Chapter 28

It was the following morning when we raised our sails and left the safety of the harbor. The man who had helped us find this fishing boat came to see us and he looked at us as though he was sure that it would be the last time he saw us. Well, if everything went right, this would be the last time he saw us. I hoped that, with Tofi’s skills, we would be able to find a safe harbor somewhere north of this town.

By late afternoon, we had failed four times. Well, we hadn’t completely failed since we were still afloat, but twice it had been way too close for my liking, and without Tofi’s skills we would have failed already - and that wasn’t because of his sensing abilities, but because of the way he was able to handle the boat. Tofi didn’t say anything, but after the second time, I was could see that he, too, was worried if we would be able to sail against the wind and the waves. Only his skills at the helm and the way he had trained me with the sails allowed us to find our way back to the open sea.

One other place had looked and sensed was promising, but I was able to sense that there was either a small village or at least a few houses too close. If anybody would notice anything, there would be rumors, even in this remote area, and we could not allow that.

“Tofi, there cannot be more than one more try today, and then we need to find a shelter. If more tries are like the last one it may be too much.”

“So, hunter boy, who is soft now?”

After correcting the boat roll after two higher waves, Tofi turned serious and nodded to me. “Still, I agree. There’s no room for errors in these waters, I have to admit. By the way, do you sense anything on that small cape there? Maybe we could find at least some shelter there.”

I looked forward, and just as Tofi had mentioned, there was a cape just a bit north of us. I did my best to sense in that direction, trying to feel all the living beings close to it. After a moment, I turned back to Tofi.

“Nothing except a few deer - which means that there probably aren’t any humans nearby. What do you sense there?”

“Nothing yet, but there’s something about the way the waves behave that tells me that it might be worth checking.”

I looked in that direction but I could not see anything different in the way the waves were breaking on the rocks beneath the surface. From some University lecture, I remembered that the rocks on this west coast were some kind of hard rock, which explained why even the continuous waves coming from the ocean had not really managed to break these rocks and smooth the coastline too much.

“I’ll trust you there, since I cannot see any difference.”

Tofi laughed. “And I could not really explain to you why I think that there’s something different. I just think that this particular cape, there, continues quite a lot farther underwater and we need to go a little bit further out just to be on the safe side. However, I’m interested to see what’s on the other side.”

When I looked again in the direction Tofi had pointed I noticed that maybe there was something different out there - or I imagined it just because Tofi had said it. Whatever. I was sure that as soon as we got there, I would be too busy with the sails to really look at anything, so I did my best to memorize that part of the coastline in case I would need to remember it someday. I also rechecked my sensing for any living beings in the area.

Whatever that place was, it was something that kept me busy because the wind was picking up strength and it was also turning towards the north, which meant that now I was busy as we passed the shallows that had really continued quite far out to sea under the water. I was busy, because the cape wasn’t straight and neither were the shallows under the surface but curving towards the north. Since the water was even shallower north of us, we did our best to stay in the deepest part of the passage yet close to the shallows on our starboard side.

In a way it was quite an easy route - if you just kept on constantly turning west - and just the right amount. The sea was breaking so much that there was no way of telling exactly where those shallows were. I didn’t really follow that, I just kept my tired hands on the sheets, moving the sails according to Tofi’s orders.

“Now, Stian, lower the sail - quickly! And beware!”

Suddenly we were moving almost against the wind for a while and I was quite sure that this try was one more failure, but Tofi turned us back towards the west.

“That piece of rock was quite a surprise. It must have fallen there from somewhere. Now Stian, raise the sail a bit, maybe one third and I’ll keep the bow where it is. I think we found what we we’re looking for.”

Only now I really dared to look around and I was almost surprised to see the rocks of the cape close on our starboard side. The waves were still causing quite a lot of roll to our little boat because waves were coming both from the sea and reflecting back from the rocks. However, it was as if Tofi did not even notice it as he automatically responded to the movement with the tiller.

“No, look forward, Stian. Just keep the sails as they are.”

I looked forward and noticed that cape divided in two and there was quite a calm area of water between the small cape that diverged from the longer one. It wasn’t as nice a natural harbor as the one Tofi and Toki had on the second of the North Islands. But this might just be enough for a ship. There was just one minor thing.

The rocks on the both sides were so steep and high that there was no way we would climb up there from this little boat. Maybe from a ship, but not from this boat.

“Tofi, just how are we supposed to get up there from this boat?”

The older man guided our boat into the stillness between the capes and looked back at me.

“Mr. Hunter, my job was to find this place or some safe place to load a ship. The problem you mentioned is something land-related, so I think it’s up to you to resolve it.”

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing and I was still laughing a bit when Tofi guided our boat towards a place where there was a birch growing in a crack in the rock and lowered the anchor. I had shown it to him, since the tree had given me an idea.

We spent the night in the boat, but I had visited the top of the cliff by using the birch as a climbing aid. By using a rope ladder, the boat would be accessible from above easily enough in the future. What had surprised me was that there was a stove in the boat and a holder for it so that it could be used hanging off the boat’s gunwale. As Tofi explained the use to me I did another trip up the cliff, collecting enough dry wood to cook our meal. For sure I wasn’t going to protest a warm meal, since I was wet and tired in spite of all the protective clothing I had been wearing.

Once we had eaten our meal, Tofi had another surprise when he picked a bottle of some amber liquid from his backpack. The bottle looked very much like the ones we were smuggling to Aston, and, as far as I knew, I was about the only one who had those in the valley. I raised my eyebrows, and Tofi smiled.

“I asked Bellcauniel if she had something that might keep us warm out here and she brought me this.”

“From my stores, I guess.”

“Much good would it have done to you if we would have wrecked ourselves on some small island on this coast.”