Chapter 2: Captain Rainier

Beggar entered the first open cabin he saw. There was a single man before a sphere. Beggar had seen these types of things before. People used them to navigate between the worlds of the Cosmos. 

"Who let you in?" The man said, not looking up from the spinning rings of the device.

"I am looking for a job," Beggar said. He looked around himself. The cabin was well-furnished, but it didn't have a bed. Beggar had been in such rooms before, mostly to clean. Their owners called them workrooms.

"Are you, now?" There was amusement in the man's voice. Beggar didn't like that at all. When people were amused at his questions, they hardly ever paid him any attention. The man turned, and his eyes widened.

"You are a demon," the man said, and then came closer to Beggar. He began to circle him, and took a good look at him. From his horns, to his tail, and his sharp claw-like nails. "Maybe I have something for you?"

At the murmur, Beggar's tail began to wave. If he got a job today, he would be able to eat tomorrow!

"Yes, something a demon should be able to do. Even a toddler one like you," the man then sized up Beggar from head to toe. "How good is your nose?"

"I can find anything, provided I get a scent first," Beggar boosted. There were times when his nose was a great burden. It was sensitive, and could smell the trash he usually slept in for warmth a mile away. But today, his nose would prove useful. He just knew it.

The man took out a cat's toy, Beggar had seen them a couple of times, when he passed by the more well-off houses. It was a stick with something fluffy at the end. The man placed it under Beggar's nose.

"Do you smell the cat?" The man asked, and Beggar nodded.

"You want it found?" Beggar asked, and the man nodded.

"Yes, it is a ginger tabby. Male. The ship's mascot. Ran off when I opened the cabin, and now it is nowhere to be found. If you get it back to me before nightfall, there is a warm meal in it for you, plus a silver coin," the man said, and gave the toy to Beggar.

"And maybe a warm place for me to sleep?" Beggar asked hopefully. This ship was no luxurious cruise, but the cabins were sturdy. They were warm as well.

The man tilted his head to the side, and regarded Beggar's threadbare clothes next.

"Homeless?" The man's single word made Beggar gulp.

"Yes," the boy answered truthfully. The man knelt, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"My name is captain Rainier Smith. I can't take you with us between the realms, but I can offer you a warm place to sleep for a week. That is how long we will be staying in the docks. Bloody holidays, no one wants to work during them," Rainier stood up, and went back to the sphere. Beggar sniffed the toy again, and he was off.

His nose began to lead him around. The tabby cat had done its best to throw off pursuers. It had doubled back, laid in spots, jumped over crates. Still, Beggar persisted.

No fur ball, who had it better than he, would be the reason why he skipped out on a warm place to sleep in this snowy hell! Finally, he saw a stately house, with a snowman before it.

The blasted cat was there, playing with the children of the owner, probably. Beggar gulped. He was not very good with children. They could be mean. As if they could sniff out his weakness.

The children noticed beggar before he managed to get to the door. One of them rung a bell, and a man came forward, making his way towards Beggar.

Immediately, the boy knew what was going to happen. The thick baton in the man's hands was a proof enough that he was not going to listen.

Rushing, Beggar made it through the open front door and in a speed only a demon could manage, he snatched the cat. Securing it in his grip, he dodged the baton, and then snuck between the older man's legs, and ran back out.

He could hear crying from the house, and cursing. Soon, people would know that he had stolen the cat.

Stolen? It was the captain's! Beggar thought to himself. Still, he ran all the way back to the ship. He hadn't stolen the cat; he had rescued it. Simple as that!

He made it up the planks of the shabby ship, and back to the cabin he had exited. Huffing, he held the cat up like a trophy. The startled animal rose its claws, and brought them down Beggar's hand. 

Beggar winced, but smiled as the captain took the cat, and placed it in a cage.

"Good job. Did the troublemaker find another house to call home?" Captain Rainier asked, and Beggar nodded.

"There was a man with a baton, and yelling and crying. I think I can't show my face around the streets for a couple of days," Beggar said hopefully. Captain Rainier chuckled.

"Come over here," the man spoke, and Beggar approached. "The outermost ring is the ring of the mythical world."

Beggar blinked, and looked at the sphere. Was the captain going to teach him how to use the compass?

"As long as we are within this ring, there is nothing wrong with us traveling. The gray ring is the ring of the human world. It isn't showing now, but when it does, then you are in trouble," the captain continued. "Right now, we are in Fairstar world. A mixed population world. You must hail from one of the demon worlds."

"I wouldn't know about that," Beggar said. Had he been born here? The furthest memory he had was of him clutching his stomach because it hurt thanks to the hunger pains he was feeling. Of that, and Beth.

"The demon realms are no place for orphans," captain Rainier said, as he placed a hand over Beggar's shoulder. "Pray that you never get dragged to them."