“How much further?” he asks Illan.
“Another hour, maybe two,” he replies.
Sure enough, a little over an hour later, they begin to see the outline of a city on the horizon. “Seastar,” Illan informs them. Several merchant ships can be seen out on the water, one’s pulling away from the docks and there are three others still moored there.
“Looks like we’re in luck,” Uther says when he sees the ships at the docks. “One of those should be able to ferry us over to the far side of the Sea.”
“I hope so,” says James.
Seastar has a defensive wall, though it’s not very high or thick. The road travels to the southern edge of the wall and passes through the gate there. Four guards are there, helping to keep the traffic of refugees and soldiers moving along quickly. Off to the east of the wall, a refugee camp can be seen. Hundreds, maybe thousands of displaced people mill around the makeshift camp. Soldiers can be seen in and around the area keeping order and generally helping the people. A couple wagons are unloading sacks and boxes of food to waiting people.
When they arrive at the gates, Illan hollers to one of the guards, “Shoen!”
Shoen looks up from where he’s supervising the others and breaks into a smile when he sees who just addressed him. “Illan!” he cries as he moves toward him, extending his hand. “Didn’t expect to see you for quite some time.”
Illan takes his hand and gives it a firm shake before saying, “Can’t stay and talk I’m afraid. We need to see about a ship to take us across the Sea.”
“There’s a couple at anchor, I know,” he informs him. “But don’t know whether they’ll take you all the way to the other side?”
“We have a letter from Lord Pytherian requesting any and all to aid us,” he explains.
Nodding, he smiles and says, “That should make some merchant happy.” They both begin laughing hard at that, several others standing around who hear that join in as well. “Good luck!” wishes Shoen. “It was good to see you.”
As Illan begins moving to pass through, he says, “You too, Shoen.”
Shoen waves them on through, then goes back to making sure the traffic continues to flow smoothly through the gate.
Illan leads them through and once on the other side, takes the street heading down toward the docks. “Let’s see about a ship first, before they have a chance to get away,” he tells them. “Once we have one to agree to take us, we can find an inn should we have the time.”
“Alright,” agrees James.
You’d think Illan had returned a hero the way everyone greets him as he moves down the street. He handles it all well, only slowing when absolutely necessary. “He sure is popular around here,” observes Miko as he watches Illan wave to the people on the streets.
“He’s well liked by everyone who knows him,” Uther comments when he hears Miko. “Never sure why he joined up with us, but I suppose he has his reasons.” Lowering his voice, he continues, “Some of us believe he lost his wife during the war and wants revenge. But no one knows for sure.”
Miko stares at Uther’s back and nods.
Looking down to the end of the street, they can see the water of the Sea and the masts of the ships at dock. The few buildings bordering the docks have the look of warehouses and Illan continues on past and stops at a small building sitting at the entrance to the docks. “Dockmaster,” he tells them as he dismounts. James and Jiron dismount as well, the others remain on their horses.
Illan steps up to the door with them right behind and pushes it open. Inside, they find a man sitting behind a desk covered in a disorganized pile of papers. He looks up from where he’s making notations on one of them and a smile breaks across his face when he sees who it is.
Getting up, he says, “Illan! What brings you back here?” Moving around the desk, he gives Illan a big hug, careful not to get the ink on his fingers on the back of Illan’s shirt.
“Marko,” he says, returning the hug, “didn’t know you were the new Dockmaster.”
Releasing him, Marko says, “Have been for a year now, ever since Yeurn got married to that woman from the City.” Stepping back two steps, he continues, “It’s good to see you again.”
“I’m afraid I can’t stay long,” he explains. “We have need to reach the other side of the Sea and were hoping to be able to get someone to take us.”
His smile fades somewhat as he says, “Nothing serious I hope? The Empire isn’t on its way here is it?”
Shaking his head, he says, “Nothing like that. Our forces still have them on the other side of the Etterling River.”
“That’s good news,” he says with relief. “We haven’t had much news lately about the war. Just what the refugees tell us as they pass through.”
Gesturing to the ships at the dock outside, he asks, “Which one of those would be our best bet?”
“You might try the Sea Strider, it’s the one all the way at the end,” he says. “Derrin Nellix is the captain, and he’s leaving shortly for the far side. Don’t know if he’ll take on passengers, but you can try.”
“Okay, we’ll do that, thank you,” he says as he holds out his hand to his friend.
Taking the hand, Marko shakes it vigorously and says, “You’re welcome. If you’ll be staying in town, I’d love it if you could come and have dinner with me and Pauline.”
“We’ll see,” he replies. “Probably have to dine with my family first, though. They’d never let me hear about it if I didn’t.”
Marko laughs at that. “I think you’re right. Well, good luck.”
Illan nods his head and then turns to leave. James and Jiron back out, giving him room to pass through the door.
“Why didn’t you tell him about Lord Pytherian’s letter?” James asks. “Wouldn’t that have expedited it better?”
“Why use it if we don’t have to?” he asks. “Besides, he’s not the one we have to convince.”
Returning to where the others are waiting, he says, “Might be in luck, you just wait here while we go down to the ship to arrange things.”
“Alright,” Uther says for everyone. He gets down off his horse, the others following suit. “If we’re to wait longer, I’m not going to do it on horseback.”
“You got that right, man” agrees Jorry.
Illan leaves them behind as he, James and Jiron walk down to the end of the docks where sailors are busy transferring cargo from several wagons onto the ship resting against the dock.
Coming to the wagons, he catches the attention of one of the seaman returning from the ship for another box and asks, “Is Captain Nellix on board?”
The sailor doesn’t even pause as he replies, “Yes he is.” Grabbing another box, he starts to return to the gangplank.
“Can we speak with him?” Illan asks the sailor.
“I’ll ask him,” he says just before reaching the gangplank.
They watch as several other sailors leave the ship as they continue the transferring of cargo. The sailor they’d talked to returns to the top of the gangplank and begins walking down it to the dock. When he comes to where they’re standing, he says, “The captain said for you to go ahead and come aboard. You’ll find him at the cargo hatch going over the bills of lading.”
“Thank you,” Illan says.
He just nods and grunts before taking another box off the wagon.
Illan glances at James and asks, “Shall we?”
James nods and then follows Illan as he moves toward the gangplank. They pause at the bottom while two sailors leave the ship before walking up it to the ship’s deck.
They see a man, obviously the captain in question, standing at the cargo hold hatch going over the bill of lading just as the sailor had told them. He glances over to them as they begin walking over to him. “Yes?” he asks. “You wanted to see me?”
“We were hoping to book passage for us and our friends over to the other side of the Sea,” Illan explains.
“Don’t take on passengers,”
the captain says. “They just get in the way.” A sailor comes on board with a box and pauses a moment while the captain checks it off. He gives the sailor a nod who then carries it on down into the hold.
“But our need is great,” insists Illan, “and we’d be willing to pay.”
“Don’t care,” he says. “I hate having people on board. Now, if you’ll get off my ship, I have work to do before we sail.”
“But,” James begins, “we have a…”
Illan shakes his head and waves for him to stop.
Confused, but willing to follow his lead, James doesn’t finish.
“Let’s go,” he says to them as he makes for the gangplank.
James and Jiron follow right behind. When they’re off the ship and have moved a short ways past the wagons, they stop. “Why didn’t you want me to mention the letter?” asks James.
“That would’ve seemed to be the smart thing to do,” adds Jiron.
“I don’t think it would’ve made any difference,” he explains. “We should try the other two ships and find out if they’ll be more agreeable.”
“Alright,” James says as he glances to Jiron who just shrugs.
The next ship they come to is a single masted vessel and looks to be deserted. The gangplank is up so Illan hollers, “Hello ship!”
When there’s no answer, he hollers again, “Hello ship!”
They wait a minute but no reply is forthcoming. He turns to the others and indicating the last ship says, “One more to try.” Moving down to the other end of the docks, they come to a twin masted vessel where several sailors are sitting around on deck, looking bored.
“Hello the ship!” Illan hollers.
One of the sailors looks over the rail and asks, “Yeah?”
“Request permission to come aboard and talk with the captain,” he says.
“Captain’s not here,” the sailor tells him.
“Where could I find him?” he asks.
“City jail I’d imagine,” the sailor replies.
“Jail?” asks Illan. “What’s he doing there?”
“Cooling his heals for a few days,” the sailor explains. Several other sailors come over and join him at the rail.
One of them says, “He got in a fight with the wrong man and was arrested. They said he’d be in there several more days.”
“Thank you,” Illan says to them. Turning away from the ship, he begins making his way back to where Uther and the others are waiting. “This is perfect!” he exclaims.
“What is?” Jiron asks.
“Don’t you see?” he says. “Though the letter from Lord Pytherian wouldn’t have much pull with a ship’s captain, it will have with a magistrate. And if we use it to get the captain out of jail, then I would think he’d be happy to take us across the Sea.”
Nodding, James says, “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.”
When they get back to the others, Illan explains to them what they’re planning on doing. “In the meantime, while we’re getting the captain out of jail, the rest of you go and find something to eat.”
Miko perks up at that, the mention of food always does.
“Go down the street until you come to the blacksmith,” he tells them. “Then turn down the road to the right. You shouldn’t have far to go before you come to the Flying Fish. The owner is a lady by the name of Mari, and the food there is very good. At least it was last time I was in town.”
“When will you meet us there?” asks Yern.
“Hopefully not more than an hour,” he tells him.
“Alright then,” Uther says. “We’ll see you there.”
“You may as well go too,” James tells Jiron. And then he lowers his voice to a whisper as he adds, “And keep an eye on Miko.”
“You got it,” he says as he joins the crew going to the inn.
The bunch going to the inn takes all the horses with them. Illan and James go down a different street as they make their way to the city jail.
More people pause when they see Illan walking down the street, most give him a friendly greeting or ask him a question. Begging lack of time to talk, he makes his responses short as he continues down the street.
At the next junction of streets, he turns to the right and points to a two story building on the right side. “That’s the jail.”
“Think we’ll have any problems?” James asks.
Shaking his head, Illan says, “I really doubt it.”
They walk down to where the front door is standing open and walk inside. Two guards are sitting at a side table sharpening their swords, another sits behind a desk and has the look of the one in charge.
The guard behind the desk looks up as they enter and says, “Yes? Can I help you?”
Illan walks over and asks, “We’re looking for the captain of the ship in the harbor. His men said he might be here?”
Nodding, the guard captain says, “He’s here all right.” Calling over to one of the guards at the table, he says, “Rullins, take these gentlemen back to the holding cells. They want to talk to the captain.”
Getting up, the guard named Rullins replies, “Yes sir.” To Illan and James he says, “If you’ll follow me.” Turning toward a door in the side of the room, he takes out a key and unlocks the door. Opening it, he indicates they should follow him as he moves past the cells on the side of the walkway.
Five large cells line each side of the walkway, two of them have prisoners. One has two men who look to have been beaten up pretty badly, the other holds a solitary individual. And it’s to the solitary individual that the guard is taking them.
As they draw near, the man in the cell turns and watches their approach. “These men want to talk to you,” the guard tells him. Then to Illan and James, he says, “If you need help, just holler. We’ll be able to hear you.”
With that, the guard turns around and leaves the cell area. He leaves the door to the outer room open so they could be heard should the need arise.
The captain comes near the bars and looks out at Illan and James. “Do I know you two?” he asks.
Shaking his head, Illan says, “I doubt it, you don’t look familiar to me.”
“What do you want?” he asks.
“We want to talk about passage across the Sea, all the way to the other side,” Illan explains.
The captain breaks into a laugh and says, “You may have to wait for a while.”
“How long are you going to be in here?” asks James.
Shrugging, the captain says, “I don’t know, could be a while I’m guessing. I got into a fight with a prominent personage of some sort. Of course I didn’t realize who or what he was at the time. I mean, really, who would’ve thought he’d be in a place like that.”
“If we could expedite your release,” James offers, “would you take us across the Sea?”
“Of course,” he agrees. “But I don’t see how you’ll be able to pull that off, I broke the man’s nose.”
“How soon can you be ready to sail,” James asks.
“You get me out of here and we’ll sail within the hour,” he states.
“Alright,” Illan says, “we’ll see what we can do.” He begins to leave then glances back at the captain and adds, “We’ll be back shortly.”
“I hope so,” he says as they leave the cell area.
Illan walks over to the guard captain and asks, “How would we arrange his release?”
The guard captain laughs and says, “Man, from what I understand, he’s going to sit in there an awfully long time.” The guards over at the table can be heard chuckling as well.
“Still, who should we see?” persists Illan.
“Well, you could try Magistrate Harlan,” he explains. “He’s probably the only one who could arrange it.”
“Thank you,” Illan says as he makes ready to leave.
“But don’t get your hopes up,” he tells them.
Illan casts him a quick glance, gives him a nod and then they leave the jail.
&nb
sp; Once they’re outside, James asks him, “Do you know this Magistrate Harlan?”
“Oh yes,” replies Illan. “He’s a good man and we should be able to get things arranged through him.”
“Good,” states James. He follows Illan as he leads him through town to the Magistrate’s offices.
They continue along, turning once down a main thoroughfare where they walk past several side streets before it opens up onto a large courtyard square. Setting on the far side of the courtyard is a large, imposing structure, obviously the home of the Magistrate’s offices.
There’s a wall separating the building from the rest of the courtyard. At the gate through the wall, a guard stands and smiles when he sees Illan approaching. Coming to attention, he salutes him as they pass through.
Illan returns the salute and the grin on his face is just as big as the guard’s is.
As they approach the front doors, James asks him, “What was all that about?”
Pausing, Illan explains, “He’s my son.”
“Oh, okay,” replies James. Looking back at the guard at the gate, he can see the resemblance between father and son.
Illan opens the door just as another man is leaving. The bandage on his face tells them this must be the man whose nose had been broken by the captain. Without so much as an ‘excuse me’, he walks through the door and they have to step back to allow him room.
The man walks straight toward the gate and passes through to the courtyard beyond. “Nice man,” James says.
“Yeah,” replies Illan. “No wonder he got his nose broken.”
James nods his head as they enter the building.
“His office is up on the third floor,” he tells him.
Leading the way like he’d been here a hundred times before, he follows the corridor to the stairs winding up. He climbs them until they reach the third floor and then follows a hallway down to a pair of ornate doors.
Opening them, he walks right in, James following close behind. They find themselves in a reception area with several tables and couches. Another set of double doors across the room from them must lead into the magistrate’s office.
Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three Page 44
