Chapter 32: Trouble

Tom was correct, and we did arrive in Weston just after lunch.

He followed Reilly’s directions and ended up pulled up on a nice wide dock over to the southern side of the long bay. It was a little removed from the other docks, but as he explained, they were considered a higher end market area these days.

The area had once been a big meat works, which was why they had the separate dock and sale pens for livestock. With the changes in population, the meatworks moved further north as it seemed it was on the wrong end of town for the prevailing winds.

Reilly’s father had replaced some of the buildings and built the new homes and the store. Jack’s side mostly dealt in breeding livestock such as I had on board our ship. If we’re bringing more meat for the markets, they will get the ship to shift to the other dock to unload, but Jack could handle the sales here first.

They dock cost them a lot to lease for a fifty-years, but the savings in unloading the ships here rather than transporting their wares from the other wharfs was made it worthwhile. They did take produce from the other ships, but they just moved over here now to unload it.

For livestock, in particular, it was much easier for the Captains to keep the animals on board, as they didn’t have to pay for yard space. The animals still had to be inspected and pass the vets certification before they can come off a ship these days. They had gotten a lot stricter.

Jack met us at the dock, “Hello,” he called as the gangplank was lowered. “I’m sorry, but this is a private dock, you can’t unload here,” he told Captain Hail.

Hail grinned at him, “We know. I have a special delivery.”

Reilly helped the very pregnant Sandy to the gangplank, and she beamed at Jack, “Jack, have we got some surprises for you,” she told him.

Jack smiled at her, “You’re better! I can see it. You are glowing with good heath, dear sister. Jancy will be greatly relieved. I agree, good Captain. You have indeed delivered something very special.”

Jack turned to look at me. He gave me a curious look and then bowed, “My Lord.”

I found his action odd. He stopped when he reached Reilly and Sandy. He hugged his brother and gave Sandy a kiss on her cheek. Jack helped with getting Sandy down the gangplank and they had a whispered discussion. He sent several looks my way.

I chuckled when he I heard him say, “What!” He looked at me incredulously and then back at Sandy. Sandy’s pretty laugh tinkled out, and she turned and waved to me to me to come to her. I joined the trio. I was dutifully introduced to the stunned Jack.

“Every merchant in town has been told you’re coming here, my Lord. I don’t think they expect you for days yet. Oh my, Sir Smithers is going to have a calf, when he finds out you’re dealing with us,” Jack said with delight.

“Well, you can always explain that family has to deal with family first,” I commented.

“Lady Smithers is going to get her nose put right out of joint when she realises Sandy is the sister to the King of Two Counties,” Jack said.

It was my turn to say, “What!” I tried to explain that I was just the High Mage of two cities, that was all.

“And the largest island on Amity,” Sandy added with a smirk.

Well, I couldn’t dispute that fact. As far as I knew, I was the High bloody mage of Federation too, not that I’d ever admit to it. Other than Ochre City, I really didn’t care about the rest of Federation. I had enough problems looking after the people who claimed my time now.

One of Reilly’s foremen came over, and I was introduced to Matte. He scurried off to find the Vet and the Produce Inspector. He collared a couple of men to go find cabs for our passengers.

Trixi, the Captain, Rose, Silver, Harry and Sable came down to meet Jack, and we were given a quick tour of their facilities. We explained we only had half the produce and Jack waved it away saying it was better than getting none.

He mentioned one of the other grain stores in town was flooded the day before. The big storm we had been worried about had apparently twisted around after it brushed by Inis City and came across the land to the north of Weston. One of the major rivers, the Torrent, was fed from that direction and they’d had flooding.

I was glad we were diverted to Inis City as we missed the worst of the rain by staying there as long as we had. I mentioned to Hail that I might to need to spell some boxes for him. Ochre had an entire silo of wheat and oats from the last harvest, and they were going to be dumped, as they had new fields planted.

Reilly looked at me horrified. “They just dump it?”

I explained the androids ran according to certain programming. They planted, they harvested. If the silos were full, they recycled the old grain and then replace it with fresh grain. While the new population was growing, the androids still planted to how many inhabitants, they should have, not what they did have.

“Lord Bron, you wouldn’t wish to buy another ship would you?” Tomas asked me. “The Pity is primarily a grain ship. She needs a little work, but she is going cheap. As I told you last night, I just can’t afford to keep running her. I had another partner, but he took off and left me with the debts.”

“Would you still operate it if it was part of my company?” I asked.

“Sure, I love being a Captain, but I’m not as good as a manager. That’s why I’m in the trouble that I’m in,” he told me.

I looked at Hail, “Do want to go see if I can get it shipshape so it can leave with you?”

“Sure, if we are running back mostly empty and with no livestock, I can lend him half my crew. Dazzle can find us a few good people for him,” Hail said.

As we were talking, four cabbies turned up to pick up our passengers. Since one was for Tomas, Hail and Dazzle left with him to go look at his ship. We saw off the others. The Professor had asked before he left how he could book passage if he wanted to travel with us again.

I looked at Sandy, “Hail will let the Dover’s know when he is due. I think the Imp can take about a dozen people as well. Sandy, you will know if they will take the passenger or not.”

The Professor smiled, “It may seem a little elitist you selecting your passengers but at least I know I can be one. I’d like to travel back to Ochre with you. I believe you said about five weeks at the earliest?” I nodded in reply.

“Excellent, Madame Dover I will check with you closer to the time. It has been a pleasure meeting you all.” He happily got in his cab.

The family and the other couple thanked us and got into their cabs.

The Vet and the Inspector arrived by lanky.

Vet Olson was not much older than Trixi, and he knew the Dover’s well, he happily greeted us. Inspector Rexel was of a different disposition. He ran his eye over me and harrumphed. ‘This didn’t bode well, ‘ I thought.

Introductions were made, and Rose and I took the men aboard with Albi, Jack and Reilly. Sandy took Trixi, Foxi, Harry and Sable to her home. We’d meet her there later.

Inspector Rexel gave Rose several side glances and finally said, “I though only the King could have androids?”

“Well, since the zooids are people in their own right and they don’t belong to anyone, then I don’t see the problem,” I replied.

“Yes, well, he many think differently,” Inspector Rexel replied. “We have special laws here concerning androids. The only ones we have, live in the Palace.”

“As I said, my clerk and the crew are not ordinary androids. They are zooids. Rose is from Horn City, and Silver and the crew of this ship are from Ochre City.”

“Giving them a fancy name won’t make a difference. I will have to report them,” he said.

“I was unaware this city practised racial discrimination. If I had known that, I wouldn’t have come here. How does your King control his androids?” I asked.

Rexel replied, “He is a mage so he can control them. He has lesser mages who oversee them. Only a mage or a novice can. If they get loose, they start behaving strangely. At least they do return to the Palace.”

“Yes, you don’t have a controller, do you? I suspect the current Palace is the old citadel, if they return there to recharge. The androids will revert to their last programme. It must be annoying to have androids roaming around town cleaning and fixing things for free,” Rose replied.

I chuckled, “Oh yes, the people of Horn City were terrified of your people, weren’t they Rose. Fancy having people cleaning and repairing the streets, and not expecting to be paid. And how dare they fix and paint buildings and help people load and unload their carts without being asked. It was frightening.”

Vet Olson chimed in, “Is that what they do? The guilds wouldn’t like that at all. They’d go broke. I had a huge pothole outside my surgery, and they wanted to charge me a ques to have it fixed since it was an inconvenience to me. The fact it inconvenienced everyone else wasn’t the issue. I was the one to complain, so I had to pay to get it fixed.”

“Did they fix it?” Rose asked.

“Not until I paid,” Olson grumbled.

“It’s a wonder anyone gets anything fixed,” I replied.

“The King only gets concerned if it annoys him,” Reilly added.

“You need to be careful Master Dover, walls have ears,” Rexel said dourly.

“How long do you think it will take the King to have one of his lackeys down here once he hears Lord Horn has arrived?” Reilly asked.

“He probably already knows. If my office does, he does,” Rexel replied.

“Will that affect me selling my produce and livestock?” I asked.

Rexel gave me one of the first smiles I have seen him make, “Matte was smart enough to come to me first.” He held up his left hand to show me a ring. “I got mine in Trenton from the Mages Guild. Lord Hugo gave it to me himself. It has Lore and Nature.”

“I’m one of the most respected mages in this city. If I pass your produce and agree with Olsen on your livestock, then none will dare say otherwise. It can’t be impounded, nor sold on later after they send you broke or away. There are some people in my office that I wouldn’t trust as far as I could throw them.”

“That’s why I told Matte to only talk to you and to get Vet Olsen,” Reilly said with a smirk.

We had entered one of the holds, and I’d opened a cold room for Rexel. He looked in and then looked at Reilly, “You’re as canny as your dad was. You may, however, need extra guards if you have this produce in your store.”

“Oh, my goodness what is that smell?” He wandered down the shelves and pulled down one of Cavil’s cheeses. He sniffed deeply. “If that tastes half as good as it smells,” he said.

“Better,” Albi replied. “Bron did these platters so the buyers could taste his fruits and dairy products. I’m sure he got double the prices simply because he did that. He makes this peach and honey yoghurt that is to die for.”

I chuckled and pulled out one of the little containers we used to put my yoghurt in and handed it to Rexel. He took the lid off and sniffed. He dipped a finger and then touched the yoghurt to his tongue. A moment later, he shoved his finger into his mouth to suck the rest of it, before dipping it back into the container.

“Take it off my bill,” he said and happily kept dipping and licking.

He stopped long enough to say, “You have very strong preservation spells on this ship. I felt a few others, but I couldn’t work out what they did,” he said me as we walked around looking at what else I had. He didn’t look real hard except to examine anything interesting that caught his eye. That happened quite often.

We headed to the livestock as I got the impression Rexel wasn’t worried about my produce. I answered, “Yes. It was an accident actually. Silver left me a copy of a couple of spells to put on the cold rooms. I’d encounter and learnt a different preservation spell, so I did all of them.”

“The zooids had placed some crystals, and then I had added more not realising it. So as a result, the whole ship is included in the spells. One spell also neutralises what Silver said was called bacteria. Apparently, some of it is good and some bad. The bad ones are what send the food off.”

“They are very tiny and on everything. If you had any bad ones on you, when you came aboard, you now don’t. These bad bacteria are what can make people and animals sick if they eat infected food. Other spells also protect the ship from fire and damage. And one makes her travel faster.”

Rexel had kindly let Olsen take a taste of the yoghurt, and both men had agreed it was delicious. Rexel, however, made sure he finished it. We all had to smile, and I let them into the animal hold. We stood back and let the two men wander down the aisles.

“Hey! I haven’t seen snufflers in a long time,” Olsen said happily.

“You have seen them before? Do they have them here?” I asked.

“No, we had some plague here before I was born that wiped them out. No one has bothered to go to Federation to bring anymore here. I went on a trip there with my father about ten years ago, but he wouldn’t let me bring one back with me.”

“Don’t tell me there is a law that prevents me selling them here?” I said.

Rexel looked thoughtful, “I’ll check for you. I remember the plague. I was very young at the time. It didn’t just affect the snufflers. It affected everyone, cattle, woollies and lankys too. We lost about one twentieth of the population at the time.”

“That was when the old King passed away. It would be closer to thirty years ago now. It was rumoured he was fed pork that had been spelled. Then the kitchen servants got sick with a bad cough. They infected the stock at the Palace, and it went from there. Very nasty business,” Rexel said.

“I wondered why it affected the snufflers the most,” I asked allowed.

Rose said, “The spell to kill the king may have been placed on an animal that was already sick. It would have affected the other snufflers too quickly for them build up immunity to the altered disease.”

“The disease then jumped to species that were like the snufflers. So it infected the other animals but was slower taking hold. Humans tend to be carriers but may not always get sick, so they probably did spread it. It was possibly the reason why they and the other animals didn’t get as sick. I’d be curious to know how many of the King’s relatives got sick.”

“Will it affect my snufflers?” I asked concerned.

“No, not these animals. Peach has conducted tests on the animals that came off your ship the first time. Your original spells on the hold were effective. Even the progeny have very high immune systems. The King may not buy your snufflers, but I think other people will.”

“Well if they don’t, Hail can drop them back off to Rexi’s. I’m sure she will be happy to purchase them from us,” I replied.

Rexel looked at my cluckers. “What are they?” he asked intrigued.

Rose happily explained while Albi and I watched Olsen. He was inspecting one of the longhorns. He turned to me, “This is an excellent animal. You could fill this hold, and they would still sell. As breeding stock, they will be very sought after.” He climbed out of the pen.

I turned as Coppa came up to me. “Bron there are two men yelling at the ship. They don’t seem to be able to come aboard,” she said with mirth in her voice.

“Why not?” Olsen asked.

“Mercy doesn’t like them, and I can’t say I blame her. They have very foul mouths,” Coppa replied indignantly on Mercy’s behalf.

“Your androids really are different,” Rexel said looking at Coppa.

I had to smile as she had taken to wearing a bright copper one-piece suit she calls overalls with a hat similar to a herders hat. Most of the others wore the suits in their favourite colour as well. Rose and Silver both looked good in theirs. I loved Rose’s Pink hat. Silver’s was black but had a silver band.

“I told you, they aren’t normal androids. They have feelings and are independent thinkers. They are their own race even if not made of flesh like us,” I replied. “We had better go see who I’ve upset.”

We headed up to the top deck and approached the gangplank. The two men were standing at the bottom arguing with each other. It seemed they couldn’t even stand on it. I noted the fussy carriage and the six soldiers they had with them. They hadn’t got off their Lankys and were watching the men dispassionately.

Upon spying me, one of the men yelled angrily, “What is the meaning of this? You can’t stop an Officer of the Crown from accessing your ship.”

“I’m not stopping you,” I replied, but I didn’t go down the plank. I waved my hand as if to invite them aboard. He tried to step on the gangplank, but his foot slipped to the side. One of the soldiers snickered quietly.

I pointed to him, “You sir, please show these men how to come up a gangplank.”

He looked at me and got off his Lanky. He dropped the reins as he approached the plank and walked up to me. He didn’t hesitate in his steps. “Greetings,” he said. “I’ve heard some very fanciful tales about you, Lord Horn. I’m Captain of the Guard, Andy Tylor.”

“Welcome aboard Andy. Can you tell me what those men want? Mercy doesn’t like them, so she won’t let them board her,” I explained.

“Inspector Rexel and Vet Olsen didn’t seem to have the same problem either I can see,” he chuckled. “It seems those two have been sent to collect you. The King wishes to speak with you.”

“How nice of him to invite me to visit. Was that a demand or a polite wish that was to be issued?” I asked.

“More like the first option. I hope you have learnt how to escape prison cells,” he added more quietly.

“What law have I broken?” I asked also keeping my voice low.

“That is a good question. I’m sure they will find one,” he replied.

I raised my voice, “It seems I’m not welcome here. I’m sorry Reilly. It is a shame we can’t do business after all. We shall leave and go back to visit with my mother-in-law, Queen Mary,” I said.

The two men looked at me stunned. Apparently, they weren’t privy to this bit of news. The one who spoke before bristled and said in disbelief, “You can’t ignore a summons from the King.”

“I am not under this King’s laws, as long as I’m aboard my ship. I am a Lord in my own right and son-in-law to a neighbouring Queen. Hence, I am covered by the rights of a visiting dignitary. Queen Mary assured me that Weston has this law, and it covers me,” I said with self-importance.

They looked a little stunned that I was telling them their own laws. “If the King will provide me with a signed letter assuring me of the safety of me, my family and crew I may be inclined to come and dine with him this evening.”

“Please include my spouse Princess Trixi and her sister Princess Foxi. My sister, her husband and Lord Aston’s son Albi, would like to join us too. Else we will leave with all of our produce on board,” I told them in no uncertain terms.

“They may try to block your ship with the Navy,” Andy said quietly.

“Let them try,” I said emotionlessly. “Do you know much about what a threatened High Mage can do?” I asked him with a cool stare.

“No, and I don’t want to know either. I’ll go talk to them, Lord Horn,” he said. He bowed low, turned and walked down the plank.

When he reached the two men, he said, “Go get the letter you fools. He isn’t some cowering foreign captain or a green boy that you are dealing with. He is the King of Two bloody Cities and a member of Queen Mary’s family. Do you honestly think he got that way by letting lackeys like you talk down to him?”

The two men looked at the Captain of the Guard in shock. I got the impression he didn’t normally talk to them that way. They hurried to the coach, got in and left. He sauntered back and came aboard. “Now, I heard this rumour you have some spanking good lankys on board, my Lord.”

“Prince Andy, you are very naughty. Your father won’t be pleased when they report back,” Rexel admonished him.

“My dear mentor, you know as well as I do that I’ve already given Lord Horn my protection. Even my father won’t gainsay it. I may not be his favourite child, but I am his heir even if a lowly shifter. So my Lord, while you lead the way, tell me how you won my cousin Trixi?”

“Cousin?” I enquired as I started walking back to the hold.