When I speak of a ship most people would imagine the human-made contraption. A somewhat elongated, hollowed out half of a spindle made of wood or metal. This is pretty good to traverse seas and rivers where the biggest threats to a ship’s integrity are whales or crocodiles.
Felsian ships, while in some cases converging in design due to the laws of hydrodynamics working the same in the shores of any earthly country you pick or in the shores of Felsia, were not thought as structures that needed speed as much as they needed safety. No titanic waves no saltwater to threaten the sailors, only their nephews and nieces lurking underwater.
This meant several things. The menagerie’s deck was more or less circular. The structure of the ship was designed to allow for a widespread surface where Felsians could work and structures could be erected, yet, under this surface tapered on ceramic tiles, the compartmentalization of it all became evident. The access to each compartment of The menagerie was, in most cases and most of the time, on the upper end, with one of the tiles functioning as a trapdoor to get in and out of it, granted it was one of the hollow compartments. And the “hollow” detail is important, because The menagerie had been designed with double layered “armor” segments in mind: these were filled with smelt and aerated forgewood, granting them a buoyancy similar to that off a hollow segment and could resist the impact and bites from most misshapen, and take any critical damage instead of the more important segments nested closer and closer to the center of the ship. Finally, segments were joined and secured with thick forgewood chains, allowing for easy replacement of any lost ones.
Ald beheld the bobbing structure as the small waves of the Worldvein arrived to the port. For him, a boat was just a glorified bunch of boxes adrift. Fuldra had told him to get on board and familiarize himself with the peculiarities of the ship. To get on board, for Ald, was to leave Felsia, despite the boat still being anchored at the port, under the protection of the walls and gates.
“Once you get used to the movement and feel comfortable walking, come, I’ll show you the captain room. Do you know how boats without sails, like the menagerie, operate?”
Ald shook his head. “I only know they use runic magic. The extent or exact nature of it, I ignore.”
“Ah, it is personalized many times, according to the needs of the boat.” She said, walking above the bobbing compartments as if she had been born over them. Ald wondered if he would one day get to develop such a prodigious sense of balance.
Reluctantly, and feeling the deck like gelatin under his feet, he followed her to the central compartment, where a small room with glass windows all around had been erected. As they approached, the smell of iron reached Ald’s nostrils. There was no mistake: they were using blood to power the runes. Other bodily fluids were good enough for most applications, but the more powerful the spell, the closer a connection to mother it demanded.
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Ald followed her into the room and saw the runic circle engraved into a bronze platform. Every later was connected to a central piece with five sharp nails sticking out, and at the base of this piece, little channels, shallower than the runes themselves, reached every letter of the engraving.
Ald inspected the runework closely, despite the blood stains so natural to it. “Do you mind if I copy the script? I may need it one day.”
“You know scriptwriting?”
“A blacksmith must.”
She nodded and gestured with her hand. “I don’t mind you copying it, but do it quickly. The Day Captain will arrive any moment now, and I need to sleep.”
“Day Captain?” Ald asked.
“Yes, long-distance boats have day and night captains, in addition to vice-captains among the crew, in case anything happens to one of us, or if we start feeling sick due to the prolonged hemorrhaging.”
Ald wondered why take all those risks to get a few brothers and sisters exiled. There were already several populations of misshapen creeping around Felsia, anywhere far from the the city was already a death sentence for someone unarmed.
“Below here is the captains’ chambers. Our survival is the priority of everyone on board: crew, guest, or condemned criminal. Of course, we try not to expect much from the latter. We simply grant them a chance for redemption: help preserve the life of the crew, do a few acts of dumb heroism, and we will bring them back here to be conscripted. Then, if they prove themselves worthy soldiers, maybe they can make amends for the sin they unleashed on the world.”
Ald remained silent. To leave people to die stranded across the Worldvein seemed to him no different than a direct execution. Why bother. And while this was disheartening, he trusted he had taken enough care with preparations, and that Unkindness’ guidance would keep him alive for a bit longer than the others.
“Anything necessary so I can reach the other shore. If I need to defend you, rest assured: I will. And if I need to use your dead body as a makeshift raft, rest assured: I will. “ Ald said, holding the stare to the captain.
She laughed twice. “What a guest has Gleur gotten for us! Save your bravado, you will need it when we cross the deepest part of the river.”
Then, a man called from the docks.
“Oh, the Day captain has arrived. I will go and tell him to get the boat going as soon as possible. You may want to salute him and then go up to the armored segments’ railing. There you will see how the Menagerie moves like a baby. Let’s see if you still feel this brave afterwards.”
Ald gladly obeyed, and half walked, half crawled up to the edge of the boat. He sat and waited a while, staring at the chocolate waters and sighing now and then. So many memories of Kali, so much hope during the first two years, despite the worry due to the first missing rain. He remembered when he presented her to Elvisat and they cooked for the three of them. He remembered when he taught Kali how to walk on her own, at the beginning of her fourth month. He remembered the first time he cut the nails on her little hands.
Hands. They sprouted from the hull, deformed, ethereal and bluish, shining with otherworldly glow, contrasting with the brown waters. At first, Ald thought they were going for strokes, as if they were the amputated remains of desperate swimmers or drowning victims. But then, he noticed the Menagerie, indeed, moved like a baby, or perhaps like a wounded soldier. The fingers clawed the water as if it were dirt or mud, and then pulled, hauling the ship ahead. The Menagerie didn’t float: The Menagerie crawled on the waters' surface.