Chapter 26: Bigger Boat…

To be honest, I’m not one for traveling by boat, much less a squalid one like a Pinnace. Back in my day, the company I was with had expensive taste and a significant portion of the money they earned from teaching the next generation of rulers was spent on increasing extravagant ships to vacation around in the seas.

Galleys rivaling cityscapes with sails flying high worked by crews of a hundred artisans and sailors. Rooms ladder with marvelous glass cups and silver dishes. All of those ships were stocked with so much medicine, food, and fresh water that you could stay there for months without docking for supplies. To put it bluntly, it was awesome.

Of course, the good old passtime of spitting on people poorer than you and abusing staff that need money. Now that’s a quality vacation!

Nonetheless, I couldn’t summon the appreciation of nautical adventures. Having my two feet on the ground was all I wanted during those trips. Admittedly, I took up hobbies to distract from the fact that I couldn’t swim. Fishing was one of those efforts, since it got me prestige from my companions.

But I doubt that Amir was fishing for any respect. The Tripol stationed his fishing pole at the front most edge of the ship, right next to the second sail of the ship. Bolato beside him studied a book.

All Amir could tell was that the page he was reading had drawings of various knots and how to tie them. He went on a boat once but never gave the system of sailing much thought.

Nevertheless, Amir was glad that other people would be taking care of the upkeep of the ship.

“What-what knot am I supposed to use Bolato? They all look the same!” Vega asked loudly, holding onto the ship’s rigging. Of plush hemp, the rigging was… there is no other way of saying so I’ll be direct, too thin to support Bolato’s weight. Employing the scarecrow was his means of getting his hands dirty.

“Its the clove! Tie it onto the post so it's secure.” Bolato responded, not lifting his head from the book. Amir understood the focus needed to read, especially for people that knew little of the craft.

Momentarily Amir wished to instruct the soldier, guiding his reading while making sure he didn’t stray too far from the text’s meaning. But he naturally realized that he couldn’t, even with Valiato’s help.

The Tripol had a poor relationship with teaching Iozians to say the least. Amir thought of the culture’s backwards attitude to learning and growth. How fast men were to say they were master’s in their fields despite being the age of twenty. In addition, Amir knew the gap between the Iozians and Tripolian in the amount of schools in the particular lands.

Although conjuring up a statistic as old as him, for every hundred miles in Iozia, there was one school. In Tripolian lands whether be a river valley or a rocky region, the average was five schools for every hundred miles.

Blowing hard through his nose, Amir felt a twinge of national pride, but that dissipated in the next second. No matter how many schools there were, education and particularly related to reading was for the upper class. Exclusivity is a hallmark for rich society, the same with who knows how to read text, Amir knew.

“Alright! All done-done. Anything else?” Vega slid down the rope, landing in a split behind Bolato. He took a long breath, Bolato hadn’t heard her. “Anything… else to do?” Vega threw the book Bolato gave her and without looking grabbed it in his open hand.

“Yeah. Det gave us plenty of equipment, but he couldn’t give us too many rations.” Bolato closed the book, leaving a note inside.

“Okay, is that bad?” Vega said, lifting her head up with her two hands.

“Sort of.” Bolato laughed, thinking that Vega understood the problem. She blinked, not having a clue of the issue. “I see… the thing is that we need to feed the centuries. Those big bugs need a lot of fodder to keep them happy. If we don’t, then we have two mad war centuries that can bite through wood.” Bolato spoke nonchalantly, he had dealt with similar problems back in training.

“I’ve seen a century snap a goat in half-half before. It was so cool, and there blood everywhere!” Vega enjoyed the memory of the family of centuries, and relayed the story with a bit grim description.

“Right…” Bolato could only offer that as a response.

Amir could tell that the conversation was now approaching himself and what he needed to do. He preemptively sighed and walked over to the two.

“Good news is that there’s an island where we can stop, pick up some grub, and rest. Bad news is that we have a couple days to get there. Vega, help Amir catch his fish and we’ll be right as rain.” Bolato translated it to Amir by signaling his arm in a wave and pointing at Vega. He sent her off, now moving towards his and Skaldi’s room.

“~Great.~” Amir called out to the sea, hoping some miracle would take her away. But the spirits didn’t favor him, so he had to come to terms with the scarecrow.

“Fishies! Hold on, let me get a pole!” Vega ran into the storage room and five seconds later was holding one. The scarecrow stopped for a moment, her face showed that she had forgotten something.

“Dang. I need some bait-bait. Kaliba? Any ideas?” The bird threw up some of the chicken he ate the day before.

“Thanks buddy!” She said, sticking the refuse on the hook. Pulling back and then sending the hook, far into the horizon spanning lake before her.

Fog ghosted around the ship with the sun veiled by clouds. The elf balanced the knife between his fingers, a target board in front of him. Stabbed with only four daggers, Skaldi twitched with fervent anger. The rest of them were on the floor, unburied corpses. The gray light coming from under the door to his room made shadow flowers for these victims. All failed to hit their mark.

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The sudden opening of the door broke what little temperance he had, sending the knife into the graveyard of the floor. Having to turn his whole head, Skaldi cursed himself for being so vulnerable. For being so weak. Insecurity would have taken hold, but Bolato approached.

The soldier didn’t need an answer, for he saw the pain within the elf. Coming close, he wrapped his arms around Skaldi, kissing his forehead as he embraced him.

“It’s okay.” He sweetly told Skaldi. Breathing deep, Skaldi’s head fell onto Bolato’s breast.

“Thanks.” Skaldi said, sniffing for a second. The elf tapped the arm of him, wanting to be let go. Bolato compiled with him, letting his arms fall to grab his hands.

“Being alone isn’t going to do you much good.”

“Yeah, yeah. So you want me to do some work to keep it off my mind?” Skaldi lips curled, placing his hands on his hips. His voice was somber, unreleasing of his loss, but a weight had been lifted.

“That’s the idea.” Bolato confirmed, leading Skaldi to the sight of the fishing Vega and Amir. Day didn’t break through the fog, so the pair looked unclear, like an oily reflection. Surprisingly, Amir was the one to wave him over since Vega had been intently focused on the pole she was holding.

“Mind giving them a hand?” Bolato asked.

“What can I do? Unless you get a trident and tie me to a rope, I’m not so good with fish.” Skaldi replied, leaning his head forward over the balcony.

“Well, I remembered that you were collecting recipes when we were back in Core Civitus. That got me thinking, you once said that you had a recipe for bait.” Bolato explained.

“Huh, you actually remember that better than I do.”

“Can you make it?”

“No worries. I prepared before we went on the boat, I just didn’t think we’d need to use it so soon.” Skaldi opened up his pack and pulled out a jar the size of his thumb. The soldier lifting both of pinky fingers to Amir’s eyes, the Tripol received the signal and handed over his fishing pole. Popping off the cap of the jar, Skaldi poured a purple liquid onto the hook.

“This here is Fishermen’s tongue. Smells like death but it sure brings in a harvest.” Skaldi shook the jar in front of Amir, who coughed in agreement. He had forgotten the elf’s interest in learning. Sure it was only for practical purposes rather than liking knowledge gained, but he was certainly different than most Iozians. Mostly.

“~Not bad.~” Skaldi snickered at Amir’s response, knowing it was a suspended praise.

“What about you scarecrow? Bet this will blow ya mind? Hehe…” Putting his hand on his mouth, Skaldi mocked her speech.

The scarecrow’s eyes welled up, her scribbled pupil growing larger. Her eyes fired open, gazing far below the sea.

It was the voice again.

The rest of the men waited for her to give a whacky retort, but no. Vega was out of it, Skaldi thought.

“Huh. Well here you go Amir.” Skaldi handed back the pole, with Amir casting the line swiftly after. Not even a second after the hook met the water, the line got tugged. Amir flew forward, with an incredible force lifting him off his feet. Bolato held on to him, trying to make sure he wouldn’t fall off the ship.

“Whoa! Holy shit!” Bolato blurted out.

“God damn, I didn’t think that it would be that good! Hold on!” Skaldi leapt and scrambled to grab Amir’s fishing rod.

“~What is this crap? Fish drugs?!~” Amir wrenched the pole to his stomach where both Bolato and Skaldi gripped onto.

“Florato! Need some help! We got a big one!” Bolato yelled, laughing as he did. The three men squatted down, using the ground to stabilize their position. The steel string spiraled around, making an awful scraping noise.

Without them paying attention, Vega climbed to the top of the rigging, stepping atop the flagpole. Running up from the lower deck, the actress stood there in awe, flabbergasted at the scene. Skaldi teeth clattered as purple grew on his forehead, Bolato’s laughter increased in pitch maddeningly. And Amir’s furious eyes burned lines of hate at her.

“~Help me reel this in!~” He commanded with passion. Wordlessly, Florato wrenched the reel as the rest of the men held the handle.

“Everyone pull!” Bolato screamed, this battle with the fish below ignited a fire in him. Skaldi’s worried rested on his face.

“How the hell are you having fun?! It’s like we’re being ripped at the wrists with this thing!” The elf groaned out. The team groaned while balancing their center to ensure the pole wouldn’t be yanked into the sea. On occasion they’d all be pulled forward, with their feet scratching the floor and nearly being dragged off the boat.

Vega high above them saw the Thakian Sea in all of its mystery. Fog grew like smoke from a forest fire. Grinning ear to ear and preparing to jump, Vega felt something. A texture in her hands she could only describe as close to determination.

“This is my moment.”

The scarecrow dove in the lake.

Each person’s jaw fell with their eyes widened both in shock and awe.

“Is… she gonna be okay?” Florato asked with her heart in her mouth.

“No-no.” Kaliba answered, soaring just where Vega had disappeared. The fishing line moved for a bit more, stuttering and jumping.

Amir loosened his hands a bit, relaxing his posture and standing up. Everyone else’s expression stiffened like dried paint, however Amir loosened himself.

“~Huh.~”

This was a new feeling.

Bubbles popped out of the waves, along with a strand of hay. Splashing back into the air, Vega’s hand wiggled and gave a thumbs up. The soldier climbed over and scaled down the ship’s ladder. Reaching to the hand, Bolato heaved Vega where her head was visible. It had been quite awhile since Bolato had been this excited. Not even the roaring crowds of the Concert of Combat got this much energy out of him.

“We got-got a cool thing!” Soaked in greenish residue, Vega smiled up. Bolato put his hand over the shoulder of the scarecrow.

“Ho-whee!” The soldier yelped out, sending Skaldi’s ears in brief shock. Even when he was being incredibly goofy, Skaldi couldn’t help but catch Bolato's joy. Florato squinted at Amir who could only offer a cough.

“At least it got the blood flowing.” She chuckled out.

Both of them walked to the side of the ship, finally reeling the prize in.

Skaldi breathed in, brushed his hair using his thumb. His calm returned. When he was fighting with them all, using all of his might and they all put their efforts together, he hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t seeing normal.

He didn’t wince at the bruises across his face whenever he talked or raised a brow. All of it went away.

The struggle took away all suffering that didn’t exist in that moment. Bolato did all of that, they did all of that.

The scarecrow was there too I guess. He shook his head and squeezed his cheeks together, trying to forget that caveat.

“Whatever. Bolato, what did we get?” Skaldi hopped beside Amir. Throwing a heaping body over, Bolato plopped it before all of them. Smelling like fish, but with a mixture of perfume. Florato’s hand covered her mouth, concerned at the catch.

Amir’s hand went to his pack, flipping through his journal, taking glances to confirm what he was seeing was actually happening. Skaldi’s hands went to brush his hand, swiping beads of sweat every time. Vega and Bolato hands went into fists, shaking in excitement.

“~Ari, what are you guys screaming about? I’m trying to go to…” Valiato opened her room’s door, holding her toy pony. She stopped as she saw a being utterly terrifying to comprehend.

“What is that?” Valiato queried, with her face going a flushed purple. No one answered. Well, no one except Vega.

“It’s a mermaid!”

Valiato upon hearing her, fainted and face planted on the deck.