by Allan Joyal
“Fire?” Lenoir asked in her strangely accented voice. As expected the spell allowing her to speak easily with everyone had faded before the sun reached the horizon the first day she was with us. She had learned enough of our language to be helpful and was now starting to speak a bit more, but had the habit of accenting the wrong parts of words.
“No,” Ushcail said. “The whole mountain smokes.”
“A mountain? How?” I asked.
“No one seems to know,” Jessop said. “At least its just smoke. Its when the gods are angry and command the mountain to vomit lava that you need to fear.”
“Huh?” I said. I felt my face grow warm. My single word betrayed an ignorance that I was not happy about.
“The mountains hide powerful spirits. The spirits melt the earth itself. The smoke is only the evidence that a spirit sleeps inside the mountain, slowly melting the earth. However, should a spirit awaken, it will force the molten earth upwards until it leaves the mountain. When that occurs, men die.”
I could now see a mountain rising out of the ocean far ahead of us.
“Land!” Culax shouted. “Almost directly ahead of us.”
“And we’re steering a hand or two north of true west,” Ushcail said. “Let’s see if I can identify the island.”
“It’s Mont Cors,” a voice called out from somewhere off the starboard side of the ship.
“Nereid!” Ushcail bellowed. “What are you doing this far north? Does your mother know?”
“Of course she doesn’t,” Nereid replied from the water. “She would have forbid me from coming.”
“For good reason,” Ushcail growled. “We’ll talk about that later.”
“I’m safe,” Nereid replied petulantly. I was tempted to look over the starboard side. I could just see her with her arms crossed as she swam alongside Gypsy.
Ushcail moved to the starboard rail and looked over the side. “You are alone, and this is not the safest part of the seas around the islands. Now how did you managed to sneak off?”
“Gelzia, Pershia, Moryl and I told the tribal elders that we wanted to follow the galleys when they made their way north. You know that Gelzia and Pershia are looking to mate soon,” Nereid said.
“I had not heard that. How could I know, I’ve never met them and you rarely talk about your people. Your mother has refused to introduce me to the elders four times that I know of,” Ushcail said. “And if you left with them, where are they?”
“The galley we followed stopped at Gwerton. They stopped to explore an old wreck just to the east,” Nereid replied. “Hey, can you slow down?”
“We only have so much food,” Ushcail said. He looked around and spotted me standing against the railing. “Kaven, throw a line to the water. We’ll give Nereid a tow.”
“Father!” Nereid complained.
I found the coiled stern line. It seemed too long to allow Nereid to stay alongside so I looped it around the railing and then tossed it into the water.
As I stood up Lenoir came up to me. “Who? What?” she asked me.
“Ushcail’s daughter,” I said.
“But?” she asked.
I shook my head. We could communicate regarding food or the operation of the ship, but I was at a loss as to how to explain Nereid to Lenoir. Instead I concentrated on looking at the mountain to the east. It seemed to be rising out of the ocean as the winds and current carried Gypsy onward.
Lenoir was looking over the starboard railing. I moved towards the bow to get a closer look at the island we were approaching. Panalope ran up to join me. “We’re almost home,” she said enthusiastically.
“I thought we were making a new home,” I said.
“We are, but we’ll get to see your sister soon. You’re fun, but I miss talking to her,” Panalope said.
The mountain was now clearly visible. “Captain?” I called out. “Do we do anything?”
“Mont Cors doesn’t have a mine,” Ushcail said. “However, it does make a good navigational aide. The mountain is almost always smoking. If my daughter is telling the truth, we’ll want to go south around the island and head for Gwerton.”
“Where the galley she followed to head up here stopped?” I asked. “Will she be in trouble with her friends for leaving them?”
“I don’t know,” Ushcail said. “And right now I’m still furious that she came this far north. The waters around here contain creatures big enough to destroy this ship.”
“Do they attack often?” Panalope asked worriedly.
“No,” Ushcail said. “And this isn’t the right time of year to encounter them. They usually appear during the storm season. But I’ve seen a galley crushed by one.”
“Should we turn now?” I asked.
Ushcail said nothing for a moment. “Jessop?” he called out.
I looked back to the stern where Jessop was standing. The old man looked up at the sail and then shrugged. “The wind is coming out of the west, so a turn would not be difficult. It might help to turn early. I doubt any Sere has a galley waiting in ambush, but there is that promontory on the south end of Mont Cors that they could hide behind.”
“Let’s come five hands to starboard,” Ushcail said. “That should allow us plenty of space when we round the island.”
“You heard the captain!” Jessop shouted.
“Hey!” we heard Nereid complain. “I’m on your starboard side!”
“Be ready to avoid getting hit,” Ushcail said. “We don’t have time for you to swim under Gypsy and catch a new line.”
“She’s done this before?” I asked as I started untying the lines holding the foresail in place. I could already see that we would be moving them to the starboard side of the ship.
“She used to make a game of swimming under a galley that was powered by sails,” Ushcail said as he helped me with the lines.
“Coming about!” Jessop called out. The ship tilted just slightly to port. It was a gentle turn compared to some of the ones we had used when entering or exiting the river just a few days before. I scrambled up the deck and was able to start securing the sail before the ship righted itself.
A moment later I stood up and looked at the sail. It had filled up quickly and was pulling at the ropes as Gypsy accelerated on its new heading.
“I can see the mountain more clearly,” Panalope said. “It looks strange. I can’t think of something to compare it too.”
I looked at the smoking mountain and had to agree with Panalope. Mountains did not really exist in the islands, but there were many points where the land rose to a point. It was almost always a point or occasionally a large mostly flat expanse made up the highest point on an island. This mountain looked like someone had poured grain onto the floor, but then somehow carved out the middle. The smoke rose from the center of this strangely truncated cone.
“It does look strange,” I said. “But we are in the water and far from the smoke. We are safe.”
“Sail!” Ushcail called out. “Jessop we have a sail off the port bow. Right where we thought it might be.”
“You’re the captain, why tell me?” Jessop asked.
“You’re on the tiller. What are the chances they catch us?” Ushcail asked.
“It’s a galley,” Jessop said scornfully. “We’re upwind from them and are riding with the current for the moment.”
“The current curves north of Mont Cors,” Nereid called out. “You will be breaking free of it in a moment.”
“How did?” Jessop started to ask.
“Because I know this area. When father first talked about his trip to the west I spoke with every elder I could find. I even risked visiting the Great Grouper.”
“Who?” Panalope called out.
Ushcail shook his head. Nereid said no more as we kept moving.
“Captain?” I asked as the crew of the galley began paddling. They were not moving directly towards us. From the angle it looked like they were hoping to ram us as we passed.
Ushcail watched the
galley for a moment. I could see as his shoulders slowly relaxed. “They don’t have a chance,” he muttered.
“Captain?” Panalope asked.
“They won’t be able to build up enough speed to catch us. And we’re far enough away from Gwerton that we can arrive there and complete our business before they make it there,” Ushcail said.
“I remember my father saying that a galley could get from the Lava lands to our island in five days. Are you saying we’ll be that far ahead of the galley in less than a day of sailing? You said we’d arrive in Gwerton soon,” Panalope said.
“That galley is at combat speed right now. Yes, a galley can cover long distances, but that is when the rowers are working at a relaxed pace. The pace they are using right now will exhaust the men. They won’t be able to resume the chase for some time while the men recover,” Ushcail said.
“Where were they before we saw them?” I asked. “And why appear now?”
“Hail ship!” someone shouted from the galley. It was so faint I could barely make out that someone was shouting to us. “Stop and be boarded.”
“You have no authority over us,” Ushcail roared back. “We are a peaceful trading ship.”
“Your ship is unnatural. It will be seized by the forces of Sere Molglos. If you fail to stop, we will pursue and kill all of you,” the voice cried out.
“And this is supposed to make us stop?” Panalope asked. “And who is Sere Molglos? I don’t recognize the name.”
“He holds a large island just south of the Lava Lands. He’s often tried to interfere in the trade with the mines. Most of the other Seres despise him,” Ushcail said. “Now quiet while I deal with this idiot captain.”
“You can’t catch us,” Ushcail shouted. “And your master is lord of his island, not of the seas around it.”
“Times are changing,” the other captain shouted back. “And we will kill you all if you fail to stop.”
“Catch us,” Ushcail said. “I won’t halt for some petty pirate!”
“What?” the other captain shouted. “Helm, hard turn to starboard. Drummer, doubletime on the ramming speed.”
The galley lunged to its right. The prow and ram of the galley emerged from the water as it surged forward. The oars struck the water at an incredible pace as the galley attempted to cut off Gypsy’s advance.
I just stood there counting the number of strokes. By the seventh it seemed that the rowing was becoming ragged with some oars leaving the water before others. By the tenth more than a dozen oars were barely touching the water before they were lifted back into the air. A few strokes more and several oars stopped moving. This started a ripple up and down the ranks of oars. My count had not reached thirty when the rowing stopped.
“Less than thirty,” Ushcail said absently. “Definitely not a high quality crew. They’ll need some time to recover and then they have to find us.”
“Won’t they expect us to stop at Gwerton?” I asked.
“Why would they expect us to do something that stupid?” Jessop asked. “They have to believe we expect others to try to seize Gypsy.”
“We do,” I said. “Won’t that happen at Gwerton?”
Ushcail laughed. “I’m known there. The town owes me a favor.”
“Why?” Panalope asked.
“Years ago one of the mountain spirits around here woke up. Daddy was one of the few willing to sail to Gwerton to keep them supplied and alive. At least that’s what Mother tells me,” Nereid said.
Lenoir walked over to us. She had a wide eyed look on her face. “His… daughter?” she asked.
Ushcail nodded. “My eldest. She’s a lively lass.”
“Too bad she can’t keep up without help,” I said.
Ushcail laughed. “She probably could for a while, but why make her work hard when Gypsy can tow her along. Besides, this way I know where she is.”
“The Great Grouper?” Panalope asked.
“I have no idea. I’ll have to ask her mother,” Ushcail said. His eyes narrowed at the idea.
“What about Gwerton?” I asked. “Do we just sail up to the pier?”
“That’s what I’m planning,” Ushcail said. “But to the outer one.”
“Outer?” I asked.
“Gwerton has two piers. One is on the western side of the island. It’s open to the currents, but for short stays it’s more convenient. We can tie up there and handle our trading on the pier. The other one is guarded by a long strip of land. It’s the best one to use if you want to dock overnight, but that captain might be able to trap us in the harbor if I’m wrong as to how long his people must rest,” Ushcail said.
“How long should the trading take?” I asked.
“We can’t fly flags to do more than say we want to trade,” Ushcail said.
“Flags?” I asked.
Ushcail headed for the hold as Panalope and I stood there. We were trying to figure out what he was doing when Jessop called.
“The wind is shifting. I’m going to turn a hand to port. We’ll get more speed,” he called out.
“Will that cause us to miss Gwerton?” Panalope asked.
“We’re going to run right into it,” Jessop said. “Look ahead of us.
Panalope and I both looked over the bow. I could just barely make out a smudge on the horizon.
“That dark spot in the distance?” Panalope asked.
“That’s it. We’ll be there shortly,” Jessop said. “Gypsy is a fast ship.”
“I can see why the documents suggested that these are considered far superior to galleys,” I said. “I expected it to be a bit better and to be able to reach the lands of the Empire, but not to be so fast or easy to handle.”
“Why would the Seres stop having ships like this made?” Panalope asked.
“Control,” Ushcail said. “A ship like this can be used to escape the Islands completely. The Seres don’t want to lose their farmers and servants.”
“And a galley can’t make the trip so everyone is trapped on the islands,” I said. “But they all seem to want Gypsy,” I said.
“You explained the reasons for that earlier,” Ushcail pointed out. “There is almost no wood and the soil is starting to fail. The Seres need goods they can’t get in the islands or lava lands. This ship now represents salvation to the Seres who worry about their people at all.”
“Which leaves Sere Komptan out. He only cares about his power and wealth,” I said bitterly.
“He’s not the worst,” Ushcail said. “Your island isn’t in a great location though. There was nothing really unique about it other than the fact that all the tax records were brought there.”
“So the Sere had some built in access to trade routes,” I said with a nod.
“Panalope’s father helped with that, I’m sure,” Ushcail said.
“He only cares about his wealth and his legacy. He found a new wife because he wants a son to carry on when he dies,” Panalope said bitterly.
I put an arm around the young woman. “I’ll never do that to you or our children.”
“Our…,” Panalope growled out angrily. She whirled around, stepping away from me. Her face was a picture of fury.
She stood there glaring at me and then her features softened. “Children?” she asked shyly. “Did you…”
“What? You think we’ll never have children? I’m hoping for at least three or four,” I said.
“You haven’t shown any interest in that,” Panalope replied. Her eyes had narrowed.
“Out here where the others could see?” I asked. “It wouldn’t be right.”
“Whatever,” Panalope said with a huff as Ushcail walked past us. He tied something to a rope and then pulled a separate rope. The first rope rose in the air. A green triangle of cloth spread out behind the rope. I could see a white square in the middle of the cloth.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Trade flag,” Ushcail said. “It is how ships indicate that they have something to trade as they approach a harb
or. Hopefully we’ll see merchants at the pier.”
“What do you expect to trade for?” I asked.
“Not much of the wood,” Ushcail said. “It’s valuable, but it will be more valuable to the Seres who own ships. We’ll probably trade less than a dozen of the panels that are large enough to make oars. Gwerton’s traders should also be interested in some of the shafts. I also expect we can trade a couple barrels of milled rice and one of those strange brown things.”
“Avocado?” Lenoir asked.
“Is that what they are? Who named the things?” Ushcail asked.
“Jeff find,” Lenoir said.
“One of the others from Daytona?” I asked.
Lenoir nodded. “Grow on tree. Found seven trees. Jeff started grove from seeds.”
“I love her accent,” Panalope said.
“I like that she’s willing to come with us,” Ushcail said. “Her accent makes it clear she’s not from any of the islands, and that will help in the trading.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because this trip is partly to establish the relationships,” Ushcail said. “The merchants won’t trust us at first. The ship will look wrong and they won’t want to believe. However, having Lenoir here will be proof that we aren’t lying.”
“I think the wood would do that,” Culax said as he wandered over. “And you should just run the ship to Sere Uthrain. He’ll protect you.”
“He won’t allow us to return to the lands we discovered,” I said.
“We didn’t discover them,” Panalope said. “We just reopened the route and showed that they were always there.”
“Fine,” I said with a huff. “But to the others in the islands we’ll be considered the ones to have discovered the route. It had been forgotten.”
Panalope smiled. She leaned forward and put her arms around my neck. “Works for me,” she said just before kissing me lovingly on the lips.
“Captain!” Culax moaned in complaint.
“Hey, we’ve known from the start that she wanted him,” Ushcail said. “As for your Sere, I’m not going to visit his island. In fact, you can get off here and not return.”