"THE FIRE BEFORE THE STORM": A Fire Beetle Tale

                 

@MonsterWorld

Steemonster Story #1

by A.J. Rivers

           The harbor was anxious and choppy as the storm wall came in from the horizon. Every fishing boat and schooner bobbed and dipped, but no ship complained as loudly as Lady Luck that groaned and creaked as she always did. Her captain, Mertok, smiled broadly at the guests on his deck as he clapped his hand on the railing affectionately.

           “Aye, she’s a fine ship. She could do wit’a fresh coat of paint, but she keeps me saf’en makes me living.”

           Mertok’s smile was missing several teeth, and his wispy, balding hair streamed around him in the irregular breeze.

           Danithine glanced around the grimy deck momentarily, but kept her gloved hands clasped in front of her, as if worried she might inadvertently touch something. She stood tall and statuesque, with her two men on either side of her; thick brutes and that seemed out of place next to the stately woman.

           “You must have seen much of the world from this vessel merchant, and sold many goods from her hold.” Danithine almost whispered to her self, but the Merchant captain nodded, his broad smile unwavering.

           Danithine stared expressionless into the eyes of Mertok and Mertok grinned back, though the long stretch of silence tested his unfailing smile.

           “Er, yer men said ye had a large amount of chuf pelts ye were lookin’ to sell. Lady luck sails in the morning after the storm blows through if ye still had the mind to do it.” Mertok licked his lips and bounced on the balls of his feet, fiddling with his beard.

           Danithine’s gaze bore into him a little while longer before turning toward her men and nodding almost imperceptibly—they left without a word. As the two men walked down the gangplank, Danithine began walking across the deck towards the bow, as if she were at a ball and Mertok’s conversation had bored her. The deck pitched and yawed, but her footing never faltered.

           “I could show ye around below deck if ye were interested in knowing more about ships ma’lady.” Mertok waddled after her.

           Danithine stopped and looked out past the harbor where dark clouds loomed ever closer, the sun lost behind them.

           “You must have traveled far and wide in your life master merchant, seen many exotic places and met very interesting people.”

           “Aye m’lady, I’ve been around the frozen Horn of the North and survived typhoons in the Copper Seas.”

           “You must have gained and sold many treasures over the years.” She idly ran her gloved hand over a piece of railing, then examined her fingers for dirt.

           Mertok stroked his beard thoughtfully as his eyes glassed over, remembering the years. “True, I’ve had many a treasure in me hands I’ve let go for gold. Can’t be a collector in this business.”

           “Have you ever made it as far as Kaltucan?” She turned to face him squarely.

           “Aye,” He nodded slowly. “Been there once long ago. Er, twice now that I think of it. Beautiful place, hanging gardens and stone towers. The reefs make it an impossible harbor, but the fishes there are like pieces of heaven,  swear it.”

           Not understanding her intense gaze, he leaned back against the railing and took a swaggering posture. “The people there are the most beautiful, tall and majestic. The sun doesn’t blot their skin and they’re so smooth and lovely. The men thought my beard was something I was wearing over my face, ha ha!”

           Mertok’s belly shook as he laughed, but Danithine’s face only grew darker.

           “I know it must have been a long time ago, but do you remember what you took from there?”

           Mertok smiled up at her, but the grin became forced as he saw her stony expression. Danithine’s men returned, carrying a steel box between them by two wooden poles that fit through rings on the box’s sides. The wooden poles were blackened in the middle, as though the box had been red-hot when the poles were first put in.

           The men set it down on the deck and stood up, watching their master expectantly as she stared into the plump merchants face without wavering.

           “Is that all ye got?” Mertok asked, looking from the box to the woman. “That ain’t going to be worth my trouble to sell.”

           “Kaltucan,” Danithine repeated. “Do you remember what you took from there all those years ago? Back when you were a younger man. Back when your pleasant demeanor wasn’t so repulsive.” Her face finally hinted at her emotion; disgust and anger.

           “Back when a young girl might have trusted you. Back when you traded flesh instead of goods.”

           Mertok went ridged as the woman towered over him. He opened his mouth and a single sound came out, but he cut it short. He looked at the woman afresh, seeing her flawless skin and towering height.

           “It’s you.” He breathed. “You’re the girl.”

           Danithine brushed past him and strode over to the box. Mertok noticed, for the first time, that smoke was curling from the small holes in the top. Dark, acrid coils of smoke that were quickly whisked away by the breeze.

           “I don’t know if you remember from your stay in Kaltucan Mr. Mertok,” Danithine gracefully gestured to the box before her. “But the islands are known for their peculiar beetles that live among the rocky coast. There are thousands of species, and I’m sure you must have left with at least some trinkets of their glittering shells or eaten delicacies made from their flesh, but you may have never seen the largest and most dangerous of the variety.”

           Mertok licked his lips nervously, head hung low and eyes darting from side to side.

           “Normally a large beetle wouldn’t be of much note, as all lands are full of monsters these days, but the Kaltucanian fire beetle is a creature of legend. The barren isles with nothing more than a handful of fleshy plants and towers of stone do not suffer too much from them if the people keep their distance, but on the mainland they become a demonic plague; leveling towns, destroying forests, and even—“ She took a single knee and reached for the pin that held the door in place. “Sinking ships.”

           “Please!” Mertok took a couple staggering steps towards her, but stopped short when her men advanced, falling to his knees. “I’m sorry, t’was another life, I’m no’ that same man anymore. Please! Lady Luck is all I got, don’t let that monster out, please.”

           Mertok sobbed and held up both his hands in surrender.

           “You should have taken one of these off the island with you merchant before you took me, I think you would have fared better.” Danithine’s face betrayed no emotion and her voice remained even.

           “That thing won’ stop.” He protested. “It’s not just me ship, it’ll burn the whole dock and all the ships and then the port will be lost too. Please, you’ll kill dozens and ruins ‘undreds of lives, not just mine. I ain’t worth it.”

           Danithine’s hand stayed on the pin as she considered his words. Smoke billowed out of the holes, surely burning her arm and ruining the silk sleeve of her dress, but she didn’t seem to notice. Danithine looked back down the dock at the many ships harbored there and the port city on the shore, the lights in the windows glowing orange.

           “You’re right Merchant.” She stood up. “You’re aren’t worth it. I suppose enough have suffered because of you, more would be a waste.”

           Without another word she turned and left, her men following her with the box, a charred square of black left on the deck where the box had rested.

           Mertok was too scared to move or speak as they left, only rising to his feet when the three of them were halfway down the dock. He didn’t know what to think or feel. Would they be back? Was the really the little girl he had taken all those years ago?

           Danithine stopped just before the dock ended and the cobblestone street began.

           “Set her down.” She ordered.

           The men lowered the box and stepped away.

           “Burning his ship would have been a waste. He would have abandoned it, and he would have been off the dock before the fire caught up to him.”

           She reached down and took hold of the pin. “This way,” She pulled it out. “He wont survive.”

           The fire beetle launched from the box with a screech, the two glowing spots on its shell spewing hot spray as its hooked feet scrambled across the deck.

           Even the moist and worn wood of the dock took fire as the beetle scrambled furiously. It hadn’t eaten in weeks and nothing but coals and ash would satisfy its hunger. It ran up and down the dock, ravenously waiting for wood to burn enough to consume, and in the waning darkness, its two fire spots looked like glowing eyes, gliding through the fire in the distance.

           As the three figures stood and watched the growing fire in the blustering wind, men came from the town, yelling in panic, and the storm blew in, ever closer to the once safe harbor.

           “Master,” One of her men spoke. “He can still cast off, he might survive.”

           Danithine shook her head. “Not with the storm and no crew to man the ship. He’ll have to decide to die by fire or the sea.”

           Danithine squinted in the dark, trying to see Lady Luck through the flames. It looked as though the fire would reach him before he could remove the mooring lines. Good, she thought, fire, storm, and sea were just rebukes from the fire islands of Kaltucan.

           As though the beetle heard her prayer, it scrambled up the hull of Lady Luck and the old ship lit like dry grass.

           It may have been the old, dry wood that attracted the creature, or the creaking of wood as the winds buffeted against the broad bulkhead. Or perhaps it was the spirit of vengeance, infected into the heart of the creature, dealing out justice for its homeland.