01
Cin acted with creditable dispatch, shoving me off, and then half dragging me into the cover of the vines behind us not a moment before a deep red kite or sail appeared around the bend in the cliff, followed by a pointed metal clad prow and then a colorful ship, not more than a hundred meters off the island.
We burrowed deeper into the tangle of vines as the ship slowly came drifting into view, its youthful crew laughing and larking about. A dozen or more were casually walking along the upper spar of a triangular sail extended, like a fish's fin, from each side of the ship. Others crowded on its upper deck and its array of masts, chattering loudly and excitedly, apparently happy to make landfall on the island. The ship itself may've been 40 meters in length, 15 meters in beam and 10 meters in depth - with a wooden hull in the general shape of a long, streamlined fish complete with a tail for steering and assorted masts for sails. Its bow was iron clad and pointed, suggesting it was used as a ram. A broad decorative band ran the length of the ship, carved and painted in the same flowing organic-geometric style of decoration we'd noted on the amphitheater rocks. A series of deckhouses stretched down the center of its main deck, bow to stern. There was smoke and steam coming from a stack in the last deckhouse, with a large idling propeller at the ship's tail along with steering rudders. The narrow deck that ran along each side of the deckhouses was protected by an arching grate to keep dragons and enemies at bay and careless crew members from being swept overboard. The upper deck that ran along the tops of the deckhouses was enclosed by long tent of netting, no doubt to keep any careless crew member from being swept off an unexpected gust of wind. Spaced along it, were half a dozen canvas covered objects which were likely cannons or rocket launchers. As with the Cimmadar ships, the decks and many of the walls looked to be carpeted with a tough fiber mat providing a foothold for the crew in this weightless sea. In addition to the propeller, some of the array of spars protruding at various angles, not only flew long colorful banners, but held furled sails as well; others were used to control the kite-like sail deployed ahead to drag the ship along in favorable wind currents. Along the bottom of the ship was a long horizontal spar that was pulled down to create a keel sail to keep the ship on track, and on each side, forward, were those fin sails, two spars that could be extended out at a right angle to form a large, triangular sail, dull red in color on both sides of the ship.
From our hiding place in the vines we watched the crew - men, women and older children, all broad-feathered - hustling about, climbing various ropes and walking along the upper mast of the great fin-like sail. They appeared to be having a lark under the shouted orders and likely benign abuse of an officer on top of bow deckhouse. As the ship drifted by, some order was yelled, for the lower spar of the fin-like sail began to be cranked up and the sail secured on the upper mast. By the time the ship slipped behind the cliff, these two spars were being folded tight against the hull and a cloud of black smoke and white steam billowed from the engine room aft as the propeller whirled into action for the final maneuvers to land on the island.
'One mystery is solved,' I whispered. 'Recognize the art style?'
'Will you ever stop attracting trouble? Here we are, two weeks on an island in the middle of nowhere, and we've already been visited by the Dragon Lords and now these...natives.'
'I told you, the Black Neb has it in for me. Still, I don't see this as any cause for concern. the gig is well concealed and I doubt they'll stay long. There's nothing here...'
'Except that big amphitheater, which suggests more are on their way.'
'True. Even so, it shouldn't affect us. The island's big enough for the them and us.'
The exuberant cries of the crew faded as the ship sailed out of our sight, beyond the cliff. Cin pulled out her survey glasses to search the skies. A minute later she handed them to me and said. 'I see another one. I wonder how many of them will be arriving.'
I shrugged, and searched the sky. It didn't take long to catch sight of a dark speck in the milky blue sky. I didn't need the glasses to know what it was, but with them I could see the ship, fin sails extended, kite sails flying heading our way beyond it, likely a second one, a mere speck in the sky. 'I think we'd best get back to our boat, while the goings still clear.'
'I think you're right, my dear. For once.'
As we cautiously climbed to the top of the cliff, we could see the first ship coming to rest a few meters above the savanna, far across the way. With Cin's glasses we could see its crew, lines, stakes, and hammers in hand, diving off the ship to the to tie down the ship.
'Let's go,' Cin said as I handed the glasses back to her. We set off, keeping low and running along the edge of the cliff, quickly putting the ship out of sight. Back at the gig, I spent several hours rearranging vines and piling debris on to the hull of our boat to hopefully conceal even a glint of metal, and our access tunnel to it, from view. Cin and Siss kept a lookout, watching the ships arrive from the upper ledge.