The next day, everybody got ready for an early breakfast. Bilsor, the maniac, even went diving in the ice-cold water near the cliffs next to the beach and came back with a huge crab. The crab had a diameter of over a meter even after the legs were cut off. ‘How did Bilsor manage to go diving in these freezing waters and how did he get a crab this big back to shore?’ Wondered Jack, while watching him heave the crab ashore and start preparing crab soup with some herbs left over from the first day. It did seem a waste to cook only the legs, but Bilsor mentioned these kind of crabs are better in small amounts. ‘I don’t know if wrist thick over one meter crab legs can be counted as “small amounts” but we will see.’
The next two days went by in a hurry. The first day was spent sailing further southwest along the coast. In the late afternoon the sky began to darken and Bilsor guided the ship into a secure bay with a nervous look on his face. ‘If even Bilsor is scared of a storm brewing then this night is gonna be another sleepless night.’ Thought Jack as they made camp on the beach. Bilsor and Jack directed the others to set up some leather tarps over part of the ship to keep the equipment dry and to for the people to sleep in. When Jack mentioned the possibility of an attack during the night, Bilsor directly said he had nothing to worry about. During a storm in the north no beast will try to hunt along the coast. The Storm outlasted the night and most of the next day. While it was true that nothing attacked them during the storm, that didn’t mean they had an easy time.
Almost nobody could sleep more than a couple of hours. Karl and Jack, the ones the least comfortable with the cold, were shivering most of the time. While they did make fun of Karl a little bit, nobody said anything about their chief Jack. But then, making fun of Karl probably meant they were making fun of Jack as well.
They stayed at their camp for another night, so that everybody could get a good night sleep. Thankfully those two days of waiting out the storm worked wonders on Ragna. There was no sign of infection and Asa even used some herbal paste to promote healing. Even though Asa told Jack, they were more for show than real medicine.
On the fourth morning of Jacks new life they set out to sea again. Jack talked with Bilsor during the storm and they both agreed that if they ever want to rebuild the village they would need to find an island, easily defendable, with trees and no big beasts. Another criteria, that Bilsor had to remind Jack about was a bay that protected the ship form storms.
So they set out in hopes of finding a new home. During the morning Jack spent some time asking Bilsor about the spirit magic. According to Bilsor, a nordar shaman has either a spirit best used to communicate with the ice spirits. And therefore can cast spells involving ice. Or he has a should spirit best used to communicate with sea sprits and can cast water magic.
Close before noon they arrived at a strait where a northern and a southern landmass almost meet. Seeing the strait in front of them Jack went to the stern to discuss further actions with Bilsor.
“Bilsor, what do you think we should do? Should we cross the strait or continue along the coast westwards?”
“It looks pretty wide. At least thirty kilometres. We would need to spend over an hour on open sea at best. There is no telling what kind of creatures might attack us. We haven't seen any since the one on the first day, but just because we didn’t see any doesn’t mean there aren’t any.” Said Bilsor after some thought.
“So you recommend continuing westwards?”
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
“Yes, leader. We can cross the strait in the future after we know more about the local sea and its inhabitants.”
“Well my decision is we cross the strait and go further south. Going south should mean civilisation and maybe if we are lucky less giant see monsters as well. I leave the navigation to you, Bilsor.” Ordered Jack. After that Jack went to the front of the ship, where Ragna was on the lookout for surfacing sea monsters.
Ragna welcomed him by her side with a nod but didn’t start a conversation. Which suited Jack tremendously. ‘I hope I don’t lead us to our deaths by crossing that strait. I mean we should be fine. Even if there are sea monsters, they should not be interested in a floating piece of wood crossing their waters.’
Crossing the strait Wass surprisingly peaceful. While they did not meet any hostile sea creatures, they did see some peaceful whales. One of them came so close to the boat that Bilsor offered to hunt it with the harpoon. Jack said no, just because he was still influenced from his past life, where whales were endangered by whale hunting. After the strait they followed the coastline.
And then at dusk Jack finally saw the first sign of civilisation. On a steep cliff near the coast was an old castle. It was small, almost like an outpost than a real medical castle. Its size reminded Jack of his own first starter village that he had left behind. And down at the gravel beach were five tall knights seemingly waiting for them. The five of them were clearly well equipped with black full plate armour and an assortment of weapons and shields. Their leader, visible by standing in front of the other four knights, had one big battle hammer. Given the colour of the armour it wasn’t steel. ‘Maybe the armour was magic steel? Or just painted?’ Jack immediately went to the stern and told Bilsor “ If possible get us within earshot of those knights over there. But make sure they can’t reach us in case they mean us harm. I don’t want to lose any more of our tribe.” Again Jack started to think he got the hang of being a leader and felt like a real chief of the tribe.
As they got within earshot Jack asked the most important questions first, “ Are you a fellow earthling? Can you understand English?” ‘Please say yes, please say yes… I need to hear the voice of a fellow human.’
The leader of the knights answered with most beautiful word of all: “ Yes, I was human like you. But as you can see by your appearance we are no humans anymore. Now tell me whats your name? Mine’s Thomas.”
It was then that Jack saw how massive the knights equipment was. The battle hammer should have weight at least fifty kilos with the dimensions it had. Furthermore the whole plate armour they wore should also weigh quite a bit,
Jack shouted back, “My name is Jack. Nice to meet you. Can you answer some questions for me? I spawned in the north and I have almost no idea whatsoever where we are and what happened to us.” “Sure I can, but only after you answer my question. Which faction do you belong to?”
‘I hope he is just wary of members of the light faction. Looking at him and his buddies he should be a member of the dark faction. And I know those two are in at war with each other.’ Jack thought and yelled back “I belong to the neutrals. There is no animosity between us. Maybe we can even trade? I have a lot of seafood and fish on my boat. We can trade for some weapons.”
“No trade! We don’t need any more food. And I will only tell you this once. Be wary of strangers. Members of the light or dark faction can kill each other and there is a chance for an extra page to appear in the book of the leader. I have no idea if that also works with members of the neutral faction. So just as a precaution be cautious with strangers until you are sure they won’t attack you. “
“ Okay but I have other questions. How can you understand members of your tribe? Can you lose your book? Do people that chose beasts also have books that generate members of their pack? Was or is there a civilisation in this world before we came?”
The dark knight thought for a bit and then said, “As far as I know only the leader can understand their own tribe. Others can’t. Then about the beasts… I have never met a group of beast under the control of a soul traveler like us. And yes I call people like us soul travellers. I saw some hints for civilisation on an expedition I organised yesterday to the south but I haven’t met any live ones, so I don’t know if they are still alive."