The Finger of God: a Thalassia novel

by Patrick McClafferty

  “What the bloody hells is THAT?” He kept backing, stopping finally at about ten feet from the woman.

  “I thought you might tell me. The cats delivered it, along with three rats this morning. Did you happen to see anything odd during your trip ashore?”

  “Ah.” A simple “no” would have gotten him off the hook, but if he wanted the Captain to trust him, then he was going to have to trust her. “Yes, but I think you should hear it from both Alexandra and I, before you start thinking I’m telling tall tales.”

  “That’s reasonable.” She gave him a level look. “Meet me in my cabin after breakfast, and bring my young navigator with you. Meanwhile…” She set the small body on the floor and handed him the glove. “Get rid of THAT thing.”

  “I think I’ll show it to the good doctor, before I get rid of it. He might be interested.”

  “He can look all he likes, but YOU dispose of it before the sun goes down tonight.”

  Slipping on the glove, he reached down warily. “Yes, Captain.”

  The tall woman sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you that my name is Dolores? Can you remember that? It’s not difficult.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I remember.”

  “You say ‘yes ma’am’ just like you were saying ‘yes Captain’. Do you know that?”

  He gave her an impudent grin. “Yes ma’am.”

  “Oh get out of here.” She finished, laughing. “You’re terrible.”

  Already halfway down the corridor, Hedric looked over his shoulder. “Thank you, Dolores.”

  “Then Alston and Kalen flew off, and that’s the last we saw of them. We went back to the fire, where the men were just beginning to chop more wood. The boats came back from the ship; we loaded the wood, and came back to the Fleece. Eleven cords Mister Gralt said. The men unloaded. Hedric worked right along with them. Then I had dinner, cleaned up and went to bed. Hedric dragged me to the doctor’s cabin before we came here. We didn’t see anything like THAT!”

  Captain Isenhart sat looking at the two young people for a long time. “The doctor told me that the thing probably came out of the Blight. I’ve heard other stories about strange things in the woods, on this side of the river. I suppose we were lucky that it wasn’t something worse.” Her blue eyes held the boy. “So, the D’Tril expect you to save them?”

  He swallowed, squirming. “Yes, ma’am. I said that I would try.” He shrugged his shoulders. “What could I do?”

  “And your plans?”

  “Find a Temple of Selene when we get to Dimsdale, somehow get in touch with Selene, and beg her for help.”

  “You mean, have her take you away from all of this?” There was a hard note in the Captain’s voice.

  “What?” The boy looked up, confused. He had never even thought of running away. His hurt gaze flicked momentarily to Lexi, and she returned a weak smile. “I never thought of running, honest.”

  “I know you didn’t, and it was a low question. I do have one favor to ask, however.”

  “Yes, uh, Dolores?” Hedric flushed brightly.

  “When you go to the temple, take Alexandra with you.”

  “What! But why, I mean? There isn’t anything that she can do there.” His voice was filled with confusion.

  “Call it an intuition. She has a part to play in this, I know it.” Dolores Isenhart was frowning.

  “But it could be dangerous, Dolores.”

  “I know.”

  Hedric took a deep breath, and knew that he was caught between a promise to Lexi and his worry about her safety. “Are you sure enough that you’re willing to risk your daughter’s life?”

  “Hedric!” Lexi gasped next to him.

  The Captain’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “You knew?”

  He glanced at the girl glaring at him. “I figured it out, Captain. I saw you one night with your hair down. In that light you were a cinch for Alexandra’s mother. There have been a few other occasions, once I knew what I was looking for.”

  You are a very perceptive young man.” Her words were addressed to Hedric, but her eyes were on her daughter.

  At his side, he heard the girl sigh. “I told him, Mother. We were talking one night, and I mentioned that the only one who could handle you was Dad. I’m sorry.” Her dark blue eyes were looking at the floor.

  “It’s all right, Lexi.” Dolores was looking at Hedric now, her eyes unreadable. “There was no harm done, considering who you said it to.” She gave a low, wry laugh. “I can probably eliminate Hedric’s monetary ambitions too, all things considered, so his interest in you must be something else entirely.” Captain Isenhart sat back, smiling slightly, and watched a scarlet blush spread across the faces of the two young people before her. “So it’s like that…is it?”

  “But we never… I mean…” Hedric stumbled.

  The older woman’s laugh was rich and deep. “Get out of here, you two. I remember what it was like to be fourteen.” They stood and turned for the door. “And Hedric?”

  He stopped, looking over his shoulder. “Yes, ma’am?”

  “She goes.”

  The boy’s shoulders drooped. “Yes, ma’am.” He turned away, his engines and his duty calling him.

  Chapter 7

  Fort Number Four was a great hulking wooden structure built on a low hill overlooking both the sheltered harbor, and on the other side, the deep woods beyond. From his position on the bow Hedric could see that the land and trees had been burned off a full mile from the edge of the fort. Smooth and featureless, the wooden walls were twenty feet high and surmounted with sharpened wood spikes. Even from their position two hundred yards away, he could see archers manning the battlements of what could only be called a castle.

  “Hello, the fort!” Captain Isenhart’s shout coming by his side made him jump. She put a reassuring hand on his arm.

  A small sally door located next to the massive main gate swung open with a creak of unused hinges and a delegation of six men emerged. Four were obviously soldiers, from their armor and heavy crossbows. They walked the hundred feet to the edge of a roughly hewn wooden dock, and stopped.

  “Hello, the boat.” The stoutest delegate called out in a bellowing voice. “What is your business here?”

  Dolores cupped her hands to her mouth. “Take on wood, maybe do a little trade, head on north.”

  The two delegates had a hurried conference while the guards watched both boat and woods with equal intensity. The big one bellowed again. “Come ahead and moor to the dock. Take on wood if ye wish, and we’ll do some trading, but I advise against going north.”

  Dolores made a quick motion to Mister Gralt, who got the crew busy. Soon the Fleece was moored to the end of the dock, and the delegates were waiting patiently for the crew to extend the gangway. When Hedric made to leave and return to the engine room, Captain Isenhart put a restraining hand on his arm. “That fort wasn’t here the last time we passed this way, five years back. You might want to hear this. Certain future interested parties might like to know.” The boy nodded grimly and stepped away, putting his back to the railing. A chill breeze raised goose bumps on his arms and the air carried the spicy scent of pines. The Captain stepped forward as the delegates came aboard, her hand extended in welcome. “Good afternoon gentlemen. Why the chilly reception?”

  “Times are tough—Captain…er—” The biggest delegate, dressed in a combination rough fur and pieces of armor, gave her a quizzical look.

  “Captain Isenhart.” Her voice was flat as she replied.

  “Ah. I thought it was you.” The big man smiled and took her hand, pumping it warmly. “I was a simple guard captain then. Now I’m mayor.”

  She smiled back, removing her hand from his grip, rubbing the circulation back in. “What happened to Mayor Greene? He was a fat jolly old soul, and I always had to keep my back to the wall when he was around. He was very free with his hands.”

  The man’s face fell. “Ed Greene fell defending the city, as did a lot of good lads. Tha
t was before we had the walls finished.” He pointed to the fortified town. “We put a fosse around the wall, and have barrels of pitch and naphtha set to flood it. They attack, we fill the fosse with pitch and naphtha and set it alight. The zombies are so stupid they walk right in. Does our job for us, but we haven’t had many attacks since the wall went up. The worst thing is the critters.”

  “Critters?” Isenhart asked curiously. “Bout a foot long, red, clawed arms and sharp teeth?”

  “Right on all counts—but one.” He gave a wry laugh, holding up his hands, about three feet apart. “The little ones grow up.”

  “Holy bloody hells!” Dolores exclaimed.

  “That ain’t the worst of the lot. Couple o hunters came in a week ago raving that they saw a great critter six feet long with a scorpion tail. Killed one o their friends right before their eyes, it did. Drove a poisoned barb right into his thigh. He died screaming in fifteen minutes.”

  “I guess we’re lucky then.” The Captain said with some relief in her voice. “Our cats killed the one that got on board.”

  “You got cats?” The big man exclaimed, whipping around. “Want to sell one or more? I can make you a rich woman. A very rich woman if you have a breeding pair.”

  “What happened to your own cats? There used to be cats all over.”

  The big man shrugged. “Ran away. The whole bloody lot o them. Snuck on a barge headin to the other side of the river. A hunnert cats, or better. Ain’t seen one since.” He gave her a long look. “So, want to sell us a cat er two?”

  “Aren’t mine to sell.” She gave him a wide smile at his confusion. “Cats are free agents. They come and go as they will, and they are valuable members of my crew.”

  Hedric felt a cold nose touch his leg, and looked down to see Blue, standing at his feet. The cat nodded briefly to show that he had understood the conversation.

  The big man looked disappointed, and then his face brightened. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have any tabac aboard, from those warm southern regions?” He pulled out an empty tobacco pouch and wrinkled his nose. “We’ve been reduced to smoking corn husks.”

  Isenhart made a face, and then smiled. “Why don’t we just step into my cabin and discuss it—Mister?”

  “Jones. Mayor Elam Jones, at your service.”

  She began to turn away when Hedric touched her arm. “Yes Hedric?”

  The boy motioned that he wanted to speak quietly, so she moved closer. There was a faint fragrance of lavender about her, he noted with pleasant surprise. “The cats wanted me to tell you that for as long as the Golden Fleece is afloat there will always be a cat with you.”

  She looked down at the blue-eyed Siamese and stroked his soft fur. “Thank you, Blue.” The cat stropped her leg once, gave a short “Bblrrrt,” and walked off, tail straight up in satisfaction.

  Mayor Jones was staring. “You run an amazing ship, Captain.” His voice held disbelief.

  The Captain took his arm. “You don’t know the half of it.”

  The engine room telegraph chimed FULL AHEAD, and Hedric set the transmission. His green eyes followed the smooth motion of the walking beam, and the engine seemed to be humming to itself in secret satisfaction. Doander, with a small perpetual smile on his face, was oiling the piston sleeve, while Simms was replacing a bearing on the large gear of the back-up transmission. Outside the small porthole the river swept by in stately grandeur.

  Captain Isenhart had sold a single bale of medium grade tobacco for enough money to pay for the entire trip, let alone one stop for wood. If she remembered right, there was a brisk market for fine pelts in Dimsdale, so she had even managed to acquire several bales of fine pelts for next-to-nothing in foodstuffs. Then she regarded the map and worried. Her finger traced the edge of the river. The next stop would be Fort Ticonderoga, named for an ancient Earth fortification. With the walls made entirely of stone, it was a much bigger city than Fort Number Four. According to Elam Jones it even had cannons.

  Fort Ticonderoga sat on a modest peninsula of land jutting out into the Mississippi. With massive stone walls fully thirty feet high, it was more than able to cover access to the harbor from north and south, while all it had to worry about was direct assault across the peninsula. Engineers, Hedric noted with some satisfaction, had dug a wide deep channel across the peninsula, and then equipped it with a drawbridge that could be raised or lowered at will. Any attacking army would be forced to swim to reach the other side and from his experience zombies didn’t swim all that well. The city, consisting of a few dozen two and three story buildings, and as many smaller homes with large gardens, sat between the channel and the main gate of the fort. If the attack was too serious, the residents of the city would be evacuated into the fort and the massive gate closed. The defenders could then stick arrows into the attackers, or toast them with flaming pitch and naphtha, until they either got tired of playing games or died.

  An unused and abandoned looking single-masted steamship sat tied to one side of a long rough wooden pier. Hedric frowned through the porthole, and then the view was gone. ALL STOP rang on the telegraph, and Hedric disengaged the gears. A shudder passed through the ship as she nudged the quay. The telegraph chimed FINISHED WITH ENGINES. The boy closed the steam valves, and the big engine wheezed to a standstill. The sudden silence was heavy.

  “Thank you for the fine work, gentlemen; you can begin cleaning up. I’ll go to see if the Captain needs us for anything else.” Hedric grinned at his young friend. “If not, then you’re on your own till tomorrow morning.” He gave the two other engineers a wink. “Just don’t let the cargomaster catch you. He doesn’t like to see idle hands.” Following his own advice, he picked up a rag and began to wipe oily parts.

  “This trip is beginning to scare me, Hedric.” Doander said quietly, working beside his friend. “I’ve been on a lot of other trips, but none like this. The whole crew is scared. Gralt says it’s the work of the devil.”

  The chief engineer tossed his oily rag in a bin and turned. “I don’t know much about devils, Doander, but like you said, it sure is scary.” He opened the door to the main hallway, and could hear a bustle of voices, the cargomaster’s the loudest. “It sounds like Tilbet is running true to form. I’d stay here for a while before I leave.”

  Doander gave him a lopsided grin. “Mister Simms is teaching me to play cards. We’ll be all right for a while.”

  “Don’t lose too much.”

  The air was just this side of bitter, and Hedric shivered despite his heavy coat. He wondered what it would be like even further north in Dimsdale. The Captain caught his eye and waved him up to a small platform standing next to the wheelhouse.

  “Yes, ma’am?” He puffed, climbing up beside her.

  She nodded at the smaller boat sitting on the opposite side of the quay. From this close, it looked even more forlorn, sitting under a thick layer of dust, grime and bird droppings. “Think that you could get that running?”

  He looked at the boat, one of the newer types with a propeller drive, and his hands began to itch. “I’d love to try, Captain.”

  “Then why don’t you and Doander see what you can do.” She glanced up at the sun. “You have a few hours of sunlight left.”

  “Ummm.” Hedric looked at his feet. “We could use Lexi too, Dolores. If we get the boat running, she could steer while we run the engine.”

  The woman laughed, a clear ringing sound. “Oh, that was very good, Hedric. I’ll send Lexi over as soon as I can find her.”

  The Dolphin was a dead ship. One hundred and fifty feet long, compared with the Fleece’s two hundred plus, she was slimmer and lower. She was a ship built for speed and small valuable cargoes. Hedric and Doander could see where small cannons had been mounted on her bow and stern. Carelessly removed, they left gouged holes in the smooth planking.

  The engine room was a crypt; dark and dead and smelling of oily mildew. Doander lit a lantern and both young men gazed in wonder at the comparatively modern steam engine
before them. Running like one possessed, Doander rushed out in search of wood for the boiler, while Hedric began to trace the tubes and connections. By the time Doander got back, the young Chief Engineer was nodding slowly as he removed a thick pipe connection. With a last squeal of rust, the ironwood nut let go, and the pipe came off in his hands. Hedric looked inside and grimaced.

  “This is it, Doander. In this engine you have to use filtered water in the boiler, or clean the filter out at every stop. The filter clogged up, the boiler ran dry and the boat stopped. Nobody knew what to do.” He began digging at the clogged pipe, pulling out chunks of dried Mississippi river bottom.

  “How is it going, guys?” Lexi’s bright voice interrupted their dirty work. “Ready to get under way?” She was laughing and her eyes were very bright.

  “Just as soon as we can get steam up, and you can figure out how to steer this barge.”

  The girl’s eyes widened. “I was just kidding.”

  Hedric grinned back. “I wasn’t.” He pointed up. “Wheelhouse is up there. Scoot, girl.” Lexi opened her mouth to say something witty, then decided not. She scooted.

  A screaming blast brought Captain Isenhart out on deck at a terrified run. A second blast ripped out of the Dolphin’s steam whistle, and she grinned to herself. “Well I’ll be damned.” Black smoke belched out of the two short funnels, and the ship was already gathering way, heading out into the river. For a moment the normal worry of a mother caught at her, and then she sighed. Her daughter was in good hands.

  The threesome was covered in oil and soot when they came back aboard the Fleece. The Captain met them on the deck. She tried to look sternly at their three idiot grins, but she just couldn’t do it.

  “We got it running.” Hedric said simply. “I hope that you charged them plenty for our work.”

  Dolores’s lips were twitching in laughter. “I didn’t charge them a thing.”

  “What!” Three young voices echoed their outrage.