by Patty Jansen
By that time, they already needed to be at the next safe hiding place, or on their way out of the city.
She eyed the Guentherite ship. Unguarded. Sleek and fast.
No one would expect this group of women to take off with it. They could hide the children on board during the day and then take the prisoners to the harbour side of the ship and have it ready to go.
That was an idea. It was a bold and scary idea that frightened her so much that it made her shiver.
Nellie went back inside the barn where the women sat around the fire, still talking about the daily problems of survival.
Nellie joined them, and Mina looked up.
“What have you been up to?”
“I was thinking. I would like to try to rescue the prisoners.”
“So would we all, but the dungeons are well guarded, and they only have a tiny little window close to the ceiling, far too high to climb. How are you going to get anyone out of there? People have tried so many times already. They’ve dug tunnels, they’ve tried to chisel out the grate. I don’t think it’s possible to get people out of there, especially if you have no weapons.”
“We won’t do anything like that. We’ll rescue them from the water.”
“You mean once they’ve already been thrown in the harbour?”
“Yes. It would be the best time, and no one is expecting it.”
“But how are you going to avoid all the guards with bows and arrows? To go out on the water, you’d be out in the open.”
And Nellie explained about her plan. As she spoke, the women’s faces grew more and more incredulous.
Agatha said, “You mean, you want to fish the people out of the water, steal a boat and leave town?”
“That’s pretty much the gist of it.”
“But we know nothing about boats. Do you?”
“I have handled a river boat.”
“How long ago was that, though?”
“You don’t forget those things.”
“It sounds like a mad idea. We have children with us. We want them to stay safe. I can’t see how going out there on the water will get us anywhere. It’s cold, it’s dangerous, we’re out in the open. Those guards have no qualms about shooting women and children if the Regent orders it. I don’t want to leave town, because it’s cold and harsh out there, and there are bandits about who would just love to find a group of unprotected women. No, I’d rather stay safe.”
“Don’t you want to rescue our friends?”
“Yes, but not while risking the lives of so many more people with some madcap adventure. I can hardly believe I’m hearing this from you.”
Nellie knew she would have to do a better job of convincing them.
They went to bed, all tucked up together in the storeroom where it was dry and the sleeping cats provided additional warmth.
As she lay in the straw surrounded by warm bodies, furry or otherwise, a trail of sparks travelled over the ceiling.
She said, quietly, “I know you’re watching. Do something useful if you want to help.”
The dragon did not appear to listen to anybody unless it involved the kitten. After he had fled from the fire dog, she had found the dragon in this abandoned barn looking after sea cows. He was fascinated by other animals. It appeared that other animals were fascinated by him. At least the kittens were, as were the sea cows. And children, he liked those, too.
They could lure the dragon out of hiding by having lots of animals and children around.
But, in this way, the dragon was already helping them.
Chapter 11
TO MAKE HER PLAN WORK, Nellie needed to pull out everything she had.
She spent a lot of the next day examining the bits and pieces left behind on the workbenches and the storage room.
There were two sea cow harnesses in the barn. One was complete, but held only nine animals. The other was one of the larger ones that held fifteen animals, but at some point, someone had dismantled the harness and one beam was missing. The straps were all broken, but there was a rope and leather to repair the harness, if only they had a beam.
How would she get a new beam?
Maybe she could “borrow” one from another barn.
She wandered around the wharf, trying to remember where else the other river traders used to have their barns. There used to be so many of them: the Nielands, the Deims, the Pietersens. Over the last few years, most of them had either closed up their businesses because of retirement, or had moved to more profitable harbours with less hostile rulers.
Their old barns used to be on the other side of the harbour, but it was likely that the Guentherite order used those for their sea cows, so it might not be such a good idea to spend too much time around there.
The warehouses next to the barn were mostly empty although one appeared to be in use as a place to store building materials.
Around mid-morning, she came across the fisherman again. He had just returned from a fishing trip and placed baskets full of fish on the wharf. Most of them were flounders, caught in the sandy beds of the delta that were free of ice.
“Good morning,” he said, puffing on his pipe. “Still around? It’s cold out there early, but I got some nice fish for you.”
He gave her a couple of freshly caught flounders that were silvery and slippery. She took them—and the gloves she’d agreed to fix—to the barn.
Mina was most happy with the fish. “I’d been wondering if we could catch some ourselves, but I guess that’s a lot harder than it seems.”
Nellie collected the mending kit she always carried in her bag and sat down to fix the fisherman’s worn gloves. With that done, she went back to the quay and gave the gloves back to him.
He gave her a broad smile.
“Why, thank you for this. I haven’t had the pleasure of a woman’s help since my wife died last year.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. We’re a group of women, and we can fix other things for you, if we can have more fish, or if you can help us with other things.”
“Like what?”
“I’m looking for a boat the size of yours,” Nellie said.
He gave her a strange look and then laughed. “You, missy? All by yourself? What do you know about boats and fishing?”
“More than you think,” Nellie said. But she was beginning to think maybe they needed more experienced people to help them. “But we’re not fishing. We want to leave town, with a group of women and children. I know some farms where we might be safe.”
“You’d be safer in the city. I heard the stories about bandits.”
“Have you seen any bandits?”
“Me? No, but I don’t set foot on the land. On the water, there are no bandits.”
If they managed to get away with the Guentherite order’s ship, they could live on the ship, too.
“We can handle bandits. They wouldn’t dare attack a group of women and children.”
“Never say never. Some of these men have no morals. I’d hate to see something bad happen to you.”
“It’s no longer safe for us to stay here with the latest raids.”
“Some of you use magic?” he asked.
“Yes. We almost got caught last time. That’s why we’re sheltering here, because the guards are all over the artisan quarter.” She left out the bits about people from their group already in prison.
“That declaration against magic is ridiculous. I don’t know a single fisherman who doesn’t use wind magic. If they don’t, they’re no good at catching fish.”
“I wonder how the guards can tell that someone has magic.”
“They can’t. They use silly hocus-pocus and then it’s all about whether they like your face and how much protest there will be and how much you can pay or whether they need you.”
Yes, that could be why the guards had left Zelda alone, because there would be trouble from the wayfarers if they arrested her.
“So it’s not about magic at all.”
“Not with
the people they’re picking up. If they want magic, they should be looking elsewhere. A creature’s been prowling around here that looks like it’s been made of fire. I first heard about it two days ago, but the old codger who mentioned it in the tavern is quite mad. But last night I saw it with my own eyes. And, no, I didn’t have too much to drink.” He shook his head. “I would be laughing if it weren’t so damned scary. And what are the guards doing about that? Nothing!”
The fire dog. Nellie wished she knew who it belonged to. “Have many people seen this creature?”
“No, otherwise someone would be doing something about it. All those guards ratting out those poor peddlers because they use this or that magic trinket should be chasing this creature. But there’s too few of us that’ve seen it, so they prefer not to believe us, because they can pretend what we say is unimportant.”
“I’ve seen it.”
He gave her an incredulous look. “The one that’s made from fire?”
“Yes.”
“It’s an evil thing, don’t you agree?”
“I think so,” she said. “When the Fire Wizard ruled the city, he would just conjure these creatures up with a flick of his fingers.”
“I know. I’m old enough to have seen it.”
“Do you think he’s back?” Nellie shivered.
“The Fire Wizard is dead. Queen Johanna encased him inside a willow tree.”
The tree in question, a gnarled and misshapen willow, had stood in the corner of the marketplace until last year, when a storm had blown it over. Nellie remembered seeing that the wood inside the trunk was marbled with black. City guards had sawn it into pieces and taken it away. It had probably warmed the mayor’s house that winter.
Was the dog perhaps a spirit that had escaped from the tree?
And why did the guards worry about petty magic when that thing was running around?
He squinted at her. “You seem to know a good deal about this magic thing. Do you know what else it could be?”
“The creature is a dog. I think fire apparitions normally belong to a magician who needs to conjure them. I don’t know if any of these apparitions can live by itself. I have no idea who it belongs to, but it can’t just be someone using wind magic. It has to be a powerful magician.”
“So there is a powerful magician in town, even after the Regent has spent years banning all magic? Who would have thought?”
“Maybe the guards are looking for this magician.”
He laughed. “Then they’re looking in all the wrong places, and they’re not asking the right people. They should be asking those trinket-sellers. Are you sure you don’t have magic?”
“I don’t, but several in our group do. That’s why we want to leave town, to tell you the truth. My cousins will help us. We want to go there. I need a boat.”
“You humour me. I’ll help you. On the other side of this wharf is a big longboat that no one is using in winter. It’s a cargo ship, and they can’t go into the frozen canals. It’s not much good going downriver, mind, because the sides are too low for going anywhere near the ocean. You’ll want to go upriver.”
“Yes, that’s what we want. I think I can get a team of sea cows together. We need to fix a harness.”
“Don’t take it too lightly, mind. The river is swollen at this time of the year. There may be ice coming down, and you want shelter for when it rains.”
“Oh no, this one is not for going far. We’re going just out of town.”
He frowned at her.
“Are you sure about all this missy? It seems to me that it’s all very odd, and I don’t know that you understand what you’re getting yourself in for. It’s not as though women like yourself handle boats a lot.”
“I was on a boat with Queen Johanna when she had to flee. We did all the handling and steering ourselves. It was one of my tasks.”
He gave her a concerned look.
Nellie asked him to show her the boat he had in mind.
It lay on the other side of the wharf, a sturdy low vessel that would transport heavy things across the harbour.
“It’s very heavy,” Nellie said.
“It’s stable. If you have children in the group, their frolicking about won’t upset the boat at all.”
“It would be slow.”
“And quiet.”
But Nellie wasn’t looking for slow. “I’m more after something like that.” She pointed at a much lighter rowing boat.
“You can’t use that. That’s only for inside the canals. That little thing would capsize the moment you took it out of the harbour and it got hit by an ice floe. With all the will in the world, I couldn’t let you take that thing out of the heads. I’m a good man, and that would be murder.”
“I still don’t want a heavy boat.”
“That’s madness. How many of you are there?”
“You have some magic, right?”
He frowned at her. “What’s that got to do with it?”
“A lot. You’re not on the Regent’s side.”
“By the Triune, no. Though I wish he’d plant his fat arse on the throne, so someone in Burovia or Aroden could be properly offended and send mercenaries to kill him.”
“You must also be concerned about the Regent’s order that no magic is allowed in the city.”
“Not so much for myself. I got nothing left here. If they come calling, I get in my boat and sail off somewhere else. To Anglia if necessary. But yeah, I’m concerned for the folk who can’t do that.”
“Several people got arrested in the artisan quarter the day before yesterday. The Regent has decided that they will be drowned.”
“I heard about that. That’s foul business.”
“We need the boat to rescue them.”
His frown turned into a wide-eyed look. His mouth fell open. “But that is a dangerous thing to do. The harbour will be full of guards. They’ll use crossbows.”
“One woman is the mother of six children in our group. She’s done nothing wrong.”
He rubbed his chin with his hand. “That’s not right, that is.”
“We have to help her and the others.”
“All right. I can help you with the boat. You’ll be wanting to get across the harbour fast. There is a little barge on the other side that will do just that. It’s a stable flat-bottomed thing, and useless for sailing, pretty useless all around, because it gets carried sideways in a current. I believe people used it to get peat. I can attach hooks so you can put the rig onto the front. I can help you replace your beam. I can even help you sell it. But I am not keen on weapons because those guards will have bows and arrows. I wouldn’t count on the Regent not wanting to harm women.”
“But what if we put up a shield?”
She remembered seeing building materials in one warehouse. Surely there was something they could use to protect themselves against any arrows.
He took her around to the other side of the wall where the peat ship lay. As he had said, it was a plain flat-bottomed thing, and she was a bit concerned with how flimsy it looked.
He showed her how he could fasten hooks at the front to attach a team of sea cows. Nellie told him she wanted to attach the big harness of fifteen.
“You’ll have to watch those animals, because they’ll be feisty.”
“I need a lot of speed,” Nellie said.
“You’ll be dealing with young untrained animals. They might not stop in time. And what are you going to do when you’ve rescued these people? That little boat will be heavy, and won’t be as fast when it’s low in the water.”
“I have a plan for that, too. That’s why I need the second harness.”
To her ears, it all sounded like a ridiculous plan. After all, what did she know about boats? But he didn’t tell her so. In fact, he promised that he would help get the boat across the harbour and drag people into safety. Because you will need a strong man’s hands.
He didn’t ask her what she wanted to do after the rescue, and she didn’t tell hi
m about the Guentherite ship.
Next she needed to find something to use as a shield. She found a stack of wooden slats in the next warehouse. With the rope in the barn, they could be tied together into a flexible shield.
To get a new beam for the sea cow harness, she needed a carpenter.
The fisherman knew someone who lived one street back from the harbour, and he took her to the workshop where pieces of furniture stood in various stages of completeness, surrounded by wood shavings and sawdust. Two apprentices were sanding back a large table for revarnishing.
The carpenter listened to what she needed and said he could make another beam, but he wanted payment. She offered to fix his clothes, but he had a wife and three daughters who could do that.
“I have no money,” Nellie said. “Is there nothing we could barter? I could bring you some ham.”
It would mean asking Dora for an extra donation, and eating carrot soup for a few nights, but they’d survive.
“Hmmm. Ham and a cask of wine or beer would do.”
Nellie didn’t have either of those, but then she had an idea. “Gin. Would you accept gin?”
His eyes widened. “Would I accept it? That would be more than adequate.”
Ham and gin it was, then.
“You surprise me, missy,” the fisherman said while they walked back. “You’d not be the kind I expect to deal with gin.”
“I’m not, but I know people who do.”
“Tell me, once we rescue those people from the water, what do you plan to do?”
Since he was now in with the plan, she might as well tell him all. He might have useful and life-saving tips.
“I have another plan for that. You said the other day that there was never anyone at the Guentherite ship.”
His eyes widened. “You’re kidding?”
“No. We make sure we sneak the little ones on board and attach the second team to the ship before the rescue, and then when the rescue boat comes back, it will take the prisoners to the harbour side of the ship and we’ll be ready to cast off.”
“That is the most daring plan I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s all we’ve got.”
“You’d need the large team on that ship,” he said. “And the nine-animal team on the small boat.”
