Chapter 19

Boreas. That was the name of our ketch. An odd name for a ketch which had two masts, unlike the one-masted sloop I had sailed up and down the Long River. I made sure not to show my insecurity to anybody, and since there was enough wind, we were able to leave the Aston river mouth with mizzen only. With the little merchandise we had the ship felt almost too responsive to the wind, and considering the fact that the things I didn’t know about rigging would have filled several books ... I really hoped that ‘Boreas’ would behave just as well as was promised.

A part of me was terrified, but for some reason I was also grinning. Among the books I had stolen had been two thick books about sailing boats, their hulls, rigging - and even the positioning of the cannons! At least there was one thing I didn’t need to worry about in this little ketch. Truthfully, even though our ketch was small, it would have been a whole lot easier if we had more people working with sails and other things. Now we had to plan our trip north in such way that we could get some rest during the nights - and hope that it would not get stormy with changing wind!

At least there was a winch for the anchor; since I was quite sure that we were going to spend at least some nights securely anchored.

“You must really like this, Stian. You have been smiling constantly, lately.”

Kara’s statement took me by surprise - and then not. I had been smiling and I had been surprisingly happy here, steering this little ketch northward. I had been happy, even if it had occasionally rained and I had been soaked. It was not the fact that I would have a full control over our ketch, Boreas, since I knew quite well that I didn’t. I knew barely enough to use medium sail and I was just able to read the charts and instructions given to us to stay relatively safe. It took Kara’s words to make me realize that I had usually felt this content only when I had been able to be at the forest, alone.

“I guess you are right, Kara. Sorry about that.”

The use of the Old Language told Kara that I was telling the truth. I was sorry that I looked too happy, since this trip wasn’t all that easy, especially for a pregnant woman. However, Kara shook her head and looked almost a bit annoyed, most likely at me.

“You don’t need to be sorry. It’s just that this is the first time ever I’ve really seen you like that, maybe except for some short moments in the middle of winter next to the bogs ... You really liked it out there and you like it here, in the middle of nowhere.”

For a brief moment I felt angry for exposing myself in this way to Kara, but almost immediately I recognized the stupidity of that. Even if deep within me I didn’t really trust Kara yet, it would still be stupid to be angry that she saw this side of me. After all, she already was carrying our child and everybody else considered her as part of our family. Even everybody else in my family. Maybe Kara wasn’t the problem, maybe I was. I shook away those thoughts suddenly found myself speaking.

“Maybe it’s because here I there’s no need to limit what I’m sensing around us, or maybe I just like sailing...” I smiled and looked around before continuing.

“In a way you’re wrong, Kara, since we aren’t alone here. Have not been for a while. There are at least a few whales on the starboard side of the boat and they have been getting closer to us little by little.”

By now both Kara and Hantaliel were well familiar with the terms starboard and port as sides of the boat just as they knew the names of the masts and the different kinds of sails we had. Teaching some of that to them also meant that I had had to re-learn them myself. After one week of sailing we had quickly visited one harbor in order to get some fresh supplies and water, but otherwise we had been heading north-east. Not that fast, but safely and steadily - and this far, the sometimes quite unpredictable autumn weather had supported us.

Then I released my right hand from the big wooden helm and pointed to the sea on the right - starboard - side of our ketch.

“See there, Kara. Occasionally you can see water bursts and if you are lucky, also some whale’s tails. Those whales have been following us for some time now.”

Just when I had said that, there was a burst of water visible and soon afterwards a large tail could be seen on the surface. I hadn’t said it to Kara, but I had been able to sense those whales before seeing them. To me, those large animals were something unique, something different. I knew that there were whale hunters running somewhere in the seas, but the whole thought of killing those mighty and obviously intelligent beings made me feel sick. Somehow I knew that it was a family that was following us and they were curious about us.

For some time both Kara and Hantaliel kept looking at those magnificent beings that came a bit closer to us, like they wanted to be seen. I wasn’t able to sense anything magical from these whales, but yet their signature was something different, almost soothing. It was like swimming through the cold and clean waters of the sea would wash away any possible trouble there could be.

Three days later I started to feel that we were in trouble, or at least on our way towards trouble. It didn’t feel fair, since now we had the islands I wanted to reach in sight, but the weather had suddenly turned bad - and then worse. The isles that had been in sight had suddenly disappeared behind mist and even if we had just passed mid-day it was getting dark. At least I had a compass, and I knew which way to go. I would really hate to miss the islands now - besides, we could use some fresh water. Of course, we could collect the rain, but the sea was getting so rough that there would be some salty sea water with any water we would try collect.

“Are you sure that we can continue, Stian?”

Hantaliel didn’t sound accusing and she was actually quite calm when she asked that question. I could not remember when I had seen that normally very silent woman ever looking distressed or overly worried. She was calmer and more balanced than anybody else I knew, and I had learned that when she said something you’d better listen. I listened and thought about her question.

“If we turn around, there will be no shelter near the coastline and our only real option would be to go with the wind - and this weather can last for days. We could lose a week there.”

“Do you think you can handle this ship?”

Could I, really? We had gotten this far without problems partly because of the excellent charts I had gotten from my friends, but those charts had only gotten us this far. There were no charts for these islands. Normally only ‘The Old Folks’ sailed to their harbors and I hadn’t seen any boat or ship that I could have followed. I guessed that only idiots or desperate people would sail in this worsening weather. Since we weren’t desperate, we had to be ... I stopped that line of thought.

“With the help of you two, yes - I think I can. However, it may mean that either or both of you will take the helm while I handle the sails.”

Hantaliel just looked at me, nodded - and smiled.

Sometime later I forced myself to remember that smile when the weather had turned even worse and we were struggling forward against the wind that wanted to push us to the side of the island where I didn’t want us to go. The fact that I didn’t have the charts did not mean that I was totally unprepared. There were some old sailors who had visited these islands and some of them had even written down some basic facts about getting there. So, at the moment, the southern side of the island might seem that it offered some protection against the northern wind. The shelter from the wind might make you happy for a moment - until the bottom of your boat or ship would crash against the sharp rocks that formed a long arm south from the island itself.

As we struggled against the wind while keeping my eye in the compass, I carefully used my sensing towards the island and I was slightly surprised that I was actually able to sense something - but what I sensed was coming much further from the left side than I had estimated. For a moment I was confused but suddenly I realized something. It wasn’t just the wind that was against us, there was also a drift. A strong drift. Drift that was pushing us towards the shallows on the southern side of this first island!

I would have liked to curse my own stupidity, but I wasn’t sure if there was any time for that. I tried to remember what I remembered about the shallows and yelled to Hantaliel and Kara.

“Hantaliel, Kara - come to the helm, we need to turn around.”

As soon as the women got there I gave them instructions.

“We need to take a sharp turn against the wind and go back a bit. We are heading to the shallows! The turn needs to be sharp, on my mark!”

As soon as I had said that I ran to the lines that held the sails. As soon as I had them ready in my hands, I turned my head and shouted over my shoulder: “One, two, NOW!”

For a moment I was sure that we would not make it, that our ketch would not turn. But luckily this little ship was just as sea-worthy and well-behaved as was promised, and it started to turn and then I was in a hurry with the moving boom and the sails. For a moment, I was holding the sheets with burning hands when I waited for our boat to stabilize to its new course.