The fog did nothing to ease the mood of the crew and many blamed Toomak for their predicament causing petty squabbles to break out, further adding to the tension. Balthazar did his best to keep the men busy but even he was driven to his limit by the constant demands and questions coming from a certain guest quarters.
By the end of the third day, the men were close to mutiny when Psyom insisted on unpacking all the family’s clothing and spreading their belongings across the main deck to ‘Give everything some air’ as she put it. Icarus attempted to move some of the objects that obstructed his way only to be stopped dead in his tracks with a growl of; ‘Don’t you dare,’ sprayed with venom from Psyom’s lips. Icarus backed timidly away as she turned and screamed abuse at any members of the crew, accusing them of theft if they happened to get too close during the performance of their duties. This tested Balthazar’s endless patience and he soon found himself pacing up and down in front of Joseph as he sat in his cabin listening to his complaints.
“You’ve got to do something Joseph. The crew are close to throwing that Psyom woman overboard and they are fearful of her daughter Toomak, she has started to take her lessons on deck and they don’t look like any lessons I’ve seen before. On top of that, when the crew laid eyes on that Feriluc character it only added to their distress.”
Joseph knew how serious the situation must be when Balthazar addressed Joseph by name instead of sir. He decided to remain quiet, allowing Balthazar to pace up and down, burning himself out, and when he finally sat down, exhausted, Joseph began.
“First thing we need to do, is to make sure that we have enough supplies in case the doldrums last. Second, talk to Hajer and ask him to move Toomak’s lessons indoors and third, tell the men there will be a bonus at the end of the voyage if there is no more trouble between any of them and Psyom’s family.”
Balthazar seemed happy with Joseph’s answers and nodded in agreement. As he got up to leave he asked Joseph how Yeshua was doing, as he had seen the boy wandering the deck but had not had time to talk to him.
“He’s still very weak but he is eating more each day. I’m sure he will be fully fit in no time.”
Joseph said. This pleased Balthazar immensely and he gave Joseph his big toothy smile that Joseph had not seen since they left the port of Rome.
Balthazar ordered the men to check on food supplies and passed on Joseph’s bonus offer, which lifted the mood immediately; he then went off to find Hajer and asked him to keep Toomak’s lessons indoors. Luckily he found him alone in his cabin thus avoiding any confrontation with Hajer's troublesome wife.
“Joseph has asked me to see you to request that from now all of Toomak’s lessons be conducted indoors, preferably out of sight of the crew.”
Balthazar began, before he needed to explain himself any further Hajer gave his reply, only too happy to oblige and keep his daughter away from further trouble.
“Of course no problem at all, I’ll see to it right away.”
As the two men stood up to leave the cabin, Psyom, who had been listening to their conversation from outside the door, stormed into the room.
“I demand to know why my daughter is being kept under arrest in her quarters and treated like a common thief for no other reason than receiving an education.”
Balthazar rolled his eyes and sighed at yet another problem created by this infernal woman and told Hajer,
“Deal with your wife before I lose my temper.”
Barging passed a shocked Psyom as he headed for the peace and tranquillity of his own cabin. He was not in there for long when there was a knock and Yeshua poked his head around the door.
“I just wanted to see if you are all right, I heard you shouting at Psyom and I wondered if any of it was because of me.”
Yeshua began, but before Balthazar could give his answer there was further shouting coming from the deck and Balthazar, followed by Yeshua ran up the ladder to see the cause of more commotion.
This time Balthazar was pleased to witness good news. The wind had picked up and the fog was starting to clear. Balthazar could already see patches of blue sky up above and knew it would not be long before they would be underway again. Joseph joined the crew on deck, heaving a huge sigh of relief as he knew that nerves were at breaking point. Within the hour, the fog completely lifted and as night fell, Icarus plotted their position. He was surprised to find that they were many of miles from their designated port of Barcino and to his amazement; they had drifted through the gates of Hercules, leaving the sea for the mighty ocean. Balthazar gave the order to steer the ship north to the nearest port of Gades, only a few leagues away, to restock with fresh water and supplies. By early evening the city lights were visible on the horizon and before long; Balthazar carefully navigated his way into the harbour and expertly docked as the light faded.
The majority of the crew and all the passengers disembarked for a well-earned break; leaving Balthazar Yeshua and Joseph, working in Balthazar’s office. A new plan had been drawn up for the remainder of the trip and the quartermaster was given the money to restock the ship with fresh water and supplies. Joseph noticed the tiredness showing on Balthazar’s face and decided it was time to finish for the evening.
“Why don’t you go ashore, find the crew and relax my old friend. It’s been an arduous trip already and I cannot see our guests making it any easier.”
Joseph offered. Balthazar’s face lit up as he looked at Yeshua then gave his reply.
“Can I take the young prince along with me?”
He asked, eager for company. Joseph looked back aghast as he answered the question.
“No you certainly cannot, I know all about the places sailors frequent and none of them are suitable for a twelve year old boy, so go and enjoy yourself, Yeshua will stay with me.”
Yeshua’s face dropped at Joseph’s refusal and as Balthazar got up to leave; he ruffled Yeshua’s hair with his massive hand and replied,
“Sorry kiddo, I tried, maybe next time”
Yeshua sat quietly, watching as Joseph tidied his papers and then said,
“That doesn’t mean that we can’t go ashore, there is a tavern in the city run by old friends of mine, we can eat there and I can show you the sights along the way.”
Yeshua’s face lit up at the prospect and they soon followed Balthazar into the heart of the bustling town.
Alone on the deck of the ship, Toomak stood in the moonlight, watching intently as Yeshua and Joseph disappeared into the crowd of people mingling around the taverns on the dockside. Satisfied they were out of sight she turned around and checking that none of the remaining crew were watching, she headed down to the steps to the galley. Finding it empty, she cautiously walked through to the door in the rear and opened it to reveal the ship's pantry. This room contained all the food supplies needed for crew and guests for up to ten days at sea. Along the far wall sat several large amphorae of wine, plugged at the neck with resin, and stored upright in sand filled boxes. Reaching into a pouch attached to a belt around her waist she removed a short camel hair paintbrush and a stoppered jar containing a clear gel like substance, into which Toomak dipped the bristles and carefully painted around the lip of every amphora in store. Within minutes, the gel dried and hardened leaving a clear almost invisible coating of one of the most powerful hallucinogenic potions she had ever produced. Every time someone pours the wine, a small dose of the drug will mix in as the liquid flows over the lip and into the recipients’ cup. Satisfied everything was complete; Toomak returned unnoticed to the deck then dropped the jar and brush over the side of the ship and into the water.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
The next day, fully restocked and with a much more contented crew, apart from the ones with sore heads, the vast ship sailed out through the harbour gates and off into the choppy seas of the Atlantic Ocean. Balthazar plotted a northerly course, following the coastline of Lusitani then northeast to a port in Gaul and then finally on to the southern shores of Britannia.
> Yeshua watched as Balthazar roared commands to his crew to untie and hoist the mainsail, which instantly billowed out, straining the rigging as it caught the southern trade winds. Looking over the side of the ship and feeling the salty sea spray in his face, Yeshua laughed with delight at the sight of a school of dolphin, racing alongside, leaping effortlessly from the water with the sunlight glistening off their wet streamline bodies before slipping back into the sea and cutting across the bow to surf the giant wave caused by the hull of the ship as it ploughed northwards through to the cooler waters. Suddenly jolted from his daydream, Yeshua spun around when he heard the sound of a man singing. He was amazed to see Balthazar standing on the poop deck with his hands on his hips, facing the crew, booming out a work song in a beautiful baritone voice cutting cleanly through the rush of the wind. As he finished his part, the crew answered en masse with their verse as they went about their duties without looking up or even acknowledging his presence.
“I will tell you the tale of a brave young man,
How he first went to sea as a young deckhand.
But his ship went down on a stormy night,
And he swam to the shore by the dawn’s first light.”
The song told the story of a sailor on his first sea voyage and how he was shipwrecked on an island. Most of Balthazar’s part began with the whole of the first verse then he asked the question of what did he eat or how did he find shelter. Each question asked was answered by the crew as they went about their daily duties. The song finally ended by asking how did he get home, and everyone sang the final line. Yeshua watched fascinated how Balthazar and the crew alternated two lines of each verse until the song's conclusion upon which Balthazar turned and walked away as if nothing had happened.
Spirits were high and if anyone held a grudge or felt morose, they did not show it. Yeshua even noticed a smile on Toomak’s lips when she took a break from her studies and walked the deck enjoying the fresh air. Perhaps all the bad events that have so far troubled this voyage are finally put behind us, Yeshua thought as he closed his eyes and lifted his head to feel the sun on his face and the wind in his hair on this beautiful day.
As the morning passed, the wind increased its speed and Yeshua watched the sun disappear behind a wall of black heavy flat topped cloud forming on the far horizon. This drop in temperature was enough to force the boy below decks and seek the company of his uncle.
“There’s a storm brewing and it’s closing in fast. I just hope we can keep ahead of it until it blows its self out.”
Joseph began before Yeshua had even time to sit down.
“All the crew know what to do, and I have given warning to all the passengers to stay in their cabins until all this is over.”
He added, speaking his thoughts aloud to educate Yeshua as well as inform.
“What about all the passengers on deck?”
Yeshua asked, concerned for everyone’s safety.
“It’s all taken care of Yeshua; they will be moved into the hold with the cargo. It is completely safe, I assure you.”
Satisfied with his uncle’s reply Yeshua sat back and listened to tales of storms he and Balthazar had endured which did little to reassure him on his first voyage.
As night fell, the threatened violent storm closed in. First to come was the gale force winds, churning up the sea and tossing the ship about like a child’s toy as massive waves crashed against the hull and across the deck, sweeping away anything un-tethered over the edge in a torrent of foamy water. Secondly comes the rain, not the normal run of the mill summer shower, but a crescendo of noise and water as loud as an avalanche and sounding like gravel pouring from a great height onto a corrugated tin roof as the huge stinging droplets of water relentlessly hammer down. All the passengers and none essential crew were safely ensconced below deck listening to the storm and the timbers creaking almost to breaking point as wave upon wave lifts the hull of the ship up to the height of a tall tree, followed by a brief pause at the crest before lurching over and hurtling down the other side in a stomach churning roar only to rise quickly up again as the next wave hits.
Balthazar and three of the strongest crewmen are up on deck. They had already lashed themselves to the ships tillers, three on one side and Balthazar on his own, holding on to the other. His physical size and strength more than a match for any three men he had ever met.
“Brace yourselves men.”
Yelled Balthazar as they all looked up when lightning flashed overhead illuminating the ship and also the terrifying black cliff face of ocean dwarfing everything as it headed their way.
“Heave to, you old dogs.”
Balthazar screamed over the deafening roar of the gale and salty surf as the bowsprit scraped along the terrifying wall of ocean threatening to wash over the bow. With a small amount of sail, pitched to catch the wind and turn the ship, the brave sailors battled against the elements to hold the correct angle to the wave. With sheer brute force, they manoeuvred the tillers, pitching the ship at the perfect slant to successfully ride up to the summit of the amorphous ridge, pause momentarily, and then hurtle at breakneck speed down the other side while praying that they do not submerge the bow at the foot of the next approaching wave. For hours on end, tired and shivering bodies strained every sinew, battling against muscle fatigue from the lashing icy needles of rain draining their reserves as time and time again they found the strength to keep the craft halfway between headlong and sideways into each wave, gambling their fate and everyone onboard against capsizing or plunging deep into the water as the ship yet again thundered headlong into the briny abyss. All through the night, deafening bluffs of water pounded the hull of the ship but it was well crafted and with forethought had been reinforced so thankfully held together. Below decks, passengers and crew prayed to their individual gods, each one offering promises of sacrifice or penance as payment for their survival. Even those with no belief suddenly found religion in this terrifying storm. All a terrified Yeshua could think about as he clung terrified to his bunk was the sailor in the crew’s song and would he suffer the same fate as he was also on his first voyage.
Hajer believed that this was his punishment for making a pact with the underworld and it would not be too long before he drowned and he had to pay for his sins at Heaven’s gate. Meanwhile, hidden in an anteroom, Toomak knelt facing Feriluc while holding hands and chanting. The object of the exercise was to empower the amulet, and they both chanted whilst totally oblivious to the storm raging overhead. Toomak gazed rapt as Feriluc rolled his pink eyes back into their sockets while rocking back and forth from the waist as he recited incantations never written down and known only to the privileged few. Toomak memorized every syllable and inflection, storing it all in her eidetic memory.
Hours past and finally the storm eased giving much needed respite to the four men who for most of the night held the fate of the ship in their hands. Blood mixed with seawater stained Balthazar’s tunic from a gash his forehead received when a cleat holding a rigging rope tore away from its mount and struck him during the gale. Six fresh sailors managed to get back up on deck and relieve their exhausted crewmates who gratefully returned to their quarters for a well deserved rest. Before he took care of himself, Balthazar insisted on reporting to Joseph before receiving any treatment and he stood shivering and soaking wet in Joseph’s office as he gave his account.
“I think the worst of the storm has passed and there appears to be minimal damage on deck. There are six fresh crewmen manning the tillers and they should be good for a few hours. How are things down here?”
“Everything is fine down here Balthazar, you and your men have saved the lives of everyone onboard and I will never forget it, now go and get patched up and out of those cold wet clothes before an ague takes hold.”
Joseph ordered, concerned for the exhausted pallor of his friend's face. Before Balthazar was allowed to leave, Joseph retrieved from his private anteroom an amphora of top quality wine to be shared with the three oth
er crewmen, with a promise of drinks on the house for the remainder of the crew when they reached port. Balthazar’s face lit up at this gesture and he clutched the amphora close to his chest. His love of quality wine was the source of much mockery amongst the crew, which he always took in good spirit.
Unable to leave Joseph’s room quick enough with his prize, Balthazar forgot to duck and banged his head on the top of the doorframe almost dropping the wine in the process, providing a source of shock from Yeshua and much amusement from Joseph as Balthazar rubbed the sore spot while swearing loudly as he strode to his room.
As the night wore on the storm eventually passed, and at the break of dawn the sky regained its colour washed blue with wispy tufts of clouds drifting idly by. One by one, sickly and exhausted passengers and crew stepped out onto the deck, relieved to be alive and happy to enjoy the warmth of the early morning sun. Joseph and Balthazar paced the deck inspecting the damage with Balthazar periodically issuing details to crewmen about the order of repairs to take place. Icarus who had been charting the course of the sun, the colour of the sea and the direction of the trade winds interrupted the both of them with his best estimate of the ship's position.
“We’ve never been this far out to sea before Mister Joseph. My best guess during the daytime is that it will take over a week before we see land again if the winds remain in our favour. Tonight, if the sky is clear enough to see the heavens, I will be able to give you a better answer.”
Timelock Page 26