Beyond the deeper shadow

Previously: Mira and her companions have found an ancient shipwreck in the middle of a forest and are looking for clues about its crew, destination and cargo...


Once again, I stepped into the gloom. This time, my heart buzzed not in fear and fatigue, but in anticipation of untold wonders, a mystery to be unraveled and, I hoped, a pouch full of coins. I was already crafting the history of this vessel in my head, trying to call up images of the bizarre events that brought it to this forsaken place.

Now that we knew it was a ship, it was a wonder that we had mistaken it for anything else. What we had taken for a roof was actually the deck, splintered in places but with a single rectangle near its center. What I had assumed was a hanging piece of broken beam was, in fact, the door. A deepening shadow above it was mostly likely the hold, or perhaps a narrow passageway that led to the crew's quarters.

Merrick had made the same observation and probed the ceiling/deck cautiously with the tip of his sword. I cringed at first, for if the wood was indeed rotten and anything remained in the hold, it would not take much pressure to cause it to come crashing down on us. What a sad, sorry end that would be--to escape a pair of rampaging giants only to fall victim to some lost pirate's effects. But the wood sounded solid and, indeed, it held up.

If that was the deck and hold, it stood to reason that the back wall was not a wall at all, but the exterior of the captain's quarters. There should be some other kind of door, there, and perhaps a short ladder that led to an observation platform that had somehow been jammed so savagely against the earth it must have shattered or split the ground. The wall was buckled and a few quick taps proved that it was hollow. How quickly my assumptions melted away!

Merrick was beside me now, sweat gleaming on his skin and a wild look in his eyes. He ran his hands over the uneven surface, cursing and sucking on a finger when it pulled up a splinter. I pushed against the wood and although it was bent and buckled it was solid enough. There was no opening large enough to squeeze through and only a few cracks to press an eye to. It was too dark to see anything inside, so I guess that chamber had not been exposed to sunlight in the long years since it was tossed to this final resting place.

"Move aside." Seymuhr's rough voice was in my ear, his rank breath in my nostrils. I waved both away.

"Mind your manners, you smelly brute," I snapped.

He ignored me. Seymurh wiggled his fingers into one of the crevices, then squeezed in his other hand so that one was on top of the other in that narrow opening. He lowered himself slightly, set his knees and pulled with a single grunt. The wood snapped and came free, revealing a whole the size of a large melon. He put a hand on either side and broke more wood off, as easily as if he were stripping dry bark from a dead tree, got a shoulder through and then pushed his way into the darkness.

"Like a battering ram," Merrick said, an admiring smile on his face.

"But not as smart," I added, then called: "Be careful, you oaf! We don't know how stable that is."

We waited, but heard no alarming sound of rending wood or straining beam. The ship, smashed as it was, seemed stable enough. I looked at Merrick and he at me. We nodded simultaneously and, one after the other, stepped inside the chamber.

NEXT: The last port of Harfigore the Merciless

An errant course

Previously: Esmiralda, a freelance historian, has recently been recruited to the Ministry of Human Preservation. She and her new companions have stumbled upon a new mystery...

A ship decaying in the middle of the forest with no bodies nearby and no recognizable insignia to point toward its port of origin. I considered this.

"If they had met some misfortune, there would still be signs nearby," I said. "Bones, weapons, something of the like. I think we can assume that whoever helmed this craft survived this bizarre landing and wandered off—or perhaps they had some destination in mind and fell short."

"They could have been abducted by the giants," Merrick guessed, referencing our recent encounter.

"I don't think so. This ship has been here for some years. We can assume that that evil plot did not have that much history."

"Course," Seymuhr grunted. "Because you would have known of it."

I glared at him, but nodded. I feared he would pounce on every occasion to attack my knowledge of the land and its history—knowledge forged by walking throughout the countries for decades and reading about their histories for just as long.

"Is there a task that you might find more productive than goading me into a shouting match?" I asked him. "If so, you don't need my permission to start it."

He chuckled, probing the space between his teeth with his tongue. "I'm going to find something to eat."

"Perfect."

Merrick had approached me. He hiked his trousers up around his thick middle and watched Seymuhr's broad form disappear into the forest. "Don't worry. He can take care of himself."

"Oh. I'm not worried."

"If this craft indeed belongs to the Free Sailors, might you know any tales of ships they lost?"

Free Sailors. An interesting word choice. It meant Merrick was mostly like from Gole, a southern land that had coined the phrase because their duke, Surval Gruddun, had flat out denied that there was a problem with pirates raiding the shores of his land. He was an idiot, of course, like many rulers, and preferred to keep his treasuries filled with trinkets rather than empty it on a navy.

"The word is 'pirates'," I reminded him, "and yes we agree on that. There are many tales of pirates lost at sea—tis the nature of the life they choose—but few of them are recorded. Pirates aren't known for their written histories. Those that I have seen are difficult to read."

"Why is...that?" Broo Fang Tane had been listening to the conversation.

"Too many 'Arrrrs'," I answered, smiling at my own joke.

Merrick didn't even smile. "Perhaps. It would be unlikely to find one that referenced this vessel in particular, anyway. It is doubtful that any of its crew—or prisoners, I would add—would return to a Temple of Knowledge to record the voyage. Still, would the captain not keep a log for his own reference? Or, perhaps some other document, like a..."

"...a map," I finished with him. It was entirely possible. We all, in some form or another, wanted to be remembered. Pirate captains were as prideful as they were merciless and historians—or bards, or whatever label you put on someone who liked to tell stories—were always in need of coin. A map would not only provide detail to some of the voyages, but could also lead the way to a lair, where the spoils of their victories could be hidden. I was suddenly certain of it. "Indeed, it is likely. Let's take a closer look."
 

A boneless graveyard

Previously: After defeating a scheme to sell humans into slavery, Mira and her companions take shelter from a violent storm and discover that their refuge is a most unusual structure: a ship, turned upside-down and stuck in the middle of the forest, miles from any large water source...

Merrick and I walked around the ship again. I scratched my head, while he had his fingers buried in his beard. There was indeed no indication of how the ship had arrived at this peculiar destination--nor any signs of its crew. I could discern no markings that would identify its port of origin, either.

"Perhaps someone....built...it here," Tane suggested in his usual uneven speech.

I glared at him. "You're suggesting someone constructed a broken ship leagues away from any sailable waters."

He shrugged. "Even the most...skilled crafts...man must practice his...art somewhere. Here, none would be nearby to...mock him."

"Mocking such an endeavor, imagine that," I said under my breath.

"Do you suspect sorcery?" Merrick asked me.

"I don't know. That would require a power that hasn't been seen since the lost age, I would say. I know of no Maederum capable of such a feat and the tales of those who would have been are a bit suspect. You?"

"I agree. Although...pah, never mind." He took a step back and further appraised the ship. "It is a sleek vessel, designed to be swift on the open sea and nimble in the narrow confines of a river, I'd say."

"The low prow would help it stay hidden," I added. "While the tall sides would offer some protection, from the sea, the elements--or enemies."

Seymuhr wandered back into view, hiking up his trousers with a crooked smile on his face. "The hull still repels water," he added.

"With no insignia or crest, this is not part of any recognized fleet," Merrick surmised. "Or at least it was not when it met this fate."

I nodded, seeing what he was getting to. His conclusion made sense.

"Pirates."

"Aye," he said, lowering his voice and putting a bit of sand into the word. "A resourceful band, too, if the location of their vessel is any indication."

"Or an...un...fortu nate one."

"Everyone's fortune runs thin at the end," Seymuhr said. "At least they didn't drown."

"That we know of," I said. "It could be that the crew was not with their ship when it landed or was brought or however it appeared here. If they were, what became of them? Where are their remains?"

The question brought a chill to my spine. For if the members of the pirate crew were indeed in their ship when it made it to its final resting spot, then it was possible that they befell some additional malice, perhaps even an evil so foul it not only took their lives, but erased all trace of their existence, leaving nothing behind. Not a single bone.

A wrong turn at the seashore

Previously: After taking shelter from a storm, Mira and her companions wake to a new day and find that the structure they spent the night in is not an abandoned home or military outpost, at all. It was a ship: wrecked in the forest, miles from any large water source and empty...


At first I could only stare and wonder if my eyes deceived me. Could it indeed be some form of home whose exterior had sagged to give it the appearance of an upside-down vessel? I thought not, for the ends of it were indeed curved, not broken. The windows were indeed rounded, like portholes. And the shattered limbs nearby were indeed straight and had once been hewn by man into masts.

"Bones of Barnok."

"Indeed." Merrick stood beside me, his arms crossed. "Have you ever seen such a thing?"

"In the middle of a forest...? No. I have not." I whirled, scratching my head. Was there indeed a lake or a river nearby? It would have to be a wide one, deep of water and strong of current to handle such a vessel. This was no plainsman's skiff, this was a sea worthy craft, capable of handling large waves, strong winds and the temperamental creatures that made widows out of so many sailors' wives. "How can this be?"

"Perhaps the cap...tain...got lost," Broo-Fang Tane suggested in his usual, lilting speech.

"Lost? You could run a horse for three days in any direction and not find an ocean or a sea," I said.

Seyhmurh shrugged his massive shoulders. "I dunno. It could happen."

"It could HAPPEN?" I knew he was not the sharpest arrow in the quiver, but the man couldn't be that dense, could he? "How, pray tell, could that happen?"

Another shrug. "If it is possible for a man on a horse to lose his way and find the sea, why is it not possible for the opposite to be true? Why can't a sailor lose his way and find the forest?"

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "Usually, that's because there are a few obstacles along the way. Like a reef, perhaps. Shallow water, most likely. Barring that, a beach. In this case, several towns and two kingdoms?"

"It's still possible."

"Look, you stubborn...."

"Take ease," Tane said. His hand was calm and light on my shoulder. "Why argue the im...possibil...ity of something that is...right...before our........................eyes?"

I had to agree to that logic. Merrick and I walked around the structure, looking for clues. "Perhaps it was dragged to this place," he wondered. "On some kind of huge cart? Or rollers? Could a number of horses do such a thing?"

"Not without leaving a trail," I said. For if such an enormous thing had been hauled over land, it would have surely left some kind of destruction in its wake. but the trees all around it were of the same height. It looked for all purposes to have been dropped from the sky, like the feces of a giant bird. "And an enterprise such as that would require planning and attract attention. Surely, it would be known of and recorded somewhere. I've never heard of anything like this."

"Oh, well, then. It must not have happened," Seyhmurh said. "Odd for such a thing to appear in front of us and not let you know how it got there."

I probably deserved that, but I glared at him, anyway. As Tane had pointed out, the evidence was directly in front of our eyes, solid under our hands, unquestionably there. It only hadn't been recorded...yet. This tale would bring enough coin to have me living comfortably for a long time--perhaps it would even give me the security to turn in my historian's quills and earn a piece of land somewhere where ships would not fall out of the sky.

If, I told myself, I could determine the nature of the vessel and what had happened to its crew.

Epi-prologue

Previously: Esmiralda, a freelance historian and member of the Fulcuhn--a group commissioned by Queen Phedera to record the achievements and culture of the different people of the land--has discovered that one of her traveling companions is an agent of the crown in his own right. Merrick has confided in her, and her alone, that he is a member of the Ministry of Human Preservation, tasked with finding and weeding out evil wherever it appears...

"Esmiralda, come have a look at this!" Merrick shook me with enough force to rattle my teeth. I pushed him away, groggy, and looked up into a face nearly glowing with anticipation. My head pounded and my back ached from the rough ground. We were alone in the structure.

"What?" I asked, momentarily forgetting where we were. We had talked long into the night after his revelation and it was a bit surprising to see him not only awake, but energized.

"You must come outside." He shuffled away and disappeared through the opening.

I groaned and willed my stiff joints to follow him. They eventually agreed, but protested all the way. I found a bright new day beyond the ramshackle walls of the old cottage: a sky that was crisp and blue and unmarred by the clouds of the previous night's storm framed the majestic trees all around us. In the distance, I saw the faint purple peaks of some mountain range--I could not put my finger on which one it was. The sun was high in the sky and I had no sense of which direction I was looking in.

Merrick, Seymurh and Broo Fang Tane were standing some distance away.

"Behold!" Merrick shouted with some flourish.

"Yes, it's very nice today," I muttered, shielding my eyes from a ray of sunlight that reached unfiltered through the canopy.

"Indeed it is," he answered. "But that's not why I called you here. You know of the land near the village of Alt?"

"I do," I said, pointing at Seymuhr. "I had just mapped out the area when your brute there abducted me. As you know."

"And what of it?" He persisted. I wondered what he was getting at, but found no clue in Tane's bemused expression.

"Yes. What of it? I think perhaps you need some more rest. I suggest a later start to...to wherever we're going today..."

"You know of the forest, then, and the hills--the distant mountains, the grasslands...?"

"Indeed. It was all on my map, and depicted very accurately, and with an artists' flourish, I might add. Why?"

"What of the lake? Or the sea?"

I scowled. "There is no lake nearby. And the sea? A journey of 18 days would not bring the scent of it."

"Exactly." He gave me a single smug nod, then uncrossed his arms and pointed behind me. "Then how do you explain that?"

I turned, not knowing what to expect, and then a cold tingling sensation formed at the base of my neck and wiggled down my spine. For the structure we had sheltered in was not a square one and, indeed, had never been. We had been unable to see its shape in the dark. The full light of day showed that each end was curved with the points jammed into the ground. The sides were punctured, not with rectangular openings but round ones. What I had first taken for a fallen tree was much too straight and smooth. It was not an abandoned home, at all, nor a woodsman's retreat, hunter's cabin, fort or outpost of any kind.

It was a ship.

Next: The Lost Treasure of Thormun Zool

MOHP up, or The Wounded Man's Gold, pt 19(ish)

Previously: after a brief, brutal battle with giants, Mira and her companions flee into the forest and find an abandoned structure that provides some protection from the storm that is raging around them. As Seymuhr and Broo Fang Tane drift off to sleep—exhausted by their efforts in the fight—Esmiralda finally has a chance to take stock of her situation and get a few answers...


Merrick paused, and I suspected it was more for theatrics than any nervousness or concern over the conversation. He knew what he wanted to say, he knew he wanted me to hear it and he knew he wanted me to wait for it.

I was intrigued. There was enough substance to his previous words to make me wonder what the next would be. And, of course, if it revealed him to be a raving lunatic, I'd be better served knowing that before I shut my eyes and attempted to rest.

"First, about my companions. We are all given tasks in this world, whether you believe it was by your own choice, the guidance of your parents or scholars or in response to a need or whether you believe this thing, this purpose was granted to you by a higher power--one of the gods," he said. "I believe that you are also given the tools to accomplish this task. Your life is defined by when you discover your task—your destiny, to use a poet's word—and when you identify the tools you will need.

"Tools is a horrendous word, I know. But a hunter may find the perfect bow, a warrior a strong swords. Most often, it is not such an obvious thing. My task is greater than that, so my tools must be. I could not accomplish what I have set out to do without stout companions at my side to defend me from and to help me purge the evil in this land and, I know believe, I could not accomplish it without someone to tell the tale."

"I see." I looked at the opening to the shelter. The rain had stopped and the forest looked inviting. "And what do you think is your task?"

"I don't think it; I know it. I am a member of a special group and, if I've performed my duties as well as I think I have and in the manner to which I was sworn, you are about to be the second person who knows it."

A tingle formed at the base of my spine. Merrick's posture had changed. His back straightened, his voice took on a quiet authority, abandoning the nervous whisper he used to approach me. He paused again, and this time I believed it was to ensure that Tane and Seymuhr were indeed sleeping.

"I am a member of the Ministry of Human Preservation."

"No!" I shouted before I could stop myself, then clamped a hand over my mouth. The MOHPs were barely more than a legend; none had ever proved their existence.

"Indeed," he said, with another look over his shoulder. My exclamation had not woken our comrades. "You are surprised?"

"On a number of fronts," I answered when I could trust my tongue. So many questions raced in my mind I could not decide which to ask first.

"That is good, in a way." He settled back, completely relaxed now. He closed his eyes and ran a hand down his face to the end of his beard. "The secrecy in which we operate serves two purposes: it eases the minds of the good people in the land and allows those who seek to do evil—human or otherwise—to become overconfident and lazy. Easy to find and easy—or easier, at least—to stop. But make no mistake, Esmiralda, that the need for the Ministry is great, and times are dire indeed. Most people just don't know it. They go about their daily lives as best they can, not even thinking about the minor misfortunes or tribulations that come their way. They don't understand that each of those things, every tiny slight, is a rift in the benevolent power of the world. We become accustomed to the little evils so the large ones do not seem as frightening—and the goodness in the land evaporates not like a fire doused with water but like a sea shore eaten away by the tide.

"We look at the land like a garden. There are always weeds to pull. Sometimes you can snap off the stem—as we just did with the Hustyn—and make things better for a time. Our goal is to seek the roots of these pockets of evil so that we can rid the land of them once and for all."

I propped myself on my elbow. "But there is always the sea and always the shore. Always thistles among the flowers."

He grunted. "Indeed. So we must be as vigilant as we are secretive, and one who is as observant as you would make a worthy addition to our number."

"A useful tool?"

"More than that, I think. I sense more in you. Do you sense it in yourself?" His gazed pierced me through the gloom.

I didn't answer, because I once again worried that I could not trust my tongue. My heart was leaping in my chest, my mouth dry, my mind whirling with possibilities. I sensed, more than saw, the satisfied smile that spread across his broad, shaggy face.

"Then I ask you again this night: will you join me?"

There could be only one answer and we both knew what it was.

 

Refuge and answers

Previously: after a brief, brutal battle with the giant Hustyn, Mira and her companions flee into the forest and find an abandoned structure that provides some protection from the storm that is raging around them. As Seymuhr and Broo Fang Tane drift off to sleep--exhausted by their efforts in the fight--Esmiralda finally has a chance to take stock of her situation and get a few answers...

Gradually, the storm subsided. The shrieking winds gave to the gentle patter of steady rain as the sound of slow, heavy breathing filled our shelter. Gradually, too, my heart slowed, my ears stopped straining and my body stopped jumping at every cracked branch that fell, waterlogged, from the canopy outside. We were safe.

Seymuhr's rumbling snores would probably keep any small pests away--and give larger, more dangerous animals pause, as well. Broo Fang Tane was as silent in his slumber as he was in movement. Propped up against the far wall, ankles tucked up on his knees and head upright, he might even have been awake but resting with his eyes closed. Only Merrick stirred.

"So what tale will you tell of this night?" He asked as he crouched beside me.

I lifted my arm from my eyes. I was exhausted, but my head too full of such thoughts to find any true rest. I propped myself on an elbow and squinted at him in the gloom.

"I am not certain. Did you know such a thing was going on?" I shuddered again, thinking of the rolling cage and the horror those who were placed into it must have felt.

"I had a hunch. Rumors, if I be most truthful. I had heard a smattering of tales but had no direct knowledge."

"I don't know if it was brave to attempt such a task or foolhardy to look into the matter with only a pair of fighting companions..."

"I have a sword too, you can see," Merrick sounded indignant as he tapped his sheathed blade to prove it. He saw my hands, raised to forestall his protests, and leaned in close with a glance over his shoulder. "No offense taken. You will quickly see--if, indeed, you continue to journey with us--that those two can handle threats that are beyond most men. Rarely have I seen such fighting ability: strength and ferocity or quiet, deadly grace. I had no such fears.

"You asked me earlier why I chose to travel with such an odd group and that is but a part of it." Here Merrick paused and dug a finger into his beard. He sat down and crossed his legs, pulling his sword off his belt and placing it in his lap. He drummed his fingers on the covered blade for a few seconds, then grunted.

"Esmiralda. I sense some goodness in you, a trustworthiness that was absent from your colleague--indeed, that is absent from most women."

My indignation must have shown on my face. "I meant no offense by that--I meant it as a compliment," he added hastily, raising his hands to shield himself from the slap that would have rattled his teeth.

"You failed with that," I snapped. "You travel with kidnappers and brutes and you question my goodness and trust?"

"Forgive my awkward tongue. My words are not always this clumsy. I meant only that you seem like someone I can confide in, someone I can share my burden with. Someone," he took my fingertips in his hands. They were strong and warm, the skin dry but not cracked. "Someone who will understand."

"Understand what?" I did not pull my hands away.

"Our purpose. My purpose, if you want to be truthful. These two are not fully aware of who I am and what I seek to do." He leaned in close and I could smell the faint sweetness of wine on his breath. When had he had time for that? Men, it seemed, would always find time for such pursuits, even as their lives were being threatened. "I want you to know it. I think it was more than just circumstance that brought us together."

"Oh, it was, at that. It was a lout with a smelly shoulder."

His smile held little humor. "Our friend Seymuhr might have been the mechanism, but he was hardly the cause. He has a calling, too, of course. He is the hammer and the anvil in one, I guess you'd say. But I, too, have been chosen--not like the good Queen Phedrea, as you have, and not to record history like you and your friend Malak, but for a purpose just as important--perhaps even more so."

He paused to gather his breath and checked over his shoulder to ensure that Tane and Seymuhr were indeed asleep. I turned back to me, his eyes aglow with some mischief. As strange as this day and night had already been, I had a sudden feeling that the oddities were not yet behind me.