by Allan Joyal
"I've never seen anything like," I started to say.
"People!" Culax shouted before I could finish my thought.
"What?" Jessop called out. "How many?"
I was trying to count the people. From where we were I could see two men standing at the far end of the slab of stone. Three others appeared to be moving in the trees just beyond the slab.
"Captain?" I asked.
"What's the depth like?" he immediately asked.
Panalope leaned over the port railing. "Shallow and rocky. The water isn't very clear. I don't think we can get much closer."
I started looking around. "There's a river just a bit further north!" I shouted.
"Kaven? Think you can swim to shore from here?" Ushcail asked.
I measured the distance with my eyes. It would be longer than any previous swim, but the waves would help. "I can probably make it."
"It's your call," Ushcail said.
I put both of my hands on the railing. "Kaven?" Panalope asked just as I pushed off and launched my body into the water.
The ocean water proved to be much warmer than I expected. The current that Gypsy was sailing on pulled me northward as I began to kick my legs and swim for the shore. Behind me I could hear another splash as someone jumped in to join me.
I wanted to reach the slab so I concentrated on my swimming. At first it looked like I would drift past the slab, but my hands struck stone when I was still several boat lengths from the shore. I used the handholds to struggle to my feet and started to walk over the ocean bottom. Jagged rocks made my feet hurt as I fought waves and water to get to the shore.
When I finally stepped onto dry land I turned around to see Culax struggling to his feet. The man staggered against the current as he made his way to me.
"Why did you jump after me?" I asked.
"Someone has to watch your back," Culax said as we walked inland.
The young sailor stopped and looked around. "What is this place?"
I stopped. Looking down I examined the slab of stone. From where I was standing it appeared to be one giant piece. It was a massive rectangle of stone. The side facing the ocean was five or six boat lengths long. The sides running away from the ocean went back far enough that I was unable to estimate the distance. However, the slab was not flat. Instead it was covered with a series of pools. The water in many was a strange pink color.
I walked over to the nearest pool and knelt down to put a hand into the water. It felt thick, like a stew rather than water. When I lifted my wet fingers to my nose and sniffed, the water smelled strongly of salt and the ocean.
"It's sea water, or at least it is very salty," I said.
"What are the people doing?" Culax asked.
I looked up. Culax was pointing to the far side of the slab. I could see that they were shoveling something. It was impossible to see what they were working on.
"I don't," I started to say as I stood up.
A harsh female voice called out something. The language was gibberish to me, but I turned to see the speaker and stepped back when I saw the crossbow bolt pointed at my chest.
"What?" Culax asked as I bumped into him. "Kaven, why are you?"
The female voice spoke again. This time I felt Culax spin around to look at the lady speaking. "Who are! Kaven! She's armed!"
The woman was standing about twenty feet away. She had the crossbow aimed chest high as she kept it pointed in our direction. I tried to ignore the threat and look at her.
The first thing I noticed was that her skin appeared unnaturally fair. She was wearing some kind of cloth netting over her hair which made it impossible to guess her hair color, but I thought it might be black. The young woman's outfit was cleaner than I would have expected. Her blouse had long sleeves and the skirt was dyed brown and covered her legs.
"Kaven?" Culax said as I finished looking the woman over.
"What? She doesn't appear to speak the same language we do. But she does look human," I responded.
The woman was staring at both of us. She backed up a couple of steps and shouted something. There was an answering shout from the group who had been working at the far end of the stone slab.
She pointed toward the others and then shifted the crossbow in that direction. It was a clear hint that she wanted us to walk towards her friends.
"I say we start walking and when she tries to follow us, look for a moment to jump her," Culax said.
I ignored Culax's comment and started walking across the slab. The pool of salty water was one of at least thirty that were scattered around the slab. There was plenty of space between them so I found it easy to keep my feet dry as I maneuvered towards the others.
Culax followed me. He was muttering as we made our slow progress across the ground. "Kaven! We can't just meekly allow ourselves to be captured. We have to do something."
"What do you suggest?" I asked as two of the people ahead of us started moving towards us. I slowed down to look at them.
Both of the people approaching us appeared to be wearing skirts. I slowed down in surprise when I realized that both were young women. Neither was wearing a hairnet like the woman behind us. The first of the two was one of the tallest women I had ever seen. She had yellow hair that was tied behind her head in a series of braids. The woman moved gracefully as she skipped around the pools.
The second girl was had brown hair that looked similar to what was found in the islands. However, she carried a long staff of wood that was longer than she was tall. The glowing gem affixed to the end of a staff was very unusual. I froze as she confidently approached Culax and me.
"Hey! Its more women! Come Kaven, let's rush them," Culax said confidently.
My fellow crewman pushed me aside as he started to rush forward. I stumbled towards one of the pools as I watched him advance on the ladies.
He was still only a span ahead of me when the lead girl moved her right arm in an arc. There was a strange cracking sound followed by a loud crash as a rock struck the ground at Culax's feet. The man jumped back in surprise.
"What!" he shouted. "Kaven, did you see that?"
"No, I was blind to what she was doing. Just like you were when you started advancing aggressively," I replied sarcastically.
The girl with brown hair raised the strange staff she was holding. The words she spoke made no sense. The gem at the top of the staff emitted a beam of light that struck my face and then shifted to strike Culax in the face. It did not burn me, but my ears tingled when it went out.
"You should be able to understand us now," the woman with the crossbow said. "Are you willing to come in peace, or do I shoot to kill?"
"What?" Culax said. "We haven't done any harm."
"True, but you are the first humans we've seen on a ship. Last we heard no humans would take a ship east of Port Regal," the tall girl said.
"I don't know of a Port Regal," I said. "But we sailed west to get here, not east."
"West?" the tall girl asked.
I pointed at the ocean. "We've been sailing for nine days. There are islands out there. That's where we are from. Now can I ask questions?"
"None of us would be able to answer clearly," the woman with the crossbow said. She had a very strange accent that made her words hard to understand. "We should take you to Ron; he's the best we have at solving problems. But what about your friends?"
"Friends?" Culax asked.
"Oh, the others just threw you off the boat then?" the crossbow armed woman asked. "Or do you think they'll try to rescue you."
"They can't dock," I said.
"They can if they are willing to head up river," the woman holding the staff said. "We set up a dock there two years ago. It's not much, but it should allow them to moor the ship."
"Culax, how can we tell them that?" I asked.
"I'm sure they are watching what is happening," Culax said mulishly. "If we wave we might get their attention. I'm not sure they will understand that there is a dock upriver."
"Aine!" a young man
shouted from somewhere near the shoreline. "The ship is turning to enter the river. A couple of the crew members are armed now. What should I do?"
"Does Ron know?" the woman holding the crossbow asked.
"You're closer to him than I am," the young man shouted back. "What should I do?"
"Walk along the riverside and keep an eye on them," Aine shouted back. "We'll take these two to Ron. At least we were done with the salt harvest and Shaylin's magic worked."
"Magic?" I asked.
"How do you think you can understand us now? Shaylin used some magic. It only lasts a short time though," the tall girl said. She turned around and started walking away from us.
"But?" Culax asked.
"Forget it for now," I said. "They obviously know things we don't. And they don't seem hostile."
Culax pointed at the crossbow. "That's not hostile?" he asked.
"She could have shot us," I said as the girl with the staff turned and started to walk away. "For now, let's follow and get to this Ron. It seems he's the one we want to talk to."
We started walking, following the two girls. They were a boat length ahead of us and chatting as they weaved between the pools of pink water.
Culax looked at the pools. "Kaven? Why are there white crystals around the pools?"
I looked more closely. The color of the water made it impossible to see the bottom, but I could see that in the area we were walking most of the depressions were only about half full. The sides were lined by shimmering white crystals that appeared to cling to the stone.
"Salt," Aine said. "That's why we are here. Ron remembered a technique where ocean water would be placed in a basin and then allowed to evaporate in the sun. The salt is left behind."
"That's what you are shoveling?" I asked. "And how much do you have?"
"We are still working out how to do it," Aine admitted. "At first we allowed each basin to evaporate, but it gave us little salt even though the water evaporated quickly. During our first winter Ron traded with the dwarves. They provided a pump we now use to move the water so that the pools back here contain water that is much saltier than ocean water. The problem is that now it takes much longer before there is salt to harvest."
"Why tell us this?" I asked.
"Who could you tell?" Aine asked. "Besides, where are you going to find stone like this? We invited a dwarf to look at it. He said that it looked like a stonesinger had created this long ago."
"This Empire of yours seems to have collapsed," Culax said to me with a sneer.
"Empire?" Aine asked.
"That's what our whole trip was about," Culax said angrily. "Kaven here was sure that the Empire still existed."
"I don't know of any Empire," Aine said. "Ron might know more. Or Krysbain. You can ask them in just a moment."
Culax stopped and turned around. I looked over my shoulder to see that Aine had stopped and backed up. She had the crossbow aimed directly at Culax's chest.
"Culax," I said. "Why are you insisting on being a complete idiot? Let's just meet Aine's friends."
"We don't have a choice," Culax pointed out.
"So far they haven't hurt us, and they appear willing to talk. Heck, think about the salt. If they have any to trade, we could bring that back to the islands with us," I said.
"We have salt in the islands," Culax pointed out.
"There never is enough," I replied. "Even a small cask would make us wealthy."
"I thought you wanted to save the islands," Culax said as we resumed walking towards the edge of the stone slab. We could see that the two girls who had run ahead of us had been joined by several others. One was a man with greying hair. He was holding onto a spear as he watched us approach.
Chapter 18: We Come in Peace
Culax and I were only a few steps away from the man holding a spear when he looked over at the girls who had come out to meet us. "Shay? How long will your spell last?" he asked.
The girl looked at the sky. "It should last through midday," she said. "I'm not sure. I haven't had to use it much since Gerti and Yveney learned to speak Dwarvish."
"I wish Corwar would learn Dwarvish," the tall girl said. "I hate having to travel to their cavern every time we trade."
"I thought you wanted to learn trading," the older man said.
"Not with the dwarves," the tall girl said. "They are so dour."
The man looked over at me. "Sorry for the rough welcome," he said to me. "We have found that it's best to be careful. And until we saw your ship, we thought that there were no other humans on this side of the continent."
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Aine here said that she didn't know of any Empire, but the records on the islands said that humans were brought there by ships belonging to a great Empire. The problem is that we haven't seen a ship since they were recalled long ago."
The man seemed unsurprised. "I'd guess that you are saying this occurred about two thousand years ago."
"How did you know?" Culax asked.
"Something we heard about when we were traveling," the man said. "There was an empire that ruled over the whole continent. About two thousand years ago there was a great war. The wizards in the Empire all fought to take over. None won, and the fighting destroyed the Empire."
"So there is no Empire?" Culax said.
"Until we travelled to the valley we claimed just west of here there were no humans close to the coast. During the war orcs and other monsters came out of the north and swept humanity from the eastern side of this land.
"What about the cities? Did anything of them survive?" I asked.
The man looked puzzled. He turned to look over his shoulder. "Krysbain! You have done most of the exploring. Have you run into any ruins?"
A young man walked over. He had a sword sheathed at his side. This man looked at me and nodded. "I've encountered a couple of ruins," he said. "There is one sizable ruin of what was probably a port town about a half days travel to the south. Lenoir was going to check it yesterday while scouting for this expedition."
"You allow a woman to wander by herself?" Culax asked.
"She might be a better tracker than me," Krysbain said. "We also have worked hard to create a safe zone between our village and the coast. There are no orcs or goblins living within two days travel."
"They still live nearby?" I asked.
The man gave me a look that made me feel stupid. "I just said there are none living within two days travel. And the few we do see are not good in forests."
"Forests?" I asked.
"Two thousand years with no humans has allowed some great forests to grow," the man holding the spear said. "Why?"
"The islands are always short of wood," I replied. "One thing that would help us immensely is wood."
"Wood or lumber?" the tall girl asked. "Do you have any sawmills in the islands? If you don't have any forests I doubt you have any."
"What is a sawmill?" Culax asked.
The girl looked over at the man holding a spear. "Ron? Should we offer to show them what we have built?"
"Let's talk to the entire crew of the ship," Ron said. "And see just how much cargo they can carry. From what I saw the ship isn't very large."
"Why would that matter?" Culax asked.
"If we give you too much, you can't carry it," Ron said. "And I do have to ask if you have anything to trade."
I sighed. "I hoped that we'd find the Empire had just forgotten about us. We are desperate for a lot of goods in the islands, but I can't think of anything we might have to trade."
"Ron!" a young man shouted. "The crew of the ship has spotted our dock. They are currently heading right for it."
We'll meet them there," Ron said. "Let Cimbra know that we are going to talk to the sailors."
"Where is our Mistress of Darkness anyways?" Krysbain asked. "I'm surprised she wasn't right next to you."
"She's probably watching the ocean to make sure there are no more ships," Ron said. "The dwarves barely tolerate her and she wasn't sur
e of the welcome we'd receive if she was visible."
"Its not right," Aine said quietly. "She does so much to help Daytona thrive."
I could see a man of about fifteen years waving to us. "Ron! The strangers are tying the ship to our dock. But none of them can understand me and two are holding blades."
Ron and Krysbain started jogging. I looked over at Culax. "We should probably try to keep up with them." I suggested.
"Why?" Culax asked. "They have taken us prisoner. I see no reason to help them."
I had no reply at first. We continued to follow Ron and his companions as they headed to the dock. As they did I noticed that several others had joined.
"How many?" I asked.
"Of us are here?" Aine finished for me as if she anticipated the question. "We only have eleven people here. It is all we need to gather the salt and take it back to our village."
"Did you get a lot of salt?" I asked.
"Kariy is always asking for more," Aine said. "I remember the fights over it back when Krysbain first told Ron about this flat expanse of stone. It was Victoria who explained that we needed salt to help preserve food."
"Hey," Ron called out. "I have to ask. Did you bring any fruit or citrus with you when you left the islands?"
"Why would we do that?" Culax asked. "And why would you care?"
"How much sailing occurs in these islands?" Ron asked.
Culax seemed to want to argue, but I put a hand on his forearm. When he glared at me I shook my head.
"The answer is that we rarely sail. Most of the ships we use are galleys. When we return the tale that we sailed out of sight of all the islands for more than a day will probably be laughed at by many. There isn't enough wood to risk losing a ship by sailing it too far into the ocean," I said.
"So your people probably have no idea what scurvy is," the man said quietly. "We'll have to make sure to give you something to prevent that when you leave here."
"Why are you so helpful?" I asked. "You don't seem to be worried about us."
Aine waved her crossbow. "Everyone on this trip is armed. We outnumber you and I'm willing to bet that we have a bit more practice with our weapons."
"How?" I asked.
"Our farms have been very productive over the last two years. We have a surplus and don't have to spend every waking minute on the farm. We have plenty of time to practice and hold contests," Aine said. The young woman waved towards the tall girl who had approached us. "Yveney over there is a good example of how much practice everyone gets."
