“Excuse me?” said Jenur as she, Kocas, and Kinker climbed the steps from the main deck to the poop. “I didn't do anything.”
“No, I'm pretty sure you did,” said Kocas as she and Jenur stopped at the top of the stairs. “Malock would never have chosen you and you know it. Even now that we know you aren't the spy, everyone knows about Malock's paranoia and I know for a fact that he wouldn't want to be anywhere near you under ordinary circumstances.”
“Yeah, Malock can be paranoid, but he's also about as threatening as a puppy dog sometimes,” said Jenur. “He was really broken when he found out that I wasn't the spy. He apologized so much. You should have seen him. If you did, you wouldn't be saying this crap.”
“Did you sleep with him?” said Kocas. “I mean, everyone knows that he's sleeping with Vashnas, obviously, but I could see him sleeping around with female members of the crew.”
Jenur's face quickly turned into a grimace. “Sleep? With Malock? That's disgusting. Besides, unlike a certain dirty-minded somebody who is talking to me, I'd never consider sleeping with someone in order to gain their favor. I value my body too much.”
“I'm not dirty-minded,” said Kocas. “Just realistic. I know how horny royals are and I know how much Malock likes younger women. So maybe—”
“I did not do anything to get Malock to put me on the hunting party,” said Jenur in her firmest voice. “He chose me entirely on his own. Kinker can back me up. Right, Kinks?”
While those two talked, Kinker had spent the last few minutes doing his best to mount the stairs leading up to the quarterdeck. This was normally not a difficult task, but with the steps as icy as they were, Kinker had to exercise extreme caution. He had just made it about halfway up when Jenur appealed to him, causing him to look up and say, “What?”
Unfortunately for Kinker, all of his attention had been focused on making the climb and so when he looked up at Jenur, he accidentally missed the next step and went sliding down the stairs back to the bottom. It wasn't a particularly long fall and he didn't break any bones, but the fall was so painful that all he could do was groan.
“Kinker doesn't look like he's in any condition to give us his opinion,” said Kocas. “Doesn't matter. I'm going to go talk to Malock and convince him to let me go instead of you.”
“A little help?” Kinker called from the bottom of the stairs. “Just an old man here, with a back that is possibly broken, needing some help from you youngsters. That's all.”
Unfortunately, neither Jenur nor Kocas seemed to hear him, so Kinker was forced to think of thinking of another way to get back up. Or perhaps he could just lay there, trying not to get stepped on, waiting until one of the other sailors noticed him and decided to help him up. He could not decide.
“Why do you want to go to Stalf so badly, anyway?” said Jenur. “Getting a little sick of the sea?”
“Because at heart, I am a hunter,” said Kocas, putting one fist over her heart. “I am, after all, a follower of Ghatmos, the God of Hunting and the Woods.”
“And?” said Jenur, sounding a bit bored. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“This expedition is going to be a hunting expedition,” Kocas said. “Captain Malock is hoping to gather some food and fur from the native animals on the island. Before becoming a sailor, I hunted for years in the dark forests of Natachan. I am the most logical choice for this party.”
“I guess Malock didn't think so, otherwise he would have chosen you instead of me,” said Jenur. “But sure, you can go and talk to him. See if you can convince him to let you go. You might have to sleep with him first, though.”
Kocas threw such an evil glare at Jenur that she seemed to be trying to kill her with it. Then Kocas stomped down the slippery stairs, somehow making it to the bottom without falling over, and walking over Kinker without stopping to help him.
“Geez,” said Jenur, leaning against the stairs' railing. “That girl sure has some issues, doesn't she?”
“Yes, she does,” said Kinker. “Now, Jenur, could you please help me up? Contrary to popular belief, the deck of the ship is not a soft place to land on. Especially when it is covered in ice like it is now.”
***
Chapter Thirteen
The Iron Wind was incapable of landing close to the shoreline of Stalf, not due to to the depth of the bay, but rather because of a thick ice ring that surrounded the entire island. Malock considered ramming the ice ring, but then he remembered that the Iron Wind was not a cutter and any attempt to break the ice ring would probably do more damage to the ship's hull than to the ring.
So instead, Malock directed the ship to be anchored right next to the outer edge of the ice ring. Then he gathered his hunting party together, which consisted of Jenur, Gormas Okina, and three others who he had picked based on their skills as hunters. One of them was Kocas Iknor, a Natachan woman who had not been one of his original choices but who had managed to convince him of her capability as a hunter a few hours ago.
All of them were armed with guns and swords, with one of each per hunter. The guns were partly frozen, but a quick test revealed that they all still worked. At the very least, a frozen gun could always be improvised as a heavy bat of some sort, which didn't make them entirely useless.
They then gathered near the davit, where Malock gave Banika orders to keep the ship under control while he was away. Here he said his good byes to Vashnas, while also asking for any last minute knowledge she may have had about Stalf. Unfortunately, she had nothing new to give him, so Malock and his hunting party got into the remaining rowboat and Banika lowered it to the ice ring from the davit.
As soon as the bottom of the rowboat hit the ice ring, Malock and his hunting party climbed out and dragged the rowboat the rest of the way across the ice ring. The rowboat was heavy, even with all six of them working together, but they managed it and soon they were in Stalf Bay, rowing across the freezing water to the island's shore.
As they drew nearer to the shore, however, Malock spotted some strange animals crawling out of the water onto the beach. He waved at the rowers to stop, which they did, and then pointed at the animals. The hunting party watched in silence as the creatures, about a dozen in all, rested on the beach, like they were taking a nap.
The animals looked like walruses, but they had to be at least as big as bears. Their sleek skin was completely black, contrasting sharply with the long white teeth that jutted out from their upper lips. Some of the lay on their backs, while a few lay on their stomachs. Their fins looked as sharp as swords, but thankfully the walrus-like creatures didn't seem to notice Malock and his crew at all. They looked like they were taking a nap.
Jenur gulped. “Anyone know what those are?”
“Vashnas told me about them,” said Malock. “She always called them 'baba raga,' which is an aquarian phrase meaning 'big animal.'”
“That's helpful,” said Jenur. “But what do they do? Can they fly and shoot lasers from their eyes?”
“Vash just said they're tough, but usually don't go around picking fights,” said Malock. “So I imagine, if we don't try to fight them, that they'll just leave us alone.”
Kocas, who was one of the rowers, leaned forward on her seat, licking her lips as she looked at the resting baba raga. “I think the more important question is, how edible are they? Because I think even one of those things could provide enough meat to feed a small family for a couple of days at least.”
“Not sure,” said Malock. His stomach growled. “But let's find out. Once we get to shore, of course.”
The hunting party quickly crossed the rest of the bay. They landed near a cove, where they stashed the rowboat so they wouldn't lose it when the tide came in. They then made their way across the snowy beach, slowly and carefully, trying not to draw the attention of the baba raga to them.
Despite their best attempts at stealth, the baba raga noticed them. One of them raised its head lazily, blinking its small eyes in their direction, as if wondering
who they were and what they were going to do. It looked rather innocent, but when Malock's stomach growled again, he didn't feel any regret in aiming his gun, pulling the trigger, and putting a bullet through its head.
The rest of his party followed, aiming and firing their guns at all of the baba raga. Instead of fighting back, as Malock expected them to do, the remaining baba raga slid down the sand into the ocean and disappeared beneath the waves, where no one could see them. Not that Malock was complaining, as their initial attack had bagged them three baba raga and they were big ones, too.
Malock left the task of gutting the baba raga to his hunters, as it was a messy task that was beneath his station. He watched Kocas and Jenur use their gutting knives to pierce the skin of the baba raga.
Or rather, watched as they tried to. As it turned out, baba raga skin was far thicker than they had first supposed. Although the bullet holes were as visible as day, their knives just glanced off the sides of the creatures' hides, almost like they were made of rock. The hunters tried to pierce the baba ragas' hides for about an hour, but all they succeeded in doing was to damage their knives and waste time, prompting Malock to say, “All right, men. Looks like we can't skin 'em. Just leave them here. I'm sure there're more edible animals further inland.”
Jenur sheathed her knife and pointed at the giant white walls in the center of the island. “Maybe we should figure out what are behind those walls. Maybe someone lives there who might be willing to give us food.”
Kocas laughed as she stood up, adjusting the belt of her pants. “Please. I know you're young, Jenur, but naïve, too? Or weren't you paying attention to what happened the last time we went too far inland on an island?”
“Kocas is right,” said Malock. “Whatever is behind those walls probably doesn't want anything to do with us and we probably don't want anything to do with it. We'll stick to hunting in the forest around it.”
Jenur frowned and looked at the dead baba raga before her. “If you say so, Captain.”
The party of six walked through the snow into the thin forest. It was rough going, however, not because of the snow on the ground, but because their feet and boots were already wet from the water. Now that they were slogging through the snow, even with their thick Carnagian boots on, it was pure torture, but Malock ignored it and encouraged his men to do the same.
Unlike the jungle on Ikadori Island, the forest of Stalf was sparse, so spare that it could barely be called a forest. The branches above them were thin enough that light could shine through, although it was a weak light, not strong enough to warm them or melt the snow. Even the trees thick with leaves did not have as many leaves as the thinnest tree on Ikadori Island; nonetheless, Malock kept looking over his shoulder, up at the treetops, and to both sides.
None of his hunters commented on his odd behavior. That was partly because the group needed to keep silent in order to prevent prey from hearing them and running away, but it was also because they likely already knew why he was doing that. True, none of them knew about the Loner God, but they all knew that something bad had happened on Ikadori Island and that whatever it was had shaken Malock badly.
Not that Malock would ever actually admit that. As Captain of the crew and head of the hunting party, Malock believed that any sign of weakness on his part was unacceptable. He needed to make the rest of his crew think he was confident and in charge and he couldn't do that if he admitted he was afraid. It was how his father, the king, ruled Carnag and it was how Malock had lead his crew so far.
One thing that made Stalf better than Ikadori Island was the abundance of animals. Of course, none of them were very big—a few white rabbits, some snow squirrels, a pale deer or two—but it was refreshing to finally see animals they recognized for once and so they shot with pure abandon. The animals of Stalf didn't seem to know what humans were, but by the end of the hour, Malock and his hunters had already shot two snow squirrels and a pale deer. The rest of their prey ran away, but Malock was confident that his hunters would have no trouble at all tracking them down if they needed to. The tracks in the snow the fleeing beasts made were obvious.
Over the next couple of hours, things went extremely well for the hunters. They shot and skinned animals, storing away the tastiest bits in their hunting bags, and despite the cold were all having a good time. Things were going so well for them that Malock actually let his guard down, feeling that perhaps Stalf wasn't home to a crazy god that wanted to kill them and that his hunters could take down whatever this island threw at them.
In fact, Malock himself actually managed to shoot some game. His best shot so far was the large pale deer he spotted a dozen yards or so from where they stood. The pale deer darted off faster than any they had seen before, but with a steady hand and quick aim Malock put a bullet through its head and killed it in one hit. He even skinned it himself; well, after Jenur taught him how, of course.
For the first time since Ikadori Island, Malock felt on top of the world. Sure, he was cold and tired and figured they'd have to head back to the ship within the next hour unless they wanted to get frostbite, but honestly none of that seemed nearly as bad as what he had been through on this voyage so far. He kept imagining the scent of cooked pale deer meat wafting from the galley, a scent he hadn't smelled since the day he left Carnag Hall.
Things were going so well, in fact, that Malock was genuinely surprised (and horrified) when Gormas Okina dropped dead in the snow suddenly and without warning.
The hunters had just caught a particularly fat snow rabbit, thanks to Kocas's superb aim with a gun, when Okina touched his neck, said, “What the—” and then fell face forward onto the not-yet-skinned snow rabbit, which he had been kneeling over while Kocas skinned it.
This caused all of the hunters to step back, but Malock moved in and crept down next to Okina's body. He placed a hand on Okina's neck and felt no pulse.
“What happened?” said Jenur, her eyes darting back and forth. “Is he unconscious?”
Malock shook his head. “Dead, by the look of it. Died instantly.”
“How?” said another hunter, a male human named Aseth. “That makes no sense. I know Okina was always joking about how he was just going to drop dead from old age one of these days, but I didn't think he was being literal about it.”
Malock felt along Okina's cold neck and found something sticking out of it. He plucked the thin thing and held it up for all to see.
“It's a dart,” said Kocas, sounding impressed. “Very aerodynamic, too, by the look of it. And the needle looks even sharper than my mother's knitting needles. I think we're dealing with a professional here.”
“But who shot it?” said Aseth, looking around nervously. “And where are they? Are you sure Vashnas didn't mention anything about other people living on Stalf, sir?”
Malock nodded. “She said she didn't explore Stalf very fully when she first came here. So we were basically going in blind.”
Kocas took the dart from Malock's hand and turned it over, going over it with a critical eye. “Look at it. This thing had enough poison in it to kill a full-grown zinyu in a second. Poor Okina probably didn't even feel it reach his heart.”
“That means we're dealing with someone who knows what they're doing here,” said Malock. “Jenur, will— hey, where's Jenur?”
The young woman was missing from the group, even after they did a quick check of the area. They called out her name for several minutes, but in all that time the only answer they received was the howling of the wind, which picked up rather suddenly.
Malock stood up, dusting off his hunting jacket, as he said, “Okay, we're getting out of here. Whoever killed Okina is clearly not interested in entertaining guests, so—”
Without warning, something large and heavy fell out of a tree and into a clump of bushes at its base. This caused the group to jump and they jumped again when Jenur leaped down from the same tree. Her knife was out and stained slightly with blood, which she was wiping off on her pant leg as she appr
oached the group.
“Found him,” said Jenur, gesturing with her head in the direction of the thing that had fallen from the tree. “He was just loading his blowgun with another one of those killer darts when I came up behind him and slit his throat. He probably didn't even know I was there.”
“Who didn't even know you were there?” said Malock. “And how the hell did you sneak away without any of us even hearing you leave?”
Jenur shrugged. “The guy who killed Okina. As for how I sneaked off, well, that's not really any of your business, now is it?”
“Excuse me?” said Malock, taking a step forward. “I don't like that tone.”
“And I don't like the fact that you falsely accused me of being a spy and almost sold me off to a weird blob thingy,” said Jenur. “But you don't see me whining about that, now do you?”
Malock's hands shook with anger, but he said, “Whatever. Let's get a better look at our silent assassin, shall we?”
They had to clear away the bushes in order to see him clearly, but when they did, Malock wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. The being had skin as rough as rock, with a lopsided, jagged mouth that revealed a row of uneven teeth. His entire body was covered in a large fur coat, so white that it faded in with the snow extremely well. Aside from his face, only his hands and feet were exposed, covered in thick black fur, with four fingers and four toes on each. In his left hand, he had what had probably been his blowgun, which was now broken in two, possibly because of the fall.
“Is it human?” said Aseth, tilting his head to one side like the being's appearance might make more sense from another angle. “Or something else?”
“He died like a human,” said Jenur. “I'll admit, though, that he didn't make any human-like noises. Just sort of made a weird gurgling noise when I slit his throat.”
“Let's check his body,” said Kocas. “Maybe there will be a clue on it that will tell us about his identity.”
“Way ahead of you,” said Jenur as she fished something out of her pocket. “He didn't have much on him, except a dozen darts, his blowgun, and this.”
The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock Page 20