Zypheria's Call (A Tanyth Fairport Adventure)

by Nathan Lowell

  “Zypheria’s Call. Zypheria’s Call.” He fingered his beard and made a big show of trying to recall. “I believe that’s a coastal packet, mum.”

  “So, she’s not in port now then?”

  “Oh, no, mum. Certainly not.”

  “Do you expect her soon?”

  “Well, mum, she’s a coastal packet and keeps her own schedule. Rather independent these ship captains. One never knows.” He cleared his throat and glanced at the board again before looking back at Tanyth. “One never knows for sure, mum. Never for sure.”

  “I see,” she said. “Tell me, young man, can you read? Write?”

  He pulled his head back on his neck and peered down his nose at her. “Well, of course, mum. You can’t hold this job without knowin’ your letters and your numbers.” He said it with a degree of pride.

  “Well, it might interest you to know that I can both read and write as well.”

  His face took on a pasty look where it showed around the face moss. “Zat so, mum?”

  “Quite well, in fact.” She gave him a hard look for a few heartbeats. “You might want to keep that in mind the next time you have confidential information that you don’t want just anybody to read off these large boards around the entry.”

  “Err. That is, mum. You have a good point.”

  “Are you the actual harbor master?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “No, mum. He’s my uncle.” His voice lost some of its timbre and a great deal of its volume.

  “And your name?”

  “Wesley, mum. John Wesley.” He lowered his head.

  “Well, John Wesley, when Parkins gets back from lunch, you might be nice to the lad and ask him about the ships. He seems quite knowledgeable.”

  Wesley looked up at her. “Yes, mum. Excellent suggestion.”

  She smiled and, with a nod, followed Rebecca out of the office.

  Outside she shook her head and sighed. “Why is it they have to be such idiots?”

  Rebecca giggled. “You handled him quite well, mum.”

  Tanyth just sighed and shrugged a shoulder. “Be better if they didn’t need quite so much handlin’.”

  A seabird soared overhead and uttered a call like a rusty hinge shuttering open. It dropped a large white deposit on the boardwalk in front of her.

  She snickered. “Exactly my point,” she called to the bird then set off down Front Street in search of Pier Three, Berth J.

  Chapter Seventeen:

  A Tall Ship

  They walked along Front Street and noticed a large sign with a number at the foot of each pier. She lead Rebecca down pier three, walking by large letters painted on the bollards in a regular off-set pattern with A on one side and B across from it. Berth J was near the end closest to the harbor’s mouth. A cold wind blew steadily along the length of the broad stonework and they soon walked with hats clutched in hands rather than risk losing them to wind and sea.

  Tanyth spotted the ship by its position and the nameplate across the stern. She was able to read it from some distance because two berths behind it were empty. The Zypheria’s Call looked poised to sail, her bow aimed almost due north by Tanyth’s reckoning.

  The ship appeared well maintained, her metal parts gleaming in the sun and the painted bits looking bright and solid. Tanyth didn’t know much about ships, having sailed only twice before in her long trek, and never across open ocean. As she drew alongside, the ship itself seemed to have an odor—clean and pungent smelling, at once familiar and foreign. It took her several minutes of taking deep breaths to place it as tar and rope.

  A reinforced plank stretched from the deck of the ship onto the pier itself. It seemed to Tanyth to be a rather steep climb up to the deck. A rope ran along either side like a kind of handrail and she eyed it dubiously as more problematic than proper. Perplexed as to what to do next, she stopped at the end of the plank and looked up toward the ship and then higher still to where the empty masts and rigging stretched into the cloudless blue sky. The sight thrilled her and she really couldn’t explain why.

  Footsteps coming along the pier behind them made her turn and look to see who approached. A man of medium years and darkly tanned skin nodded politely and smiled. He carried a leather-bound book under his arm and wore a tasteful wool suit against the chilly breeze. “Good morrow, mum. Miss.”

  “Good day, sir. Blessed be.”

  “And to you, mum.” He stopped beside them and looked up, much as she had, admiring the lines and the rigging. “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”

  Tanyth nodded and allowed her gaze to follow his up and into the tall, gently swaying rigging once more. “She seems quite lovely, but I don’t know much about ’em.”

  He glanced at her out of the side of his eyes for a moment. “I know a bit. Have you any questions?”

  “Do you know this vessel? Zypheria’s Call, I believe.”

  “I do, mum. She’s a gaff-rigged schooner, a hundred and twenty feet from bow to stern and twenty-five feet at the beam. She ships fifty tonnes of cargo in her holds, draws only nine feet of water, and carries a crew of twelve.” He rattled the information off without taking his eyes off the masts.

  She turned to face him, lifting her hat to shade the bright sun from her eyes. “Seems rather more than a bit, sir.”

  He looked at her, glanced at Rebecca, and grinned a most charming grin. “Yes, mum. While I know a bit about sailing and ships, cargo and the like, I confess to know a bit more than average about this particular ship.”

  “Are you a member of her crew, then?”

  “Yes, mum. First mate.”

  “What does the first mate do on such a ship, if you don’t mind an old woman askin’?”

  His grin never faded. “Whatever the captain says, mum, of course.”

  She barked a laugh at that and he winked at her like she might be thirty winters younger.

  He let his jocularity fade but not his pleasant demeanor. “I’m second in command, mum. Captain is first, of course, then me, then the second mate.”

  “Then who?”

  “Then the crew, mum. Bosun heads them up and the seamen do the heavy lifting while we officers enjoy the fruits of exalted rank and station.”

  She caught the twinkle in his eye, in spite of the bright sun. “That duty includes teasing old women and pullin’ their legs, too, does it?” she asked.

  “Yes, mum. Yes, it does.” He turned to her and gave a half bow. “Forgive me, mum, for enjoying myself so much with you. I’m Benjamin Groves, First Mate. May I know your name?” He offered a handshake.

  “Tanyth Fairport, potential passenger,” she said, accepting the hand and noting calluses that belied his claim of exalted rank. “This is my travelin’ companion, Rebecca. You take passengers aboard Zypheria’s Call, I trust?”

  Her statement wiped the jest from his face and he frowned at her. “Well, yes, we do, mum. But we’re bound for North Haven.”

  “Yeah, I know. I just came from the harbormaster’s office.”

  Groves’s eyebrows shot up. “And he sent you down here?”

  She smiled a smile of her own and shook her head. “Not exactly, no. I’m rather a stubborn old boot, though, and quite capable of readin’ a chalkboard.”

  “So you and your party need passage to North Haven...” Groves let his statement trail out rather than turning it into a question.

  “Yeah. Somethin’ like that.”

  “North Haven is still iced in, mum.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard all about it. Everybody’s just waitin’ for the wind to shift?”

  “The Zypheria, mum, yes.”

  “Yeah, Zypheria. When it does, then I’m assuming you and those other three boats—”

  “Ships, mum. They’re ships.”

  “Ships, then,” she said with grin. “You’ll have to pardon an old lady for not knowing the right lingo.”

  “Not at all, mum. Everybody has to learn sometime.”

  “So the way I figure it, you’ll a
ll be rearin’ to take off out of here as soon as this Zypheria blows. You all want to be the first one there and get the best prices for whatever it is you’re takin’.” She eyed the man to see his reaction.

  “More or less correct, mum.”

  She nodded. “And then you’ll be able to get the best prices on a winter’s worth of furs, wood and whatnot to bring back?”

  His mouth twisted into a grudging smile. “For an old lady who doesn’t know the lingo, you’ve got a pretty fair idea of what’s going on, pardon my saying so, mum.”

  He cast a glance at Rebecca who merely grinned back at him.

  “I’m old, Mr. Groves. Not stupid.” Tanyth looked up into the rigging again. “Don’t need to be a sailor to know which way the wind blows, eh?”

  “Quite true, mum.”

  She turned back to him. “So the sooner you get out of here, the sooner you’ll get back. The less waitin’ around you have to do for passengers and such, the quicker you’ll be gone?”

  “Well, we don’t carry many passengers, mum. We’ve none scheduled for this trip because we don’t know when we’d need to leave.” He stopped then and looked at her. “But I take it you’d like to be on this trip?”

  “You know anything about the other three ships waitin’?”

  He looked over to the next pier. “Those three in a row, right there, mum.”

  To Tanyth’s eye they looked like they were all cut from the same mold, right down to the weathered paint on the masts.

  “Would you let your mother sail on them?” she asked.

  He coughed and Tanyth suspected it was to cover a laugh. “My mother, mum?”

  “Yeah, Mr. Groves. You do have a mother? Most men do.”

  He started to chuckle. “Yes, mum, I surely do. She lives here in Kleesport.”

  “Well, would ya?”

  He stopped laughing and looked at the ships across the narrow passage for a long moment before turning back to Tanyth. “No, mum. I wouldn’t.”

  “Then, yes, Mr. Groves, we’d like to sail with you when you go north. How much will it cost and what do we need to do?”

  He looked at her hard, looking for something in her face that she didn’t understand. “Well, mum,” he said at last. “I think you need to talk to the captain and work out those arrangements with him.”

  “And where might I find your captain, Mr. Groves?”

  He turned and looked back down the pier to where a bow-legged man in a deep blue frock-coat ambled along in their direction. “Here he comes now.”

  The captain was perhaps twenty winters older than Groves with the same deep tan and laughing eyes. A neatly trimmed white beard graced his jawline. As he got closer, Tanyth noted other similarities and Groves caught her looking back and forth between them.

  “Aye,” the younger man nodded. “The captain sleeps with my mother whenever he’s in port.”

  Rebecca seemed scandalized by the remark, but Tanyth grinned. “And why shouldn’t he sleep with his own wife?”

  Benjamin shook his head. “No good reason I can think of, mum.”

  They were still chuckling when the captain got to them.

  “What have you been doing to my first mate to tickle his fancy so, mum? If I might be so bold as to ask?” His dancing eyes belied his gruff words.

  “We were just comparin’ ships, Captain. He seems to know quite a lot about them.”

  “And you found that humorous, the two of you?”

  “Oh, indeed, Captain. I know so little he’s able to amuse and inform me quite handily.”

  The captain turned to his son. “And you? Have you no comment on this matter, my fine first mate?”

  “Mother Fairport is a woman of infinite kindness and possessed of rather a dry wit, Captain.”

  “Is she now?” He regarded her anew. “Dry anything is good at sea and wit one of the rarest commodities. I salute you, madam.”

  “She’d also like to book passage to North Haven for her and her companion, Captain.”

  The quiet statement caught the captain’s attention and he looked back and forth between the two of them, a speculative look in his eye. “Does she now?”

  “Yes, Captain,” Tanyth said. “She does.”

  A faint smile tickled the edges of his mouth and he eyed her up and down. “Sensible trousers. Sturdy staff.” He peered into her face for a moment. “Strength.” He nodded. “Very well, mum, I assume you don’t mean to work passage?” He left the question hang in the air for a moment.

  Young Mr. Groves leaned in. “He’s just said he thinks you probably don’t want to be a deck hand for the voyage.”

  She leaned toward him and answered with a question of her own. “Is that possible?”

  The young man shrugged. “Yes, mum, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s usually reserved for those who have less wit and experience than you do, mum.”

  “Younger, you mean?”

  “Yes, mum.” He shrugged apologetically. “Unless you’re used to the hard labor, it’s rather a strain.”

  “I see. Thank you, sir.”

  “My pleasure, mum.”

  “Yes, Captain, you assume correctly,” Tanyth said loudly as if the captain hadn’t been observing their conversation the entire time.

  “Capital,” he exclaimed. “It’s time we had a passenger or two to liven up this voyage.”

  “Wait,” Rebecca said. All eyes turned to her. “Can anybody work passage?”

  The captain looked from Tanyth to Rebecca and back for a moment before looking to his son who simply shrugged.

  “You, miss?” Captain Groves asked, not unkindly.

  “Yes, sir. I’m strong and I don’t much like relyin’ on Mother Fairport for everything.”

  “My dear, you know that’s not a problem for me,” Tanyth said, laying a hand on Rebecca’s forearm.

  Rebecca smiled but there was a firmness in her jaw. “Yes’m, but it’s a problem for me. I didn’t ask you to bring me along so’s I could be a hanger-on or a lady’s maid.”

  “Well, no, but...” Tanyth saw the look in Rebecca’s eye and let her voice trail off.

  “Thank you, mum,” Rebecca whispered before turning to the captain once more. “Yes, Captain, I’d very much like to work passage.”

  The Captain frowned and eyed her up and down. “You strong?” he asked.

  “I can draw a bow,” she said.

  That sparked the captain’s interest and he smiled. “You any good?”

  “I gen’rally hit what I aim at.”

  He peered at her. “Can you run?”

  “If I need to, Captain.”

  The Captain tilted his head back and looked up at the rigging. “See that set of ratlines?” Pointing at the ship’s mainmast.

  “That net thing?”

  “Aye, that ’net thing’ is called the ratlines. It’s how the crew gets up to the tops. Think you can climb that?”

  Rebecca tilted her head back and looked up. Tanyth saw her swallow once. “Yes, sir.”

  The captain pulled a heavy, gold pocketwatch out of his vest and flipped the cover open with a flick of his thumb. “All right, missy. Prove it. Up to the top and back again. Fast as you can.”

  Rebecca looked at him, her eyes wide. “Now?”

  “Now, girl! Tide’s running and you should be, too. Go!”

  Rebecca went. She bounced across the plank and up onto the ship startling a sailor who lounged out of sight beside the rail. She threw herself up and grabbed the net, pulling herself to the outside of the lattice with only one look down. She started climbing the ratlines like a ladder.

  The startled sailor spoke to her and made a grasping motion with his hands. “Like that!” he called.

  She looked at her hand placement on the horizontal bars and realized that the sailor wanted her to grasp the verticals. She shifted her hands and looked down.

  The sailor grinned and waved his arms. “Now, go! Go!”

  She lost her footing a couple of times and Tanyth f
elt her heart skip a beat each time, but she got to the top and looked down at the captain who gave a broad nod and waved her to come back. She paused then, looking down at the deck and stood there for a long moment.

  Then she lifted her head and looked around the harbor. Tanyth saw the smile break across the young woman’s face and she clambered down the ratlines even faster than she’d gone up. At the bottom she swung off, stepped down from the rail to the sailor’s cheerful laughter and raced back over the plank to skid to a stop where she had started. Her lungs pumped and she leaned over to rest her hands on her knees but the grin pasted on her face tickled Tanyth down to her toes.

  “Well, Captain?” Rebecca panted. “Fast enough?”

  The captain examined his watch, latched the cover down, and put it away before speaking. “To be honest, my girl, I just wanted to see what you’re made of.”

  “You make all your passengers do that?” Tanyth asked.

  The captain nodded. “Aye. If they wanna work passage and we don’t know ’em from bein’ around the docks or the like, we send ’em up the ratlines. If they go, we’ll book them.”

  “If they go?” Tanyth asked.

  Young Mr. Groves grinned. “Yes, mum. Some won’t go. Or they’ll get up on the rail and freeze.”

  “Then what?” she asked.

  “Then we charge ’em a reduced fare and let ’em help on deck once in a while.”

  “What about me then, sir?” Rebecca asked, straightening up and flexing her hands. Tanyth could see they were chafed and red from the lines.

  The captain exchanged looks with his first mate before turning to Rebecca. “Tell me, missy. How was the view up there?” He jerked his chin up at the masthead.

  Rebecca turned her head to consider the top and her smile grew. “Glorious, sir.”

  “You weren’t scared?” he asked.

  She looked at him and shrugged but the smile didn’t dim. “When I got up there and looked down at the deck? Yeah. That looked a lot further down than it felt like lookin’ up. That was a bit scary, Captain.”