Explorer of the Endless Sea

by Jack Campbell

  No one moved or said anything.

  Jules stood on the quarterdeck, momentarily unable in her distress to say anything else.

  “Captain Jules,” Keli said, his voice finally breaking the unnatural silence that had once again enveloped the ship. “Why is your heart so set on this? Can you tell us that?”

  “I made a promise,” Jules said, hearing her voice crack on the last word. “I made a promise to Captain Mak.” Did she finally see a reaction then? The members of the crew looking at each other? “You know why we came west. I told you. To find new lands, to build new cities as homes for commons like us where we can live as free as the Great Guilds permit. To help the commons grow strong, strong enough to stand against the Empire, and strong enough to overthrow the Great Guilds when the daughter of my line comes to lead them.”

  Jules had to pause, steadying herself. “With his last breaths…Captain Mak…asked me to promise to make that happen. He asked me to promise to make that happen for all of you, for all the common folk. I promised Captain Mak that I would do it, and that I would do it for him. And I will, to my last breath. That is why I must keep on west. For us, for all who will come after us, and for Captain Mak. Even for that daughter of my line who has made a wreck of my life. Even for her I have to do this. I made a promise. And I keep my promises.”

  Silence again answered her. Shaking her head, her heart feeling as heavy as a stone, Jules managed to speak again. “Will you not at the least put a line over the side for me? No? Then I’ll do it myself.”

  She walked toward the ladder down to the deck, the sound of her boots on the wooden deck loud in the silence that once again engulfed the ship.

  But as she reached the head of the ladder another voice rang out. “I call for a vote of the crew!”

  Startled, Jules stopped walking, looking to where Cori still stood near the mainmast. “I call for a vote,” Cori repeated, her voice carrying clearly, emotion trembling along each word. “I call for a vote of the crew, to follow Captain Jules into the west, and to the ends of the world and beyond if she asks it of us! Because she would brave those waters for us, and we should brave them for her!”

  “I call the vote!” Ang shouted, not waiting for any questions or debate.

  Jules stood, stunned, as Cori shoved her fist into the air. “Aye!”

  Ang, Liv, Gord and Keli also raised their fists. “Aye!”

  And as if that had been a great wind to fill a sail, suddenly every hand of every other sailor in the crew shot upwards and their voices rang out loudly enough to roll to the unseen land to the south and echo back to the ship as if a giant called to them through the mist. “AYE!”

  Jules had to grab onto the quarterdeck railing for support again. She realized the wetness on her face was no longer only that of the mist, but also of tears. She wiped the tears away, trying to find her composure. “A fine crew you are,” Jules finally managed to say, her voice shaking. “You get me all worked up, and then you go and change your minds. You’re a terrible lot. Each and every one of you. And I’ve never been prouder to be your captain. We’ll wait here until the fog lifts enough to see a safe distance ahead. Until then, get on with your work, and…and…” She shook her head at them. “Thank you.”

  Jules turned to see Ang and Liv smiling at her, and went down on deck as Cori ran to the foot of the quarterdeck and stopped before her. “Captain—” Cori began, looking as if she’d begun crying as well. “I’m…I…”

  Jules extended her open hand toward Cori. “Peace, girl. You spoke your heart. Both times. Nothing lies between us.”

  “Thank you, Captain!” Cori said. With a grin, she ran back forward.

  Jules realized that Keli was standing beside her. “What is it you want, you old shark?”

  Keli smiled. “I was thinking what a shame it was. Perhaps the best moment you’ll ever have, and so few to witness it.”

  “I meant every word,” Jules said.

  “We knew that. We could feel the truth in your words. You weren’t telling us what we wanted to hear. You were speaking from your heart, and offering all you are in service to our future even after we’d rejected you.” Keli looked upward at the swirling mist. “I hope that, wherever he is, Captain Mak was able to see and hear you just then. Because he’d be that proud of you right now.”

  Her vision blurred as her eyes filled with tears again. “What kind of healer are you?” Jules demanded, blinking furiously. “You’re supposed to make people feel better but here you have me crying like a baby. Isn’t there some work you should be doing somewhere else?”

  Keli just grinned and strolled off along the deck.

  Jules looked ahead, pretending to watch the activity on deck and in the rigging, but her thoughts were elsewhere, wondering if Captain Mak somehow could still know what was happening in this world. I hope I am making you proud, father of my heart. I will never stop trying.

  As if in answer to her words, a slight breeze came up and the waves began murmuring along the hull as if calling to the Sun Queen. The fog began thinning as the wind freshened, the bowsprit coming into sight from the quarterdeck.

  Ang called from near the helm. “The wind’s coming out of the northeast! It’ll push us west easily!”

  And the crew cheered while Jules felt the wind on her face and marveled at how the world could change so quickly.

  Liv came up to her, wearing a shame-faced smile. “That weather wasn’t a warning. It was a test. The sea wanted to know if we deserved to learn her secrets. You had the right of it all along. I won’t question you again.”

  Jules laughed. “Don’t you dare promise that! Don’t you dare, Liv! I need you second-guessing me, and making me rethink what I’m sure of. Keep doing that.”

  “Is that an order, Captain?”

  “Yes, that’s an order, my friend.”

  The fog didn’t dissipate, but it continued to lift until they could see for a few hundred lances all around. The crew went to the windlass to lift the anchor, and up into the rigging to set the mainsail. The Sun Queen caught the wind and began moving west again, and if any of the crew still harbored fears they gave no sign of it.

  Jules stood on the quarterdeck, wondering what they would see when the fog finally lifted, and whether the crew’s mood would last if the weather turned against them again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The Sun Queen continued west through the rest of the day, occasional rain showers punctuating the mists that seemed to be a permanent aspect of this area of the Sea of Bakre. Sometimes the mists would lift enough for the ship to put on more sail, other times they’d close in again and sail would have to be taken in. Jules guessed that the crew in their current mood would’ve let her go faster at times, but she resolved not to take advantage of that. Sometimes it was necessary to dive right into something, but there were also times when caution made sense. Not knowing what was ahead made this a time when wisdom called for care.

  The wind also played games through the day, veering a bit, now more from the north, then more from the east, suddenly gusting slightly or suddenly dropping off, but overall remained congenial. The crew took that as a good sign and worked the sails with a cheer that had been lacking since they left Dor’s.

  As the fading light warned of sunset occurring somewhere beyond the clouds and fog, Jules sought for a decent place to drop anchor. The land occasionally visible when the fog lifted enough showed that the cliffline had turned a bit to the north again. Not much, still mostly trending to the west, but a bit. Were they nearing the western end of the sea? The depth of the water as measured by the sounding line had stayed fairly steady, so there wasn’t any trouble locating a good anchorage.

  Jules went to the bow, looking into the mist as the light faded, listening intently for any sounds beyond the rippling of the water around the hull.

  “Nothing,” Marta said from nearby, her mood very different from the night before. “I don’t know if the fog is thickening again or if we’re just losing visibi
lity as the sun goes down, but right now you can’t see what’s ahead much past the bowsprit.”

  “Have you heard any surf?” Jules asked. “Any sounds of breaking water?”

  “No. Lots of seagulls out there yelling at each other. There must be a lot of fish in these waters. But when the gulls shut up it’s just quiet. That’s odd, isn’t it? Aren’t those reefs supposed to be just ahead? Yet the swells roll on with no sign they’re hitting anything.”

  Jules leaned out a little further, knowing that wouldn’t help but still straining her eyes. “If our chart was right, we’d already be a ways into those reefs. We’d have hit them yesterday.”

  “If the map was right,” Ang said, coming up to stand with them, “I think we’d be anchored in that wasteland instead of riding on water. I can’t be sure because we can’t get a decent position with the sun and stars hidden, but that’s what I think.”

  Jules looked to port, where the nearest land once again was hidden by mist. “Do you have any feel for what the land is doing? Do you think it’s going to turn north on us soon?”

  “It’s hard to judge, Cap’n,” Ang said. “But if you ask what my gut feels, it says the waters ahead are clear for a ways at least. It feels…open,” he said, waving vaguely forward.

  “Let’s try something,” Marta said, holding up a piece of scrap wood. She tossed it out into the water just to starboard where they could see it.

  Jules spotted the small splash, watching the wood. “It’s…moving east.”

  “Pretty fast,” Ang said as the piece of wood disappeared into the fog. “There’s a strong current on the surface.”

  Marta nodded, looking down at the water. “There’s a strong current running from the southwest, I think. I noticed we didn’t seem to making as much headway, and look how the anchor cable is tending.”

  “The ship is being pushed east,” Jules said. “A strong current from the west. Where’s a strong current from the west coming from?”

  “Fisherfolk find deep currents sometimes,” Ang said. “Well beneath the water. They lower their nets deep and find their boat being tugged along. Maybe that’s what’s happening here. A strong, deep current from the east, hitting a shore ahead and rising to the surface to be pushed back from the west.”

  “Maybe.” Jules shook her head. “But wouldn’t even a strong current lose a lot of force when it hit the coast and rose to the surface?” She stared around into the mist. “You know what it puts me in mind of? A great river reaching the sea, like where the Ospren River lets out in the Sea of Bakre.”

  “It’s sort of like that at Western Port,” Marta said. “And at Dor’s. But not this strong this far from land.”

  “What comes from a river is fresh water,” Ang said. “If it’s that, could we tell the waters here weren’t as salty?”

  “We’ll give it a taste in the morning,” Jules said. “Could we have entered a river without knowing it? One so wide we couldn’t see the other side in this muck?”

  “Those are ocean swells marching past,” Marta said. “I never seen the like of that on a river.”

  “True.” Jules shook her head. “That chart is worthless. Can we agree on that now? I wonder if those reefs even exist?”

  “We’ll still go carefully in the morning, won’t we?” Ang said.

  “Of course we will. We didn’t come this far to blunder into trouble.”

  * * *

  Fog still billowed around the Sun Queen as she got underway the next morning, finding her way ahead slowly in the limited visibility.

  A taste of the water that morning produced quick agreement that the salt was as strong as ever. Whatever was producing that current from the west, it wasn’t a source of lots of fresh water.

  The fog thinned some more, the ship putting on more sail, surging ahead as if eager to find what lay ahead. Winged shapes would flash briefly into sight as seagulls flew past close enough to be seen. The rest of the time the raucous cries of the gulls formed a constant background. Jules wished the birds would shut up so that any sounds of surf could be heard.

  The fog shredded away to the south and the land in that direction came into view, producing startled reactions from everyone. “We’ve rounded a cape!” Liv said. “Look at the land heading south!”

  “It might be one side of a large bay,” Ang cautioned. “South beyond it a little ways the shore could curve back quickly.”

  “Take us a little closer to shore,” Jules ordered. “Keep us at least a thousand lances clear of it.”

  “Aye, Cap’n.”

  But as midmorning approached the coastline to port kept dropping off to the south. “If we’re going to keep it in sight, we’ll need to come farther to port,” Ang said.

  “Keep on this course a little longer,” Jules said. Visibility in every direction but south was still limited by the fog. The wind, becoming more lively as the sun rose beyond the fog, was still coming from north of east. “Hey, Liv, how far inland are we now, according to that chart?” Jules asked.

  “Thousands and thousands of lances,” Liv said. “Only it doesn’t show the land dropping off to the south like that. It should’ve long since come hard to the north and formed a barrier that way. You know that skull on the chart? The one on the land that warns of no water?”

  “Yeah,” Jules said. “What about it?”

  “It’s just a guess,” Liv said, “but I think we’re about where that skull is on the chart.”

  “There seems to be a lot of water about,” Ang said.

  “Yeah,” Jules repeated. “Someone forgot to tell all of those seagulls that there isn’t any water here.” She stepped up onto the rail, holding onto a shroud line, gazing to the west. “Come on then,” Jules called into the fog. “You’ve had your fun, but we’ve had enough of you! Go trouble some other waters and let us see what lies about us!”

  As if responding to her words, the breeze immediately began to freshen, and the fog began shredding.

  “You’re a scary one, sometimes,” Liv said to Jules.

  “I didn’t actually make that happen,” Jules said. She stared to the west as the fog blew away, scattered scraps of white mist fleeing to the northeast. “There’s land. Running about north/south, isn’t it?”

  “That’s no wasteland,” Liv said. “You can see the green on it from here.”

  Jules looked to the south, seeing open water ahead. “Bring us to port, Ang. Stay even with the coast to port. Let’s see how far south this runs.”

  The crew were gathered on deck, some climbing into the rigging to look to the west where hills reared up above the sea. “Trees!” old Kurt called from the maintop. “Lots of trees! There must be good soil there as well as water!”

  Keli walked up, gazing across the water. “So, you were right it seems.”

  “I spent my time imagining good things ahead,” Jules said. “Instead of monsters.”

  The wind grew in strength again, the Sun Queen leaping forward. Even though a little fog still lingered, Jules had all sails set, her heart bounding the way the ship did across the waves. “How does it feel, Ang? To know we’re the first ship to sail these waters? To see this land?”

  Ang didn’t usually smile much, but a broad grin creased his face. “It feels very good, Cap’n.”

  “The land to port comes a bit west up ahead!” Kurt called down.

  “Steady on,” Jules told Ang. “Stay even with the coast until we see something off of our bow.”

  But though the land on both sides gradually closed in, a substantial gap remained ahead where only water could be seen.

  As the sun neared noon, the Sun Queen ran between a headland to the west and another to the east, and suddenly the land fell off on both sides.

  The ship had been filled with the buzz of excited conversation for most of the morning, but now a silence borne of awe fell across the deck.

  Jules stared ahead. Stared at an endless body of water running off to the horizon to the west and the south and the north. Lo
oking back, she could clearly see now that the Sun Queen had come through a strait separating two bodies of water. The strait, and the Sea of Bakre, were behind them. Ahead lay…

  “It’s another sea,” Liv said, her voice hushed.

  “Another sea,” Jules said. “The Sea of Bakre isn’t locked inside land. It opens into another sea. We’re not trapped. There’s an endless sea before us, a whole world beyond the Sea of Bakre, and we’ve found it!”

  She turned at the sound of laughter, seeing Ang pointing around. “Look, you pirates!” he called to the crew. “The far west, the new sea, and we’re the first to lay eyes on it because of Captain Jules!”

  “We should name it for her!” Cori yelled back. “She brought us here!”

  “Aye,” Ang said. “The Jules Sea! What say you all?”

  “Have I no voice in this?” Jules cried, embarrassed.

  “I call for a vote!” Cori said. “All in favor of the Jules Sea raise your hand and say aye!”

  The hands went up and the crew shouted aye and Jules had to look away for a moment as her chest filled with a happiness it had rarely known. “I can’t ignore a vote of the crew. If you lot insist on it, I guess we must call it the Jules Sea.”

  “We’ll see how the Great Guilds like that name on their charts!” Gord yelled.

  Jules looked toward the north, where the land ended in a cape, a feeling coming over her. “Liv, that headland to the north. Where would you say it is on that chart?”

  Liv squinted at the headland, then at the sun. “At a wild guess, about here I think,” she said, folding the chart so Jules could see.

  “That’s about…look!” Jules pointed at the chart, and then at the headland to the north. “If we’re about there, then what we’re seeing might be that, right?”

  “Might be,” Liv said cautiously.

  “It’s not Cap Astra like the chart says. It’s Cape Astra.” She jumped up onto the starboard rail, hanging onto the lower shrouds, staring to the north. We found it, Mak. There it is. Are you with me? Do you see it? We found Cape Astra.