Chittagong had no stable currency. Anything worth a coin could be traded. But the city was pirates' lair. With their access to the sea and being the main road between two territories had permitted the city to not be under two jurisdictions, in the contrary there was none.
Maverick explained to Keith how the city had perpetuated its crimes and how it allowed the city to survive under taxes. The local chiefs would gather once a moon to give five percent of their dirty income by sharing it to both territories. They avoided troubles for decades. But now, Keith was in their city.
Keith asked. "Are you one of the chiefs? You seem to be some kind of leader for them."
"I am, and Evander, the one guarding the gate is my second, he's the eldest member of the crew."
Maverick crossed his arms and gave a head sign before saying. "Tell me more about your travel, you said nothing clear until now."
"The one who taught me how to make things disappear lived in one of its villages. He said I could have any of his belongings if I found his place." He said, Show was eager to see his old acquaintances.
"What's the name of the village? I am an excellent cartographer, I could pinpoint you its location, though if you could reach this city you've got to have a nice compass..."
The boy had no idea of the village's name, nor what was a compass. But he did his best to articulate the same word as Show's.
"Jiaozhi"
Maverick frowned.
"This is no village, that's a city! The sea is close and its port is well known even from a thousand kilometers away. It's close from the border as well, I was afraid you'd have to cross the whole territory. Are you sure about that name?"
Show spoke. 'Its location seems right, but I don't recall it to be that important of a city. Even though it doesn't match most of my souvenirs, it's certainly the right place."
"It's well known? Why is it famous for?" Asked Keith, he hoped to match at least one of Show's memories. He saw how the monster died and where he lived. If the explanation could gave an accurate reconstitution of it, they both wanted to be sure.
"Same as Varanasi, Maghada's biggest city. It's doomed. After they angered their gods, their land burnt to a crisp."
When he understood, Keith started to cough uncontrollably, he grabbed his hair and pulled it. The monster's laugh echoed in his head. It was so noisy he could hardly hear Maverick calling him.
"You okay Greenie?"
He hit his forehead with his fists a few times. The kid's imagination developed like earth you'd lift underwater. Every bits of his mind were clouded under a dark shroud. He panted. It was obvious how much people had died because of the explosion. The blatant truth that had taken a faster road to reach Chittagong stroke him back. Why was this fact bothering Keith so much?
People were dead, he knew only few whom lived in the city. Was he this attached to Jaggar? No. It ached him to know why people died. It was because of him as much as Show. He wanted them dead to begin with, if it had happened, it meant... He had the power to kill people. He had never been taught morals, the shock simply lost him in thoughts.
Deserving it or not, death wouldn't spare anyone with time. Cracks appeared in the explanation.
But why, why did Keith rose again? Why would he still be alive? He couldn't say he survived. He knew his loss of consciousness dug holes in his reasoning, little by little, he had ignored everyone's feelings. Since when? It all begun when Show appeared.
Just like his parents, his mental instability made other suffer. He was curled up in fetal position, his back was gently patted by Maverick who couldn't understand what triggered the boy's breakdown.
'I'm no different from my parents.' He thought again and again.
Show spoke, the turmoil in the explanation almost expelled him from the boy's mind. 'It's fine. Why do you care about those who died? They've worsened your life and yet you keep praying for your mother's return! She made you suffer. Go forward kid, we can't afford to mull over this kind of inconvenience.'
The monster wouldn't contradict the boy's thoughts as his, had yet to differ.
Keith hammered his fists against his head. Each time he hit, his eyes sparked with the black voids he had during his feeding frenzies. Until an ice-cold water bucket was spilled on his face.
"You are the strangest I've ever found." Said Maverick as Keith's convulsions lessened.
The muscles in his jaw and neck gave him painful responses. His fingers were hard to move because of the cramps he had. He gasped a few times before speaking. "I can't stay here, I have to finish the affair I have with my master."
The man finally saw the mark around Keith's neck, and the greyish marks under his forearm. He said. "I bet your travel is long, why don't you stay for a day or two? You have to rest, your body is exhausted beyond what a child can bear. I am sure you'll find something interesting here."
'What was that? A trauma?' He thought.
Lunchtime arrived. A whistle could be heard in the habitation. All of the kids gathered in the main room as planks, usually leaning against the walls were brought in the middle of the room. Evander brought a gigantic cooking-pot that steamed continuously.
Under everyone's animosity, Keith could hear the bubbling grub that passed behind him.
Thump.
The hollow sound that the pot made shook the boy. Emanating from its top, thin silver lines. He had never seen that on a cooked dish. It startled him for a minute until everyone was served.
Maverick sat at the end of the long table and rose his glass above all.
"To our new member!" He shouted.
"Welcome!" They all answered before wolfing down on their plates.
Keith did the same, he plunged his spoon in the soup with large chunks of vegetables and meat, he stirred to observe everything inside. His left table companion, a boy in early puberty said. "It's not poisoned. Don't worry."
"I'm not that regardant." Keith replied while shoving food in his mouth.
His eyes widened.
The dozen of textures merged above his tongue, the meat that was cut under his teeth tickled his palate. It felt as good as a night meal. The subtle taste that emanated from the dish delighted him.
The guys around him that noticed how amazed he was, they laughed.
"How is it? We can have meat every day here! Only if we work hard!" Now that he said so, most of the boys had muscles covering their torso and arms. They had a lot of meat indeed. But what was it? Wasn't it a little too raw?
Keith couldn't spot any fish bone so far. Anything that was hard to chew for others wasn't for Keith, his jaw made easy work of the little bones he found, making the people around him shiver with the sharp sounds.
Meat everyday? With a slight taste? Was it heaven who sent him here? Every miracle had its curse. He knew it deep inside.
His eyes darkened little by little until there was nothing left in his plate. His complete focus on the food stopped as he caught the middle of a storytelling.
"... Its fighters, eager to find where the treasure had been buried travelled through the seven seas until they reached our city! This very cave used to be five meters deep! With the increasing number of people whom heard the story, the hole became deeper. And here we are today! Thousands in our tiny pirate nation!" Evander's big voice could cover all of the infantile voices. His talents as a talker gave him his actual grade, able to fill people's heart with the will of adventure, he often told his favorite story.
Maverick smiled, he said. "Are you not tired of this story? Everyone knows it already!"
"Children love it and so do I!" Evander said, continuing his tale.
It was centuries old, and a legend. People had long found the treasure and used it to build the city, and more boats. The first crew that arrived soon fought to have most of the treasure and split to form the now scattered clans in the city. Their ancestors were no reason to fight nowadays, money was.
On a rack with gold nails protruding from the board, a coin shaped skull was displayed. Everyone could see it.
Displayed like a trophy, anyone could touch it, but no one dared to. It was a cursed object that held the essence of greed.
To who chose to embrace it was condemned to be betrayed by his relatives.
'Show, isn't this the first time we've met something that had been cursed by a stranger?'
'If you don't count in the king, yes, it is. Do you want it? Make some experiment? You know we could steal it and exit this city at night and not bother their anger? I can take care of them. All of them.'
'Why should we cause trouble? Did you not say I must keep low profile?'
Two women in their sixties exited next door. Their apron were dirty, it made Keith understand who cooked his food.
He asked them the secret of their recipe after complimenting it but none answered. They simply stuck out their tongue, to show how short it had been cut.
"Tsk tsk tsk. No one talks to the ladies here. They are not allowed to speak either." Said Evander.
The second meal they served wasn't the same. The vegetable and its colour were identical but there was no silver lines this time. Keith made few friends, talking about his long travel only and the lands that most kids had visited too.
Evander came in the evening, he gave Keith a thick pillow. He designated to Keith the bottom bunk of the two beds in the room for the next nights. Maverick had to go next city for an important trade. He escaped early after dinner on his bull.
'Are we not held here against our will? Maverick did not force me to stay, he simply insisted. But because he introduced me to so much people, I feel like he really wants me to stay.' Said Keith to Show.
'If I had someone who could make corpses vanish, I'd keep him too.' Show answered, leaving the kid's shirt an hour after the last torch was extinguished.
The monster stole the skull coin on the shelf and came back to the kid. 'Time for the experiment.' He said, before immobilizing the kid and its bed, cutting a wound near his solar plexus as he inserted the coin under his ribcage.