Stemming the Tide

by Rosie Scott

  Koby sighed. “All right. Deliver the message to Vallen, then. We'll clean up here and head west when we can.”

  I continued resting beneath the protective blanket as I listened to Jaecar transform nearby. I opened my eyes. Koby must have been the one to cover me with the blanket, because he threw it over my face to protect even my eyes from the sun. Most surface-dwellers didn't take such precautions against the sun even though its light could hurt the weakest eyes.

  Shadows danced across the fabric as I continued to be lazy, caving into the demands of my traumatized body. My back, legs, and arms throbbed so profusely it seemed the beach vibrated. I watched Jaecar's form bulk up and the shadows of his arms thicken out to become bat wings. When he finished his transformation, he ascended into the air and flew off to deliver news to Vallen in the west.

  Finally, I tugged the blanket down from my face a few inches at a time. The day was so bright it clashed heavily with the morose mood of our catastrophe. Under blue skies that harbored layered fluffy white clouds, my crew worked together to salvage our cargo from the Shaft Raft, which continued to sink along the near shoreline. Sage's immense strength once again proved to be helpful to us; the crates he carried out by himself sometimes needed two others to take them inland from the shoreline. Though he didn't say a word, he worked tirelessly and without taking a break. Every once in a while between trips, however, he would reach over and massage his right arm like he tried to wake it from rest. I wasn't the only one the lack of ferris took a toll on.

  “Good afternoon,” Koby greeted to my right. I glanced over to find him brewing a syrupy concoction utilizing a mortar and pestle and a few bottles with varied levels of contents. While hiding in the shadow of his hood, his superior eyes flicked up to mine as he stirred.

  “Is it afternoon?”

  “The sun reached the center of the sky almost three hours ago. You've slept for half a day.”

  I went to sit up, only for a pinched nerve to shoot prickling pain from my upper back through my arms. I grimaced and laid back. “I'm sorry.”

  “Don't apologize, Cal. You needed it.”

  “How's your throat?” I asked.

  “Feels like I swallowed sand,” Koby replied. “Neliah and a few others have sore throats, too. I'm hoping this will help.” He nodded toward his creation.

  I said nothing. Thoughts of nearly losing him assaulted me. I tried to discourage them by remembering how I'd saved him and Neliah, but my agony convinced me to cling to the negative.

  Koby went on, “I sent Jaecar to deliver a message to Vallen—”

  “I heard.”

  “Oh.” Koby sensed my turmoil and suggested, “I'll make you a potion next. Siren blood will help with any neurological pain. That's if I can harvest enough of it from that gory mess you left all over the beach.” He laughed softly with uncertainty.

  “It can't help everything, though,” I murmured in introspection. “I have little recollection of fighting the sirens.”

  Though I averted my gaze, I heard Koby's stirring come to a stop. “You don't remember doing it?”

  “I remember running after them. Feeling this burning anger in my chest. Flashes of red and the stench of intestines. But there's nothing between. I don't remember being there or doing it.” I cursed and rambled, “That doesn't make any sense.”

  “No—it does,” Koby assured me, concern tinging his voice. “Maybe you just blanked out, Cal. Maybe the pain and the rage and everything just got to you. You haven't had ferris for weeks—”

  “That doesn't scare you?” I pondered aloud. “It doesn't bother you that if I go too long without getting high, I can commit acts of violence without remembering them?”

  There was a long hesitation. “Yes, it scares me,” Koby finally admitted, keeping his voice low. “But what else can we do? We know ferris works better than anything else. You've never gotten like this before. We just need to ration ferris better in the future so this doesn't happen again. We'll get some for you in Tenesea and you'll feel better.”

  I couldn't tell if Koby's optimism overshadowed his reasoning, but his reassurances comforted me nonetheless. Yet again, we were without a ship. Cale's head-start grew ever greater. Our shipment of cargo was less impressive than intended, and now we had to transport it across harsh broken land. Right now, the last thing I needed to worry about was whether I had to rely on drugs to keep from losing my mind.

  Six

  It took two days to retrieve our cargo and belongings from the sinking Shaft Raft. By the time we hauled it across the deserted island, a week had passed. The caravel finally disappeared underwater while we struggled with transporting goods across the strip of ocean between the Western Isles and the mainland, utilizing rowboats and a hefty dose of patience. Even worse, all the heavy lifting made me and Sage more physically miserable. Given Sage's quietude, this only manifested in his grimaces of pain and looks of overwhelmed anguish, though there were two days his arm went numb and he couldn't help at all. Because the pain made me irritable, I became anti-social to avoid taking it out on anyone. Thankfully, our sailors recognized this after learning my mood swings and gave me a wide berth.

  Jaecar returned a fortnight after he left while we were still working on moving goods from the island to the mainland. As he fluttered toward us through the swampy western skyline while carrying a full knapsack from one clawed foot, I realized just how large he was in bat form. While with us, he'd only fought as his blood-kin once during the chaotic battle with Cale in the deep of night, so he had been hard to see. But now under the sunlight, the bat-kin's wingspan was an imposing fifteen-feet. His wings carried his five-foot body without making a noise. His abundant dark gray fur matched the tone of his elven flesh except for the longer hair on his head, which darkened to black. Jaecar flitted over to the sands nearest me, dropping the knapsack by my feet. He landed some distance away to transform.

  Even crouching down to open the bag caused my lower back to scream for mercy, but my mood rapidly brightened once I saw its contents. Inside were bundles of rolling papers and stuffed canvas sacks that exuded the sweet herbal scent of ferris. On top of the stack was a written note:

  Hold tight. On our way!

  -Vallen

  I collapsed in a relieved heap then and there to start rolling cigarettes. When Sage met my gaze from across the beach, I jerked two fingers toward myself to call him over. His pained gaze relaxed as he noticed the ferris.

  “Vallen is a gift from the gods,” I announced happily, handing a lit cigarette to Sage as I puffed on another. The difference was night and day; the ferris floated to my brain after accepting the invitation from my lungs, calming and soothing mental and physical pains. The next time Sage and I shared a look of rapport, the quiet man smiled.

  We didn't wait for Vallen to come to us. With enough ferris in hand to last us until Tenesea, we doubled our efforts. After transporting all our cargo to the mainland, we headed west along the rivers breaking through the center of the wildlands. Hauling goods across sopping wet broken land was miserable, but at least we made progress.

  The sunset of the 11th of Red Moon was particularly beautiful. Not only did the bold and bright red glow of the setting sun bully the broken marsh canopies into submission until even the most colorless plant-life shimmered in warm hues, but the shadows of multiple people formed in the distance. Wading through the shallowest sections of the marsh with learned familiarity was Vallen, his sister Jayce, and a group of helpers.

  Vallen raised his muscular arms in a victory pose as he neared. With a grin so wide the setting sun reflected off his perfect teeth, he hollered, “At least you came back alive!”

  Koby worried about disappointing Vallen with our hardships, while I worried about not doing enough to pay him back for the aid he had given us when we first met. Yet, as Vallen closed in and opened his arms for a bear hug, he didn't seem to have a worry in the world.

  Vallen tugged me in for a quick hug and slapped me fondly on the back. This
time, I returned the gesture. When we pulled apart, he held me at arm's length and proclaimed, “Gods, you bastards just don't quit, do you?”

  His clear admiration of us stroked my ego, giving me a burst of much-needed pride after so many difficulties. After Vallen greeted the crew members he'd met like they were old friends and introduced himself to the others, we decided to camp for the night.

  Tents and belongings scattered over long grasses between pools of shallow standing water. To the south, the wall of gnarly trees parted for the southernmost great lake. Croaking frogs, chattering insects, and splashes of mysterious origins spiced the air. To the north, sprawling streams collected water from the marshes and took it east to the ocean, trying to relieve the wildlands of its aquatic burden.

  The broken land and sickly trees offered no resistance to the night skies as we built a fire and gathered around for a meal. The moon Eran hid tonight, leaving only its twinkling star companions to pulsate across the endless heavens.

  Vallen tugged a skewer of roasted beetle larvae from the fire. Just before he ripped off the top larva with his teeth, he wiggled his eyebrows and asked, “Did you find Astred?”

  “Found her, gutted and hanged her,” I said proudly.

  “Thank Nemesis,” Vallen commented in reverence to the goddess of vengeance. “More than that, thank you two for doing the deed to avenge Patrick. What did you hang her from? You said you went to Llyr, right? There are no trees in the desert, from what I hear.”

  “A warehouse support beam,” I replied.

  Jayce laughed abruptly across from me and reached over to slap my shoulder in admiration. “Nice. You're a creative one.”

  “I would've built something to hang her from if I had to,” I said with a smirk.

  “Any guesses as to who owned this warehouse in Llyr?” Jaecar prodded, raising his eyebrows at Vallen across the fire.

  “Pirates,” Vallen answered, though he watched his former scout curiously for updates.

  “Not just any pirates,” Jaecar continued, “but the pirates keeping all the mercenaries here from traveling east. Astred reported directly to the guy in charge of it all.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Vallen blurted, laughing with disbelief. “Since that's the case, I'm shocked your crew managed to make it to these shores before losing your ship.”

  “The ship we just lost was a caravel,” I informed him. “Patrick's old cog is underwater north of Killick after succumbing to stolen dwarven cannons. We've lost two ships in less than a year.”

  Vallen stilled with shock and concern, while Jayce burst into laughter so raucous she fell into her brother's side. She wiped at escaping tears of amusement and asked, “Have you ever considered that all your problems indicate the world has a vendetta against you?”

  “At least once a day,” I said with unbridled cynicism.

  “You two can't do anything without having a catastrophe,” Jayce went on, holding her stomach as she finally overcame her laughter. “If it weren't so damned entertaining, I'd almost be concerned that your bad luck would bleed out into the wildlands.”

  “It's time to be concerned, then,” Koby admitted.

  Jayce sobered. Instead of asking for details, she only picked up her roasted skewer and tore off a chunk of larvae.

  Vallen caught on to the direction of our predicament and asked, “You think the pirates are following you here?”

  “Vruyk Kleng is the leader of their gang,” I began, picking at the long grass in front of me with anxious fingers. “A rempka addict by the name of Cale Woodburn is his right-hand man. While we were in Llyr looking for Astred, we learned that after stealing our ferris and making good gold with it there, she got the idea to start her own enterprise. Astred was quickly rising in the ranks due to her efforts by the time we came through and put an end to it. Before we could leave Llyr, Vruyk and Cale came to join the fight, but after seeing Astred's crew demolished they offered us a partnership since we impressed them.”

  “And your refusal of their offer made you a target,” Vallen surmised.

  “That, and the fact that I possibly blinded Vruyk after Cal gelded him,” Koby said nonchalantly.

  Vallen's eyebrows rose. “Gelded him?”

  “That thing was shredded,” Jaecar mused, grinning over at me. “Vruyk is kludde-kin. Pounced on Calder to go for a kill when the good captain used those back claws to kick upward. Never heard a kludde scream like that before.”

  “When have you ever heard a kludde scream at all?” Vallen pondered. “They're native to the forest and mountain regions of Chairel and Hammerton, from what I know. In the centuries that I've lived here, I've never seen one.”

  “Mercenary blood traders imported a few kluddes to Silvi from Chairel some decades back,” Jaecar replied with a shrug. “Though it surprised me to see a kludde-kin. Kluddes are hard to capture, harder to keep, and blood matches were few and far between. Anyway, it doesn't matter. The point is that we pissed off Vruyk and his lackeys. Killed a few dozen, injured the boss himself, and Koby here destroyed their underground slave trafficking route.”

  Jayce perked up and leaned forward to meet Koby's gaze. “How'd you do that?”

  “I used explosives to collapse it,” Koby replied with a self-satisfied smile.

  An excited squeal of an inhale passed through Jayce's lips. “Good gods! You have to teach me how to make explosives!”

  Vallen shook his head so fervently that a few of us laughed. “Please don't, unless you want to see Tenesea in shambles the next time Jayce gets bored.”

  Though Jayce laughed with us, she protested, “I wouldn't risk Tenesea. There are plenty of trees in the marshes that are an eyesore. We could even use explosives during our hunts, brother!”

  “There are no hides or resources we can gather from giblets, sister,” Vallen said light-heartedly, popping open his flask to take a swig. The scent of Highlander Grog wafted across the fire.

  “Depends on how big the giblets are, brother,” Jayce retorted with a playfully mocking tone. “With enough practice, I'm sure I could fine-tune it to a science.”

  Ignoring his sister's gruesome desires, Vallen met Koby's gaze and promised, “I will pay you not to teach Jayce about explosives.”

  “Deal,” Koby agreed. “After losing the Shaft Raft, we could use the gold.”

  Vallen snorted in laughter. “With such terrible names I'll hope for your ships to sink if only to hear what you come up with next.”

  “If you're rooting for us to fail, I'll have to ask someone else for aid,” I said.

  Vallen sobered. “I said it in good fun, friend, but don't worry. I understand your predicament.” He nodded toward the shadows of the wagons his men brought from Silvi. During the limited time of the sunset, we put as much of our cargo as we could in them. “Is any of that going to Tenesea?”

  “All of it,” I replied, to which Vallen visibly relaxed. “This is only half of what we have left after the shipwreck. The caravel couldn't carry it all, and we threw packages of glass overboard trying to outrun the pirates to Killick. There will be more.”

  “What do you mean, more?” Vallen asked. “You're going back out there after all the troubles you've had?”

  “I've rearranged some things, but yeah,” I replied. “I have a guy in Killick who agreed to be my middle man, transporting my cargo between Killick and Nahara for a percentage of profits so we don't have to risk the full trip. Koby copied the list of needed supplies you gave us and left it with him, and he likely already has his stores full of it now. We planned on going back out there and meeting him on Killick's western coast, but now we're without a ship. Again.”

  Vallen met my gaze openly over the flickering flames. “You're asking me for a ship.”

  I tugged out a cigarette, lighting it with a poking stick from the campfire as an excuse to avert my eyes. Vallen had once again offered more than I considered asking for. Since he'd been such a great friend thus far, I decided to be completely honest with him. After taking
a puff of ferris, I replied, “I'm not asking for a ship. But I desperately need some advice or direction on how to get another one, preferably with a larger hold than seventy tons. We haven't yet told you about what the pirates plan for Tenesea, Vallen, and we expect the worst. I've already got the mind to stop them, but I need a ship.”

  “Even if the pirates were never a problem for us again, I'd get you a ship,” Vallen promised, seemingly appreciative of my candor. “I know people who know people. We'll have one built to your specifications.”

  “For what cost?” Koby asked.

  “Consider it a trade,” Vallen replied. “You've brought us goods like I asked. You set up partnerships in Killick for a long-term trade route with no prodding from me. You guys have certainly worked your way into my favor by risking life and livelihood to help us out.”

  “And no one's opinion holds more weight in Tenesea than Vallen's,” Jayce pointed out, grinning as she worked a ferris cigarette out of her brother's trouser pocket. Vallen swatted her hand away without breaking his concentration. Jayce temporarily relented and added, “With big brother's high regards, you two will be like royalty there. Building a ship is nothing.”

  “It'll take time,” Vallen went on, returning the dislodged cigarette in his pocket. “I'd wager at least a year. Still less than it takes to build ships for official navies in the east and north, though. Whenever governments get involved, there's slowdown, unnecessary paperwork, and a whole lotta ineptitude.”

  “Don't worry about getting bored,” Jayce piped up, sneaking her hand back to Vallen's pocket to try again for ferris. “You can join us on hunts or even in the arena.”

  “Before we get sidetracked with that,” Vallen interrupted while slapping Jayce's hand again, “tell us what you meant about the plan these pirates have for Tenesea.”

  “Astred spread her ideas of a ferris enterprise to the gang,” I began. “Vruyk and Cale now have it in their heads that this is an opportunity they can't pass up. When Vruyk offered for us to join him, I had the impression he wanted me to head this ferris operation since I'm already in the smuggling business. I gave him an emphatic no, but that won't make him forget the idea. We overheard a conversation between the two in Llyr about how Cale misses the sea and has an affinity for the wildlands because of his heavy drug use. Vruyk sent Cale after us when we fled. Put two and two together, and it's not hard to believe Cale will take Astred's place of overseeing the ferris operation.”