Chapter 4

I greeted dawn from the deck of our dragon ship in the shipyard, watching the yellow glow break from a distant cloud. It was peaceful view. Sea birds chased each other over the sand dunes; fishermen were carrying their light boats to the edge of the water and preparing for their day. The roar of the waves breaking against the beach was charming. These were the few moments of my day that were solely mine, uplifting and relaxing me.

Only a few shipwrights walked the wet sands below me, since we didn’t require the guest workers to arrive at the construction site until we could see the bottom of the sun touching the sea. It was one of their favorite perks of the job; our local men prided themselves on being on site at the touch of dawn and those men were the supervisors. This ship was nearly done but we had no end of orders for more from the owner of the Lady of Truth. Derwen owned the largest shipping company in Convey and she loved the speed of the lateen rigging. The triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, which allowed a vessel to attack the wind better than the square-rigged cogs.

The need for fast freight ships that ran circles around fat merchants was a vicious cycle. Ever since we had floated our second ship, a fair number of experienced shipbuilders from Convey had sworn loyalty to our clan. They had a number of reasons to take up my banner, other than the money. For some it was the excitement of the new ship design that doomed the lumbering cogs to extinction. Other men moved to our town for family reasons, leaving the war-torn northern cities of the Isle of Convey to come under my protection. Lastly, some were escaping debt and it was convenient to start over in a wilderness town. Whether the problem was a lord or a loan shark, it was difficult to track a man who disappeared from a city, let alone across a sea. In the end, new ship construction fed our local economy and helped to grow the town.

My musing were scattered by a familiar voice. I peeked over the bow’s railing and saw Merritt talking to a foreman who then pointed up at me. In the dim light we could hardly see each other.

“Von! When I went to Swarta’s tower I was surprised you weren’t there,” she shouted.

“You’re up early.”

“Baby duty,” Merritt answered back. “Auntie Swarta wanted to look after our baby today. Isn’t that sweet? She is such a wonderful co-wife. I called her last night.”

“Hang on. I’m coming down.”

Before getting too far, our shipbuilding supply chief stopped me. “Milord, I thought you should know the last barge from the warehouse didn’t load any oil of turpentine. We do have enough for today’s work and I took the liberty of using a wizard apprentice to contact the warehouse scribe so that they will make the turpentine a priority item for this morning’s delivery.”

“Good work on using a magic mirror instead of a messenger boat. We can’t have our latest dragon leaking because we didn’t apply the oil,” I answered. He bowed and disappeared towards the ship’s stern.

We imported most of the turpentine from Convey from one of Derwen’s neighbors. However, small land owners around Fort Revenge produced pine tar as a cash crop too. We knew a few enterprising people who had started a business, using tree stumps as a source material to create turpentine. They dug up and cleaned the roots of the pine trees in late summer. The tar workers then transported the roots in carts to their burn site. There they split and stacked the wood to weather the winter. The workers used special kilns to burn the wood and extract the wood turpentine. It was only seasonal work for them, creating 500 hundred gallons at most. I wasn’t sure the people we knew processed more than four cords of wood a season. Nevertheless, because of the strong odor from the after product I wouldn’t allow such kilns in Juniper Hills. I was happy to keep the industrialized businesses of coal, mirror making, wood tar and rubber vulcanization at a distance from town.

Also, it fitted my plan to develop a string of interlinked hamlets all the way to Fort Revenge, so we could keep the size of Juniper Hills under control. Since the Great Marsh bordered the back of our butte and protected access to us all the way west to the braided river at Fort Revenge, I had claimed all the elevated and dry land in the area. East of us was swamp land; it stretched all the way to Conquest Point and if the sea winds were favorable that was a day’s travel for a merchant cog.

Before I stepped on the sand Merritt saw me; she started to jump up and down excitedly.

It was clear to me Merritt was on some mission, but I didn’t want the men hearing whatever screwy idea she had before I vetted it. She casually threw out ideas all the time in the hearing of townsmen, starting rumors and some disappointment if the project didn’t get approved. Most of them were good ideas, but not every off-world idea should leak out. Merritt had fully embraced her new life and she loved seeing projects that improved the lives of our citizens.

Merritt waited at the bottom of the ramp that connected the ship to the ground. “Von, we need to do something about my sister. She needs a project.”

I kissed her good morning, which temporarily stopped further words. The foreman climbed a ladder next to us to hammer something, so I pulled my wife away and led her down the beach for some privacy. In recent months the fishermen had taken to storing their boats further away from the shipyard, so we walked west along the edge of the water where the breaking water covered the sound of our steps.

“I had an idea last night. Kate has moaned about not having anything important to do,” Merritt explained, sliding her fingers into mine as we strolled. “It would be great for the town and for my sister.”

Her enthusiasm was complete with the animated waving of her free hand. I pulled her in and captured the waving hand in mine, facing her and the sea.

“See, I’m excited,” she said with a broad grin.

“Slow down.”

“I remembered you lamenting that there is no protective harbor for your boats. Last night, I saw a cargo hauler moving a large boulder, and then it came to me. Why don’t we take boulders and drop them into the sea to make a breakwater? East of town there is that whole area on the moor that is full of boulders,” Merritt explained excitedly. “Juniper Hills could have an artificial harbor.”

“We cannot load hundreds of boulders on the cargo haulers and walk them into the sea,” I answered.

“No, No. Think bigger, think Kate. We could use the shuttle.”

“We are hiding the shuttle from our people. Opening the cargo door and dropping a rock will break its stealth protection,” I countered.

She laughed at me. “I thought all about that. We should do it at night and rig up the external antigravity projector to hold the boulders. Julia would go ballistic if you messed up the cargo bay.”

“Julia is still engineering new structures on the butte,” I answered.

“Now you are just looking for obstacles. The idea is valid and workable. It will give my sister something to do. She loves to fly and we don’t use the shuttle that much. The baby does keep her busy but Kate needs more. Julia will do anything to keep Kate happy, so that isn’t a real concern. However, it will take some effort to refocus the projectors and make a containment field,” Merritt said, taking one of her hands and putting it on my chest.

I could picture a semi-circle of boulders with a small mouth for dragon ships and fishing boats. The protective barrier idea had merit. “It might work if Kate flew on moonless nights that were cloud covered.”

“That’s the spirit. It’s a good idea,” Merritt claimed. “Even if people saw flying boulders they would assume it was you working your magic like the grand wizard you are.”

“Yes, if our pilot and engineer can work out the technical side of it,” I offered.

“I deserve a kiss,” Merritt demanded.

“Here is a well-deserved one,” I agreed, kissing her more than a few times.

Given her circumstances, Kate jumped at Merritt’s idea to build a breakwater. She enlisted our engineer’s help, which was required for the shuttle’s conversion to a “rock dropper.” After a day of heavy calculations, aided by our resident A.I., they announced the project was feasible. Kate’s sullenness disappeared and excitement bubbled back into her veins, removing the last remnants of her depression. Julia looked at the high-tech challenge with similar exuberance, time and again praising Merritt for the idea.

We devoted our time to the technical struggle, and by week’s end all the antigravity modules had been repositioned and calibrated to lift massive boulders. I used my own time to work on the dragon ship in the morning, and I accompanied Aberdeen in the afternoon. Each day we would picnic at Lovers’ Rock, wearing a wider and wider trail on the difficult track. I kept the voyeuristic secret, not bothering to mention to Aberdeen that our teen chaperons watched the daily tryst. In all honesty, the watchers made my experience with Tharin’s wife more intense and helped wash away any thought of my friend.

Luna was married to Tharin too, so our activities were well understood. Brook was another matter; she had schooled herself at night with a few years of sneaking around to watch me with Hazel and Celine. Both wives were well aware of her and considered it part of a single woman’s education, which was something of a tradition among marsh women. Those nomadic people normally lived in small huts with little privacy. Indeed, it was Brook’s mother’s approval and their tribe’s custom that removed any concern about advancing the teen’s education under the light of day. Besides, I felt it was smart to allow them to practice their wilderness tracking skills.

It turned out that taking care of business in the afternoon was good timing, for we had a record week of nightly births; a child arrived shortly after dinner each night. The seven merchant daughters, as they were called by Swarta and Laudus, who had arrived from Convey more than a year ago, had their babies one after another. The timing didn’t feel like a coincidence to me. I saw Webster’s hand in the mix, which he confirmed to me in private; he wanted a series of ‘data’ files with the same timestamp for each day of the week.

He was a character, always stretching his influence when he could. Nevertheless, it was remarkable to me that a computer was entertaining himself with log entries, using medical nanomites that forced contractions on a particular set of women. In fairness, I knew he monitored their health and he would not harm them, but I felt right to be indignant about his behavior.

Of course, each mother required my attendance during the process, not that I minded. It was a happy occasion and I was the official breathing coach. All the tower women thought my adorable vigil was remarkable for a man. Haven men didn’t get involved in midwifery. Anyway, I lay there with each mother after the fact, comforting and praising her. Expectant mothers only hoped to survive their child’s birth; across the planet childbirth had a terrible mortality record, but Webster’s medical nanomites made all the difference and I received the credit. Palus made sure of that. As the chief midwife for our clan, she delivered my children. Before, during and after the birth she spoke one mantra, “Our white wizard is here, so don’t worry. He has a perfect record. None of his women die in labor or after it. His body magic is Moon Mother’s gift to you, serve him well and often. You could not have found a better protector.” Merritt told me it wasn’t wise to correct the perception when the new mother needed emotional support, cuddling and reassurance. I didn’t argue the matter. To my Haven women, I was their kiss of life.

Strangely, Brook and Luna begged to attend the births. Aberdeen had no particular interest, probably because she already had children from a former lover; it was Tharin who wanted an heir.

After the births, like everyone else, they exuded high-voltage smiles. Of the two, Brook became a little weepy when she saw the child drop into my hands from the birth canal. I didn’t blame her for getting caught up in the emotions. It did, however, show a gentle tenderness that touched me.

After the seventh birth, when we left the birthing chamber with the attending women, Brook said, “I am bursting with happiness for you.” She hugged me unreservedly, while my hand was still clasped in Swarta’s.

“It’s amazing to see the baby’s white aura erupt from her mother. One day you’ll see it for yourself and your joy will sing ten-fold,” Swarta responded.

“My mother said something similar after having Lord Solon’s twins.”

“Yes, Hazel hasn’t been the same since that day,” Swarta commented. “Not that she isn’t proud of you. Your mother often praises your healing exploits to Von and me.”

“It’s only training,” Brook answered, looking embarrassed. “But, I have passed Merritt’s level two first-aid videos. The magic mirror is a true wonder.”

“I haven’t taken any of those courses, so I can say I am proud of you,” Swarta continued.

Brook dodged the praise and asked me, “How does it feel to have seven new babies this week?” The other women in the hallway stopped what they were talking about to listen.

I kissed her forehead, and then reached for a heartfelt answer. “I still marvel at the beautiful treasure each woman has birthed for us. The aura of a baby melding with her mother for the first time illustrates a wonder that humbles me. It’s a beautiful love that warms me deeply with awe. I know you can’t see it yet, but it is like that satisfying feeling of fresh air flowing from an open window into a room of stale air. Your lungs are refreshed, your skin tingles from the cool pleasure and your soul is renewed by something bigger than yourself.”