“That means somebody was here a long time ago,” Ang said, scratching his head. “Somebody named that cape.”
“If so,” Jules said, looking back at him, “their chart lied about everything else. Whoever they were, their own name deserves to be lost. Change the chart! Make it Cape Astra!”
But Ang still hesitated. “Cap’n, if that place meant so much to Mak, should we rename it? Call it Cape Mak?”
Jules paused, her eyes going back to the cape, remembering how Mak spoke of it. “No,” she finally said. “To Mak it was Cap Astra. That was the place that called to him. I’ll give it the proper name of Cape, but if we renamed it, it wouldn’t be the place Mak longed to see. In memory of his dreams, I think it should remain Cape Astra.”
Liv nodded firmly. “If his spirit is still seeking the place, it’ll be seeking that name. I agree with Jules.”
“We should write these things down,” Ang said
“I’ll get something,” Liv said, running down the ladder.
She was back almost immediately, carrying both a pen and ink, as well as the small table from Jules’ cabin. Gord hastened to help her carry the table up to the quarterdeck and place it to one side of the helm.
“Now, what is it we need?” Liv said, squinting at the chart. “We need to fill in the coasts along both sides here. And this would be Cape Astra, so I’ll add that ‘e.’ What about that strait we came through?”
“With all the gulls?” Gord said. “Gull Strait, I’d call it.”
“Either that or the Strait of Fog and Mist and Gloom,” Liv replied.
“Gull Strait sounds better,” Ang said.
“Yeah, but it also sounds too informal,” Liv replied. “How about Strait of Gulls? That’s fancy.”
“Do it,” Jules said, smiling.
“And the Jules Sea…and that’s it for now?”
“Yes,” Ang said. “Captain, we have our choice of courses. Do we go north to see more of what lies there? Orn south along this coast? Or west?”
Jules hesitated, thinking of how much there was to see and learn and discover. “Let me take a look around before I decide,” Jules said. She went down on deck, past sailors who were staring at the new world before them, and reached the main mast. Going to the rail, she swung onto the shrouds, climbing up to the maintop where Lana had joined Kurt on lookout. “What’ve we got?”
“Land to north and south,” Kurt said. “Nothing certain to the west but water. There might be some mountains way off that way. Do you see?”
Jules nodded, shading her eyes to look to the west. “Might be mountains, or just haze. Whatever it is isn’t attached to the mainland.”
“Another island like Altis, maybe?” Lana said.
“Maybe. But bigger, if all of that haze marks mountains. It stretches quite a ways. Have either of you seen any sails or anything ashore that would speak to people living here?”
Both shook their heads. “There’s no sign man or woman has ever laid hand to these lands,” Kurt said.
“No sails,” Lana added. “Not a one.”
Jules looked west again, where the haze that might be the tops of mountains beckoned. She felt those western waters drawing at her. But what if this was another side of the Umbari Ocean? She’d been taught the world was a globe, so sailing west into that ocean should eventually bring them back around the eastern side of the Empire. But how long would such a voyage take? With possibly no other land between here and there where water and food could be found? And even if they could make it, why would she want to end up on the eastern side of the Empire?
To the north, her view of Cape Astra showed it rising from the water with walls of rock facing the waves on three sides. The coastline running north on either side of the cape was interrupted by what might be a harbor on the eastern side. Inland, the terrain to the north appeared to be fairly low and tree covered, rising gradually as it went.
A beautiful sight, but nothing drew her to it.
Jules hung on to a shroud as she pivoted on the maintop to look east. They’d cleared the strait, but almost abeam of the Sun Queen the waters let into a partial natural harbor. Hills rose well inland, leaving a broad plain running down to the water. It would make a decent site for a town someday.
Then south. The land was curving out a bit to the west, but gently. Little more could be seen from here.
Satisfied that she’d seen all there was to see for the moment, Jules prepared to go back down to the deck. “Kurt, Lana, keep a good lookout. If you don’t know whether to tell us of something you’ve sighted, go ahead and tell us. I’d rather hear too much from you than too little.”
Going back down the shrouds, she passed members of the crew climbing higher in the rigging to see more for themselves. Resisting the urge to shout “I was right,” Jules went down to the deck and then back to the quarterdeck.
Gord was pointing aft. “That weather we met coming this way. That’s the reason, I’ll bet. The waters of the two seas meet in that strait. We all marked how choppy it was. That’s for the same reason, I’d bet.”
“Would fish like that?” Jules asked.
“Those who work the fishing trade have told me that anywhere two types of water meet you tend to see more fish. And those currents there, what must those be like? They probably bring lots of fish near the surface.”
“That’d explain the gulls,” Liv said.
“Which course?” Ang asked again.
“I’m feeling like we should continue on south. That’s the same land that Dor’s is located on. But I’m not sure.” Jules reached into a pocket and brought out one of the Imperial gold coins. “Shall we see what fortune says?”
“It wouldn’t hurt to ask,” Gord said.
“All right. Emperor we go north, eagle we go south.”
She tossed the coin into the air, flashing in the sun as it flipped about, and caught it as it fell. “Eagle. Fortune is telling us to go where my feelings suggested. It’s afternoon, though, and we don’t know what might lie ahead. I don’t want to be sailing down this coast in the night. Should we anchor in that harbor we can see to the east? Tomorrow we can get an early start and make a full day of exploring to the south.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to test the harbor waters and the lay of the land,” Ang said.
“Bring us about and take her in. Let’s see what this land holds for us.”
The harbor was a decent one, with a line of hills on a promontory that blocked winds off the sea and would stop any storm coming off that expanse of water to the west. The harbor bottom proved to be sand, with pristine beaches lining the water. Ashore, fields of grass led down to the water, patches of trees dotting them. The dusty colored shapes of deer could be seen among the trees, their heads raised to gaze toward the Sun Queen. “Marta!” Jules called. “Get together some good shooters, arm yourselves with crossbows, and we’ll get you ashore to see if you can get us some fresh meat for dinner tonight!”
* * *
They ate on the beach, spits holding chunks of fresh venison set near roaring bonfires built from driftwood and fallen branches. “Nobody’s been here before us,” Marta told Jules. “I’m certain of it. The deer were curious, not worried, as if they’d never been hunted by people. I felt a little bad about shooting them. Not enough bad to pass up a chance at fresh meat, but a little bad. And we saw no sign of habitation.”
“You didn’t go in that far,” Liv said.
“No, but anybody around here would’ve gone to the beach, right? If there’re no roads—and we saw no trace of roads, old or new—they’d need to use boats. And there’s none here.”
“No sign of them,” Jules agreed. She looked out into the darkness beyond the fires, where eyes glittered in the night as inquisitive animals watched the sailors. “Tomorrow we’ll see what’s farther south.”
The night would’ve been perfect, except that as she lay on the beach looking up at the stars, Jules kept wishing that Mak were here, and that kept leading to thoughts of Ian,
and that led to remembering the moment when her dagger went into his father’s chest. It would’ve been a great time to be able to talk to Shin, but she’d chosen to have him stay at Western Port. And there wasn’t anyone else who could understand why she’d feel melancholy on the day of her greatest triumph.
* * *
The next morning they continued sailing south, or rather southwest, as the shore continued to run in that direction. As sunset approached the land began curving back to the south and then east, so they anchored off the westernmost point for the night.
“It’s eerie, isn’t it?” Keli the healer commented to Jules as they stood on deck, looking at the dark mass of the land to the east. “No lights, no fires, no sound of human labor and trouble.”
“Or sounds of human joy,” Jules said. She leaned on the quarterdeck rail, looking across the water. Somewhere on the darkened shore a large animal coughed or barked, the sound carrying through the night. “No one’s there, though. Or if they are, they’re hiding really well. Why do you suppose that chart, everyone’s charts, of the western part of the Sea of Bakre were so inaccurate?”
“Someone didn’t want us coming here,” Keli said. “That seems clear enough.”
“But how do you convince everyone that the west is a trap for ships? Why was everyone so certain that it was death to brave those waters?”
“I guess the Empire might’ve been behind it,” Keli said. “Trying to keep everyone under the Emperor’s, or an Empresses’, thumb.”
“Maybe,” Jules said. “Or maybe it was the Great Guilds, and even the Emperors and Empresses didn’t know they were being scammed to keep them from breaking out of the box the Great Guilds have made to confine everyone who isn’t a Mechanic or a Mage. Do you know what I heard some Mechanics say? They were talking about the Empire, and they said things had been set up that way.”
“Set up?” Keli asked.
“Yeah. Like it wasn’t Maran, the first Emperor, who organized things, but someone else who put the Empire in charge of all the commons.”
“The Mechanics? How could they have done that?”
“I don’t know.” Jules looked up at the stars parading brilliantly overhead. “But if the Mechanics did make the world like this, they made some mistakes. I think they’re trying to fix those mistakes.”
Keli rubbed his neck, frowning in thought. “How does that help us? Should we be trying to prevent them from fixing things?”
“I think,” Jules said, “that if we can convince the Mechanics that something good for us will fix their problems, we can get them to stand back and let it happen. Maybe even help, like they did when we captured Western Port.”
“I’ve had enough experience with Mechanics, all of it bad,” Keli said, “that I can’t imagine they’d do anything that would benefit us.”
“In the short term they have to see it as benefitting them,” Jules said. “It’s in the long run that we win.”
“The long run.” Keli laughed softly, the sound almost like that of the wind soughing through the trees on the shore. “Not many people think in terms of the long run. Ask any healer. But you do.”
“Only because Mak taught me to,” Jules said. “And, to be honest, whenever I think of what’s happening now or is likely to happen soon, it gets kind of depressing. As much as I hate that prophecy, at least it gives me something to hope for in the future, though I won’t be around to see it.”
* * *
As they continued southwest the next day, the view ashore seemed to grow greener and lovelier with every lance the ship traveled. Even the waters they rode were pleasant, the Sun Queen rolling gently as low waves of brilliant blue paraded past. Jules begrudged every moment not spent on the quarterdeck or up a mast, watching as a new world slowly revealed itself.
And then, in the late afternoon, she saw it.
“There it is!” Jules grabbed Ang’s arm in her excitement, pointing. “See it?”
“Looks like a good natural harbor,” Ang said.
“Yes. I’ll have to build up the rocks across the west side into a good breakwater, but get that done and that harbor will be proof against any storm!” Jules grinned, pointing farther inland. “Hills back there, a good plain leading down to the harbor, a river coming in there. It’s perfect, Ang!”
“For what?”
“For my city,” Jules said. She leaned on the railing, gazing at the spot. “Julesport. My city. Which will never be a respectable place. A harbor where pirates can always find an out-of-the-way berth for their ship and their business. A place where merit matters and not where you grew up or how grand your family is. Julesport, Ang. I’m going to see it built there. And every time the Great Guilds look at a map, they’ll see that name. And they’ll know who founded that city, and that a daughter of her line will someday sweep them away.”
She turned to look back, seeing Ang bent over the chart. “What are you doing?”
“Writing in the name,” Ang said.
Jules came to look, seeing the shape of the bay and the hills behind it already inked in, and beside it the name Julesport. “Blazes, I wish Mak was here to see this.”
They anchored in the harbor that night, in her harbor. And despite all the worries riding her, Jules slept peacefully that evening, happy to have found a place that would be hers even if she could never make a home there.
* * *
Each evening Jules reluctantly decided they’d gone far enough, and each morning she looked south and decided on just one more day of exploration. There were plentiful streams coming down to join the sea, so they had no trouble getting more fresh water while stopped for the night, and the game ashore continued to act if it had never been human prey, making it easy even for pirates not accustomed to hunting on land to bag fresh meat each night.
A few days after they headed south from the future site of Julesport, the waters changed.
Jules realized that she had been standing on the quarterdeck gazing to the west for some time. Ang, beside her, was doing the same. “Something’s different about the waters,” she said. “Do you feel that, too?”
Ang nodded, pointing to the sea. “Look at the swells. They’re bigger, broader.”
“Yes.” She looked west again. “It feels like there’s nothing there. For a while after we left the Sea of Bakre it felt like there was land to the west, and we could spot the haze of what might be mountaintops in that direction. But now the waters to the west feel…empty.”
“I feel that, too.” Ang rubbed his chin, watching the swells roll in, the Sun Queen riding each in turn with ponderous grace. “We may have reached the ocean.”
“The same ocean that’s off the eastern end of the Empire?” Jules asked. “The, um, Umbari?” It had taken a moment to recall the name of the ocean she had never seen and no one had ever been allowed to explore.
“It’s possible,” Ang said. “I don’t know.”
Other sailors who’d spent a lot of time on the water confirmed the same feelings, so Jules had the chart marked to show the waters they now sailed might be part of the Umbari or another ocean.
After a few more days of sailing south, they saw a big river letting out onto the sea. The mountains were long since behind them, only rolling hills visible as far as could be seen from the coast. The day after they reached the large river, the coastline began swinging back to the east. The ship went east for days, the coast actually bending to the northwest for a while, before the land began tending south again.
“I’m seeing a lot more marshland,” Liv commented. “And is it just me, or is it growing warmer during the days and the nights?”
“A bit warmer,” Jules agreed.
“How much farther are we going to go? Mind you, it’s a pleasant trip. Nicest voyage I’ve been on.”
“One more day south,” Jules said. “Then we’ll head back to share the news of our discoveries.”
“You’ve been saying ‘one more day’ for a while now.”
“I mean it this tim
e,” Jules said.
* * *
Little new was seen during the morning of what was to be the last day of exploration in this direction. Jules glimpsed occasional coastal marshes, some vying for the grander title of swamps. Aside from them, fields of grass stretched to the east as far as the eye could see, interrupted by groves of trees that looked to be of different kinds from those around the Sea of Bakre.
The coastline had been trending nearly straight south this day when the Sun Queen rounded a small, swamp-ridden headland and found itself steering toward a town.
“What the blazes?” Liv demanded as the crew rushed on deck and up into the rigging to gaze ahead. “What’s a town doing here, all by itself?”
“Why didn’t we see any of their boats before now?” Ang asked.
“No ships in sight!” the lookout called down. “Just a few small fishing boats!”
“Small fishing boats.” Jules, fighting disappointment that someone else had found this place before she had, shaded her eyes against the sun as she looked ahead. “Can you see their waterfront?” she called up to the lookout.
“Aye. Not much there, Captain. A pier. Looks plenty big enough for us to tie up there.”
“A town on the ocean with nothing larger than small boats?” Liv said. “That’s strange, that is.”
“It reminds me of what Captain Aravind said about Dunlan,” Jules said. “Let’s go see what these people can tell us.”
The mystery only deepened as the Sun Queen drew nearer to the town. A substantial stone wall encircled it, the near end extending into the water a little ways before ending in a tower. The town itself wasn’t newly constructed, with buildings of raw wood. The structures that could be seen weren’t wood at all, but seemed all to be made of stone and brick.
“They’ve been here a long time,” Keli commented as he walked onto the quarterdeck. “Some of those buildings put me in mind of Landfall.”
“They do,” Jules said, looking over the appearance of the buildings. “Almost as if the same people built them. Is this an old outpost of the Empire?”
Explorer of the Endless Sea Page 26
