by P. D. Kalnay
“Now, I’m going to bed.”
She walked off without another word.
“Master?” One prompted me.
“Yeah?”
“Are you well, Master?”
Was I? I unstrapped my shield and tossed it across the living room. I’d dropped my hammer out in the hallway. For some time, I stared at my stump, rubbing the unbroken skin. It would be hard to make anything, going forward. My right hand didn’t hurt anymore, but…
“Ivy’s back,” I said. “That’s what counts. We’ll probably be travelling soon. Once we’re ready.”
I felt extra exhausted and sore, now that the immediate dangers had passed.
“About Three, Master–”
“Do whatever you think best.”
“Yes, Master.”
***
I had a fitful night filled with dark dreams that I couldn’t remember when morning came. Ivy was awake, eating breakfast on the balcony, and I grabbed a bowl of fruit and joined her.
“Good morning,” I said.
It was strange having her back… almost like a dream. The aches and pains of the day before, together with my missing hand, added plenty of reality. I could see the scorch marks from the bonfire at the end of the pier. A few tiny figures moved across the city below us.
“Good morning,” Ivy said. “Did you sleep well?”
“No, not really.”
“Me either. I wish that Three had remained hidden.”
“He was a take-charge little guy,” I said. Three sounded like a grumpy old man when he’d recited the journal, but he took the direct approach to every situation. I was sure he hadn’t hesitated when he saw Ivy in danger.
“Yes, and funny too.”
I’d never noticed the funny. One and Two weren’t around. That was weird. One was always around, and Two was completely infatuated with Ivy.
“Do you know where One and Two are?”
I settled myself on the stone beside her.
“They have gone to take care of Three and put him to rest,” Ivy said. “They said they’d be away for a time.”
“Huh, maybe it’s a complicated funeral. Should we attend?”
“I got the feeling we shouldn’t, but it’s hard to read those without auras. What will we do next, Jack?”
“Do you know where Anukdun is?”
“It lies west and south of us. The Great Library of Anukdun fills an island which splits the river Dun halfway between the coast and the mountains. The Dun once marked the border between the Shogaan Empire and the Black Wastes. Now desolation lies on both banks.”
“Sounds nice.”
“I told you it would be a dangerous journey. In the days of the Empire it was easily reached by road. We might do better to travel upriver. I’ve seen maps, but Knight’s Haven and Glastonbury Manor represent the full extent of my travels beyond the lands of our people.”
I’d travelled a lot, back on Earth, for a kid my age. None of that experience would come in handy.
“You said you know how to sail?” Ivy asked.
I’d told her that, months back, before building my boat. It had been an exaggeration.
“I had a few lessons at summer camp.”
“Summer camp?”
“I think the answer is no.”
“I suspected as much. We must navigate the sea before we can hope to make our way up the Dun. None of our people are natural seafarers…”
“I can make wind to help push us along,” I said. I was ninety percent sure I could, and one hundred percent sure that Lyrian had sabotaged my progress learning winathen enchantments.
“That may help, but our true gifts will be of little use on the ocean, and we will become weaker as we move away from land.”
Returning Mr. Ryan to the First World—and possibly saving the universe by doing so—represented half of my purpose in life. The details of how to accomplish that weren’t on Knight’s Haven.
“I don’t think we have any choice. We have to go.”
“Yes.”
Ivy didn’t sound enthusiastic.
“There are things to do first, anyway. We’ll need supplies, and maps, and I’ll add a mast and sails to the boat–”
“You can’t mean to travel in your boat!” Ivy stood, frowning down at me. “That’s madness!”
“It’s a good boat,” I said. “I’m pretty sure that Marielain left in an identical one, and his didn’t have a motor.”
“He was an experienced traveller who’d seen much of this world by the time he left here for the last time. You may have his talent, but you have none of that knowledge or experience, and you must learn to manage with one hand. We will face terrible storms on our voyage.”
I knew she wasn’t wrong. The surrounding mountain slopes protected the island from the worst winds and waves, but powerful storms weren’t uncommon on Knight’s Haven. I’d heard it was far rougher out at sea and that the island sat in comparatively calm waters.
“We should still get the boat ready and pack for the trip,” I said. “What else can we do?”
Ivy had no reply to that, and we finished eating in silence.
***
Months earlier, Ivy had told me that she’d planted a tree to serve as a mast for my boat. I asked if it would be big enough yet. She asked how big was big enough, and when I told her, she said it was ready.
I took an axe from the workshop and had her lead me to the tree. The tree stood at the edge of a terrace filled with a strip of young forest, high on the westward arm of the island. It was a long walk and a goodly distance away from my boat. I took an embarrassing amount of time to think of bringing boat closer to tree. I was still tired.
“Will this suffice?” Ivy asked, looking up at the tree.
I examined the smooth grey bark and the purple needles of the conifer. If I had to make a comparison, I’d go with pine, but… The tree stood tall and straight with no branches on the lowest twenty five feet of trunk. It couldn’t have been more perfect.
“This is awesome,” I said. “You better stay back while I cut it down.”
It took time to fell the tree, wielding the axe one-handed; I needed to get used to it. The axe seemed heavy, not having any of the magic of my hammer, but it was plenty sharp. My arm hurt, and I was sweaty by the time the tree fell. Then I removed the lowest branches and lopped off the top. I didn’t look forward to moving or peeling it, and using a drawknife one-handed was out of the question.
With Ivy’s help I dragged the trunk down the rough stone steps connecting the terraces. Slow, jolting, and gruelling work followed—even with gravity on our side. Partway to shore it occurred to me that I might have hired a few townsfolk. Marielain had left plenty of coin behind in the shop, but by then, we’d already done most of the work.
I walked around the harbour to fetch the boat while Ivy rested on the log. Awkward sliding and grunting followed before the future mast lay in the boat, running along the middle and hanging off the front.
All of that had taken from sunrise to sunset. We tied up and left the log onboard. I’d find strong backs to help get it out again. Ivy was a hard worker, but small for heavy labour. We had no energy for talking on the walk home, and I could have lain on the street and fallen asleep.
***
After washing and eating, we went straight to bed. It had been a backbreaking day, and I felt as though I’d only just closed my eyes when I was torn from slumber. Something called out to me. A half second later—I knew what it was.
Someone was at the forge!
I didn’t hesitate or even put on clothing. I dashed from the apartment, snatched up my hammer in the main hallway, and sprinted across the length of the dark workshop. Then I ran down the spiral stairs without sparing a thought for broken bones.
There was an intruder in the smithy!
I must have set a stair-descending record. The hammer fed me strength, and I was at the one place on the planet where I was strongest. I ran the whole way, but wasn’t out of
breath by the time I reached the doorway at the bottom.
I burst into the smithy, black hammer held high—ready to rein destruction upon whoever had dared to trespass. Then I froze, amazed by what I found.
“Hello, Master.”
“Hello, Master.”
I found myself at a loss for words.
One and Two stood atop a workbench, pushed up next to the anvil closest to the forge. Another bench completed the elevated walkway they’d made, allowing them to traverse from forge to anvil. The sight of it was so unexpected that I lowered the hammer to my side and gaped at them.
“We are nearly finished, Master,” One said.
With that he took the object they worked on from the anvil and heaved it into the cold quench tank, a few feet away. I saw it was one of the gauntlets from Marielain’s black and silver armour.
“What are you guys doing?”
“You gave us permission to do as we wished with Three’s body, Master,” One sounded unsure of himself.
“Yeah…”
“It is what he would have wanted, Master,” Two added. “He would have been proud.”
“Proud?”
I set my hammer on the floor and walked over.
“Proud to serve as your left hand,” One said.
I pulled the dark gauntlet from the icy sand with a pair of tongs. Then I held it up and studied it. The language of the Titans covered the gauntlet. They had inscribed symbols on every hinged finger joint, and the gauntlet was now solid and twice as heavy as it’d been. Bits of Three were incorporated onto the outside, and my senses told me that more of him filled the inside too. I couldn’t believe it.
“You must finish it, Master,” One said. “That is beyond our abilities.”
“Finish it?”
“Yes, Master,” Two said. “You must add his heart.”
She held out a tiny, dull, reddish flake of metal. It was Three’s powerful heart. I flipped the gauntlet over and pressed the little plate on the back that had once been in the middle of Three’s chest. It popped open with a click, revealing a polished golden setting. Then I placed it on the bench, took the flake of metal from Two, and set it into the fitting. The enchantments they’d inscribed became active. I closed the cover with a solid click, hiding Three’s heart again.
“Are you angry, Master?” Two asked.
“Huh?”
“You said we were free to do as we wished, Master,” One sounded worried.
I wasn’t angry, but I was shocked.
“Are you sure he’d have been OK with this?”
It seemed ghoulish.
“Yes, Master,” they said in perfect unison.
I picked up the gauntlet and pushed my stump into it. The wrist opening suctioned onto my arm. I gave it a tug. That thing wasn’t going anywhere. Then I wished it off,
and the black, magical, mechanical hand came free. I put it back on and studied the enchantments. My new hand didn’t work the way the other one did. It was more akin to the main doors to the workshop, and I had to actively wish for the fingers and thumb to move.
I picked up a hammer from the workbench. The handle made a cracking, crunching sound, before I could wish the fingers open again, and drop it back on the bench. Little more than splinters and the metal head remained. The gauntlet had no sensitivity, and it was super strong. I’d have to be careful with it, but it gave me the ability to do countless things upon which I’d already given up.
“Thank you, guys,” I said.
“You’re welcome, Master,” came the high-pitched chorus.
I practised with my new hand by cleaning up the smithy and putting everything back in its place. They’d made a mess, and by the time I went up to bed, I’d grown more adept at judging the gauntlet’s strength.
Chapter 3 – A Double-edged Sword
My new hand made finishing the boat infinitely easier than it would otherwise have been. Although it had no sensitivity, my mechanical hand was tireless and strong. I hired a few sturdy looking guys from the docks to help with the mast, but afterwards none of them would take my money.
Even Grak, who had done most of the heavy lifting, and who was pretty intimidating—for an ogre—seemed relieved to be finished with the job and eager to escape my company. Few people were interested in talking to me before the second attack on Havensport. As the days passed, the fear of the general population didn’t noticeably lessen, but I had Ivy back; that was enough for me.
As much as Knight’s Haven felt like home, I was ready to take a break from the island and excited to see more of the world. Ivy repeatedly reminded me that we weren’t going on a vacation. There were loads of things to do before we left, and Ivy took charge of our food supply while I tackled the other items we’d want for a sea voyage. One and Two worked overtime producing maps and charts. They had extensive navigational knowledge jammed into their tiny metal heads and could write and draw with the precision of magical laser printers.
I cleaned out the entire stock of parchment from the one paper seller who’d set up shop in Havensport, and even for a terrifying monster, buying that paper was expensive! I outfitted the boat with rope, tools I might need to make mid-trip repairs, spare oars, and casks for water.
Those weeks were busy, but I made a point of spending my evenings with Ivy. Almost losing her acted as a wake-up call, and I worked to keep my priorities in order.
The boat had a mast, but no sails, which wasn’t a huge deal because it was technically a motorboat, or more accurately, a magical motorboat. People had opened new shops across the city, but no sailmakers had arrived yet. It looked as if we’d have to do without. Neither Ivy nor I knew how to sail anyway, so the pump was the safer bet.
We discussed the lack of sailcloth during a dinner out on the balcony…
“What if we lose the pump in the middle of the ocean?” Ivy asked, not for the first time.
I didn’t think that could happen, but the answer was… We’d be in big trouble. I shrugged.
“We should buy passage aboard a trading vessel,” Ivy said, also not for the first time.
New ships arrived every day, and Havensport grew rapidly in the weeks we’d been preparing to sail, making that a real possibility.
“Do traders go to Anukdun?” I asked. “Could these ships travel up the river?”
“No, but we might find a ship that will take us most of the way there. If they’re willing to tow your boat, we might travel the river on our own.”
“What about rapids and waterfalls?”
“I don’t know, Jack. Do the maps One and Two drew show such things?”
“No, the ones for that part of the world aren’t detailed. The maps of the Shogaan Empire are from before it fell, and the Black Wastes are just a dark patch with the name written in the middle and monsters drawn around the edges. Still, how hard could it be to sail up a river?”
“I don’t know.”
“We also have a few things that Marielain left.”
“Such as?”
“He made a compass that always points towards Knight’s Haven. He made two, but only one of them is still in the workshop. We can use that for navigating.”
“We have the stars,” Ivy said.
“Do you know them well enough to navigate?”
“Yes.”
“So we have maps and a means to use them. How are the food supplies?”
“I’ve gathered and packed enough for perhaps three months’ journey.”
Ivy had used her magic to make the food non-perishable too, and she could grow us fresh sprouts from seeds in a pinch.
“Water might be a challenge,” I said. “We can only take so many barrels in the boat, and I’m not sure how we’ll replace it.”
“We can collect rainwater.”
“What if it doesn’t rain?”
“Not experiencing storms is never a concern when crossing the Endless Sea,” Ivy said, “but surviving them in a small boat will be.”
She was totally against trav
elling on the open ocean in my boat, which was understandable. Either way, I still had two things I needed to add to the boat before we left.
“We’ll have to keep asking the captains at the dock if they’re heading our way then,” I said. I had Ivy back and wasn’t ready to spoil it by arguing.
“We should try to find new clothing,” Ivy said. “Knight’s Haven has a mild climate, but we’ll surely travel through less agreeable lands.”
That reminded me of something that had slipped my mind.
“I already bought us clothes,” I said.
Then I told her about the trade I’d made with a spelikan named Frithanzel. That clothing should be ready to pick up… assuming Frithanzel had survived the clansmen. There was only one way to find out.
***
The next morning dawned bright and beautiful, and I walked hand-in-hand with Ivy through the upper half of Havensport, pretending we hadn’t a care in the world. We met up with one of Frithanzel’s sisters at the huge beehive shaped spelikan home. A small village of them lived in there. When she told me that Frithanzel was gone, I feared the worst, but then she said her sister had moved to the last place at the end of the block.
We walked to a structure that while in worse condition than the other, was already under repair. Two goblin masons patched a hole in the wall at street level. Even as I opened my mouth to ask them if Frithanzel was around, she scuttled out of another larger hole further down the street, carrying two bundles. I didn’t know if spelikan were actually related to spiders in any way, but they had eight legs, round bodies, a lot of eyes, and shiny black exoskeletons. Spiders were still my closest point of reference.
“Prince Jakalain, I have awaited your return. Princess Ivangelain, it is an honour to meet you.”
She made a half bow to Ivy by bending her front and middle legs.
“And you,” Ivy said.
“Here is my half of our bargain.” She handed me the bundles. One was larger than the other. “Do you wish to examine them?”
“No, I’m sure they’re fine.” What could I do if I didn’t like the clothes? “Why have you moved here?”
