us though.”
“How can you tell?”, Dizzy asked her.
“I just know”
“Who are they?”
“My guess is it’s just someone who wants our money. Just be prepared.”
Prepared? Prepared for what?
Dizzy searched her bag for her mask and squeezed her staff a bit harder.
Suddenly someone stood right in front of her. She looked back. Another one stood right behind her. In the corner of her eye, she could see Stella throw herself to the ground. Someone shouted “Duck!”. Dizzy ducked, but she could see a big axe above her head. Stella almost shouted a spell and everything lit up with fire. Dizzy cast an Empathy on the one in front of her. The axe hit something.
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