Tagel-by-the-sea was burning on the horizon well before they reached it, creating a macabre lighthouse of sorts. Even though that was the case, they were still going to have to stop, however briefly, to try to find something to eat and drink. Normally, the biggest city in the county of Lidvell being put to the torch would be considered an unmitigated disaster, but as the sun had not risen in two or three days now, and the winds were growing so cold that he had frost in his beard, it ranked low on the list of problems.
Despite the heavy use of his boat’s tiny sail, Markez was exhausted from rowing for so long, and the boys who had been helping both had their hands covered in blisters. They were the lucky ones, though. The girls and the infant had spent almost a full day crying before they’d finally run out of tears. Now, they simply sat despondently and shivered under the damp fishing net they used for a blanket and looked at the stars while their mother prayed to Gods that no longer seemed to be listening.
Water, food, and hope were all bigger problems than danger. He might not starve to death this week, of course, but after another day or two of this, he’d run out of strength to row, and another few days after that, the children would start to die. Brannon’s wife honestly didn’t look too much better than them. She just stared blank-eyed into the dark as she whispered to anyone who would listen to save them.
So far, only Lunara had responded. It was only by the rise of the moon that he’d kept track of the number of days that had passed or the direction that she was going in. Her light was not enough to ward away the cold or give them any new information about the world beyond the fact that land was still off to his right as a patch of looming darkness differentiated from the sea only by the fact that it held its shape.
As they got closer to the burning city, Markez could smell death as well as smoke. That wasn’t surprising. The only surprise was that some of the dead seemed to be moving. Originally, he’d feared goblins had attacked here just like they had on the strand, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Instead, the living dead could be seen fighting against the last of the city’s inhabitants, even as they continued to burn.
Maybe it really was the end of the world, he thought to himself, careful not to say that part out loud. Markez was old, and he was tired, but everyone was looking to him, women, children, everyone - and all he could do was try to keep them safe while everything burned down.
Tying up to those docks definitely wouldn’t be a safe thing to do, though, so as quietly as possible, they stayed a couple dozen feet away from land and pier as they slowly examined the grisly scene. Here, at least, the darkness was on their side. There were lots of debris and pieces of other boats in the water, but nothing seemed to be living out here, and if there was, he didn’t know how they could reach him.
As far as Markez knew, there was no such thing as a zombie that could swim, and though evil things had been said over the years about the Oroza, they weren’t exactly in her devilish waters yet. Honestly, he wasn’t sure what he would do when that happened, but it wasn’t something he had room to worry about just now while he worried about the dead milling about on shore.
It was only when they were halfway around the city that he saw a glimmer of hope in the form of a ship drifting free a few hundred yards off the coast. It wasn’t a little fishing raft either. Instead, it was a single-masted trading vessel that looked to be abandoned based on the way its rigging was scattered and its sail hung limply.
A vessel like that would have fresh water. He was sure of it. It might even have some food tucked away. Even as Markez’s mouth began to water at the idea of stale ship’s biscuits, he cursed and reminded himself that there could just as easily be a hold full of dead down there, too.
“W-Where are we going?” Karina rasped unexpectedly as he started to move away from the shore, scaring the shit out of him. “I thought we—”
“Shhhhh…” he shushed her, wanting to avoid attracting any attention as a note of hysteria started to creep into her voice. She was desperate. He knew that. They all were. “We’ll get you… I’ll take care of all of you soon, I promise, but there ain’t no way anyone is going in that city and coming back alive, so we’ll have to nibble around the outside, and right now, I mean to take a long look in that cargo hold there.”
Given how tired they all were, it took some time to row against the waves to where the ship was drifting. Still, as he got closer, he saw no blood splatter on the decks and no bodies strewn about. It looked like it had come loose of its moorings and just drifted away. The name on the side was Dawn’s Light, which was almost certainly an omen, though he had no idea if it was a positive or a negative one, given the current state of things.
“You boys push off once I’m up,” Markez said as he brought them aside as quietly as he could. “I’m going to take a quick peek, and if I find any trouble, I’ll just jump right off and swim out to you.”
He very much doubted things would work out quite so neatly, but he wasn’t about to worry boys too young to shave about such things. Instead, he smiled and climbed over the railing of the vessel, and as soon as he was on his feet, he pulled out a belaying pin and held it like a club.
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Rope was literally everywhere, and other than one suspicious blood spot near the sternhouse, he saw no signs of violence. The top deck was mostly abandoned, though he did find and pocket a half-eaten apple. As badly as he wanted it, Karina would need it more.
The ship was too crude for a wheel. Instead, it had a tiller attached to a large rudder. A vessel like this was meant for rivers and coasts and was only barely seaworthy. It wasn’t so different from his own boat, but it was still pretty alien to him.
“Not as alien as the rest of this benighted world, though,” he muttered to himself as he opened the door to the below-decks area.
Markez stood there for several seconds then, steeling himself against the darkness below and straining his hearing before he descended the stairs one creaking step at a time. The hold was full of barrels and boxes. So much so he was sure they’d find something edible if they looked hard enough. That wasn’t what caught his attention, though.
Beyond the sloshing of water and the rhythmic slap of the waves, there was something else in that inky darkness. It took him a long moment before he could figure out quite what it was, but when he recognized it as sobbing, he said, “You can come out. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Nothing happened at first, but eventually, a head bobbed up briefly from behind a crate before disappearing again. The only light down here came from the distant moon and stars as it filtered through the cracks in the deck above. It wasn’t enough light to see any details, but it was plain to see from the shape that the head belonged to a child.
He repressed a sigh. The very last thing he needed right now was more hands to hold and mouths to feed. What was he going to do, though? Loot their ship - steal their last crust of bread to feed the kids he’d brought with him and let the ones down here starve?
Lots of people were moving around now, but in the darkness, counting them was impossible. So, he didn’t try.
“I want to see the adults or whoever’s in charge upstairs. Now!” As he finished, Markez let a little annoyance seep into his voice. That was okay. It was okay to be annoyed at whoever was in charge here. He was old enough to be a little crabby. That was his right.
Slowly, several people followed him up onto the deck: a dandy, a street rat that he thought was a boy but who turned out to be a girl and a maid that might or might not have been the mother to a couple of the children clutching at her skirts.
“If someone is in charge around here, then it is I, Dian Larrintin, the third, but you may address me as—” the fop said with a minor bow.
“How about we skip the formalities for now. I’ll call you Dian, you can call me captain, and we can get to the part about what your plan was going to be.” Markez enjoyed twisting the knife when dealing with people like this, but the shock on the noble’s face made it that much better.
He was apoplectic for a few seconds, but eventually, the girl relayed what had happened. She skipped the worst bits on account of the children, but it was easy enough to read between the lines. When the dead had attacked, everyone panicked. Those who could flee by ship did, but in their case, they were just a few stragglers who happened to get on this tub with no idea how to use it. They’d spent half a day letting the current drag them from shore, but the most productive thing they’d done so far was tangle all of the rigging before giving up.
“Well, we can’t just stay here,” Markez said finally.
No matter how many times he asked the group what they were going to do, they just told him more about what they’d done up until now, and since that obviously wasn’t working, he was going to take command.
“But we don’t know how to use the ship—” Lara answered softly.
“Then you’ll learn,” Markez said curtly, interrupting her. He wasn’t any more pleased than she was that his crew was about to consist of a sniviling nobleman, a girl, and a handful of boys, but it was that or die, so he was going to do what he had to do.
“We’re going to get these sails up, and we’ll make for the river before—” he started to explain.
“But the Oroza is—” Dian started to explain, but Markez ignored him.
“We all know exactly what the Oroza is. It’s dangerous, and if you say anything worse than that in front of the children, I will toss you off this boat,” Markez shot back gruffly. He’d give anything to have Brannon back right now. “It’s dangerous, but it’s our only way. You can’t drink seawater, and those barrels down in the hold will only last for a few days.”
The argument continued after that, but it changed nothing, and slowly but surely, everyone fell into line. After that, he got everyone and everything of value from his little boat before they tied it to the stern rail, and then he showed his tiny crew what he needed from them if they were going to set this sail.
It should have taken three trained men five minutes to get the sail up and another five to get underway. With this lot, though, he had to spend an hour teaching them basic skills while they cleaned up the mess they’d made of the rigging.
That was fine. It was a good time for Karina to drink her fill and then spend some time with Adrianna, rounding up all of the children. He’d count just how many of them there were after they were making way. While he was at it, Markez made a mental note that he’d also need to inventory their supplies, their weapons, and anything else that they might have on board.
He tried to continue to be grumpy about it, but the way that Karina’s face had lit up when he’d give her that half-eaten fruit cheered him up too much to keep it up. They were going to make it. They were going to be okay.