Guess What The Fish Sings To The Hook

1. The Brotherhood of Confectionery-1

1. The Brotherhood of Confectionery“Come with me,” said the tall thin winged man with no chest. To Sabienn, the man’s breath stunk like he’d licked every toilet at the air transport terminal where the man had walked up to him and his brothers for a donation. Stork in particular with his sensitive nose was keen on keeping a favourable wind direction.

Up until then Sabienn saw that the young man, with his gaunt cheeks and long dark hair, was wearing an ordinary black cloak but now he was pulling from his bag a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan, “A Free Red”. Quickly he threaded on the shirt and donned a grand white cat hat and spectacles that made him have blue tubes for eyes.

“You said you’d help us?” said Sabienn, leaning his winged frame against a nondescript brick-walled building which was somewhere in a broken part of Red Bat City. The sign above him read “The Bed College of Arts”, and looking around he saw that the light at the end of the day brought the street they were in into shadow. Soon it would be dark and, to Sabienn, this area had the feeling of not being safe, even in the well-lit hours.

“You’re looking for a woman,” said the man helpfully. “You said so at the terminal.”

“And your name was again?” asked Sabienn suspiciously.

“Athers,” said the man. Sabienn was beginning to sense that, mingling with the stench, there were more lies on his breath than any semblance of sober assistance. He looked behind him at his winged brothers, Bray, Deep and Stork to see they were equally dumbfounded by the turn of events.

“We’ll be on our way, sir,” said Sabienn politely. “To be honest, I saw your wings and thought you’d think like us.”

Stork added very firmly, “Frankly we’ve had a gutful of attaching ourselves to childish try-hards. Especially with lax oral hygiene. I’m sure you have the right papers and all. But if you want to join the idiots in my life, just get to the end of the queue.”

“I know this person you seek,” said Athers sincerely. He seemed genuine to Sabienn though the integrity of content was out of odds with his bizarre headwear and his weird slogan on his chest. Athers continued, “Just wait here. Let me make enquiries.” With that he disappeared through a door leaving the four brothers on the footpath feeling lost and confused.

“Car,” called Bray. The four men instinctively pulled themselves closer into the shadow of the door frame. Sabienn took it upon himself to look up the street and saw a black vehicle traversing an intersection before disappearing. It was a worthy spot for Bray whose eyes were working but still quite swollen from the toxins of the previous day. Bray’s head, with its full head of curly hair, looked left and right to see the street was clear.

“Good spot,” called Sabienn.

“All gloves are off now,” added Deep, now pushing his tall frame up to look over his brothers.

“Our Dad must be pissed,” said Stork, rubbing his stomach. “That’s about the fifth car we’ve seen in two hours. He must have pushed a whole army of the Secret Police up here.”

“All crawling like cockroaches under the floorboards,” said Bray. “Moving round under Deerland’s feet.” Bray proffered across a piece of paper to Sabienn. “My eyes are getting better. But I can’t find anything. I’ve read it ten times but there’s no watermarks, no hidden words. It’s just what’s there. It’s ready for swallowing.”

Sabienn received the note of final instructions from his mentor Grey Cape. He remembered Eddals the dog just catching them to deliver it just prior to stowing on the fruit transport airlift from Port Steer to Red Bat. He opened it again and gave it another casual read but nothing further was obvious. The words filled his eyes.

“Further notes. The world is in turmoil. The destruction of the Temple on Mount Scatt has provided new wind for the sails of the hot-heads. Everyone seeking a free Rotnadge-Minora are emboldened. Assailants now flood through the borders of Upper Deerland to take their fight to the general population. Random acts of terror are the call of the day. And for Hayddland, all roads are leading to war. The next invasion attempt of Cajj Cajj is imminent. Your comments from Trinkett will take some time to digest. Very interesting. Most unexpected. Good job and well done.”

“On matters of the missing stone, all I can say is that I sense a change. A change in the attitude of The Great Leader and also my brother, your father the Grand Inquisitor Profound. They still seem to seek the stone but the urgency of their quest has waned. It comes at the same time as my ever-decreasing currency of favour. I now move to exile in the Outer Territory of Luck. My survival, though requested, can’t be guaranteed.”

“It is still my heartfelt belief that the missing stone needs to be returned to the real Holy One, whoever or wherever that person may be, for the planet’s healing to begin. Your quest, to me, is still important.”

“Subsequently, I have a mission should you wish to accept. As mentioned in the previous note, in Red Bat City, there is a young woman called Bess Wan Jo who is the granddaughter of a native manservant who was at Mission Cinnamon. This man ran to the boats on the night of the seven women’s death, twenty-three years ago. The report said that this man held a pendant that he gave to his wife, one of the seven. As spoken to me, a lover’s pendant on a fisherman’s wage.”

“This woman, the wife, gave birth to a girl at Mission Cinnamon but already had a daughter aged twelve. This twelve year old girl in turn eventually gave birth to a daughter who is the young woman you must seek. It is believed that the pendant has been passed to her. A read of this could give a vital clue as to the stone’s whereabouts.”

“As mentioned before, once completed my dog will await you on the outer areas at the Green Zone in Luck.”

“There’s much for you to take in here. Good luck and safe travel.”

Sabienn brought the note down and folded it in two.

“There’s all our thumb prints on that,” said Stork, indicating Grey Cape’s note. “Why don’t you put some salt on it? Make the trip easier on the way down.” He produced a salt sachet from his pocket and ripped the top off it. He then poured salt all over the paper which Sabienn then scrunched up into a small ball with the seasoning within.

“Why are you always so good to me?” said Sabienn to Stork.

“Compassion sometimes flares up in me like a massive boil,” said Stork. “Just needs a good lancing and I’m back to my old self.” Sabienn swallowed the ball of paper under Stork’s watchful gaze. “I can pack a sachet of sauce next time?”

“Salt’s perfect,” said Sabienn in gratitude. He plopped the ball of paper and salt in his mouth and savoured the seasoning before swallowing. As Sabienn was taking his paper in the mouth, Athers returned accompanied by a younger man.

“Superb,” said Sabienn to the taste of the paper.

“A man after my own heart,” said Stork.

“Are you sharing?” said Ather’s companion. It was then that Sabienn and his brothers took a good look at the new arrival. He would have been a man of about seventeen and had a similar “A Free Red” T-shirt to Athers and wore a black cat hat and spectacles that made his eyes look like green tubes.

“Seems like we’re moving in the right crowd,” said Stork to his brothers.

“Have you got ‘bend’?” said the young man, with the urgency of satisfying an itch.

At that moment, Sabienn could sense a flare up in Bray who moved forward aggressively as if to attack the new man. Sabienn knew Bray had just come out of a coma recently, under the influence of some narcotic derivative of the soso tree, and this man was requesting another substance from the same branch. It would have been a dagger to Bray’s heart.

Quickly Stork stepped in to hold Bray back and then addressed the new arrival. “It’s paper, sir,” he said. “Just paper. My friend’s drafting a suicide note. The wording has to be just right. You know how it is. You don’t want to look pretentious.” The man he was addressing seemed to nod in agreement.

“Jai, they’re looking for Bess,” said Athers to his friend. “Do you know where she is?”

“What makes you think Bess wants to see them?” said Jai suspiciously to Athers. “And you brought them to your campaign office? Do you really trust them? What if they shut you down?”

“And how goes the fight?” enquired Bray. Sabienn looked to his brother to see he’d mellowed from his height of aggression. “Your efforts are known even as far as Hayddland.”

“Really,” said Jai, feeling uplifted.

“May I enlighten my brothers?” asked Bray pointing to the others. Jai offered a nod in recognition. Bray continued, “Think of the rough and tumble world of sugar confectionery, guys. There is a company called Alley Sweets that makes a product. The alley cat. It is advertised on devices by four alley cats. A white cat with blue eyes, a black cat with green eyes, a purple cat with yellow eyes and up until recently a red cat with orange eyes. Imagine to everyone’s dismay when the red cats were pulled from production. Allegedly because the red dye is associated with throat sores. Subsequently disproved but best to keep the product banned just so as not to offend anyone. Our friends here are just fighting for what is right. The reinstatement of a lost confectionery that’s been wrongfully maligned.”

“We’re talking sweets?” asked Sabienn.

“We’re talking the brotherhood of confectionery,” said Bray. “Just as you’d go to the ends of the world to save me, these men are going to save a cat only made reality by advertising. How is that any more different to the brotherhood of people?”

“A cause is a cause, right?” said Deep.

“Couldn’t have put it any better myself, big man,” said Bray, indicating the T-shirts on the men emblazoned with “A Free Red”.

“And after everything we’ve seen in R-M,” said Stork. “It’s good to see someone’s tackling the real issues.”

“We mean no harm to Bess,” continued Bray to the men dressed as cats. “She can get a look at us and knock us back if she wants. Regardless we’ll always support your fight.”

“Well, thank you,” said Jai uncertainly. “Athers here has made eighteen submissions. All knocked back. But management may change at any time.”

“It’s best to be persistent,” said Deep kindly. The words coming from the big man seemed to offer an umbrella of confidence for the cats.

“Give us five,” said Jai, who then turned to Athers. “I’ll need your signature,” said Jai. “The meeting’s almost done.” The two cats disappeared back within the door.

“I’m biting my tongue here,” said Stork to his brothers. “It’s killing me.”

“Keep biting till we get the read,” said Sabienn. “Suck on some salt.” Stork found his opened sachet and emptied what grains of salt that were there on to his tongue.

Athers and Jai returned without their cat-wear and T-shirts and moved with purpose. They began to walk up the street and turned to the brothers. “This way,” said Jai. “How do you know Bess?”

Sabienn turned to his brothers before replying, “Bess has something. We’re interested in it. It’s a pendant.”

“I’ve seen that,” asked Athers with interest. “Is it valuable?”

“I don’t think so,” said Sabienn. “We share a history with it. How do you know Bess?”

“Car,” called Bray at the rear of the group.

“Give us a moment,” said Sabienn to Jai and Athers. The four brothers retreated to the shadows of the doorways. Deftly Sabienn twisted in time to view another black vehicle way in the distance up the street. It slipped out of view just as swiftly as it arrived.

“Who are you boys anyway?” said Jai, watching them react. “You’re hiding from someone.”

“We have some issues,” said Sabienn, still looking back into the distance. “But not with the locals.”