by John Booth
Hal was the Bosun of the Steam Dragon and had volunteered to steer the boat while the rest of the crew judged Nin. He felt sorry for the boy and didn’t want any part in it.
Apart from Hal, there was only one other member of the crew not at the meeting and that was Jerin in the engine room. Hal and Jerin talked to each other via the speaking tubes that ran through the boat and it turned out Jerin’s reason for volunteering for duty in the engine room had been the same as Hal’s.
Hal was particularly glad he would not be able to hear the beat of the drum from the bridge. Jerin was not so lucky in the engine room and would be able to hear both the drum and the sounds that always accompanied its slow beat.
“I’m sorry to disturb you,” Daniel replied, “I need to speak to the Captain urgently and I was wondering if you could tell me where I can find him.”
“The Captain and the rest of the crew are holding a meeting. It’s on Dragon business and private. I’ll tell him you are looking for him when he finishes if you give me your name and cabin number.”
“My name is Daniel al’Degar and I want to see him about the meeting he is holding, as I suspect it is about Nin.”
Hal sniffed. “There’s nothing you can do for the boy. He broke the cardinal rule of protecting the boat and there is only one punishment for that. I’d like to help but…”
Hal stopped talking as Daniel grabbed him, pushing his right arm up high against his back and pinning him against the wheel. The Steam Dragon began to turn and head towards the north bank of the river.
“Let me go!” Hal shouted as he struggled desperately and futilely against Daniel’s grip. “We’re going to crash.”
“Then tell me where I can find Nin. You aren’t breaking the code if you save the boat by telling me.”
“They are in Hold Number Two. It’s where they keep the barrel and the drum. But you’d better hurry if you want to get there in time to help the boy.”
Daniel let go of Hal, who desperately spun the wheel to steer the Dragon away from the bank. Hal fought the boat and called down the speaking tube for more power from the engines. By the time he was able to look around the bridge for Daniel, he had gone.
“I think we should hurry,” Daniel told Jalia and Hala. “We need to find Hold Number Two. I think it must be beyond the hold we put the swords in.”
They ran down the corridor to the stairs. Hala fell on the second flight down and Daniel swept her up into his arms, carrying her down into the bowels of the ship. They ran through a door labeled ‘Crew Only’ and found themselves in a succession of narrow corridors lit only by the occasional lantern. There were no signs to help them, as the crew knew their way. After ten minutes of running, they were exhausted and completely lost.
Daniel rested against a bulkhead and then let his body slide down the wall until he was sitting on the floor.
“I think we need to rethink this,” he told his companions.
Jalia nodded. “This boat’s corridors make the caves of Brinan look simple by comparison.”
“At least we are not in the dark being chased by monsters.”
“Can you hear that?” Hala asked and everybody tried to control their breathing so they could listen. After a few seconds, they heard what she had been talking about. Somewhere in the distance, a drum was beating slowly.
“The man on the bridge said something about a drum and a barrel,” Daniel said.
“It’s coming from that direction,” Jalia said pointing down the corridor the way they had just come.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Daniel said as he staggered to his feet. “Let’s follow the drum and hope it leads to Nin.”
A few minutes later, Jalia cautiously opened a metal door. The beat of the drum sounded close and was followed almost immediately by a high pitched scream. The companions stepped silently through the door into Hold Number Two.
The hold was large and two stories high. Lanterns hung around its walls at ten-foot intervals bathing the room in gloomy yellow light.
The Steam Dragon’s crew stood in a circle near the center of the hold staring at something. It took Jalia, Daniel and Hala a few seconds in the gloom to identify what they were looking at.
In the center of the hold was a large wooden barrel fastened down on its side by carved blocks of wood. Held naked and spreadeagled over its curving surface was Nin. His hands and feet were tied by ropes, which were themselves fastened on iron spikes beaten into the sides of the barrel. The only part of his body he could move was his head.
Captain Toren was standing by a large drum holding what looked like a metal ladle. As they watched, the Captain struck the drum with the ladle and a crewman holding a whip struck Nin. Nin screamed in agony, his body trying to arch but only his head and neck moving. Judging by the number of angry red lines that they could see across Nin’s back, buttocks and thighs, they had arrived a little late.
Daniel drew his sword and stepped forward. “Stop!” he ordered.
Captain Toren and the crew turned as one towards Daniel. Jalia drew her sword and Hala pulled her knife from her belt. There were at least thirty crewmen in the hold and many of them held staves.
“You have no right to be here,” Captain Toren said evenly. “This is a matter private to the crew.”
“Beating a child to death for saving the life of Jalia is none of my business?” Daniel replied in mocking tones. “If you think that, then you have yet to discover who I am.”
“This is Nin’s choice,” Toren continued as if he had not heard Daniel. “He could have chosen to be discharged at the next port and never to step foot on the Dragon again.”
“That’s not a choice,” Hala spat out in disgust. “That’s just a slower death sentence. This boat is his family and his home.”
“By ancient law, each member of the crew is required to strike Nin five times with a whip in time to the beat of the drum,” Captain Toren explained. “How hard they strike him is up to them. They must each judge how they feel about the risk he put the Dragon in and whether he has been punished enough. Not everyone punished this way dies.”
“That sounds fair,” Daniel said, much to Jalia and Hala’s astonishment. “Is it possible as a concerned party to add a proviso to that just and compassionate law?”
“What exactly did you have in mind?” Toren asked, an expression of amusement on his face.
“That I might stand to one side and judge for myself how hard each crewman strikes Nin and that I might get a chance to admonish them if I think they have struck Nin too hard.”
“Admonish?” Toren queried.
“With my fists, I was thinking.”
“Or we could throw you out of here,” the Captain offered.
“I might have to resist any such attempt with my sword.”
“You have only a woman and girl to back you up.”
“They won’t be needed, but believe me when I tell you they could deal with your men on their own if it was required of them,” Daniel replied and gave a feral smile.
A large muscular man stepped from the ranks of the crew. “Agree to his request, Captain. It is my turn with the whip and I am more than happy to subject myself to his lordship’s judgment afterwards. Though it might be his lordship here who ends up found wanting.”
There was a minute of hubbub as the crew talked the idea through. It was clear they thought their man would take care of Daniel in any fist fight. More and more of their voices joined a chorus of “Yes”.
Captain Toren smiled, showing brilliant white teeth through the bush of his beard. “It seems my crew are amenable to your offer, as am I. I suggest we get right down to it. Give Yan the whip.”
“What’s going on?” Hala whispered.
“Daniel will fight any man who hits Nin too hard. Nin will survive and be able to stay with the Steam Dragon, as each crewmember has had the chance to punish him according to their laws,” Jalia explained.
“But that man will kill Daniel, he’s enormous.”
/> “It is not Daniel you should be worried about. Yan is certain to strike at Nin as hard as he can before he faces Daniel in unarmed combat.”
As Jalia had predicted, Yan took the whip in his hand and sized up the range to Nin. The whip cracked with terrible force against Nin’s back and blood started to ooze from the stripe it formed. Nin screamed in agony. Daniel stared straight ahead and ignored both Yan and Nin.
Four more blows followed, each cutting lines in the boys buttocks. Hala buried her head into Jalia’s breast, as she couldn’t bear to look. Nin’s screams reached a level of such agony that even Jalia winced.
Yan threw down the whip at Daniel’s feet after the last blow was struck.
“Did I do that too hard for you, your lordship?” Yan asked sarcastically.
“Much too hard. I’m afraid I am going to have to teach you a severe lesson.”
Yan laughed in derision and his laughter was echoed somewhat uneasily by the rest of the crew. The word had spread through their ranks that the name of the man that stood before them was Daniel al’Degar. Some were surreptitiously making bets.
Yan ran at Daniel, aiming to take him in a bear hug and squeeze the life from his body.
Daniel was delighted. If Yan had been wary, he would take longer to defeat. He might even have got in a lucky blow or two which might have encouraged the other crewmen to have a go.
Daniel stood his ground and used both hands clasped together to smash up into Yan’s jaw. He ducked under Yan’s flailing hands at incredible speed, swinging his fists, still locked together, to hit Yan in the small of the back. Daniel’s first blow left Yan dazed, his second dropped him to the deck like a felled tree, smashing his nose into the steel deck so hard that there was no chance he would rise again in the near future.
Hala jumped up and down shouting ‘Daniel’ with her hands held high and clenched together in a victory salute. Jalia pulled Hala’s arms down quickly and told her to shut up. There were thirty angry men in the hold and Jalia would prefer that Hala didn’t rile them any further.
Daniel kicked Yan in the ribs twice while he lay unconscious. It looked vicious to the crew, but in fact, Daniel took the force out of the kicks at the last moment. He did not want to kill Yan, merely dissuade the crew from following his example. Finally, he placed his boot on Yan’s neck. Daniel was trying hard to control his breathing so he did not appear to be out of breath. He covered up for a delay in saying anything by smiling. To the crew, his strained smile looked more like the grimace of a demon about to feed on its prey.
“Next,” Daniel said as calmly and dispassionately as he could.
There was some scrabbling among the crew not to be the next man to wield the whip. In the end; a small thin man was pushed into the circle. He smiled in a frightened manner at Daniel and looked to Captain Toren to get him out this mess. The Captain seemed amused behind his black beard but all he said to the man was, “Get on with it, Wanor, we haven’t got all day”
Rolf Wanor picked up the whip by its middle. A few men at the back of the circle shouted words of encouragement. Not that Rolf saw their words that way.
“Go on Rolf. Whip Nin hard. You can sort Daniel al’Degar out can’t you?” an anonymous voice shouted from the back. “Think of all the stories they’ll sing about you afterwards.”
“Yeah, like how you died,” another voice added.
Lifting the whip, Rolf swung it gently against Nin’s back, accidentally catching Nin on the exact place that Yan’s first stroke had struck. Nin squealed in agony out of all proportion to the blow as the original wound was touched.
“Err sorry Nin,” Rolf said, much to the amusement of the crew. His next four strokes caressed Nin on the legs, being more likely to tickle him than cause him any pain. The derisive laughter of his crewmates followed Rolf as he dropped the whip as if it was on fire and walked over to Daniel in a state of trepidation.
Daniel moved suddenly and Rolf squeaked and covered his face with his arms. The laughter intensified as Rolf moved his arms to find Daniel standing with his hand outstretched to shake Rolf’s hand. Rolf shook Daniel’s hand gingerly before running to the safety of the circle.
Nobody left hit Nin hard with the whip. One or two of the men struck blows that would hurt, but they aimed far away from the bloody stripes that Yan had left. The last man to stand and take the whip was a tall thin man with a hooked nose. The crew stopped laughing and waited in silence as this man held the whip close to Nin’s back.
“My son was wrong to risk the ship in helping this woman,” he said looking at Jalia as he spoke. “But he was wrong in the way that a hero is wrong, not wrong in the way of a coward. He has suffered enough already and I will not strike him again,” he finished, throwing the whip onto the floor.
The crew looked towards Captain Toren. “I will not strike him either,” Toren said, and some of the men cheered. “Get back to work, all of you. This matter is over and we will not speak of it again. And if any of you are thinking of causing problems for Nin, remember this barrel is also used to punish insubordination.”
Captain Toren turned towards Nin’s father, “Tabor, I know you need to get Nin to his bunk, but you have many meals to prepare. Do not spend too long with him.”
“Aye Captain,”
“Well come on men. Get on with it!” Captain Toren shouted as nobody showed any signs of moving. There was a mass run for the exits and thirty seconds later only Jalia, Daniel, Hala, Nin and Tabor remained. Well, there was also Yan Berin, still lying unconscious on the floor, but everybody had forgotten about him.
Hala rushed to Nin and stroked his hair. Nin turned his tear stained face towards her and whispered hoarsely, “I’m not a damned dog, you know.”
Tabor started to untie the knots of the ropes that held his son. Jalia moved past him and sliced through them with her knife. Tabor caught Nin as he fell.
“Hold him steady,” Daniel said to Tabor. “This ointment will help his wounds to heal.” He took from his pocket the ointment he used on Jalia earlier.
“Daniel, can’t you use…” Hala said before Jalia’s hand clamped around her mouth.
“Daniel is using the best ointment there is, Hala,” Jalia said. But she held Hala’s mouth closed until the girl nodded in understanding. There were some suggestions she could not make where they would be overheard.
Nin screamed loudly and sobbed as Daniel applied the ointment as gently as he could to the wounds on the boy’s back and buttocks. Jalia turned to the unconscious form of Yan and gave his body a vicious kick to the groin. “That was uncalled for,” she told him angrily.
“I have to get Nin back to our cabin,” Tabor said helplessly. “There are a lot of doors to open on the way.”
“I’ll carry him on my back,” Jalia offered, taking off her sword harness and handing it to Daniel. “You lead the way, as we are bound to get lost down here if you don’t.”
Nin tried to cover his nakedness from Hala as the men lifted him up onto Jalia’s back.
“Don’t be so stupid,” Hala told him more than a little angrily. “I’ve seen bigger one’s than that.”
Her words did not comfort Nin in the slightest.
It was a long journey through the Steam Dragon, involving going up and down many sets of steps. If Nin was a burden to Jalia, she didn’t speak of it, nor ask for any assistance. Finally, Daniel and Tabor lifted Nin off her back and lay him face down on his bunk.
“I have to go and prepare the evening meal,” Tabor said wringing his hands. “Nin’s mother died when he was a baby and I have no one to look after him.”
“I’ll stay,” Hala volunteered. “I can give him water and put more ointment on his wounds if he needs it.”
Tabor looked relieved. “If you two would like something to eat, there is plenty of food in the galley. I know Lady Jalia missed her lunch while rescuing the people from the ship.”
“I personally, am starving,” Daniel said to Tabor with a broad smile on his face. “I’m not s
o sure about Jalia though. Do you think she might be getting a little fat?”
“You may have got my sword, but I’m still carrying two daggers, Daniel,” Jalia warned through clenched teeth.
“She gets moody when she’s overweight,” Daniel confided in Tabor as he put an arm over the man’s shoulder. “Which way is the galley?”
Once the adults were safely down the corridor and the door to the cabin was firmly closed, Hala sat down beside Nin.
“The first thing we have to do is take your mind off the pain in your back,” she told Nin. “Just roll your body a little so I can… Oh, I see you’ve anticipated me....”
Tabor led Jalia and Daniel through a series of corridors used by the crew. They didn’t meet a single person until they reached the galley. True to his word, Tabor offered them tasty bread and cured meats.
“Do you mind if I ask you some questions?” Daniel asked looking around. There were two other men in the kitchen, Rolf Wanor and someone that Daniel hadn’t seen before. Both men were studiously avoiding looking in their direction.
“So long it doesn’t stop me working, I would welcome the distraction,” Tabor replied. “We thought that you were one of the men killed on the dock, so it was a surprise when you arrived in the hold.”
“You know what happened on the dock?” Jalia asked in surprise.
“The Dragon is our home and our livelihood. It is likely we would leave it unguarded during the night?” Tabor replied.
“Captain Toren knows we brought the swords onboard?” Jalia asked. She had already observed that the Captain seemed to be having an intense relationship with Lady Sorn.
“I doubt it. The boat was not compromised and the crew do not tell the officers everything that happens. The officers think they are lords compared to us as it is, so we like to keep them in the dark where we can. It’s a game we play.”
“I was wondering if you could tell us some things about Slarn’s history,” Daniel said, steering the conversation back in the direction he wanted it to go. “I was told some story about the Great Seal of Slarn. Have you heard of it?”