The City that Time forgot

by Patrick McClafferty

  “Throw more torches men!” Evvos called, grabbing a burning brand himself. One of the slugs began to screech in pain as a burning branch touched its back and turning, headed back the way it came. Renewed screaming and crashing came from the pirates in the woods. More torches arched, and more slugs began to shriek. Gareth wrinkled his nose as the smell of burning meat began to fill the clearing. In a short time the slugs were gone, several leaving long trails of slimy glistening ichor from their burns. In the distance the screams of the pirates were growing shrill and desperate.

  “She looks like a brigantine.” Evvos muttered as he peered through the leaves and down the mountainside at the lean ship that lay at anchor in the bay below them, a half cable from shore. He rubbed his bristled jaw. “She’s a pirate ship I’ve heard of named the Ranger. Cain’t remember her captain. It looks as though her masts are sound, but her yards and sails took a real beating.” He frowned down at the ship. “Unless me eyes deceive me, it looks as though her rudder is carried away.” A smile slowly worked its way up his weathered face. “Well, well, well.” The smile Gareth returned was just as pitiless. “All we need now is…” He stopped as a single small boat put out from the shore, where two other boats were beached on a small spit of white sand; three men rowing madly. When they were fifteen meters from shore a lone sailor burst out of the foliage, screaming, while he beat at something that had attached itself to his shoulder. Stumbling, he fell in the sand, struggled for a moment to get back to his feet and fell face down, the sand around him slowly turning a sodden red. “Look at the gold piping on his coat.” Evvos reflected sadly. “That be the captain, I’m thinking.”

  Gareth was studying the brigantine through the digital pistol sight. “All I can see is four men aboard the ship. How many would you guess it takes to sail a ship like that?”

  “Ten minimum, and more likely twelve.” Evvos replied slowly.

  Gareth smirked. Chiu, we could use your assistance on the other side of the island.

  Through trial and error, he and Chiu had determined the limit of their mental link at a dozen kilometers, far greater than the width of the tiny island.

  I can’t carry many weapons. Came the immediate reply.

  All I need is your smiling face.

  You con artist. Gareth suddenly had the impression of beating wings, and in just a few moments Chiu flared to a landing by his side. She gave him a quizzical look, raising a single eyebrow.

  He gave her a wide smile in return, “We found a ship to get us home.” and glanced over his shoulder.

  Chiu followed the direction of his gaze, and gasped when she recognized the battered flag flying from the stern. “That’s a pirate ship! You’re not going to commandeer another pirate ship, are you?”

  Gareth gave her a wink. “Why, my dear, it’s what we do best. We’re going to walk down that beach toward the boats. Along the way you will change into a saber toothed tiger, you can managed that, can’t you, and I will incinerate their poor former captain and the slug that killed him. Then we will row out to the Ranger and take their surrender.”

  Her eyebrows had crawled up to her hairline. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that. I will offer them life and their freedom, in exchange for their ship. We’ll put in at Buclite for repairs, and the former pirates will be encouraged to go. Captain Evvos will have a new command, and can hire any crew he needs.” Gareth crossed his arms, looking smug.

  Chiu shook her head. “I think I’m going to throw up if you get any more self-satisfied.”

  “I take satisfaction in the small things that I can manage,” Gareth replied, his face going serious, “because I know the really big things are so far out of my control that I don’t even know what the game is anymore.”

  Chiu sighed. “A saber toothed cat… right…. like the ones we saw up at Zuebrihn?”

  “Yup. You managed an ogre one time, so this should be no sweat.”

  Chiu was frowning in concentration. “This thing out-masses an ogre, so be quiet.”

  Evvos was staring open-eyed as Chiu very slowly flowed into the form of Smilodon Populator, the legendary saber toothed tiger. Colored like a leopard from Gareth’s time, the cat turned slowly, ears flattening to its skull and growled so low in its throat that Gareth felt it in his bones more than he heard it. Without thinking about it, he took a step backward. “Chiu?” He asked, swallowing.

  Oh I like this! Chiu’s voice said in his mind. I feel positively invincible. Taking a quick step forward, she licked Gareth’s face, stropping him from chin to hairline. Her blue eyes narrowed, and she growled again. You. She said very deliberately. Taste good.

  Gareth took another step backward. Hold on there, girl. He said hastily. You might have a hard time explaining to your father how, exactly, you came to eat your fiancé.

  Kiang would understand. She replied flatly, as she took a short bound, pinning Gareth to the ground. Gareth was a tall, at one hundred and eighty two centimeters, and well-built man at eighty five kilograms. The cat standing over him was easily twice his size and nearly three times his weight. The cat sniffed at him. Are you sure that you can’t change into a cat like this? Gareth could feel the heat from her body.

  I never tried. He admitted.

  I might be mistaken, but I think this body is about to go into heat.

  Gareth shut his eyes. “Scheiße!” He muttered aloud. “Scheiße, Scheiße, Scheiße. Get yourself under control, young lady. We have a job to do.”

  The cat took one more protracted sniff, beginning at Gareth’s toes, pausing once at his crotch, and ending at his hairline, and sighed. As you wish.

  Gareth tried to ignore the goosebumps that ran up his spine as the three casually strolled down the white beach toward the remaining boats. As they neared the remains of the former pirate captain, he noted that the slug on the man’s shoulders had doubled in size, and was now the color of blood, rather than its former sickly gray. The corpse, on the other hand, looked shrunken and shriveled. Drawing the Colt, Gareth flipped the fire control to three shot burst and squeezed the trigger. The body and the slug disappeared in a red fog as an explosion of sound blasted their ears, echoing across the bay. At his side, Chiu shook her massive feline head. Gareth and a human Chiu stepped into the small cutter, just before Evvos pushed them out into the water, after which he jumped aboard, scrambling to his place at the oars. They stopped just out of bowshot, and Gareth called out.

  “Ahoy the Ranger!” A half dozen pale men lined the rail. “I’d like to discuss the terms or your surrender.” He shouted.

  “Yer bloody daft!” A large man with a bandage around his head called back. “We have the ship and we have the men!”

  Gareth smiled. “You have a broken ship with no yards and no rudder, and you have a total of seven men. You know as well as I do that seven men cannot manage a ship this size, even if it were seaworthy.” He glanced back at the remaining boats on the beach. “We have a dozen men, and you conveniently left us a roomy pinnace. Between the cutter and the pinnace we could sail on to Buclite and leave you here for the slugs to eat. I, however, prefer to sail in a bit more comfort. Our own boat was damaged beyond repair, but we do have several serviceable yards, spare sails and a complete rudder including the pintle and grudgeon. In return for your help in setting this ship to rights, I will hire you as crew and pay you good wages until we reach Buclite. Then you will be paid off as honest seamen and released. Those of you who chose may remain with us to Oseothan, and share in the profits when we sell the cargos from both ships.”

  The big man at the railing shouted back. “Bloody hell! We won’t give up our ship or our cargo. We’ll fight to the death.” The men to his right and left shot him a dubious look.

  “Ohhh?” Gareth called mildly, pulling out the Colt. Flipping it to single shot, he sighted on the railing a meter to the big man’s right and squeezed off a shot. The railing exploded with a deafening crack, and the man jerked his arm back with a curse, pulling at the slivers in
the back of his hand. “I could have killed you just as easily.”

  The man drew his sword. “Do yer damnedest! We’ll fight ye till…” Whatever else he’d been about to say was cut off when two sailors grabbed their spokesperson, and tossed him over the railing.

  “Come ahead.” A new voice called. “The ship is yours. The rest of us would prefer to live a little longer, thank you. Pirating isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

  “A wise move.” Gareth called up to the whip thin sailor, as he nodded to Evvos on the oars. As they passed the sputtering, half-drowned seaman who’d first addressed them, Gareth spoke to the half dozen sailors at the railing. “Fish this man out of the water and clap him in irons in the hold. When we leave we’ll put him in the gig and set him free. If he’s creative and lucky he’ll survive.”

  The thin sailor’s laughter was filled with malice. “I would be happy to. Our former first mate wasn’t a very humane man.”

  Stepping up onto the deck of the Ranger, the first thing Gareth noted was the bony wasted look on all the crewmen. Their cheeks and eyes were sunken, and he could easily count every rib on every man. The ship smelled of death. “Are you a little short of food?” He asked, seeing that the galley fire was out.

  The thin man laughed again. “Ain’t ad much besides moldy biscuits fer days now, and the wave put paid to what remained o them. Water was rancid. There were a few bottles of wine, but the capin’ and the first mate kept them fer theyselves.”

  Gareth shuddered. “I think I can help there.” One of the remarkable things Gareth had discovered about Eldenworld was the central computer that monitored all the inhabitants of the planet, would provide whatever was wanted, within reason, as long as the requester spoke the request in ancient Latin. Weapons were out of the question, as well as high tech items like radios, but food and clothing was acceptable. To Gareth it felt like magic. He thought for a moment before he spoke. Three items appeared on the deck: a ten liter barrel of ale, a thirty liter cask of fresh water, and on top of it a large steaming pot of stew. Gareth smiled. “I’ll let you gentlemen eat before we begin touring the ship.” Gareth frowned. “What’s your name, by the way?”

  “Tarron, my Lord.” The man replied, bowing awkwardly.

  Gareth sighed. “Tarron, I’m not a lord.”

  “But yer a wizard. I saw you create food out of the air.” The seaman protested.

  “I know how to do a few things you don’t. I’m still just a man.” He glanced at Chiu who was standing silently at his side. “This young lady is the one who is really special. She is, you see, my familiar.” Tarron’s eyes went round as Gareth turned to Chiu. “If you would, go back to the Spray and tell them that we have a ship. They can spend the night here, if they hurry, and tomorrow we can begin making repairs.”

  “Did you know this was going to happen?” She asked seriously.

  “I didn’t know, but I hoped.” Gareth admitted. “Call it an act of faith. There is something else going on here. I can feel it.”

  “Athena?”

  “No, although Athena is a part of it. Call her a bigger cog in the grand machine. We’re just the smallest cogs at the bottom of the heap.”

  “Humphhh.” Chiu snorted, nodding at the seamen clustered around the pot of stew. “They are the smallest cogs. You and I and Evvos and my father are slightly larger cogs.” She was frowning as she flowed into the shape of a small hawk, darting off the deck and into the sky.

  With a grin on his face, Gareth turned back to Tarron. “You’d better fill your bowl,” He said, glancing at the crowd of hungry seamen filling their bowls from the steaming pot. “or you will go hungry again.”

  Tarron returned the grin as he picked up his own bowl and wooden spoon. “Traveling with you could be more exciting than being a pirate.” He began shoveling the thick fragrant mixture out of the pot and into his bowl until it was heaped.

  Gareth gave him a quiet chuckle. “You have no idea.”

  With a spanker, mainsail, and foresail made from the striped sails of the wrecked Spray, the thirty two meter, one hundred and fourteen ton Ranger looked… odd as she pulled away from the island that had nearly been her downfall. Retrieved from the Spray, the dark blue flag with a single large five pointed white star in the center, a nod to the southern city in which Gareth was born, flew from the stern. Just behind the boat a small gig with a single occupant pulled dejectedly toward shore, a barrel of water and a side of beef at his feet. The bloated red sun was rising over a moderate ocean, turning the sea the color of copper. Captain Evvos stood behind seaman Tarron at the ship’s wheel, his hands behind his back; a smile of contentment playing at the corner of his mouth. The crews of both ships had worked for eight days, even with the help of the massive Wokeg in his ogre form, to shift stores, rudder, yards, sails, and cargo from the wrecked Spray to the Ranger and now, repairs finished, they were finally under way.

  Buclite, on the north coast of the realm of Pellonon was a typical seaport; beat-up, rundown, and smelling vaguely of dead fish and chamber pots. Close to where he’d first arrived in Eldenworld, Buclite was comfortably familiar. The Captain’s Barge, when he finally saw it, showed faint signs of yellow paint on the clapboards. A chipped and faded sign in the shape of a rowboat swung dispiritedly in the light cold breeze. Nothing that he could see about the inn had changed in the least… Gareth frowned when he realized that it was coming up on two years that he’d been on Eldenworld.

  The innkeeper looked up from wiping his counter, his eyes widening in recognition as Gareth walked up. “I’m so sorry sir.” He almost stammered. “Ye were here once before, an all we had was cow then too.” The man seemed to shrink into his soiled apron. Gareth smiled.

  “You’ve a good memory. What did I ask for that time?”

  The innkeeper’s brow furrowed. “I believe ye wanted a piece of cow this thick.” He held up thumb and forefinger forty millimeters apart. “And cooked rare.”

  Gareth grinned. “That would do just fine, friend.” He slapped a small golden coin on the counter, part of the loot from the Ranger, and the innkeeper’s eyes widened. “I’ll need three rooms for several days and meals for four. Captain Evvos will be hiring crewmen for the Ranger, so bear that in mind.”

  “The Ranger?” The innkeeper looked scared.

  Gareth just smiled. “Don’t worry. She’s under new management. The pirates were disinclined to press the ownership issue when it came right down to it.”

  “You…” The innkeeper stammered. “You were the one who took the Spray from the pirates, weren’t you?”

  Gareth gave him a sorrowful look. “We were caught in a tsunami and the Spray was wrecked. We needed a ship and made the pirates an offer for the Ranger they couldn’t refuse.”

  The innkeeper had turned pale. “Should I ask what the offer was?”

  “Probably not.” Gareth returned in a flat voice. “And if you are even thinking of turning us in to the Pirates Guild for a reward,” Gareth’s eyes became glacial, “it’s not worth your life.” He finished in a deadly quiet voice. The innkeeper swallowed and nodded, unable to speak. “Good.” Gareth picked up the keys and headed for the stairs, Chiu at his side.

  You’ve stopped looking for the good in people, Gareth. You’re getting hard. Her thought was flat, and he suppressed a sigh.

  I suppose I am. I’ve had to deal with crooks and killers so much since I’ve been here I’ve become little better than they.

  You need to spend some time around descent people for a change.

  He shot her a grin over his shoulder. Do you have anyone particular in mind?

  Ohhh, your future in-laws are fairly decent people. She murmured, holding his arm. Her eyes were sparkling.

  Hmmmmm. Gareth mused, pretending to be thinking. Kiang is rather stiff-necked, but your mother is a devilishly attractive woman I’d like to get to know better, if you know what I mean.

  She punched him in the arm. You leave my mother out of this, you lecher! Her words were ho
t, but couldn’t disguise the grin on her face.

  He unlocked the door to the room, pushing it open with his foot. Do you have any suggestions about who I might turn my affections to? He gave her his best lost little boy look, and she giggled.

  Following him in, she shut and locked the door behind her. It just so happens that I do. Lyndra will be out shopping for a while, so…

  Ten days later the Ranger cast off from Buclite, bound for Puasheehchester in the realm of Oseothan. With new sails, yards and cordage, she looked a new ship. It might have been his imagination, but to Gareth it felt like a new ship also. The smell of death was gone from the air. Six members of the former pirate crew, all looking tan and much better fed, had all petitioned Gareth to stay with the ship, as honest crewmen. Captain Evvos had spoken against it, but something Chiu had said made him give them a chance. He could see the relief in their eyes when he’d told them his decision. Several of the original crew had to be let go due to their injuries. Gareth slipped each man a few coins to tide them over until their broken bones or wounds were healed. He and Captain Evvos had taken a careful inventory of the pirate loot in the hold, and from the captain’s stunned expression knew that they were all wealthy men… and women. The captain, much to Gareth’s surprise had hired one young girl of twelve as cabin boy, three strapping women as sailors and a bear of a man as a replacement cook to fill out his crew. Now the dolphins cavorted beside the ship to the amazement of the new crewmembers, and fair winds seemed bent on speeding them on their way, league after league, day after day.