The drunken rabbit part 2

The doors slammed open and four araknes walked in. The floorboards creaked as the araknes entered, causing the patrons to shift uncomfortably in their seats. Their hairy, spindly legs were dirty and unkempt, and their multiple eyes glinted in the flickering candlelight.

The bartender, a wizened dokkaebi with crooked horns and a mischievous glint in his eye, seemed to know the araknes well.

"Ah, the usual, is it?" he said, polishing a glass with a ragged cloth.

"Send your men to collect the stuff from our vessel," one of the araknes demanded, his voice grating like nails on a chalkboard.

The dokkaebi raised an eyebrow. "And who were the unlucky bastards who ended up coming in your way this time?"

"Shit luck if you ask me. The vessel was filled with laten elven refugees. Had to burn the entire ship down to make sure that the sickness of canaria wouldn't infect us. Still, they had some valuables on board," the arakne explained, his fangs glinting in the dim light.

Edward, Suomi, and Rufus listened in silence, trying to keep their presence as inconspicuous as possible.

The araknes seemed to have a reputation in the tavern, and the patrons avoided their gaze, trying not to attract their attention.

"Don't be so obvious. Those four eyes don't like to be stared at. Well, no one here likes to be stared at," a lone elf warned them from beside the bar counter.

The elf wore a bamboo hat and plain clothes, and his wooden shoes clicked against the floorboards as he spoke.

Edward introduced himself, much to the annoyance of Suomi and Rufus. The araknes laughed at his boldness, but the elf's warning seemed to have sunk in, and Edward quickly backed down.

The dokkaebi threatened to throw them out, and Edward downed the rest of his ale, eager to leave the seedy tavern behind.

"Let's get out of here. I feel like my brain cells are deteriorating just being here," he grumbled, rising from his seat.

Suomi and Rufus followed closely behind as they made their way out, trying to avoid the araknes' gaze. The stench of smoke and alcohol clung to their clothes, and they couldn't wait to leave the unsavory place behind.

As Edward stepped out of the drunken rabbit, the warm sun rays hit his face, and he breathed in the fresh salty air from the harbor. Suddenly, a loud commotion came from inside the tavern. The doors were flung open again, and in came a group of humans with wings, their feathers shining brightly in the sunlight.

The atmosphere inside the bar immediately changed. People were no longer pretending not to look, but instead, they were openly staring at the winged newcomers. The sassan next to them shook, and the elf's grip on his glass tightened, causing his knuckles to turn white. The araknes, who were once feared by all, looked genuinely terrified, their eight eyes flicking between the winged humans and the door.

Edward pushed his way past the frightened crowd and walked straight through the center of the winged humans, who moved aside without a word. Rufus followed behind him, bewildered by the fear he had witnessed in the other tavern-goers, as he could not discern any hostility from the newcomers.

~~

Suomi's voice trembled with fear as she spoke, "Hooooooooh. I was very sure I was going to die back there," as they walked back to the docks, the weight of the recent encounter still heavy on her chest.

Edward raised an eyebrow, his expression bordering on disbelief, "What, you think me and Rufus couldn't have handled those araknes?"

Suomi shook her head, "You really had no idea what race those winged beings were, did you?" Her voice quivered as she spoke, her words laced with an underlying sense of panic.

Curious, Rufus spoke up, his tone hesitant, "Who were they?"

"They were eximas," Suomi explained, her words carefully measured. "And since we are alive, they must have been exima belem. The ones you can reason with."

Rufus furrowed his brow, "What do you reason with?"

"Eximas are a cursed race," Suomi continued, her voice full of caution. "They have an unquenchable thirst for blood, that has plagued their kind for millennia. Exima belem try to control this urge, but it's not without immense discipline that they are able to be with other beings."

Rufus paused for a moment before speaking again, his voice thoughtful, "There are other types of those winged guys. They seemed like pretty reasonable people."

Suomi's face contorted with concern, "If they were the exima malum, they would have instantly attacked us. They don't even try to control their urges, but attack anything with a heartbeat."

Edward puffed up his chest, his words laced with bravado, "You think those few winged guys could have been such a threat to me and Rufus? You forget that we have fought otherworldly beings before, and in countless wars."

Suomi's response was stern, her words heavy with a warning, "They wouldn't have been alone. Exima malum travel in large groups known as septimes. They would have flown here with hundreds of their kind, put us to hang, and thirsted on our blood. Worlds have been destroyed when a septime flew to their world and killed all life on the world."

~~

The group finally arrived at the golden hind, where Yosef had already loaded the decks with Pema carrying crates full of goods. Rufus cast a dubious glance at the cargo, his eyes lingering on the questionable origin of the goods.

"Most likely all of those are stolen goods," he pondered aloud, unable to shake off the feeling of unease that the cargo brought.

Satifa, on the other hand, seemed unfazed by the ethical implications. "Can't be picky," she replied with a shrug. "We can't always be on the side of the good guys in this universe."

Yosef, who had been overseeing the loading of the ship, chimed in, "We're not doing anything illegal. These goods are just surplus, and we're helping to redistribute them."

Despite Yosef's assurance, Rufus couldn't shake off the feeling that the cargo might bring trouble their way. He knew that in their line of work, sometimes one had to make difficult choices, but the decision to transport questionable goods left a sour taste in his mouth.