The Vesper glided silently over the waves as she approached the darkened shape of an island that was silhouetted against the rising moon. The sounds of thundering surf filled Duglin’s ears as Tash turned the wheel to angle their ship towards a lantern on the shore. Soon, a beach appeared out of the gloom.
On the pilot’s order, the stern anchor was released. It landed with a splash, and Duglin used a gloved hand to help guide the rope out. Then came a gentle nudge as the Vesper’s keel struck sand. The boy grabbed onto a gunwale to steady himself as the ship’s momentum carried her further up the gently sloping beach before eventually coming to a stop.
“We’re aground, Skip,” she breathed.
“Very good,” Firch said. “Let’s see how bad it is.”
While the others lowered the Vesper’s rowboat into the water, Bardrick dropped a rope ladder over the side and gestured for Duglin to follow down onto the shore. They were joined by the Captain and Fultern, who was waiting with his lantern and together, they walked around the ship, coming to a halt at a large gash in the hull close to her port bow.
After examining it for a moment, Bardrick let out a long sigh. “It’s not as bad as I first thought. We’ll need to replace three planks.”
“If we can find seasoned planks in Jerning, can you complete the repairs while underway?” Firch asked.
The bear of a man shook his head slowly. “It’s possible, but better to get it done while we’re at least stationary to make sure it’s done right.”
Firch frowned. “How long will that take?”
Bardrick shrugged his massive shoulders. “A couple of hours, I’d wager.”
“And if we can’t find seasoned timber?” The Captain asked.
“It could save an hour, but it would leak before too long,” the carpenter warned.
“Whatever gets us underway quickly,” Firch said. “I have a feeling we’ll need to sail at full speed before long.”
“We won’t be able to without a new mainsail, Captain,” Marsel warned from the deck above them.
“I took a look at the mast, Captain,” Bardrick added. “It’s due for replacement as well. I wouldn’t recommend sailing at full speed until it's replaced.”
“We can’t afford the time,” Firch remarked. “But if we did find a replacement, could you fashion planks from the old one?”
“For the decking, sure,” Bardrick replied. “But not for the hull. The mast has been weakened and splintered from…”
“Alright, let’s go to the village and see what they have,” Firch said. “If they have what we need, can you fit it all on the launch?”
“Everything except a mast,” Bardrick frowned as he looked at the launch. “It’ll be awkward, but it should be doable.”
“Alright, you, the boy, Inder and I will be taking a trip into town,” Firch said. “The rest of you stay here and repair what you can with what we have.”
“Aw, why them?” Tash asked.
Firch looked up to see the rest of his crew looking over the side at them. “The rest of you have work to do.”
The Captain then turned to Fultern. “I’m leaving you in charge of the ship. There should be fresh water around a quarter mile inland. You can send Tash and the doctor to fill a few barrels. We’ll signal with a red flare if it’s safe to come, so keep a lookout. Meanwhile, keep an eye on our guests, and if we’re not back before dusk, bring Vesper and come looking for us.”
The swordsman nodded. “I must warn you that I don’t know how to command a ship.”
“Jerning is but two leagues away,” Firch said. “The crew will know what to do.”
“Alright,” Fultern agreed.
“So, is that the chain of command?” Tash asked. “Fultern is second mate?”
“He’s third, behind me,” Bardrick said.
“Fultern is second mate,” Firch said. “Marsel, I want you to do what you can to repair the sails.”
“Aye, Captain!” she called.
“I can’t help but feel my place is on the ship,” Inder remarked as he descended the ladder. “Are you sure it’s wise for both of us to go?”
“I’m not going to see Dernish alone,” Firch said.
Inder’s eyebrows shot up. “That old dog ended up on Jerning?”
Firch nodded. “He’s built quite the information network for himself in this area, or so I’m told.”
“I thought we were the only ones skulking out on the edge of civilization,” Inder said as he looked out towards the sea. “So, Dernish is here… it’ll be good to see him again.”
Firch chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not sure we’re thinking about the same person.”
“Well, I think of all of them fondly… except the Captain, Gods curse his soul,” Inder frowned. “Should I fetch something from your sideboard?”
Firch laughed and shook his head. “Gods no. We don’t want to encourage him, do we?”
“Should we bring weapons?” Bardrick asked.
“No, we’re not going in looking for a fight,” Firch replied.
“And yet…” Bardrick said, looking pointedly at the cutlass and pistol in his Captain’s belt.
“I’m only bringing these along because,” Firch began breezily as he rested a hand on each weapon. “These scallywags will steal anything that’s not nailed down if Inder and I aren’t on board.”
The small launch bobbed in the waves as Inder, Duglin, and Bardrick struggled to maintain her position. The Captain stood on the prow, riding the waves easily as he studied the darkened village in the distance with a spyglass.
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“Well, Captain?” Inder asked. “Any sign of them?”
“No,” Firch said. “No Imperial ship, but there appears to have been a fire on the western edge of the village.”
Inder frowned. “Could have just been an accident.”
“Could have been,” Firch agreed absently.
Inder looked to the east where the sun’s first rays had appeared over the horizon, staining the sky orange. “Last chance to leave, Captain. Someone’s going to see us before long.”
“We go in,” Firch said at length.
“What about the Imperial ship?” Bardrick asked. “Makes sense for them to stop by here after passing through the Maw. They might have left people behind.”
“Then we’ll keep a low profile,” Firch said. “Row slowly, we don’t want to arrive while it’s still dark. That will make us look suspicious.”
“We’ll look plenty suspicious arriving on a launch instead of a ship, Captain,” Inder pointed out as they began rowing towards the village.
“That much can’t be helped,” Firch said. “If Bardrick is right and there are Imperials in that port, the last thing we want to do is sail in with contraband in our holds.”
“Opposed to leaving them with an Imperial Agent on our ship,” Bardrick remarked.
“We’re making the best of a bad situation,” Firch said.
As the sun rose, so too did the temperature. Soon, the sun was beating down on the launch’s occupants. Firch was wearing his tricorne, while Inder and Bardrick found wide brimmed hats under their bench. As they donned them, Firch looked at Duglin.
“Where’s your hat?”
“I left it on the ship,” the boy said sheepishly. “Don’t worry, I can…”
“Oh for pity’s sake!” Bardrick cried.
“Oi!” Duglin gasped as the large man tore an end off his shirt.
“He’s doing you a favour lad,” Inder pointed out.
Bardrick draped the soaking scrap of cloth over Duglin’s head so that it was covering his neck and tied it in place with a length of string.
“There,” he said. “That will do for now.”
A crowd was waiting for them when the launch arrived on the beach fronting the village. Their eyes were wary, and they seemed content to keep their distance as the new arrivals drew nearer.
“We should have brought guns,” Bardrick growled as he eyed the villagers. Two carried makeshift spears while were armed with knives and hammers.
“Because they’re not wary of us enough as it is,” Inder scoffed.
When the launch bottomed, Inder, Firch, and Bardrick hopped out into the knee deep surf, leaving Duglin to haul their boat up the beach. The villagers watched impassively as they approached, and Firch raised his arms and looked over at Inder.
“Go on, greet the natives,” he whispered.
Inder’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and he pointed an incredulous finger at his own chest. “Me?”
Firch winked. “Something tells me they’ll respond to you better.”
Inder shook his head before turning to the crowd and forcing a smile. “Good morning, people of Jerning…”
The first mate looked helplessly at his Captain when the crowd continued to stare stonily at them. “Some help?”
“Inder Fley, as I live and breathe, is that really you?” a loud voice bellowed from the rear of the crowd.
Firch chuckled and shook his head as a stout, middle-aged man with a florid complexion barged his way to the front of the crowd.
“Gods above, it is!” he roared when he set eyes on Inder.
The first mate’s eyes widened in alarm as the ample bellied man lunged forward to embrace him in a bear hug.
“It’s good to see you!” the florid man exclaimed. “How many years has it been?”
“Five!” Inder gasped as he struggled to break free. “It’s been five years!”
Eventually, the man released Inder and grinned broadly. “So it has. So, what brings you to the arse end of nowhere? Are you chasing…”
“Dernish!” a thin man with a mop of white hair said sharply.
“Oh, this is an old shipmate, Sterval!” Dernish snapped. “Besides, he doesn’t need money, do you, Inder?”
“Well…” Inder began.
“Of course you don’t!” Dernish cried. “So, whose crew did you end up serving under? Wait, don’t tell me, you’re captaining your own crew now, aren’t you? Of course, you are!”
Firch stepped forward and pulled his tricorne off his head. “Well, as it happens, he’s my first mate.”
Dernish stared at the young Captain in confusion for a moment. Then, realization slowly crept across his face, and he broke into a broad smile.
“Firch Seager!” he exclaimed as he embraced the young man. “My how you’ve grown! You’re a captain now?”
He then whirled around at Inder. “And you’re working under him?”
Inder offered an embarrassed smile. “Well, a lot’s happened since we got back…”
“Come to my home, we can catch up there, away from prying ears!” Dernish said once he released Firch from his clutches.
“The whole village will hear every word anyway with that voice of yours,” the man called Sterval said as he walked up to Firch. “You’re the captain, so I assume you have a ship with more crew?’
Firch nodded carefully. “I do. They are close by.”
“We have a job for you,” he said. “Our town doesn’t have much, but we will spare you all that we can if you do it for us. Dernish can give you the details.”
“I’m afraid we’re a little pressed for time,” Firch said as Dernish and Sterval exchanged nods. “But I will hear him out.”
Sterval tugged the peak of his cap and nodded. “Much obliged.”
He then turned around to the other villagers and raised his arms. “Alright, nothing more to see here. Just some of Dernish’s old friends here to pay him a visit. Back to work everyone, there are fields to tend, nets to mend, houses to fix.”
“I know that tone, lad. You’re in a big old hurry,” Dernish observed once the villagers dispersed. “So, what brings you to my little corner of nowhere?”
“I have cannons to sell,” Firch said at once. “They’re Imperial, and stamped, so no one within their sphere of influence will touch them.”
“I take it they’re more than just marked,” Dernish remarked.
Firch nodded. “They’re long nines, the latest in Imperial technology. Anyone who has a passing knowledge of cannons will recognize them as such even if we file the markings off.”
Dernish nodded. “That’s a funny coincidence.”
"What is?” Firch asked.
“An Imperial frigate came by not two days ago,” Dernish said.
“The Nomad?” Inder asked.
Dernish’s eyes widened in surprise. “Yes, you’ve encountered them?”
“We saw them from a distance,” Firch said. “What are the Imperials doing in this neck of the woods?”
“They tracked some unminted silver back to our little village,” Dernish replied. “Wanted to know where we got it from.”
Firch arched an eyebrow. “Someone struck silver out here? That could get a lot of people killed. What were they thinking, sending it out unminted?”
Dernish scratched the back of his head. “See, that’s the thing. I happened to get my hands on an old Imperial die, but my boys can only strike so many at a time, so we use unminted coins to trade amongst the few islands in this little stretch of sea.”
“Someone slipped up,” Inder observed.
“Aye, I’m afraid so,” Dernish shook his head. “And now a coin has fallen into the worst possible hands.”
Bardrick frowned. “I don’t get it. Why does the Empire care about an undocumented mine that isn’t in their waters?”
Inder shook his head. “I fear it’s not the Empire that is concerned with the mine, it’s the commander of that vessel.”
“Is that the job?” Firch asked.
Dernish shook his head. “No, that’s the payment. The owners of that mine are about to get a visit from an Imperial commander wanting to claim it for himself. I’d wager they’re willing to pay handsomely for the latest Imperial cannons to defend their claim. Help us with our problem, and I’ll tell you where they are. Hells, I’ll even strike whatever silver he pays you into bonafide Imperial currency if you help us.”
“Hold on,” Inder said, holding up a hand. “One of your people told this Imperial commander where the mine is?”
“That’s connected to our issue,” Dernish said. “The commander had a witch with him. He turned her on us, tried to have her probe our minds. She said she couldn’t, but he insisted. Poor Lindsel’s head blew up in front of the whole village. It was horrific, and Sterval told him where the mine was straight away.”
Duglin’s blood froze when he thought of the witch they had as a passenger. He glanced at Bardrick, who shot him a look telling him to stay quiet.
“Unfortunately, doing that drove the witch insane,” Dernish paused and gestured at the dense jungle further inland. “She burned down half our village before fleeing into the jungle. In the two nights since she went crazy, we’ve heard her cackling. No one’s had a wink of sleep. We fear she’ll come out at any moment to finish us off.”
“So you want us to go in there and kill her?” Inder asked.
“Kill her, capture her and get her off the island if you think you can,” Dernish said. “Whatever it takes.”
“How far away is this silver mine?” Firch asked. “Its location is no good to us if the Imperial commander is already there.”
“It’s in the Murkwater,” Dernish grinned. “Deep in the Murkwater. So deep that even we don’t have charts, only a vague description of how to get there. You can catch up with a two day head start easily.”
“It’s likely to be more than two days by the time we set out,” Firch pointed out.
Dernish slapped Firch on the back, causing the young man to wince. “You’ll find a way. Besides, they were limping. Must have come here through the Maw.”
Firch turned his gaze towards the jungle and nodded thoughtfully.
“So, will you take the job?” Dernish asked hopefully.
“I’ll have to consult the rest of my crew.”