CHAPTER XIV
They sailed for another three days. In that time Dylan talked to Kaitlin about magic and she gave him some exercises that might bring out any magic in him. In return he told her about Earth. His Dad spent a lot of time learning to sword fight with either Mattaeus or Bell and other time talking to Kaitlin while they watched the sea go by.
d’Gaz captained his ship, but seemed quieter than before. He spent a lot of time in his cabin talking to Mattaeus and Dylan could see that they were better friends than they sometimes made out. On day three d’Gaz called them all into the cabin and they sat down around the table.
“We still have the issue of the traitor,” he said. “We have to stop on Onslow Island for supplies and I fear he will strike again.”
“Some of your crew seem disgruntled,” Bell said.
“Yes. They are pirates, but they don’t like danger. The stories of fighting skeletons will have spooked them.”
“You expect to lose them?” Mattaeus asked.
“Some, yes; more if we let the traitor get to their ears.”
“Then we need to find out who he is,” Alura said.
“Not magically now,” d’Gaz said. “If they think you can read their minds we will lose more.”
“Then how is best?”
“Keep an eye and ear out, whoever it is will make a move now we close on Onslow. I suspect he will try and get the crew to desert, strand us in port while he alerts the Ruling Guards.”
“That cannot happen,” Lucas said.
“Are you coming through the Portal with us?” Dylan asked.
“I suppose you will need a ship’s captain still.”
“Most likely,” Dad agreed.
And so they spent another day listening and watching, there was definitely grumbling from the crew, but no one noticed Dylan as he walked around the ship and no one guarded their words either. From what he could understand they were not happy with a captain who would set them down on a place like the Isle d’Muerte and there seemed to be older gripes about only attacking Chinerthian ships. Some pirates listed other ships that could have made them rich. All in all it seemed like the pirates were no longer happy with d’Gaz as their Captain.
Dylan found him alone in his cabin just looking out of the window.
“The crew don’t seem very happy with you,” Dylan said.
“Aye. They are a fearful bunch that want money quickly and easily,” d’Gaz said looking over at him.
“They don’t like that you only attack Chinerthian ships.”
“No, they have no morals, they care not for anyone but themselves.”
“Well, can’t you tell them that once we arrive at the Port of Silas they are free, or can have a new Captain?”
“Why, young Guardian, a pep talk? It could work to keep them aboard and in doing so foil our traitor.”
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And so later that day d’Gaz stood on the bridge and explained the situation to his crew. There was much murmuring especially when d’Gaz told them they had from here to Silas to agree what they wanted and appoint a Captain who would give it to them. Afterwards d’Gaz went to his cabin where Dylan was looking at the maps on the walls. Over the next hour or so men came in to see d’Gaz and each one talked about his loyalty to d’Gaz and not wanting to see him go. Some said they would leave the ship and d’Gaz urged them to wait until the Port of Silas to do so. He explained that he had an important mission to fulfill and that he wouldn’t be the Captain he had been to them if he denied the Quest he had been asked to join.
One man told him that there was major support for a man called Jilhelm and one called Martus, but the men couldn’t agree. A third man named Tobias was trying to convince men to desert at Onslow, which made d’Gaz smile.
“Who’s Tobias?” Dylan asked once they were alone.
“He would be our traitor,” d’Gaz said. “Your brilliant plan has forced his hand; he might have succeeded if there wasn’t the promise of taking the ship for themselves at Silas. Now I doubt many will desert and he will have more trouble trying to arrest us.”
“We can’t get arrested,” Dylan said.
“Don’t worry, young Guardian, that will not be happening,” d’Gaz answered with a smile.
“An interesting plan,” Mattaeus said as he entered, “but how do you know they will not take the ship at Onslow?”
“As Dylan here can attest there are still many loyal men aboard the ship, they will stay aboard.”
“And the traitor?”
“He will not get the chance to inform on us.”
“Then it is well. We are about to drop anchor.”
They all went out onto the deck as the boats were being readied. d’Gaz went to choose his men and Dylan looked at the island. From what he could see it was one big mountain surrounded by forest and a town next to a shore that ran with golden beaches. The town looked rickety from a distance, made up of two-storey wooden buildings with thin winding streets.
“What is the port like?” Connor asked as they rowed to shore.
“Same as any port, somewhat grim and dangerous,” Mattaeus said. “There is nothing much to the island; the port is only here as it is a good resting place between the two countries.”
“There’s Dorado,” d’Gaz said.
“What’s Dorado?” Dylan asked.
“It’s a legend,” Bell smiled.
“Maybe, maybe,” d’Gaz mused.
“Some say it is a city made of gold, other tales say diamonds or other precious stones,” Mattaeus explained. “It meant nothing to them, just a building material, but people from other lands came and tried to steal their wealth so they grew an impenetrable forest around the city.”
“What’s ‘impenetrable’?”
“Impenetrable means nothing can get through,” Dad explained.
“Still people tried to get to it,” d’Gaz continued, “so legend says they used magic to build that mountain you see around the city.”
“Really?” asked Dylan and Mattaeus laughed.
“I’ve never seen magic that could build a mountain, it’s just a story.”
“But that doesn’t stop people looking,” d’Gaz said. “Many go into the forest, few come back out.”
Dylan spent the rest of the trip looking at the mountain. Could it be true? He’d seen some magic since coming here and thought that maybe magic could do that, to him magic could do anything. He wanted to go and look for it; sitting on a boat he felt brave, slashing through the forest and fighting monsters.
They pulled the boats up and d’Gaz gave instructions to meet at the Swollen Trout inn, which was close on the street that ran along the water, in one hour and the sailors walked into the port to buy supplies. d’Gaz himself walked into town with three pirates having told Lucas to take Connor and Dylan to the inn and wait.
“Do you think Dorado is real?” Dylan asked Lucas once they had drinks and a snack in front of them.
“That I do not know, there are many tales and legends across the Four Worlds, but I have only heard some of them. I am not a traveller.”
“What’s the farthest you’ve been?” Dad asked.
“Well, probably here,” Lucas said. “I’ve never left Thalm.”
“You’ve never been to any of the other worlds?” Dylan asked.
“I’m just a simple man, I do simple things. I do not like all this travelling; to be truthful I’m a little scared of leaving Sylvae.”
“You’re not scared of anything,” Dylan proclaimed.
“Ahh, it’s OK to be scared sometimes, without fear there can be no bravery.”
“Well said, Lucas,” Mattaeus said sitting down.
“You are back, how much longer do we wait?”
“Not much longer, the hour is nearly nigh.”
“Do you think all the pirates will return?” Connor asked.
“I know not.”
“But we have enough men to sail?”
“Yes, but it would not be easy.”
“Where do you sail to, my friend?” a man at the next table asked. Dylan thought he looked like Lucas, but not as big. He had the same air to him, as did the others at the table.
“That would not be of your business,” Mattaeus said.
“But it would be if we could help man your ship, I could not but overhear your conversation.”
“We need not men.”
“We need to get to the Port of Silas,” the man said.
“That’s where we’re going,” Dylan said.
“Dylan,” warned his Dad.
“But we are.”
“Well, then it is a fine coincidence,” the man said.
“Why’re you going there?” Dylan asked.
“Well, young man, we’re part of a gang and we need to meet up with our friends there.”
“That’s enough,” Mattaeus said. “We cannot help you.”
“There are plenty of ships coming and going,” Lucas said.
“Yes, yes, but I heard you say pirates. We cannot get on a freighter.”
“You heard wrong if you heard pirates, friend,” Mattaeus warned.
“Why can’t you?’ Dylan asked.
“Do not engage them,” Mattaeus told him.
The man turned away and they sat in silence for some time, drinking their ales. Bell turned up as did a few of the pirates, but none of them sat with the Foreshadow.
“Are we well?” Bell asked.
“We have good ale,” Lucas replied and Bell laughed.
“Then we are well.”
“Bell? It is you,” the man at the other table said.
“You are becoming a grievance,” Mattaeus warned him.
“I know you?” Bell asked.
“It is I, Hallorn,” he said quietly, “we fought together in the Battle of Alban’s Wood.”
“Well, well, it is you.”
“You know them?” Dylan asked.
“I do, he is a Stormcloud,” Bell told the Foreshadow quietly.
“Then I am even more sorry that we can’t help you,” Mattaeus said.
“What is it that they want?” Bell asked.
“Ships passage and nothing more,” Hallorn said and Dylan thought he acted weird with Bell, like Bell was important or something.
“I’m sorry,” Bell said, “but we are on another’s ship, I cannot say yay or nay to your request.”
“But we have fought with you,” another man at the table said. “Why then, you must help us get back to our leader.”
“Still we cannot,” Mattaeus said and at that point d’Gaz burst in.
%%%
d’Gaz had gone walking through the port with three pirates, one of them being Tobias. They bought supplies at various places and Tobias kept making excuses to leave.
“I need your expertise with something,” d’Gaz would tell him.
“What is it?”
“You will see,” d’Gaz would answer.
“But I do have some things I need to buy before we reach Silas.”
“Such as?”
“Gifts,” was all Tobias could answer.
This went on for a while until d’Gaz suspected that Tobias realised that his game was up. But it was too late by then.
“Have I not been good to you, Tobias?” d’Gaz asked as they walked ahead of the other two.
“You have, Captain.”
“Then why?”
“Money, Captain, money with no repercussion,” Tobias said, but they had reached a short deserted street and suddenly there as an arrow in his chest. He fell to the ground. “Captain?” he rasped.
“To the boats,” d’Gaz shouted. “We are attacked!” and the other two men ran.
Bell lowered his bow and walked down from the roof he was on. He and d’Gaz had discussed this and now it was time to get to the meeting place. He did not like killing a man in such a way, but he was a traitor, or at least a suspected traitor.
No, Bell didn’t like it, but his own moral code could not endanger the Quest.
d’Gaz ran away. He wanted the other men to say it was a trap or a chance meeting with Ruling Guards, that way they would not suspect he had ordered Tobias dead. That could lead to problems on the ship.
So now he ran as if he was chased and finally came to rest next to the river Jord that ran though the eastern part of the port. If you had class, or the money to buy class, this was where you lived, though in a port such as this class was only comparative to the rest of town. He sat down by the water and looked at the fine houses that ran along the opposite bank when his thoughts were interrupted by the bubbling of water and once again he was face to face with the Water Princess.
“Murtagh, forgive me,” she said.
“For what?”
“I have done something terrible, I was angry with you,” she didn’t look at him.
“What have you done?” d’Gaz asked standing up.
“I was angry with you, I wasn’t thinking, but now I see I should help you.”
“What have you done?” d’Gaz commanded and she looked away to the sea that was visible between buildings.
“I was angry,” she said quietly.
“And so you struck something,” d’Gaz said.
“I did, I am sorry, my love, please let me help you.”
But d’Gaz was running down the hill towards the sea, running towards the Swollen Trout. He saw two of his men and shouted at them to return to the boat. Now! He ran through the streets until he reached the boats, some of his men were loading them and he shouted at them to hurry and then burst into the inn.
“To the boats,” he shouted.
“What is it?” Mattaeus asked.
“To the boats,” he shouted again and they all got up.
“What of the men?” Bell asked.
“No time, go, go,” d’Gaz urged.
“These men can aid our sailing,” Bell said quickly.
“Whatever, whatever, we must go!”
And so the Foreshadow ran to the boats, joined by seven Stormcloud men. They jumped into a boat as the other one was pulling away and Lucas rowed with all his might. He did not know why, but d’Gaz had him scared.
They skimmed across the water and Dylan could see the Irredeemable swaying a lot and then they too were hitting bigger waves, not big waves, just long swells.
“What is it?” Dylan asked his Dad who was facing to shore.
“Harbour wave,” d’Gaz said. “Look.”
Dylan looked back and the big swells were piling up into one massive breaking wave at the shore.
“Tsunami,” his Dad said quietly as they all watched the port being destroyed by the sea.
“How did you know?” Mattaeus demanded.
“Another time, another time,” d’Gaz lashed back as Lucas rowed closer and closer to the ship.
Even from a distance Dylan could see the water rushing up the beach and up the hill, could see buildings falling over into the water. No one could survive that and they had just been there. How did d’Gaz know? What if he hadn’t? What if they were still there? Dylan shuddered. And watching those waves crash up the island he knew he had to make a decision. He knew that he had to be strong and face these horrors or give up, go home. He was on a Quest and the people around him believed in it.
They thought it could help millions of people, but was he up to it? Could he really keep seeing these things? He knew in his heart that there would be worse to come and if he couldn’t face this then he couldn’t go on. But he didn’t want to have to face this; it made the bullies at school feel like nothing. If he had known, he would have happily given away his lunch money. That was the easy life. But if he gave up now, who would take him home? They would all have to go back and all their hopes would finish; they would just be back at the beginning as if nothing had happened. And so with great determination and a sick feeling in his stomach, Dylan James turned his back on the island of Onslow and the destruction that was happening and watched the Pirate Ship Irredeemable draw closer.
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