by Pedro Urvi
Nilsa laughed.
“You’re lucky I can’t see a thing, because otherwise you’d get what for.”
“Don’t mess with me. If you’re upset because your boyfriend Captain Fantastic doesn’t do what you tell him to, that’s not my fault.”
“Where on earth did you get that from!”
“Nilsa, who else!”
“Nilsa! Don’t tell anything I tell you to anyone, least of all to him!”
“It just slipped out,” she apologized. “He asks me a lot of questions … and you know I love talking … you know me …”
“Well then, don’t talk to him! Talk to Astrid, she’s more discreet!”
“What with all this chatter, I’m not afraid of this mist any longer,” Gerd admitted.
“I’m glad of that, big guy,” Viggo said. There came the sound of a loud slap on the back.
“Ouch!” cried Lasgol.
“Oops, sorry, I saw a shadow and I thought it was Gerd. I made it a pretty hard slap.”
“Yeah, you certainly did,” Lasgol protested. The blow had hit him in the middle of his back, and he was trying to ease the pain by moving his shoulders around.
Astrid laughed. “Don’t even think of kissing Ingrid under cover of the fog,” she said to Viggo. “I bet you’d end up kissing me instead.”
“What a good idea!” Viggo said enthusiastically.
“If you try,” Ingrid said threateningly, “I swear when we reach solid ground I’ll hang you by the feet from a tree and leave you there to rot!”
Nilsa and Gerd laughed.
Ona moaned behind Lasgol, and he turned to soothe her. Ona, good. Don’t worry, it’s only fog. There’s no danger. Camu’ll warn us if he detects anything, won’t you, Camu?
I warn. Ona relax.
“Keep rowing and make sure you keep those oar-strokes steady!” Olsen shouted.
The fog appeared to be getting thicker all the time. It was as dense as smoke, and was deeply disconcerting. They could see nothing any longer and had to walk with their arms stretched out, so they soon gave up and, sat down where they were.
An idea occurred to Lasgol, and he decided to test it. He called upon his Animal Presence skill, and to his surprise, it worked very well. A circular wave of intense green issued from his body and spread, widening, throughout the ship. When it met a person or an animal, a green dot flashed in front of him, showing its position. In this way he managed to locate everybody on the ship in spite of the fog. The skill would presumably be very useful in the dark as well. He found it odd that with each new strange situation he found himself in, he always learnt something new. He wondered how many more things he had left to discover.
The night turned out to be a problem, because nobody could go to the tents, so they stayed where they were. At least, it was a problem for all of them except one: Camu no longer needed to keep himself camouflaged and was delighted with the situation. He had cuddled up next to Ona, beside Lasgol and Astrid. Further to the right were Gerd and Viggo, and a little further still Nilsa and Ingrid. Lasgol had used his skill to see whether Viggo was trying one of his little jokes or tricks, but so far he had done nothing and simply stayed where he was. Lasgol was grateful, since Ingrid’s shouts if Viggo were to try anything would frighten half the crew.
For three days they sailed on in the midst of the depressing mist. They found serious difficulties when it came to distributing food and drink among the crew. There was a lot of tripping over, and most of the time the food ended up on the floor. There was no sign of a breeze, and any sound died out the moment it was emitted. It was all decidedly gloomy. The oarsmen went on rowing, under Captain Olsen’s orders.
“How do we know where we’re headed?” Gerd asked suddenly.
“That’s a very good question, big guy,” Viggo said. “I’d like to know too, because we can’t see either sky or stars. How’s the captain finding his way?”
“I’ve no idea,” Ingrid admitted.
“He’s not steering blind, because he’s veered several times,” said Astrid, who had felt the changes of course.
“I know the answer to that,” said Lasgol. “Eicewald has an object that lets him navigate in this fog, or in a starless night, toward the islands. It’s a magical thing the Turquoise Queen gave him. I’ve seen him use it, and it’s really fascinating. It’s a small pearl with a blue incrustation on the surface, like a small precious stone. The Mage put it on the palm of his hand and used his power to make it levitate. As it did, the sphere rotated on itself and the blue dot swiveled to point in one particular direction. Then Eicewald moved to the right, and all at once the pearl swiveled again and the blue dot showed the same direction as before. Then the Mage moved a few steps to the left and the pearl swiveled again, with the blue dot pointing at the same place again.”
“We’re being led by an object with magic?” Nilsa protested. “The thought makes me sick!”
“Well, as long as it works,” Astrid said nonchalantly.
“But it’s filthy magic!”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, redhead,” Viggo pointed out, “we’re completely lost at sea and blind. Any way out is acceptable, even filthy magic.”
Nilsa protested, but had to admit that they did not have much choice. “Well, anyway, I don’t like it at all,” she ended up saying.
They went on in the same way for two more days. On the third day, Lasgol suddenly felt a breeze caressing his face. He was so surprised that he craned his neck to try and see something, but found that they were still surrounded by thick fog. He felt the breeze again, this time in his hair.
“D’you feel it?” he asked his friends.
“Yeah, a breeze,” Astrid said beside him. “It’s just appeared.”
“I can feel it too,” said Viggo.
“Me too,” said Ingrid.
Then the breeze ruffled Lasgol’s hair. He had the impression that it was growing in intensity. He craned his neck and the breeze reached him again, but this time as wind.
A moment later the Captain was ordering the sail to be hauled, to take advantage of this.
“Great!” Gerd said. “This’ll make us go faster.”
“Mmmm,” Viggo said. “I’m not so sure …”
“Why d’you say that?” Ingrid asked.
“It’s growing stronger …”
Lasgol had noticed this too. What had begun as a gentle breeze was now a strong wind.
“Very true,” said Astrid. “I think it’s building up to –”
“… a storm,” Lasgol finished for her.
They were not mistaken. The wind began to blow harder and the sea to turn wild, with a massive swell. Captain Olsen had to order the sail to be lowered, and what with the blinding fog, the strong wind lashing the ship and the growing swell, this turned out to be a complicated maneuver. They managed to save the sail at the last moment, but nearly lost two sailors, who ended up rolling across the deck, then hitting the gunwale and nearly being thrown into the sea.
“Hold fast, everybody! Storm!” yelled Captain Olsen.
The trouble was that they could see nothing. The fog did not move even under the force of the wind, which by now was lashing the ship hard.
“Hold on to whatever you can!” Ingrid shouted.
A huge wave broke on to the deck, knocking over several oarsmen, who were sent rolling across the deck and trying to grab whatever support they could. A deluge of rain was now falling on them, driven by the wind and mingled with the enormous waves on both sides of the ship.
“Why doesn’t the wind blow away this wretched fog?” Viggo demanded angrily.
“Because it’s not natural, it’s a spell,” Lasgol explained.
The ship tilted forward as if it were about to fall from a mountain-top into the valley at its foot.
“Hold on!” yelled Astrid.
The ship slid down a gigantic slope, then rose again as if it were ascending to the heights again. It felt as though their stomachs and hearts were trying to lea
ve their bodies.
“I’m going to throw up!” Gerd yelled.
“Don’t, or you’ll make me do the same!” Viggo said beside him.
The ship tilted forward again and slid down a thirty-foot wave, only to rise as high again a moment later.
“This is horrible!” Nilsa cried.
A new wave broke on them, followed by more rain and wind, which made it very difficult to gulp air without swallowing water at the same time. They were soaking wet by now, and the rain showed no sign of stopping.
“The sea’s going to swallow us!” said Nilsa.
Lasgol tried to encourage them. “Hold on, we’ve got to ride out the storm!”
“We’ll make it!” Ingrid shouted.
Gerd and Viggo were having such a rough time that they could not even speak.
The tremendous wind and gigantic waves swept several oarsmen from their benches. They were immediately swallowed up by the sea.
“It’s going to drown us all!” Nilsa yelled.
“Hold on!” Lasgol shouted He was holding Ona as hard as he could to prevent the wind from taking her with it. Astrid was holding Camu, though thanks to his palms he was firmly held to the deck and did not move. All the same, he appreciated Astrid’s efforts to help him.
Suddenly they felt a terrible impact. Several more sailors were plunged into the sea amid cries of horror and the sound of splintering wood. Lasgol held on to Ona with all his might, and the panther sank her claws into the wooden deck to avoid being dragged away. They felt another terrible sway which ended with another, even louder impact. The timber of the hull was cracking. More sailors were thrown to the sea under the force of the terrible impacts.
“We’re aground!” came Captain Olsen’s cry.
The storm went on lashing the ship, which by now had stopped moving.
They woke up on deck. The ship was slewed on to its starboard side. Lasgol got to his feet carefully. Beside him Astrid too was waking up.
“Are you all right?” he asked her as he watched her.
“Soaked, bruised, but fine,” she smiled.
“Let’s find the others.”
When he tried to find why the ship was listing, he saw they had run aground between rocks. Beyond the rocks he could see land. A long beach of white sand and turquoise waters disappeared into the horizon. Tropical plants and jungle covered the foreshore and rose toward hills. The Eternal Mist could be seen in the distance, out at sea.
Meanwhile Astrid had found Nilsa beside two sailors who were beginning to recover. “Nilsa, are you all right?”
“Yeah … I think so,” she said, and tried to stand up with Astrid’s help.
Lasgol saw Ona coming toward him, with fear in her eyes. Ona. Good. How are you?
He stroked the shivering panther and tried to calm her down. The experience had been traumatic, and the great cat was deeply frightened.
Camu, are you all right?
I fine. I hold tight, he transmitted, to Lasgol’s enormous relief.
Look after Ona. I’m going to see about the others.
Gerd got to his knees and felt his head. He was bleeding, and Ingrid checked the wound.
“You’ve bumped your head on something,” she said. “It’s nothing. A couple of stitches and you’ll be okay.”
“You’re bleeding too,” Gerd pointed out.
“Me? Where?”
“Your leg.”
“Oh, that? It’s just a couple of grazes. I must’ve scraped against something sharp. Nothing serious.”
“What a trip,” came Viggo’s voice as he came up the slanting deck to them. “I want my money back! Who on earth thought of running aground? I ended up at the stern with a lump on my head the size of a pelican’s egg!”
Lasgol smiled. Clearly his friend was fine.
“Come with us,” Astrid said to him.
They gathered at the dragon’s head and waited for Nilsa and Gerd, the ones who had been most badly hurt in the wreck, to recover. While they did so, the survivors among the crew – less than half of them – were also trying to recover.
“All the wounded, astern!” came Captain Olsen’s order. He had survived. Beside him was Eicewald, and although the Mage’s white robe was dirty and bloodied, he seemed to be all right. He waved at them and put his hands to his mouth.
“Are you all right?”
“Everyone’s fine, sir!” Lasgol called back. “Battered, but okay!”
Eicewald nodded. “So am I,” he assured them, although he was limping as he moved.
Gerd and Nilsa recovered under the care of Ingrid and Astrid. The survivors too, recovered slowly. Captain Olsen went through the ship and down into the hold to assess the damage.
The team went carefully astern to be near the Captain and the Mage and see what they were to do now in this new situation.
“Two holes in the hull,” came the Captain’s voice from the hold. “We’re stranded. The ship was driven into the rocks on this side of the island by the storm. It’s not going to be going anywhere for a while.”
“At least we reached land,” the Mage said, sounding optimistic.
The two men surveyed the beach, then the mist out at sea.
“It looks as though the storm freed us from the mist, only to drive us ashore on this island,” Eicewald said.
“It’s wrecked us on this island, the Captain said angrily, “which is a different matter.”
“We’re still alive, which means we carry on with our mission.”
“I’ve got some bad news. We lost the cargo during the storm.”
“All of it?”
“The gold, the weapons and almost all our supplies are gone. They must’ve drifted out of the big hole on the port side.”
“Now that really is bad news. We’ve got nothing left we can use to bargain with the Turquoise Queen.”
“If we really are in her territory.”
“We are. I’ve checked.” Eicewald brought out his pearl-guide. “We’re in one of the islands of the archipelago that makes up her realm.” He pointed to the Eternal Mist in the distance. “I’m sure of that.”
They helped the surviving crew members to get over their injuries. Lasgol realized that his forehead was covered in sweat, and saw that Viggo and Gerd were sweating too. He saw too that the sun was shining intensely. This was not the sun of his own country of Norghana. Then he looked down at his white skin and saw that where it was exposed to the sun, it was turning very red. He also realized that it was very hot.
Gerd was wiping perspiration off his forehead. “I can’t stop sweating,” he said.
Viggo pinched his nose and made a face. “Actually, you’re a bit smelly.”
“You’re not smelly, don’t pay any attention to him,” Nilsa said. She was sniffing the big guy as if she were Ona.
“It’s very hot here,” said Astrid. She was tying her Ranger scarf around her head, pirate-style.
“Why are you putting that on your head?” Viggo asked.
“This sun’s very strong, and we’re not used to it. It’ll burn our skin and affect our heads. We need to protect ourselves.”
“Very good idea,” Ingrid agreed. “Use your scarves and clothes to cover your skin, before we all roast completely.”
“And make sure it’s light cover,” Astrid pointed out. “We can’t wear our hooded cloaks here, we’d roast.”
“Are you going to be able to repair the ship?” Eicewald asked Olsen, who was inspecting the holes in the hull with a couple of men.
“The port hole can be repaired. The starboard one, we’re on top of it, so it’s going to be a lot more difficult.”
“But can it be done?”
“With help, perhaps. By ourselves, I doubt it.”
“We need the ship to get back,” Eicewald said.
“We’ve saved the mast and the sail. The Ice Gods have blessed us by their grace. The ship can be saved. But making the return journey on it is another matter altogether. I’ll see what can be done. We n
eed to look for help as soon as we can.”
Eicewald nodded. “I’ll try, but I don’t know whether we’re going to find help in this place. It’s quite possible that there won’t be any.”
“Well then, we’re going to have problems getting back. Anyway, I’ll do whatever’s in my hands. We’ll start with the repairs as soon as we get the food safe.”
“Thank you, Captain. I’ll try to get help,” the Mage said, though he did not sound very confident.
Suddenly Viggo pointed his thumb at the beach. “Ahem … I think we have visitors.”
They followed his gesture and realized that a dozen or so people were staring at the ship.
“And they’re very interesting …” Astrid said, half-closing her eyes to stare.
“A pretty weird bunch, I’d say,” Viggo commented.
Lasgol was watching them, wide-eyed. They were like nobody he had ever seen before, of a different race: neither very tall nor very strong, more or less average in size, and slender. Over their chests and backs they wore what looked like the shells of giant turtles as armor. They carried tridents as weapons and round shields which looked like giant seashells. But this was not the strangest thing: what made their jaws drop was their skin, which was a very pale turquoise, and their eyes and hair, which were intense green.
“Fascinating, as Egil would say,” Gerd commented.
“They’re really weird!” Nilsa said. “Look at their skin, what a really lovely color.”
“And you can see their hair a league away,” Ingrid added. “Is it just me, or is it seaweed hanging from their heads instead of hair?”
“I had that impression too,” Gerd agreed. “That hair really is strange.”
“Well, they don’t exactly look very advanced,” Viggo commented. “They go around under turtle shells, and are those shields giant seashells? The trident isn’t steel. I don’t know what it’s made of, but I’d swear it’s not metal. I get the impression that they don’t know about iron. Or bronze, or copper …”
“Yeah … it looks that way …” muttered Lasgol, who still found it hard to believe his own eyes.
“I thought this business about a Turquoise Queen was more like a nickname,” said Gerd, “not that her people were literally turquoise.”