On his way out of the cabin, he noticed Gavin was sitting over by Markam’s bunk with a worried look on his face. Even as Aiden watched, he dipped a cloth into a bucket of water and folded it before putting it on top of Markam’s forehead. In response, Markam just groaned but didn’t say anything else. Aiden leaned toward them, putting his hand on Markam’s arm in concern. He was burning up, and whereas he should be sweating, he was as dry as a bone. Aiden was no healer, but even he knew that was a bad sign.
“How is he?” Aiden asked softly, looking down at Gavin.
Gavin just shook his head. “Not so good. He’s so dehydrated but he can’t keep anything down. Aiden. I’m worried he’s going to die. This is the longest sea voyage I’ve ever been on. I know he gets seasick, but I didn’t know it could get this bad.”
“Don’t they have a doctor on board? Someone who knows healing?”
Gavin nodded again, not taking his eyes off of Markam. “Yes, and he’s given him something for the seasickness but it hasn’t worked at all.”
Aiden became quiet as they both just sat there, not knowing what to say. It was clear Markam was going downhill fast. “Wait,” Aiden said, a sudden thought intruding on his mind, “he’s been on the Skywitch and I’ve not seen him get seasick there.”
Gavin nodded. “Yeah, but remember the Skywitch doesn’t roll like this ship does. You can even stand on the deck with it upside down. It’s not nearly the same as on a ship. It gets to even the best people, but with Markam it has crushed him.”
“How about I do something with his bunk? Maybe I could do the same to it I did to my skimmer? At least it would let him sleep and maybe get some water in him? If it works?”
Gavin blinked for a few moments, thinking it over. Finally, he just nodded his head. “Well, it can’t hurt and if it does something to the bunk the ship’s carpenter can just make another. Honestly, if we don’t do something he’s going to die. We can’t even stop somewhere to drop him off.”
“Okay, well give me a few minutes. I think this is important, Gavin.” Aiden went back to his own bunk and sat down to close his eyes. Each time he’d worked with glimmer steel or crossed over into the Anderealm, it had slowly gotten easier. This time, it wasn’t even ten minutes before he’d been able to pull the golden filaments and begin manipulating them toward Markam’s bed. The idea seemed to be fairly simple to him since he just wanted to make the bed have its own space that kept anything on top of it pointing only down toward it, rather than toward the ocean bottom. As with the shirts and swords, it seemed to easily replace the wood with itself. When it was done, he slowly opened his eyes and looked over towards the other two boys.
Gavin was sitting back, looking a bit wide-eyed but the first thing Aiden noticed was Markam was no longer rocking back and forth with the movement of the ship. He was just laying there calmly. After a minute, they both heard an almost satisfied groan from the bunk and Markam rolled over, falling into what sounded like a more peaceful sleep.
“That…was very strange,” Gavin said slowly. “My hand was on the bunk when it suddenly felt different.” He waved his hand over the bunk and nodded. “Yes, wow, you can feel it change. I think you might have helped, Aiden. Thank you.”
Aiden moved closer to the bunk and put his hands near Gavin’s. It did feel strange but matched what he’d envisioned fairly closely. Still, as he moved his hand back and forth, it was disconcerting too. “I hope it helps. I don’t think I’d like for him to die if I could do something to help.”
“I’ll stay with him. If he wakes up I’ll give him some water but he’s no longer making whimpering noises at least.” Gavin looked up at him with hope in his eyes. “He’s been a good friend, Aiden. I’m sorry he’s been kind of cold to you but the truth is, he’s that way to everyone.”
Aiden nodded slowly, still watching Markam breathe easier. “I know. Ashrak told me about them. I mean, it’s not exactly nice to know he’d throw me in front of a wagon to save you, but I guess that’s his job. Besides, he’s worked with helping me in Oya Dihya’s class so I know he’s got a small soft spot in there somewhere.”
“Would you two shut up. Gods. My head,” Markam groaned softly, putting his arm up over his eyes. “Are we on land? It feels so much better.”
Gavin and Aiden exchanged happy glances and then Gavin took another cloth and dipped it into the water bucket before putting it up toward Markam’s chapped lips. “Here, Markam. You need to get some water in you but do it slowly. You're very dehydrated.”
Markam just nodded and sucked on the cloth. Even as they watched, it was clear the sick boy was gaining energy and Gavin had to return the cloth to the bucket several times. It was a good sign.
“Okay, I need to go up on deck and see what is going on,” Aiden said softly to Gavin. “What was that thump and cheering I heard earlier anyway?”
Gavin grimaced and shook his head. “Oh, that. Well, Aiden. The Terek navy doesn’t suffer pirates. In fact, there’s a standing death warrant for them and most navy ships will carry out the punishment right away. Seeing as how we’re not going to be near any ports until we reach Riften, the Captain decided not to waste any time. They’ve started interrogating them this morning, and they started to hang the ones they’ve finished with.”
Aiden went pale. Hanging? They were hanging men just above his head. He sighed softly and closed his eyes. Could he stomach that? Even if those same men would have gleefully killed all of his friends. Could he stand there and watch people be killed?
But he didn’t really have a choice. He had to go find the Duke. Maybe the man would be staying off the deck while the nasty business occurred. If he was lucky.
Chapter 17
When Aiden got onto the deck, he desperately tried to keep his eyes off of the loading crane now serving one of its less glorious functions. He only momentarily glimpsed two or three dark forms dangling from the crossbeam with its grisly prize before he hurriedly turned away.
“Excuse me, do you know where the Duke is?” Aiden asked a passing sailor.
The man stopped and looked around before answering. “Sorry, young lord. I don’t see him but I think the Captain and His Grace are interrogating and pronouncing sentence on the prisoners in the master cabin.”
The master cabin was toward the back which relieved Aiden greatly. He quickly thanked the man and then headed toward his objective, stopping next to several armed sailors holding two pirates outside. He walked quickly by the men and knocked quietly on the door. After a few moments, Kel opened the door and peeked out, smiling at him.
“Ah! Aiden? Did you get enough sleep? You scared us to death, you know? Let me tell you, it’s not often we lose someone on a ship. I had my money on sleepwalking, and then sleep swimming.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Truthfully, I would rather not have gone on an adventure. I was exhausted. Is the Duke here? He wanted me to come see him when I woke up.
Kel nodded and gestured for him to come in. “Yes, right this way but keep quiet. They're just about done with the current man and I don’t think this one will be ending badly. Only seven left after that, though.”
Aiden nodded and crept quietly into the room. He had almost expected some huge, sweaty sailor to be standing over some ratty, bruised man and beating him with a whip, but instead he saw the Captain and the Duke sitting at a table flanked by Stelios and several other guards. In front of them and across a small table sat a younger man, clearly one of the pirates, with his hands clenched between his knees and head bowed.
“For the record,” Captain Grell said clearly and grimly, “because you were not armed as your ship attacked us and were clearly shackled to the galley, we will return you to the nearest port for a more thorough trial.” The Captain looked up and nodded to Kel. “Lieutenant, please have this prisoner taken back to his cell.”
The young man, shaking now and sobbing, was led out by two armed sailors and babbling his thanks. As he passed, Aiden was shocked to see he was even younger than he imag
ined and looked almost his own age. It was also clear the boy had not been treated well with several old lacerations and bruises clearly evident around his face and arms. There was no telling what was under his shirt.
As the boy left, the Captain blew out his breath and glanced at Valeran sadly. “At least there’s one young man I don’t have to kill today, thank the Seven.”
Valeran nodded, taking a drink from a flagon before noticing Aiden standing next his son. Both men looked tired and haggard, though determined. The look on the Duke’s face made Aiden flashback to his own time standing in front of the man and being sentenced. It had truly been a terrifying time in his life.
“Ah, there you are Aiden. I hope you got some rest, boy?” the Duke asked pleasantly. “Sorry if the hubbub out there woke you but the Captain figured we should get it over with now rather than waiting. No sense in it, since we were the ones attacked, and with our unexpected voyage, feeding men who were just going to die anyway doesn’t make sense.”
Aiden tried not to look sickened by what he’d just heard, but he was fairly sure his face registered his discomfort. The Duke blanched before looking apologetic. “You know, I probably didn’t need to say that. Sorry, Aiden. Sometimes I forget you grew up in the School of Breen. Okay Aiden, before we bring the next prisoner in, I wanted to ask you something.”
Aiden tried to drop the look off of his face, but he was sure he still looked a bit sick. Nodding, he encouraged the Duke to continue. “What do you need, sir?”
“Well, one of the letters I received from Ahnarad was from her sister, Duchess Emraldi Riften. There’s not much that could make that woman excitable, but her letter betrayed her worry. She doesn’t know why the council has been called early. There were several Dukes, Feldar being one, who put forth charges they wanted to be answered in relation to you, and also what happened at the cutter fish races with the Skywitch, but neither Emraldi nor I think they hold enough weight to even remotely pull everyone together. Something else is going on.” The Duke paused, looking intently at Aiden. “I need some way to get us there faster, Aiden. Anything you can do would help. For some reason, they made sure I couldn’t make it, so the best thing I can think of to do is to disappoint them. Do you think you can do it?”
Aiden nodded but answered hesitantly. “I can try, Your Grace. We’ve been talking about ideas on what to do, and one of the things we spoke about was helping to get us there faster. Just, with everything going on in the last few days, we’ve not had a chance to even think about it. I’ll go round them all up and we’ll work on ideas.” He paused, glancing at Kel out of the corner of his eyes before continuing. “Is there any way we can get the help of Ke… I mean the lieutenant? He helped immensely before.”
The Duke looked at the Captain who nodded. “Yes, that is fine. Lieutenant Terek, can you tell the second mate to report for your duty? We’ve enough sailors that seven more pirates won’t cause any issues, I’m sure.”
Aiden followed Lieutenant Kelman out onto the deck and before he could think of it, his eyes settled on the loading crane arm with three twitching bodies hanging from it. For what seemed like an eternity, he couldn’t tear his eyes away as he watched the black, bloated faces of the hanged pirates.
For some odd reason, it looked like the men were still trying to speak. He knew that couldn’t be the case. They’d been hanging there for at least as long as he’d been in the captain's cabin, but their lips were moving as if they were trying to say something.
“Aiden, what’s wrong?” Kel said before he followed Aiden’s gaze and saw where he was looking. “Ah… I can’t blame you, Aiden. It’s a tough business to see men die. I should have warned you not to look.”
Aiden could only listen with half an ear. Even as he watched, the lips on the first dead man opened. Not wide, but enough it looked like he was taking a breath. He shook his head at the lieutenant, pointing. “No.. It’s… Is he trying to speak?” He said half-heartedly, narrowing his eyes in concentration. He simply didn’t have enough experience with this to know if it was normal or not, but the sight was just so disturbing.
Kel looked again, shaking his head automatically but even he paused as he watched the mouth open wider. Before both of their horrified gazes, they saw a large black and red thing crawl out of the man's mouth and perch on his cheek. No one else had seen it yet and both Aiden and Kel just stared in horrified paralysis as the spider, for that’s what it was, crawled across the man’s staring, glassy eye and allowed another to emerge, then another.
Kel yelled, calling out a warning even as the other two hanging men’s mouths began to open, and the first one’s body began to twitch spasmodically as if boiling from the inside. The sailors closest to them had no chance, for in the next minute a torrent of black, wriggling bodies erupted outwards and down onto the faces just turning up to see their falling doom.
It was instantaneous chaos as the sailors stampeded in any direction they thought may take them to safety, but with so many bodies pressed together it was impossible to move quickly. Screaming, following by cursing and cries of pain shattered the once-calm air of the ship and Aiden watched in horror as not a few of the men leaped into the ocean to escape. Some did it in calculated hope, but others simply leaped in maddened pain as the eight-legged monstrosities bit them hundreds of times.
Aiden was frozen as the wave of screaming humanity scrambled toward them. Some of the men were already swelling up where they’d been bitten, angry red lines arching away from the wounds whos terror was matched only by the spiders themselves crawling across the terrified sailors. It was lucky Kel was with him because Aiden was sure he would have been knocked down and killed otherwise. The young lieutenant grabbed Aiden by the collar and pulled him back and up the narrow steps toward the wheelhouse and then up to the poop deck.
Many sailors, those not maddened by pain, followed and even as they stared down at the terrible scene beneath them the lieutenant began screaming orders to grab torches and swabbing buckets. Aiden had taken his shirt off and had wrapped it around one of his hands, smashing at any dark crawling thing he saw. Several of the men had been bitten but were still functioning enough to help each other kill the few spiders still in evidence.
Aiden felt cold as his eyes looked down on the terror that was the lower deck. He could see numerous black and red covered lumps under the carpet of spiders, but it was hard to tell if they were bodies or something else. The screams and sounds around him seemed, just for a moment, to be distant as his eyes flicked from one tragedy to the next. There were only a few sailors still struggling up from the wheelhouse and not far behind them was a slowly advancing carpet of spiders.
“Oh, my god,” Chari gasped as she and Ashrak came up alongside Aiden and looking down over the railing. It broke Aiden out of his shock, at least partially, and the sound seemed to wake him up. He blinked, and in the next moment, a lit torch was thrust into his hands by one of the crewmen who had made it up there with them.
“Light torches! Burn them, or lock yourselves behind doors if you can! Ware the spiders!” Lieutenant Kel called loudly, clearly trying to give directions to whoever was still below.
The confused babbling of those crewmen rose and ebbed, turning to muffled screams of terror as the spiders made their way to the guts of the ship. Aiden leaned over the railing in front of him and waited, watching the spiders grow closer.
Before they even began to crawl up the last barrier toward the poop deck, water began to be thrown in nervous splashes as a gruff sergeant conscripted several men with buckets and ropes, usually used to scrub the deck, to pull and haul water to wash the spiders off instead. It had an effect, displacing swathes of the crawling creatures and washing them over the side. Not enough, but it gave Aiden hope.
And then it was their turn.
He was not the only one with a torch. Ashrak, Chari, and several others were spaced along the line from the poop deck to the one below like sentries, and they began to work their torches at the black things
seeking them out. The flames were effective, not taking more than a moment to curl and kill, but there were hundreds of spiders.
The worst were the ones that jumped. Aiden had put his shirt back on again, and he was thankful for it when one of the nasty things leaped impossibly far and landed on his chest. He screamed, almost dropping his torch before slamming it against the thing clinging to him. Even as he did so, he was surprised to feel the heat from the torch sear his skin for the brief moment it was there as it killed the spider, but then it was over. Returning him to his defense of the battlements.
He had watched, almost as if in slow motion, as the thing plunged its wicked fangs down. Any normal shirt and he knew he would have been bitten, but he breathed a sigh of relief he had kept his special armor on, and was more than surprised when the full heat of the flame penetrated it easily. Even as he returned to killing spiders, he felt his mind drift for a second as he pondered that. His shirts didn’t protect from flame! He’d have to think about that, but later. For now, there were far more important things to take care of.
The Glimmer Steel Saga, Boxed Set, Books 1 - 4 Page 51
