Melcorka Of Alba

by Malcolm Archibald

  'That's better.' Melcorka continued to hack at the invading plants. 'Now you are whistling like a king. You could charm the birds from the trees if there were any birds around here, or any trees…'

  No sooner had Melcorka spoken than the sea altered. A deep swell began to move the plants, so they rose and fell like yellow waves.

  'Something's happening.' Bradan wrestled an oar free of the crawling plants. 'It's working!'

  The swell rose, carrying Catriona up and down as if she were a cork. One minute she was deep in the trough between two mountains of vegetation, the next, she was poised up high, revealing a limitless vista of unbroken yellow-brown. Above, the sky darkened, with thick clouds rolling in from the north and west, some black, others purple-tinged and full-bellied, pregnant with menace.

  'What's happening, Bradan?' Melcorka asked.

  'We whistled for the wind,' Bradan said, 'and your Defender summoned us up something a bit stronger. Look at the plants!'

  Already, the rising swell showed patches of clear water through the vegetation. A spatter of spray rattled against Catriona's hull.

  'I've never seen anything like this before.' Bradan watched with interest. 'It's a new experience.'

  'It's a new experience I can do without. What is that?' Melcorka pointed astern, where a patch of clear sea brightened to flaming orange. She could only stare as the water erupted behind them, thrusting upward in a fiery red mass, edged with orange and purple. 'In the name of God!

  The sea surged skyward in a wave ten, fifteen, twenty, fifty times higher than Catriona's mast and still rising.

  'Hold on!' Bradan yelled. 'Mel! Find something to hold on to!'

  The sea continued to rise, higher and higher until it blocked the sky astern, augmented by a smoky dark cloud and the reek of sulphur.

  'It's Hell!' Melcorka shouted. 'The gates of Hell have opened up behind us!'

  'Row!' Thumping onto a rowing bench, Bradan grabbed a pair of oars. 'Row, Melcorka! Row as if your soul depends on it.' Leaning forward, he dipped the blades in the seething water and pulled back, with Melcorka doing the same, until they realised that Catriona was already rushing forward at a far higher speed than anything they could manage. The smell of sulphur was overpowering, as fish, living and dead, rained down on them, together with water that was so hot it burned their skin. Glowing embers joined the fish, some hissing as they landed in the sea, others hitting the hull or sliding down the much-patched linen sail.

  'Get the sail in!' Bradan yelled. 'These burning rocks will set it on fire!' Shipping his oars, he began to furl the fabric, with Melcorka joining him, swearing as the hot rocks hurtled down and fish flapped and writhed in the seething water that lapped at their shins and knees. They bundled the sail on deck, where it smouldered and charred under the onslaught of hot rocks.

  'Hurry!' Bradan slapped at the flames until a wave crashed against the hull and sent a bathful of hot water to douse the fire.

  'What's happening?' Melcorka yelled, above the roar of water and wind. Her hair beat a mad frenzy against her head, one second covering her face, the next, streaming down her back. 'Is it the devil coming for us?' She glanced toward Defender, thrumming in the vibrating mast. 'I'll fight it, if it is!'

  'No!' Bradan shouted. 'It's a volcano! I've heard about them before. It's a mountain exploding and spewing out its flaming insides.'

  'We're at sea!' Melcorka nearly screamed. 'There are no mountains here!'

  'It must be a mountain under the sea!' Bradan roared.

  'I've never heard of that before.' Melcorka tried to control her flying hair.

  'Sit down, grab hold of something and pray,' Bradan said. 'There's nothing else we can do.' Balancing in the madly rocking boat, he inched to the stern and clutched at the tiller.

  'It's all right, Bradan,' Melcorka said. 'Don't forget that a master-builder created Catriona. No sea can sink her.'

  'No sea can sink her –' Bradan glanced at the nightmarish mountains of water behind him, shuddered and quickly turned his attention forward, 'but the sea might still capsize her, or toss us out.' He had to bellow to be heard above the roaring of wind and water. 'I'll keep her head straight.'

  All around them, the sea was a maelstrom, with waves rising and falling. Debris from the volcano continued to hammer down, lashing the surface of the water like a thousand flails.

  As Catriona rushed on, Bradan fought the tiller that bucked and reared in his hands, trying to guide the ship through the nightmare of rising and falling water. Twice, he saw colossal sea monsters of a type he had never met before, and each time they vanished again, as some hidden current dragged them away. Melcorka laughed, crawled to the bow and stood there like a splendid figurehead, her head thrown back and her legs braced to challenge this new experience.

  'That's my Mel,' Bradan whispered. 'Whatever comes at us, we'll get through it.' His arms ached with the strain of steering Catriona, yet knew he had to hold on. If he relaxed, a wave could smash at them from starboard or larboard, capsizing them in half a second. Bradan knew that Finlay MacCodrum, Catriona's builder, had been part selkie, a creature of the sea. Finlay had designed Catriona to be unsinkable, but had he taken account of underwater volcanoes?

  Had Finlay even known about such things?

  Bradan held on, keeping Catriona's stern to the sea, guiding her despite the constant ache of his arms. He lost track of time, he lost track of distance or location. Keeping afloat mattered, keeping alive mattered. Nothing else. Ignoring the pain, ignoring the fatigue, Bradan remained at his post as the sea hissed and spumed and roared around them.

  'I'll take over! Have a break!' Melcorka crawled to Bradan's side, her voice sounding dim through the thick cloud of his exhaustion.

  'Thank you.' Bradan relinquished the tiller and massaged his arms. 'How long has it been since the eruption?'

  'Melcorka shrugged. 'I don't know. Hours, maybe days.' She glanced at Defender, still firm in the mast. 'You were right, Brad. It was our fault. We caused the volcano to erupt by sticking the sword in the mast. If a sailor's knife and a whistle can call up the wind, how much more could a magic sword such as Defender do?'

  'It was nothing to do with Defender.' Bradan was not sure if he was correct. He no longer cared. The volcano and subsequent massive waves had pushed them clear of the terrible yellow seaweed and got them moving again, after weeks of floating on a pond-calm sea. Bradan knew they were heading in the wrong direction to go home, but he was the Wanderer; any new nation or unknown people would broaden his knowledge.

  'You're trying to make me feel better.' Melcorka brought him back to the present. 'I still don't know the full power of my sword. Retake the tiller.' Stepping forward, she wrestled Defender free from the mast. Almost immediately, the sea began to moderate, the wind eased, and within an hour Catriona was sailing at a sedate pace over a sea that was no different from any other, except for the hundreds of dead fish floating on top.

  'At least we won't go hungry for a while.' Bradan leaned over the bulwark to scoop up the nearest fish.

  Melcorka began to clean Defender's blade. 'I wonder where we are? I think we have travelled many miles.'

  'At the speed we were going, hundreds of miles,' Bradan agreed. 'I've never been in a ship that moved so quickly for so long.'

  Melcorka slid Defender into her scabbard. 'I wonder what strange lands we will come to next, what adventures we will have and what peoples we will see?'

  Bradan smiled. 'I hope there are no adventures, Mel. I want to find myself in a peaceful place, with intelligent people to increase my knowledge. I will settle for somewhere such as Athens, or Rome, or Baghdad.' He yawned. 'But the first thing I want to do is sleep. I feel as if we've been awake for days.'

  'We have,' Melcorka said.

  Bradan checked the sea. 'It's clear here. We can let Catriona drift for a while and catch up on some sleep.' He grinned. 'Let's hope there are no more aggressive plants.'

  Melcorka smiled. She did not mention seeing the face
of Kanaima among the vegetation. Sometimes, it was better not to share all her knowledge, for Bradan the Wanderer was also Bradan the Worrier. She crawled into the shelter of the small cabin under the foredeck and closed her eyes.

  The face of Kanaima returned, ethereal within her head. 'Begone! You are dead!' Melcorka brushed it away.

  'Did you say something, Mel?'

  'I was dreaming,' Melcorka said. 'Go back to sleep.' She listened until Bradan's breathing became soft and regular, put her arm around him and closed her eyes again.

  I am not dead, Melcorka. No mortal blade can kill me.

  Chapter Three

  'I see a sail, Bradan.' Melcorka perched cross-legged in the bows, staring out to sea as the waves broke silver and blue under the prow.

  'Good, we need some navigational advice. How long is it since the storm died down?' Bradan sat at the tiller with the wind pushing them northeast by north and the occasional squall filling their water casks.

  'I don't know.' Melcorka stood up. 'It's been weeks and weeks with nothing to see except the sea. That's no longer true, Bradan. There's maybe more than one ship.'

  'Where?' Bradan scanned the horizon.

  'On the starboard bow,' Melcorka said and swarmed up the mast for a better look. Sitting on the cross-trees, she shouted down. 'I see three sails in close company.'

  'I'll steer towards them,' Bradan said.

  'They might be unfriendly,' Melcorka warned.

  'It's been months since we last spoke to anybody. Have you not had enough of my company yet?'

  'More than enough,' Melcorka said. 'These ships are sailing towards us.'

  The sails burst over the horizon, one, two, three, close together and moving fast.

  'It's only a single ship,' Bradan said. 'It is a single ship with three masts.'

  'It must be huge,' Melcorka marvelled. 'We'll soon see if they are friendly or not.'

  The ship was long, stable in the water and larger than any they had seen before. Three tall masts were resplendent with square sails, while a bowsprit thrust from the bow, also holding a sail. The master must have placed a lookout on one of the masts for he altered direction toward the diminutive Catriona.

  'They've seen us.' Bradan steered for the strange ship.

  The three-master surged toward them and, with an impressive display of skill, her crew furled all her sails simultaneously. She eased beside Catriona, rising and falling on the long, still unbroken swell. Sun glinting from the water around her only enhanced the hush and swish of the waves.

  'Well met, stranger!' Bradan shouted across the cable's length between them.

  A score of dark brown faces stared at them as a man stood in the stern and called to them in a language they did not understand.

  Bradan tried again, in Gaelic, Pictish and Cymric, to meet only smiles and shaking heads. The mariners on the stranger ship also attempted different languages, which had everybody smiling and laughing together.

  'At least they're friendly,' Melcorka said.

  'I'll try Norse,' Bradan said, 'and then maybe Latin.'

  'I didn't know you spoke Latin,' Melcorka said. 'You are full of surprises, Bradan.'

  The master of the foreign vessel was broad and smiling under a large turban. He responded to the Latin with a great, booming laugh and words that Bradan understood, despite the strong accent.

  'They want to know who we are and where we are from,' Bradan said.

  'Then tell them.' Melcorka sat with her back to the mast, studying the strange ship with its large crew of bare-chested, sinewy men. She listened to Bradan speaking, decided that she was not needed and closed her eyes. She opened them briefly when the strange vessel sent over a small open boat with a bird in a cage and closed them again when it was apparent there was no threat to Catriona. As she could not communicate with them, there was nothing else she could do.

  'They're from a place called the Chola Empire,' Bradan said at length.

  'I've never heard of it,' Melcorka said.

  'They've never heard of Alba, either,' Bradan grinned. 'This is a completely different world.'

  'Is this Chola Empire worth visiting?' Melcorka asked.

  'It sounds like it. The shipmaster thinks it's paradise on earth, with hospitals for sick animals as well as sick humans and resting places for travellers.'

  'Take us there, then,' Melcorka said. 'We need a friendly place and some time on land after so long at sea.'

  'If we head north, and a little east, most of the coastline belongs to the Chola Empire,' Bradan said. 'The shipmaster has given us a navigation bird. He says that when we see seabirds or smell the coast, we should release the bird and it will guide us to land.'

  Melcorka looked at the bird, unhappily hunched within its cage. 'The poor little creature will be pleased when we set it free.' Putting her finger through the bars, Melcorka stroked the bird's breast. 'She's a lovely little thing.'

  'I don't like to see birds and animals caged,' Bradan said. 'I think we should free her now.'

  Melcorka nodded. 'Do it. We can find land ourselves.' She watched as Bradan opened the cage door. The bird hopped out and immediately flew away. 'Safe journey, little bird. Did the shipmaster say anything else?'

  'The captain also said to watch out for the pirates of Thiruzha.'

  Melcorka laughed and touched the hilt of Defender. 'We have faced Caterans and Norsemen, Kalingo warriors and the armies of Cahokia. We can face pirates as well.'

  'You are not invulnerable, Melcorka,' Bradan warned.

  'Nor are they.' Melcorka dismissed Bradan's words. 'What else did your Chola friends say?'

  'You're not normally so contemptuous of a possible enemy.' Bradan narrowed his eyes. 'You've not been quite yourself since you fought the Kalingo.'

  'I'm fine.' Melcorka brushed aside Bradan's worries.

  Bradan grunted. 'I'm not so sure. I'm keeping an eye on you, Melcorka nic Bearnas.'

  Melcorka arched her back and thrust out her breasts. 'Oh, please do, Bradan no-last-name.'

  'That's not like you either, Mel.'

  'But you're glad I have this new side.' Melcorka laughed. 'It's all right, Brad, I'm still me. I've not changed. Now, tell me more about these ferocious Thiruzha pirates.'

  Bradan altered the angle of the sail and looked around the horizon. 'The captain advised us to watch out for a man named Bhim – he is the worst of them. The shipmaster said if you meet Bhim or a woman named Dhraji, turn and flee.'

  'We shall avoid him, then.' Melcorka spoke lightly.

  They watched as the Chola ship hoisted its sails and bore away to the East, leaving a spreading white wake behind. Two men waved from the stern.

  'I wonder where she is bound and what strange lands await her?' Bradan said. 'Perhaps we should have gone with her.'

  'They have their journey,' Melcorka said, 'and we have ours. Let's find this Chola Empire and see if it is as friendly as the seamen said.' She grinned. 'The empires we have found in the past were not always worth finding.'

  'As long as there are no warlike falcons there,' Bradan said. 'I do not wish to meet any more falcon warriors.'

  'Do you wish to meet a many-legged monster?' Melcorka asked, suddenly serious.

  'I never wish to meet a many-legged monster,' Bradan said.

  'Don't look behind you, then.' Melcorka drew Defender.

  Melcorka had never seen anything even remotely resembling the thing that was rising from the sea. Three enormously long tentacles stretched as high as Catriona's mast, writhing as they sought their prey. On the underside of each arm was a row of circular suckers, equipped with what looked like sharp teeth.

  'It's a sea monster, Bradan!' Melcorka shouted. 'Get forward and keep out of my way.'

  'I can't leave the tiller!' Bradan shouted.

  Grabbing hold of his arm, Melcorka ripped Bradan from his seat and shoved him forward, just as one of the probing tentacles swept across the stern of Catriona. 'Move!'

  A fourth wriggling tentacle joined the
first three, and then a fifth.

  'What in the name of God is that?' As always, Melcorka felt the thrill as the power of Defender surged through her, with the skill of the sword's makers augmented by the fighting ability, cunning and strength of all her previous users. 'Come on, you creature from Hades! Melcorka of Alba is here! Melcorka the Swordswoman is waiting for you!'

  Three arms settled on the stern of Catriona, dragging the ship deeper into the water as the teeth within the suckers scraped at the timber.

  Melcorka swung Defender at the closest arm, feeling the bite as the blade sliced into the rubbery thing that writhed and pulled at the bulwark. She swore as Defender stuck fast.

  'You're tough.' Melcorka gave grudging praise. 'What in God's name are you?' Wrestling Defender free, she hacked a second and a third time before the arm parted, leaving a four-foot-long length writhing along the deck.

  'Mel!' Bradan's voice was hoarse. 'Behind you!' Rushing forward, he crashed down his rowan-wood staff on one of the arms that snaked around the back of Melcorka. The stick bounced from the tentacle without having any effect, but Bradan's shout alerted Melcorka just as the tip of the tentacle curled around her ankle.

  The power of the tentacle shocked Melcorka as it lifted her leg. She yelled, turned and sliced downward, chopping the end off the tentacle, which parted, to wriggle on the deck like a living thing.

  'There are more of them!' Bradan said, as two more of the long, red arms slithered from the sea, and then a massive head thrust up at the bow, with shield-wide eyes staring at them, on either side of a great, beak-like mouth that snapped in fury.

  'What an ugly brute you are!' Melcorka jerked back as the beak reached for her, and more of the creature's arms appeared. One coiled around the mast and another grabbed Bradan around the thigh.

  The rings of teeth tore into Bradan's leg. 'Mel!' Bradan beat uselessly at the tentacle with his staff, swearing as the thing tightened its grip, tearing into his flesh.

  Melcorka had troubles of her own, as one tentacle wrapped around her waist and another grabbed her right arm, trying to prise her grip free from Defender. Shocked at the monster's power, Melcorka gasped as she fought back, using all the strength she could glean from her sword.