Child Of A Guardian And Of The Free (Book 3) (10 page)

‘
She won’t survive,’ said Callian softly. ‘I’ve done all that I can, but it won’t be enough.’

Evan rose to his feet
, turned his back and walked away.

Chapter
11

Disoriented

‘
Why in the name of his Supreme Majesty aren’t we anchored in the harbor of the Dwellings?’ Captain Mervin glared accusingly at his first officer, a tall asthenic man called Colin.

‘
May we speak to you in private please Captain?’ Colin held his back straight and stared the Captain squarely in the eye, but his voice was strained and barely heard over the driving rain. Mervin gave a curt nod and Colin and Oliver followed him below deck.

‘
Well?’ Captain Mervin glared furiously between the two men.

Oliver spoke first.
‘It’s my fault Captain. I was at the helm this morning...wasn’t I?’ He glanced at Colin confusedly.

‘
No. I relieved you at midnight. Or I think I did. I was supposed to.’ Colin appeared to be as confused as Oliver.

‘
I can’t remember being relieved. But I might have been in my cabin this morning… I didn’t want to be in my cabin! There were things I should have attended to.’

‘
That can’t be right!’ Colin shook his head. ‘I was in my cabin this morning! Who relieved you if I didn’t?’

‘
You have got to be joking!’ Captain Gillam glanced between Colin and Oliver incredulously. ‘Have you been drinking?’

‘
No sir!’ Colin and Oliver spoke in indignant unison. ‘I feel like I have,’ Oliver added guiltily. ‘But I swear I haven’t!’

‘
I wasn’t drinking either,’ Colin declared adamantly. ‘But this morning I have one hellish headache and I’ve thrown up three times.’

‘
Several of the junior sailors were also sick. That’s strange... I can’t remember who.’ A mixture of confusion and fear flickered across Mervin’s face. ‘Something’s not right. We can’t all be losing memory.’ The three men exchanged uneasy glances. ‘Well you know where you should be now, so go...go do whatever you are supposed to be doing.’ Mervin’s face flushed as a strange feeling of confusion threatened to overcome his rationality. ‘Colin, go and find out if anyone else is sick, and find out what’s causing it. Oliver, you try to work out where in all hell we are. Then I’ll see you both back here after lunch. Bring Baron Dale.’ He turned and hurried away.

‘
Let’s get up on deck,’ muttered Colin, and Oliver followed him back into the rain. They hurried to where Dale was standing staring serenely ahead, ignoring the torrents of water beating upon him.

‘
Baron Dale?’ Oliver waved his hand in front of Dale’s face. Dale gave a small start and then frowned at Oliver.

‘
Captain wants to see us after lunch,’ said Colin. ‘Oliver, give the orders to heave to. I have no idea where we are. Let’s get some work done before we see the Captain.’

When Oliver entered the Captain
’s cabin after lunch he wasn’t surprised to see Rudiger, Eibhear and Enri sitting near Dale. The Captain’s cabin was significantly larger than the other cabins. The floor was covered with a heavy woven mat and tasteful paintings adorned the walls. In the center of the cabin was a round, polished table surrounded by cushioned chairs. Against the bulkheads stood a large desk, a bookcase and two teak chests. Several huge maps hung adjacent to the table and the lamp was fixed in such a position as to throw light on the maps, the table and the desk. A doorway led into the Captain’s sleeping quarters. Oliver sat at the table and waited for Captain Mervin to speak.

‘
I won’t pretend I have any idea what went on last night,’ Mervin began, ‘but it seems everyone aboard this ship is having difficulty remembering things. It’s like we’ve all been half asleep. Something must be causing this.’

Eibhear
tapped his fingers restlessly on the table. ‘I’ve heard of strange plants affecting people this way, but obviously not in the middle of the ocean.’

‘
Did you not notice that the rest of us were a bit...hazy?’

‘
No. But we’ve been keeping to ourselves mostly, and staying out of the way, and from what I can tell we were also affected.’

‘
Alright, let’s assume for the time being that we were affected by something mundane.’ Mervin stood and ran his finger across one of the maps. ‘Judging by the direction we were travelling, and taking into account the currents at this time of year and the weather we’ve been having, if we’ve been driven in the direction I think we have, we should be somewhere here,’ he drew a circle on the map with his finger, ‘at the very worst, perhaps here.’ Mervin’s finger marked an arc a short distance past his original judgment. ‘Do you agree Oliver?’

‘I thought perhaps a little closer to the Dwellings, but perhaps I’m overly optimistic.’

‘Shouldn’t we wait until the clouds clear, so we know we’re sailing in the right-’ Dale stopped speaking as a cry came from above.

‘
Land!’

‘
You’ve got to be joking!’ cried Mervin. ‘We aren’t supposed to be moving! We don’t feel like we’re moving!’

‘
We aren’t moving,’ said Eibhear. ‘The rain’s cleared enough to see a bit further.’

‘
If we can see land then we’re no-where near where we supposed! Let’s get up there.’ Mervin pushed away from the table and disappeared through the cabin door.

T
he dark mass rising from the sea was unmistakably land. The sea had calmed significantly and the rain eased to little more than a light mist. The sun peeped from behind the breaking clouds and the ocean became glittering green. Mervin frowned, feeling both annoyed and uneasy that he had no idea where he was. He had a sudden unsettling suspicion the land he was looking at was part of Hosatabaht, but he couldn’t believe they had somehow sailed so incredibly far off course. ‘Take us a bit closer,’ he said and Colin immediately passed on the order. As they moved closer they could see dark green forest running down the hillsides and ending in brilliant white beaches. The land curved around them to the south and north forming a large bay. A distance away they could see grey clouds of smoke rising into the sky. Mervin felt another flash of disquiet.

‘
Are we going ashore Captain?’ asked Colin.

‘
I think not. It’s strange enough that we managed to sail into such a narrow mouthed bay without mishap. We’ll wait here until dark and as soon as we have a bearing we’re heading home.’

‘
Good. What do you think that is?’ Colin waved towards the smoke.

‘
I don’t intend to be around long enough to find out. This should not have been a long voyage. How are our food supplies?’

‘
Well, that’s the damndest thing.’ Colin scratched his head. ‘A lot of it just seems to have disappeared. It’s as though someone came on board last night, knocked us all out with wine and then took our food! Or we’ve been at sea a
lot
longer than we remember.’

‘
Water?’

‘
A lot is gone, but we still have an adequate supply, depending on where we are of course.’

‘
I’ll ask that question again tonight when I know where we are. Has there been any sign of people?’

‘
I haven’t seen anyone,’ Colin shrugged. ‘Maybe the smoke is from a bushfire.’

Mervin and Colin
started simultaneously as Rudiger appeared silently beside them. ‘There are people,’ stated Rudiger. ‘They’re just not letting us see them. They think we’re some kind of trick by whoever they think their enemy is. We should leave.’

‘
Until I know where we are, any place we go could be worse than this. And I want to find out what happened last night. I still can’t believe it’s a coincidence that most of the crew can’t remember what happened after sundown. Where do you propose we go?’

‘
Anywhere except here! I can hear them, Captain and they’re not planning to wait for us to attack them. They’re coming after us now! This bay is a trap! We have to go now! They’re coming!’

‘
By ship?’ Mervin’s voice rose in alarm.

‘
They aren’t exactly ships, sort of small boats, but there are so many! Captain-’ Eibhear stepped back as Mervin nodded towards Colin. The First Officer leapt across the deck, barking orders in every direction.

‘
Too late,’ said Eibhear, inclining his head towards the mouth of the bay. There was a simultaneous gasp from the crew and shouts from the crow’s nest as an amazing sight appeared. Across the mouth of the bay, spaced closely together as if to prevent escape, were strangely shaped sailing boats. Every boat was painted deep green, and the square sails exactly matched the blue of the sky. A single ship moved with surprising speed across the bay.

‘
Don’t make any aggressive move unless I give the order,’ Mervin said to Colin. Colin moved amongst the crew quietly relaying the Captain’s words.
‘Rudiger?’
Mervin thought.
‘What do you sense?’

Rudiger
stared towards the approaching boat.
‘They can see our crossbows. They know we’re not who they thought we were. They intend to find out who we are before they kill us.’

‘
Wonderful,’ said Mervin drily. ‘Why?’

‘
We’re seen as a possible threat and a hindrance.’

‘
Any suggestions you have would be most welcome,’ said Mervin, wondering if he should fire a couple of bolts into their hull or send a few flaming arrows across their deck.

‘
That would certainly be exciting,’ said Eibhear, grinning at Mervin’s thoughts.

‘
Maybe we can persuade them that we just want to go home, before they try to kill us. I doubt they can get all of us with those spears, though they might take a few of us down if they get much closer.’

‘
From what I can sense of their thoughts, they also have a type of short sword, perhaps you’d say a huge knife, hidden under their clothing.’

Mervin
gave a nod in acknowledgement. As the small boat approached he could see a woman who appeared to be the Captain of the vessel standing at the bow. The wind blew her sun-lightened hair around her face, momentarily hiding the swarm of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She was dressed in green, the exact shade the boat was painted and she was standing so still that Gillam knew from a distance she would be very difficult to see. Her feet were bare and her trousers were cut off just below her knees. Her shirt was of the same fabric as her trousers; a simple tunic with cut away sleeves showing the wiry muscles of her sun browned arms. The other men and women on the boat were dressed similarly as though their clothing was a type of uniform, or perhaps simply advantageous if one didn’t wish to be easily seen. They began to mutter to each other as their boat drew near to the Alkiran ship. The woman made a slicing motion with her hand and instantly all murmuring ceased.

‘
Saldriquel addi neevwanch
?’ the woman shouted demandingly towards the Alkiran ship, and instantly dozens of short swords with leaf shaped blades were drawn.

‘
What does she want?’ Mervin whispered urgently.

‘
I’m not sure exactly what she said, but in her heart she wants to know who we are and why we are here,’ said Rudiger, moving forward to stand beside Mervin and Dale. ‘I think the question might have been ‘Who are you?’ but I can’t be entirely sure.’ He frowned as he looked at the woman’s face and Dale could sense confusion coming from the warrior. Rudiger glanced at Eibhear, and Eibhear gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

‘
Why then, are they all waving swords at us?’ asked Mervin, missing the exchange.

‘
We’ll probably find out if we don’t answer her soon,’ said Rudiger. ‘I can try to convince her that we’re friendly, if you wish...if I can successfully communicate with her.’

‘
Yes. Try!’ Mervin said adamantly.

Everyone watched uneasily as Rudiger moved forward and stared down at the woman at the bow of the small boat. A small cry of alarm escaped her lips before she took control of her emotions and
glared back at Rudiger in fright. After several minutes she seemed to relax slightly.

‘
Well?’ Captain Mervin was feeling frustrated and for a moment he wished he possessed the ability of the fallen and the guardians to communicate by thought. Rudiger turned to face him.

‘
The woman is their commander. Her name is Kielamih...no, I think that’s her title. She says we can remain here as her prisoners or we can die. We may choose.’

‘
Can we sink her now?’ asked Colin, under his breath.

Mervin
frowned. ‘Explain to her that we lost our way and simply wish to go home.’

‘
Popreshel!’ The cry came from the smaller vessel before Rudiger or Eibhear could act on the captain’s command. There was a confused pause, and then sailors on all sides of Dale started falling to the deck.

‘
Defend!’ Dale shouted, but no-one seemed able to react. Several sailors simply stood staring around, seemingly bewildered by their comrades actions. Dale dashed forward to where Captain Mervin stood gazing blankly ahead. He waved his hand frantically in front of the Captain’s face. ‘Eibhear! Is anyone acting normal besides you and me?’ he cried, shocked by the sudden incapacitation of the shipmates.