Chapter 39

After we had been on the open sea for half a day, I was leaning towards the gunwale and I gradually dared to open my sensing. There was still some hum in the background, but mostly it was just the people in these two ships, the humans with their magical shimmer and the Elven women with their almost non-existent magical signature.

Not to mention those few dolphins that were curious about our ships while they were swimming and jumping between the two ships.

“Feeling better, Stian?”

I turned to look at Kara, whose shimmer had become brighter with all the practice she had had during the last few days.

“I didn’t know that it showed.”

“It isn’t obvious, but the look on your face becomes a bit rougher and harder. Back in Aston, I thought that it was the way you always looked, but then I saw how you relaxed when we were out there on the bog, in the middle of nowhere.”

That surprised me a bit. “I had no idea that you had kept so close eye on me back then. But yes, I have to admit that I miss the solitude of the forests. I never really understood how much I yearned for it until those years in Aston and now again here. I guess that it’s price I have to pay for this gift of mine.”

Kara smiled a bit sadly and shook her head. “I have to admit that I didn’t fully understand your gift and the stress it can cause you, but after I had been translating some time, I started to sense the underlying feelings behind what was being said. Do you know that even though those Zhongguo people initially considered us to be dirty barbarians, they tolerated us because that was how really civilized people acted. They were afraid of you, even if they didn’t fully understand why.”

“I didn’t sense any magic users there.”

“Yet they were quite comfortable with the idea of people having magical skills.”

Talking with Kara felt - normal. Surprisingly normal. Almost like ... I didn’t want to continue that line of thought, but just enjoyed the feeling of calm around me and the light conversation. Still, I missed the forests. The color, the smell, the wildlife. Everything.

If we had been tired of sailing the open sea before our visit to Zhongguo; now, a few weeks later, we were tired of seeing different harbors and different people with more or less the same expectations. Yes, they were more than willing to trade with us and from these smaller countries we might be able to get some products with better profit than from Zhongguo - if you accepted poorer quality and the fact that the people tried to cheat you as much as they could. The further we got from Zhongguo the worse it became. Their stabilizing effect also faded the further away we got.

Of course, if we had sold one or two of our extra cannons to them, we probably could have had anything we wanted. The nations here had an even bigger shortage of useful metals than we did out there in north. Gradually we also learned why there were no big ships in this part of the world: No trees grew around here that would have provided suitable material for building bigger boats. The wood they had available was either easily workable but rotted after two years in water or it was very hard and very heavy - too difficult to use in boats or ships.

However, the trees that provided soft wood grew quickly and were commonly available - and making new, light fishing boats was a great business. There might have been some better wood available high on the mountains but getting enough of it to the shore would have been an enormous task - and most of the people were quite happy as they were.

Once again, when we were back at sea and when it was almost calm, we lowered the sails and invited Toki and Immianthe to visit. It would have been easier to arrange that visit while in harbor, but we had wanted to leave as soon as possible. Too many people had started to gather on the coast close to where the ships had been anchored. We had made it known that we were going to stay a day or two longer and then we had left silently when it was dark - Toki leading with the Vana and me taking care that we did not lose them in the darkness.

Once we had exchanged pleasantries and enjoyed something small to eat and destroyed one of last bottles of our own wine, it was time to get serious.

“Immianthe, Mylaela - do you think that we have everything we can get from this trip? I know that there might be some more room for cargo, but if it gets any worse than that last place - is it worth it?”

In a way, I could have blamed the people at Zhongguo, because they had believed that I was just the guard for the captains and their wives. After playing that role there, I had maintained the same cover in all the places we had visited: I was the guard of the captains and married to the translator who went with them. No need to explain anything more. Now, I used that role as a reason to end the visits - the knowledge we learned about the harbors became less and it was painfully clear that the old map we had bought on our way east was outdated when it came to safe places to visit. The smaller the nation, the more it could change - or become overrun by its aggressive neighbor or neighbors.

This area was unstable at its best, and it was no wonder they were after our cannon.

After a moment of silence, Immianthe cleared her throat.

“There could be more. However, there could always be more, and we need to decide if we have enough for this trip, I guess. Do you have some other reason, besides our safety, why you ask this, Stian?”

That was a good question. Especially since I didn’t really have anything besides the fact that I had realized that I liked forests more than ships and the open sea - and that I liked any other place than those big cities that had started to smell worse the further away we were from Zhongguo.

I also knew that there was no use in lying to Immianthe.

“Any real reason besides the fact that I hate those cities full of people? No, not really. Nothing concrete. Still, I cannot help remembering the last news from Aston; that the Magicians and the Shinies had started working behind the scenes. There’s a nagging feeling that we don’t have any time to waste. We should not forget that they managed to take the natural Mages at Aston by surprise even though those people knew that something might happen. I would not like to come back and find our valley destroyed.”

I could feel all the people around the table staring at me. I kept my gaze in Immianthe’s eyes because she had been the one who asked me that question.

“So, you feel that we should head back home?”

“Yes, yes I do. We already have enough in our cargo to make our partners very rich and happy - and they didn’t even need to finance these ships. Besides, the quality of the items we can buy has gone down even faster than their prices. Just get some good quality coffee beans on our way back, and I’ll be happy.”

“We would still need to stop for water and food.”

I shrugged. “Then we’ll do just that. By combining the information of the sources that we already have, we should be able to find some place stable enough for a short visit.”

“May I remind you, Stian, that this whole mission was your idea.”

“I know - and I’m sure that it has mostly fulfilled its purpose. Meaning that I think I understood your comment in the beginning correctly.”

Immianthe looked at me for a moment before she turned to look at Mylaela, Tofi and finally Toki. Then she turned to look at me again.

“Most likely those two half-dolphins would be happy to sail with these ships for another year or two, but I would also like be able to smell the fresh trees we have at home instead of this constant smell of salted fish.” While Immianthe said that last, she nudged Toki who was sitting next to her.

“Woman, if I smell of salted fish there can only be one reason for it...”

I shook my head and covered my ears while all the others around the table started laughing. It seemed that no-one was against the plan to head home as quickly as possible. We had been really, really lucky this far, and I saw no reason to push our luck just to make more business we didn’t really need. Even the weather had supported our mission.

Two weeks later the Vana raised a flag which asked us to move closer so that they could talk - or shout - to us. I immediately started to worry whether something bad had happened, for we had just met our first real storm. Our ship had been lucky and our only losses were a couple of bruises from falling or tripping. Tofi had been really happy with our ship since it had behaved very well even now that it was loaded. I had had some foreboding when I ordered the lowering of sails and sent a messenger to wake up Tofi.

It hadn’t been that long ago when he had gone to sleep and now he would be needed again. I sent another messenger to make a big pot of strong coffee while I wondered if a potful of strong coffee would possibly help with angry bears in the woods. Maybe I would never try that - but with Tofi it might help.

“Hello Vana! What’s the problem? Somebody hurt?”

Not too surprisingly it was Baggi who was responsible for the communication.

“Hello Ljus! Nobody hurt, but we lost some barrels of fresh water!”

I winced internally since I had hoped that we could make it to the same place we had visited on our way east. However bad it was, it was a place we already knew - and their water could be made drinkable, even if it might still taste a bit off. Now, if Vana had lost some of their water, getting there might not be possible. I looked at Tofi who shrugged.

“Ask them how many days they can manage.”

“Hello Vana! How many days?”

“Hello, Ljus! Four days, maybe five!”

By this time I knew the maps by heart and it was clear that our options were quite limited unless we wanted to turn around and go against the current. At least there shouldn’t be any open war going on in this area. The problem was that, even if these people here weren’t Berbers, their values probably matched way too much for my liking.

Three days later, we anchored outside the harbor of a city located in the mouth of an almost dry river. Using a spyglass, we had figured out that there should be no hidden cannon on the shore and we anchored our ships in such a way that we could use our cannon if needed. We all hoped that we would not need to do that, since using guns to get fresh water didn’t just feel like a very good idea.

I looked at the city at the mouth of the river and noticed the huge difference between the green around the city and the barren landscape further outside it. Without doubt, the people here used the fresh water from the river very efficiently. At least this city and society looked clean and very well organized.

Once again, Kara turned out to be invaluable, once we met the local harbor master. I would have been ready to raise our anchors as soon as we could agree about the water, even though the harbor master had informed us that the local monarch - or Prince - would like to meet and encourage us to trade with them. I found it hard to believe that they might have anything that would be useful to us.