Explorer of the Endless Sea

by Jack Campbell

  “We have,” Ang said.

  “This isn’t a joke? Because it doesn’t seem possible.”

  “It happened,” Liv said. “We went there and we saw all that. Mind you, it’s not a perfect chart, just the best we could do.”

  Dor ran one finger just above the chart, following the coast west and then south. “Strait of Gulls, Cape Astra, Julesport…on the Jules Sea.” He grinned at Jules. “I’m not saying you didn’t earn the right to name those places, but…”

  “The name of the port is my doing,” Jules said. “The name of the sea was forced upon me.”

  “That’s so,” Liv said. “You’ve never met a more humble person than Captain Jules.”

  “You saw trees here?” Dor said, pointing to the land north of the strait. “Big ones?”

  “Yes,” Jules said. “Tall enough for masts. The forest ran as far north as we could see.” She tapped the strait. “And here, those members of my crew experienced in fishing say these look like very rich fishing waters.”

  “The gulls attest to that,” Liv said. “Thousands of them. Only plenty of food would draw so many.”

  “You’ve got some other harbors marked here,” Dor said, pointing to two places.

  “That’s right,” Jules said. “One north of the strait and one at the south end. The northern one is the better of the two, but both can shelter ships.”

  “And decent land around them?”

  “Some mountains behind the northern one, but room for fields as well.”

  “And no one there? No sign of people?”

  “Not between here and that river,” Jules said, deliberately pointing out the river well north of the town of Pacta Servanda. The chart itself stopped a little north of the town, showing the marshy coasts that wouldn’t look attractive to anyone seeking to settle in the new lands, that having seemed the best way to protect knowledge of the town’s existence for a while.

  Dor rubbed his eyes before looking at the chart again. “Jules, do you know what the Emperor would do if he got his hands on this chart? He’d burn it.”

  “I was thinking the Mechanics would. Why the Emperor?”

  “Because what’s been holding people back from escaping the Empire’s grasp is worry about where they’d end up. Sure, some are happy to find homes in the Northern Ramparts, but it’s rough in those mountains. Others want good harbors and good fishing and things like lumber so they can build new lives in a place where they can grow and raise families. And that’s what you’ve found!” Dor shook his head. “When this gets out, the trickle of people sneaking out of the Empire will turn into a flood. The Emperor won’t be able to stop it.”

  “You’ve been to places like Landfall,” Jules said. “‘Crowded’ is a mild way of describing them. The Empire has more people than it can sustain. This gives them a chance to get rid of a bunch of those people.”

  “But the Emperor will want to control them wherever they go,” Dor said. “The Empire will see these new lands as a place to expand into, but only on the Empire’s terms. Which means the Emperor will want to control this information. Or make sure no one else ever sees it.”

  “The Mechanics don’t want the Empire to expand,” Jules said. “They think the Emperor has too much power already.”

  “Who told you that?”

  “Mechanics.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes,” Jules said, “really. I told you that the Mechanics Guild made possible our capture of Western Port up north. That was to keep the Empire from expanding past its current borders.”

  Dor looked at the chart. “What do you think the Mechanics will do when people start flooding west?”

  “I don’t know,” Jules said. “My impressions are that the Mechanics are trying to figure out what to do, and that they’ve got a lot of internal debate going on about that. Which increases the chance that they’ll take so long to decide that, by the time they make up their minds, there’ll be too many people in the west to go back to the way things have always been before.”

  “Huh.” Dor frowned, scratching his head. “Any idea what Mages think about it?”

  “They want me dead,” Jules said. “As soon as possible. That’s what Mages think about it.” She realized abruptly that she hadn’t worried about Mages for a while, not since learning that the town of Pacta had never even heard of Mages. But she was back where the danger from Mages was real and ever-present, and needed to keep that in mind.

  “Don’t you think they’d be interested in these new lands?” Dor said.

  “Mages? No,” Jules said. “They’re not interested in the lands people already occupy.”

  “I don’t know,” Dor said, frowning down at the chart.

  “Why this sudden interest in what Mages think?” Jules asked him.

  “Um…” Dor looked at her with a guilty side glance. “There were a couple of Mages here again. But they left two days ago,” he added hastily as Jules glared at him.

  “Maybe you should have mentioned that Mages were around right at the start,” Jules said angrily.

  “They’re not around anymore!” Dor protested. “They left. Just like the earlier ones I told you about.”

  “They came and left on a ship?” Liv asked.

  “Um…no.”

  “They walked?” Jules said, incredulous. “Across the waste and the Southern Mountains?”

  “I don’t know,” Dor said. “I mean it! No ship had arrived for several days, but suddenly these Mages came walking through the town. Of course we were scared and stayed out of their way. They walked just about everywhere. That’s why I think they might be interested in these places.”

  “They were looking for me,” Jules said.

  “If they were, they didn’t find you and they left!”

  “How do you know that they left?” Ang asked Dor. “No one saw them arrive? Were they seen leaving?”

  “No,” Dor admitted. “But no one’s seen any sign of them for the last couple of days. One thing I know about Mages is that they don’t take enough notice of common people to bother with hiding from us.”

  “There’s truth to that,” Liv said with reluctance.

  “They do conceal themselves when they see good reason,” Jules said. “Like the way they can make themselves invisible to sight. Don’t tell me that’s just a story! I’ve seen it.”

  “Those Mages expected you to be here,” Ang said. “Two days ago. If the ocean storm hadn’t delayed us, and if we hadn’t stopped at Julesport to repair the ship, we’d have arrived while they were here.”

  “That storm was a gift after all,” Liv said. “Something unpredictable that messed up the Mages’ knowledge of where you’d be.”

  Dor stared at Liv and Ang, then back at Jules, looking miserable. “I’m sorry, Jules. I thought the threat was past.”

  She shook her head at him. “For me, the threat is never past. Ang, those Mages might still be here. We need to get some fresh water and provisions aboard and get out of port fast.”

  “I’ll get what you need here as fast as possible,” Dor said. “Blazes, Jules, I’m sorry. What you’ve discovered is a huge gift to everyone who wants to escape the Empire’s grasp, and I’ve repaid you by putting in you in danger.”

  “That’s all right,” Jules said, strapping the holster for the Mechanic revolver to her belt and checking the weapon. “I know you didn’t mean it. But you do owe me. Liv, give Dor one of the copies.”

  Liv brought out a copy of the chart that had been painstakingly drawn during the voyage back, handing it to Dor, who stared at it in renewed disbelief. “Jules, what’s on this chart is worth a fortune. And you’re giving it to me?”

  “I don’t want that chart only being seen by people who can afford to pay a fortune,” Jules said. “Make more copies. Give them to any ship that calls here.”

  The crew wasn’t happy, deprived of a chance at the entertainments that Dor’s offered and the chance to boast to all of those ashore about what they’d seen and done
. But Jules paid for a few cases of wine and beer to be delivered to the ship and promised some free days underway to enjoy them.

  The last of the provisions came aboard about noon, Jules standing on the quarterdeck gazing inland for any sign of approaching Mages. She noticed that Dor had formed a line of men and women, arms linked to bar passage to even someone unseen, across the landward side of the pier. The boarding plank was drawn in, the last lines came off, and the Sun Queen got underway again.

  She cleared the harbor, sailing under the push of a strong wind as if the sea was trying to help them escape. Jules looked about, seeing that the storms threatening that morning had reached them. Rain fell from numerous patches of low clouds dotting the sky, . In other areas the sky was clear and the sun bright. “I wish the weather would make up its mind,” she commented to Ang.

  “I’ve seen this before,” he said. “It’ll likely last all day.”

  “Ship in sight off the starboard bow!” the lookout called down. “Looks like a sloop.”

  Jules ran to the quarterdeck railing, staring at the shape of the ship that had emerged from a bank of rain thousands of lances away. Probably more by chance than design, the ship had been able to get fairly close before being seen because of being concealed by the storm. “Can you tell if it’s the Storm Queen?” she shouted back to the lookout.

  “No, Captain! I can’t tell.”

  “Likely Imperials, then,” Liv said, her expression grim.

  “Get us into cover,” Jules told Ang.

  A strange noise made her look up, seeing a bird flap by close over her head.

  No, the bird wasn’t close overhead. It was much higher up.

  And it was huge.

  The bird swung about, bringing into view a Mage seated behind its neck.

  “Hachi was right. He did see that,” Jules said, amazed that her voice sounded so calm.

  “There’s another!” Liv yelled, pointing.

  Jules spun to see, watching another immense bird wing into sight and head for the Sun Queen.

  It didn’t take a master sailor to see that the birds were moving so fast they’d be all over the Sun Queen well before she could reach the shelter of one of the patches of rain.

  One of the huge birds swung close, its massive claws striking the foremast, the entire ship rocking to the blow.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “They mean to knock our masts down,” Ang yelled. “They’re so fast the ship can’t dodge them.”

  “Head for one of the stormy areas,” Jules called back to him. She couldn’t give in to the fear roiling her guts at this new and horrifying danger, not when the crew was depending on her to get them through this. Concentrating on her job helped keep her calm enough to think and call out orders. “If we get inside one of those, they won’t be able to see us as well, and maybe they won’t even fly into them. Birds don’t normally fly in storms, do they?”

  “Those aren’t normal birds!” Liv said.

  “I can see that!” Jules went to the forward rail and yelled down to the deck. “Crossbows! Grab every crossbow we’ve got and use them!”

  “I don’t think crossbows will stop those things,” Ang said.

  “Probably not,” Jules said, remembering that she had one more thing to do. “I’m going to get the other Mechanic weapon.” She ran down onto the main deck, filled with half-panicky sailors rushing to arm themselves. “Steady!” Jules called to them. “We can fight this!”

  Inside her cabin, she pulled out the second Mechanic revolver. After the events at Western Port, she had only five cartridges left in her weapon. The revolver Lars had used held three .

  Jules switched one cartridge from the second revolver into her own weapon, filling the cylinder. That made six shots. Against two monster birds and the two Mages riding them.

  Out on deck again, Jules dashed back to the quarterdeck. “Where are they?”

  Ang pointed. “One there, another there.”

  “Take this and use it if you need to,” Jules said, thrusting the second Mechanic revolver at him. “It has two shots. Don’t waste them.”

  Looking as if he was putting hand to a poisonous snake, Ang took the weapon.

  The nearer of the birds veered in close to the Sun Queen, one massive claw grabbing at the mainmast for a moment that caused the entire ship to shudder. A few crossbow bolts chased the creature as it flew onward. Jules thought she saw one bolt hit but glance off the side of the bird. “Those feathers are so big they’re like armor.”

  “What’re your chances of hitting them with that Mechanic weapon?” Liv asked, her anxious eyes trying to follow both birds at once.

  “From here or anywhere else on deck I have no chance at all.” Jules looked up, knowing only one thing would give her a decent shot at the creatures. “I need to go up in the rigging.”

  “That’s too risky, Cap’n,” Ang protested. “They’re here after you. If you present yourself as a target like that—”

  “They’ll come at me, and get close enough that I can hit them with a shot,” Jules said. “We have to stop them before they knock any of our masts down.” She tapped the revolver in its holster, trying to feign the confidence she didn’t really have. “This thing can kill Mages. It can kill their creatures, too.”

  Ang and Liv exchanged a look, their helpless expressions revealing that they had no better ideas.

  “I’d say be careful,” Liv said, “but that’d sound stupid given what you’re doing. Try not to get killed.”

  Jules nodded to her. “I’ll do my best.” Turning, she ran down the ladder to the main deck again, rushing to the shrouds leading up to the main top.

  She swung onto the shrouds and climbed quickly, trying to keep an eye on where the huge Mage birds were. One swept close to the ship, causing Jules to pause and grip the shrouds tightly, her body pressed against the rigging. The bird snapped at the top of the mainmast with a beak large enough to hold half a cow. Whatever made up that part of the Mage creature glinted in the sun more like polished metal than the usual sheen of a raptor’s beak.

  Jules had to force herself back into motion as the bird swept past, climbing the shrouds as fast as she could until she reached the maintop with a sign of relief that she realized made little sense. She was now high up on the mast, a clear target for the attacks of the immense birds.

  The lookout, Kyle, was still at his post, though flat on his stomach and clinging to the mast.

  “Get down on deck,” Jules told him.

  Kyle looked up, his face drawn with fear. “I should stay and help you.”

  “You’ll just be in the way. You’ve shown your courage by sticking with your post. Now get down on deck and fight from there!”

  He nodded quickly, darted some glances at where the birds were as they swooped around the ship, then almost dove off the maintop. Grabbing onto the rigging, Kyle went down so fast it was more of a controlled fall than a climb down to the main deck.

  Jules, alone on the maintop as it swayed with the motion of the ship, couldn’t move for a moment as what she was doing hit home. This was crazy. She was going to die this time. But it was also her and the ship’s only chance.

  The approach of one of the birds drove her back into motion. Jules wrapped her arm about the mast where it rose through the center of the main top, putting the mast between her and the oncoming monster. Her other hand brought out the Mechanic revolver, holding it so tightly it hurt.

  She leveled the weapon as the bird bored in toward her. Maybe if she could hit the Mage riding it, kill him or her, the bird would lose its guidance and fly away.

  But as the bird closed the final distance, it went into a stoop to strike at her, extending its huge claws forward, the wings curving out to either side, the chest rising to block Jules’ view of the Mage on the monster bird’s back.

  Hachi had said a person might be to one of the Mage birds as a mouse was to a hawk. It certainly felt that way now, Jules thought, with a sudden sympathy for mice.

>   At least the bird’s enormous chest made for a target that would be very hard to miss, even with the maintop swaying beneath Jules’ feet.

  Rattled by the approach of the monstrous bird, Jules shot her weapon before she’d intended. But the shot went home, the bird flinching and uttering a scream that seemed to tear the sky in two. One tremendous claw clenched at her as the bird veered off.

  Jules watched, her heart pounding, hoping to see the bird fall, but it curved around in a graceful sweep of wings. She might’ve hurt it, but it was far from out of the fight.

  Five shots left.

  Holding on tightly to the mast, Jules pivoted to look around for the other bird.

  And saw it coming in from behind her, claws already extended.

  Jules swung around the mast to put it between her and the massive raptor, bringing her revolver up and firing as soon as it was aimed at the creature.

  Another sky-ripping scream sounded as the top of the mast rocked from the strike of the bird. Jules clung to the mast as it jolted, acutely aware of how far down it was to the deck if she fell. As the bird winged away, Jules looked at where the claw had struck, seeing a deep gash in the wood just above where her arm had been clinging to the mast.

  The first bird swooped past the side of the ship at about mast height, banking its wings so that the Mage on its back was shielded from the flurry of crossbow bolts fired by the crew from the main deck. Jules thought she saw bolts bouncing off the creature’s chest, and others flying harmlessly through the ends of wing feathers.

  The huge bird flapped its wings, rising higher at an amazing pace, the Mage on its back looking down toward Jules.

  If a Mage can see you, a Mage can kill you.

  Why wasn’t she already dead?

  Jules searched the sky for the second bird, seeing it flying past the bow, the Mage riding it also looking at her.

  Why weren’t the Mages using spells on her?

  Why were they depending on their monster birds to kill her?

  Was it too hard to think or do spells when moving at the incredible speed of a bird in flight? How could the Mages even breathe when the air was moving past them so quickly?