by David Bell
The chief gestured to us to follow him, but I was reluctant to go and said to Kanesh that we couldn’t trust them. Kanesh replied that if we refused his hospitality we should have to hunt them down and kill the lot, or we would risk losing the ship and being marooned on this island and that would be the end of us. We followed the chief, and the archers fell in behind. We soon reached a village, not much more than a cluster of rough stone huts, and found the women squatting round fires preparing food. Naked children of all ages played and squabbled round them. The chief shouted orders and a woman came out of a hut with a stool for the him and another which she set in front of Kanesh; the rest of us sat on the ground in the hot sun. We were offered hunks of roasted goat flesh and coarse barley cakes by the older women. The younger ones stood aside staring boldly at us. They wore only short skirts and their black hair hung down to their waists only partly concealing their breasts, which had red circles painted round the nipples. Kanesh asked the Captain of Archers to send two of his men back to the ship to fetch more wine, but no more men, he added.
The day wore on into evenng and we gnawed more tough goat meat and gritty bread. The island men sat at some distance from Kanesh and looked away when he turned to them. The young women kept their distance too, but they looked straight back when we eyed them. Kanesh and the chief were now like old friends, laughing together and talking in the old language. The wine helped. Kanesh saw to it that the wineskins were passed round the island men and gradually they lost their wariness and edged closer to the fire. The archers were allowed to eat, but the Captain had forbidden them any wine.
Dusk enveloped us and when the stars came out the Charioteer began his chase low across the horizon. The old women put more roots and branches on the fires and the flames grew higher. One by one the barbarians, lulled by the warmth and the wine, fell asleep on the ground. The chief slipped off his stool, tried to get up, then lay back snoring. The flames flickered before my eyes and the smoke gave off a sweet heady scent. I began to feel drowsy. I saw blurred images of women in the flames with long black hair like snakes coiling down over their full swaying breasts. I reached out. Kanesh jerked my arm painfully and the images vanished. He whispered that it was time to go. We all got silently to our feet and stole away from the fire. All the women had disappeared.
We made our way downhill from the village, stumbling in the dark over rocks and pushing through the scrub towards the cliffs above the little bay where the Davina lay at anchor. The night sky was ablaze with stars and warm scented air blew softly and languidly over our bodies. We heard a strange sound coming from somewhere above us and off to one side of the track. I vaguely remembered passing by a small hill hereabouts when we were on our way up to the village. The sound rose and fell as we came closer. There was the glow of a fire and the sound, clearer now, was of singing, or rather, chanting and the voices were those of women. We could now see the hillock about a bowshot distant and on its flat top we could see a fire blazing before a stone pillar and the figures of women slowly circling the flames and raising their arms as they chanted their strange hymn. A honeyed intoxicating scent wafted towards us from the fire. We crouched in the scrub spellbound by the slow-stepping figures of the women, turning dizzy from the perfumed smoke drifting into our faces. The women lifted their breasts, pointing their nipples towards the stone pillar, like an offering. Something was sitting on the top of the pillar, something with horns, something with a face that slowly turned towards me. Inside my head the chanting voices were sweet and seductive, saying come to us, come to us, but the words in my ears were the ancient words I did not know.
One of the crew said in a hoarse, urgent voice that we could have these women. Kanesh struck him full in the face and hissed that was exactly what we were wanted to do and then we’d end up torn to pieces while we slept it off. He ordered us back to the ship: this place was too dangerous.
Kanesh softly called the password to a picket on the cliff edge and we slid down to the beach where some of the off-duty crew were asleep on the shingle round the embers of their fire. The archers stretched out beside them and I followed Kanesh as he waded out to the ship and climbed awkwardly over the rail. Potyr was in his usual place on the stern deck, looking up at the stars. He didn’t ask what we had been doing. Kanesh would tell him all in good time.
The crew was called to stations at dawn. Men came from the beach, splashing through the water’s edge and hauled themselves aboard. The last to arrive were the pickets sliding hurriedly down from the clifftop. Potyr gave orders for the anchors to be raised, then for four hard pulls on the stern oars to haul us away from the shore. Then bow side dug in, we swung, straightened and headed at full power for the open sea. No one came to see us sail.
Potyr took her well out from the shore to avoid any reefs before he changed course directly away from the rising sun, putting Tholos to starboard. With a few more hearty strokes we rounded a rocky point, turned to starboard and followed the line of the coast towards the end of the finger that Tholos points towards Kallista. We rowed on in the same direction until Tholos was lost behind us in the morning mist. Potyr ordered slow ahead to keep the Davina just under way. He had no means of finding his bearings without a landmark and the ship could easily drift off course.
The mist had been caused by a light wind on the starboard quarter and was unusually dense and persistent. With nothing to do but wait in the chill air, some of the crew began to be restless. Kanesh climbed down from the stern and moved slowly along the walk between the two banks of oarsmen, talking, ruffling hair, giving orders to keep a lookout, not for sea monsters, and no, not for sea nymphs, but for any sign of another ship. The carpenter was set to checking shields for loose handles or cracks and the armourer to using his whetstone on the swords and daggers. The archers, the most stolid of men, always sure of themselves and of their weapons, lay dozing or playing dice.
The mist slowly began to thin but the sun was near its highest point when from my station in the bow I saw the Mountain peak, the highest point on Kallista, emerge from the haze at last. I called out my sighting and Kanesh clambered up on the bow to see. He said we were closer than we should be and on the wrong heading. He went back to the stern to talk with Potyr.
Starboard side oars dipped and drew and the ship began a slow turn. A crewman came and told me that I was to report to the master. When I reached the stern Potyr was holding a council of war with Kanesh and the Captain of Archers. They were in a dilemna. The mist was still obscuring the coastline so we could not steer for our landing point. Only a wind would clear the mist but if we then raised sail might we not be spotted by lookouts on the island? Perhaps pirates were not disciplined enough to maintain a watch? The Captain of Archers suggested that when the mist cleared we could mislead anyone onshore by following a course which would take us well clear of the island, turning back towards our landing point at the last moment when we were out of sight from the town’s lookout posts. Kanesh said, come what may, it was worth risking being seen if we were to have any chance at all of taking the town by surprise.
Potyr walked across the stern deck and looked over the rail. From things floating in the sea he could get a rough idea of our distance from the shore. There was nothing to be seen, meaning we were still a long way out. Looking up he could just make out that the sun was now well past its highest. We were running short of time. We needed that wind.
The afternoon heat finally began to spin the mist into spirals curling upwards from the sea and fading away into the upper air but we were still becalmed and the coastline was little more than a low smudged line with no points we could recognize. Potyr ordered slow ahead and extra hands to lookout stations. He exchanged a few words with the other two and then called me over to join them. He said that when the wind rose – Kanesh snorted – when the wind rose, we would hoist sail, risk being seen from by any lookout, and make all speed for the shore. Here he fixed me with his sharp eyes and said he had been told that I had spent a lot of time along thi
s coast fishing and swimming with other young men, and girls, he added, with a look. I must know it better than anyone aboard, so where should we land?
I tried to think. They waited. Tangled memories of beaches, bays, swimming, laughing girls, ran through my mind but none would stay. Kanesh put his hands on my shoulders and made me look him in the face. He stared at me without saying a word, then in my head I could hear the unspoken command: think. Everything came clear. I knew exactly where we should land.
Red Beach was no good: too close to the town. It must be White Bay, hidden from the town by stony ridges and dry valleys. It had a shelving beach where the Davina could be hauled out and the landing party could rest, prepare and form up. But it was late and the sun would be down by the time we got there. My words came out in a rush and then I stopped abruptly, afraid that I had been too bold. Potyr said quietly that the wind would come and I would guide us in. My first impulse was to refuse, but these were not men to argue with so I merely nodded.
The pennant on the stern cabin post stirred, then lifted with a sharp slapping sound. Potyr had been right again and the wind was onshore. The riggers hauled on their lines and the mast and yards were quickly raised and braced and the sail began to fill. The Davina seemed to stiffen and strain forward, the bow wave furling white on each side of her long raked stem. But the wind was skittish, coming in gusts then dying away, making our progress very uneven. The sun had sunk below the horizon before we reached the bay and the light was fading fast. The wind picked up again and we started closing on the coast too quickly, so the sail was furled and the oarsmen ran out their oars to steady and slow the ship. Potyr told me I had the ship and asked what I needed. I said I wanted Namun with me on the bow with his sounding lead and a man with a strong clear voice to call my orders to Typhis, at the helm.
It was dusk when we started our approach. Namun cast the grease-plastered lead, hauled it up and called ten knots on the line and mud on the lead. I ordered slow ahead and the crewman repeated the order aft. The ship edged forward a few lengths and Namun cast the lead again: five knots on the line and again mud on the lead. It was shoaling quickly and I ordered dead slow. The oarsmen backed their blades. There was a reef somewhere near here where we used to hunt for octopus all those years ago. Three knots on the line and a clean lead: we must be almost above the reef now. Would we clear it with the Davina laden as she was? I hardly dared to breathe. Another ship’s length on and Namun called four knots on the line and sand on the lead. We were over it.
But the worst was yet to come. I knew that ahead of us was a large flat rock we often used for sunbathing and diving. We had to steer to starboard well clear of this to avoid a jagged underwater projection, but not too far away or we would run aground on a sandbank. Where was that rock? The sea was now too dark for me to see it but the breeze might be just strong enough to raise white waves against it. Namun called three knots on the line and gravel on the lead: gravel meant we were close to the rock. How could I find it? How could I get a bearing? The fisherman’s hut: the hut at the top of the beach where Kallia and I… how long ago was it? Namun said he could see white waves close ahead and to larboard: two knots on the line and gravel on the lead. We had to keep her underway or we could drift onto the rock or the sandbank. I repeated the order dead slow and steady. Now I knew where the rock was, if I could get a sight of the hut and line the ship’s bow up with it, we just might… there it was, above the beach, a darker patch against the blue-black skyline. A shade starboard, slow ahead Typhis was told and the ship instantly turned. Not quite two knots on the line and sand on the lead: Namun sounded tense. But now we could pull hard and scrape over the edge of the sandbank if we had to, and run for the shore. The order went back and the Davina surged forward. Three knots on the line and sand on the lead, then four knots on the line: we were through without the keel touching anything. Easy oars, and the Davina glided sweetly on and, a few moments later, her bow scraped lightly up the sandy beach and she came gently to a stop. I never heard the orders to drop stern anchors and prop the ship. I hung over the rail and was sick.
When I finally waded ashore, stores and weapons had been landed and piled and some of the men were already huddled in their cloaks asleep, while others were still finishing their food. Kanesh appeared and gave me wine from a goatskin. He said that if I had ever steered a ship before I would never have got us in unscathed. He was right. If I had known what it would be like, I would have jumped overboard.
I lay down on a patch of coarse grass and fell into an exhausted sleep but a nightmare with fire and falling buildings and the Davina wrecked and sinking jerked me awake, shivering and soaked in sweat.
I sat up. The sky was alight with stars; the Charioteer was there, set on his chase. Near the waveline I saw the big dark shape of Kanesh looking out to sea. He turned and came up to me, put his hand on my head and told me to sleep. And I did.
I awoke suddenly with someone roughly shaking my shoulder. Namun pulled my hair and told me to get up, we had a lot to do. In the moonlight I saw men crouching in the waves splashing water on faces and shoulders, others bringing jars and food baskets from the ship, and the Captain of Archers going round kicking the laggards awake. Orders came to check all kit, have a quick bite and stand by for further instructions.
Potyr must have worked out the plan of action with Kanesh and the Captain of Archers during the night. The three of them were standing under the Davina’s prow, talking quietly. Namun came across to tell me I was wanted. Potyr described the plan in a few terse words. We were to launch a two-pronged assault on the town. A land force, guided across country by me would attack at dawn. Once the pirates were engaged on this front the Davina would force entry into the harbour and land a second force to take them in the rear. Surprise was essential because we were likely to be outnumbered. I must get my party into position on time and without rousing anything, man or beast, on the way. Had I any questions? I dared not tell him I thought what he wanted of me was impossible, so all I said was that we must set off now, but then I started to ask what about the Davina: who would pilot her? I was told to stick to the job given me; Namun and Typhis would remember the way out of the bay.
Kanesh went through the tactics for the assault on the town. We would go in at three points. I would lead one section in from the north, turn past Gatekeeper’s Lodge, into the first side street and work down it clearing each house. After that I was to cross the square behind the Little Labyrinth buildings, and then along an alley from which a passageway led into Telchina Street. We were to wait there out of sight until I heard The Captain of Archer’s force arrive. He would come into Telchina Street from the west through the passage between Crocus House and Dyer’s House. I asked what then, and was told tersely I would know when it happened. Meanwhile, Kanesh’s force would break into Telchina Street between Merida’s house and the Lady’s House and catch the enemy in their sleep before they had time to seize their weapons. If any did manage to get outside and put up a resistance, Kanesh would force them back through the Square into the street beyond where we would be waiting to take them in the rear. We had two things in our favour: surprise, and we knew the town. That was the plan. It might work.
The three commanders looked at one another for a moment, touched hands and turned away to give their orders. Potyr called his crew to stow props and stand by to haul ship. Her load was lighter now so they should manage. I followed Kanesh and the Captain of Archers over to the other group of men. Kanesh looked hard at them and they stopped their joking and fidgeting. He was brief. He pointed at me and and said we follow this man. He knows the place. He got us here. Stick close to him and he will get us to the town. It will be a slog but we must keep going. No noise. Just fart too loud and you lose your ear or your pay, whichever you want to keep most. Load up. March.
The climb up from the beach was steep, but we were fresh and quickly reached the level grassy stretch where the fisherman’s hut stood. Beyond us was a shallow valley with a track winding
along the bottom that was used by fishermen and goatherds. We approached this cautiously but no one was about, so we crossed over and laboured up the slope opposite, rounding a spur and then scrambling down into another valley. I could hear some muffled curses as toes were stubbed against rocks and shins were scratched by thorns. The next bit was worse. We had to struggle up a steep slope covered with loose bouders and clumps of spikey scrub that had us sliding back one step for every two we climbed. On a sunny afternoon in the summer with sport and lovemaking in mind this had been fun for a group of boys and girls but for men loaded with weapons, at night, with tiring legs and a battle ahead of them, it was becoming slave’s work. At last the ground levelled out only to fall away again into yet another valley. We stopped briefly to allow the stragglers to catch up. Everyone was breathing hard and trying to ease an aching shoulder or hip rubbed by harness straps or weapon belt. Kanesh would not let us stay for long and soon we were plunging down into the next valley along which a watercourse, dry at this time of year, ran down to the Red Beach. Then up another slope which strained my calf muscles to the limit, and we reached the level top of a long spur that swept down from the hill with the temple on it to the Red Cliffs. The going was mercifully a little easier here, but slow, so as not to alert any woman who might be astir in one of the homesteads clustered near the bottom of the cliffs. Or the dogs or geese, I suddenly remembered, so I turned inland, slanting down the valley side towards a point where I knew we could cross some marshy ground out of earshot of the huts. The Captain of Archers caught up with me and asked how much further we had to go. I knew what was on his mind. We both looked up at the sky. Was it getting lighter? I told him we must cross this valley and once we had climbed to the top of the ridge opposite we would have the town in view. He disappeared to the rear to drive the men on.
