They were given the Royal Compartments on the Seawander. There were two sleeping rooms, each five paces long and three wide. They had side by side cushioned bunks shelving out from the walls. A net faced storage ledge ran high on the wall, and a small writing table filled the space at the foot of the beds. There was a brass oil lantern dangling from a short chain overhead, and as it swayed, the stark shadows it threw exaggerated the movements of the ship tenfold.
The two rooms were joined in the middle by a third, which was paneled with polished mahogany and had a round window that the crew kept clean enough to actually see through. The viewing portal, as it was called, was situated at the end of a booth table that could easily seat six men. There was a cushioned divan and an enclosed privy at the other end of the room. All three cabins were carpeted in plush sea-blue shag and trimmed with elegant brass works. As far as quarters on a ship went, this was the lap of luxury, but since none of the four companions had ever been to sea before, they thought it was cramped at best.
Oarly went straight to a bunk in the room he and Brady were to share and wasted no time getting rolled up in a woolen blanket. The dwarf asked that his meals be brought to him and that he not be disturbed. He then pulled the covers up over his head and lay stock still. All this he did to the amusement of the others a full hour before the ship was scheduled to depart the docks.
The other three only stayed below long enough to drop off their things. They were too excited to miss watching the land fade away as they took to the ocean. While they stood at the rail, Hyden had Brady and Phen go over the checklist of supplies for the tenth time. Rope, blankets, grappling hooks, lanterns, oil, arrows by the score. There were also shovels, axes, picks and other digging tools, not to mention the tents, field rations, foul weather gear and other necessities like soil cloth and healing herbs. They had thought of everything, or so they hoped. It was a good thing, too, because by the time they had finished discussing the supplies Captain Trant was bellowing, “All hands aboard!” The ship was departing Old Port for the open sea.
At dinner the night before the Captain had told them a little about the Seawander. At just over two hundred feet long she was no ordinary ship. Built to carry Queen Willa and other nobility, instead of a cargo, it was sleek and ballasted for optimal speed. She boasted three masts that reached high into the sky and the Captain promised that they could fly enough canvas to outrun any Dakaneese pirate ship they came across. What’s more, the transom was lined with Wardstone, just like a river-tug, and the water-mage on board could make the ship go as fast as a double-decked rower, and that was against the wind. As proof of this, the ship lurched away from the dock without a single sail set and carved a sharp wake as it picked up speed and made its way through the harbor.
Men in fishing boats waved their hats and cheered the Seawander as she passed. A moment later, as she slid through the shadow of a monstrous ship, the crew of the galley called down to them in languages that neither Hyden nor Phen could name. Members of the Seawander ’s crew called back up to them in clipped but joyous shouts. The hulking cargo vessel towered over them in the water so much so that Hyden and Phen both had to crane their necks to take it all in.
Talon swooped and terrorized the flocks of noisy white gulls that were following along behind them. He rolled and spun and showed off his aerial prowess to the smaller sea birds as if he were their superior. The gulls seemed more impressed with the bits of food that were being stirred up in the ship’s wake, but still kept a wary eye on him.
Deck Master Biggs called out orders, his voice booming through his thick seaman’s beard. The first mate repeated them, and like monkeys, men took to the rigging and unfurled the yellowed canvas of a dozen or more sails. Soon the Seawander began picking up speed. As she left the protected area of the port she began rising and falling with the swells. Each time she came down a great splash of spray and foam shot out from under her and blew back across the deck. Phen gripped the rail tightly with one hand and thrust his other fist up into the air urging the ship on. Brady found the bowsprit figurehead, a mermaid of polished ironwood, and leaned out ahead of the ship with her, letting the wind blow his long brown hair back behind him.
“Look!” Phen exclaimed.
Hyden searched the sea where Phen was pointing but didn’t see a thing. Then all of a sudden a delfin fish, as big as a man, sleek and green leapt out of the water alongside of them; another one shot out of the sea, then another. Soon a dozen of the smiling, snouted fish were arcing through the air racing and dancing with the ship as they went.
Talon swooped down amongst them, and through his familiar link Hyden could hear their joyous laughter and mirth. They were like a group of children playing in the summer sun.
Phen streaked across the deck toward the bow to tell Brady about the delfin. Deck Master Biggs caught him up about half way, flipped him around then half dangled him over the side rail. With a threatening, yet playful, look on his face, the Deck Master snarled, “There be no running on me deck, boy! No more warnings!”
When Deck Master Biggs pulled him back onto the ship and let him go, Phen’s eyes were the size of chicken eggs, but his terrified grin was even wider than before.
The delfin followed them for some while, and before they knew it, land was no longer in sight. The Captain said something to the Deck Master who looked behind them through his long glass then pointed. Biggs said something to the first mate, who came over to where Brady, Hyden and Phen were now leaning on the rail enjoying the delfin show and Talon’s antics.
“Keep a watchin’ as you are,” the man said with a discolored, gap-toothed grin.
Hyden let his eyes trail behind them to where the Deck Master was pointing his looking glass. For a moment he saw a surging swell on the water behind, then it was gone. It came again, only closer this time. There was a single sharp spiked fin as big as a man’s leg breaking the water at the peak of the swell. Then it was gone again, back into the rolling sea. Then all of a sudden a fish the size of the Seawander herself leapt clear of the surface beside them. Its toothy mouth snapped shut on a pair of delfin as the terrified screeches of the rest of the pod caused Hyden to cringe and Talon to veer sharply away.
“Wow! It’s a sabersnout, Hyden,” Phen exclaimed loudly.
“Just so, lad!” Captain Trant boomed from somewhere. “Don’t fall over the rail now.”
Talon was so startled by the monstrous fish that he came swooping down out of the air onto the deck and landed badly among a roped down stack of water barrels.
The delfin were long gone when the sabersnout leapt through the air a second time. Its glossed black, dinner plate sized eye looked directly at Hyden Hawk. The satisfaction it felt after having just eaten a fresh meal was no less than the joy the delfin had been feeling when they were at play. If it could have, it would have eaten Hyden as it had the two unlucky delfin. Thus is nature, Hyden told himself as the big fish splashed gracefully into the rolling ocean and disappeared.
The Captain’s table was in the galley, and that evening they were invited to eat with the officers of the ship. The fare was quite a bit better than the promised sea biscuits and salted meat. It was actually fresh venison and honey pork with hard bread and seaweed casserole. The table was treated to hilarious entertainment courtesy of Babel, the Captain’s little blue-haired mango monkey. The monkey was the size of a newborn child and, as the first mate played a ditty on the flute, it whirled, tumbled, and spun across the table as gracefully as the ballerinas that sometimes danced in Queen Willa’s auditorium.
They tried to get Oarly out of bed to attend the dinner, but not even the lure of wine or stout ale would get the dwarf to leave his cabin.
After dinner, back in the Royal Compartment, Brady listened while Phen and Hyden took turns reading out of the Index of Sea Creatures. They spent a little time reading about delfin and the sabersnout, but curious as they were, they read on. They read about the cloud fish that squirted inky poisonous fluids into the water to stun its prey. They read about the ever hungry marsh threshers and the rare flying sea turtles whose bright turquoise shells were worth a small fortune in gold. They read into the evening until eventually all three of them were plagued with yawns. Finally, long after the moon had presented itself, they all fell asleep to the smooth rocking motion of the ship as it carved its way westward through the ocean.
Phen found himself at the ship’s rail before the sun was even up. He was heaving his supper to the fishes. Brady was right beside him. Oarly was sick as well, but had locked himself in the privy down in the Royal Compartments. Sick or not, the dwarf was determined to stay below deck the entire journey.
“It’s not right,” Phen whined. “I wasn’t sick yesterday.”
“Neither was I,” Brady said glumly, just before lurching another load of bile out into the sea.
“I don’t know where it’s all coming from,” rasped Brady when he was done. “I know I haven’t eaten that much.”
“Aye,” Phen agreed then started to heave.
“Here,” the first mate said, stepping out of the darkness. “Drink ye a few swigs of this, lads, and your guts’ll settle.”
Brady took the offered flask and was about to sip from it when the man cut in again sharply.
“Ah! Ah! Ah! Wipe you fargin mouth first,” the man all but shouted. “Do ya think I wanna taste your innards?” Even in the darkness, the gaps in his teeth were visible.
“Sorry,” Brady mumbled. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve then took a long pull from the flask. The burn of the liquor was harsh, especially in his throat. When it got down into his belly, though, the roiling there dispersed into a warm fuzzy pool. Phen took two quick swallows and nearly choked.
The next day, save for the crew, Hyden had the deck to himself. Oarly, Phen, and Brady were all below. Phen and Brady were sleeping soundly. Oarly was still locked in the privy, but snoring loudly between his less frequent rounds of dry heaving.
After conferring with Deck Master Biggs, Hyden scaled up the main mast’s maze of rope ladders, yardarms, and rigging, up to the crow’s nest at its top. From there he could see the horizon in all directions. There was no land in sight. It was a little unsettling, but not so much as when he looked down to see that the little ship below him wasn’t actually below him at all. It was off to the right at the moment, riding up the face of a swell. Ever so slowly it passed under him and he felt the crow’s nest swaying quickly out to the right of the ship as it eased down the other side of the wave. Not since he first started climbing the secret hawkling nesting cliffs to harvest their eggs with his clansmen had he felt such a tingling rush of vertigo.
No, that wasn’t true. When he’d ridden on the dragon’s back, he’d felt the same thrill, but that ride had been mostly at night. The feeling of desperation he felt during that flight had overshadowed everything. This was different. He decided he would have better odds calling the outcome of a coin flip than he would of landing on the deck if he fell. He knew he wouldn’t fall, though. He had been climbing all his life.
For a long while he spread his arms out like they were wings and focused his sight out ahead of their course. Only puffy white clouds, blue sky, and the slow rolling turquoise sea were in his field of vision. He imagined first that he was once again on the back of the dragon, but then that wasn’t enough. He imagined that he was the dragon, that he was gliding effortlessly over the sea, his big hind claws skimming the tops of the waves, and his wide leathery wings pushing volumes of cool salty air. In his mind he flicked his long sinuous tale this way and that to keep his balance true, then arced a swift banking turn one way, then the other.
Talon swooped in and landed at the basket’s edge. The bird had to keep his wings out to maintain his balance there but he did it gracefully.
Hyden smiled at his familiar as the dragon vision slipped away from him. He touched the dragon tear medallion that always hung under his shirt. If you ever have a need of me, just call me through the tear, and I will come, Claret had said to him. She’d also said: Remember who your true friends are. They come few and far between. He wondered if her remaining egg had hatched yet. It galled him that Shaella had tricked his brother into stealing the other two. Gerard had paid the price for his thievery-or was still paying it. Hyden shook off the thought and tried to get his mind back on pleasant things, but it wasn’t to be.
He didn’t quite understand what Shaella meant that night, in the middle of nowhere, just before he threw her off the dragon’s back. “You wouldn’t know what’s left of him,” she said. “He’s barely even human now.”
Claret had confirmed that Shaella’s words were true. The Westland wizard Pael had run a dagger through Gerard’s heart, but Gerard hadn’t died. The magic ring he’d found had kept him alive, but barely. Apparently he had crawled down into the darkness of the Nethers to escape Pael, or maybe to chase the power that the old crone had once foretold he would find down there.
Shaella said that he was barely human now, and Claret said that Gerard shouldn’t have survived, but he had, because of the ring-the ring that Hyden was supposed to be wearing.
The goddess of Hyden’s clan had told him that he must someday get the ring back from Gerard, that it was supposed to have been his. Until it was on Hyden’s finger, the balance of things would remain badly off kilter.
Hyden hoped beyond hope that the Silver Skull of Zorellin might actually allow him to retrieve it, or at least allow him to go into the Nethers after it. He hoped that Gerard was still human enough to remember who he was.
Hopefully the bond they shared as brothers would be enough to allow Hyden to take back the ring peacefully and set the world aright.
Talon shrieked, bringing Hyden back into the reality of the moment. To the south, the sky was turning gray. Hyden took the looking tube from its holder in the basket and looked out at a dark place on the horizon. He decided that he could probably see better through Talon’s keen vision. With his own eyes still open, he sought out Talon’s sight. Now he could see a mass of churning black clouds as if they were right in front of him. Bright jagged lightning streaked up from the sea and fat drops of rain pelted the angry waves. The swells had grown huge and the wind was blowing in gusty spurts. It wasn’t easy remaining calm as he climbed back down the mainmast to find Captain Trant.
“A bad storm you say?” Captain Trant scanned the sky to the south and sniffed the air. “Maybe so, maybe so. Biggs! Go get me the long glass!” the Captain ordered as he strode up onto the forecastle. A brass tube as long as a man’s arm was brought up and the Captain peered through it to the south. He was silent for a long time, then he turned to look at Hyden curiously. “You saw that from the nest, did you?”
Hyden nodded. Talon flapped at his shoulder as the wind gusted and threatened to topple the bird. Captain Trant’s eyes stopped on Talon for a moment.
“I’d suggest that you ’n’ yer bird both get below afore long, and take this.” The Captain deftly snatched the second mate’s flask out of his shirt pocket as he moved by. “Your men will need it. That’s not just a rain storm blowing at us, Sir Hyden Hawk, that’s something a few tads nastier than hell!”