by Dean Cadman
“Where do you want this one?” Renn asked.
“Oh, there is just fine, thanks, Renn. We’ll only be needing three mattresses tonight,” Neala said winking at Lusam, who instantly turned a bright scarlet colour. Everyone burst out laughing at the look on Lusam’s face, and he was immensely grateful when the door at the top of the basement stairs opened and Mr Daffer called down to them that dinner was ready.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rebekah squinted at the horizon, checking for any signs of the returning ship, whilst her younger brother Kayden played with his wooden spinning top on the dockside. The Good Ship Tuthna was due to return with its precious cargo any time now, and when it did, there would be a large celebration in Prystone, just like the last one she remembered three months earlier. Except this time it would be even better. It wasn’t just one birth they would be celebrating, but two. Two expectant mothers had gone aboard The Good Ship Tuthna to give birth, and Deas willing, two would return with their new precious babies.
Kayden spoke the words over and over, as his wooden top spun faster and faster. He had discovered that he could make the wooden toy spin using words only three days before, and since then, his favourite toy had barely stopped moving. He was barely five years old, but he excelled at annoying his older sister—or at least she would have most people think so. In reality she loved her younger brother, and although Rebekah herself was only ten years old, she was more like a mother to him than an older sister. She was the one who cared for him whilst her mother worked the fields each day. Her father was the captain of The Good Ship Tuthna, and as such his days spent at sea sometimes outnumbered the ones he spent on land.
When her father did make it home, he often brought Rebekah and Kayden gifts: gifts that were no doubt given to him by the families of the newborns he had helped to bring into the world. Every time he spent a night at home, Rebekah would pester him to tell them the story of the Rebirth again. She knew the story well and often told it to her younger brother when they were alone, but she still loved to hear it from her father’s lips.
The story tells that before the Rebirth, most children would die shortly after being born, and often their parents too. At first, some believed the village of Prystone to be cursed, and they moved to neighbouring villages, only to find the same fate awaited their newborns there too. It wasn’t until her father’s great grandfather took his pregnant wife aboard The Good Ship Tuthna and sailed out to sea that things changed. When they returned to Prystone with a new child, rumours began to circulate within the village. It was said that The Good Ship Tuthna must be blessed by Deas himself.
At first it took time to gain credence within the village, with only close friends and family taking to the sea aboard the Tuthna to give birth. But soon people began to realise that each time a pregnant woman went to sea aboard The Good Ship Tuthna, she would return with a healthy baby in her arms. Soon, everyone in Prystone booked passage aboard the Tuthna to give birth at sea, and a new-found religion was born. One that worshipped the God Deas—creator of all things in the sea, and now upon it.
It wasn’t long before the neighbouring villages took notice of the swelling numbers within Prystone, and soon after, The Good Ship Tuthna began taking even more women out to sea to give birth. Now, there wasn’t a single person in Prystone or its neighbouring villages who hadn’t been born aboard The Good Ship Tuthna.
Rebekah had first taken on the job of watching for the return of her father’s ship when she was about Kayden’s age. She would sit there for hours waiting for the mast to appear on the horizon, then go running to her mother in the fields when she finally spotted it, shouting out all the way there. She could spot the ship before anyone else—something she was very proud of. During her long hours staring at the horizon, she had discovered a way to enhance her own vision using only a few words, something no one else was able to do in her village. It was true that almost everyone in the village had a special gift, sometimes even more than one. Hers was the ability to see further, and it seemed her younger brother’s was to make his wooden toy spin. ‘Hopefully he would find a better use for his skill later,’ she thought to herself.
Rebekah had been taught that each gift you were born with came from Deas, and it was important never to use that gift against anyone else. In fact, the exact opposite was true: if you could use your gift to help others, you should. That was the reason why Rebekah stood watch on the dockside, come rain or shine.
Rebekah squealed in pain as her younger brother’s wooden spinning top crashed into her bare ankle, burning away a small patch of skin as it spun.
“Sorry, Bekah,” he said, quickly moving out of his big sister’s range, as she hopped on one foot. He had always called his sister “Bekah” ever since he could first talk. He could never quite say her full name when he was younger and had always shortened it to “Bekah” instead.
“Kay!” she said through gritted teeth. He knew she was angry with him. She only ever called him “Kay” when she was angry.
“I’m sorry, Bekah. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to do it,” Kayden said, trying his best to sound sincere but secretly finding it incredibly amusing watching his big sister hop around the dockside.
***
The magical pulse was felt by everyone aboard ship. Either a birth or the death of a weak mage had just occurred somewhere close by. The trouble was they were still at sea—several hours from land—with no way to determine the direction the pulse had come from. Usually it took several Empire agents on land to determine the precise location of any pulse generated. As they intercepted the pulse at slightly different times, an accurate direction could be calculated by three or more agents working together using their Necromatic rings to communicate with each other. At sea, with only one point of reference it would be impossible to know which direction it came from. That was until the shout came from high above in the rigging.
“Ship ahoy!”
Praetor Dante was in command of the reinforcements aboard ship on their way to Lamuria to bolster the Empire’s forces there. They had been instructed to land north of Lamuria and cause as much death and destruction as possible on their way to the Afaraon capital. His orders were simple: to destroy the food supplies and kill any civilians they encountered. He would then reanimate the dead and create his own army to use against the High Temple in Lamuria. Any non-viable corpses likely to slow their progress would be left to roam the countryside and cause as much havoc as possible.
Although each ship carried around a hundred men—each one a capable mage—it would be the overall size of each Praetor’s undead army when they arrived at Lamuria that would be most likely to assure them of personal success on the battlefield. Praetor Dante was more than happy to start his undead army, even before making landfall.
“Intercept that ship, captain,” he said, pointing to the sails on the horizon.
“Aye, sir,” the captain replied, shouting instruction to the ship’s crew and setting an intercept course for the distant vessel.
***
The cheers went up as the midwife emerged from the main cabin holding the newborn. Songs of celebration and praise to Deas began in earnest. Not one but two successful births on a single trip called for nothing less. There would be feasting and drinking a-plenty tonight in Prystone.
The crew of The Good Ship Tuthna were well practised in these birthing trips. The distance from shore would never be less than twenty miles, and most of the time exceed thirty in fair weather. After the successful birth—or births in this case—they would immediately set sail back to Prystone, where Captain James’ daughter Rebekah would be watching for their return. They would hoist their white flag for a successful trip so she could announce to the villagers that they could start their preparations for the forthcoming celebrations. Occasionally, a black flag would have to be flown, but thankfully that didn’t happen often. Any child who didn’t survive was offered back to Deas and buried at sea before returning to land. Local superstitions beli
eved that the bad luck should remain out at sea, and not be returned to the land with the grieving family.
The white flag had already been raised, and The Good Ship Tuthna was almost underway when the shouts came from above.
“Captain… enemy vessel astern!”
Captain James took out his spyglass and scanned the horizon, expecting to see a pirate vessel, which occasionally ventured this far north from the main trade routes to Lamuria. What he saw turned his blood to ice: the unmistakable flag of the Empire.
“Weigh anchor!” shouted the captain. A moment later came the reply.
“Anchor’s aweigh, captain.”
“Raise the mainsail. Best speed to port.” Captain James watched his well-trained crew go to work as they set sail for home-port. The Good Ship Tuthna was no warship, nor was it considered fast by any stretch of the imagination. It would be a miracle if they outrun the Empire war ship back to port in time to warn the other villagers to flee. Never had twenty miles seemed so far before. He estimated the Empire warship to be at most seven miles behind them—and closing fast.
***
Rebekah spotted her father’s ship the moment it appeared on the horizon flying its white flag. Excitedly she turned to Kayden and asked him to fetch their mother from the fields while she informed the rest of the village of their return. ‘It will be a grand celebration tonight,’ she thought to herself, imagining all the sweet pastries and other delicious treats that usually accompanied such an event. She watched as Kayden picked up his wooden spinning top and ran off to fetch their mother. Rebekah then skipped down the road towards the centre of the village, where she knew she would find most of the people going about their daily business. She had no intention of going house to house and informing every single resident of the Tuthna’s return, and possibly missing her father coming ashore—bearing whatever gifts he may have for her and Kayden from his trip. Instead, she would tell anyone she encountered on the streets and let the news spread by itself, as it always seemed to do anyway. Then she would return to the docks and wait for her father to arrive.
When Rebekah returned to the docks she found both her mother and brother waiting for her. Kayden was still playing with his wooden spinning top but her mother was looking out to sea in the direction of the Tuthna with a strange look on her face. Rebekah followed her gaze to see what she was looking at and was surprised to see her father’s ship closely followed by another ship. Then she saw it. The Tuthna was no longer flying its white flag. It was now flying a red one, and red meant only one thing—danger. Her stomach filled with butterflies at the sight of the red flag. She had always been told that if the Tuthna—or any other ship—was flying the red flag, she should find her mother and flee the village or hide as fast as possible.
“Mother, they have a red flag up,” Rebekah said, not sure if her mother would be able to see it as clearly as she could with her ability. Her mother took a sharp intake of breath.
“Deas watch over us,” she whispered. By this time a few of the villagers had joined them on the docks to await the return of the Tuthna, and assure themselves of a good position in the welcome party. It seemed to take long time for her mother to react to Rebekah’s news, but suddenly she did, turning to the growing crowd and shouting, “The Tuthna flies the red flag!”
People ran in all directions, some calling out to family members to flee or hide, others calling the men to arms, to defend against whatever was coming. Rebekah’s mother simply stood still, staring out to sea towards her husband’s ship, and the enemy ship that was now almost on top of them. She watched silently as dozens of fireballs suddenly came from the enemy ship and engulfed the Tuthna. She screamed out loud as the ship literally exploded out of the water, broke in half, then sank below the waves right before her eyes.
Less than a minute later, and all she could see now was debris and bodies floating in the water where only moments before her husband’s ship had been. Then something even stranger started to happen. Bodies started to rise up out of the water and float through the air towards the enemy ship. Some were unceremoniously dumped back overboard, but most remained on the deck of the enemy ship. It reminded her of a fishing vessel, deciding which fish to keep and which to throw back overboard.
“Mother,” Rebekah said, desperately tugging at her mother’s hand to regain her attention. Her mother slowly turned her head towards her, eyes filled with tears, and looked at her with a strange expression on her face—as if not recognising who she was for a moment. It took her several seconds to regain some composure, by which time many of the villagers were massing themselves near the docks ready to defend their homes and families. Most had not seen the almost instant destruction of her husband’s ship and were frantically speculating where the Tuthna had gone.
“Mother, what should we do?” Rebekah asked, tugging at her hand again. The ship was almost to the docks now, but her mother still didn’t move. Rebekah let go of her hand and ran over to her little brother, who was still playing with his wooden spinning top. She picked it up and hauled him to his feet.
“Hey! Leave that alone, Bekah, it’s not yours,” he said, annoyed at her taking his toy from him.
“Come on, Kayden, we have to go and hide like Father taught us,” she said, dragging him away by his hand. She had no idea if her father was actually still alive or not, but she knew if anyone could survive the sinking of a ship, he could, and for now that would have to be enough. She was just happy that Kayden had not witnessed the attack on the ship himself. She headed straight for the large barn where she usually hid whenever she and Kayden played hide and seek, but Kayden pulled her back.
“No. Not in there, Bekah. It’s too easy to find us. I always find you in there. I know a better hiding place,” he said, dragging his sister in the opposite direction.
Rebekah caught just a glimpse of the enemy landing on the docks before Kayden pulled her behind the small temple building.
“Where are we going, Kayden?” Rebekah asked in a whisper, scared that the men on the dock might hear her somehow.
“In here, Bekah. They’ll never find us in here,” he said, freezing in mid-stride. “Bekah… who are we playing hide and seek with?”
“I’ll tell you later. Quick, show me where to hide before they find us,” she said, looking over her shoulder nervously. Kayden’s face lit up with a huge grin, obviously pleased he knew something his big sister didn’t—even if it was only his secret hiding place. ‘I’ll have to find a new secret hiding place that Bekah doesn’t know about later if I’m to win our next game of hide and seek. But at least I’ll win this one first,’ he thought to himself, as he bent down to remove the grate cover below the temple window.
“Quick, climb in, Bekah,” he said, waving his arms frantically at the open grate. Rebekah would never climb into such a dark foreboding place usually, but given her choices she didn’t complain and quickly climbed inside. Kayden swiftly followed her in and pulled the grate back over their heads. At first Rebekah thought it was some kind of drainage system, but it wasn’t. It was actually a storage room for firewood. The grate cover didn’t seal the room as she feared it might; instead it was raised a few inches around its base to stop water entering the room when it rained, and had air gaps all the way around the edge to encourage the wood to dry. Once her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she found there was still just enough light entering the underground room to make out its contents: piles of stacked firewood.
Kayden had obviously been here on a regular basis, because he had built himself a perfect height platform to stand on so he could see through the multitude of air gaps around the grate. ‘No doubt he’d spent many times laughing at her from inside here while she desperately tried to find his secret hiding spot in the past,’ she thought to herself. She saw him slide a catch at each side of the grate into place, locking it to the outside world. ‘Even if she had found his secret hiding place, she still wouldn’t have been able to find him,’ she thought to herself, also finding a new res
pect for her little brother’s ingenuity. She wondered why the grate would be lockable from the inside, but it didn’t take her long to spot a doorway at the back of the room in the heavy shadows. She surmised it would lead up into the temple above somehow.
“So, who we hiding from, Bekah?” Kayden asked, peering out of the tiny air vents to the world beyond. She was about to answer him when the screams started. She could hear explosions coming from the direction of the docks, and voices raised in terror. She climbed up next to Kayden and put her eye next to one of the air vent holes, just in time to see a poor soul stumble into their alley blazing like a human torch, only to fall face first into the dirt and not move again. Kayden gasped at the sight.
“Get down… now!” Rebekah said sternly to her small brother, helping him off the pile of wood to the floor below, not wanting him to see the horrible things happening outside in the streets above. Kayden started to cry, calling for his mother between sobs. Rebekah climbed down and went to comfort him, putting her arm around him and hugging him tight. “Shush… It’s going to be alright, I promise.”
“What’s happening, Bekah?” he asked, sobbing into her dress.
“I don’t know, Kayden. But we have to stay quiet and hide here until Mother or Father comes for us, do you understand, Kay?” He nodded his head, but didn’t look up.
