When my eyes swept to the forecastle, generally called the focsel, I saw it was level with the gunwales, which is the rail edge around the main deck.  To enter you would have to open an inclined hatch door and step down.  But atop of the focsel deck were a pair of ballistae, one on each side, built into the gunwale itself.  Did my eye catch some sort of swivel they were mounted on?

Below the missile deck I surmised was the spacious main hold, more spacious than you would think, and she wasn’t a small ship.  Wesney had already given me an overall description, but seeing is believing; as big as the Lohra Lai was, she was rigged with two masts instead of three. 

For as long as men have been sailing, the mantra went, the bigger the deep water ship the more masts she needed.  Yet this vessel was proving them all wrong.  She sported yardarms to carry square sails for running with the wind, but Wesney said she generally ran all triangle sails, now-a-days being called tri-sails.  One big sail, sometimes used off the bow, was called a spinnaker sail.

Captain Jha’Ley learned about the spinnaker’s use when he found the ship.  I was looking forward to hearing the story.  But standing there looking at her, something gave me the shivers, and then I couldn’t help staring at the figure head.  Lots of ships sport sculptures of nude women on the front, I remembered the one I wrapped my legs around only months before, but not the Lohra Lai.  A beautiful elf lady, clad in a flowing tunic and her arms swept back, had what appeared to be feathers flowing off of her shoulders and to each side until they faded into the hull.

“She’s something, isn’t she?”

Reminding me for a moment of the Shaman Lady, Bannock just seemed to appear beside me in the bright morning light.  I resisted the urge to kick him to make sure he was really there, and then someone walked by who said, “G’mornin’ mate.  T’was a good toss off lahst nigh’, eh?”

The sailor wasn’t talking to me, and Bannock just looked his way and with a wave of his hand answered in a different vocal timber, “Aye, t’was indeed.  Ye’re luck can but improve.” 

‘Okay,’ I thought, ‘he’s really here.’

“Yes,” I replied, “she’s something.  How long have you been sailing with her?”

“One year, the first time.  This time almost five months.”

“She looks smooth.”

His expression became one of pleasant memories, “Ah, yes.  Smooth would be a very good word for it.  It’s like a slow sip of the finest wine.”

“You’ve not told me your own position …”

In the most humble of tones he said, “I’m an able-bodied seaman, who is good at delivering messages.”  And he smiled this most subtle smile.  It was then I knew I had known Bannock before, by another name, perhaps.  It wasn’t a personal relationship, or even an association.  But it was there.

“Have we known each other before, Bannock?”

“Had we ever met, even in passing, I am sure you would remember, as would I.  No, we have never known each other.  Although, I have certainly heard of you.”

I was tempted to ask if I had heard of him, even if by another name, but thought better of it.  Something told me there was something about Bannock, something I would learn later.  Wesney seemed to think well of him, and Wesney was a good judge of character.

Together we walked the ramp up the larboard side of the Lohra Lai, and from below came Wesney.  A sharp looking fellow met us at the top and Bannock introduced me, “Master Wolf, may I introduce you to Sailing Master Telroy?”  He looked to Telroy and said, “Master Telroy, allow me to present Master Timber Wolf, past Major of the Keoghnariu Army, former crewman of the Faulta Whimn.”

I saluted Sailing Master Telroy and appraised him, even as he was appraising me.  I saw a human of average height, perhaps in his mid-twenties, wavy blonde hair and a full, but trim, beard.  He stood like someone born to command, but he had an air about him which said he didn’t need to prove himself and was comfortable with his surroundings.

I asked, “Permission to come aboard, sir?”

To which he cordially responded, “Permission granted.  We have been awaiting your visit.”

As Telroy led Wesney and I to the captain’s cabin, he let me know they were very busy with preparations in casting off four days hence.  Therefore this meeting would not be a long one. Yet the captain wanted to meet me, nevertheless. 

The moment I stepped aboard deck something felt different to me.  For an instant I felt like the ship and I were in icy waters and off in the horizon I could have sworn I saw an iceberg.  I could also smell the strong whiff of pine, oak and something else … some sort of flowers or other fragrance I did not recognize.

Passing a mention to Wesney I asked, “Do you smell pine trees?”

He wrinkled his brow and said, “No.  Do you?”

“It must have been my imagination …”

Wesney raised an eyebrow up at me.

At the door of the captain’s cabin Telroy knocked and said, “Captain, Master Wolf is here.”

“Then bring him in.”  Captain Jha’Ley was hard at work seated over several books.  He stopped, looked my way in a congenial manner, and getting up he walked around his desk, offered his hand and said, “Welcome aboard the Lohra Lai, Master Wolf.  I trust the refreshment provided by Bannock the other day was satisfactory?”

“Absolutely, sir,” I replied as I shook his hand.

“Very well, then.”  He began to walk behind his desk to sit down as he said, “Take a seat if you will, gentlemen.”  Jha’Ley was smooth, polite, but with no nonsense at all about him.  He struck me as someone Hoscoe would have liked right away as the good captain was military sharp, yet he possessed a powerful charismatic aura of good-naturedness and calculating control … all at the same time.

Glancing about the room as we sat down, everything was neat and well decorated.  You would have thought this to be an office in a great library, with the exception of the hammock and lockers which were also in the room.  I wanted to look all around, but knew gawking in such manner would be rude.  When I left I could check what I didn’t see now.  In the corner of my eye I caught sight of a guitar on a stand in a corner.

The Captain reached to one side of his desk and tapped a folder as he began to speak, “Master Wolf, I have at hand here several accounts of you and some of your exploits.  Furthermore, the good doctor here speaks well of you.  And I already know your capability in hand to hand combat.”  Inwardly I groaned.  He was sitting back as he spoke and he absently reached up and touched his jaw.

“Our man, Tiny, has … how many doctor?”  Wesney held up three fingers on one hand, two fingers on the other.  “… A total of five broken ribs.”  With a soft chuckle he added, “It’s alright, the doctor fixed him up and you can do worse being thrown about in a storm.  Besides, he brought it on himself.

“And you are most tenacious, when you take up something you don’t stop.”  I had told Wesney about riding down Sormiske, was that what … “We took port in Triyon not a week after you landed from your flight off of Dellove Mountain.”  He nodded at Wesney, “He gave us the straight of it yesterday morning at breakfast.”  The captain was shaking his head in marvel.

“The crow’s nest is about as far up as I ever want to be; I, myself, am afraid of great heights.  That’s why I took to a life aboard ship.”

I didn’t want to think about it, nor about what I did during that gliding spree …

“Yessir …” there was a note of humor in his voice, “… I believe I would have experienced an ungraceful release during such an occasion.”

‘Yes,’ I thought.  ‘That just about could sum it up.’

The Captain brushed imaginary crumbs from his leg and asked, “Why would you undertake a job as a Sea Marshal?”

‘Uhm, a trick question,’ I thought.  I chose to not be clever and just be honest, “Sir, there was no good reason.  It seemed like something to do at the time.”

The Captain, Telroy, and Wesney all started laughing and the Captain offered an open hand toward the Sailing Master.  I was beginning to feel I was the butt end of the joke when Telroy offered, “With respect to the Captain, it is his favorite explanation for several of his quests.”  I saw a twinkle in Jha’Ley’s eye as I slowly found myself chuckling as well.

“Well, Master Wolf, we are betwixt and between, and I know everything I need to know about you without investigating you further.  The doctor has submitted you for approval as Physician’s Mate, and you have high combat level skills warranting possible service as a member of our marine force.

“I’ll not mince words.  I am preparing to undertake a task which will require men of the highest caliber and mental resolve to accomplish.  Should you join us, we will have seven species of intelligent life serving aboard this vessel.  They come from every spectrum of life, from all about the known world, and possess just about every skill known.  Some are outcasts from their society, one is the heir to a huge coffee plantation.  But on this vessel we are all equal in one respect … the completion of this voyage.

“There’s not a vessel being built today which could hope to endure what we must face.  But this ship, the Lohra Lai, was not built in our time.  She’s old in age, but far superior in design.”

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if to determine how much to tell me, then he added, “The hull won’t take fire, the focsel and lower decks seem to be two feet longer at each end and one foot wider to each side than her outer measurements.”  He leaned forward and folded his arms on the desk as he continued, “More than once strange, small occurrences have happened when we have been out to sea.  Some of the men claim to have seen apparitions, and I myself have heard sounds from things not seen.  These incidents are not common, but they do occur.  Some of the men believe she has haunts, but I …” his finger thumped the desk, “… I’m telling you I think she’s alive.  I think she wants this voyage.”

From the look in the captain’s eyes I became instantly concerned of his sanity.

“There are some unexplained things going on about the world; among men, countries, and the weather itself.  For centuries, even thousands of years, people have claimed no one has ever been able to sail the world around, but I believe it isn’t true.  At one time, I believe even the V’Pohra Tanzhi has been traversed.”

I thought, ‘V’Pohra Tanzhi?’  That was the vast region of mist on the Mon’Cique Ocean, to the east of Aeshea.  Every captain was afraid to venture in as next to nobody ever returned.  Strange lightning, sightings of ghost ships, weird weather patterns; the compass wouldn’t work in there, even.

He nodded at me when he saw the obvious expression on my face.  “I think every foot of water has been crossed at one time or another, every piece of land has been walked upon.  This vessel, I am convinced, was built just for such a voyage.  It would be very proper, indeed to have someone of elvin blood with us.”

“Is this why you are interested in me, because I have elvin blood?”

He was very strongly taken aback, although not disgruntled.  “No, Master Wolf, not at all.  I am interested in what you have to offer in the way of skill, knowledge, character and steadfastedness.”  He passed a look at Telroy and added, “No, I have turned down five others of elvin blood, three of them full-bloods, one of whom was grown up around the sea.  Your heritage means nothing to me at all.

“Back to the objective at hand, I want to see for sure …” he again poked his finger on his desk, “… I want to see how these other peoples are regarding the coming alignment.”  He sat back in his chair, Telroy and Wesney both looked like acolytes enraptured in some mantra.  Whether I was buying into it or not, I wasn’t sure, but there was definitely a feeling of something big here.

Jha’Ley continued, “When we complete this voyage, we will know for sure if someone else is out there.  Maybe someone else is thinking the same thing, maybe they would like to trade with us.”

“Maybe they don’t.”  I said.

He looked at me long and hard and said, “And maybe you’re right.”  He thought for a while, and then he got up and walked over to a shelf and drew out a roll of papers.  Bringing them to his desk he rolled them out as we all got up to see.  Spreading them out he looked at me and said, “These maps, these are the key.  Someone has been to these places before.  I have already tested them.”  I was just staring at the maps, the style in which they were drawn. 

Pointing to various locations he said, “I have been here, here, and here.  These places aren’t marked or identified in any way on any map I have ever seen, but they are there.”  He waved his hand over a huge portion of the map … I had seen all of this before, long ago … “None of this is on any other map.  Men would kill for this map,” Jha’Ley looked me levelly in the eye, “and some have tried.”

Jha’Ley moved his hand from one corner and I saw the inscription … only it wasn’t an inscription at all … it was my momma’s handwriting.  My momma had drawn these maps herself.  Why, and when?

Chapter   62

________________________

 

 

“WHERE,” I ASKED, “did you get these maps?”  Wesney had told me, but I had to hear Jha’Ley tell me himself.

He rose up and nodding behind me he said, “They were his, they were among the few things salvaged from his ship, the Kelshinua.”

I turned and felt as if I had seen a ghost.  A painting on the wall with the caption, Captain Greybeard, clearly depicted the man I had known as Roveir, from House Fel’Caden, the old man who would come to our quarters, who sat with me when I was sick that time.  What was it he told me, “Easy as she goes and steady in the wind … We must beat to quarters and make to fight this wanton scourge.”  He had been using sailor lingo.

“He was a long lived buckaroo.” Jha’Ley continued.  “My great-grandfather served as his Lieutenant and Sailing Master, then my grandfather came up with him from ship’s boy.  Back then he went under the name Captain Raul Vier.”

‘Roveir,’ I thought, ‘a blend of Raul Vier.’

Jha’Ley was saying, “His last ship had been the Tab’Oleen, of which he named my grandfather succeeding Captain.  Years later, the ship finally heaved to, and my grandfather retired to local fishing and taught my uncle sailing when he was a small boy.

“One day, my grandfather got this letter with a vessel design and a draft of currency.  So he went about to the specified shipyard and had a ship built.  Captain Vier showed up with his duffle and he became known as Captain Greybeard.  The ship’s rigging was unlike anything ever seen.  A one hundred and thirty-five feet two-master rigged with all triangle sails.  Everyone said she wouldn’t do the storms, but she was christened the Kelshinua, after a princess he said he knew.  No one ever knew where he came from, even my great-grandfather.

“Two old men and my uncle …” Jha’Ley was reveling in the telling of the story, “… they put together a crew and sailed for a decade, until she went down in some of the worst water you could imagine; went down saving another ship.”  He shook his head in memorial.  The maps were among what was saved, and they went to my uncle, who in turn passed them to me.”

Jha’Ley was standing next to me, now.  He concluded with, “According my grandfather’s log, Captain Greybeard, was only a fair seaman, but an amazing leader.  He knew how to surround himself with men of skill and knowledge, and my uncle said he could work such men as a Master Sailor could work a ship.

Grandfather said he could overpower an adversary just by looking at him, such was his command of presence and intimidation.  Harsh and sometimes cruel, but he was fair to his men and loyal to a fault.  Grandfather said he was also a visionary, and he came back from retirement with but one mission in mind.  I intend to finish that mission.”

I kept looking at the painting, but I asked, “And that is …”

“… The recovery of Dorian’s Purse.”

With my eyes on the painting I asked, “What happened to Captain Greybeard?”

With reverence Jha’Ley said, “According to my uncle’s report, the Captain pushed a tube containing the maps into his hand, then threw him overboard.  When the Kelshinua went down, the Captain went with her.”

If Greybeard went down with the ship, then how … there was much more involved than was apparent.  I looked at Jha’Ley and wondered if he was holding something back, or if his uncle had.  Somehow the old man had traveled thousands of miles to return to Gevard.  Did this trip, this voyage, have something to do with his desire to set my momma free?

More mystery, more questions.  I thought of Dorian’s Purse.  Why would the old man be searching for it?  He could have only learned of it, the details, anyway, from my momma.

Staring at the painting of Roveir, memories began flooding into my mind; memories which were all too poignant, too much for me to handle right at the moment.  I, I needed to think.  And then my eyes rested on the sword at his side.  I knew that sword.

It had been after he threw Lexin by the collar, and then told me I had the bearing of a warrior; he had come to our quarters in the evening and brought this beautiful sword case.  The old man had sat down with me on the step and pulled the blade out.  It was so beautiful, it was curved a bit and it almost glowed in the moons light.  It had been the sword in his scabbard the first time I saw him.  Taking my hand, he helped me touch the blade and it felt so warm. 

He said, “I’m just an old man now, skipper, but if I could, I’d take you and your momma back home where you belong.  I’ve tried to do some good things by you, alas I have failed you both, I think.  But remember this … remember … I mean you to have this sword one day.”

He wrapped my hand around the braided shark skin grip and said, “This sword was forged by one of your ancestors, thousands of years ago, but in your hands … if you let it, you will always be able to fight your way through the shadows.”  It was while we sat there that a voice from the main house yelled out, “What are you doing out there?”  And then a teenager, Herrol, came out with a blade and said, “You better get back inside, old man.  You can get into all kinds of trouble showing the slinks that …”

The old man whipped the blade at Herrol faster than would be imaginable, knocked the blade out of Herrol’s hand, and I saw a rage in the old man’s eyes as he hissed and laid the sharp edge against Herrol’s neck and held it, “Don’t ever call my boy a slink.”

Memories … from so long ago.  I kept staring at the painting.  Try as one might, you can’t outrun the past.  Somewhere, somewhen, you must turn and face it … you must put it in perspective so as to get on in the forward direction.  Was it possible there might be something good to come of it?  Was it possible Roveir had truly cared for my momma, that he had … dare I think the word … that he had loved her.  Could my momma have shared the feeling?  Why else would she have drawn those maps?

The most important question was … was I ready to open myself and learn about the man called Captain Greybeard?

Jha’Ley’s words brought me back to the present, “Doctor Wesney can show you about, but on this vessel, tender is levied by shares.  The captain takes fifteen shares, a ship’s boy takes one quarter.  I won’t bore you with details, but six shares is equal to an officer’s pay, and I’m prepared to offer you that.  Your duty would be split between assisting the physician and acting as second in command to our marines.”  He smiled, “Perhaps you could teach them something.”  I saw Telroy pass a cautionary, yet questioning glance to Jha’Ley, who ignored the gesture.

“We cast off four mornings from hence.  You have until then to make your decision.”

I asked, “Where was the Kelshinua sunk?”

He grinned at me, an almost taunting grin, “I will show you, Master Wolf.  We are going there.  I want to find something in her hull.  But we have some few stops a’forehand.  Among them includes the acquisition of a wizard friend of mine.”

“Master Wolf, I pray you don’t find me rude, but one of the locals doesn’t understand book keeping, and I must set the matter straight.  Doctor Wesney, please don’t forget to happen by the galley.”

Again, he shook my hand with firm congeniality.  As we left the cabin Wesney asked me, “What’s the matter, Wolf?  Something about the Kelshinua and the old captain’s painting has you all weebelized.”

“Weebelized?  What kind of word is that?”

He looked around, and asked again, “What’s wrong, Wolf?”

Pulling him off to the side, I thought long and deep.  This was an issue for me.  Fate?  Was there such a real thing?  Lahrcus believed in it, and so did Hoscoe.  Letting my eyes wander as I thought what and whether not to say, I set my jaw and said flatly, “You know the old man in the painting?  His name is Josephus, I think, but I know he is Fel’Caden.  And Kelshinua is, was, is my momma’s name.  She drew those maps, I’d know her hand-style anywhere.  That wasn’t a stamp of the ship, it’s her signature.  The ship was named for my momma.”

Wesney looked like he had been slugged in the stomach.  “Huh?!”  He shifted to the side a little before continuing, “You mean Josephus Fel’Caden is your father?  You mean Josephus, the Duke of House Fel’Caden, four times past Chancellor of Gevard is your father?”  He widened his eyes as if to get them into focus and said, “This is, this is remarkable.”

Rubbing my head I wrinkled my lips, looked at him and said, “Yeah.”  As an afterthought I asked, “Four times, really?”

Wesney stared at me in disbelief, “Yea-a-ah … four times.”

“Wesney?”

“Yes?”

“Please, can we keep it between just us, at least for now?  Don’t write it down in one of your books just yet.  I’m having a hard time with all of this, and always have.  After we look around, I’m going to go out into the woods and think for a couple of days or so.”

I took him by the arm, not harshly, but so I could look him eye-to-eye, “Do you mind?  I’ve gotta take this one slice at a time.”

“Yeah, Wolf, sure.  Hey …”

“What?”

“Will you tell me the whole story sometime?”

“So you can write it down?”

“Well … it is history.”

I let out a long sigh, “If I go out to sea with you on this impossible voyage, yes I’ll tell you.”

We started to walk through the vessel and I told him sideways, “By the way, it isn’t Dorian’s Purse.  It’s actually called The Tome of Dorian’s Pursuit.”

“Really?”  He responded in almost hushed breath.  “What else can you tell me?”

I looked at him and said, “If I tell you, I’ll have to sacrifice your liver to the gods.”

He held back a bit and his face showed uncertainty.  “Are you serious?”

“Absolutely.  Now where’s that galley?”

___________________________

 

My room was a long way from the Lohra Lai’s dock, and it was for the most part all uphill if I traveled in a straight line.  No matter, there was much to think about and it was bright daylight.  Besides, there was so much of the place I had yet to see, and there was some nice architecture here and there.

An old cobblestone road was courting my direction when a small, but nice open carriage of polished blue came to a stop beside me and I heard a voice I remembered, a lovely voice, “Cuam ess’thna shiu pahrri?”

Well, I hadn’t thought I needed a ride, but then … “Moh stãcia.”  I replied as I turned to see the hostess from the Orange Buster, alone in her carriage, save but for the driver.  Speaking exclusively in her native tongue I continued, “I hate to be a burden to you, my lady … and I don’t even have the pleasure of your name ...”

There was a twinkle in her eye which was soft, subtle, sensual, and yet still so proper.  Only a couple of moments were required to see this was a lady with class.  Her accent was thick and voice sparkling with a musical tone, “It is no burden at all, and my name is Lushandri.  What may I call you?”

Almost forgetting, then remembering to cross my right foot over the left in Vedoan Court fashion, with a proper sweeping bow I said, I am Timber Wolf, at your service, my lady.”

With a slightly animated toss of her head she said, “Well then, Timber Wolf, please board my carriage and allow us to lend transport to your destination.”  Eastern coast women, especially those of the rigid caste system in Vedoa, were usually subdued in their demeanor about men.  Lushandri was not.  She seemed to be quite comfortable and radiated an air of equality, not as if to prove herself, but of successful confidence.  I thought of Lath and Riana, especially Riana. 

There was nothing about Riana which radiated a need to compete with men.  She was a girl, a young woman, and was proud to be such.  But she had steel and would back down for no one.  I had heard of a burly man who had come into the dress shop and tried to bully the owner, a man, actually, who named the shop after his wife.  It had been Riana who had interfered and dressed the man down, verbally, without raising her voice.  The man not only backed down, he apologized to the owner and left; and that had been before she met me.

Lath, I knew little about Lath, except that she could fight extremely well, and was beautiful.

As sweet to me as Deborah had been, she did not show the same strength as these other three.  And of course there was my momma, who was as solid as, well, as far as I was concerned she was the standard by which all others would be measured.  Was that fair?  I decided yes, my momma was a woman to stand beside her mate, and that was what I wanted, when the time came.

“And where to, fine sir?”

“I was on my way to the Har’Nona Princess, where I am lodging for the time.”

The driver set his course and away we went.  Lushandri commented with a curious and amused expression, “Most men who reside at the Har’Nona Princess introduce themselves with an array of titles and adornments …”

I slightly shrugged my shoulders and responded, “I am simply myself.  Once I possessed an officer’s rank, but I prefer not to rely on bygone ranks and titles, I prefer to make merit on what I am doing today.  And I am the lord of nothing, therefore …”

She laughed and asked, “And so … what, may I ask are you doing today?”

Amused, I returned a chuckle and asked, “My, but is that not a forward question?”

Her smile was radiant, and after a moment she said, “My apologies for being forward.”  There was another moment of pause when she added, “I find people spend much time bandying around useless words and notions.  Then they wake up one day and find they have wasted their lives drifting in a canoe without sail or paddle, and then it is too late.”

My own answer was as light and gentle, “No apologies needed.”  I smiled, “I live by the same philosophy.  The truth is I don’t know what I am doing, and am in a quandary.  I am not a true sailor, but of the mountains in Aeshea.  My thought was to book passage to the mainland, but …” I lingered not knowing what to say.

“But what …”

Breathing in between my teeth, I exhaled and said, “… but … I have been offered a post on a rather … long voyage.  And I am deliberating whether or to.  I was going to take dinner tonight, and then walk about in the forest for two or three days and get my bearings.  Maybe at some point take a tour of Foljur …”

Lushandri was looking at me with respect and admiration, “Do you mean the Circumnavigation Voyage with Captain Jha’Ley?”

I was sort of taken aback, but then I don’t guess the voyage notion was a secret, and the Captain was a famous man.  “Uh, yes ma’am.”

“I should have thought so.  Doctor Wesney is colorful in his own way, but never extravagant.  Are you a physician, Mister Wolf?  Jha’Ley has made the statement he wants a strong healing staff on board.  He intends to take care of his crew.”

A combination of the turn around the corner with the breeze made my hair blow, uncovering my ear for a moment.  I took no thought of it until I saw her noticing the point, and then acknowledgement registered upon her face as she said, “You have elvin blood …”

It suddenly dawned upon my mind that she had said Jha’Ley, not Captain Jha’Ley.  Was there a personal relationship of some sort between the two?  Quickly I dismissed the thought, it simply was none of my business.

“Yes,” I said, “Is that bad for you?”

“No.”  Her voice was almost wistful, I couldn’t tell if that was in my favor or not.  “May I provide you with dinner, tonight?  To help prepare you for your contemplations.”

“I was about to ask you to join me.  It would be my pleasure.”

She asked the places I had dined, what I liked and the such.  Then she said, “I know a nice place you would enjoy.  You do like formal opportunities, yes?”

“Absolutely.”

We had arrived at my destination.  “Shall I meet you here as the street lights are lit?”

Frankly, I was overwhelmed.  “Yes my lady ...” I hammed it up a bit, and found she liked it, and so did I … “Your humble servant shall await you.” She laughed and I stepped down; standing there in the warm sun I watched her carriage drive away.

An evening with a classy lady, what better way to sooth the spirit?  Afterward, hopefully I would have a sleep free of troublesome dreams.  Then I would be off into the forest for a couple of days to think and deliberate. 

The moment I entered the Har’Nona Princess I ordered a hot bath, that would save almost a half an hour in traveling up the stairs, pulling the rope and waiting for the attendant to also come up the stairs, go back down, etc.  Once I had refreshed myself I bundled up my last roll of clothing for wash and put on my new formal suit. 

Looking forward a few days, I was going to miss being able to put on clean, fresh clothing every two or three days.  I had learned some folk changed clothing every day, sometimes more than that.  Being clean was something I really liked, and nature itself was clean. 

It didn’t matter if I was shipping out with the Lohra Lai or not, I knew I was leaving out.  So why did I have to meet someone so likable and interesting, now?

When the carriage pulled up I was outside waiting.  It was still a gorgeous day outside, but as I as stepped up I forgot the tone of the sky.  The sight of Lushandri made me want to stop time as it were, stop time and write a song about her beauty.  Her hair was fixed in the most stylish manner, with part of it done up at the top and off to the back, while the most of it hung long and flowing across her shoulders, glistening with light brown, gold and traces of shimmering silver.

The blue of her eyes was highlighted with just the right amount of makeup shading, and her dress was cut to reveal her shapeliness while still maintaining taste and elegance.  From her ears dangled the jewelry I had complemented her on before, and she wore a single strand of pearls around her lovely neck. 

I could not resist saying, “Most grand apologies, I was expecting a fine lady but have troubled a mystic angel instead.”

She paused for a moment and smiled, looked down, and then back up, then took a slow breath before saying, “Perhaps I am but lost, and need a noble gentleman to show me the way … would you care for the chore?”

“I would be most honored, my lady.”  And so the evening began.

We went to a nice place called Quinosia Torio which was just on the outskirts of town.  It was very exclusive, required reservations to get in, and the seating was outdoors but well spaced.  Our seat I think was the very best, and it was so nice to enjoy a meal with such attractive company sitting across from me.  Together we relaxed, enjoyed good wine, and some of the most succulent food I had ever tasted.

As the sun set, the reflection on Lushandri made me think of the breathtaking peaks of the high up Kohntia’s.  We talked about light subjects at random, until we quickly found similar interests in flowers and waterfalls.  On those two subjects alone we became immersed on color, shape, smell and texture of various plants; and the many falls we had seen and heard about.

I lavished upon her things I had seen in the Kohntia’s, and she embellished her own sights seen among the many islands and the continent of Lh’Gohria.  As we talked it dawned upon me she talked not at all of Vedoa, nor of anything one might see there, and Vedoa was a beautiful country.  Our talk began to drift more to the ocean, and then she asked if I had seen the sights below.

With an embarrassed smile I said, “Ah, no, I’m afraid not.”

“Why?”

“Well, as I’ve said, I’m not truly a sailor … I’m a mountains person.”

“Do you …” There was a careful hesitation there before she continued, “… do you, understand the discipline of … adaptation?”

My head tilted, “Adaptation?”

As I looked at Lushandri, there was so much more to her, I could feel it within me, than was visible.  I couldn’t quite figure her age, which I was usually skillful at doing.  She appeared to be perhaps forty to forty-five with the tone of an athletic woman twenty years younger; mature, yet very fit … a woman who didn’t adhere to the old-age-syndrome most humans embraced … it was a look I liked very much.

“You know, I understand the first explorers of the sea had been Mountain Elves.  They had set sail from a place called …” she thought back, “… I believe it was called Meinkutt.”

“Meinkutt?”  I was taken aback.  Looking at her with impressed astonishment I remarked, “By the Winds of Torsham, you know some history.  Most people have never even heard of it.”

She passed me a quizzical look, “A small continent in the Northern Artic, isn’t it?”

I smiled.  Our expressions spoke loudly without saying a word.  As we relaxed and sipped, I was realizing she knew much more than she was saying, and then I saw as she smiled again she realized I knew that she knew that I knew.  It was all a very pleasant few moments.

There is much two people can say to each other without speaking a word … of a sudden I realized there had been much pain in her life, yet she had made a life here.  I could feel it, it radiated from her movement, the look in her eye which suddenly seemed so far away … She was reaching, reaching to me … but only someone who …

I touched her hand with mine.  Softly I asked, “Would you care to dance?”  It was her turn to be taken aback, and her face blossomed.  Standing up I added, “The music is almost as lovely as you are.  I don’t think the owner would object.”

As I took her hand in mine she stepped next to me and placed her hand upon my shoulder.  I closed my eyes and let the music flow through me into her, and together we glided across the floor as silk sweeps across polished silver.

Chapter   63

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STANDING ON A cliff edge, I looked down more than one hundred feet at the surf below.  In my memory I could still hear the yells and smell of burning flesh from the attack of that drake, years before.  Below me I could still see my friend, Jared, twenty feet below and clinging to a root protruding from the side … but he was slipping.  I remembered him looking down and then back at me.  The drake screamed as I thought Jared was yelling at me to jump. 

Jared planted his feet on the side of the bank, looked at me once more and the next time for sure I heard him yell, “Let’s go Sed, now, do it …” and he pushed off and out to fall into the rapids.  His words still echoed through my soul from across the years.

Fear ran through me back then as I had looked below and hesitated for an instant, the same fear I was feeling right that moment high up on the cliff.  He had been my best friend … my partner of chain, sweat and blood had made his bid for freedom.  He would be in his forties now, if he had survived, and by human standards I was like a young adult of perhaps twenty. 

I saw him surface from the rapids and grab a piece of broken wagon and get caught in the current.  He was waving at me frantically and I just stood there.  Terrified, I tried to muster the nerve to make the jump, but I just couldn’t do it.

Had Jared succeeded, had he taken the wife, raised children … he had too, I needed to believe he had succeeded and was happy.

After dinner with Lushandri the past Munday night, I hadn’t been able to sleep.  So I put on my woodland clothes and headed into the forest.  All day Tuesday and Humday I had wandered and tried to think.  I now had the opportunity to meet many of my childhood challenges head on, to learn something of my blood father, to be part of sailing around the world … maybe … to learn something about my momma … again, maybe.  That last scared me more than anything.

I had always thought of momma in the highest fashion.  What if she wasn’t … wasn’t what?  Allowing myself to think she felt something for Roveir, Captain Greybeard, now that was tough, but was it true?  To accept he was really my blood father … was there any proof?  Something in my mind said yes, his raging anger was indicative.  I had never heard of an elf with a crazy rage, except Oshang.  And I seemed to remember from momma’s tales that Oshang’s own father had been a half-breed, half-elf and half-human.

Then there was the way Roveir’s goatee grew.  I had grown mine in memory of Hoscoe, but the way it shaped was identical to the painting.  Should I shave it off; but what purpose would that serve?  I now wanted dearly to read those logs, to learn of the old man.  And then there was the ship.  Wesney made it clear Jha’Ley wanted to find The Kelshinua and retrieve something from it.  I had the chance to see the ship which bore my momma’s name.

What was my fear, then? 

I was afraid of what I might find, it was that simple.  There was no real urgency in confronting Herrol, he was probably going to be around for good while.

Looking down at the water, my breath kept catching and a violent shudder ran through me.  Down below I had found a place and concealed all of my gear and clothing.  Nobody was around, and except for a few lizards the place seemed void of all life.  I had watched some of the native divers, and trying to imitate them I was standing naked in the darkness, only my blade strapped to my outer right thigh and a loincloth for adornment. 

An ancient tale my momma used to tell me of a savage elf named Tra’Zann rose unbidden to my memory.  He spoke the language of apes, the tale went, had been raised by and was a king among them.  Supposedly Diustahn had told the tale to his children; there were several of the tales, actually, from which his granddaughter, the legendary Alohra ~ Mae Hahnah, got the idea of walking in the wild and becoming what is now called a Druid.

‘Standing on the edge of this cliff is insanity,’ I thought. ‘I don’t have to do this.’  There was no adrenaline rush, nobody to save to prompt me to jump from a perfectly safe ledge.  If I made a mistake I couldn’t just lay there and heal.  What I needed to do was go get my clothes and book passage home. 

Home …

I didn’t have a home …

From far away I could have sworn I heard Jared say, “Let’s go! Now! DO it!”

My hands up in the air, I took in a deep breath … and jumped.

The fall seemed to take forever as I tried to get my hands just right.  I knew the water would be deep, because I had checked the ground level below when I had been down there, but when I hit the water I thought I had broken every bone in my body.  Immediately I knew I had to heal, fast, or I was already done.  I had gone down, way down I believed, but how far?

The salt of the water hurt my eyes and I couldn’t seem to open them.  My *Awareness* indicated something far away had also entered the water and was coming my way fast.  Scrambling for the top, I couldn’t find it anywhere and something had happened to my own air.  I had lost some of it with the shock of the impact, and even more when I exhaled to empower the *Self Healing*. 

I couldn’t breathe, I-I accidentally breathed in water and panicked, horribly.  Thrashing violently in my silent world, I lost all sense of mental clarity as the water rushed into my lungs with my convulsing attempt to breathe … suddenly strong fingers touched and then grabbed me. 

[Open your eyes!]  I felt, rather than heard, a soothing but strong voice say to me.  Hands grabbed my face and back of the head and pushed lips against mine as legs wrapped strongly around me, keeping me from breaking away.

Those legs … they were so-o-o incredibly strong; strong enough to literally crush a man’s ribcage.

[Breathe with me …] the voice said, I knew this voice, it, she, she was speaking, thinking, thought-speaking in the Merceil dialect of Vedoic.

The water in my lungs was forcibly pulled out, through her mouth, as she held on tightly.  And then she breathed back in … some kind of fluid … and I began to convulse again …

[Breathe … Adapt … take what your body needs and push the rest out …] What was she saying, this was, this was crazy … I tried to push her away but she wouldn’t let me, she held on tightly.  Again she was breathing for me, but how …

[Brea-a-athe … breathe wi-i-ith me-e-e.]

Were we sinking further?

I tried hard to focus and still my mind.  Like a rag doll I allowed my body to go limp as she held me strong and continued breathing for us both.  She relaxed her grip and began swimming with her legs, and I realized her fingers had webbing between them.

Breathing fluid into my mouth I heard her words in my mind, [Adapt, Wolf, feel … you had fluid in your lungs long before you were born, in your mother’s womb … the water is your friend, it has what your body needs, you must only work a little harder for it.]

‘My mother’s womb,’ I thought, ‘my momma.’  Memories flooded through my mind like filaments of cloud.  Memories … but of things I had never done and places I had never been … What …?

The water, it was one of the four main elements, I tried to reach out to it, as I would reach into So’Yeth or upward to So’Yahr … I inhaled … and almost panicked again … but she was there, Lushandri was with me.  Her lips locked firmly around mine, a kiss of life.  Concentrating hard, I felt the tingling in my body as I merged with the essence of the ocean.

With my hands around her wrists I tried to open my eyes.  It burned, but then I found what seemed to be a new lid from under my brow close down so that I could see, a transparent eyelid.  Lushandri’s face was beautiful as I gazed upon her from under the waters.  She pulled away to give me a chance at breathing on my own.  It was hard, but as long as I focused, as long as I concentrated, I could *Adapt* and breathe the water.

As I looked about, I saw what seemed to be a paradise.  We were among underwater hills, and the rays of the sun shown down making transparent pillars of color.  Looking at Lushandri’s face I saw she was smiling, and as the water billowed her hair I could see ever so slight hints of points on her ears.

She took my hand and led me into a world I would have never imagined.

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At first I didn’t recognize the knock on the door.  In my mind I was propelling myself under the water caverns, escorted by a descendent of the legendary Rucea’Cahlif, the Elves of the Ocean.  Again the knocking, it sounded so far away.  I tried to turn in my bed but the room seemed to be wobbling.  What day was it?  How did I get here?  “One mom-mun-nt!”  I yelled, but my speech was slurred

Looking quickly around I tried to find my pants, and I noticed the sun was out strong.  Swinging up from the mattress for my buckskins in the chair, I promptly tripped on my moccasins on the floor by the bed.  My head seemed to weigh a hundred pounds and I felt the sudden urge to throw up.  Crawling to the chair and grabbing my pants, I tried hopping first in one leg, then the other as I made my way to the door.  Falling flat on my face, I looked up and tried to ask, “Who is-s-s it?”

“Room Service, sir, here to provide your bath.”

Bath?  My bath?  Vaguely I remembered coming in this morning and … yes … it was coming back to me, I ordered a bath to be drawn just before noon.  So it was Thursday, I thought, I hoped, good.  Lushandri was going to take me on a carriage tour of Foljur.  Lushandri, she had … Mon’Gouchett!

Managing my way to the door, I unbolted it and found my chair.  Dropping into it I held my head in my hands and fought back the nausea.  As my bath was drawn I tried to remember the night before.  Lushandri had saved my life, didn’t she?  Was it a dream?  On the dresser was a seashell.  I smiled, somehow remembering us collecting that shell twenty feet, or was it thirty, below the waves.  And then I became drunk.  How did I do that?  Salt water, the salt water got me drunk.  It must have been some combination of swallowing and breathing it in.

As I sat in the hot water I focused and *Self Healed* myself of the salty hangover.  I felt all dried out inside, but once I finished the healing it was remarkable how good I felt.

So it was Thursday … then the Lohra Lai would cast off early the next morning, and I still hadn’t given my decision.  I got out of the tub to find a cigar and lit it, poured myself a glass of Vambrolini, climbed back to recline in the tub and took a few puffs, and leaning back I closed my eyes.

___________________________

 

When the carriage pulled up, I was once more wearing the black shirt, but this time with a blue sash, white breeches and those black boots.  We were going to be riding for most of the evening, and I was just becoming comfortable enough to not bring either of my swords.  Besides, I had my ever present knife and I could do a lot with a piece of wood.  Once more, when I saw Lushandri my blood quickened; she was radiant in a white tunic with matching leggings.  The leggings weren’t fashionable in the mainland of Aeshea, the claims being they weren’t lady-like, but here in the islands they were common.

It was nice to see we were both pleased with the other’s appearance, although I stay convinced I got the better pleasure of a companion to view.  I also noticed she was wearing a radiant purple, blue, white and black flower in her hair.  Vaguely I could remember picking it for her while we were under the sea.  It had dried beautifully.

She had told me Vambrolini White was her personal favorite, so I had two bottles.  In my boot I had a flute I thought I would play for her.  In the carriage she had brought a container of chunked pineapple and cubed melons, and a carafe of icy water.  For a few moments I felt awkward, with regard to the night before.  Then I said, “About last night …”

Lushandri hesitated, and then smiled her beautiful smile, bit a corner of her lip and gently shook her head.  And then almost as an afterthought she asked, “I would like to ask one question, though …”

My glance gave her leave to ask.

“Why?  Why did you make that jump?”

“Because …” I hesitated and then looked frankly into her eyes, “… I had to.”

She thought for a moment, and then said, “Alright.”  She nodded gently, “I can accept that.  But one thing,” she said with a quirky grin, “Next time, ask me.  I will show you the correct way and the right place to do it.”  To that we both chuckled.

We traveled a large area of Foljur and she really knew her way around.  She introduced me to the remains of the original Emporium where sailors came to drink for decades, several old manor homes, the Sock-n-Top Trading Company which had been in business for over four hundred years, a great temple where the natives once worshiped, and then we stopped for a brief while at a rock wall ruin with an old sign that said Oranãche Biustahri.

I looked at the sign a moment, then back to Lushandri in query.

She tossed her head, I liked watching her toss her head, and as her hair settled on her shoulders she said, “It is a native phrase meaning Welcome to Tranquility.  My father founded it a little over one hundred years ago.”

Leading me inside, I looked at the old place, how it was built with care, yet the marks of fire was everywhere.  I gazed as she talked to me, “My father’s father, Rh’Omé, was the son of an old refuge from undersea battles.  He managed to escape an uncertain fate and came here, not far from where you jumped. 

“Rh’Omé managed to save a small fishing boat from a storm, and thinking he was some spirit from the sea, the family gave him their eldest daughter as a gift of thanks.  Rh’Omé tried to deny her, but the family started to take that as disfavor and was going to kill the girl.  He took her in after that, and they lived among the caverns we swam about.  There are several more that are above the water level inside.

“Some years later she bore my father, O’Zydarr.  He took to the water and eventually became a wanderer.  He built a two-hulled craft that he traded from and he traveled far; he made many friends and some powerful enemies.”

We were both walking around the old, charred ruins as she continued, “Clash of friend and foe alike took place north of Vedoa.  He was caught and imprisoned as a spy, his friends were unable to help him.  But a young, patriotic woman from Merceil made a try.  Her identity was discovered, but she succeeded in helping him escape.  He returned the favor and helped her escape her own country, and they came here together.

“They started this place together, and ran it together, happily, for years.  My momma grew old and died peacefully, and for a long time it was just father …” she hesitated, “… my two brothers and I.”  I wanted to reach and touch her, but she had made closure with this long ago, she was just sharing … but sharing could still open hurtful memories, so I listened and let her tell it in her own time.

“And then a sailor came by and wanted to know where some kind of treasure was located.  To keep it brief, they tried to force the information from my father.”  She smiled an almost cruel smile.  “Nobody forced anything from my father.  But he was aging and my brothers were not combat trained.”  Lushandri glanced up at the ceiling rafters, then to an old but cracked mirror behind what used to be the bar, “When he brought his crew up to burn the place, the natives came to help father.”

She looked up at me and said, “It was a horrible fight.  I saw only a part of it, but I saw the sailor escape.  I found … them … all three … I could do nothing for my oldest brother, and my father died in my arms.  And my youngest …” She closed her eyes in painful memory.  I knew, I knew what she felt … and I knew she was telling me probably because she just needed to talk, so I kept quiet.

Shaking her head from side to side, she wiped her eyes and looked at me with a sad smile of apology, and I just shook my own head no, she need not apologize.  Partially to redirect her attention I asked softly, “What happened to the sailing captain?”

She held her hand out, palm up.  That beautiful hand which not so long ago held me close, slowly elongated at the fingers into wicked one inch claws on each tip as she said, “I found him.  His ship had not docked at port and was lying at anchor.  He had only one crew member left with which to row his dinghy.”

“And so you stay here?”

“It’s my home.  And these are my people.  They have become my family and I wish to do what I can to protect them.”

It was coming together for me, now.  Smiling I asked, “So you rebuilt and renamed the place the Orange Buster?”

Lushandri laughed and answered, “Well, the sailors who came in started calling it that, so-o-o.”  She walked up and put her hands around my waist, then looked up and said, “Thank you.”

“Thank you for …”

“For letting me talk … and not trying to tell me it’s okay, or it’ll be alright.”

We looked at each other for several moments, and then we kissed and I just held her.

It felt as if we stood there a long time, but I didn’t mind.  When we slowly stepped apart, we held hands.  And then I ventured to say, “There’s not many sailors who frequent the Orange Buster, you know.”

With the innocence of a child she answered, “Yes-s-s but, that’s why I have Sam’s Kettle Kafé, Whiskin Boot, Quinosia Torio, and Codger’s Bunk & Bath.”

I threw my head back and groaned, “The Quinosia Torio?  No wonder you didn’t say anything when I asked you to dance.”

She put her arm in mine and led me outside as she said, “Well, you suggested the owner wouldn’t mind … and I didn’t think she would either.”

And then I thought, ‘the Whiskin Boot, she must know all about the fight with me, Tiny and Captain Jha’Ley.’  Inwardly I groaned again.

I asked her, “Do you own any ships?”

“No-o-o, but I support a couple.”

“The Lohra Lai?”

“Yes.  I very much support the Lohra Lai, and her Captain.  Jha’Ley is a good man, and I believe if anyone can pull off what he’s going for, he can do it.”

Sheepishly I glanced at her.  She caught my eye and then she giggled.

“What’s so funny?” I playfully, yet awkwardly asked.

With a little dance of her head and impish expression on her face she said, “I saw the fight.  All of it.”

“All of it?” I implored.

Biting at her lip and with a playful smirk she said, “Yup.  From the moment you ordered the Condroy Tea.”  She laughed.

Me?  I just held my head down trying to find words, shaking my head.

She was still smiling, “Actually, you did quite well.”  She glanced into my eyes, and I looked into hers as she smiled and added, “I think Jha’Ley was having a good time.  No one has matched him in years.”

I didn’t know what to say.

She winked a slow wink at me, “I think you made a good contest … and the lads will be speaking of it for years.”

Taking a moment to be quietly serious, I asked, “Do you think I should go with him?”

Lushandri looked me directly in the eye and held my hands, then breathing in deeply I saw her lovely chest rise and swell, then she exhaled in a lingering sigh before answering, “No, I don’t; because I want you to stay here.”  And then her head tilted a bit and her eyes twinkled, “But yes, I do; because I think he could really use you.”

“But you don’t really know me, how could you guess …”

“I have spent my whole life around these islands.  Every one of them has at least one secret that only I know.  The sunken ships with gold, I know where a lot of them are.  Caverns with relics and writing, I have seen lots of them.  Many of the rocks out in the sea are hollow, and I know where some of the old pirates died and their bones are lying.”

She pointed off to the south-east and added, “A bit more than eighty miles, that way, the edge of the Bai’Yeuntite Crater begins, and down there I have seen the hulls of vessels with no sails; one has fins on each side as wide as the vessel is long and made of metal.  Father took me there and he said some of those wrecks belong to no people or culture he had ever heard of.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“The point is, I am happy here, Wolf, and my place is here; but I long to know of the outside world.  I only get news long after the fact.  So I read, and I have read Doctor Wesney’s book of the Keoghnariu War.

“Wolf, he spoke highly of you from many standpoints.  That and this past week have given me all I need to know.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that, and then she squeezed my hand, “Wolf?”

“Yes.”

“Be the dashing gentleman you are, but don’t seek commitments that will hold you down … not yet.  There is so much for you to do out there, so much you can accomplish.  We live in a dire time when heroes are needed; you are a hero.  All I ask from you is one thing …”

I was lost within her lovely eyes, “And that would be?”

“Be my friend.  I could really use a friend, someone who can understand. Do you know what I mean?”

“Absolutely, Lushandri.  I would be honored.”  With that I delicately kissed her hand.

“Perhaps, you could write a journal or something?  And you could bring it to visit me and share your experiences, first hand?”

“I would like that, very much.  Lushandri?”

“Yes?”

“When we are alone, would you call me Komain?  It is, after all, my birth name.”

“Komain …” She made it sound so smooth and warm.  Her face was radiant, “… it would please me so much to do so.”

We rode around some more and then stopped in for an old fashioned meal at Sam’s Kettle.  The chow was simple chicken and dumplings with lots of vegetables, but it was good and the coffee was better.  I found that this was where Lushandri ate most of the time.  For the later part of the evening I entertained her with all sorts of stories from my own adventures, my chums, and elvin history.

Lushandri had us driven up to an overlook which was gorgeous.  There we sat as the driver slept in the carriage, and I played my flute for her as she leaned upon my shoulder.  The night was crystal clear and for a long time we just sat quietly and enjoyed each other’s company.  Finally we decided it was time to return to the town.  As we were riding into the main town, we side-passed a box wagon with a couple of unsightly sailor types at the front, and they were followed by four horsemen.  It was odd, but it was none of our business, and they were going the other way.

The one fellow who was driving, I thought, had an ugly scar across his face that looked like he must have caught the wrong end of a cutlass.  And just as they passed us I smelled their rank, unwashed sweat mingled with wood and lantern oil smoke.  This wasn’t the weekend, when many folk took to carousing, so there were few people out at this time of the night.

We rounded a turn which should have given us an open view of the bay and the side of the island, but instead in the not to far distance we saw a flickering glow against the darkness.  The waft of the wind brought the smell of smoke to my nostrils, but not regular wood smoke.  A sense of urgency overtook me and without thinking I commanded the driver, “Make to that burning, yonder, quickly.”  He through a quick glance backward and Lushandri confirmed my request, but as he cracked his whip she looked at me with a startled expression.

The driver was fast in getting us to the site of a small manor house which was blazing horribly.  Before we got there Lushandri recognized it as the home of a small plantation owner.  From all around men were running to throw water at the place.  I was out of the carriage before it came to a stop and was tuning in my senses to assess what I could. 

Anyone could throw water and make a bucket brigade, but I was remembering only weeks ago, when I had happenstance to see a home burning.  A man had staggered out of the place yelling, “They took her, they took my little girl!”  Before I could get to him he had collapsed and died.

Over by a big stand of trees were several women trying to hold another woman back from racing into the burning home.  It was there I saw Lushandri run.  I tuned in to what was being said there, and the woman of the house was trying to yell in a panicked voice, “They’re still in there, Aerall and Jame, oh my gods somebody help them … they have my little girl … please somebody …” As I looked her way I saw she had a bundle in her arms.

“They have my little girl,” she said. My mind rushed … it was the same, but Aerall and Jame … they must be her husband and son … there was no time to lose.  I ran to the growing water brigade and seizing a bucket, dowsed myself amid the men yelling at me, “What are you doing … are you crazy?!”

Running toward the home I tore another bucket from someone’s hands and dowsed myself again, and then found a piece of blanket.  I grabbed a third bucket and had to wrench it from the man’s grasp as everywhere I heard chaos.  Drenching the blanket I threw it over my head and back and leaped over a broken and burning door into the fiery hulk which once had been a home. 

Chapter   64

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MY HEAT SIGHT would make me blind in this raging furnace, and the smoke above was heavy.  Landing in what must have been a parlor I dropped low to the floor and focused hard on using my *Awareness* and *Movement Detection* abilities. 

The floor about me had the smell of lantern oil and was ablaze, so I pulled out my dagger, that wonderful gift from still unknown benefactors, and touched it to the floor.  In a seven feet radius from the blade, it pulled in the flame and quenched it.  This would not save the house, nor the floor from igniting again, but it would protect me from the direct surface flame while I searched. 

The house was not huge, not from plantation standards, but was plenty big enough and I heard-felt a big piece of roof fall in.  This was a two level building, at least above the ground.  I thought I heard someone groan and the sound of a child crying.  It seemed to be coming from the room beyond, but the roar of the flame was causing the floor beneath me to tremble as well, messing up my sensory perceptions, and I was not practiced in sensing my way through manmade structures.  Crawling as quickly but cautiously as I could, I kept pointing the tip of my blade to the floor, clearing my path.

A piece of ceiling fell from directly above me and I rolled, a narrow and close call, and then another piece fell from which I rolled out from under again.  This time some burning wood stabbed its way into my new pants, pinioning my leg to the floor and slicing a wound across my left thigh.

With a hard yank I ripped my way free, but now I was blocked from the way I came in.  I could see, somewhat, below the billowing smoke line and I was holding my breath as the dolphins taught me.  But my eyes, all of this heat worked against me.

‘Use your imagination, Wolf,’ I told myself.  ‘There must be a way.  I can’t see, the heat is too strong.’  But wait, what if, could I, can I, see through the heat.  Adapt, that was the key. 

Those cries were closer, but were not moving.  I couldn’t tell for sure, but I thought the man was hurt. 

Adapt, adaptation … my eyes, eyelids … I remembered the transparent eyelids and *Adapted*.  They protected against the burn, but … I worked to see beyond the heat, beyond the normal range of sight … unexpectedly everything became like black and white, or a grayscale, with regards to my vision.  Suddenly I could see, I could almost see through the flaming walls, sort of.  There, I had to get around that wall, and buried under some rubble I saw them.

The man was unconscious and lying on top of what must be a three or four year old boy who was held beneath him.  I heard-felt a piece of wall cave in not far from me and knew I had very little time, if any.  Something fell on top of me as I tried to rush around the wall opening into the next room.  Even though I deflected the debris, it still hurt and knocked me to the floor.  Looking about with my newfound *Gray Sight*, I knew it would only be seconds before it all came down.

Grabbing hold of the material on top of the man, I made it to rot and warp as fast as I could, hoping it would help me break something up so as to get through to him.  A big piece did indeed break off, and I dragged the man just far enough to get him clear and grab the little boy. 

The child was terrified and was clutching a stuffed toy bear close to his heart and I said, “You have to help me, little mate.  Mon’Gouchett, I can’t believe how brave you are!  You’re going to have to hold your bear close to my chest to protect him.  Now hold your arms around my neck, and your legs around my waist.  You have to hold on, now, hard, and don’t worry about choking me.  We’ve got to save your bear …”

That little fellow held on for dear life as I grabbed the man, thankful he was only one hundred and forty or so pounds, for in this mess a heavy man would have been a challenge.  Wrapping my now scorched blanket around the man, I heard-felt the ceiling start to crash in.  I *Slowed* the world down around me to get all the help I could.  Grabbing the man, with the boy hanging onto my chest, I slung him over my shoulder and saw through my graysight a transparency in the wall and knew it was a window.

Reaching deep into So’Yeth, I ran and *Leaped* in between the roof as it collapsed all around me with violent force, leapt through the glass window landing on my feet, then rolling and leaving the man on the ground I kept the boy in my arms as I came back to my feet.  Glass was everywhere, the house collapsed, flames lit the sky, and several buckets of water got thrown all over me.

The man was hurriedly picked up and taken away as I handed the boy to his mother, the crying bundle now being carried by Lushandri who was staring at me.  I took no time, and rushed immediately to the still unconscious man now stretched out on the ground.  Pushing the others away I tore his shirt open while looking for more than the severe burns all about his body.  I put my hands on his chest, reached in, and applied the *Heal* effect. 

I believed I had enough energy to completely heal him, but I had a feeling I was going to need some for something else.  His wounds I was able to reduce to second degree burns, and his broken back I repaired.  There were also three crossbow bolt wounds with one head still in his body.  The head I made to come out and I had it in my hand.

The box wagon was on my mind and I quickly went to the woman and asked, “What was it you said about your little girl?”

It was Lushandri who answered, “Some men came into the house, shot Jame and took Einna and ...” 

I was going to yell out to see if anyone had seen any of the captures when Lushandri took my arm and said, “One of the men recognized a rider, but they got away before he could grab a weapon, and then there was the fire.  He said the rider was a crewman aboard the Chikried.”

“That’s all I need to know.”  I knew the Chikried.  I had seen her at dock, and she had been in port at Sharpae when I uncovered that ring of child-slavers.  Giving her hand a quick kiss, I turned to go.

“Wait, Wolf, what are you going to do?”

Turning back I said, “I’m going to get the little girl, Einna, right?”  Someone had left a short bow and arrows leaning against a tree.  Grabbing them I started to run.

“Hey-yo, those are mine …” A native yelled at me.

“Thank you,” I yelled back, “They’re perfect!”  I started to run and turned back in mid-pace to yell, “I’ll pay you later.”  And then I shook my legs out and caught my stride. 

The Chikried was docked on the far north of the town, and we were at the south.  There was no way I could catch the wagon by the roads.  However, there was another way.  Thankful for my memory, and the sightseeing time, I knew just the course to set.  At a high rise overlooking the town, I now was using my *Long Sight.*  Sure enough, I found them.  They still were casually moving, not realizing they had been found out.

When the house had been burned in Sharpae and an investigation had ensued, the Chikried had been one of five vessels to cast off the morning immediately following, with no links tying either to the incident.  I was betting the Chikried was ready to cast off the next morning, probably the same time as the Lohra Lai.

Why the fire?  To make a statement?  I didn’t know, but the lantern oil wasn’t an accident.  It was the kind burned on ship, not the nice, aromatic stuff often burned in a nice home.

Scanning the town, I had an idea where I could overtake them.  But I had to move fast.  Just a hundred rods away was a rooftop just a few feet from the level of the road.  It was there I ran and leapt to the top.  The whole town laid before me in a cascading fashion all the way to the docks.  Many of the roads were narrow, and they became more so the closer to the center of town it got.  Becoming one with the wind I called upon all of my energy and ran with the rooftops as my ocean. 

From building to building I ran faster, faster, *Running like the Wind* … leaping from one ledge to another … maneuvering around clotheslines, chimneys, crates and furniture … with speed and momentum I hurtled a street and hitting with a roll on the next rooftop the wind carried me up to my feet and I ran some more.  Choosing my path among the alleyways I was able to soar without faltering … it almost felt as if I were sailing directly into the waves, my body a living sail as I literally ran with the wind.

I heard yells as someone saw me whip by above faster than any man should be able to run, around a highline structure I hurdled two young lovers, on another rooftop I startled a bum who was fast asleep, a flock of birds rose up and nearly knocked me over the side of a building.  Off to the side I saw the box wagon again … I believed I could catch them, but I needed more speed.

Trying to veer to one side was difficult, for it was the wind I was channeled into, and turning on a button was not in my favor.  I had to shape my path with my mind, like an invisible tiller.  They were taking a turn onto a street just in front of me and I notched an arrow into my bow as I contrived an impossible feat.  Still they were calm in what they must think a victory … but in a moment no more.

As the wagon’s path and mine intersected, I employed *Leap* as strong as I could, hoping to combine the effect with my wind-like speed.  Just before the apex of my jump I attempted to *Slow* the world down, as at top speed I hurtled the sixty feet expanse from thirty feet above; the combination of contrasting effects knocked the air from my lungs as I used *Close Sight* to pin-point my target and carefully aimed downward, shooting into the body of the scar-faced driver. 

My effects cancelled themselves out as I hurtled out of control to the other side.  Hitting with my feet first, I managed to go into a roll, but I crashed into an upper structure and fell down some stairs as some arrows were thrown from my quiver and broke under my weight.  Seeing a window I darted for it and tried to get my bearings.  Bruised and bleeding, I found no bones broken, but no time to do even a quick Self-Heal.

I heard the horses outside leap into a run and I knew I had to get into the street.  Yells were coming from the dwelling I had fallen into, but I made the street before my mark got around the corner.  I had only two arrows that hadn’t broken in my fall and I was able to pick off two of the horsemen.  People were pointing at me, now, and yelling.  A crossbow bolt whipped by me, missing by inches, and then another while a third person tried to line up his weapon on me.  I knew I had to get. 

Ducking into an alley, dropping the bow and tossing the now cumbersome quiver, I was hoping my memory served correctly and this was one of those S-shaped winding roads Lushandri had taken me through.  Ducking overhangs, jumping over a drunk, climbing a fence behind which was a woman bathing, and then leaping the next fence just ahead of a man chasing me out with a meat cleaver and a barrage of colorful words, I fell into something I would rather not identify as one foot became wedged in a bucket.  I heard the wagon in the distance coming around fast and I managed to kick the bucket off, then run up to a door which led to a staircase down to the next level.

The staircase wasn’t an option, so I side-jumped over the rail and landed on a tarpaulin covering what smelled like manure, and rolled onto the street as the wagon came by.  Sprinting along side I jumped and grabbed hold of a rail and climbed up to the top. 

One of the riders must have seen me and decided to climb up the other side, and sailors be able climbers, for as I got to the top I caught a boot to the head.  Scrabbling up I took two more blows to the head and a knee in the cheekbone before I landed a blow of my own, and balancing atop that wagon wasn’t easy.  If that wasn’t enough, the remaining rider climbed up from the side I had come up from. 

It was nip and tuck there for a bit as the one supplied a rusty dirk into the mix.  I guess he took his kidnapping somewhat seriously.  Using the one against the other, I managed to run one of them through with his mate’s play toy.  That left me with only one to worry about for a moment.  We were braced against each other, he facing the driver’s bench and me facing the back, when his face turned to alarm as he looked over my shoulder. 

Before I could garner his direction of sight, the box wagon ran under the spar of a business sign and clipped me against the knees.  It took my legs out from under me and I fell backward with my opponent on top of me.  The momentum carried us around in a whirl and I added some gymnastic whip to it.  Spinning in the air, we landed flat on the cobblestone with him under me and his head cracked against the road.

My breath knocked out, I effected a gaspingly quick *Self Heal* and looked around to see one of the rider-less horses apparently not wanting to be left behind.  Getting to my feet I grabbed the saddle on the run, hit my feet to the road and swung up around the rump and into the saddle seat.  Slapping my heels and snapping the reins I took after the wagon with renewed determination and a rasping “Hey-yah-yah.”

Chasing the wagon around four roads, I saw it slide and careen and I still don’t know how it kept from turning over.  My horse was tired and already out of wind and was slipping and sliding itself, ultimately gaining only a little ground. I saw that we were almost parallel with the docks and only two lines of buildings were between me and the waterfront.  Desperately I wanted to get the wagon before it came abreast of the Chikried. 

Estimating where the wagon would come out on the dockside, I took a gamble and plunged my resistant and exhausted mount through a narrow passageway.  We jumped a couple of obstacles causing more commotion and several chickens almost put my horse to bucking, but we entered the freight wagon area in front of the docks just as the wagon passed by.  Getting abreast of the wagon and grabbing the tailgate rail, I climbed again to the top.

The driver saw me coming for him and at the last minute turned to attempt shooting me with a crossbow, but he missed clean. I grabbed him by the hair and delivered a powerful blow to his temple, then seizing him by the front of his tunic I bodily lifted him up and threw him up and over the corner of the wagon to the cobblestone below.  Jumping down to the bench, I took the reins and hauled to while slamming the brake with my heel.

The horses were already scared, and the result was a splintering of one wheel and the wagon careening over onto its side as I jumped to the ground and came up with a double roll.  The front axle and tongue of the wagon broke off and the horses ran free pulling just the front wheels, but I could hear voices from the men I was sure were inside the box.  I unbolted the back gate of the wagon, now lying on its right side, and gave just enough visage of myself to get the desired response … the firing of a crossbow just as I darted away.

In my hand was the head of the broken bolt I had retracted from Jame; instantly I stepped back and whipped the bolt like a dart between the shooter’s eyes.  A second man got to his feet from where he had landed on the wagon’s side and lunged at me with a dirk.  Stepping back I deflected his thrust and caught his wrist.  Stepping under I threw him with a fireman’s carry while wrenching his weapon free with a twist that shattered his forearm and wrist.

A third man came out of the wagon fast in hopes of grabbing me, and ran into my fully extended right side-kick.  The kick didn’t finish him, but stopped him long enough for me to turn back to my second playmate, which was rolling up and onto his feet.  As I recoiled my right foot, I immediately kicked upward into number two’s groin and then brought my left knee under his jaw.

Seeing number three out of my peripheral vision recover and go for a belt knife, I rolled backward while pressing the appropriate place in my left boot to make a stiletto blade shwict from the front sole.  Three ran right into my little surprise as I struck both of my toes into his midriff from my rolling movement.  As his full weight fell onto my feet, I retracted the blade, pushed up and over to my left, and threw him far from the wagon.

Yet a fourth and final man had pulled a nasty looking dagger with a curved blade and looked from me to the inert form of the little girl.  Using a cruel, deadpan monotone I said, “I dare you.”

He made a lunge toward the girl, then changed direction toward me … I guess he was trying to fake me out.  As he lunged I did a side-step while drawing my own dagger, slapping his weapon to the side, and grabbing his weapon hand with my left.  There were so many aspects of that blade I had yet to use in combat, including its ability to become blue-white hot.  I slashed his left leg, severing all muscles touched, yet cauterizing the wounds so as not to make a mess.  With the same circular motion I brought my glowing blade down hard and severed his right forearm with ease.

The momentum of our exchange carried us to the side of the wreckage as I back-swiped the child abductor across the chest, then ran all seven inches my weapon blade into his torso and carried him into the now exposed underside of the wagon … his face beside a still spinning wagon wheel.

My rage was evident as I lifted him up by the front of his tunic and held him up against the wood, his feet dangling.  I then hissed, “I’m going to cut you by slices and feed you to the local swine.”  His eyes widened and he tried to struggle … for pig food is the lowest of the low of all supposed victuals; to be fed to the swine was believed by most to be spiritual destruction … and then I released the magic of my blade. 

From within the enchanted handle, the heat of the flame absorbed at the Jame’s home was pushed into number four’s body.  His body temperature soared as he screamed, his blood began to boil, and his clothes caught fire.  Pulling the cleaned blade from his body, I watched his burning form a moment and then darted into the wagon box to retrieve the girl.

As I gently picked her up I could tell from her clothing she was as yet untouched from molesting hands.  But it would have only been a matter of time, if my suspicions were correct, had she been put on that ship.  My heart broke as I saw her little arm dangling from having been fractured in multiple places.  I looked into her angel’s face and saw she was … she was about the same age as Riana’s child, perhaps eight years old … she could be my child, my own little girl.  I wanted to resurrect the vermin who kidnapped her and kill them again.

As I carried her out of the wagon, several dockhands were gathering around and they didn’t look happy.  One fellow with skin as dark as a shadow and muscles that made me take notice demanded harshly, “What is going on here!”  He had a gaff hook in his hand as well.

“Good sir, I need a pillow for this child, quickly.  She is hurt.”

He thought about it for only an instant, and took off his own tunic and rolled it up neatly.  Either this guy wasn’t a worker who just happened to grab that hook, or he was and just hadn’t started sweating yet, for that tunic was clean muslin.  It was then I noticed the Lohra Lai was only rods away.  In the commotion I hadn’t recognized where I was on the dock.  Was this some of her crew?

The fellow watched me carefully as I focused, taking her little arm I poured all I had left into it.  The arm came back together with several popping sounds and then she coughed and sneezed several times.  She had been drugged to keep quiet during the abduction.  Someone else had noticed the little girl and brought something to cover her with.

Gingerly picking her up, I offered her to the big fellow and said, “Her name is Einna.  Would you please be her guardian until a lady in a carriage gets down here?”

Out of reflex, he took Einna as I handed her to his chest.  He looked down at her with awkwardness and said, “And where are you going?”  I noticed he had an educated accent that spoke of Lh’Gohria.

Loud enough so everyone could hear me, I said, “Children are being stolen by the crew of the Chikried and taken for who knows what.”  I broke off a piece of the wagon’s broken wheel spoke, and using *Thorn Blade* made it grow into a pointed staff which I whirled a movement or two to get the feel, and then added, “These could be your children.  I’m going to stop it.  Who has the honor to join me?”

I know several of those sailors had tossed with many a young pleasure in the taverns and pubs of the sea.  But those are for the most part girls who have chosen their vocation for one reason or the other, and they knew what they were about.  But this night the feeling was strong in protecting the innocent child, to safeguard those who can not yet stand for themselves.

Was it my imagination, or did I hear the drums of battle?  For it truly is a war to stand up for the weak and the trodden.  The number of men who advanced with me was astonishing.  From the sharp dressed gentlemen visiting the dock pubs to negotiate business, to the most raggedly clothed sailor; even a couple of drunks from under the pier joined in. 

When we reached the Chikried, her captain and crew knew what was about.  They had already tossed their lines and were trying to make for the ocean, but they were too late.  We fired her sails and boarded her side.  The fight was against her and her crew from the start. 

From her starboard several of the crew tried to jump, and one well dressed fellow, who happened to be a judge in the courts of Foljur, was found trying to run with a sack of coin.  There was no investigation, there was no trial.  Every manjack from the ship was held through the night and hung the next morning so the town could see, including the judge, a testament that the children of these isles were not to be molested.

Fifty-three young girls were found in that dark hold, only some from this fair town, and many from N’Ville.

All of the crew had one important common thread, along with being fellow crewmembers, they all wore a tattoo on their inside right arm of five serpents intertwined with a boar’s head.  A cult, some of the dockworkers said, from the Island of Xun-Xiudanga.  Their belief was that their god was going to rise up from the volcano in the center of their island, and when he did he was going to rule the world with his worshipers.  In exchange he wanted his priests to provide him with a harem, the finest women trained from childhood, and then sacrificed into immortality to serve him and his most loyal followers.

For me it was that same story of the alignment deal.  Hoscoe had been right, the notion was all around the world, and the alignment was only what, seventeen or eighteen years away.

Standing on dock watching the Chikried being towed out to sea, there to be sunk into the deep with the grizzly remains of her crew hanging by the yardarms, I was joined by Wesney and Bannock.  Bannock had been on the vessel with me, Wesney had seen to the girls and administered what medical attention was needed.

Wesney broke the quiet as he asked, “Well, Wolf … are we out and about saving the world again?”

As I glanced at him his facial expression was somewhat humorous and supportive. 

Bannock said, “I would vote for a round of Condroy Tea.”

“Perhaps a couple of rounds, if Mister Wolf wishes.”  The deep voice came up from the side unexpected. 

Captain Jha’Ley walked up from Lushandri’s carriage as she, herself, came quickly to my side, touched me on the arm with concern, and then took my hands and asked, “Are you alright?”

Wesney did a modest double-take as Jha’Ley expressed an arm folding quirky grin.  Bannock?  Well, I think Bannock always has an “I know what you think I don’t know” mischievous look in his eye.

“I’m fine.”  I said.  “I’m sorry …”

“No …” she shook her head, and then breathed deep before saying, “… you did the right thing.”  She closed her eyes in the sensual way I had grown to like, then opened them again as she added with an exhale of relief, “I’m glad you are …” she seemed not sure what to say and I gave her hands a gentle squeeze.

“Captain Jha’Ley?” I asked.

“Yes Mister Wolf?”

“Is your offer still good?”

Lushandri bit her lip, but I could tell she was pleased as she glanced from me to him, and then back to me.  The Captain had his subdued grin in place.

“Yes, it is.”

“Then I would like to request permission to finish packing and come aboard.”

“Permission granted.  But take an extra day.”  Looking to the Chikried he said, “This endeavor has put us off departure a day, or so.  And I don’t like leaving port on Sabboday, which is tomorrow.  Therefore, I believe we’ll wait ‘til the morning after to cast off.”

Bowing my head in a salute, I asked, “I thought I heard drums beating to quarters.  Was that you?”

The corner of his mouth went up and his eyebrow raised, “When my bosun told me an elvin man put a little girl in his arms for protection, and a touch of the story … well, we can’t have slave ships taking off into the waters now can we?”

“You were going to cast off and chase her?”

“Of course.”  He paused and then added with mirth, “I couldn’t think of anything better to do at the moment.”

Returning my gaze to Lushandri I said quietly, “Well, it looks like I have another couple of days.  Would you care for a Condroy Tea … and maybe Sabboday we could spend the day swimming?”

She smiled and I saw a twinkle in her eye, “Yes, I would like that very much.”

Epilogue

________________________

 

 

Standing on the bow of the Lohra Lai, I see all about me the endless horizon of the ocean.  Where will my path lead?  I do not know.  But I have a purpose in life, now.  Hoscoe once told me of learning from three teachers, and he was my first.  Now I would learn from the finest captain on the sea, on perhaps the strongest vessel in the world.

I have a combined heritage from my momma and the man I have come to recognize as my blood father, and I have skills which set me apart from most of those in our time.  My learning is still a work in progress but I have friends from whom I can learn from and share experiences with.  Born as a slave, yet I need not live chained to my past.  I will look back to learn, but ever will I hold fast to the forward of life.

My sheaf of personal logbooks I will keep for such time as I shall see Lushandri again and will write daily … and somehow, I feel in my heart that the day will indeed come about.  I have a special friend in Lushandri, but I also have new friends on this vessel and an old one.

Crewmen from several species have set sail under the leadership of a visionary to perform a task others believe impossible.  We’re headed into unknown waters with only our collective skills, and maps drawn by my momma’s hand.

As I try to formulate the first thoughts of which to write, I draw my favorite flute while standing at the bow of our ship, and looking to the distant horizon I begin to play my momma’s favorite song to the rhythm of the waves, the clean salty smell of the air, and the pitch of the Lohra Lai ………

 

 

The End …

 

… Of the Beginning

 

 

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Phonetic Pronunciation Guide

 

Through-out this book there are many new names and terms, most of which are sounded as written.  But for those who take pride in pronouncing a word as it is intended, especially for the sake of cultural flavor, here is a guide for such words and names that may be a bit of a challenge.  After all, even a short-lived town wants its name remembered correctly.