Ravian's Quest

by Jerry Carpenter

  As they neared the coast, the wind increased to gale strength, and every man onboard gave thanks to Delikas that they had made it into the relative lee of Grenwain’s darkly-forested hills. The merchantman led them further and further west into a vast bay, the hulls of the vessels bubbling across the flat, grey, windswept surface, and, as it became increasingly apparent that they were traversing a maze of barely-submerged reefs, Ravian was glad that they had the locally-experienced merchant captain to lead the way. It was almost dark as they threaded their way into a narrow inlet in the far northwestern corner of the bay and came to the rickety jetty, dingy-looking town and small castle that were Grisby. As the two vessels tied up on either side of the wharf, their crews could smell the settlement’s evening cooking fires.

  The merchant captain came straight aboard.

  ‘Captain Cadius, Your Highness,’ he introduced himself with a respectful bow, ‘of the merchant vessel Swallow – four weeks out from Tarcus.’

  Cadius explained that he was to take on a consignment of furs at Grisby before heading to Portana and a cargo of olive oil. There were only two Tarcun merchantmen that sailed outside the Western Portal, he told them, Swallow worked the south coast of Grenwain and both sides of the channel while the other vessel, the Spindrift, risked the pirate-plagued west coast of Saravene on the run down to Dasena.

  ‘And what about the western coast of Grenwain, Captain?’ Ravian enquired. ‘You’ve never sailed it?’

  ‘I’ve been working this area for seven years and never had a need to, Your Highness,’ Cadius replied. ‘My predecessor did though – went up to Blundoor to pick up a shipment of gold, as I recall. He told me that the locals there reckoned you could sail clear around the top of Grenwain and then back down the channel – but he already had his cargo onboard and he wasn’t about to risk it by exploring any further.’

  ‘This would be the right time of year to do it, would it not?’ asked Ravian, a look coming into his eyes that caused Lectus to groan.

  ‘As good as any time, Your Highness,’ replied Cadius, ‘but, as you can see, even summer can bring some powerful storms to the Outside.’

  ‘Well, Gentlemen,’ said Ravian after the merchant captain had returned to his ship. ‘It would seem that we have arrived at Grenwain at the ideal time to do some exploration and charting.’

  ‘Oh please, no, Your Highness,’ begged Lectus. ‘I’m already fading away through lack of food. By the time we complete a circumnavigation of Grenwain, I’ll be naught but a skeleton.’

  ‘Nonsense, Lectus!’ Ravian chided him. ‘You’ve never looked better! Imagine how you’ll look after…what, Godart…six weeks?...imagine how much better again you’ll look after a six-week sunny, summer cruise around the unknown beauties of this island.’

  Lectus looked out into the gathering dark, as a particularly strong gust of wind set the rigging chattering against Sea Eagle’s mast.

  ‘Sunny?’ he said sulkily. ‘Yes, quite, Your Highness. Still, I can see that your mind is made up.’

  They were weathered in at Grisby for three days, during which Ravian took the opportunity to call on the lord of the area. As he, Lectus and his guard picked their way through the muddy streets of the grimy town on their way to the castle however, he began to suspect that this particular diplomatic duty was not going to be a pleasant one. The lord of Grisby, a self-styled minor king by the name of Jasonirk, was a rough man with pockmarked nose and matted beard. He spoke no Chesa and, for the first time on their voyage, the Tarcuns had to conduct their audience through an interpreter.

  After what seemed an eternity in the man’s “throne room” – a smoke-blackened hall littered with the half-chewed bones and droppings left by the hounds that seemed to stroll freely about the castle – Ravian and Lectus fled gratefully back to the relative comfort of Sea Eagle. They were already scratching as they returned onboard and, despite the continuing coolness of the weather, both of them felt compelled to bathe and change their clothes straight away.

  ‘By Delikas!’ declared Lectus afterwards. ‘I recall now why I vowed never to return here. There is nothing redeeming about this filthy place. I’ll swear that I could see the parasites jumping off that feculent indigene every time he coughed. The sooner we put to sea the better. If we must see more of this land – let it, at least, be from a hygienic distance.’

  As though the weather gods had heard Lectus, the wind eased and started backing to the west the following morning – Cadius coming aboard at first light to advise them that he was about to leave the harbour and that they were welcome to follow him out past the worst of the shoals. He would indicate when it was clear for them to turn south to begin their circumnavigation, he told them, although he also advised them to stand well clear of the southern headland and the many concealed reefs that lay about its shores.

  The two ships cast off without ceremony and sailed out onto a sea still grey and disturbed from the recent storm, Ravian very thankful that they were able to follow an experienced pilot out to safer waters. Grisby was well astern of them before Cadius waved them away from his quarterdeck.

  ‘Keep a course south until you are well clear!’ he bellowed, as Sea Eagle reached away on her new course. ‘Delikas keep you!’

  They followed the merchant captain’s advice and it was not until early afternoon that they hardened up on the first of a succession of tacks that would take them along the south coast of Grenwain. Both wind and sea had eased significantly and the warm, pleasant conditions made Ravian even more determined to prove that a circumnavigation of the island was possible. Lectus, standing beside him on the quarterdeck, was less enthusiastic.

  ‘Really, Your Highness,’ he said petulantly. ‘I don’t know what you expect to achieve with this expedition. We are supposed to be on a diplomatic mission with the objective of finding you a bride and yet, here you are, sailing us into uncharted waters where the only prospects are savagery and barbarism. Anyone would think that you weren’t in a hurry to find a wife.’

  ‘There’s plenty of time for me to be put out to royal stud duties,’ Ravian replied without rancour, ‘and it would be a shame not to add some detail to our charts of Grenwain while we have the chance – a denial of duty, in fact. Don’t you have a sense of adventure, Lectus?’

  ‘I do, Your Highness,’ Lectus replied, ‘but not for the sort of adventures you’d be interested in. Speaking of duties though, nothing will be achieved if we wind up wrecked on this barbarous coast – and it will be a long, unpleasant walk back to scant delights of Grisby for any survivors.’

  Well before sunset, they eased carefully into a small, sheltered anchorage, thereby setting the pattern for the voyage – it would have been foolhardy to run in the unknown waters at night, no matter how gentle the conditions. Quite how the natives of Grenwain were going to react to the arrival of a Tarcun swordship off their coast was anybody’s guess, Ravian thought, so he ordered an armed anchor watch set, with a changeover in the middle of the night.

  The breeze continued to back to the south and, by the next day, they were able to set the sails for a broad reach that ate up the southern shore at a steady rate. Towards the end of the second day of sailing, they came to a perpendicular headland, its top crowned with crimson flowers, and, as Godart put the helm over to pass well clear of the point, they saw that the coast of Grenwain made an abrupt change of direction to the northeast.

  ‘Look at that covering on the headland,’ Ravian said to Godart, feeling that their real voyage was just beginning. ‘We should call it Cape Crimson.’

  And so it was written, the prince having directed his captain and his officers to chart the coast as they went. Indeed, the naming of the various features they passed on their voyage was to become an interesting part of every day and, frequently, an item of animated discussion in the evenings. Lectus was particularly inclined to become involved in the naming process and would hotly debate the subject whenever he failed to get his own way.

  They sailed stead
ily north along a coastline of rocky headlands and deep, sheltered bays. The natives of the region seemed few – silent, staring figures that they occasionally saw watching them from the thickly forested shoreline. Despite the fact that the seas around them appeared to hold particularly rich fishing grounds, they saw no other vessels of any description until, after five days running up the western coast, they simultaneously sighted a fishing boat working close in to shore and the dark shape of another landmass well out to sea to the west. Shortly afterwards, they rounded a point to find a sheltered cove with a sizeable town nestling on its northern side and, at Ravian’s order, Godart sent Sea Eagle gliding silently in to anchor amongst several smaller craft moored close to shore. Almost immediately, the sound of a rapidly-hammered gong came from the settlement, and the Tarcuns were treated to the sight of what seemed to be the town’s entire population running to the fortress that was its most prominent feature.

  ‘They obviously expect the worst from unexpected visitors,’ Ravian commented. ‘Captain, take four men and try to explain to these people that our intentions are peaceful. See if you can find anyone who speaks Chesa – I’m sure that they will be able to tell us if that landmass to the west is an island or part of something larger. Also, see if we can buy some rations from them.’

  Godart and his crew took the ship’s boat away and Ravian and the rest of Sea Eagle’s complement watched as they rowed to shore, pulled the boat up on the beach and then strode through the deserted town to the fortress, which was nothing more than a crude stockade constructed of massive tree trunks. Using sign language, the swordship captain appeared to begin a conversion with someone on top of the fortress walls and, after a while, its gates opened slightly and he was able to continue his discussion through the narrow gap.

  ‘No one who speaks Chesa, unfortunately,’ he reported to Ravian when he returned, ‘and they refuse to leave the fortress while we are here. Between sign language and picture drawing though, I’m given to understand that the land over there is another large island – Erewain, I think it is called. Apparently, its inhabitants are a warlike people who frequently send raiding parties across to the mainland and the residents here thought we were just such an attack – hence their alarm at our arrival.’

  ‘Were you able to establish if there are any other islands beyond Erewain?’ asked Ravian.

  ‘Yes,’ Godart replied. ‘They were emphatic that, beyond Erewain, there is nothing but sea. They also confirmed that Blundoor is three or four days’ sail further north.’

  ‘Will they trade for provisions?’ Lectus asked.

  ‘They will, I think,’ the swordship captain replied. ‘Unfortunately, gold is not a particularly valuable commodity here so supplies will be expensive. Any future expeditions to this country would do well to bring manufactured bronze goods – these people are still using implements of wood, stone and bone.’

  They provisioned and sailed on.

  To Lectus’s unconcealed relief, Ravian decided not to include the western island of Erewain in their exploration and Sea Eagle continued north instead, arriving at Blundoor after the expected three days of sailing. The settlement, dominated by a large stone castle, was by far the largest they had so far encountered in Grenwain, being built upon the steep-to shores of a large bay protected by two headlands. An ancient rock fall from the southern headland had formed a natural breakwater on that side of the cove, and a dozen or so fishing boats and small trading craft lay alongside the three wooden piers built in its shelter. There were a number of men on the jetties, none of whom showed any sign of alarm at the appearance of the swordship. Indeed, as Godart brought Sea Eagle smoothly alongside one of the wharves, the Grenwainians showed little interest and offered no assistance.

  ‘Helpful bunch, aren’t they?’ Ravian said aloud to Lectus as they stepped up onto the pier – their first steps off the ship for some time.

  ‘The people of Blundoor mind their own business and let others mind theirs,’ said one of the Grenwainians in flawless Chesa.

  Ravian gaped in surprise.

  ‘You have to be a Tarcun!’ he exclaimed.

  ‘I am – or was,’ the man replied. ‘I came here with old Captain Nimus ten years ago and, liking the look of one of the local girls, I stayed on and married her. You’re the first Tarcuns that I’ve seen in all that time. Creedus is the name.’

  Creedus informed them that Blundoor was the largest city in Grenwain. He was also able to confirm that Erewain was, indeed, an island and that the sea to the west of it was infinite and empty. As a trader who spent a lot of time about the wharves, he was also able to give them some information on the seas to the north.

  ‘It’s generally held that there is a passage around the top of Grenwain,’ he said, ‘although it is very dangerous up there in winter because of the weather and the ice islands.’

  ‘Ice islands?’ asked Ravian, who had never heard the term before.

  ‘Aye,’ replied Creedus, ‘great islands of ice that drift down from the Frozen Sea. Any vessel that collides with one is doomed for certain – but there shouldn’t be any this time of year so there’s just the matter of the whirlpools and the ship-eating whales. Oh, and, of course, the Devil’s Lights. And I hear that the people up there are savage cannibals who live in the water and have enormous fangs that reach down to their chests.’

  ‘Hmm,’ commented Godart, smiling, ‘but you haven’t actually been north of Blundoor yourself?’

  ‘Well…no,’ replied the expatriate Tarcun.

  ‘So you haven’t actually seen these things with your own eyes?’

  ‘Can’t say I have, no, but I have talked to travellers who have come down from the North and I believe their stories.’

  Engaging Creedus’s assistance as an interpreter, Ravian and Lectus paid a brief diplomatic call to Blundoor’s ruler, King Tarand. They were pleased to find that the monarch’s court was a cut above that of his scrofulous counterpart in Grisby and that, seeming to harbour aspirations that his city should become a major trade centre, Tarand was inclined to receive his unexpected visitors with a warm, civilised welcome. Lectus was less happy however, when, through Creedus, the Grenwainian king expressed his surprise and concern that the Tarcuns were determined to head into the dangerous wilds of the North.

  Chapter Seven

  The following dawn brought fine weather and, as the swordship sailed from Blundoor in a warm southwesterly, her crew were in good spirits. For a time, the land they passed was gentle, rolling country and they saw a number of farms and small hamlets but, by evening, they had left these signs of civilisation behind and dark forest once again shrouded the coast.

  ‘I wonder how long we’ll take to reach the top of this horrid island,’ Lectus mused at anchor that night, as wolves howled from the blackness of the shore.

  ‘Two weeks at the most. If we haven’t rounded the top by then, I’ll give you the option of turning back,’ Ravian promised.

  They continued further north.

  Although the weather remained fine and moderately warm, they knew that winter on such an exposed coast would bring conditions at least as harsh as those they had experienced in the Grimspot Gri.

  ‘By my calculations we are well north of the latitude of Durst now,’ said Godart as they passed a colony of seals sunning themselves on a rocky point.

  ‘Well,’ said Ravian lightly, ‘we had better keep a watch out for these ship-eating whales then.’

  Godart and Lectus chuckled. They had amused themselves at Creedus’s expense a number of times in the week since they had left Blundoor. The Tarcuns were not an unduly superstitious people and they had concluded that their expatriate countryman had been living amongst the Grenwainians and their myths for far too long.

  The following day however, as Sea Eagle transited across a vast, deep, blue bay, they had cause to revisit at least one Creedus’s warnings.

  The lookout spied a dense cloud of birds working the sea ahead and Godart ordered some of the crew be re
ady to run out fishing lines as they passed through them. They had been almost invariably successful whenever they had trolled feathered lures behind the boat during the voyage and, consequently, the crew had dined frequently and well on a variety of fresh fish. As they approached the working birds, they could see the fins of dolphins carving through the boiling surface and, regarding the appearance of these creatures as propitious, the swordship crew eagerly prepared to stream their lures.

  The vast mouth that suddenly rose up out of the water, barely a ship-length ahead of them, appeared silently and without warning.

  The massive maw gaped at the sky – waterfalls tumbling from its corners – and a vast blue body continued to rise higher and higher until it towered over them. An eye the size of a man’s head glared down at them and then – at first, with agonising slowness – the colossus began to fall towards the swordship.

  The crash as it hit the surface of the ocean was almost deafening, and the explosion of water that followed lifted Sea Eagle’s bow high into the air before rolling the ship over on her beam-ends. Even as the vessel began to right itself again, the leviathan brushed beneath them and the swordship lurched like a child’s bath toy, throwing her crew to the deck. Then the creature was past, a massive tail lifting clear out of the water close beside them as the giant sounded.

  Ravian looked about the bay and saw that they were surrounded by scores of the huge whales. Here, an enormous head lunging into view – there, a giant tail silhouetted against the horizon.

  ‘Oh, Delikas help us!’ wailed Lectus.

  ‘It’s all right,’ Ravian reassured him. ‘If they were after us, we would have been their dinner by now. I think they are feeding on something and we just got in their way. Godart, furl the sails – we don’t want a collision with any of these whales if we can help it. Let’s just heave to and see what happens.’