by Allan Joyal
“Is this always going to be a problem?” I asked.
“Probably,” Ushcail said. “The current is strong and steady. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Once we learn where it is we can adjust how and where we sail.”
“But it looks like we’d have to sail out of sight of land to sail southward around here,” Culax said bitterly.
“He’s just a font of positive emotion,” Panalope said.
“We’ll make it work,” I said. “For now, let’s watch for the opening to the harbor. I don’t want to miss it.”
The coastline here was not as barren as my faulty memory told me it should be. I could see that trees grew down almost to the high tide line and occasionally I glimpsed movement underneath the leafy canopy. I was trying to decide what this meant when Lucis moved next to me and leaned against the railing.
“Do you think we can fix up any of those ruins?” he asked me.
“I didn’t really look too closely on anything other than the one tower. Someone had already put some time into repairing the tower, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to fix up. We’ll have to look at the rest of the ruins when we get there,” I said.
“I see the harbor mouth!” Hadlor shouted.
Lucis and I both turned to look at our crewmate. He was standing near the mast and pointing off the starboard bow.
“I see it,” Jessop called. “Captain, with this breeze and the current we probably want to turn a bit late,” he called back.
“Agreed,” Ushcail called back. “Get ready men, we’ll be turning to enter the harbor soon.”
“Why late?” Panalope asked as she moved to the stern to help Jessop with the tiller.
“The current is going to try to push us,” Ushcail said. “We don’t want to end up missing the entrance because of the current,” Ushcail said. “We can correct if we miss to port, but the current might cause trouble if we turn too soon and miss to starboard.”
“That makes sense,” Panalope said. “Sorry to ask, but I know little of sailing.”
“You’ve done well,” Ushcail said.
“Will anyone complain if I admit I want to be back on land?” Panalope asked. “I want a hot meal, if we can cook one tonight.”
“With what?” Culax asked sharply. “We don’t have any fresh meat to cook.”
“We could try to catch a fish or two,” Lucis said. “We do have some gear for that.”
“We don’t have a net,” Culax said.
Ushcail laughed. “Men were catching fish long before they learned to weave nets. Jessop, let’s start the turn. Everyone, we’re coming to starboard. Remember we aim for the left side of the entrance.”
Lucis and I turned and immediately began releasing some of the lines holding the foresail in place. This turn did not require us to switch sides of the ship, so we were able to work quickly as we adjusted the sail to catch the breeze as we began sailing to the southwest.
“Watch our speed,” Ushcail said. “Culax, Hadlor be prepared to bring in the mainsail once we are in the mouth of the harbor.”
“You want to run with just the foresail?” Lucis asked.
“It should work in the harbor,” Ushcail said. “And it’s a lot easier to bring in when we are ready to dock.”
“Understood,” Lucis said. He leaned near me. “He’s right. Gypsy is a nimble ship.”
“I just hope he can prevent Culax from trying something?” I said worriedly.
“It takes at least three people to sail Gypsy. Five to do it well,” Lucis said casually. “No one on the ship is going to help him. He can bluster, but for now he can’t steal it. Besides he has no clue where we are.”
“Do any of us?” I asked.
“I hope you do!” Panalope said as Gypsy passed through the mouth of the harbor.
I found that I was staring at the stone piers and ruined buildings of the harbor town. A strange feeling of contentment came over me. “Hopefully, I’m visiting the place that will become home.”
“Here?” Culax shouted as I moved to the ropes. Ushcail was already starting to bring in the mainsail as Jessop worked to guide Gypsy to one of the piers.
We immediately found that the lack of current in the harbor made maneuvering the ship a time consuming, but simple process. Jessop only had to ask for us to make one small adjustment before he was able to bring Gypsy alongside one of the piers. Ushcail immediately tossed the anchor to the shore and jumped after it.
“Kaven,” he shouted. “Jump to shore and tie off the stern. Once we get Gypsy secured we can take a closer look at your ruined town.”
“Mine?” I asked.
“You found it for us, and it sounds like you plan on staying here,” Ushcail said.
“Not until I see if we can get my sister to join us,” I said firmly. “We also need to find out what Seres might be willing to trade with us. I don’t want you to be traveling to the Isles without a plan.”
“I’ll always have a plan,” Ushcail said with a laugh as I jumped to the shore. “And right now I plan on seeing just how beat up the buildings are. You only checked out the tower, which doesn’t do us much good if we plan on making this place a permanent home.”
“It can’t even look out over the ocean,” Culax pointed out. “Its fairly useless.”
I pointed past the tower and out over the expanse of wood that spread out to the northwest of the ruin. “I expect it was there to watch for people approaching from land.”
“But what about pirates?” Culax asked scornfully.
“The tower still has a good view of the entrance to the harbor,” I pointed out. “Perhaps they had magic which would keep any ships out.”
“Fire?” Panalope asked.
“What?” I asked.
“Do you think that a wizard with a fire spell could set fire to a ship? That might keep an unfriendly ship away. After all, this harbor doesn’t look natural. If they used magic to create it perhaps they had magic to keep other ships out,” Panalope said.
Lucis laughed. “Kaven, you definitely need to keep this one.”
"He doesn't want me," Panalope said with a scowl.
"I've never said that," I snapped. "I felt rushed by you more than a little. And if you remember what I said earlier, it wasn't like I was going to inherit a farm or store that I could use to provide for a family."
"You aren't going to inherit anything now," Panalope hissed as we began to walk down the pier toward the ruined buildings.
"Actually," Ushcail said firmly. "If young Kaven wants, he'll probably end up in charge of the first warehouse we set up here. I expect he'll be the leader of the village at least for a while."
"As long as he doesn’t become a Sere," Panalope said firmly. "We don't need one."
"We need someone in charge," I said as we stepped off the pier. "But for now I'll leave the choice of which ruins to check out to you Panalope. Which one do you think might be easiest to repair?"
"Why me?" she asked.
"Because you are the one doing all the talking," I said. She turned to look at me and I knew she would see me smirking back at her.
Panalope was glaring at me. "Fine! Lucis, let's check the south end of the ruins. If I was going to put in a tavern, it would be there."
"Why there?" Lucis asked.
"Look at the harbor," Panalope said scornfully. "The one pier down at that end of the harbor is small and has a lot of branches. It can handle a small boat, but nothing all that large. I expect it was used for fishing boats. The crews for boats would want to be close to the fish market and the tavern."
“She’s the daughter of a successful merchant,” I said as I looked at Lucis. The man was just staring at Panalope with his mouth agape.
“I’ll stay with the ship,” Culax said scornfully. “There’s nothing for me to see in those ruins.”
Hadlor sighed. “I guess I’ll stay in the ship with Jessop for now. That way Culax won’t try anything.”
“Captain, can’t we just throw him off the shi
p now?” Panalope asked. “I don’t like not knowing if he’s going to attempt something.”
Ushcail just shook his head. “My reputation is for bringing my crew back. If I threw him off, I’d be abandoning a crewman to an uncertain fate. No, we’ll keep him until we reach Unta Mog in the Lava Lands. We can throw him off there and he’ll be able to make his way back to his master.”
“I told you I’m a free man,” Culax growled. “And can you run this ship without me?”
“Hadlor, Lucis and Kaven can run this ship. I don’t need you to handle the sails. Panalope has become an extremely smooth hand on the tiller. So the only reason to keep you is in case someone gets hurt,” Ushcail said.
“And before you think about hurting one of us,” Hadlor growled. “If any of us are hurt or killed, I will personally stick a knife into your heart.”
Culax backed away from Hadlor and the ship. “Hey, I never threatened anyone.”
“I know,” Hadlor replied. “But its clear that your need to obtain this ship is great. I just wanted you to understand that none of us trust you or want you nearby.”
I backed away from the ship, watching as Culax crept to the far side of the pier. He kept waving his hands as Hadlor stood on the deck of the ship and continued to glare in his direction.
Panalope turned and ran to me. “Why?” she asked.
“Because the islands are dying. The Seres need a miracle to keep the people alive,” I answered.
“But they don’t care about the people,” Panalope said. “You’ve said that. My father even said that.”
“They need people in the fields farming to provide food for their men. They need merchants out trading to bring in goods and taxes,” I said. I paused for a moment.
“The taxes,” I said absently.
“What?” Panalope said.
I was about to say more when I shook my head. “No, it won’t work. There is no one who could pretend to be a representative of the Empire. And we’d need a different ship.”
“What?” Panalope asked.
“I was thinking that we could return with someone who could claim that the Empire demanded either its proper share of the tax revenue or proof that they were upholding the ideals of the Empire. We’d then give them a fake set of orders from the Empire,” I said. “But we don’t have the ship or anyone who could convince the Seres that they are from the Empire.”
“That girl who knows magic could,” Panalope said. “Especially if she was backing up Ron.”
I looked out over the ruined buildings. “Perhaps some of the buildings can be fixed up. I expect that Gypsy will make several trips where it brings back refugees. We also need to see what we can do for Isla Oerste. They will be a final stop for any ship coming to visit this harbor.”
“What should we call this place?” Panalope asked.
“We are going to be the hope for all the isles. A beacon of light for them. But we aren’t an island. The name of our town should reflect that,” I said.
“So you want to say we are a New Hope,” Panalope said. She looked surprised. I stopped and just watched as she took a couple of additional steps before noticing that I had frozen.
“New Hope,” I said. “That is a perfect name. Shall we go out and look over the foundation we have for New Hope?”
Ushcail surprised us with a thunderous laugh. He was standing right behind me. “You impress me more. And you are right. Let’s go and look over New Hope.”
Chapter 25: Planning on New Hope
I glanced over as Ushcail walked past me. The man headed directly for the ruin nearest the pier. The crumbling stone wall lacked any roof or windows. There was one section of wall that might once have been a doorway, but the crumbling left just an empty space with no lintel. Only the fact that the wall there was much lower than for the rest of the wall hinted at what had once been there.
I rushed past him and scrambled over the scattering of stones in the opening. I then looked at the interior.
The interior showed signs that a great fire had burned away the ceiling. The stone floor was stained black in some areas. The black had spread as if a great rain had scattered the still smoldering embers.
The back wall of the building was in much better shape, and the two rear corners were still standing. I looked over at them and smiled.
“What are you smiling about?” Panalope asked.
I pointed to one of the corners. “It would only take a small amount of work to add a roof over that corner. We’d need some kind of hearth, but we could use that as shelter as we expand into the rest of the ruins. Our biggest issue will be food.”
“We’ll need wood,” Panalope said.
“If we can get some nets out we can catch fish and trade them to our friends from…” I said.
“I believe one of them called it Daytona,” Ushcail said. “But you are right. You really need to tear down this building and rebuild, but for a shelter, that corner would work. We aren’t much north of Isla Oerste and they never see snow on that island. I expect this land doesn’t see snow either.”
“I’m surprised the building had no windows,” I said.
“I agree,” Ushcail replied. “I expect that the air around here is usually much thicker.”
“Thicker?” Panalope asked.
“It would feel heavy and hotter. Sweat would stick to your skin. People grow tired much faster,” Ushcail said. “Some of the Islas on the far east of the land you know suffer from this for a few days every summer. There are also a few in the south that used to according to legend, but the hot and sticky days faded when the trees were gone.”
“If all goes well, we will learn the seasons and weather here. For now, perhaps we should look over the rest of the ruins,” I said. “You sent Lucis to the south end of the ruins. We should go and learn what he has found.”
We all looked to the south. The southern facing wall of the ruin we were in stood at least knee high with a couple sections still reaching above our heads.
I turned and walked back towards the harbor, exiting the ruin through the same crumbled doorway I had used to enter. Once outside I looked to the south, trying to get an idea of how big the town had been.
I soon realized that the best way to estimate the size was to look at the docks. There were two of the long stone causeways that ran deep into the harbor. There was enough space between them for a ship like Gypsy to turn around if the crew was quick on the lines. A larger ship would probably have to be pushed out, but the rest of the harbor was large enough to allow the largest galleys in the islands to turn around under sail.
Beyond those two docks was a third smaller dock. This one had several branches. It was near the south end of the harbor. Another set of tiny causeways poked out from the south end of the waterway. Just beyond that point I could see some of the trees that had covered the shoreline growing.
“What are you looking at?” Panalope asked me.
I started walking to the south. Lucis was not in sight, but I could examine the ruins. There had been a space wide enough for a cart between the building we had examined and the next ruined building. This one had a wide opening in the side facing the harbor. “I’m trying to get an idea of how big this town was. It will give us an idea of how much work will eventually be required, and how many people we’ll be able to house quickly.”
“Is this really big?” Panalope asked. “I just remember Isla Magestica’s harbor and then Isla Oerste.”
“It’s bit bigger than Isla Magestica’s harbor,” Ushcail said. “And far better laid out. You can’t have as many big ships, but I get a feeling that the Empire used smaller ships than the galleys used in the islands.”
“It looks like there was housing for about a hundred people,” I said looking at the ruined building. I could see a ruined stairway in one of the far corners, but the upstairs section had fallen down, leaving just the crumbled stairway to hint at its existence.
“There’s Lucis!” Panalope shouted. She was looking to the sou
th and waving.
“Let’s go to him,” I suggested. I took off running. My barefeet barely noticed the occasional loose rock on the ground as I followed the ruined waterfront to where Lucis was standing.
He saw me and smiled. “I have something to show you!” he shouted.
The man waited for me to come to a halt. “What have you found?” I asked.
Lucis just smiled as I caught my breath. “I’ll tell when Ushcail and that lovely lady of yours catch up.”
“Why Lucis, I didn’t know you cared,” Panalope said from behind me. Her voice held more than a hint of anger. I started to turn only for my right ear to be grabbed and pulled downward. “Don’t ever do that again,” Panalope hissed quietly.
“Putting him in his place?” Ushcail asked with a hearty laugh.
I turned to glare at him, but the old captain just winked at me. “I’ve had Syrina do that to me a few times.”
Lucis ignored the byplay. “Come, you need to see this,” he said as he turned and walked to the last ruin along the waterfront.
The building was actually in somewhat better shape than the others along the waterfront. The wall facing us had a single arched opening. It was wide enough to allow five men to walk side-by-side and enter without touching the walls. Inside there was something that looked like a courtyard. I could hear water bubbling as we entered.
Panalope pulled ahead a little. Her head turned back and forth for a moment and then she focused on the northwest corner of the courtyard. “A fountain?”
I looked over and could see a small pile of what looked like yellow stone. The centerpiece of this was a strange fish-like sculpture. Water shot from its mouth in a stream. It had little force, but the water splashing on the stone below was the source of the bubbling sound.
“There is no way that has been working for the last two thousand years,” I said.
“It wasn’t,” Lucis said. “I bumped something while looking around and it started up. I get a feeling it will stop soon though.”
“Where is the water coming from?” Panalope asked.