The Lost Star's Sea

by C. Litka

  04

  Having the first watch, I was sitting on the now empty deck in the silence of the ever-evening, with my back against the forward bulkhead, when I heard a slow creaking sound from the deckhouse aft. I slid slightly over and peered around the deckhouse. The lakeside engine room door had been carefully swung open and one, then another figure, jumped down to the gravel, followed by three large backpacks, three springer rifles, followed by a third figure - Orn, Barn and Cookie. They carefully closed the door and started quietly crunching towards the stern of the barge. They hadn't seen me, so I slipped over to the far side and jumped down to the gravel, every bit as quietly as they had and silently slipped alongside the barge to meet them around back.

  They were trying to make like shadows, walking lightly and staying close to the hull and all gave a suppressed yelp when I whispered, 'Hi guys.'

  'Wilitang, you son of a stink-dragon, what are you doing sneaking about?' Orn managed to whisper, after he'd grabbed a breath.

  'I'm on watch, you know.'

  'You should be on the bridge.'

  'I was enjoying the evening air,' I replied. 'You fellows out for a breath of fresh air as well?'

  They glanced at each other and shrugged. There was no secret between the four of us as to what they were up to.

  'We're off to the hills to dig our fortune out of the ground,' replied Orn.

  'Mom know about your plans?'

  'Obviously she doesn't. Not unless you're planning to tell her.' said Barn.

  'You think it's wise?'

  'Listen, Wilitang. We know what we're doing. Cookie here has prospected for gold before. He knows the ropes...'

  'He's a cook and general hand aboard a little barge. Hardly a glowing endorsement for his success at it, no offense, Cookie.' But in truth he looked the part of an old prospector, so I added, 'I suppose you pissed it all away.'

  He grinned. 'I was younger back then, than I am now.'

  I smiled. 'But you're wiser now?'

  He laughed silently. 'Don't look like it, does it?'

  'Just listen. Barn and I were about town before we sailed, and we tracked down the Lormia brothers - them that made the big strike - at the best hotel in town. They were in their cups and while they didn't say just where they found their gold, they said enough for Barn and I to have a pretty good idea where their diggings was. We've been sailing over and around those hills all our lives. From what they said, I think we can march straight to their find and start prospecting right off, long before this crowd shows up. It's as close to a sure thing as you're likely to find in a strike like this...'

  'I doubt there's anything even close to a sure thing in a gold rush, but leaving that aside, what about Mom and the Shadow Bird? You could be making a fortune just by staying on.'

  'It ain't the same. It would be Ma's fortune, not ours. It's time we strike out for ourselves. You and Raya and ol'King can get the Shadow Bird back to Bindare, and Mom will have no trouble signing up a crew coming back this way,' Orn whispered urgently, adding, 'You weren't planning on running yourself, were you? You can come with us, if you want. Fifty, sixty rounds of digging, share and share alike and we'll all be rich. Ma could hardly kick if we all come back lugging great sacks of gold dust...'

  I had really thought about it, but it didn't appeal. 'Don't like the odds.'

  'You going to tell Mom?' asked Barn again.

  I thought about it for a moment and shook my head. 'No, I guess not. You're all grown up and I suspect will grow up a lot more before we see you again. As you say, we'll get by...'

  They all breathed a sigh of relief.

  'Thanks Wilitang. We left a letter for Mom, telling her what we're up to. We'll be back when we've got our gold and she can chew us out then.'

  'Right. Then be off with you. Good luck, and whatever you do, be careful, for your Mother's sake if not your own. I think things can get rather rough when gold's involved. Just get back alive, rich or poor.'

  'Aye,' nodded Cookie. 'We'll be canny. Very canny.'

  'Be very canny. Now off, before Raya comes on watch and we have to square it with someone else.' My actual fear was that KaRaya could be rather easily talked into going with them...

  We clasped wrists and I watched them troop up towards the dark buildings and disappear into the shadows before I walked back to the deck to await my relief.

  'So you let'em go,' said KaRaya sitting on the edge of the deck beside me, not too much later. 'I don't think Mom's going to be too happy with you.'

  'Seeing that we're the only reliable crew she's likely to find in the next sixty or seventy rounds, I'm not worried about that.'

  'Aye, there's that. You know, I think our value has gone up considerably as well...'

  'Our four coppers against her thousand silver pieces. Yah, I think so too. I'll let you bring that up with her. I'm sure you'll drive a harder bargain than I. And well, it's a bridge officer's affair.'

  'Aye, it is. Trust me, we'll be paid in silver now. And lots of it, too. A reliable crew is worth its weight in silver if you want to get your barge off the Chasm Lake beach.'

  'Not tempted to run off yourself?' she asked after we sat kicking our legs off the side of the barge for a while, thinking.

  'Not for gold.'

  'You got something against gold?'

  'I told you about my salvage of the gold ship, didn't I?'

  'I believe you did. A very exciting tale it was, too. Not that I ever believed it.'

  'Believe it or not, my share of the salvage would fill one of our flour barrows. And that was before my owner gave me 1/6th of the ship's share of the gold. I own enough gold back in the Unity that I doubt this old barge could lift it all.'

  'And here you are...'

  'And here I am. For all the good a barge load of gold did for me. You see why I'm not tempted to spend the next sixty rounds digging in muck and creek bed, only to risk being shot in the back by some ruthless claim jumpers?'

  'You have a point... Do you really own that much gold, Litang?'

  'Raya, my dear friend. I'm a very rich man back home. So rich, I don't really know how rich I am. And it hasn't done me a spit's worth of good. I'll settle for all the silver coins you can wring out of the Skipper, and be happy with them.'

  A shadow scurried down the ladder from the bridge and Hissi swung around us.

  'Hi Hissi. We're just talking... You're not off for gold are you?'

  She gave her little barking laugh and wagged the tip of her tail.

  'I figured you had more sense than that. Truth is, you and Raya here are far worth more to me than a whole barge load of gold.'

  'By the smoke of the Infernal Island, he's getting soppy sentimental now, isn't he?'

  Hissi laughed again.

  We sat around a while longer in the twilight, before I decided that if I was going to get any sleep at all in the next round, I'd best find my hammock.