Chapter 087: The Coastal Fishing Village

Jess left the farm that afternoon and continued north. After crossing the high ridge and walking a little farther, he finally saw the ocean in the distance below the tall cliffs.

He walked for another two or three hours. The sun was already sinking toward the sea when he finally reached the fishing village Furlbrow had mentioned.

The place was even more deserted than Furlbrow had imagined. From here, it looked completely abandoned, without a soul in sight.

The racks once used for drying fish were still standing where they'd been left. Nobody had bothered to take them away or destroy them.

The so-called village had only four or five buildings, all sturdy wooden houses, with a small two-story house in the middle. Years of neglect had left them old and damp. Jess wandered through the village for quite a while without finding a single person.

It seemed he'd have to put off the old soldier's request. Perhaps he could ask the man for a name or some more details when he went back.

Furlbrow had said the residents moved to Stormwind. Maybe Jess could find out something by asking around there.

But the more he thought about it, the less he wanted to get involved. The soldier had seemed strange from the start, and Jess had no desire to get dragged into something he didn't understand.

He stood in the clearing between the houses. The space had apparently once been used to dry fish, and the salty, rotten smell still lingered. A cold wind came in from the sea, so damp and bitter that Jess nearly shivered. It seemed to seep into his bones. Imagining these houses enduring years more of the same wind and rain, he doubted they'd last much longer.

Since nobody lived here, he could make himself at home.

He went into the largest house. There were still a few pieces of heavy furniture, even a bed, though the bedding was damp.

The floor was covered in slippery algae and wet mud. Unfamiliar green plants climbed the walls. Even before sunset, the room was terribly dark. Still, it offered shelter from the wind and rain, and a little warmth.

Jess opened his warlock's bag. “Come out, Saeno.”

The imp jumped out and took shape. “I thought you'd forgotten about me!”

The fire burning around the little demon cast a faint yellow-green light across the house.

Jess looked worried. “Can you tone down the flames around your body?”

“Those flames are the outward sign of the passion in my heart, Master! Are you asking me to suppress my nature?”

“Suppress as much as you can. What if you set this place on fire and burn me to death?”

“Then I'd be free!”

Jess and the imp said the words at exactly the same time. Jess glared at him.

“Say that again and I'll stomp you to death.”

“Ha! I'll remember that! A master's orders must be obeyed!”

Jess went upstairs and found a spot that seemed reasonably dry. He shook the dust off something like a tablecloth, wiped down a table and chair, sat down, and pulled out an Orcish pronunciation guide he'd brought along. He started memorizing it.

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Furlbrow had said going out at night was safer. Jess decided to trust him this time. The thought of a murloc spotting him in broad daylight and forcing him into a thirty-minute marathon made him nervous.

“Is Master planning to read here until nightfall?”

“Shut up.”

By evening the room was getting darker. Jess ate some of the biscuits he'd brought while reading. When the words became hard to see, he told Saeno, “Jump onto the table.”

“Yes!” The imp had been standing quietly beside him for two hours without saying a word. He jumped up. “Do you have a task for me?”

“Keep your emotions steady,” Jess said. “Don't get excited. Let the flames around you shine slowly and evenly.”

“I don't know why... but I must obey Master's orders!”

The imp stopped moving around and slowly settled onto the tabletop facing Jess. Sure enough, the flames around his body no longer jumped about so wildly.

“Good. Very good.” Jess moved the book closer to the imp and resumed studying.

After speaking with the shaman by the lake, Jess had realized just how important pitch and stress were in Orcish. Of course, those mattered in many languages he'd studied before, but the Orcish students in Stormwind didn't seem to pay them much attention.

Maybe it was because none of them had heard a real orc speak as Jess had. They'd learned everything from teachers. Or perhaps they simply hadn't realized how important the sounds were.

Jess began looking more carefully at how pitch was represented in Orcish runes. Which parts of a rune indicated its tone? Slowly, he started to notice patterns.

An Orcish rune was made up of several smaller symbols. Some represented sounds, some marked tense, some explained meaning, and others showed the context. The writing looked crude and heavy, but it was actually quite complicated.

As he worked, Jess found himself enjoying it. Pictures were more interesting than plain letters, after all. Sometimes a rune's shape even revealed something about orc culture, or about things found only on Draenor.

Take the rune for sheep. Human books simply translated it as sheep. But Jess, who knew what Draenor was like, could tell that the animal in the symbol was really a talbuk, a creature native to Draenor with long legs and tall horns.

Outside, the sky grew darker. Jess thought he heard something faintly.

It sounded like singing.

“Quiet,” he ordered the imp.

Looking out the window, he thought he saw something on the shore. He rubbed his eyes, and it disappeared.

Even though the imp's flames were much steadier now, their bright reflection still danced in the glass against the black night.

“Move away from the window,” Jess said.

The imp obeyed and jumped off the table. Jess pressed his face to a pane that was still mostly intact and stared at the beach.

There really was something crouching right where the waves just reached the sand.

Could it be a murloc?

Jess watched for a long time. The shadow didn't move. From its outline, it didn't look like a murloc. It looked like an actual person, crouched or seated there, facing the sea without moving at all.

Hadn't Furlbrow said no one lived here anymore? When had that person arrived?

“Can you see that person?” Jess asked Saeno.

“Yes, I can! I can!” The imp pressed himself excitedly against the glass. “Why do you ask, Master?”

Had someone returned from fishing?

Jess doubted it. Every house looked as if it had been abandoned for years. Anyone still living here would have a miserable time.

Then again, even a neglected house offered more shelter than some of the refugee camps outside Stormwind, where the tents could barely keep out the rain. He supposed it wasn't impossible.

He decided to go down and look. Maybe the person would know where the soldier's wife had gone.

“Hide in the bag. Don't show yourself. I'll go see what's happening.”

The sea was a sheet of blackness at night. Apart from the constant wash of water against the sand, everything seemed to have been swallowed by darkness.

Jess stood on the beach and looked both ways. After making sure there was no sign of murlocs or other monsters, he turned toward the distant figure.

The sky was darker now than when he'd watched from the house. He could make out only a blurred outline in the moonlight.

The figure was extremely thin. Its long hair, waist, and chest made it look like a young woman.

Now he could hear the song clearly.

The beauty of the night,

The twin moons bear witness.

The beauty of the sea,

Whether calm or wild,

You and I bear witness.

For I have heard

Your whispered words upon the tide.

May the waves carry my longing far away,

And let you know.