Chapter 30

The days were getting shorter and shorter and we made sure to use all the time there was enough light to work outside. Luckily Toki had trusted us to come back with good news and he had made preparations to get the first of those two ships ready for sea. Tofi had already explained to me why we needed to hurry.

“There are no icebergs to worry about at this time of the year, but the weather can turn really cold on the northern route this time of the year, and even if the salt water remains open, the spray and the rain will freeze once they hit a surface. Especially the deck of the ship.”

I got it. The idea of icy ship decks didn’t sound very good and then there was the question about stability. Lots of snow and ice on the deck and especially on the sails of the ship could have quite a radical impact on the behavior of the ship. So, we needed to hurry. Luckily we had quite enough motivated young and older men willing to work hard. I wondered what would have happened if I had told them that, among the Elves, Hantaliel would be considered to be quite plain-looking. Well, of course with her ‘magic’ - that had nothing to do with magic - she could look any way she wanted to look.

The one thing that slowed us down a bit was that all activity stopped if a boat from the south islands was seen on the horizon or if there were normal visitors from those islands. We wanted everything to look as normal as possible. Of course, those visitors were curious about what would happen after the break-up in the meeting the First Island, but that was about it. There had been disputes between the islands before and this was considered to be one of them. As nobody from the South Islands had any idea of the two hidden ships, everybody believed that something might happen sometime in the future, maybe a year or two from now. Building ships for long-distance trade would take time.

During the last day inland, Mylaela had hinted that Tofi and Toki should probably talk to me.

””Even if those two do not want to show it, they have issues with what happened when they got possession of those two ships. Both with what happened before and with what they finally had to do. Can you try? Try to explain how you were able to deal with that.””

””What makes you think that I have been able to deal with those things?””

Mylaela just rolled her dark eyes. Of course the women talked with each other. Great. Wonderful. However, I nodded at her.

We were just tasting the usquebae from the bogs as we - Tofi, Toki and I - tried to decide if that smoky stuff was better than their smoother version. Without any warning, I started speaking about a totally different subject.

“I was just sixteen and a half years old when I had to kill people for the first time...”

I probably should have been happy that there were only hints of my hangover left by the time it was time to raise the sails of the fluyt and leave the safe harbor on the north coast of the northernmost of the inhabited Islands. The weather was still foggy and without Tofi’s and Toki’s skills there would have been no way that we could have left the shelter of the bay. Even if there was little wind the cold moisture seemed to penetrate through all the clothes, I was happy to help and do something so that I would feel at least a bit warm.

Both Tofi and Toki had been extraordinarily silent this morning and I had no idea if speaking to them had done any good. At least it had not helped me and my last night had been a constant parade of reminders of my fights. Over and over again. Now this ship had so much crew that there wasn’t much hope of working myself to exhaustion. I shrugged. At least Snorri was happy in one small cabin, checking his working clocks and doing whatever work he could do with the unfinished ones. He had not really been speaking to anybody, but at least he looked at me when I moved close to him. Another reaction we got from him was when he noticed that Mylaela was an Elven woman. A reaction, but not much else.

I bitterly wondered if Mylaela would assign him to be my next target. Like ruining my friendship with Tofi and Toki wasn’t enough.

“Sir, the captains would like to see you on the quarterdeck.”

It took me quite some time to understand that the man was talking to me and suddenly I couldn’t help smiling. Sir. Had he called me ‘young man’ or ‘boy’ I probably would have reacted immediately. I shook my head when I looked back at the young man that was probably about my age.

“I’m no ‘Sir’ - just Stian. But thanks, I’ll go there.”

The quarterdeck of the ship was high at the stern of the ship and both Tofi and Toki were already there, standing and looking forward, towards the bow.

“Permission to enter the deck.”

Tofi and Toki looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“Damn you, Stian. Don’t you dare do that ever again.”

Then Toki came to me pulled me up onto the quarterdeck and then into a bear hug.

“You are our friend, Stian. Don’t you ever doubt it. We’ll go through this crazy business together.”

Then he pulled back and looked a bit worried.

“About the valley.”

It wasn’t just Toki’s look, his voice told me that he was worried.

“What about the valley?”

“The women there ... I mean, are there other women like Mylaela there?”

Now it could have been my turn to burst out laughing, but I managed to control myself.

“Toki, there’s probably no one like Mylaela, she’s quite unique. But...”

“But what?”

“Toki, once you get there you will not know what hit you. Mylaela’s friend Immianthe, for example, was quite disappointed that Mylaela saw your brother first.”

“Are you sure about that, Stian?”

“They are women! Of course I cannot be sure. But it might help if you were willing to learn the Old Language.”

As soon as those words were out of my mouth, I regretted them, since the look on Toki’s face told me that I would not have another free moment if he would ask. Well, there was also a possibility that I might now avoid some of the most tedious jobs on this trip. Once Toki had nodded at me, I concentrated on following how the twins turned the ship inside that small bay and started the careful trip through the narrow passage. It was clear that even if this little bay was a perfect hiding place, it was also a trap - there was no way you could sail a ship this big out to the open sea if the weather didn’t allow it.

Our luck lasted that one day - then the cold northern wind started again and the air temperature dropped below freezing during the nights. In a way, I was okay with that, since I was more than familiar with freezing temperatures where I was born but having freezing temperatures while sailing was something different altogether. Once the temperature had dropped and cooled down all the surfaces, the freezing rain began.

Soon all the surfaces were glistering with ice, the lines became stiff and the sails heavy, hard and difficult to handle. Together with the increasing weight aloft, even I felt the ship began to behave differently. It would not have been that bad if we had had some real cargo, but now all that we had was an empty ship and all the weight started to accumulate on the deck - or everywhere above the surface. Soon only the minimum of sails was set and that as low on the masts as possible.