Chapter 33

We were there, on the ocean and outside the strait that would lead us to another, smaller sea where the Isle of Sicels was located. In a way, the situation was good, it was very early in the morning and we had a nice wind at our back which should give our ships enough speed that would make us hard to catch, even if it were tried. We had considered passing the strait during the night, but since there should be no war on, and no tolls, since the at the moment, the different sides of the strait were owned by different nations, which hadn’t always been the case.

However, there was so much trade going through this strait that if someone tried to dominate it, some of the bigger trading nations usually reacted with force. The last time it had happened had been about a decade ago, and, as a result, the southern coastline was still mostly in ruins - and occupied by pirates. It had been easier and safer to attack that side than the fortified Hollow Mountain on the northern side.

Tofi turned to me and raised his eyebrows. I shrugged.

“Small groups of people, not enough for a crew of a bigger vessel. I’d guess that it’s as safe as it can be. If they have some bigger pirate vessels, they are probably somewhere in there, in the Middle Sea. That I cannot tell anything about.”

Tofi nodded. “Then I guess it’s as safe as it can get.”

Then he turned towards Baggi. “Everything ready, ‘swain?”

“Yes, captain.”

“Okay, raise the flag and man the guns, but keep the gun ports closed. Sails for maximum speed. You know what to do.”

“Yes, Captain.”

In a way, it was exciting to see the land on both sides of our vessel and it was also nice to enjoy the warmer weather and the sun that was higher in the sky than I had ever seen before. It was also something else to see our second ship, Vana, following us. Yes, one of the final things we did before we left was to name our ships which were now renamed as Ljus and Vana. Light and Hope.

Together with the facts that the ships were light, the wind was good and coming from the right direction, it was as though we flew through ‘The Big Strait’. Now I could understand the name since there were high cliffs on the both sides of the strait and the sea opened on either side. The flag of the North Islands was waving proudly on both ships and I could tell that moment was quite important to all the young men in the crew. Most of them had thought that they would have a long, perhaps quite lonely life on the Islands and then had come this adventure ... and the Elven women. I couldn’t help smiling a bit bitterly when I looked at them, thinking that the adventures could sometimes turn into something they hadn’t expected. I turned to look at Tofi, who shrugged.

“Most likely nobody is interested in us now, as they can see we’re riding high, and don’t have much cargo. Things may be quite different on our way back.”

I nodded to Tofi and moved to the bow and tried sensing forward. We had our lookouts in both ships, but I would try to extend our ability to do that, especially here in the Middle Sea. We had agreed that I should try this for a while, together with the lookout so that we both would record what we saw - or sensed. If anything. There were a few people in the crew who had extraordinary ability to see things even if it was almost bitch dark. They were lucky like me - lucky enough to be the ones working through the nights.

Nobody came close to us the first night and the lantern at the masts of both ships allowed us to maintain a safe distance between the two ships. After sleeping in the morning, I saw Tofi on the quarterdeck.

“Nobody came close to us last night, but there was some ‘something’ - or someone - that kept following us from a distance. The lookout saw some sails, but they disappeared after a while.”

“Toki and I had planned to do a little detour anyway, since we both wanted to feel that area. If we calculated correctly, it would be some time tomorrow morning that we should change our course. Maybe we will do that a bit earlier, like this evening.”

“Can you do that?”

“Sure. I have the needed codes. I agreed with Toki.”

“Then I see no reason not to do it. But are you sure that it’s a good time to sail through that area?”

“The wind is coming from the south, and, for what we know, there shouldn’t be much risk now. Besides, if we intend to sail unknown waters, we need to learn everything we can.”

I could not really argue with that.

The next night, I kept on sensing the ship that had been following us. We once again changed the order of our ships so that during the night we would be following Vana. With my help, we didn’t really need to see the other ship, as I was able to tell if we were getting closer or farther from the other ship. Some practical use to my skills, at least. Even if it meant that I would be missing my night’s sleep while we were at the sea. Tomorrow I would probably miss even some more sleep since I also wanted to see the famous area the brothers were so excited about.

“I have to admit that the sea around us looks and feels all the same to me.”

Our change of course last night had been a success in that the ship that had been following us after we had passed the strait had lost us. However, they might be able to find us again if we didn’t start sailing with full sail and forcing our fluyts to their top speed. We had tried that twice in the open sea when the weather and wind conditions had allowed it, but we didn’t want to reveal our real speed here if that wasn’t needed. Besides, the sailing became quite a lot more stressful, both to the ships and to the crew. But Tofi had told me that our ships were quite fast - and I trusted him on that.

I had a precious cup of coffee in my hands when I stood with Tofi on the quarterdeck.

“You know, Stian, it’s a strange feeling - not to feel the bottom. You might think that the bigger the sea, the deeper it is, but it isn’t necessarily so. I have been sailing around our Kingdom and to several harbors on the mainland over the years, but nowhere has it felt like this. It’s like I’d be sailing on top of nothing.”

I couldn’t help chuckling. “Now you know how I feel - like I feel all the time while at sea.”

Tofi chuckled and took a sip of his coffee. I already regretted that I had taught him to drink coffee. Now there were two of us and a limited amount of those beans. Very limited amount. Well, maybe friendship was more valuable than coffee. Maybe. I liked coffee quite a lot.

I didn’t say anything but I saw that Tofi had turned serious. So, I waited.

“They told Toki and me that it was just an accident that got one of us killed when we met those Guardians. Somehow we both just knew that they were lying and soon we also figured out that those people were going to kill us all as soon as we had gotten them to safety. They promised us good money if we got them to safety. Those two youngsters who were with us where thrilled about the idea of getting rich but Toki and I felt that something was wrong. So, Toki took off his boots and we used a rope as he entered the ship through an open gun port. That allowed us to get inside the ship. As soon as we were there, we met a badly wounded guy who seemed delirious as he talked about killing women and children...”

The look in his face turned even more grim, and with a low voice he told me the details of how the younger man helped with the ship while Toki and he had taken off their boots and jackets while sneaking around the ship securing it. Once they were done with the first ship, they swam through the icy water to the second ship and repeated their actions there. Then Tofi would have liked to sink the ships while Toki had insisted that they keep them.

Suddenly I noticed how Tofi stiffened. “This ... this is almost scary. It just came out of nowhere. It’s not like there’s any risk of hitting the bottom but... - just something I have never sensed before.”

Then Tofi laughed out loudly. “I’m sure that Toki almost shit his pants. A moment ago, the bottom just re-appeared.”

“And you are sure it’s safe to sail through this?”

Tofi looked at me and then at the sea in front of us.

“It should. In all stories the wind, or at least the big waves, came from west ... so, it should. But wow, this place is really something else.”

“I trust you with that, since I cannot see or feel anything different.”

Tofi nodded before he continued and now he looked as grim as he had been after the change of the sea depth. Which I didn’t doubt.

“I’m sure that you and Baggi know that’s it’s more than likely that we’ll be attacked at some point during these trips. When that happens, you need to be ready to kill. Quickly and mercilessly.”

I nodded at Tofi. That thought was what had provoked those memories for him.

“I think that, if it happens, some of our women may surprise you, Tofi. They are good or excellent with crossbow and quite good with their knives, too.”

“I still hope that there’s no need to test those skills.”

Our sailing skills were never seriously tested during the rest of the trip to Sicels - and to its capital, Syracs, which was situated on the South-East corner of the island. We had considered some other city as our trading partner but decided to visit the capital in case we would need to build some more permanent business here. Besides, according to what we had heard, the island was still recovering from a costly dispute of succession which hadn’t ended until both contestants had had fatal accidents. The new ruler came from a different Royal branch and he now had to balance between those old rival Royal branches - and the empty coffers of the nation.

We had some great hopes that the new ruler would appreciate the gold and silver bars we had, even if most of them had our own kingdom labels on them which weren’t that much cared for, at least on the mainland. At least he should not yet have enough manpower to take them easily from us. Should not have. We kept in mind that just about everything we knew was based on rumors heard from the other sailors and they could be already outdated - if they had ever been true at all.