The Case of the Sea Bug (The Wolflock Cases Book 3)

by Rhiannon D. Elton

  Captain Beleur Silk’s Log,

  In the fourteenth year of the reign of Queen Renviri the Generous, on the fourteenth day of the month Ha'ling Felst, between the mountains after the Blickland forest wharf we have swapped shiny titbits for barrels upon barrels of Tuiti fruit, which has proved most beneficial as the passenger Forlosk Forchan did not arrive at Corl with the supplies promised for the journey....

  Wolflock’s stomach flipped grossly at the mere word “Tuiti”, making him skim ahead to the information he thought was more relevant.

  .... In the fourteenth year of the reign of Queen Renviri the Generous, on the sixteenth day of the month Ha'ling Felst, between the mountains of the Dragon’s Spine on the Silver River a brawl broke out between two men. They came aboard together and it has been discovered that they smuggled alcohol poison on board and began fighting drunkenly while everyone was on deck for dinner. Feyr came down and found one with his head bashed in with a bottle. We gave him a river burial and tossed all the poison overboard. The second man threw himself off the ship after it. Foolish sod...

  .... In the fourteenth year of the reign of Queen Renviri the Generous, on the nineteenth day of the month Ha'ling Felst, just entering the mouth of the Silver Lake, most of our crew and company have fallen deathly ill with vomiting, delirium and sweats. Houl has cursed us thoroughly after the death of the poisoned ones. Only Kaji and Annees are unaffected. We all believe it is due to their spiritual fasting month beginning this moon...

  ... In the fourteenth year of the reign of Queen Renviri the Generous, on the twentieth day of the month Ha'ling Felst, Feyr has died. He began vomiting blood and would not stop. Being such a small lad, it only took a few hours for him to empty himself on the deck and collapse with no hope of waking him. We buried him at dusk....

  ... In the fourteenth year of the reign of Queen Renviri the Generous, on the twenty-first day of the month Ha'ling Felst, we finally get reprieve of this forsaken illness. Three more began vomiting blood but no one else passed. It appears Houl has accepted Feyr as his tribute. I had feared we would starve also as we had finally run out of Tuiti fruit and other rations. Upon finding some of the Tuiti fruit were in fact Sea Bugs, but as we were so low on rations we ate them regardless, which was quite unwise because the three that did eat them were the three that began vomiting blood...

  “Boy!” barked Nan Ji from the doorway, causing Wolflock to jump as his heart leaped into his throat, “What are you doing?! Why aren’t you helping him? You’re as useless as a woman!”

  Wolflock glared at him and realised his eyes were strained from reading in the dark as the sun had set long ago. He slammed the book shut and stormed out, not feeling the need to read anymore and enraged at the small man’s misogyny.

  As he left the Captain’s quarters and entered the hallway to his room he was caught by the strong smell of the herbal decoction, similar to the one in the kitchen, but it had far more intricate aromas permeating it, as if it were suddenly made of ten herbs instead of four. It was delicate, but pungent and also heavy, but lifting. As he walked through the hall he noted that every single person who was infirm had a large wooden mug, gently steaming in their now steady hands. This made him think that it certainly wasn’t Houl’s wrath. No one had shed blood and he wasn’t aware of any alcohol on board. He made his way to Mothy’s room, deep in thought and didn’t even notice Didi was already there. It wasn’t a virus or else he would have been the first to suffer from it, as it would have affected the weakest or youngest first.

  Mothy addressed him, but he didn’t hear him over his rapidly collecting thoughts. He had nearly reached the conclusion when he heard a commotion and Gege squeaked.

  “This is not my decoction! This is not what I told you to make! This will not help these people! Go back and follow the instructions exactly!” Nan Ji roared from down the hall, throwing the herbal decoction over his eldest son’s head, causing a great crack as the wooden cup split.

  Wolflock had half a mind to tell off the man, but his mind was racing towards the dining hall, which his feet were following. He flung himself up the stairs and towards the hall, the intricate herb smell getting stronger and then blasting him in the face like a thick wave when he opened the door.

  Nü was digging through one of the herb sacks desperately and looked like a startled rabbit as Wolflock burst in. Several of the large herb sacks were opened, two were tipped over as if someone had been digging through them, desperately searching for something.

  “Nü…” he started slowly as if he was trying to calm down the startled rabbit, “What are you doing?”

  Her dark eyes darted back and forth from all the bags, to the door and then back to Wolflock. He could see her desperately trying to think of something to say but nothing came.

  “What are you looking for? It’s ok. I won’t tell your father,” he added reassuringly.

  Nü sighed heavily and took her hand out of the sack, dusting off some of the small seeds she’d been digging through. She looked very distraught.

  “I’ve lost my hairpin… It was my mother’s…”

  “In the bags of herbs… when you were changing your father’s decoction because you knew that it was the wrong one for the illness!” He was nearly astonished at his own brilliance.

  “It’s not a virus-”

  “It’s a poison! The Tuiti fruit! I knew it!”

  He ran over to the nearest barrel of the sickly sweet fruit and furiously began chopping them in half. None were moving, but he suspected, and after the fifth fruit it was confirmed, that there were dead Seabugs amongst the fruit. As he sliced it open a dark blue ooze soaked the blade and he saw the fleshy inside of the Seabug.

  “See! I… Blergh!” the smell of the decaying creature touched his nostrils and stung, causing him to wretch.

  Nü approached him and drove her thumb into his wrist, taking away the nausea nearly instantly.

  “Just one of those Sea Bugs in an entire cauldron is enough to poison everyone on board,” she said solemnly.

  “It’s happened before too!” Wolflock exclaimed, remembering the Captain’s log, “A young boy died after her started-”

  Before he could finish his sentence Gege burst into the room, as pale as a ghost.

  “Nü!” he gasped, “We need more decoction! Before father sees you!”

  “But why?” She asked in confusion, “Everyone has had it.”

  “Mothy has eaten three more bowls of the stew! He’s vomiting blood!”

  Chapter 5, The Poison

  Suddenly Gege stopped talking as he realised Wolflock was in the room too. But Wolflock came to several solid conclusions. One, that Gege knew about Nü’s efficiency with medicine. Two, that Gege had very little or no ability with healing. Three, that Nü was the one behind Gege’s supposed brilliance. And four, that unless Nan Ji acknowledged Nü’s abilities and let her heal Mothy, he may die.

  “It’s alright, Gege,” Nü said gently as she saw her brother’s horror at allowing their secret to be revealed, “Mr Felen has discovered us. He won’t give us away though.”

  “Like pig shit I won’t!” Wolflock retorted in disgust, only thinking of how best to help Mothy. “Mothy’s life is more important than your pride. If you think for one moment I won’t tell the entire ship what has been going on, you’ve got the wrong idea-”

  “You won’t!” they both gasped at the same time.

  “I will! Mothy may die! The last person to die from this poisoning was a boy around Mothy’s age and I won’t see it happen to him!”

  He was about to storm out when Nü grabbed his arm with surprising strength.

  “I would never let Mothy come to harm. But you know not my father or what he may do to both of us were he to know the truth! Please,” she pleaded with her big beautiful dark eyes, “It will hurt us and Mothy if you reveal us. I will not let him come to harm!”

  “What would your father possibly do? Disrespect you even more? I hardly see that as possible!” Wolfloc
k scoffed and tore his arm away, but remained where he stood.

  “Worse…” Gege sighed heavily, “He’d disown her and I. Without his influence back in Shruiken-”

  “-All through Xiayah,” Nü interrupted.

  “-We’d never succeed and we’d live in poverty. Nü would never marry and I would never find a wife from the dishonour. Most of our people would think we were cursed.”

  “And Mothy would never forgive you,” Nü added softly enough for her brother to not hear properly.

  Wolflock knew Mothy’s feelings for Nü were obvious and that she surely knew of them, but he felt bitter and as if he had been dirtied in a way that would be hard to clean as she used his love for Mothy against him. Finally he sighed angrily.

  “Fine. I’ll bite my tongue! You have until morning for Mothy to be recovering! For if he dies…”

  He couldn’t find a threat severe enough to describe the pain they would feel in return for his pain.

  Nü’s eyes filled with glassy tears that did not spill and she whispered something in her own tongue as if she was finishing his threat for him, but then nodded.

  “I will not let him die. All I ask if that you maintain your silence.”

  Without another word needed Wolflock returned below deck to check on Mothy. Every room had an overwhelming sense of calm, as if joy had seeped from the cups in their sleepy hands and suddenly (nearly magically) healed them all. As he approached Mothy’s room he heard a few loud snores, which put him at ease slightly. Surely Nü would be able to heal Mothy just as quickly. Nan Ji had left an empty bucket and a bloodstained cloth by Mothy’s bed (Wolflock quickly determined he had left the room to empty the filled bucket and get the necessary herbal concoction. Mothy was sleeping like a dead man, straight, pale and still. It unnerved Wolflock to see him so neatly in his bed, but he sat beside his friend and touched his hand, looking for any signs of life. He saw Mothy’s eyes move under his eyelids in dream and his breathing continued slowly and evenly, although a little raspy.

  Wolflock leant back on the wall at the foot of Mothy’s bed and folded his arms, watching the sun outside turn the land a beautiful pink and orange. The sound of the waves lapping lullingly against the streamlined ship, the smell of the water, wood and herbs thickened Wolflock’s thoughts and his body relaxed, giving into the lack of sleep he’d had for the past few days, and allowing him to rest as he watched over his dear friend.

  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  Wolflock drew his blanket around himself more tightly as the chilly air bit at his neck. He silently cursed the light that was filtering through his window as it caught his sharp blue eyes, for the moment he saw it he knew he wouldn’t get back to sleep. He tried rolling over and hiding under his bedding, but it was to no avail. Awakeness had caught him.

  The sky outside was blue, so he assumed it was late in the morning, and he could hear no one around him, but some heavy footsteps on the boards above his head. The ship was moving again, gliding through the water like a blade. As his mind grew sharper he realised that he was in his own bed. He didn’t remember moving to it. Grogen or one of the other shipmates must have carried him and taken off his shoes, but he was still in the clothes he’d worn the day before.

  Wolflock changed his clothes and put his old ones in a bag to be washed (He’d initially been appalled that he had to do his own washing, but now he was quite fond of it as it meant that he got to make the clothes as clean as he saw fit). He ran his fingers through his dark hair to untangle it and stepped out into the hallway, not expecting to see anyone, but crashing into a mass of perfectly straight long black hair. Nü fell over and Wolflock caught her (and himself by grabbing the doorframe), but she quickly pushed her finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet. She wasn’t wearing her usual hairpin and her hair was down, covering her upper arms, one of which was wrapped in an old yellow bandage, her dark almond shaped eyes glassy with tears.

  “Nü! What’s wrong?” Wolflock whispered, “Why are you outside my room?”

  “I’m not,” she blinked away her tears quickly. “I mean... I am. But I’m really outside Mothy’s room.”

  Wolflock’s concern dropped out of his face and he looked coldly at her. She hadn’t treated him and she was feeling guilty because her father’s treatment wasn’t working. But why hadn’t she treated him when she promised she would?

  Without a word Wolflock grabbed her bandage. Nü struggled against him, but she was only tiny and he tore down the cloth to see a hand shaped purple mark on her porcelain skin. It was hand shaped and it was Nan Ji’s size. Wolflock was outraged. How dare he hurt her? It was wrong to lay a hand on anyone aggressively, let alone for it to be a defenceless girl.

  “Wolflock! Please don’t say anything!” Nü pleaded, “He caught me in his private herbs. I thought I could change the formula but he found me and- he didn’t mean it! He just shoved me away!”

  “How bad is Mothy?” he asked, shaking from fury.

  “He...” Nü hesitated, “He is getting worse. Father has monitored his medicine so carefully that we haven’t had more than a moment to see Mothy, let alone sneak him herbs...”

  He shook his head in rage, “I’m telling him.”

  “No!” she gasped.

  Wolflock stepped passed her to see Gege taking Mothy’s pulse, then broke out into a run and felt Nü at his heels.

  “You promised! You gave me your word!” she cried as they reached the stairs.

  Wolflock stopped and turned, seeing Gege catching up to them.

  “And you gave me yours that Mothy wouldn’t die. I certainly will not hold up my end of the deal if you are incapable of holding up yours!”

  He swept up the stairs and as he got to the top he crashed into another short figure with pitch black hair, falling to the floor. Nan Ji had been carrying a cup of herbs and it had gone flying across the deck, spilling the simple formula everywhere.

  “Foolish boy!” he barked and creakily got to his feet, “Look what you’ve done! Here I am trying to save your friend’s life and you-”

  “You aren’t saving him!” Wolflock groaned angrily and rose to his feet, looking down at the old man, “You’re using him as verification that you aren’t a failed practitioner! You’re sacrificing him to satisfy your own ego because you can’t stand the idea that one of your children knows more than you! The formula you made never worked! It made everyone worse! And so your child changed it in secret to save your face!”

  “Lies!” Nan Ji glared.

  “Then why is Mothy still dying!?”

  “Where is your proof!?”

  “It’s true, baba,” Nü whispered, shaking nervously with Gege at her back looking down. “Gege has been schooling me so that he has an extra set of hands as he has been very busy. He did not want to dishonour you, so he did not correct you, but Gege believed that he knew of a more effective formula, so he changed it. I have been helping him with the decoction as there were a lot of herbs and measurements for such a complex formula. That is why you saw me in your personal herbs yesterday.”

  All three of them looked shocked at her words. Wolflock was in shocked disbelief that she wasn’t coming clean with her intelligence. Not being able to flaunt intelligence was a crime in his eyes. Gege was completely and utterly confused. The facade was tiring his fragile nerves. And Nan Ji was just in shock. His children couldn’t possibly know more than he did and he couldn’t believe that his daughter was the one delivering this information to him.

  There was a very long, very awkward silence that grew like a thick plant between them.

  Nan Ji turned to Gege, staring at him with unblinking, critical eyes.

  “Is this true?”

  “Yes,” he swallowed nervously.

  “What is wrong with my formula?”

  Wolflock noted a very slight change in his tone, as if he was conceding defeat.

  “You... umm... the patients were suffering from... umm... poisoning... umm... from the umm... Tuiti fruit. It wasn’t.... umm...
a pathogen...” he winced as if he’d received a blow but Nan Ji pulled his beard thoughtfully.

  Wolflock looked at Nü, waiting for her to speak, but she kept her head bowed, moving her lips as if she was still giving Gege instructions on what to say. She’d clearly told her little brother everything he needed to know to convince their father that he was the one who had changed the formula, and that would be enough to keep Nan Ji’s misogynistic views affirmed. He could see that they had figured this out (albeit quickly he assumed) and he felt a huge sense of injustice about the situation. Why couldn’t Nü receive equal recognition for her intelligence and contribution? Everyone on the ship knew how marvellous she was, but her own father refused to see it.

  “Show me what you did,” Nan Ji asked with an air of suspicion.

  Wolflock raised his dark eyebrow, wondering how they would get out of this.

  “Umm... well... I...”

  “He used a cleansing formula from Dong Wai Din’s scroll. Number fifty six,” Nü said quickly and took her brother’s hand in support. “I remember seeing it.”

  Nan Ji seemed satisfied with their response, for he smiled and nodded, “Go and save young Mothy’s life then my clever boy!”

  Gege nodded, not letting go of Nü’s hand and they rushed to the kitchen. Wolflock growled and bunched up his shoulder’s as if he was going to hit something. Glaring at Nan Ji he turned on his heel and stalked away before he delayed Mothy’s healing again. He knew he should have been pleased with the result. Nan Ji was no longer poisoning Mothy and he was going to get better, but he hated that Nü had to lie about her wit and he would never be able to do that for however long she had done this for. It just didn’t sit right with him. Once Mothy was recovered he would devise a plan to rectify the situation.

  Wolflock walked around the back of the ship and leant on the railing anxiously, tapping his fingers and glancing agitatedly at his surroundings. The ship seemed quiet and he felt like he was the only person on board. The back of the ship had become somewhat of a hideout for him and Mothy, and without his best friend he felt somewhat empty.