“It’s more like they are just overly cautious,” Agminion said in a hushed tone. He nodded at the nearest group of men and then pushed his way quickly through the door into the common room.
The common room was a large room with high ceilings. The room was smoke filled and it took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the smoky air. They emerged into a sea of tables, most of which were occupied. Here and there were scattered an open table, although most of them seemed to be missing their chairs.
Most of the patrons were men and had the look of sailors. They had long hair and were generally unkempt. Not counting the working girls, there were a few women patrons as well.
Directly opposite the front door was a bar that ran the length of the opposing wall. Four men worked the far side of the bar dispensing ale and wine. A thick crowd of men stood all around the bar, some waiting on drinks and others just talking with friends.
To the right was a small stage where three men strummed stringed instruments and a woman was singing. Heather was standing less than ten yards from the stage and she could only hear every third word or so. There was simply too much noise to make out any more.
Off to the left, was a darker and more wide open area of the common room. There were more tables over that way. The people sitting at these tables were playing various games, cards, dominoes, etc.
The entire common room did not have the high ceilings. About halfway back, stairs led up to a balcony that was lined with doors. All along the balcony were women in various states of undress. Here and there a man was busy talking to one of the women, although none of them seemed to talk for very long before they headed through one of the numerous doors.
This was the first of the bars that also had whores. It didn’t bother Heather. Being in the Guardians, she had become used to seeing the prostitutes, but their presence tended to mark the current establishment as less refined than the first three.
“I take it we’re done with the nice places,” Heather said, leaning close and speaking loudly in Agminion’s ear. She smiled as she spoke.
He grinned and shook his head. “Not at all. This is one of the better bars, people rarely die here.”
His words wiped the smile off of Heather’s face and she looked around again. If this was one of the nicer places, she was dreading if they had to go all the way to the nastier locations.
Agminion motioned to a table off to their left. The table was near the gaming section and two men had just stood up and moved away. Moving quickly, Agminion slid between several tables and sat down. He looked back at Heather, but she hadn’t moved.
To be honest she was confused. If he had to have a drink, why didn’t he do it in one of the better places? She thought in irritation. After a moment, she followed Agminion’s path through the tables and sat at the small table. She made sure that her back was to the wall.
“For a moment, I thought you weren’t coming,” Agminion said, scowling. It was quieter in this part of the common room, and he didn’t have to speak as loud.
“I almost didn’t,” Heather replied. “Did you suddenly get thirsty?”
“No,” Agminion said, his scowl had deepened. “Must you question me at every step?”
Heather ground her teeth for a moment. She found it was sometimes easier to remain calm if she gave herself a moment before answering the sorcerer. He did have a way of making her angry. “If you’re not thirsty, then why are we sitting at a table in this miserable bar?”
“Because I found what we’re looking for,” Agminion replied coolly.
It took a moment for the words to sink in, and Heather sat blinking in confusion.
“You two sound like an old married couple,” a voice said from the table next to theirs.
Heather looked at the man who had spoken. Her irritation had gotten the best of her and she hadn’t noticed the man listening to their conversation.
He was an older man, in his mid fifties, with graying hair and thick bushy eyebrows. He had several days growth of a beard and he was tan. His hands were rough looking and he had the unmistakable look of a sailor. There was something different about the man. He was slightly better dressed than the average sailor and he looked better groomed, despite the beard. His eyes flicked from Heather to Agminion. “You’re late, Minie. It’s a good thing I waited for you.”
Agminion’s look darkened even farther. “Don’t call me that. You know I hate that nickname.”
“Of course I do. Why do you think I still call you Minie?” His gaze moved to Heather. “I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure, but judging by the description you must be the one they call Heather.”
A feeling of panic blossomed in Heather’s gut and radiated outwards. She hoped Enton’s plan was a good one, as it looked more and more like he may have been right about this being a trap.
“Relax,” the older man said. He must have been able to read the emotions playing across her face. “You’re with friends.” He smiled but it did little to calm her nerves.
“He’s not frightened by me,” Agminion said to Heather, “but he won’t try anything. I already told you that he terrified by his mother.”
The older man’s eyes flashed angrily and Heather knew that Agminion had just scored a point. After a moment, he turned from Agminion and smiled at Heather. He held out his hand. “My name is Captain Kapernum of The Willing Woman.”
They left the bar several moments later. Kapernum, or Kappie as he preferred to be called, led them westward. He waited until they had left the noise of the bars behind before he spoke. “What kept you?” He demanded.
“Had to be careful. Everyone’s looking for us.” Agminion said quickly. He shot a warning glance at Heather.
It was rather confusing, but Heather assumed that Agminion trusted his Uncle, but he didn’t want him to know all the details.
Kappie looked from one to the other and then shrugged. “All right, if that’s the way you want it. How many in your party?” he asked.
“Eight total,” Heather answered hesitantly. Surely he already knew there were eight of them. After all the guards and soldiers had been looking for eight escapees and described the eight fugitives in detail.
“All right,” Kappie answered. “The Willing Woman is several miles south of here and a bit from shore.”
“How do we signal them?” Agminion asked.
“We don’t. They’ll send a longboat about an hour before dawn. If we miss it, then we’ll have to wait a whole day before they send another one.” Kappie grinned, “Customs officials might get suspicious if a ship just sat off of the coast, especially if that boat had just left port.”
Heather did the math silently. It was going to be close. “We need to pick up the pace.”
They reached the others about a half an hour later. Enton met them first, his eyes searching out Heather. She gave him the smallest of shrugs, it’s meaning obvious – too early to tell if it’s a trap.
There wasn’t any packing to do and they set off at once. They headed south and slightly eastwards so that they would hit the shore just south of Providence Port.
The traveling was easy. There were a total of seven ports in the Aramonia portion of Alandell Lake. A reasonably well maintained road connected the ports alongside the lake shore. The road sat back a hundred yards or so from the water’s edge and they made good time.
The road was dark and they traveled as quickly and quietly as they could. No one else appeared to be on the road at this hour, or if they were about, they did not show themselves. More than likely the road was deserted. It really wasn’t safe to travel in the dark. A horse could break a leg very easily and there might be thieves about.
Heather wasn’t overly concerned about thieves. Only a fool would attack a party as big as theirs, unless numbers were on the thieves’ side. She was more concerned about soldiers. Soldiers might be hidden in the dark and the Guardians could stumble across them before they were spotted.
Kappie led the way and that also bothered Heather.
A conniving man could run them right into a trap, but they would be prepared. When she had returned from the port town, there had been something different in the Guardians’ appearance. They were more alert, more ready for whatever might come. At least Enton did his job.
It took them nearly four hours to reach the spot on the lakeshore where Kapernum’s men were supposed to be. Kapernum stopped them about fifty yards from the shore in several short and stunted trees. The two trees leaned towards each other and their tops nearly touched. Waist high bushes grew all around, adding to the area’s natural concealment.
“Why are we stopping so far away?” Mikela asked. “If they don’t actually land, will we see them?”
Kappie didn’t answer immediately, instead he stood staring out to sea for several moments. Finally, he turned and looked back at the Guardians. He motioned for them to sit or kneel, so that the bushes would help hide them. “First, they will land. Secondly, the government of Aramonia very much likes to tax arriving goods and they frown upon anyone who avoids those taxes.”
“Customs officials,” Agminion added helpfully. “They cover the lakeshore. If they spotted us out here, they would at the very least want to question us, and I doubt they could fail to recognize us.”
Kappie glanced up at the night sky. “We don’t have long, within the hour.”
With a movement of her head, she motioned for Atock and Aaron to keep an eye out the way they had come. Damn Enton! she thought furiously, he’s got me paranoid about this trap idea of his.
Just as Kappie had said, the longboat hit the shore just over half an hour later. It was a rather smooth landing, as the waves were virtually nonexistent. Two men jumped into the shallow water from the bow of the boat and pulled it up higher on the beach by two ropes. Two more men remained in the boat.
Heather rather expected for Kappie to jump from his place of concealment and march straight for the boat, but he didn’t. Instead, once the boat was secured, he stood up and stared. The funny thing was that he stared not at the ocean or the spot where the boat had landed, but north and south along the shore line, and westward away from the lake. “What are you looking for?” Heather asked, trying hard not to tense up.
“Customs officials are crafty,” he answered. “Some times they will wait in the shadows until the smugglers have their cargo unloaded and then they will spring their trap. At the very least the smugglers are guaranteed to lose their cargo.” His eyes still scanned the shoreline.
“I don’t understand,” Heather admitted, “there isn’t any cargo. All we have to do is make the boat and then get it back into the water.”
“Yes, I know,” Kappie said, giving Heather a patient smile. “I’m trying to be careful though. My mother might not mind if something happened to me, but she would not like to lose her favorite grandson.” His eyes twinkled as he spoke, and Agminion scowled at him. “But I see no signs of anyone following us, or any sign of trouble.” He nodded to the boat, “Let’s go.”
The didn’t need to be told twice. With Atock and Aaron as the rearguard, they quickly covered the distance to the boat. As they neared, Kappie gave a most unusual whistle. It was a long whistle followed by two more short whistles and Heather guessed it was a message. Hopefully, it was the all clear signal.
The two men on shore greeted Kapernum and he responded gruffly.
“Hurry,” Kappernum said to the Guardians. “In the boat.”
Cassandra and Mikela were the first two to climb aboard but the others followed right on their heels. Atock and Aaron were the last and they kept their eyes on the two sailors on shore.
As soon as they were all aboard, the two sailors pushed the front of the boat hard, but for a moment it wouldn’t budge. They continued to strain and slowly the boat pushed away from the sandy shore. They continued to push until the water was above their belts and then they grabbed a hold of the side and pulled themselves in.
The four sailors put out oars and begin to pull quickly, but it seemed that the boat moved painfully slowly.
It was slow going and the Guardians watched warily as the boat cut through the water. It was dark and a fog rose over the water making it hard to see more than twenty yards from the water.
After just a few minutes, Heather was totally lost. She wasn’t much of a sailor as she so preferred the woods. It was impossible for her to tell if they had travelled one half of a mile or ten miles, but it didn’t much matter.
After about twenty minutes, all four of the rowers froze with their oars still in the water. Kapernum’s head whipped around and he looked to the north.
They all followed Kappie’s gaze northward. The only thing they saw was more fog and dark water. Even though they couldn’t see anything, after a moment they all heard it. There was a grinding noise that was followed by a low slapping of the water, and it was repeated over and over again in a rough pattern.
It took Heather a moment to realize what it was. Oars, she thought furiously. There’s another boat out here with us! She looked to Kappie, and he held a finger to his lips and then motioned them all to get low in the boat. They obeyed as quietly as possible.
The first thought that went through Heather’s head was that Enton had been right and this was a trap. But that didn’t make any sense. Kappie looked as surprised by the developments as any of them and she seriously doubted that the man was that good an actor. Still, she tightened her grip on her knife handle and waited. After a moment it occurred to her that this might be the customs’ officials that Kappie had mentioned. She breathed easier that they might not have to fight Kappie and his sailors in this little toy of a boat, but there was still the issue of the other boat.
Cautiously, Heather raised her head over the edge of the longboat and looked to the north. The fog was as thick as ever and she still couldn’t see much. But she still could hear the oars as they struck the water, but they seemed to be moving away.
Something poked Heather in the shoulder and she nearly screamed, but just managed to hold it in. She turned angrily and saw that it had been Dagan. Her anger melted away, being replaced with curiosity. He looked worried. He didn’t say anything but he pointed.
Heather looked the way Dagan had pointed. His finger pointed to the back of the boat where Atock, Aaron, and Agminion were seated. Atock and Aaron were doing like the rest of them and had their heads down. Agminion was sitting up higher in the boat and he had his eyes closed.
Suspicious now, Heather continued to watch the sorcerer for a moment. She was still trying to decide what to do when the boat gave a silent lurch and began moving through the water again. It moved silently and quickly in the original direction they had been rowing, but it was cutting through the water much faster than before and virtually without a sound.
Heather looked back at Dagan. The old man hadn’t moved, but something in his posture told her that he had relaxed a bit.
Not a word was said for nearly a quarter of an hour and then Kappie spoke up. “Whoever is doing that, turn us a bit to the south or we’ll miss the ship.”
Agminion’s eyes popped open and he sagged in his seat. He was covered in sweat and looked like he had just ran ten miles. He opened his mouth, not to speak, but to suck in huge amounts of air.
The boat, which had been cutting a quick path through the water, suddenly went limp and just floated on the water.
“What in the name of the abyss was that?” Enton demanded. He was still tense and looked ready to spring in any direction.
“That was sorcery,” Dagan answered. He motioned at Agminion, “And quite an impressive performance, I might add.”
No one replied, but Kappie regarded his nephew with an appreciative glance. “Not bad,” he said finally.
It took another quarter of an hour to reach the ship. It was a small ship with a shallow draft, which would be necessary to travel in the rivers going north. The deck seemed wide and there were holes which allowed the sailors to use oars. There was one mast directly in the middle of the ship but the sa
ils were currently down. There was a raised deck at the stern of the ship. All in all, it wasn’t all that impressive.
It took a while for everyone to climb the rope ladder from the longboat to the deck of the ship. Agminion was so bad off that he had to be helped.
Heather was pleased that there were only about ten or so sailors on the ship. If there ever was a need for a fight, she liked her group’s chances against the crew.
They were left on their own for a short while as Kapernum saw to his ship. Heather and her group leaned against the railings and watched, all except Agminion, who sat down on the deck and rested his head against a crate. The ship seemed to be organized chaos, but it wasn’t long before the sails were raised and the ship was moving. Kappie returned soon enough.
He smiled as he approached. “Forgive me for abandoning you, but there were matters that I had to see to immediately.”
“We understand,” Heather answered politely.
“Normally I sleep in the cabin there,” he pointed to a small cabin just under the raised portion of the deck, “and my men sleep in the hold.” He pointed again, but this time downwards.
“Do you have a cargo?” Dagan asked. He sounded surprised.
Kappie grunted, “Yes, though it isn’t much of one. Mainly spices and dried foods that do not grow up north. It’s not much, but it will help offset the cost of the voyage.”
“And we appreciate it immensely,” Heather said. She was feeling the first pangs of guilt at having so disrupted these men’s lives.
“Little lady, I’m not doing it for you. My mother is in charge of the family business and she told me to undertake this mission.”
Someday, Heather thought, I want to meet this woman.
Kappie looked at the men, “You’ll have to join me in the hold with the other men.” He turned his gaze to Heather, “Miss Heather and these other beautiful ladies can have my cabin.” He nodded to where Agminion had fallen asleep leaning against the crate, “Is he all right?”
“He will be,” Dagan answered. “He pushed himself a little too far. I think we’re lucky he didn’t vomit all over the deck, actually.”
Into the Wastelands: Book Four of the Restoration Series Page 6