As the coin landed on the murky water, it let out a yellow flash, and with the flash, it slowly sank down into the deep blackness of the styx.
From deep within the bed of the river, bobbles began rising to the surface, starting from where the coin was dropped and expanding further out, in a straight line.
Something else was rising to the top, Dorian caught faint glimmers of it but he still couldn't shake that foul smell,
He followed me! He thought referring to Belarus. He quickly turned back to the entrance only to see the deep blackness he had just left. His senses were acting up.
He turned by towards the water and saw that a boat was now in front of him
It came out of the water! He looked it over and it looked completely dry. But why isn't it wet?
His senses urged him on, and he followed accordingly, hopping on the faint yellow boat. As soon as he sat down, he saw words begin to form on the floor of the boat; they etched themselves on the wood as though they were carved there. They read,
Where to master?
Then he remembered Hellana's words, telling him to head to Doom City so he said
"Doom City, please"
The words disappeared and the boat creaked to life, releasing faint mists of dust. It began to move and It had gone a few feet away from the bank when Dorian heard footsteps coming from beyond the bank, from within the darkness.
They got closer and closer and he wondered if this thing would go any faster. Then out comes Belarus, he looks in distress, he sees Dorian and a faint sigh of relief dawns on his face.
"Damn it," Dorian said.
He gripped tightly to the side of the boat out of anger. The words "make your demands known" etched themselves out on the floor of the boat, but Dorian did not see them in time.
The pigman jumped a few feet in the air, aiming to land on Dorian's boat; for a while, it seemed he wouldn't carry his weight very far, but he landed on the other end of the boat from Dorian. Without looking at him he turned back to the entrance to the river Styx.
He looked afraid, then he said to Dorian, "Make it go faster, they're coming."
"What! Who's coming, it thought it was you and your men"
"They were," he said. "Now make it go faster!"
"How? There are no paddles"
"Damn it, why is it always a rookie, just say go faster. "
Hellena didn't trust the pig and there was no way he felt he'd trust a word out of him, he was on edge and felt this was all a trick
"Why don't you say it!?"
Belarus turned to him, his face carved with fear
"What!"
"What don't you say it?"
He quickly pointed down to the writing, "Only you can say it, you paid for the ride, now say it."
Dorian hesitated for a moment, then he saw a cluster of men burst out of the darkness and into the light of the blue flaming torches.
They pushed back against each other as they scuffled to keep themselves from falling off the river bank.
Dorian now convinced by his fear screamed at the top of his lungs
"Go faster!"
Instantly, waves formed on the sides of the boat; they pushed it forward, and at an increasing speed, they were quickly out of reach of their assailants and soon almost out of earshot.
The last thing they heard from them was one screaming to the others
"Get the coins!"
The pigman turned to him and said,
"Always make your wishes known," then he burst out laughing. Dorian felt increasingly uncomfortable; he leaned toward the end of the boat, trying to get as far away from Belarus as possible.
"They'll be coming for us," Belarus said. "As a customer, the Styx will do what it can to help you but know it would treat you no better than them, so you must be clever in your demands."
Dorian gave a light nod, not quite sure how to respond. He still felt they were enemies, but the pig was treating him differently than he had expected.
He had the courage to speak. After going toe to toe with a war mother and escaping the clutches of a war machine everybody else felt like Tuesday.
"What are you playing at pig?"
"Well, nothings changed kid, I still plan to bind you and sell you in the black market when we make it to port but I don't have the rope, and just like you, I'm being pursued so you can say for now we are on the same boat." He chuckled a little bit and then said,
So try your best to follow my instructions. If any one of us were to fall into these waters, then the spirits that reside in them would pull us down to the very bottom, and these blue lights would be the last thing we see. Now tell me, do you want to join those spirits and hunt the Styx for all eternity, or do you want to be sold for four thousand woloons in the black market?
Dorian grinned at him, dissatisfied with his plea,
"I'll take the third option," he said.
"I gave no third option," Belarus replied
"We'll see," Dorian says. "Damn, how do I get out of this? At this rate, he'll just grab me when this is all over."
The blue flames flicker overhead and beyond the sound of the roaring torrent under their boat, they could hear another sound just at the torrent. At first Dorian thought them to echoes but soon realized.
"They're in pursuit," Belarus said. "I'll show you how to steer with your words, listen closely to my instruction, and when the time comes, you do as I say. I got to move away from her"
Belarus got off his sit and walked towards him
"Hey wait a minute, " Dorian yelled. "Why are you coming here?"
"They could grab me there; you wouldn't want that, would you?"
Took his sit just beside him and as he did Doria said under his breath
"I'd want that more than anything"
Belarus chuckled they could see them coming out of the horizon
"There's catching up faster, now tell it to go faster."
"Alright!" Dorian said. "Go faster!"
"Do you have any more coins?" Belarus said
"No"
"You had just the one?" He looked stunned and even more so when Dorian nodded. "What!"
"That's all she gave me"
"He groans, "Of Course, she'd have only one. She's a war mother; it's not like anybody in their right mind would chase her into the river Styx."
Belarus looked out and saw the boat fast approaching
"They will be on us soon. They've got enough coins to feed the ocean, and you don't have squat! ." Dorian frowned at his remarks. Belarus smiled at him and said,
"But lucky for you, you have me."