Northern Sector | Port Blackwood | Hale Kingdom | Aleria

A couple hours later as Lucy and Sera lay bored waiting in bed, a raucous crashing sound echoed from all around the two that shook the entire ship as well.

At that moment, an eager voice screaming, “Land Ho!” could be heard yelling above deck as well.

“Woah!”

“What was that?!” the two said seconds apart as they both ran for the above deck.

To their surprise once they made it above, the view of an endless sea isn’t what greeted them. 

But instead a slowly enlarging view of a medieval style town complete with a seaport, city wall, and bustling cobblestone streets greeted them as they approached the shoreline.

Under the cover of darkness, the magic galleon vessel Polo approached the old town situated on the very edges of the Hale kingdom/continent. 

Currently the magic vessel was less than 100 meters from the coast and docks and that distance was closing fast. 

The mighty pillar like masts and foremasts of the ship amazingly began to retract into the ship and themselves as the docking sequence was engaged.

‘Amazing!’ thought Lucy as she took in the scene before her.

 There was hustle and bustle left and right as the magic vessel positioned itself along the docks next to other similar rows of boats. 

The passengers eagerly clamored about with their bags in hand as they waited to get off the ship. 

Suddenly with the sound of turning gears the right-side hull of the impressive vessel lifted and lowered, connecting the deck to the dock as many crewmen came rushing forward with long ladders to begin unboarding.

“We’re finally here, I can’t believe this is the Hale kingdom master!” Sera said in disbelief as her eyes opened as wide as saucers.

Lucy vaguely heard Sera’s voice, but she was focused on the quickly forming crowd in front of the ramp connecting to the dock.

“Oh god are they collecting entrance fees as soon as you get off the ship?” Lucy mumbled as she eyed a group of official looking men holding knapsacks and papers and collecting money from people as they got off.

“Yeah as if, this way Sera” Lucy commanded as she quickly ran down the deck and made a sharp left turn.

Wasting no time Lucy and Sera headed to a darker corner of the ship bereft of any other passenger and crew members and transformed into their bat forms.

 Whisking away into the dark skies, Lucy and Sera successfully avoided the long line for unboarding as well as the questioning gazes of city guards and other officials.

As Lucy and Sera flew over the lively night life of  Port Blackwood, they took in the various buildings and houses as well as the people living within them.

Port Blackwood was one of the biggest and oldest towns in the kingdom of Hale.

The town had a population of over 50,000 people ranging from all ages and sexes. Sailors frequented the town because it was an ideal place for their ships to find shelter from storms.

 It was considered a central trading hub by many in the kingdom of Hale due to its proximity to the southern seas of Aleria and was seen as a grand destination by many of the peasants and farm folk.

Port Blackwood featured many stalls and shops that many traveling merchants like the Millenium Trading Company frequented and owned. A popular brothel/restaurant  known as The Golden Lass. As well as various small cadres of mercenary forces and guns for hire.

All this allowed Port Blackwood to become a popular coastal trading spot with different products, services, and amenities to offer.

Order was sustained in this large town by the rigid caste system set up by the nobility and imposed by their powerful ki knights. The nobles, the wealthy, and their forces stayed in their comfy villas in the far north of Port Blackwood. 

Whether intentional or not this set up an unspoken city division where the further south one lived indicated how low in status you were.

From an aerial viewpoint Lucy and Sera could distinctly see this as the Southern parts of town were covered in darkness with scant candlelight lighting some areas while, the northern parts of town were aglow in warm fire, torch, and magic lighting.

‘Wow looking at this city through the Blood Vision Is such a tantalizing sight master’ said Sera telepathically as they finished flying over the Southern sector, ‘I hope we eat soon it’s been forever since I’ve had a drop of blood’

Sera’s rather hungry statement brought Lucy to a pressing problem at hand, finding food. Her plan was to find shelter first before feeding but she was reaching her limits as well as Sera and could feel The Thirst creeping on.

Using her Blood Vision Lucy did a quick scan of the closest and easiest targets before choosing one

‘This way follow me’ she commanded before gliding towards a small alley a couple meters from a boisterous bar. With a silent drop her and Sera disappeared into the alley while changing forms.

‘Lay flat’ commanded Lucy as she pushed against the other girls’ ample bosom to force her against the wall with her.

“What?-” said Sera surprised and completely hidden by the shadows of the wall they were against.

Suddenly at that moment a pair of rough looking men holding knives rounded the corner at one end of the alley and began making their way down.

‘Look!’ commanded Lucy telepathically

Almost simultaneously just up ahead a young woman had just used the alley to cut through, unaware of the dangers hidden in the shadows.

Sera finally noticing the young girl exclaimed in surprise, ‘OH! I see the plan master’ before smiling devilishly.

“There she goes, she should be coming down any minute. We should meet her in the middle in case she tries to put up a fight” said the ruffian holding the rusted curved knife

“Yeah, yeah I know boss let’s just get this over with. This alley is giving me the creeps” said the pudgier ruffian holding the straight edge knife.

Right now, these pair of thugs were plotting on the tender maiden making her way home. Sadly, this pair of mantises knew not of the orioles unfolding trap…

The twenty-meter-long alleyway located in the connecting sector of the North to the South parts of town were illuminated by moonlight only at the ends.

 In the middle inky blackness obscured everything, which is where Lucy and Sera were currently patiently waiting for the men to approach.