“What if they picked up the same current?” Perry asked.
The captain grimaced. “I’m trying not to think of that.”
“Well, you’ve got priority with the harbor master. First berth o’ the season so you’re sittin’ in the jaybird seat on this trip.”
The captain snorted. “I’ve learned not to count the profits until the taxman’s had his due.”
They all laughed at that and took another swig of ale.
Perry turned to Tanyth. “And you, mum. Sorry to be borin’ ya with ole seadogs’ barkin’. What brings you and your friend to our fair port?”
“We’re just passin’ through,” she said. “Never been this far north before and hopin’ to learn more about the plants and such up this way.”
Perry’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “You a scholar, mum? I’d never have taken you for...err...that is...”
She laughed and shook her head. “Mother, no. Just a simple herbalist. Came up to see what I can see.”
“I don’t know much about that stuff, mum. Other than spruce tips for bitterin’ my ale, and the grains we need to make ’em, o’ course.”
“You know enough about apples to brew a wicked cider, don’t ya?” Amanda had come up behind them and added her spice to the mix.
“Well, o’ course. But that’s not herbs and such, now is it?”
“Town this size must have a healer or two,” Tanyth said.
“Aye,” Perry said. “Three, as it happens.”
“I’ll pay a callin’ on them tomorrow, then. If they don’t know the plants and herbs themselves, they must get it from somewhere.”
Perry nodded. “All three are fine gentleman. I’m sure they’ll be happy to answer your questions.”
“Gentlemen?” Tanyth asked.
“Oh, my, yes!” Perry exclaimed. “All from King’s College, every one of ’em. Learned from the best healers in the land. Those gents got science behind ’em, mum. And they knows some stuff.”
“I see.”
Tanyth caught Amanda’s expression and was surprised to see her weighing Tanyth with her gaze. When she turned to speak, Amanda gave the tiniest shake of her head. Tanyth held her question but made a note to speak with the woman later.
“So, how long you stayin’, mum?” Perry asked. “You plannin’ on going back on the Call?”
She shook her head. “Not sure. I gen’rally wander around a lot. A day here or there an’ then move on.”
“That sounds interestin’, mum. How long you been doin’ that?”
“Goin’ on twenty-one winters.”
Perry’s jaw sagged and it took him a moment to recover enough to say, “Mother’s mercy, mum. You musta started as a girl younger than this one.” He grinned at Rebecca.
“Well, not exactly,” Tanyth smiled at his compliment, “but it’s been a good long time.”
“Your husband must find that a mite unsettlin’, don’t he, mum?”
Amanda coughed loudly and so persistently that several other patrons turned to see what was the matter. She held up her hand for patience and continued to cough until whatever it was that had her released its grip.
“Well, excuse me, I don’t know what came over me there.” She pressed a hand to her breastbone and took a few tentative breaths. “It’s passed now, I think.” She turned to Tanyth. “If you need a place, mum, we have rooms up above. Two silvers a day and it includes breakfast and dinner.”
“Two silvers?” Perry asked but the glare that Amanda gave him made him stop. “Oh, yes. Two silvers. Of course.” He took refuge in his ale mug.
“Thank you, that would be most acceptable,” Tanyth said with a nod. “I’ll be staying aboard one more night, but per’aps tomorrow mornin’?”
“You just come round when you’re ready, mum,” Perry said. “We’ll be here.”
“Thank you, both,” she said and shot a grateful smile to Amanda who winked.
In the morning, Tanyth rose in the light of dawn but missed the sun shining in the port. It took her a moment to realize that the ship now pointed south and the view out the port was of the dock and the western sky.
Rebecca groaned a bit but rolled out of her bunk readily enough and joined Tanyth at the port.
Tanyth peered out and realized that very little of the view included sky, but a rather drab looking bit of stonework crusted with small shellfish and green weed. She angled her head to look up and saw the lip of the dock well above her.
“Not much to look at, is it, mum?” Rebecca said with a snort.
“No time for sky gazin’ anyway,” Tanyth said. She looked around the small room that had been their home for what felt like weeks. All her goods were already tucked into the pack except the bedroll, her woolen pants, and her heavy jacket. The heavy wool trousers wouldn’t fit in her pack but she rolled them up in her bedroll. As cold as people said the place was, she wasn’t about to leave a pair of windproof trousers behind. The combined bundle made the bedroll a bit heavier, but wearing the heavy blue watch coat felt like second nature to her.
She hefted the pack and grimaced at the weight of it. “Gettin’ soft in my old age,” she muttered and then used the lip of the bunk to hold the pack steady while she slipped the straps over her shoulders. As she’d hoped, the heavy woolen coat padded her shoulders, protecting them from the straps. She had to stop and adjust the buckles to let the straps out a little to make room for the extra thickness of the jacket, but by three bells she was ready to go ashore.
Rebecca snugged the straps holding her own bedroll and hooked her pack over one shoulder, standing easily and crossing to the door. “You ready, mum?”
Tanyth nodded, took staff in hand and clapped her wide-brimmed hat on her head, before following the younger woman out of the cabin and climbing the short ladder to the deck. When she got there and saw the angle on the gangplank, she almost decided to stay aboard—at least until the tide had lifted the ship level with the dock.
“Leavin’ so soon, mum?” Cook called to her from the deckhouse door.
She crossed to him and surprised him with a hug. “Time for me to move on, Cook.”
“I’ve tea here and oatmeal if you like, mum.” He held the door open in invitation.
“I’ll pass on the oatmeal, Cook. Dinner last night is still digestin’, but I’ll take a cup of tea with thanks.”
Rather than trying to enter the crowded galley with their packs, the two lounged beside the door while Cook brought them steaming china mugs.
“You’re not visitin’ with your folks then?” she asked.
“I’ll go up today, mum. I stopped by last night for a gab and an ale, but my job’s here, mum.”
“You don’t have as much to do in port, do you?”
“More, mum. Meals aren’t as big, but with the stores and supplies? Making sure we have enough flour and beans to get where we’re going, mum. That takes up my time.” He sipped his own tea and gave her an emphatic nod. “And how about you, mum? Now that you’re here? What’ll you do?”
“I still have to find my teacher. She’s here somewhere. We’ll find her, I’m sure, but it might take some doin’.”
“Who is she, mum? Maybe I know her. I know most of the people around.”
“Her name’s Gertie. Gertie Pinecrest.”
Cook pondered, pulling on his lower lip between thumb and forefinger. “That’s a familiar name, mum, but I can’t quite...”
“You know a place called Lammas Wood?”
He looked startled at the question. “Well, aye, mum. I do, but that’s...” he took a deep breath and blew it out. “I don’t know, mum. A couple, three, maybe four days hike out into the wild. Why?”
She gave him a small shrug. “That’s where we’re goin’.”
“Mum? You can’t.” Cook’s eyes practically bugged out in his alarm.
“Can’t? Why not?”
“There’s beasts out there, mum. Bears. Cats. Worse.”
“And you know this directly?” she aske
d.
Cook looked into his mug and contemplated for a moment. “Well, not directly, mum. No.”
She shrugged.
“But why, mum. There’s nothing out there but woods and game.”
“Nothing?”
He gave his own little shrug, “Well, they tell about a hermit lives out that way. I think it’s just a tale they tell children to make ’em behave.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, mum. Normal kinds of boggety-man things. ’Eat your turnips or the hermit’ll get ye.’ ’Mind your manners, boy, or the hermit’ll teach ya some.’”
“Doesn’t sound so bad.”
He chuckled. “No, not from this side of twenty winters, it don’t, mum. But when you’re a lad of ten and your ma says, ’Do your chores, or the hermit’ll come and make you chop her firewood all night and all day. You won’t like that now, will ya!’ Well, mum, you do it right quick.”
She laughed a bit in sympathy, but filed the bit of knowledge away. They may be boogety-man stories to him, but to her they were clues to a trail. She up-ended the mug and put the empty in the tray beside the door. Rebecca followed suit.
“Thank you kindly for the tea, Cook. Fair winds and ...? What’s the sayin’?”
He smiled. “Fair winds and following seas, mum.”
“That’s it. Fair winds and following seas, Cook.” She smiled at him and took up her staff from where it rested by the door.
“We’ll be in and out all summer, mum. Long as we can get in, we will—until it ices over. Maybe we’ll see you again?”
She smiled and considered. “Maybe,” she admitted at last. “Maybe.”
They crossed the deck and Tanyth eyed the gangplank again.
“You go first, mum. I’ll follow and catch ya if you slide back,” Rebecca said.
Tanyth looked at the younger woman but detected no hint of humor in the girl’s face. She took a deep breath and put her feet on the treads. With the help of her staff, she managed to clamber up the steep track and stepped onto the dock without suffering the indignity of having Rebecca push her up the last few steps.
Jameson stood there at the top, facing toward the head of the pier. “Leavin’ so soon, mum? G’morning, miss.”
Rebecca gave Jameson a smile and a nod. “G’morning, Mr. Jameson.”
“Seems my passage is complete, Mr. Jameson. Time to go ashore and get on with the journey.”
“It’s been a pleasure havin’ you with us, mum, and that’s the truth.”
“I had fun myself,” she said and realized, with a start, that she meant it. “It’d be a long way to walk, but the trip kinda blurs together now that it’s over.”
Jameson grinned. “Aye, mum. And when you’ve done the trip two dozen times, it blurs even more.” He shot her a look out of the corners of his eyes. “One thing I won’t forget about this trip, mum.”
“What’s that?” she asked. “That special little package we had?”
He shook his head. “The sight of that storm blowing away like dandelions on a summer day. That was something.”
She laughed. “I wish I’d’a seen it.”
“Well, it was lucky Benjamin was looking at you and not the storm, mum.” He cocked his head at her. “You feelin’ all right now?”
“Yeah, but I’m outa shape in carryin’ my stuff about. Been too long since I took to the trails.” She flexed her shoulders and grimaced.
“I don’t know how you do it, mum. I don’t think I could lift that pack, let alone walk with it.”
“Done it a long time. Just need to get back in the habit.”
“How long will you stay in North Haven, mum?”
She shook her head. “Day. Maybe two. Need to get my bearings. See what I can learn here before I move on.”
“You take care, mum. Come back and see us when you’re ready to go back to Kleesport.”
In her heart, she wondered when that might be, but she answered, “Thank you, Mr. Jameson. Fair winds and followin’ seas.”
They turned toward town and passed a crowd of two dozen men following a cargo lorry with a four-horse team heading up the dock. The leadman nodded at them in greeting.
Tanyth nodded back and kept walking. At the head of the pier she stopped and looked back south one last time. The longshoremen had clustered around the ship and she saw Jameson and the lead man shaking hands. In a few days the ship would be gone, heading south across the Bight, heading home.
The thought of home struck a chord with her, sounding an emotional note she’d not felt for many winters. She thought of Frank and his steady good humor, of Ravenwood and the new inn. As much as she missed Frank’s solid company, Ravenwood was not her home.
“Will you miss him, my dear?” Tanyth asked.
Rebecca glanced at her. “Miss who, mum?”
“Young Mr. Groves.”
Rebecca’s blush barely showed against the ruddy light of morning, but she gave Tanyth a shy smile. “Per’aps a bit,” she said. “But I know where to find him again should I ever decide to set my cap.”
Tanyth laughed a short laugh that ended with a sigh.
Rebecca waited silently, a small—almost sad smile—curling her lips as if she knew what was going through Tanyth’s mind.
As the stevedores started lining up carts and cranes, Tanyth turned and headed up the hill towards town. “Woolgathering won’t get us any closer,” she muttered. “Time to get movin’.”
Rebecca fell in along side her. “Mum, if you’re gonna mutter?”
Tanyth shot her a sharp look.
“Do it loud enough that I can hear?” Rebecca grinned and Tanyth huffed out a short laugh.
“I’ll do my best, my dear. You keep remindin’ me.”
“Oh, I will, mum. I will.”
As they climbed up the hill toward the town, she began to think that twenty-one winters was time enough to wander. There’d always been another teacher, a new place to go. There was always somebody else to visit with, some other lore to track down. That road looked like it might have an end after all.
“You’ve thought that before, ya old fool,” she grumbled.
She had, she knew, but things had changed. Things had been changing ever since she first dreamed through the raven’s eyes and felt the lift of wind on her wings. She eyed the snowy peaks beyond the town and wondered what made a woman come out here to the north end of nowhere to live. A shiver twitched the back of her neck and she tried not to consider that notion too closely.
“Too late now,” she murmured.
Mother Dogwood’s words came to her mind unbidden. “Until you come to the end of the path, keep going.”
“I’m goin’,” she grumbled. “I’m goin’.
“This time, I’m with ya, mum,” Rebecca said.
With a grin, Tanyth leaned into the shallow incline and let her feet follow her heart’s path once more.
About The Author
Nathan Lowell has been a writer for more than forty years, and first entered the literary world by podcasting his novels. His science-fiction series, The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, grew from his long time fascination with space opera and his own experiences shipboard in the United States Coast Guard. Unlike most works which focus on a larger-than-life hero (prophesied savior, charismatic captain, or exiled prince), Nathan centers on the people behind the scenes—ordinary men and women trying to make a living in the depths of space. In his novels, there are no bug-eyed monsters, or galactic space battles, instead he paints a richly vivid and realistic world where the “hero.” uses hard work and his own innate talents to improve his station and the lives of those of his community.
Dr. Nathan Lowell holds a Ph.D. in Educational Technology with specializations in Distance Education and Instructional Design. He also holds an M.A. in Educational Technology and a BS in Business Administration with a minor in marketing. He grew up on the south coast of Maine and is strongly rooted in the maritime heritage of the sea-farer. He served in the USCG from 1970 to
1975, seeing duty aboard a cutter on hurricane patrol in the North Atlantic and at a communications station in Kodiak, Alaska.
He currently lives in the plains east of the Rocky Mountains with his wife and two daughters.
Awards for Nathan’s Books
2011 Parsec Award Winner for Best Speculative Fiction (long form) for Owner’s Share
2011 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction (short form) for The Astonishing Amulet of Amenartas
2010 Parsec Award Winner for Best Speculative Fiction (long form) for Captain’s Share
2009 Podiobooks Founder’s Choice Award for Captain’s Share
2009 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction (long form)for Double Share
2008 Podiobooks Founder’s Choice Award for Double Share
2008 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction (long form) for Full Share
2008 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction (long form) for South Coast
Learn More At:
The Solar Clipper Diary
NathanLowell.com
Twitter: @nlowell
Other Works
Fantasy Books by Nathan Lowell
Ravenwood
Zypheria’s Call
The Hermit of Lammas Wood**
Books in the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper Series
Trader Tales
Quarter Share
Half Share
Full Share
Double Share
Captain’s Share
Owner’s Share*
Shaman Tales
South Coast*
Cape Grace**
* Available in audio (itunes and podiobooks.com), print and ebooks coming soon
**Forthcoming
If you enjoyed this novel, you will be happy to learn that…
Zypheria’s Call is the second book in the first Tanyth Fairport trilogy. This story concludes in the next volume - The Hermit Of Lammas Wood. As Tanyth continues on her quest to find Gertie Pinecrest, she learns more about her own talents, and the dark secrets they reveal.
Zypheria's Call (A Tanyth Fairport Adventure) Page 34