Zypheria's Call (A Tanyth Fairport Adventure)

by Nathan Lowell

  “Not since...?” the captain asked.

  “I got hurt last winter. Cut up in a fight.”

  The captain shot a glance at Jameson and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “You were in a fight, mum?”

  Rebecca said, “Bully boys thought our village would be easy pickin’s. She taught ’em different.”

  “But you got hurt?” the captain asked, curiosity and wonder plain on his face.

  She nodded.

  “Bad enough to sleep for two solid days?”

  “I think it was three, but I remember wakin’ up every once in a while. Fever dreams. You know how it is.”

  “We had to sew her up. She lost a lot of blood,” Rebecca said.

  The captain’s eyebrows shot up and he glanced at Jameson before looking back at Tanyth. “That so?”

  Tanyth gave a bit of a shrug and a nod.

  “Mum, do you remember anything about...before?” the Captain asked.

  “Before what? The fight in the village?”

  He smiled and shook his head. “Sorry, mum. Before you fell asleep this time.”

  “Do I remember the storm, ya mean?”

  “Yes, mum.”

  “Well, o’course I remember the storm. Blew up outa nowhere and stretched halfway across the sky.”

  “Do you remember what you did?”

  She shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Humor me, mum.”

  “Yeah,” she said, taking a moment to grab a sip of the rapidly cooling tea. “I remember what I did.”

  “What was that?”

  “Well, I said a prayer. Asked a blessin’.” She jerked one shoulder, dismissing it.

  The captain flopped back in his chair like she’d hit him and glanced at Jameson who shrugged in obvious bewilderment.

  “A prayer, mum? How did you happen to be on deck to begin with? In order to say the prayer, I mean.”

  She sipped and thought back. “Well, I thought we were getting ready to come about so I went up on deck to watch. When I saw everybody scramblin’ about—and the storm—I went to see Cook. I helped him stow as much as I could and we got it all taken care of pretty fast. I asked if there was anything else I could do to help.” She looked back and forth between the two men.

  Each one nodded for her to go on.

  “So, Cook says ’if you know any prayers to calm the wind or flatten the waves, now would be a good time to say ’em’ or somethin’ like that.” She grinned an apology. “I don’t really remember his exact words, Captain.”

  “That’s close enough, mum. Then what?”

  “Well, then I went to my cabin and got my staff and went up on deck to ask the blessin’.”

  “That’s where I saw you, right? Just forward of the bridge?”

  “Yeah. Storm was comin’ fast and you can’t hurry a blessin’ like that, Captain. Not when you’re askin’ for something important.”

  “I see.” He looked to Jameson who shook his head. “Then what, mum?”

  She sipped again and squinted up her eyes to think. “I remember you yellin’ at me from the bridge rail, Captain.” She looked at him with an apologetic smile. “I was kinda short with ya then, wasn’t I? Sorry. I was kinda busy and time was running out.”

  He shook his head. “Think nothing of it, mum. You did exactly right. Go on.”

  “So I said the prayer and asked the blessin’ and then I thought the ship got hit by lightnin’ cause the last boom was really loud and I passed out.” She shrugged. “Cook says Mr. Groves took me below and tucked me in after that, and I’ve been there ever since.”

  “That’s about right, mum,” Jameson said.

  The captain shot him a quelling look and he sat back in his chair.

  “That’s all I know, except Cook also said the ship didn’t get hit by lightnin’. Even if it did, it has somethin’ on the masts that catches lightnin’ and feeds it to the sea or somethin’.”

  The captain nodded. “Yes. Correct on both counts, mum. There are lightning catchers on the tops of the masts, and we didn’t get hit in any case.”

  “Oh, good. I didn’t dent the deck or anythin’, did I, Captain? Sometimes, I get carried away. I usually do that stuff on the ground where I can’t hurt anythin’ and in the open so I don’t hit anybody.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so, mum. To be honest, I didn’t look.” He turned to Jameson. “Did you, Jameson?”

  “No, Captain, I didn’t leave the bridge at the time and I haven’t thought to look since.”

  The two men sat and looked at her for so long, Tanyth began to feel uncomfortable. She glanced at Rebecca and back at the captain. “Somethin’ wrong, Captain?” she asked at last.

  “No, mum. I’d think I might be going mad, but the crew will tell you I’ve been crazy for a long time.” His smile belied his words.

  “I know that feeling, Captain. There are days I figger I’m only addle-pated and others where I’m pretty sure that addle-pated is an understatement.”

  They sat quietly and Tanyth finished her tea before anybody spoke again.

  “Do you have any idea what happened after you passed out, mum?” the captain asked.

  “Other than what I’ve told ya, no, Captain. I figure it musta not been as bad as it looked since nobody’s said anythin’ about it.”

  “Give us a chance, mum. You just woke up,” Jameson said with a grin.

  The captain snorted a single laugh at that and nodded to Jameson. “That’s about the size of it, mum.”

  They sat in silence for another few moments and, just as Tanyth was about to ask, the captain leaned forward in his chair again, leaning on his elbows at the edge of the table. “Mum? That storm? It never hit.”

  She could feel her eyebrows coming together over her nose. “But I saw it, captain. The wind was already pickin’ up and I even got rained on, or the wind blew ocean on me. Somethin’. How can you say it never hit?”

  “Because as soon as you keeled over there on the deck, mum, the storm just evaporated,” Jameson said.

  “Evaporated?” Tanyth asked, feeling a bit slow-witted. “How can a storm that size just evaporate?”

  Both Jameson and the captain shrugged. “I don’t know, mum,” the captain said. “It was like somebody blowing on soap suds. The clouds just fell apart and blew away, taking the wind with ’em. Within half a bell, the sky was blue and clear. It’s been that way ever since. Fair winds and following seas for two straight days, mum.”

  Tanyth looked to Jameson with a question in her eyes.

  He gave his head a small shake and glanced at the captain out of the corner of his eyes.

  “What?” the captain asked.

  Tanyth shrugged. “That’s a pretty tall tale, Captain. You think I had somethin’ to do with it?”

  The captain gave Jameson a hard look before turning back to Tanyth. “Well, mum, you did put on a good show.”

  “Well, I don’t suppose you have that many little old ladies faintin’ on your deck, do ya?”

  The captain chuckled. “No, mum. That’s true enough but I was thinking about before you keeled over. That spinning about and shaking your stick at the sky? That was impressive enough but when you hit the ship with it. That was somethin’ else altogether.”

  “You’re sure I didn’t dent the deck, Captain? When I get swinging that stick around, I get carried away sometimes...”

  He shook his head. “Even if you did, mum. Don’t worry about it. Avoiding that storm was worth any number of dents in the decking.”

  They sat there staring at her again without speaking.

  Tanyth shifted in her seat, growing more and more uneasy at their inspection. She turned to Rebecca who reached over to pat her forearm.

  “Is there anythin’ else, Captain?” Tanyth asked finally.

  He took in a deep breath through is nose and blew it out the same way before answering. “I don’t know, mum? Is there?”

  She glanced at Jameson, but shrugged. �
�I don’t know for sure, Captain.”

  “But you’re worried about something, mum, and Mr. Jameson knows what it is, doesn’t he.”

  “Captain, Mother Fairport thinks that maybe something’s wrong with the cargo in the main hold,” Jameson said quietly.

  The captain kept watching Tanyth.

  “You may remember that I asked to inspect the hold after that last storm...?” Jameson continued.

  “I remember, Mr. Jameson,” the captain said without taking his eyes of Tanyth.

  “I still think that’s a good idea, sir.”

  “So do I, Mr. Jameson, but I’m curious about how this all came about. Mum?”

  She gave a half shrug. “I sometimes have dreams, Captain. Sometimes they turn out to be true.”

  “I see,” he said. “You had a dream that something’s wrong in the hold of my ship?”

  Rebecca said, “It’s not the first time she had dreams like that, either, Captain.”

  “Back in the village? Where you were before?” he asked.

  Tanyth sighed. “Yeah. I sometimes saw things in my dreams and usually they were real things.”

  “Things like what, mum?” He reached a hand across the table toward her. “I’m not meaning to pry, mum. I’m honestly curious about what’s going on here and I think knowing might help me.”

  “The bully boys? One of them was hidin’ in the woods and watchin’ the village. I saw him in a dream. It was a kind of warnin’, Captain.”

  He nodded. “What else?”

  “Well, I dreamed the night they came to burn us out. We was able to stop ’em when I woke up and told everybody.”

  He sat back in his seat and looked over at Jameson who sat stalk-still, apparently dumbfounded by her statements.

  “You didn’t know this, Scotty?”

  He shook his head, the movements jerky. “No, Captain. She said she had dreams but this is the first I’ve heard of all this.”

  “So what do you think is wrong in the hold, mum?”

  “There’s a box that don’t seem right. There’s a light in it. A lantern I think.”

  The captain glanced at Jameson who inspected his fingernails closely, but nodded.

  “A lantern? In a crate? And you dreamed this, mum?”

  Tanyth felt very uncomfortable with this careful scrutiny. “I don’t know for sure, Captain. I can only see it from the outside. It’s got some holes along the bottom and it’s warm inside and there’s a flickerin’ light.”

  “Really?” his brow furrowed in thought.

  “Yeah. And a sharp smell. Like metal and lamp oil.”

  “That’s pretty specific, mum.”

  She shrugged. “It maybe just the rambles of a crazy, old lady, Captain.”

  “But you don’t think so.”

  “No, Captain, I don’t. And I’m worried that it’s a warnin’ that we need to take serious.”

  “It’s easy enough to check. Would that set your mind at rest?”

  “It would, Captain. I can’t imagine why somebody would put a lit lantern in a box. It makes no sense to me. But that clickin’ was the bothersome part, Captain.”

  The captain sat bolt upright. “Clicking?”

  “Oh, yeah. Every so often, it clicks.”

  “Clicks, how?”

  “Just one click like metal on metal and then a long, long pause. Then another—”

  “Jameson! Get that hatch off. Now!”

  Jameson all but flew out of his chair and down the passage.

  “Sorry, mum. I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Is there anything else you can think of? Anything at all?”

  Tanyth gave a little shrug. “Nothin’ about the box.”

  “About what, then?”

  “There are rats down there.”

  He leaned forward and peered into her face. “Are you playing a game with me, Mother Fairport?”

  The question took her off balance and she answered without thinking. “No, Captain. Not at all.”

  “Did you dream about the rats, too, mum?”

  “Yeah. I did.” She looked down at her empty mug, wishing there was something in it.

  “Did you think I didn’t know there are rats?” His voice carried a note of humor.

  That surprised her into looking back at him. “Well, Captain, I heard that you were sure there were no rats aboard and that you weren’t happy when anybody mentioned them.”

  He started to laugh. It began as a little giggly burble at first and then he threw back his head and guffawed.

  “Captain? I don’t understand. What’s so funny?”

  He caught his breath and pulled a huge, white handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe his streaming eyes. “It’s a game I played with Benjamin when he was little. He used to sail with me when he was a boy and he’d make up these stories about how big the rats were. I’d pretend to be horrified and angry and would gnash my teeth and tear at my beard. I’d tell him there were no rats on my ship and carry on like a madman for a few minutes. It was a family thing. A joke we told each other all the time. We’d giggle about it for days afterward sometimes. Who told you about this rat mania of mine? Jameson?”

  “Well, I—”

  “Of course. Had to be.” He took a moment to blow his nose and chuckle again. “It’s fine, mum. Thank you for the laugh. I haven’t laughed like that for months.” He chuckled a couple more times. “Come on, Mr. Jameson should have the hatch open by now.”

  He stood and led the way out of the cabin. In the passageway, just before they stepped onto the deck, he turned back to her. “Mum? Don’t be alarmed if I should happen to see a rat in the hold, all right?”

  The request took her by surprise but nodded. “All right, Captain, but they’ll hide when the light shines in.”

  Her comment obviously took him by surprise but he nodded in return. “Will they now? I can see why they would. Interesting, but just so you’re warned, mum. Don’t be alarmed?”

  “Anything you say, Captain.”

  He grinned like a boy with a frog in his pocket and nodded his thanks. “Let’s go see what we can see, shall we?”

  He bounded up onto the deck and led the way forward to the main cargo hatch. Jameson and several of the crew stood around it. Tanyth saw that it wasn’t one big cover as she thought, but instead consisted of broad planks across the opening with an oiled canvas cover across the top. Jameson had peeled back the cover and removed a few of the boards. They had a tongue and groove arrangement and fit tightly in the opening.

  “Just pull up enough to get in there, Mr. Jameson.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  Two of the sailors pulled a couple more of the planks out and stacked them alongside the hatch. The opening was big enough that Tanyth was able to see down onto the tops of the crates and barrels stacked around down inside the ship. It wasn’t as deep as she had pictured it in her mind. It looked barely tall enough to stand up in.

  “Nichols, hop down there and set up the ladder,” Jameson said.

  “Aye, aye, sir,” a heavyset sailor with muscled arms lowered himself over the coaming, hung by his hands for a moment and then let go. Tanyth heard and felt the thump of his landing. After some scraping and at least one curse, a pair of metal hooks emerged from the darkness and latched over the coaming. Nichols swarmed up the ladder and out onto the deck almost before Tanyth realized what he’d done.

  Jameson started for the ladder but the captain cut him off and scampered down out of sight, disappearing into the dark almost as quickly as Nichols had emerged. Jameson went right behind him. She heard their voices speaking under the deck, but couldn’t make out their words. Their voices fell silent for several long moments and just as Tanyth began to wonder if something had happened to them, she heard Jameson say, “Here!”

  She heard some scrapping and bumping come from the hatch and then the captain emerged, dusting his trousers off when he regained the deck. “Nichols, Ferguson. Get a line down there and let’s get our little surprise package u
p where we can see it. Rand, fetch a pry bar, if you please.”

  The ship’s bell rang twice while they waited.

  Then the two men pulled the crate up out of the hold and placed it on the deck. Jameson clambered right behind it.

  “Step back, if you please, gentlemen,” the captain said. He turned to Tanyth. “Is this the one, mum?”

  She crossed to where it lay on the deck and walked around it, crouching down to look at the base. Black paint splashed the bottom third of the crate, but it looked like the right one. Along the bottom edge, she found fresh wood showing where something had gnawed the black paint away. She nodded and looked up at the Captain. “Yeah. That’s the one.”

  “You’re sure, mum?” he said.

  She nodded again. “How did you find it so fast?”

  He smiled and held up one finger. After a few moments, they all heard a single, loud click.

  “I took a chance that there might be only one crate that clicked,” he said with a grin.

  She grinned back.

  “Rand?” The captain held out his hand for the pry bar and with a few deft strokes pulled the top off the crate. When he did, Tanyth heard the crunch of breaking glass and everybody froze where they stood for a long moment. Crouched near the base, she caught the tangy whiff of lamp oil and then saw a widening pool spreading out through the holes, flowing across the deck and under the captain’s feet.

  “Oil!” she cried and pointed.

  The captain, standing with the lid half raised, looked down at his feet and froze. “Water! Douse it. Now!”

  Several sailors grabbed the buckets they used for washing the deck and scooped salt water from over the side in the rapid smooth movements of long practice. In less than a minute, the deck, the crate, Tanyth, and the captain were all dripping with icy seawater.

  Tanyth saw the rainbow sheen seeping away towards the scuppers in the reflected light of the morning sun.

  “You think it’s safe now, sir?” Jameson asked.

  The captain grunted. “Don’t know. Everybody stand well back, if you please. Mum? If you and your friend would get back behind the deckhouse? You’ve been a great help and I’d like to keep from getting you blown up.”

  Everybody within the sound of his voice started backpedaling as fast as they could.