Juremakes

Juremakes, the Charred Lord, an orphan who became one of the most respected men of his time in Formin. Juremakes was born to Daurunketh the fisherman and his wife Elwa. They died when he was young, leaving him with his sickly sister Keita, who died soon after. Juremakes embarked on a life-changing journey with two childhood friends, Toyne and Brozck to retrieve a lost treasure. He was given a lordship by King Dereon upon his return in exchange for his loyalty. In his old age, he sent for Gregor Namath to keep him in his service.

Historical Accuracy
Juremakes' story was passed on by word of mouth and became severely warped. Only he knows what really happened on his journey, and nuggets of truth can be found in the fable. See below.

Fable
Juremakes was a boy born to Daurunketh the fisherman and Elwa the tanner's daughter. When he was a boy of two years, his mother birthed him a sister and died.

Daurunketh spent his life teaching his son the ways of the village. Where to fish, how to fish, how to protect yourself and how to know if you are being cheated in the markets. When Juremakes was eleven, he was left to fish on his own. Costs came and money went.

Daurunketh found a better-paying job in the coal mines, and Juremakes very rarely saw him again. Two years later he was with his sister when the ground rolled and he fell from his feet. The mouth of the mines belched black dust and none of the miners down there ever came back up.

Juremakes struggled to become the man of the house, but he soon lost the house. And then his sister. By the time the cold season came, she was already so weak and frail that Juremakes didn't notice she was gone until he offered her supper.

He grieved for his family, but still went out every day to work. For ten more years he struggled, finally eking out a poor existence fishing. He never caught as much as his father had. He made enough to eat and enough to sell. But he also fished because it was the only time he felt not alone. He always felt closest to Daurunketh fishing on the lakeside.

He was twenty three when his life changed. By this time he was tall and muscled, with yellow hair to his ears and with hands hard from work. It was one morning as he was gathering his nets that a boy from the village ran to him, excited.

"Juremakes, sir! The four mayors have been in conference for two hours before they held a gathering and announced that there is sunken treasure in the south!"

“Continue, lad. And remember that I am no sir."

"The treasure," the boy panted. "All the treasure of a hundred southern isles. Gold and silver, extravagant furs and jewels and spices and silks and the explosive black powder."

"What has befallen this treasure? And such an enormity, why has nobody sailed to claim it?"

"A day's sail from the mainland the sea rose up and dashed the merchant vessel against the rocks of the southern archipelago."

“Ah, of course! Only a fool would go into that foul place." Juremakes understood now. The southern archipelago was famed for it's mysterious danger, of the legends of demon men with skin charred black to match their souls, of manticores and basilisks, and strange disease and spells that lay thick upon that place.

"But Lord Stevron of Grys did, sir! He sent a war fleet to secure his rightful treasure before it could be stolen by pirates. But Baron Warreth himself was leading his own fleet down. The two came to swords but Stevron's Admiral Sendry did for Warreth, and sent him scampering home with his tail between his legs! Sendry sailed on but once they reached the archipelago the shifting sandbars trapped them! Sailors tried to escape but those who set foot on the lands never left them. Only a few scant ships limped back to Lord Stevron, without Sendry, spinning tales of monsters and storms. But with no treasure! It is still out there and the mayors have announced that any man who can retrieve it shall have a lordship from them!"

At this Juremakes snorted. The mayors held less power than any lords, and certainly had no authority to make a lord.

"On whose authority? Surely not their own?"

The boy shook his head. "No, sir. Not their own. They exchanged birds with Srontagar and have permission from the king himself!"

"Then this is a fool's errand. King Dereon is not such the man who would bestow a great honor to a man he knows not. Most like this will be a lordship of flies and sand, and that is not worth a fraction of my own charge for traversing the archipelago."

"Aye, sir. It is true, but know that whoever retrieves the treasure need not surrender it to the mayors."

And Juremakes thought on this. The rest of the day and the next day. Each day saw smiling men waving over their shoulders and they left port to ride south.

They are fools who will die for nothing. The lordship was a meager, near-worthless prize. The treasure itself was another story, however. Juremakes made his decision on the third night. He had to act fast before another man decided making off with the treasure was decidedly better than wasting away as the lord of feces.

The next morning he made his announcement. He would be sailing for the treasure on the morrow. His friend Brozck was also going that day as well.

One problem; Juremakes had only one boat. The tiny fishing canoe he had would never make it across the ocean. But he had thought of that already. Another of his childhood friends was the eastern man Toyne, who had come to own two great ships which surely could carry Juremakes.

And so it was on the fourth day he met with Toyne and they spoke of a deal. Juremakes offered to divide the treasure between them and the crew, but Toyne interrupted him.

"I am sorry, my friend," he said. "Yesterday I met with Brozck and I promised my sails would fill for him and bear him to his destination."

"Then give him only one ship. Give me the other and its crew and I will captain it on mine own."

Toyne considered. "No," he decided. "Surely the treasure could indeed be carried on one ship, but my ships are smaller than the great merchant vessel that crashed in the archipelago. I will need both ships, it is too dangerous to carry all that valuable material and the black powder together."

Juremakes despaired then and departed Toyne. He considered forgetting this fever dream but remembered his public announcement. Everyone knew he meant to leave. Inwardly he cursed himself, there was no turning back now. And so he thought on this and as the sun began to dip in the sky he met with Brozck, his old friend.

"Brozck," he began. "Toyne had promised you his ships, and yet I would have them as well. Is there no reason we cannot travel together?"

Brozck laughed and they talked until the sky was red haggling over a deal. But Juremakes left a happy man for he had ships now.

After a short delay of two days they sailed.

The first three days little happened to spoken of. They sailed and rowed and ate and slept. The sun rose and fell and men toiled away. But on the fourth day a great storm rose out of nowhere and spun the two ships around like leaves in a whirlwind. Juremakes was on the other ship than Brozck and Toyne, and so when the waves finally died and the other ship was nowhere in sight, the men looked to him for leadership.

Juremakes knew little of sailing a ship, but fortunately there were men aboard who did. He gave directions and they followed them.

"Toyne is not so great a fool as to take his other ship in unknown directions to look for us," Juremakes told the men. "And neither am I. We shall sail on to the archipelago, and surely we will meet Toyne and his ship there."

And so he gave his orders and the men produced maps and examined the stars. Then they unfurled the sails and a strong breeze bore them southeast once more.

It was a voyage Juremakes had prepared himself for to last nearly a month there and a month back. But when they had been at sea for twelve days, a mere eight days since they had parted with Brozck and Toyne, Juremakes emerged from his cabins growling.

He had had poor sleep that night, and a poor meal the previous day. He demanded of his men to know why they were still in the outer ocean. There were those who had likewise had little sleep and little food who shouted back, but luckily no blows were exchanged thanks to the interference of sane men. They separated Juremakes from the crew, but not before he threatened that for every day until they saw land he would need to throw a man overboard.

When Juremakes emerged hours later he was greatly ashamed and apologized in front of the entire crew, swallowing his honor. The crew didn't come out and forgive him, but the talk of mutiny went quiet for the time being.

Juremakes retired on the twelfth day resigned to the idea he wouldn't see land for weeks to come. He wasn't seasick by any stretch of the imagination, but he was homesick. And since he couldn't return home he would settle for land. But midday on the thirteenth day there was shouting and the bell rung. Land was in sight.

Juremakes breathed an inner sigh of relief. Apart from the ease of mind this would bring, he also hoped this place could refill their barrels of water and food.

He set ashore on the first boat. He and the men were excited to be on land, and immediately dived into the first water pool they found, washing themselves and laughing with delight.

They spent the whole day gathering supplies and set out again. The island had short, thick trees that bore huge bulbous sweet fruit and the crew bought buckets of them aboard.

In the next days as they sailed the crew ate the sweet fruit by the bucketload. Yet Juremakes spied those who shied away from the fruit, and looked at it with hate and fear.

When he had fully eaten his he strode to them and asked; "why is it you do not partake in feasting in this delicacy?"

His men replied fearfully; "sir, when you stumble to sleep in your chambers you sleep alone but we sleep with these men who have eaten and we see they act most queer after they eat of this vile fruit." They wrinkled their noses. "They become sick and moan and complain of pains. They speak loudly of the warm feelings the fruit brings but in their sleep they shiver violently. They scratch themselves and choke on their own breath. We have been watching, and their teeth are blackening as they consume the fruit. It tastes sweet, sir, but we find that it is not worth it."

And when Juremakes examined himself in a reflecting piece of metal he saw the streaks of rot on his own teeth and when he looked at the cushions of his hammock he saw spots of blood from his nose or mouth.

When he crew had fallen asleep Juremakes emptied every barrel of the sweet fruit overboard, and when the crew rose in the morning they sought after their prize and found it gone.

"Someone had eaten it all!" They wailed. "They have stolen it to hoard for themselves!" Others cried. Juremakes came forth and admitted to them that he had disposed of the fruit.

The crew gaped at him, to surprised to be outraged. "But you yourself had eaten of the fruit and laughed of it," said one man with red, wet eyes.

Juremakes then said something very wise to put them at rest, and the crewmen who ate of the fruit were sickened and fell to bed for several days to come.

When again land came in sight Juremakes approached, now wary of land. Unlike the beautiful forested island they had landed on before, this was quite surely the archipelago, birds and other animals screamed in the misty jungle but the beach was fine golden sand.

As his men came ashore, one of the crew members, the dwarf Gubreal, called for Juremakes. Juremakes came to him and Gubreal bid him look along the beach.

"See there, sir? It is wood like the trees but it glints with clean metal! A ship it is, aye much like the one we lost at sea."

"Could it be we have found your master Toyne again?"

"I'd bet me left foot on it, if I had a left foot." Gubreal's left leg ended in a wooden stilt strapped to a stump. "I wish I go myself to see."

Juremakes them laughed and clapped Gubreal upon his shoulder. "I will go, but you Gubreal may come beside me."

A smile came to Gubreal's face and he told Juremakes that by his friends he was called Gub and wished that sir would call him such as well. And Juremakes did.

Juremakes took Gub and three other men and investigated. Surely enough, when they were spotted coming up on the landing craft there was a shout and men appeared coming towards them. Juremakes saw Toyne was there, and Brozck, and many other faces he recognized from the voyage. Toyne was overjoyed but Brozck was cross with something.

Brozck angrily told Juremakes that the treasure was gone, but Juremakes refused to believe until he went to see himself. Brozck took him to where the rotting hulk of the merchant ship lay beached like a whale on the fine sand and Juremakes examined the hold to see it empty as Brozck had claimed. Yet when he exited the ship he saw impressions in the sand and recognized the pattern of feet.

Excitedly he told Brozck and Toyne. Brozck volunteered to take men into the jungle to follow these prints. Brozck quickly took seven of the men and left at once, leaving Toyne and Juremakes to trade stories.

Brozck had immediately demanded they keep sailing before someone else stole the treasure and Toyne didn't argue so they sailed straight. Thrice they spotted ships but only once did they come to swords with pirates. It was straight sailing otherwise, though once Toyne feared they were caught in doldrums but a strong wind caught them and they blew ahead of a small storm.

Juremakes recounted his own story of the sweet fruit and it's curse. Toyne seemed impressed he had managed to keep the crew under control.

They waited for Brozck to return with news, but it grew dark and they slept and when they woke he still had not returned. And so Juremakes said to Toyne that he would take his own men into the jungle and search for his friend. Brozck had taken seven men and Juremakes took fifteen, one of whom was the sailor Gub who had first spotted Toyne's other ship.

The sixteen went into the jungle and Juremakes immediately felt uncomfortable. The air was wet and his clothes clung to him. Vines and insects and spider silk filled the air and made the path difficult to follow. The trail of whomever took the treasure was long gone, but Brozck's people had left a clear and distinct path.

"They would have been crashing through the foliage, blind," Juremakes said to Gub. "Anything in the trees would have heard them coming long off."

But this time Juremakes heard them first. He raised a hand for silence, and his men halted. Faint noise drifted through the trees.

"Might it be Brozck?" Gub asked of Juremakes excitedly. Juremakes replied it was possible.

"But see that his trail leads to where the sound is coming from, and so it may be this is whatever is detaining Brozck and his men." The unspoken word was heard by all the men. Beware.

Juremakes led his men along Brozck's trail to the source of the noise. They emerged from the trees on the banks of a stream. On the far side was a group of women washing themselves and baskets of clothes. As they worked, they sang together, and it was such a beautiful song that the group stopped to savor the sound for a moment.

"Look at them!" Gub breathed like he had never seen a woman before. "Y'know, sir," Gub said to Juremakes. "They're undefended. We've been at sea for a long time and it might be good if we were to rush out and take them."

Juremakes stared in shock. "A vile suggestion, Gub. What demon has taken hold of your wits?"

Lust, was the unspoken word. Hunger.

"No," Juremakes told them with all his authority. "Long you have been at sea but many of you have wives and children at home. This is a monstrous sin you seek to perform-" He never finished his reprimand. Gub rose angrily, eyes burning with a black rage like Juremakes had not seen before. The sweet song rung in the air. Juremakes teeth ached for some reason when he listened.

"We are not your men!" Gub said to him, he who had first seemed so manageable. "We are Toyne's men and were he here in your stead he would lead the charge and laugh."

Juremakes glanced at the women. The song wavered, and they looked around. Surely Gub had been heard. But soon the song started again, higher and more beautiful than before.

And so the eyes of the other men also grew more inflamed with growing desire and anger.

"Toyne is a man of honor. He would never do this vile thing. And when he hears what you have done, he will put you to justice."

"Aye," said another man. "But who of us will be telling him?"

"I shall," Juremakes said to them. "Persist in this folly and I shall report you to Toyne for his justice."

"No," said Gub. In his hand Juremakes saw he held a stone, small but sharp. "No, I don't think you will." Juremakes saw the other men stoop to grab wood or stone or whatever they could get their hands on.

Juremakes was so shocked at this that he didn't react until Gub rushed him, ahead of the rest. Juremakes threw out his hand and grabbed Gub by the throat, but Gub drew back and slammed the rock down on Juremakes so hard that he feared his skull had split. Juremakes pulled in Gub and bit down on his nose, then ripped his head back. Gub screamed and blood filled the air as his nose was pulled from his face. One of Juremakes's thumbs found Gub's left eye and punched in, adding hot thick slime to the spray that blinded him.

The others fell on him and he collapsed beneath the attack. He lay bleeding and stunned in the dust when they left him, whooping and shouting as they ran to the singing women through the stream.

And the women kept singing, higher and louder. Juremakes's teeth ached. Sweet fruit, he remembered. So sweet, so foul.

Before he lost recollection he heard louder, deeper cries and a hundred feet smashing through the overgrowth. The men cried as small darts found their flesh, and they collapsed into sleep. When Juremakes awoke later he was tied to a stake inside of a bamboo hut. Others were there, naked and bloodied. Only ten remained. Outside there was the sound of a fire burning and the whooping of dancing men, or perhaps yelling in a language Juremakes didn't recognize.

There were ten stakes arranged in a circle around the center of the hut, and to them were his men tied. Gub was one. His face was hideous, nose ripped off and one eye popped like a grape. The other was swollen shut. His teeth lay splintered around him. He was covered in cuts and scrapes.

Inside of ten minutes two men entered. One was tall and well muscled, with light dark skin stretched over enormous muscles. He wore nothing except for a magnificent headdress of feathers and dyed leather. One of his eyes was a scarred mess of puckered flesh. The other was his opposite; smaller and fatter, bald and pale of skin. His eyes were locked on the floor while the ornate huge man starred at them, his single rolling lava eye taking in every detail of their bodies.

Finally the huge man said something and the little fat man nodded. The fat man beckoned to someone outside the tent flap and two others stepped inside. The fat man said something in a foreign tongue to them and they gathered Gub and took him thrashing out the tent. The tall man, obviously some kind of leader and the fat man departed.

The tent flaps were thin, and when the huge bonfire was lit Juremakes could see quite clearly through. He watched Gub's silhouette mutilated, hands and feet cut off. A post was shoved straight through his mouth and out again and he was suspended over the raging fire. And when he was well done the flickering silhouettes descended on him and ate him.

And then Juremakes understood the nature of the trap they had fallen into. They had known they were there, the women were the bait and Gub led them straight into the trap.

One huge silhouette danced wildly around the fire, tearing flesh from Gub's femur. It wore a decadent headdress.

Two days came and went for Juremakes to regain his full senses. It that time he was assaulted by intense headaches and pains. When he eventually overcame them he immediately started plotting an escape. But they were surrounded by the cannibalistic clan, all deadly loyal to the chief. One night there was a huge commotion outside, but nothing Juremakes could take advantage of.

So he sat in a heap of his own waste and watched as his men were carted away twice a day. When five remained he had a plan. He had watched. He had learned.

The stake was stuck deep in the earth, but only for a foot down or so. Juremakes knew from the way it wobbled it had no anchor. And for one whole day he slightly shook it back and forth, loosening it. One more man was lost.

He told his plan to the rest of the crew, and they followed his example. When night came the fat and the tall men came again. This time the tall man's single cruel eye fell on Juremakes and he pointed to him.

The fat man nodded and turned to summon the two men outside, but suddenly Juremakes tore his stake clean from the ground in an explosion of earth and leapt on the fat man, pummeling him. The fat man squeaked like a mouse as he died.

Then strong hands were on his shoulders and the one eyed man wrenched him away. His molten rock eye rolled in golden fury and his mute lips twisted in a strangled roar. His hand wrapped around Juremakes's throat and Juremakes was too weak to resist. He fell to his knees, prying at the iron grip even as the other hand drew back and beat at his face.

Right as spots danced in Juremakes's eyes the other three men came from behind and seized the one eyed man, pulling him back. This one did not die so easily as the fat man. One man raised his stake high above his head for the killing blow but suddenly Juremakes had a surge of inspiration. He halted the killing blow and instead drove his own stake into the man's one good malevolent eye, blinding him.

Juremakes grabbed the blind man by his shoulder and hurled him out the flap. The guards outside yelped in surprise and there was much shouting.

In haste, Juremakes and the other four ripped through the tent and ran. It was dark and confused, but they didn't stop running. Everyone was too concerned with the chief to take any notice of them, as they were naked and so beaten that they bore resemblance to the cannibals around them in their flight.

When they ran through a wooden gateway, Juremakes saw for one second the severed rotting faces nailed up on the arch. One seemed to bear resemblance to his old friend Brozck.

Finally they reached the tree line but didn't keep running until their feet felt sand again and they were falling into the seawater. The men sobbed with joy and feared they had been tailed, and so did Juremakes. But he also was immediately scanning the beach for Toyne and his men.

Before the sun rose, Toyne's men had recovered them and they shuddered in safety back on the ship.

Juremakes saw many man were gone. When he is well enough to meet Toyne he learns of all that happened in his captivity. Toyne sent men after him but they found the treasure instead. It had been taken and hoarded by the native peoples. In the black of night they rushed in, attacking and stealing away with the treasure. Juremakes recalls the night there was shouting and screaming outside.

Juremakes gives his own story.

"We ought to be away from his archipelago as soon as possible," Juremakes said.

"And we will, now that we have secured the treasure."

Juremakes asked to see the treasure so many died for and when he beheld it he wept. It was all he had imagined and more. Precious gems and furs and black powder and bottles of thick liquid.

Toyne loaded the gold and silver and gems on his personal ship, and on the other took the potions and furs and silks.

Juremakes was on the other ship, recovering from his ordeal when the horn blew. He emerged from his cabin shouting; "have the clansmen come? Give me a sword so I might avenge my men!"

"No clansmen, sir," said one sailor, axe in hand. "There, past the peninsula and coming in fast. Pirates. We'd do best to be out of here right now."

"We are not prepared, what does Toyne say?"

"Much the same as you. It seems we must fight."

Juremakes took a sword and waited for Toyne's command. Toyne had fought pirates before and always come away alive.

The fight was fierce but short. The single pirate ship was larger than Toyne's own ships, but Toyne fired first and fastest and his arrows scorched the sky and streaked down fire on the enemy.

The black hulk of the pirate vessel was soon largely aflame, the sails withered and clinging, the rigging floating down in ashes. The pirates moved fast though, and soon came up to rain their own arrows on Toyne's ships. Juremakes took cover as arrows ripped through the air around him. The sailor beside him caught one in the throat and dropped his axe as he fell dead.

The pirate ship swung past Toyne's personal ship and tried to swing men across but the boarders see cut down. The pirate ship sank a flaming ballista shot into the ship but the fire didn't catch.

The pirate ship was burning, Toyne rained fire down on them and they moved to retreat, so it seemed. But they were suddenly charging straight at Juremakes's ship. Juremakes expected them to be rammed, and so called for evasive maneuvers. But instead the pirate ship fired a burning ballista bolt. It crashed into the side of the ship and punched right into the hold.

"No," said Juremakes to nobody, remembering the barrels of black powder stored there. "No!"

The pirate boat came on faster, firing again. "The hold!" Juremakes shouted to the men. "The black powder in-" he was cut off as the ship exploded, and a wave of force slammed into him and sent him flying and smoking through the air.

When he awoke he was on the shore of the archipelago. He was surrounded by blue corpses and driftwood. In shock, he stumbled to his feet and looked out over the sea. No signs of any ships. Still in a daze, he decided it was too dangerous to be on the beach and so stumbled blindly into the jungle.

For days he moved blindly, not knowing where he was going, trapped in a misty twilight full of the cries of the monkeys. He drank little, for there was little, and and ate little for there was little to eat.

One morning he lacked the strength to rise. On the cool wet ground Juremakes closed his eyes to die. He dreamed a magnificent dream, one that dances beyond his grasp every time he grasps for it. His father was there, Daurunketh and his mother Elwa whom he barely knew and his little sister too. Brozck and Gub were there, laughing and dining on a fine meal with his family on a long table which sprawled out farther than he could see. He saw the sailors who had died for him, even the fat man and some pirates all laughing and feasting each other.

And here I am in the palace of death, Juremakes reflected it seemed more a banquet hall than a palace. Farther down he glimpsed a tall proud man who could only have been Admiral Dacuos Sendry, who had died on the archipelago, as Juremakes had.

His sister stood, small Keita who had been short and stunted now stood with her hips up to the tabletop. Juremakes realized she was years older, and that Daurunketh and Elwa were both younger.

"You must be starved, brother," Keita said with a smile. "Come and eat with us." She gestured to the empty seat next to her.

"Indeed I am starved," said Juremakes. "But no food shall ever taste so sweet as returning to my home will."

"Ah, but you have never tasted of this fruit, my son." His mother Elwa also stood. She looked much younger, only a few years older that Keita. "You will never take your stolen goods home, but you may sit with us for all time to come and fill your shrunken belly with the feel of true victory." Juremakes looked upon the table and knew that if he went to eat with them and tasted of the fruit, he would never be able to leave.

"Mother, there is nothing more in the world I want than to sit beside you and feast for all time but if I do not return with the treasure I will be forgotten, and no man shall ever know the name of Juremakes."

"Pride," snorted Daurunketh into his cup. "Were you truly a son of mine you would know what pride is worth. Pride is a drop of water in place of an ocean, hubris will only pull you down."

"Father," said Juremakes, shocked. "When we were hungry and you took me into the streets for the first time a man offered us ten silvers, which would have kept us for a while, but you refused the help!You went down into the mines and never came back."

Daurunketh laughed, a deep and booming laugh. "I admit I was a prideful man, but that was not pride that stayed my hand, it was wits! Aye, and honor. You take what you can but you had best not fall dependent on a handouts."

Juremakes thought about that. "I will be forgotten eventually, why should I care if it's sooner rather than later?" He told them. "But this treasure, it is not for me but for those who were like me. Once I dreamt of fabulous riches and lounging in a palace but that is not my home. Home is on the lakeside, under the trees. The riches are not for me, but for the children, the poor and the orphaned and the old and the feeble."

There was silence in his family. "A handout," said his father, fingers tight on his utensils. "You worked and died and killed to get the treasure, and you would go back to fishing? And throw your fortune to the street rats who never did anything in any way to deserve it?"

"Not a handout, father." Juremakes turned to Keita. "You remember how hard I worked, how much I saved and how little we had?"

Keita nodded, smiling. "He will give them work," she said. "But they will receive fair pay, more than the mayors ever allowed to anyone."

Daurunketh thought on this. "Aye," he said finally. "That's an idea. And a clever one as well. But the mayors will tax you severely. Your fraction of the fortune will suffer."

Elwa finally added her voice. "Long the mayors have reigned tyranny in place of a proper lord. If Juremakes plans to do this, he must send a bird ahead to the king and remind him that fifty years ago his grandsire left four mayors in command of a city instead of a lord. King Dereon has forgotten the promise of his predecessor, that which said the mayors would rule only temporarily. He will appoint a lord and strip the cruel mayors of their position."

"But it appears I must sit at this table and enjoy this meal with you," Juremakes said. But he glanced behind his shoulder and behind him there was a great oaken door, finely engraved with the images of a thousand lifetimes, each coiling through another a hundred, new lives emerging from junctions and spiraling around. The door was an image of beauty. Juremakes saw his own life, and it was short and bitter. He turned back to his family. "Unless I may have your leave to go."

Keita had an amused expression as she nodded her consent. Elwa beamed at her son and too nodded. Daurunketh finally stood. "You are my son, true as day, but you are also your mother's son, and your sister's brother." He extended one great arm to pull his family together. "Go with our blessing." Juremakes turned and walked through the door.

With a gasp he awoke, and he sat up. The ribs that had been so prominent were now obscured by fat and muscles. He felt well rested, his wounds healed and his skin shining like oil in the sun.

He stood and knew where he must go. He went back the way he came, a journey which had taken days for him before only took mere hours now, so fast ran he.

When he emerged on the beach he took off at a steady jog eastward. Within minutes he spotted anchored ship resting in a cove surrounded by trees. A waterfall in the back filled the cove, only for the sea to claim the water. On the shore was a cluster of men. Juremakes ran to them and they cried with joy for they were Toyne's men and Toyne himself. The pirate ship went down with Juremakes, and they sailed round to fill their stocks without fear of cannibals. When they dropped anchor in the cove there was an unearthly shout. The waterfall split apart and out flew a massive dragon, gleaming red and black and horrible. It blew fire among them and they all jumped to the water. The only survivors were those who stood here, Toyne told him.

They had tried to return but when they got close the waterfall opened and the dragon torched the brave men.

"I shall slay this beast," proclaimed Juremakes. "I am blessed by my ancestors, I have defeated death and stood in the great hall of the ancients, give me sword and spear to slay this foe and it shall be done." And so awed were the men that he was given his weapons and their last rowboat to take out onto the water.

"I will need no boat, save thus for when you row out." And Juremakes stepped onto the waters and strode across them as a horse strides across grass.

"Our men cannot walk upon water as you do," Toyne said. "They will need the boat to accompany you."

"Send no man until I have returning with his fire spitting tongue in hand," Juremakes said. And with his spear in hand he strode across the waves towards the boat.

Toyne's word was correct. He was not halfway across before the water of the falls parted as Toyne had said and the dragon burst out with an angry roar. The men on the shore shrieked and ran for cover, and Juremakes could scarce blame them.

The creature was red as blood, with a forty foot wingspan and a mouth like a crocodile's that could swallow a horse whole. Two strong clawed legs clicked against each other as the monster flapped. Juremakes drew back his spear to thrust at the creature when it came close enough, but it never came within ten feet of him.

The dragon arched over him, and opened its gaping maw to blaze him with fire. The heat and blinding smoke engulfed him, but he felt nothing. His skin could have blackened and blistered or peeled right off and he didn't feel anything but annoyed that the dragon though to be rid of him so easy.

The dragon curved back around in its flight and looked at him confused, as if wondering why he still stood, and stood on rolling waters at that.

Twice more it passed overhead, swirling firestorm turning the water beneath him to steam and burning his clothing off him. He sheltered his sword and spear from heat damage so that on the fourth pass when the dragon opened it's mouth as if to devour him in one bite, Juremakes thrust his spear down the dragon's pink throat. The dragon screeched, but to Juremakes's horror the spearhead melted, and the dragon coughed it out. The shaft burst into flames and the dragon snapped it in half.

Juremales dropped the useless wood and drew his longsword. There was still one weakness he hoped to exploit. The dragon lunged for him for the fifth time and Juremakes jumped at it. Surely the dragon did not expect that, and Juremakes grabbed him by the frill on his throat and pulled him down into the waters. Together they writhed underwater, lungs full of fresh air for only so long. The water boiled where the dragon touched it yet Juremakes's hand remained pink and tough.

The water slowed his movements, but Juremakes brought up his sword and brought it down so the point stabbed through the dragon's eye. He buried it to the hilt and clutched the dragon's head as it thrashed it's death throes. And when the pain in his chest grew too great he released the dragon and kicked to the surface.

He joined the men to cheers and shouts. "I have lost your sword and your spear, I am afraid," said Juremakes to Toyne later.

"I will get new ones. What sort of man would I be of I demanded you replace them after you killed the bloody dragon?" Toyne grinned and they piled into the rowboat and took back the ship.

Before they left, however, Juremakes took his mother's advice. He scrawled his message on a piece of parchment, and then he seized a bird and attached the letter to around it's ankle. He wasn't sure if it would work, but his mother had said it would and he trusted her.

For a second he stared at the bird, unsure where it might fly if he released it. Finally, he said; "Elwa bids you to deliver yourself to King Dereon." The bird stopped struggling and looked at him. When he released it it hopped around and picked at its feathers. And then suddenly it was off.

Juremakes laughed then, for his peril was near an end and he was returning with the greater portion of the sunken treasure. It wasn't every day you stole great wealth from a great lord.

By the time Juremakes returned, it was as his mother said. A new lord now ruled, and he learned when the lord's entourage had been spotted approaching, the four mayors threw themselves from a high tower and dashed upon the rocks. Juremakes did not mourn them.

He kept his word. After they divided the treasure, Juremakes brought Toyne a new ship and crew as recompense and started his own business, paying fair wages to anyone who would apply.

He was a rich and popular man now. He had many true friends in the village, and more who wanted to be his friends, but it still wasn't home.

He only had one home, and he sat there now watching the sun set and cast purple lights across the lake. If there was one gripe he had it was his reflection. He had been immune to the dragon's fire that scorched him, but he was left the horrible burn marks as punishment for being prideful about his ability to defeating it.

Yet when he didn't look at himself, just breathed the crisp air, listened to the ducks and watched the lure bobbing in the water, it might well have been all those years ago when he fished with his father. Home.