Black Jaguar
Chronicles of Kassouk Book Three
By Vijaya Schartz
Second Edition
Digital ISBNs
EPUB 978-0-2286-1011-3
Kindle 978-0-2286-1012-0
Web 978-0-2286-1013-7
Print ISBNs
LSI Print 978-0-2286-1014-4
B&N Print 978-0-2286-1016-8
Amazon Print 978-0-2286-1015-1
Copyright 2019 by Vijaya Schartz
Front cover art by Jenifer Ranieri
Back cover art by Michelle Lee
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book
Dedication
To the wonderful people and animals who inspire my characters and my stories.
You are the salt of my life. I love you dearly
Chapter One
Kahuel of Yalta hated boats. He leaned downwind over the bow of the three-mast Galleon as it dropped down a deep trough then cut into a white-capped swell as high as a hillock. Sea spray drenched his face. Sails flapped overhead, and the gusty wind swallowed the shouts of sailors on deck. His breakfast of fish eggs in lard with a mug of morning kawa welled up his gullet and emptied into the foamy soup below, leaving a sour taste in his mouth.
Blast the Council of Kassouk for refusing to lend their flying machines. As if five-fingered Humans could steal their precious technology. Some days, Kahuel wished they would. It couldn't be all that complicated.
A squeeze on his shoulder made Kahuel jump and turn.
“Haven't found your sea legs, little brother?” Basilk's tan, cheery face radiated health, even under such leaden skies. “Not very dignified, for a prince of Yalta.”
“I'm big enough to kick your ass, brother or not. And call me Black Jaguar. You know I hate princely titles.” Kahuel wiped his mouth then dried the red crystal hanging on his chest with the maroon sleeve of his coat. “If you came to mock me, I'm not in the mood.”
Basilk laughed good-heartedly, and the wind whipped a strand of dark hair across his face from under his blue captain's hat. “Princess Esperana wants to see us in my cabin, at once.”
“Now?” Kahuel straightened his baldric and sword over his wool coat. “Do I look presentable?”
“Pale as the main sail, but still handsome enough to get you in trouble with the ladies.” Basilk chuckled.
Kahuel grunted at the mention of the very affliction that had sent him sailing to the other end of New Earth. “I can't help it if women flock to me for favors.”
Basilk winked. “But apparently their men do mind.”
Why wouldn't anyone let him forget his past? “I changed my ways. I'm here now, aren't I?”
“I know. And I admire you for it.” Basilk slapped Kahuel's back. “Better not keep the high and mighty waiting.”
Kahuel never could stay mad at his big brother. In an effort to regain his good mood, he made a parody of saluting. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
Basilk grinned and tucked his red crystal under his open tunic. “At ease, sailor.”
Kahuel was no sailor but he relaxed his stance. “Blasted Mutants! You and I have as much Goddian blood in our veins. Just because they have six fingers, they think they can rule everyone else.”
Basilk shook his head. “They also have technology, little brother, and a stronger constitution than any Human.”
Staggering and lurching, Kahuel clung to the pin rail as he followed his brother on a path strewn with coiled ropes, wooden buckets, and barrels of various sizes sliding in rhythm with the waves. On their way toward the stern, his brother barked orders to the crew trimming the sails high in the shrouds. How could they hang on in this wind?
Kahuel stumbled into a goat that bleated and bolted out of the way. Chickens cackled and flapped their wings as they cowered in the collar casing at the base of the main mast. Kahuel wished the roll and pitch would cease just long enough for him to recover. No such luck.
“May the Great Engineer blast all jealous men,” Kahuel muttered under his breath. On this voyage, he also wanted to prove himself as a reliable, responsible member of the royal family of Yalta. At twenty-five, an accomplished warrior, he could handle anything... anything, except this miserable ocean crossing.
They finally reached the stern and climbed the ladder to the aft castle. Basilk held the cabin door open against the wind while Kahuel entered the crowded room. With a dozen bodies inside, the space seemed much smaller than usual. So high in the stern, the movement of the boat made him lurch. He barely kept his balance in front of the mighty princess, her guards, and his brother's officers. How pathetic.
Princess Esperana of Kassouk, blond flaxen hair falling straight on each side of her face, sat very stiff at the round table. Even seated, her height and white silk robes marked her as a Mutant. She looked thirty or so, but she was well over a century old.
Kahuel nodded in greeting. Behind the handsome princess, six taciturn Mutant guards in gray armor, Grays for short, stood at attention. Half a foot taller than him, they remained as motionless and austere as the sparse furniture bolted to the floor.
Princess Esperana nodded politely. “Captain, Black Jaguar, please sit.”
The mention of his warrior name prompted Kahuel to straighten his spine and look as dignified as he possibly could.
He and his brother dropped into swivel chairs around the dark wood table, while Basilk's four officers remained standing. Kahuel immediately regretted sitting down. At least he wouldn't fall, but his stomach welled and plunged with each motion of the boat.
After taking a deep breath, the princess exhaled slowly, and her hazel eyes scanned the eager faces of the Human crew. “I have bad news from Kassouk.”
“Tell us.” Basilk's eyes narrowed.
Kahuel didn't trust the Mutants, either.
“This unexpected storm is not just a bout of bad weather.” The princess touched the azure crystal hanging from a duranium chain around her neck, the transmitter all Mutants carried. A device forbidden to five-fingered Humans, along with all advanced technology. But there were exceptions.
The royal family of Yalta, although considered Human, enjoyed the special privilege of their own crimson crystal transmitters, a favor granted for services rendered to the High Mutant King of Kassouk... King Dragomir.
“What's the bad news?” Basilk's steely blue eyes bore into Esperana's.
The haughty princess sighed. “It's a typhoon. And in a few hours the brunt of it will be upon us.”
“Blast the luck!” Kahuel blurted. “The storm is about to get worse?”
Basilk slammed the table with his fist and rose. Never had Kahuel seen his brother so red in the face. He glared at the princess. “When my family accepted this mission as a favor to your father, you said the ocean would remain calm for the season. I built this vessel for Yalta Lake. It's not designed to withstand raging seas, much less a typhoon.”
Princess Esperana sighed. “This atypical storm took us all by surprise, Captain. My brothers in Kassouk detected it only an hour ago.”
“Taming the weather is the Mutants' job.” Red crept up Basilk's face. “You promised to keep us safe during this voyage!”
Kahuel couldn't let the lazy bastards escape their responsibilities. “We have a hundred warriors onboard, twenty sailors, fifty horses and fifty felines. And my brother and I vowed to our father, King Terek, to bring them back to Yalta alive.”
“You Yaltans are not that noble!” The princess pre
ssed her lips into a thin line. “You also hope to find gold, medicinal plants, new fruit and spices, and new animals to breed.”
“How dare you!” Kahuel had about enough of the lofty princess. “We are merely hoping to cover the exorbitant cost of your little expedition.”
Basilk spat on the floor, in Zerker fashion, and for once Kahuel approved. “And what do you expect to find on that continent, Princess?”
“I cannot talk about it.” The princess shifted her hazel gaze.
“Of course not!” Basilk spat once more.
Again, Kahuel wondered about the secrecy, but Mutants were a tight-lipped bunch. “That better be important, because a lot of people might die for it.”
“It's important enough to take me away from a reclusive monastic life.” Princess Esperana looked genuinely distressed at the loss.
“Humans always end up suffering for Mutant mistakes,” Basilk shouted. He paced three steps and back in the crammed cabin, impervious to the lurch of the Galleon.
“My fifty Grays and I are on this crude vessel with you, and in the same danger, aren't we?” The princess spoke calmly in the face of Basilk's rage. “The only good news is that the typhoon is heading straight for the foreign shores and will bring us to our destination faster than we thought.”
“You call that good news?” Kahuel couldn't believe such a nonchalant attitude in the face of impending disaster.
Basilk tore off his blue felt hat and threw it on the table. “By the time we reach the shore, my ship might be in pieces and we may all have drowned.”
“Can't the Mutants of Kassouk rescue us?” To Kahuel it seemed logical. Mutants didn't let other Mutants die, and maybe, by the same token, they could save the crew and the warriors.
Princess Esperana stared down at the table for a few seconds, thrumming the polished wood with a six-fingered hand, then met Kahuel's gaze. “By the time their flyers reach us, it will be too perilous for them as well. The Council voted against it.”
“Blasted Council!” Kahuel's chest clenched as if caught in a brace. “If they had allowed us to fly in the first place, we wouldn't be in this predicament.”
The princess sighed. “I agree, Black Jaguar.”
“You do?” Kahuel never thought he'd ever hear those words from a Mutant Princess.
“But this delicate mission is not sanctioned by the Council.” Princess Esperana rose. “I will retire to meditate and ask the Great Engineer to protect us all.”
The six Grays of her personal guard stepped forward to surround the princess.
Basilk barred her way. “By all the deities, you are some piece of work. We face a typhoon, and you meditate?”
Glancing at the phasers resting in the Grays' six-fingered hands, Kahuel feared for his brother's life.
The princess steadied the Grays with one shake of the head then offered a sad smile. “That's all I can think of, Captain. I do my part and you do yours. Our lives are in your capable hands.” She glanced up beyond the swaying oil lamp hanging from the ceiling. “And in the hands of the Great Engineer.”
To Kahuel's relief, Basilk stepped back to let Princess Esperana and her Grays walk out in perfect order, without struggling for balance. Did these Mutants float instead of walk? More than six fingers differentiated them from Humans... or was it a miracle of technology?
Basilk turned to his officers. “To the rigging. Furl those sheets. Secure the cargo and supplies. Get the passengers down below.” He sighed. “All the deities and the Great Engineer be damned, we have a typhoon to whip.”
The officers saluted and scrambled out of the cabin.
Although Kahuel did worship the Great Engineer, he decided not to take offense at his brother's blasphemy. He didn't want to upset him any further. “What can I do to help?”
“Just stay out of our way.” Basilk grimaced then shook his head in apology. “I'm sorry, little brother.” He squeezed Kahuel's shoulder. “Just make sure the passengers remain below deck... including the animals.”
Kahuel nodded gravely. “I'll do my best. And it is Black Jaguar to you,” he called to his brother's retreating back.
Basilk shrugged and stormed out the door.
* * *
Sitting in the hold, alongside other warriors huddling with their felines, Kahuel scratched the jaguar's heavy black head on his thigh. “Rest easy, Diablo.”
The floor under him rose and fell, throwing men and cats upon each other, each sway more nauseating than the last. The stench of fear and urine covered the smell of the dangling oil lamps that swayed wildly. They provided a sick, flickering glow and threatened to spill with each toss. Deafening thunder punctuated the downpour battering the deck overhead.
After an entire day of this monstrous storm, Kahuel had no food left in his innards. A tiger roared, answered by a frightened lioness. Beastmasters shushed their felines in soft cooing voices barely audible over the raging tempest. A few animals, picking up on their masters' fears, refused to calm down and kept lamenting, or imitating the thunder with their roars. Other Humans and cats lay despondent on the wet planking, as if resigned to die.
Between the miserable chaos below deck, the tempest outside, and the moans of straining masts and rigging, the Galleon shuddered in agony. Water splashed through the locked shutters and cascaded down the steps each time the gale blew open the deck hatch. The hull creaked, and Kahuel feared it would soon shatter. But he had no prayers left in him. If the Great Engineer wanted to spare their lives, he would.
Diablo mewed pitifully.
“I know.” Kahuel scratched his wet coat. “Drowning like a rat in a box is no way for a warrior to die.”
Diablo grunted in agreement.
Resigned to his inescapable fate, Kahuel patted his feline, the largest jaguar in the hold. “Shall we go on deck, and stare death in the face?”
Diablo scoffed, the typical short roar of his species, and lurched sprightly on all fours. Kahuel turned to his warriors and waved. “I'll go check with the crew.”
Listless moans answered.
He staggered across the wet, slippery planking toward the stairs then gripped the railing on both sides for balance. As he reached the top, the gale flung open the hatch. A cold blast of downpour drenched him to the skin.
Kahuel paused in the hatchway, shivering. It looked so dark outside, was it night? Sheets of downpour blurred the view. A furious wind whipped the rain, and giant waves engulfed the boat like waterfalls across the deck, sweeping away everything that wasn't bolted down. The few sailors he could see through the watery veil clung desperately to the rigging.
In a blinding flash of lightning, Kahuel glimpsed his brother, up on the aft castle, alone at the rudder. Like a mad man, he fought the elements with a grin on his streaming face, shouting his defiance to the whipping wind, yelling among the thunderclaps. Basilk looked magnificent, larger than life as he battled the very deities he worshiped. Although secretly proud of his irreverent older brother, Kahuel wondered what kind of king he would make when his turn came to reign.
A sudden jolt shoved Kahuel out through the open hatch. He flew through the air and landed hard, face down on the wet planking of the deck. Three hundred pounds of feline muscle dropped on his back. The main mast cracked and snapped overhead. Looking up, Kahuel rolled aside in Diablo's embrace, barely avoiding the sharp claws.
The top section of the mast came crashing down slowly, like in a nightmare. Sails and rigging tangled with the foremast. The giant timber hit the deck in front of the doorway, smashing deck and hatch in a roar of booming thunder.
Yards of heavy wet sheets unfurled like death shrouds upon struggling sailors, pinning them to the deck. Lightning flashes illuminated the ghastly scene. Screams of pain and cries of fear pierced the space between thunderclaps. The boat shuddered, and the lugubrious sound of something solid ripping through the hull made Kahuel shiver with dread.
The Galleon shook so hard, Kahuel wondered what they had hit. He grabbed hold of a slippery rail whi
le Diablo dug his claws into the deck. Shouts and roars of panic surged from below. Whinnies filled a brief lull in the deafening noise.
Frantic felines and beastmasters appeared in the broken hatchway, but the rolling white caps and the squall hurled the vessel upon jagged rocks with renewed violence. A leopard squeezed out onto the deck and leapt into the torn rigging, to be slung overboard by the gusty wind. Beastmasters pulled themselves out of the hold, only to slide and tumble overboard.
The ship listed dangerously to port, treading heavy water. It would sink for sure. Gripping the main stay with both hands, Kahuel held on to that stiff rope with all his strength... anything to prevent sliding off the boat. Diablo, spread eagle on the deck, hung on by his powerful claws. Amidst the violent typhoon, the boat stopped rolling and pitching, and it seemed strange, after so many days, not to have that constant motion underfoot.
“Land!” a weathered sailor shouted in a raspy voice into the battering sheets of rain. “We are on land!”
Land! A vague sense of gratitude filled Kahuel as he thanked the Great Engineer. A flash of lightning showed the water rising to swallow the hull, and a promontory of rocks breaking through the dark surface. Land. His hand slowly released the rigid tarred rope he had been holding, and he let himself slide off the deck.
Kahuel slunk into shallow waters. But as he tried to command his numb body to stand on the slippery rock, the raging storm around him receded, and he drifted into nothingness.
* * *
“What do you mean? The whole ship and crew disappeared?” Seated at the large elliptical Council table, Tora, Queen of Kassouk, shuddered at the thought. Esperana, her daughter, her only child, had sailed away on that ship.
In the Kassouk Council Chamber, the indirect lighting provided a soft glow, accentuating architectural details of elegant simplicity. But due to the late hour, the flexglaz dome overhead displayed a dark, starry sky.
Black Jaquar Page 1
