Elias looked down at his hands. “I honestly have absolutely no idea.”
Jonas coughed next to Elias. “I know what I am going to do, you giant lummox.”
Elias startled and knelt on the ground next to Jonas. “You're awake! Welcome back, old man!“
Jonas groaned. “Save your welcomes and fetch me a bucket.”
Elias slid a bucket containing clean water over just as Jonas rolled to his side and retched into it. There was precious little for him to lose, but he lost it nonetheless. He held the man up by his shoulders, supporting him while he was sick, then helped him lay back. Marl readjusted Jonas's bandages as Jenna watched the whole thing fairly passively.
“The vomiting is normal,” she remarked. “He was struck hard enough to bruise his brain. You can see the bruising by his eyes-”
Jonas grimaced. “I can assure you, my dear, the bruises aren't limited to my eyes.”
She smirked slightly at the older man's sass. “I think you'll be right as the tide after you rest and heal. You may lose some vision in that eye, but you'll live.”
Jones closed his good eye. “So tell me the good news then?”
Jenna chuckled at that, setting a hand on Jonas's. “The good news is that your man freed us. After your valiant effort, Elias broke his bonds and led the battle to retake the ship.” Her eyes met Elias's and held them as she continued. “He slew the guardsman and took his keys, then freed us all. His victory over the captain caused the pirates who survived to surrender.“ Her gaze almost seemed to challenge him to correct her.
Jonas glanced at Elias. “Really? Elias? Well now.“ He settled his head back against the pillow, closing his eye again. “You'll have to tell me how that happened.“
Elias excused himself as Marl emptied the bucket out a window, and Jenna started recounting the story to Jonas. “I wasn't there, myself, but as the men tell it, after the guardsman drug me to the deck...”
Chapter Eleven
14th Waning Summer Moon, Year 4368
Elias stood on land for the first time in over four weeks. The absence of the wave motion was disconcerting at first, making his legs feel rubbery, but it only took a few moments to get used to the difference. Now he understood why sailors referred to sea legs and land legs.
The air was crisp and clean, the smell of the ocean, not stagnant or fishy. The port here was in a wide, deep crescent shaped bay, shielded from the winds out of the east, but open to the ocean to the south. Two long arms of the mountain behind the city extended into the sea, white sandy beaches running from the waves up to the green jungle that covered much of the island. Tropical birds shouted at the intruders, their song mixing with the sounds of men, elves, and gulls.
Marl stepped up beside him. “What are you looking for?”
Elias shrugged. “I don't know. Just looking, mostly.” He pointed at the white plume rising from the top of the mountain. “Is that really smoke?”
Marl laughed. “No, that is not smoke. There is a hot lake in the crater on top of the mountain. It is a sacred place, where the seers of my people can speak to the gods. It is actually where I am going now.”
Elias looked down at Marl, furrowing his brow. “You're not going home immediately?”
Marl shook his head. “No. I have questions for my gods, and I have been away from them for far too long. I will speak to them, and then I will go to my village. Each is about half a day's walk from here. I suggest you stay here for the night; I will come back for you when I am done on the mountain. Does that work for you?”
Elias nodded. “It does.”
Marl gently patted Elias on the shoulder, then, without another word, set off through the busy dock. As he passed, he was mostly ignored by the men, but the elves stepped out of his way and let him pass as they went about their work.
Once off of the docks, Elias wandered through the town for a while, getting to know the layout. There were several other ships at port, and sailors bustled here and there, purchasing fruits and meats from the vendors that were scattered through the stone paved streets. Most of what was for sale was seafood, followed closely by pork and fowl. There was very little beef and no venison. Baked goods were very different from what was on the mainland, using potato flour instead of wheat. The texture was different, but not bad.
The primary buildings near the long stone piers were stone as well, interlocking blocks carved out of gray limestone. Some of the buildings had archways made of blocks of black volcanic glass, which stood out in stark contrast to the lighter stone of the walls.
The weather was exceedingly mild. Even though the sun was bright and hot, the constant sea breeze kept it from being overwhelmingly so. Despite that, though, Elias found himself stripping off his shirt to let the breeze cool him. Most of the men here were naked from the waist up, and some of the women as well, their skins tanned dark.
The elves, however, were divided into two camps, it seemed. Some of them walked around like the men, shirtless and tanned, while others wore long, loose shirts and wide-brimmed hats to cover them from the sun, their fair skin almost unnaturally white, even for elves.
These were Marl's people, the sea elves, as they were called by the men and elves from the mainland. They spent much of their time in the water of the coves and rivers of the island. Most of what they were working with in town was from the sea. Fish, shellfish, dried seaweed, pearls, and shells were all among their wares.
The city was built into the rising slope of the mountain, so by the time Elias wandered to the northern side of the town, he was already quite a bit higher than most of the rest of the city. Here, the stone buildings gave way to wood and thatch, the streets made of packed dirt, sand, and gravel.
Small children ran about playing while older children chased them, their mothers calling out to them while they bustled about. One such woman, a comely human of mainland descent, stopped and stared at him as he walked past, her jaw dropping open. Men paused in their work to watch him pass.
It wasn't long before he had attracted a small and none too subtle group of children following him. They mostly spoke a language he couldn't understand, though he could occasionally make out some words of the common tongue. Giant, they were calling him. It made sense, really, but it didn't put him at ease.
Just past the northern edge of the wooden structures, there was a road, then a fence. Nothing too impressive, the split rails nevertheless seemed to hold the jungle at bay, the undergrowth pushing all the way to arm's reach of the road. Brightly colored flowers and dense foliage made seeing through the wall of the jungle impossible. Elias stopped at the fence, resting his hands on it as he studied the plants. There was nothing here he recognized... it was entirely different from what he was accustomed to on the mainland.
“That one grows the papaya. Hard to find a place on the island that you can't reach out and pick one. ”
Elias turned to see a small child standing next to him. His broad-brimmed hat and poncho identified him as a sea elf, as did his nearly bluish white skin. His electric green eyes regarded Elias with a quiet curiosity as he leaned against the rail.
“Oh yeah? Which one is the papaya?”
The child pointed to a tree with fruits all over it, about the size of Elias's fist. “That one there. We slice it up and dry it. Tastes like candy, and wards off sickness for those who stay at sea too long. ”
Elias had seen the red fruit for sale at the pier but hadn't tried any. “Is it good to eat when raw?“
“Oh, yes. A little messy, but nothing a swim can't fix. Same with the mangoes. They are the yellow fruits you would find dried in round slices. ” The elf pointed again to some low hanging fruits on another tree. “Nobody has ever starved to death on Greenreef. ”
Elias leaned against the rail as well, looking over the fruiting trees. “I would imagine not.” After being stuck in the hold of the ship for so long, it was nice to have a conversation with someone new, even if that conversation was with a child.
The child ho
pped up on the railing. He appeared to be maybe a century old, or thereabout. “You're from the mainland, aren't you? From the ship that came in this morning.”
Elias nodded, leaning against the fence himself, causing the timbers to creak slightly. “I am.”
“Were you a pirate or a slave?”
Elias laughed. “If I were a pirate, I would be in chains right now.”
“So you were a slave then.”
Elias shook his head, bemused at the brazen questions the child was asking. “Not exactly. I was a mercenary that was captured and made to row the ship. When we broke free, we stopped being slaves.”
The child frowned. “What is a mercenary? Is that like a warrior?”
“Kind of like a warrior. We fight for and protect the people who pay us our wages.”
The young elf nodded thoughtfully. “So you fight for gold.”
Elias nodded too. “I did.”
A woman's voice called out from the village. “Kauri! Come over here, it is time to go!“ She was a thickly built, not unattractive elf with a basket tied to her back like a backpack. She wore the same broad-brimmed hat and poncho of the sea elves, and stood at the head of a trail.
The boy hopped down immediately. “Coming mama,” he shouted, sprinting towards her. They headed down the trail, along with several other women and children. Elias watched them go, leaning against the fence. It was the first time he could remember that a member of his own race hadn't treated him like a sideshow freak. He closed his eyes and raised his face to the sun.
Yes, he was going to like it here.
~ ~ ~
Elias found his way back to the busy seaside district of the town, which was much larger than it had appeared when they had first arrived. There was a tavern near the dock that Delain's ship was tied off at, which had a good number of rooms and was made of stone, so was nice and cool. There, he took his meal and rented his room with his share of the bounty from the pirates. The port authority had decided to pay out a quarter bounty for each pirate listed in the captain's log, since they couldn't verify that Elias and the crew had killed them. This still left Elias with a decent sum, enough to outfit himself, if his belongings weren't found when the contents of the ship were fully cataloged.
Elias ate his meal with Martin and Geoff, as Jonas was still on the ship, and Jenna was tending to him. After he ate, he went to his room, barred the door, and was asleep almost immediately, despite the fact that his feet hung over the edge of the bed. The soft, hay-filled mattress and thick wool blanket were heavenly after spending so much time chained to a bench.
~ ~ ~
He startled awake at a knock on his door. Sunlight peeked through the gaps in the shutters on the windows. Marl's voice came from outside his room.
“Elias! It's nearly noon! If we are to make it to Seagate by dusk, we will have to leave soon!”
Bleary eyed, he opened the door, letting Marl in as he gathered his few belongings. “Did you already make it to the top of the mountain and back?”
Marl nodded, leaning against a freshly cut stave. “I did. The trails were familiar to me still, so I made good time.”
“What did the gods have to say?” Elias did not consider himself to be a religious elf; he wasn't particularly spiritual and put little stock in what he couldn't see and feel with his own two hands.
Marl smirked a little. “The gods are fond of their secrets and told me only what I needed to hear. All will be revealed when it is time... after all, the tide neither stops nor changes for anyone.“
The path to the village was long, cresting a tall ridge that lay between the port where they had docked and Marl's village. As they walked, Marl pointed out the landscape and told the legend of how it was formed. Long ago, before the men or elves walked the land, there was nothing but sea. The goddess of the winds and the goddess of the ocean lived there, exploring their realms endlessly. The sun shone down upon them, warming them by day, and when he slept, so did they.
As the centuries crawled by, they grew bored with their featureless kingdom and longed for a change. The gods of the mainland wanted nothing to do with them, and so they were alone in the great expanse of the ocean, counting waves, until a young mountain god of the coast took pity on them. He asked them to take him to their realm, so he could see it for himself.
They carried him to the center of their realm, where the water was deepest, and he saw the vast empty expanse. Under the sea, he could see the hot earth, buried under miles of water. He dove down, swimming to the very bottom, and caused the earth to crack asunder. The very lifeblood of the planet spewed forth, flowing across the ocean floor where it cooled, building up layer after layer. The layers rose higher and higher until, with smoke and steam, it broke through the surface of the sea and reached for the sun.
Ocean and Wind were overjoyed. Ocean pulled all manner of life from the coasts, fish and clams and sharks, and brought them to the island. Wind carried seeds and birds to the islands, and together, they turned the hard, hot rock into a lush green jungle paradise, full of life and beauty. When the mountain god saw what they were doing, he was pleased, and created more islands from the bottom of the sea, leading a trail to the west, which the fish and trees and flowers grew and covered. The goddess of the ocean brought coral and planted it near the islands, to protect the islands from her waves, preserving them for the ages.
As they crested the ridge, Marl was wrapping up his story. “When the goddess of the ocean saw what the mountain god had grown from out of her waters, she embraced the mountain, and kissed him, to show him her love for his creations. Where he wrapped his arms around her, the land still juts out to sea, and that forms what the men from the mainland call the Seagate. Where she kissed him, a sweet, fresh spring pours out of the mountain, and into the sea. And this is where we built our village.”
Stretching out before them was the southwestern coast of the island. Built directly on the sand in a sheltered lagoon cove, lean-to shelters constructed of bamboo and palm fronds made up the bulk of the village. Very consistently throughout the beach, there were tall palm trees planted at regular intervals, providing shade to the villagers.
The mountain rose to the north of the village as it had in Port Greenreef, but here, arms of black stone reached out and wrapped around the beach, meeting at the far end of the lagoon. The rock was porous, somewhat jagged in places, but worn down where travel made it expedient to do so.
A passage had been pounded by the waves where the two arms met, leaving an archway that led from the lagoon out to sea. Larger ships, like the one Elias had arrived on, would have their masts snapped off if they tried to pass under the arch, but the carved canoes of the sea elves that Elias had seen at Port Greenreef could pass through three at a time.
There was one building that was more permanent, perhaps three stories tall, built of wooden planks that seem to have been salvaged from boats. The roof was made of sail cloth, covered over with palm fronds that were lashed into place with rigging. The building was set farther back from the water than the rest of the buildings, where the sand transitioned to sturdier ground.
As they drew closer to the building, he could see the tar covered timbers that were sunk into the ground were at one point masts, whereas much of the siding was old hull planks. The light skinned elves moved in and out of it, going between the building and the water or various other shades.
In front of the building, there was a large ring of stones in the sand with ash and charcoal in the middle. It was surrounded by logs that had been chiseled into benches and torches set into the top of bamboo poles that had been driven into the ground. None of the flames were lit, with it being the middle of the day.
Elias was extremely conscious of the fact that almost none of the elves wore anything above the waist. Their skin ranged in color from pearly white to a very light blue, and a few individuals had skin as blue as sapphires. A group of elves about Elias's age came running across the sand towards him and Marl.
One
of them was a lively, full figured young woman with skin a shade of blue almost as dark as the sky, bright green eyes, and jet black hair that shone in the sunlight. She was naked save for a white leather loincloth tied about her waist with a woven red string, just above her hips. Her stomach was a slightly lighter shade of blue, and an emerald set in silver hung from a piercing in the bottom of her navel.
Her breasts bounced as she ran, not large enough to be ponderous, but substantial for a girl of her age, which seemed to be slightly younger than he was. Jumping as she reached Marl, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.
He caught her, though he was almost bowled off his feet, and laughed.
“Welcome home, father! It has been so long! The messenger told us you had come home yesterday, but went to commune with the gods! What did they say?”
He set her down, chuckling. “Patience, my dear, patience. All will be told this evening, I promise. ”
She pouted, glancing over at Elias. Slipping to the side, she peeked at him from behind Marl. “You didn't tell me the gods were going to send you back with a giant red elf, ” she said, batting her emerald eyes at Elias.
Elias could feel the blood rushing to his face even more, and knew he was blushing. He turned his face away, suddenly speechless, not knowing what to say.
Marl laughed again. “Go, my daughter, your beauty surpasses your modesty. This is Elias, from the mainland. His people are from a land much colder than ours, and must always cover themselves; they are not used to the freedom our islands bless us with. Fetch your feather shawl for the time being. ”
“Yes, father!” She gave him another kiss on the cheek, and stole a glance at Elias before running away to the village, the group of boys and girls following. Elias watched her go, struck by her beauty. She moved with a lithe grace, her hair flowing behind her as she sprinted over the low dunes. She disappeared into the large wooden building, hardly even slowing. Elias glanced to the side to see Marl watching him. He flushed again.
Rising Thunder (Dynasty of Storms Book 1) Page 13