Ch: 206 Sailing The Seas Of Love
“We were playing shipwreck on poor Seahorse…” Amy explained gently, patting Gary on the shoulder. “Maybe Shai should hide it, she’s better at bein’ sneaky.”
“I dinnae deny it… but ye could just say that sweet Shai be more subtle than he…” She took up the heavy leather case and double checked that the metal band securing it was cinched tight. Her own seal was crimped into it, with Gary’s weird magical glyphs all around her embossed image of a coiled spring.
“You and I will both know if that seal gets cut.” He reassured her gently. “Our kids are too good and smart to play with wicked, nasty things. They don’t even know what the snake wrapped around that club is made from…”
He shuddered and wiped his hands reflexively, even though no one had touched the thing, beyond checking that it was still securely inside its enchanted leather bag.
“Tis iron, wi some coating tae retard corrosion, nae?” She looked up with interest and a sly smile. “Or hae ye found some rare metal and nae told me?”
“Tallum found it, actually. Remember Slugbie Stankmore’s army of skeleton redcaps? Tallum scavenged their weapons and tools, ‘cause he’s thrifty.” The madman sighed sadly.
“Turns out, redcaps use a special kind of metal, mortal iron… I smelted their tools to make Victor’s prosthetic head… and a few other things.” He grimaced unhappily at her. “You don’t wanna know any more than that. There’s a lot to unpack there.”
“The unseelie fae dinnae work iron fer good purposes lad, an they bend their crafts tae ironmongery there can be only wicked things that will result.” She frowned at him and shook her head.
“Dinnae take too much delight in the darker arts lad. The uneducated do call thee ‘witch’ overmuch already.”
“I’ll worry about what ‘the uneducated’ call me later… or not. I have bigger fish to fry right now… Oh, is it too soon to make cioppino again? Rainy weather and fog make me crave it.” He smiled, the sad wistful one that said he was thinking fondly on his long lost home.
Shai mused and stroked her chin, with her own smile slowly growing. “Summat spicy an redolent of the sea might go well at that. Pity we hae nae more of those devilcrabs and haunted scallops…”
“Seafood is definitely the ticket. I could really go for some calamari…”
#
Even in the calm and protected waters of a cove on the shallow sea, Esperanza and her two namesakes were being tossed around a little. “Cousin Nicolai, ease that aft anchor line. This one would still be in the cove come morning, not on the beach!” The unpredictable wash and swell were settling, but things were still chancey, with unpredictable winds.
The greater part of the storm’s fury was spending itself running up Wheatford valley, and making a show of it as well, by the distant thunder echoing off the mountainsides.
Their little cove was a few miles south of Port Fallon, sheltering the two vessels while they waited for the weather to calm, for the run up the river Belen’s navigation channel.
“Best we stock up and do some trading in Fallon.” Dante murmured. “Bad storm could make supplies scarce. I don’t want to eat any more vampire calamari if… I don’t have to.”
They had spent the last warm, sunny days drying huge sheets of the stuff, after rolling it in salt and some alchemical curative mineral. Now slabs of rigid, dried squid were jam packed in the ship’s stores hold, with even more frozen, filling Gary’s enchanted cold storage lockers on Esperanza. That was the only big problem with Esperanza’s bounty… The normal stove and lack of cold storage solutions; beyond the mundane practice of stowing perishables below the waterline where it was cooler.
“We celebrate this voyage! You may crack open my purse and spend freely… within reason, brother. Beef and pork! More rice, beans… I’ll even allow for a bit of that fine olive oil… stock us well Dante. Nicolai, help with the stores, use the folding cart on Esperanza… and add one of those to Gary’s list.
There was a long sheet of parchment tacked up in the galley listing boat upgrades and needs… mostly things they planned to get from their pet madman and carpenter. Cold lockers and stoves, like the ones he had installed in Esperanza were in the list… looting the ones he’d built in, before selling him the boat seemed crass. Propulsion was underlined three times and circled.
Glowstone lamps and other small conveniences were joined by a freshly jotted ‘Folding Artisanal Reconfigurable Trundlebug™ handcart system.
“He gives things weird names.” Nicolai mumbled. “You always call him ‘mad man’ or ‘moontouched’… can we rely on such a person for important things?”
Yusef climbed over the rail having finished mooring Esperanza to her bigger sister to ride out the remnants of the storm. “Wait till you meet him… It’ll all make sense.” The formerly youngest member of the crew said with a grin, to his new junior.
“Don’t tease your brother, Yusef.” Dante scolded him with a wink. “Nicoali, when you meet that boy, don’t expect anything to make sense. Now help me put this F.A.R.T together.”
Wide and long, she ran low in the water even unladen. Her shallow draft and three short cantilevered and moveable masts allowed her as much access to shallow navigation and bridged waterways as Esperanza, with so much more cargo capacity. Propulsion took more effort, vastly more, but Esperanza had high hopes for the coming trade season.
Dawn came gently through the mangroves, calm and bright, as the calls of shore birds began. Esperanza rolled over in her spacious quarters under the wheeldeck. She had a proper bed, wide and high off the deck for plenty of stowage below. She had the quilt sweet Shai gifted her laid out with pride, carefully smoothed after she rose. ‘Not as comfy as the beds at the inn…’ She mused to herself.
“Faghh! Luxury makes this one soft!”
She showered in the small captain’s bog, savoring the thought of hot water on demand, as the cold rainwater blasted her fully awake…
“Hot water… yes that goes on the list!”
Back in her cabin she began preparing for the day… it was still a little awkward, having so much space. The bed was almost bigger than her old cabin’s entire layout, cupboards above the bed and navigation desk provided even more storage. It was the wide, curved bay windows, looking out a yard above the waterline. Though only a foot and a half high, the heavy panes circled three walls of the cabin, giving so much light and a sense of space. In the ceiling, a skylight hatch opened onto the wheeldeck, which made the space seem almost cavernous to the merchant captain.
That was her greatest selling point for the sailor who loved green growing things. Already she had some seedlings and a few transplants from her garden on Esperanza planted in window boxes. Liam would be helping her with the rest, while her mad brother did some refitting.
With a tug, a coiled rope ladder with wooden plank rungs rolled down and she clipped it to rings set in the deck. With smooth grace she popped the two hatch doors and slid the heavy cover back on its waxed wooden runners.
She climbed out through the hatch, onto the deck with a giggle of girlish delight, sliding the heavy glass cover back down with a thunk. “The boy might have some ideas for that as well… rig for travel, we make for Port Fallon, and up the River Belen after resupply. This one will feel the grass of Kai’s island under her toes this night, lads!”
#
Dawn came fast, but didn’t stick around long, she got swept away by bank after bank of low hanging, wet clouds, streaming over and around the inn on the mountain pass, unloading a torrential downpour on Flintspire below.
“That looks rough… I vote we wait for the weather to ease, then make a careful descent.” Liam said firmly, while Rolf, Khan, Emma, Luna, Hamish and even Pangbourne nodded along.
“I dunno…” Gary mumbled. “I’m kinda eager to get home.”
“Shut yer noise hole boy, ye’d nae go out in this weather wi yer kids fer yer life. Prattling fool of mine own.” Shai berated him while having a good, comfy snuggle; so it all balanced out.
“Sir Hamish, sir Pangbourne, the smithy is open for business I guess. Tallum and I finished the mark four motor this morning so I have a ton to do on Seahorse.”
He sighed happily. “I’d happily stay for a few days and let the weather and roads sort themselves out…”
#
The port Fallon market was in a tizzy. Several trade boats were delayed by the storm, a few storehouses had been damaged by wind and falling trees and it was the early peak of the trading season. When a pair of lightly laden vessels hove to the docks, Falco’s chittering cry of greeting could barely be heard over the merchants and shipping agents crowding the pier.
“Marc, you handle cargo for Esperanza, it will be good training… no sense hauling an empty hull upstream, is there?” She smiled at her oldest cousin. “You have full authority to bargain, as long as the destination is Wheatford or Flintspire.”
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Marc shook himself all over to dispel his joyous grin and jumped over the rail to uncouple Esperanza and berth her at her own pier. His gifts from the spirits of Air and Water made moving the mostly empty riverbarge almost too easy, after days powering a much larger vessel with her in tow.
“Trade boat Esperanza is taking on cargo, destination Wheatford and Flintspire!” He called, once she was tied.
Esperana gave him a few minutes head start, then dropped her plank and made her call. “Trade ship Esperanza’s Bounty, taking cargo and heavy drayage for Wheatford and Flintspire!”
Dante and Nicolai rolled the Trundlebug out onto Fallon’s smooth streets, looking for bargains and luxuries. Nicolai wound up between the handcart’s poles, acting as a dray animal… but the market town was a hive of activity so that was just fine.
The business went quickly, leaving them time for a bit of personal shopping. The ‘Trundlebug’ had a deep cargo bin and large spoked steel wheels on a steel axle… that extravagance alone made it valuable. The tires were coated with a thick band of some tough black substance that absorbed some of the jolts and rattles, while the tough suspension smoothed out the rest. A clever stand folded out to let it hold itself up, while a cable operated handbrake built into the grips kept things under control.
Nicolai propped his cart up and unclipped the safety cable, locking the brakes up. He left his familiar, Miggs on the cart to watch things. The huge gray and silver tomcat yawned and stretched out on the tarpaulin cover for a security nap.
Dante stocked up on waxes, varnish and glue in a carpenter’s shop and some paint at the chandler’s. They were small pots of thick, oil based paint in a number of primary colors, the kind used by sign painters and muralists. A curio shop yielded a haul of small trinkets and items. Unfashionable jewelry, a battered, tarnished telescope, a few pieces of ephemera like an unidentifiable monster tooth of prodigious size, bag of unopened geodes, some semi precious stones, a big bag of weird odds and ends, like old door hinges and a huge ball of brass keys with no locks. He packed it all in a crate and plopped it on the already heavy laden cart, making Nicolai’s knees ache already.
“Don’t worry, your benevolent elder will help haul the load.” Dante said with a smile, as he picked up Miggs and cuddled him under his chin. “This one will carry part of the burden for you.”
Nicolai groaned and took up the handles… “I’m gonna tell Esperanza on you.” He whined pitifully.
“So be it, this one will help, but don’t tell Ranza, she wants you hazed properly… and Miggs sleeps in my bunk tonight.” Dante said with finality
#
“Why did you buy all this junk? Paint, scrap jewelry and weird rocks?” Nicolai asked finally, when they lowered the crate into the ship’s stores hold.
“Barter. Some of our trade partners prefer, or can only deal in barter… having a few trinkets and some odds and ends in stores is just good practice.” He lectured while sorting out the random junk into bins. “Ships accumulate things, interesting flotsam, valuable jetsam, oddities and rarities… Some traders specialize in such things, we know some few such.”
“Your mysterious madman?” Nicolai asked, holding up the hefty ball of keys.
“Exactly… and some others, beastfolk tribes need little human money.” Dante said quietly. “We deal some with the Empire, so keep that under your hat. A bigot’s coin spends just as well as any other and the Empire of Light’s hunger for chocolate will shower us in their wealth.”
A hungry look spread over the olive skinned faces of the two boatmen, their family resemblance showing even more as they contemplated the future.
“Next season, this one will be captain of his own vessel… maybe you’ll stay with Ranza, maybe follow this unworthy where the wind blows. Who can say?” He shrugged his wide shoulders. “Know this, the winds are shifting… ware, lest we be blown astray. That storm was no natural thing; out of season, out of place…”
“What do you mean? Is it some kind of monster?” The young sailor asked.
“No, but we have friends in strange places, friends who say the gods and spirits are riled up… you will learn more soon. Keep your eyes and your mind open as we sail up the Belen. We may see things…”
#
Yusef was down in Esperanza’s hold making sure everything was secure and double checking his brother’s manifest. A croaking, unpleasant voice shattered his concentration.
“I will take passage on this vessel. You will convey me to the city of Wheatford in the duchy of Wheatford with all haste.”
“You will not.” Yusef barked, without looking up. “Esperanza takes no passengers. Not to any destination.”
“You will comply…” The voice croaked again, more firmly… more persuasively. Something in the voice tugged and wrenched at him, pulling on his…
The young sailor stuck his head up through the hatch, bleary eyed. “We have more cargo to load…” He answered meekly, bowing to the tall figure on the pier, swathed head to toe in brown robes and a concealing veil.
“You will depart now. Cease your commercial activities and comply.” The robed figure ordered in that harsh, croaking voice that seemed to require obedience… Complete obedience…
“Guards! I am under attack! Guards!” He screamed, shouting into the dockyard and drawing his crewmates.
“Silence… silence, you will comply…” The robed figure demanded again, netting even louder shouts and a boathook jabbed at their midsection for their troubles.
“Bugger me for fishbait with a treble hook if I will!” He shouted, swinging his improvised weapon to hold the being at bay, while his crewmates came running.
When Esperanza leapt to the dock with a boarding ax in hand, the creature fell silent and keyed in on her, its cowl snapping in her direction. “Aberration, you will comply and accompany me as well.”
“Not on your life will this one follow you, nor her crew.” She snarled. A clanging alarm bell from the town brought the sound of armored boots crashing on the cobbles.
“By ducal authority, I am commandeering this vessel. You will convey me to the city of Wheatfo…” The brown clad figure was enshrouded in a looping pile of tangled rope and cordage. The only sounds were the water lapping, the gentle song of the two moored ships, tugging at their lines, the approaching guards and citizens, the alarm bell… and a soft creak from the boom arm swaying gently above the crumpled figure on the pier.
Dante’s steady hand on Bounty’s cargo crane dropped a heavy net of knotted rope over the figure, smashing it to the dock and pinning it flat beneath a significant weight of damp hemp.
“Perhaps this one will convey you to Wheatford, after all.” Esperanza chortled cruelly. “Her brothers and sisters would speak with you at length, creature.”
Whatever was under all that cordage made no reply, nor did it struggle to escape. She was distracted by the arrival of two city guardsmen, breathing heavily from their armored sprint; accompanied by the paunchy dockmaster and a number of townsfolk bearing improvised weapons.
“What goes on here?” The guard in the lead demanded loudly. “Who raised the alar-… what is that stench?” He held his hand to his nose, gagging and yurking in disgust. Fallon was a pest hole of a town reeking as badly as any of the less savory ports on the shallow sea, the pong rippling from under that cargo net was enough to send the good citizens staggering back when the breeze ‘freshened’ off the water.
Esperanza and her crew shrugged, fingering their little bronze ear cuffs… or in her case, the slim silver band on her thumb. Dante started cranking the gears, to lift the heavy, sodden net off of the interloper.
“This one was attempting to seize this ship and used compulsion magic to try and enforce his will. He even claimed ducal authority to do so, in violation of Wheatford duchy and trade laws.” Yusef barked, while clambering onto the pier and holding his boat hook in shaky hands.
“Serious charges… we will need an Order knight from the temple… gods, the smell got worse…” The lead guard staggered back, looking a little green. As the sound of retching spread through the crowd.
The rearmost guard subtly attempted to wipe vomit from his once gleaming breastplate, as Stella Burgess the local grocer apologized in abject mortification…
“My deepest regrets… you know I would never…” She backed away, before soiling her victim again.
Esperanza and her crew ignored the yokels, as the net lifted from the brown robed creature. It lay flat and unmoving on the planks, a vile brownish green stain slowly spreading from its robes.
Yusef reached out with his boathook and flipped back the robes, revealing a tumbled mound of decaying human arms and hands.
“Undead!” The lead guard gagged in horror and disgust. “Ring the alarm bell, shut the town!” He shouted, waving at the townsfolk. “Return to your homes and check on your families and friends. Report any missing or injured to the temple of Order!”
While he was bellowing at his herd of townies, Esperanza leapt down with Dante and quickly searched the mound of decaying corpse parts. “Nothing…” She muttered. “Falco, search well… perhaps…” She shook her head.
“Nothing, Falco and his friends say something vile touched this place in spirit for a moment. Now nothing remains.”
Together they climbed back aboard and quietly began their work.
The guard finished commanding his unruly mob to disperse and turned back to shouting at the crew. “These ships are under quaranti…- Wait!” He yelled helplessly at the two vessels, slowly heading for open waters. “You can’t leave!”
The loud chittering of a whole pod of colorful dolphins drowned out his cries, sounding almost like mocking laughter. He drew a big breath to shout again and caught the full flavor of what he was standing beside. Shouting orders and barfing up breakfast are mutually exclusive actions, so the two boats continued on their way.
#
When the violent phase of the storm ended, it settled in for a long, slow, soaking rain. The inn on the mountain pass was tempting, to those in the know, but wet and windy weather kept most folks inside.
Merchants were made of sterner stuff. No wind and rain would stop them from furthering a highly profitable relationship. The Yosts clambered from their wagon just after fourth bell and sent Miriam off to the stables to visit. They hardly had time to reach for the door, before it was slid open and the damp couple were dragged inside for a thorough warming.
Shai ushered them in and set her new waitress and barman on the merchants. “Emma an Frank will see thee well situated, I hae a bit of work on me anvil an would fain hae it finished. Bide, bathe, eat, we will join thee by fifth fer a visit.” She bustled away with a spring in her step, swaying to the tune of her own bells.
“This is her first real chance at a challenging job since her rankup…” Becky whispered. “She’s pretty excited about her new gifts.”
“Ahh, I remember those giddy days. Rankups and cultivation, so nostalgic.” Ally murmured happily from the sofa by the fire. “I was never bitten by the cultivation bug myself, will she aim higher than iron rank?”
“Certainly. Otho and Naiomi both hit gold this spring, they are just obnoxious about it.” The high priestess murmured as the door slid open.
“More guests are coming! Angus! Welcome back.” She greeted the massive Craft priest with a hug for him and his smiling, cherubic wife, master potter Hazel. “Come in and get comfy! Gary and Shai are in the workshop, you understand… Here's Liam.”
A whirlwind of activity and actual wind swirled around the common room for a few minutes, as the adventurous took advantage of a break in the weather to make the half mile trek up to the inn. Olan and Firth came along with the Craft priest, showing off their simple gold wedding bands to the group.
#
Shai stood from her vice and set down her file. “I feel summat…” She murmured quietly.
“What?” Gary called from beneath the boat, where he was dogging down the last mounting brackets and snugging a few bronze bolts.
“Finish up lad… there hae been a wedding, we hae work tae do!” She snapped, not ungently, but firmly. “Tallum, finish this fer me, I hae other work!” She bustled to the stairs, leading Gary along by the hand.
“A wedding? Whose? How do you know that?” He grumbled, still covered with grease, sawdust and bronze shavings.
“I hae mine own occult senses boy! Ye are nae the only one wi preternatural knowledge!” She hauled him to the bath and made him presentable for polite company, despite his feeble protests.
Shai hauled him, freshly bathed and in clean, unrumpled clothes out into the common room into a scene of madness.
Pretty much everyone they knew in Flintspire was jammed into the common room with Emma and Pangbourne waiting tables… Becky was behind the bar keeping order, while Ivy and Dannyl had the kitchen humming, with help from Ally Yost and old Gilbert, the local adventure guild leader.
“Olan! Firth! I hae a bone tae pick wi thee!” Shai sang as her furiously merry bells chimed and kept time.
“Ohh, shit…” Firth mumbled as that angry red stormcoud of joy descended over them both. “She’s going to dance us to pieces!”
#
“Message from Flintspire, my lady.” Her butler murmured softly. “Lights on the mountain pass, the expedition is returning, no doubt turned back by the weather.”
“I had that news from my seamstress an hour ago…” Helene grumbled at her supposedly expert information broker and butler. “Save that the Tailors’ and Seamstresses’ guild report the urchins return in victory and are delayed by the storm.”
“Impossible, I only received the news by pigeon moments ago.” Her spymaster grumbled.
#
A few hours earlier, at a meeting of the secretive ‘Panty Cult’:
“...and they decided to wait out the weather for at least a day, maybe more.” Angie sighed happily. “I was so worried…” She confided, in the arms of Jennah Belen, mistress of Aranea’s Secret and the guild of Tailors’ and Seamstresses’ most prolific gossip.
“Tell me everything…”
#