Heyna's Tale - Chapter Nine (cont.)
Split Up
The sky was gray and the sea was choppy when they rendezvoused with the Kelpie. Screeble’s crew was resting below in a glamour-induced sleep. The wind threatened to lift the Quetz right off the deck. Heyna, Tooly and Sronban held them tightly until the Kelpie came and calmed the air and the sea. All was eerily still in a huge sphere around the Tachizame. The wind was suddenly gone and even the under sea boat stopped rocking.
Eeeaouuu, Eaeaouuuu, Eaaeaouuu, and a fourth Kelpie, Eauouuuou each lifted one of the chicks who squawked in alarm.
“Is that safe?” asked Xico. Her feathers puffed in alarm.
“Perfectly. We rode from the Misty Isle to Paititi to Shitachishimo with Eeea… with our friends. It’s a wild ride, but they’ll keep you safe. Just relax and try to enjoy it. And… don’t even try to say their names.” Sronban and Tooly chuckled.
Heyna embraced her friend for a long time.
“This is just temporary. We’ll be together again. I promise.”
“I know we will. I can’t believe what you’ve accomplished already.”
Eeeaouuu surrounded Xico with a cushion of air. As Xico took her place behind Eeeaouuu’s head, Heyna remembered a question for the Kelpie.
“Wait! What is the task that you want me to do?”
“Ask Jakintu. She knows.” The answer came in her head.
Heyna was surprised. She wanted to ask how these denizens of the ocean knew Jakintu who lived far to the North in Lurmunduan on the foothills of the great mountains. But before she could ask, the Kelpie and their precious cargo slipped beneath the waves. As they did, the winds whipped up and the boat began to rock again.
“Goodbye Xico,” she said to the empty sea.
*
Heyna, Sronban and the other were lounging on the observation deck. The glamour went up suddenly.
“Someone’s coming,” Tooly said.
Ak’ne came forward to the observation deck to report that they were bound for Merkataritza-hiria. Heyna was still Screeble in the illusion. Ak’ne was all business.
“We should make landfall in Lurmunduan in a fortnight, Merkat next day.”
Heyna looked at Ak’ne, and had an idea. Nobody was going to like it. But… she hadn’t gotten this far by worrying about that.
“Tell me true.” Screeble/Heyna said. “I’ve a mind that you’re against slaving? Have I the right of it?” Ak’ne looked startled.
“Captain?” Ak’ne looked sidelong at the Sronban/Riri in alarm. “Trying to get me killed? Of course, I’m for slavery.”
“Don’t lie. Your heart ain’t for the trade.”
“How has this one offended Majesty, Captain?” Ak’ne bowed deeply. “Please forgive any unintentional slight. I am yours to command.”
“Answer your captain,” Sronban/Riri said calmly. “Answer truly and no harm will come to you.”
“Majesty, I…” Ak’ne bowed lower.
“Well?”
“I…” Ak’ne’s fins were trembling, and she looked at the deck. “No Majesty. In my heart… In my heart I am against the trade. I know this is heresy. I am not worthy. Please dismiss me from your service. I will take the Deep Dive at your command.”
“No need to kill yourself, Ak’ne,” Screeble/Heyna said. Silently to the Fennec, she said, “drop the glamour.” Tooly and Sronban both looked at her like she was crazy.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Sronban said.
“Please,” she said. “I know what I’m doing.”
“No. You don’t. Crazy Erda. But… you got us this far,” Tooly sent in mind speech.
The glamour came down and Ak’ne jumped back in terror. She reached for her knife.
“Ak’ne,” Heyna said.
“What the… Heyna! Tricks! The Fennec…? Where’s Screeble?” She came forward and threatened them with her long knife, which was actually more of a short sword.
“Put your knife away,” Sronban said, and she did.
“How did you do that? You made me… It’s true. The legends, they’re true! Fennec aren’t a myth. I’m your prisoner.”
“Heyna,” Tooly said. “Why are you doing this?” Heyna looked at Ak’ne as she spoke.
“I am taking a chance. Because I believe that you are different, aren’t you? You told me as much when we first met.”
“No, no! That was just talk.”
“Then, you helped me escape. Why?”
“Well… don’t care for Erda meat, do I?” Ak’ne’s feeble joke fell flat.
“There’s more to it.”
“I… Yes.” Ak’ne rubbed her crest and looked away. “There’s something rotten in the domes. The way we live. I’ve resigned myself to it, but I resent it. Many of us do.”
“What do you mean?”
“Erda aren’t the only slaves. You been to Shitachishimo, so you know. We all serve at the will of the king, the princes and princesses, the nobles. We have no power over our own lives, no more than Erda. There are places in the domes where the nobles do not go, but where my family is from. Places where the poor scrabble for meager livings.
“Slaves make their lives harder. Nobles don’t need employees, so no jobs. Yet the nobles use us when it suits them. Not slavery, by their lights, but their privilege forces us to obey. They say give me your daughter, got to. Say me to go for soldier, got to. Say die for me, got to!
“I got out. On the Tachi. Screeble’s not too bad, but sometimes…” she looked around. “Where is he? What did you do with him?”
“He’s back in the dome. That was him shooting at us back there.”
“He’ll have to answer for that,” Ak’ne chuckled. “You know he’ll come after you. He may appear to be a privateer, but he’s got powerful connections in the government.”
“I figured it was something like that. Especially after the way Hazu spoke,” Heyna said. “But you are different. What would you say if we offered to make you the captain.”
“Of the Tachi? You can’t. Captain’s a minor lord. His power is conferred by his noble patron.”
“We can make the crew think that you are the captain.”
“That may be, but we’d never be able to return to the domes. Never be able to refit if the Tachi got damaged. We’d be true pirates, then.”
“Then you have a decision to make. Help us and we’ll make you the captain. Or, we can cloud your mind again. I know it’s not fair, but since you saved me, I wanted to give you the choice. I’ve been thinking about this a lot.”
“Choice? Knowingly betray my people, or unknowingly betray my people.”
“Hazu and Riri are your people? The nobles are your people? The king? It sounds like your people are the ones who live in the slums and are forced to serve, as you said. Is there a difference? What could you do with this boat to make a change for the better? Or do you want things to stay the way they are?”
Ak’ne looked thoughtful and was quiet a long time. She fingered the knife at her side.
“Were you really willing to drown yourself at the princess’ command?” Heyna asked.
“Better than being tortured to death, which is more likely what she’d have done to me.”
“Think about what you just said, and think about our offer.”
“I will do that. But if you glamour me again, I won’t be able to.”
“Give us your word that you will do no harm to our plans, and you will take our orders. Then we will give you freedom of the ship, so you can consider all we have said.”
“You have my word.” All of Ak’ne’s fins trembled as she said, “Thank you, Heyna, for giving me a choice.”
“Good. The crew will think that Screeble has been imprisoned by Hazu and that you have been appointed as captain. But, you will take orders from us.”
“Granted.”
“By the way, what happened to Kay? I thought he was first mate.”
“After you escaped, the captain was so angry, he had him keel hauled by his tail, and he drowned.” Ak’ne looked down. “I cursed you after that. I was always against the slaving. That’s why I helped you, but Kay was my shipmate. Then, Screeble made me first mate, and I didn’t have a choice. I told you. He’s my lord… was my lord.”
“Another reason for you to fight to make things better for your people.”
“Ai. I see your point. In the meantime, what are your orders?”
“Maintain course for Merkataritza-hiria. We’ll drop off the Erda there.”
“Ai.” Ak’ne said and went aft.
“That was a mistake,” Tooly said.
“A calculated risk,” Sronban said. “I think I see what Heyna is up to. She’s planting seeds.”
“Seeds?”
“The only way to change a field of bracken. Cut it back and plant something else.”
“But I quite like bracken,” Heyna said with a laugh.
“You know what I mean.”
“Well, you’ve rolled the dice. If she chooses right, Ak’ne could be a powerful ally,” Tooly said. “Once we condition the crew, Vonnie and I should still stay out of their sight. We don’t want knowledge of our existence to spread any farther.”
“As it is, Screeble knows, and if they’ll believe him, he’s sure to tell Hazu and Riri the location of the Misty Isle.”
“The isle is well protected,” Heyna said. I’d like to see Screeble get a taste of your welcome committee.”
“It’s true. I pity the fool, if he tries to land there,” said Tooly.
*
Ak’ne decided to accept Heyna’s offer. Heyna saw that the Fennec were able to rest easier without the constant stress of maintaining the glamour over the whole crew, who now thought that the Erda were passengers. The Fennec stayed out of sight for the most part and just looked like Erda when crew were around.
Over the next two weeks, Heyna, Sronban, and Tooly relaxed and recuperated, mostly lounging on the observation deck. The Fennec feasted on shrimp and other ocean bugs that the crew netted from the sea. Heyna rationed her bark and supplemented it with rope and canvas from the ship’s stores and passed it out to the Erda. They tried eating seaweed. Not very filling or appetizing, but nutritious and not terrible. There wasn’t anywhere along their course to stop anyway. They would pick up plenty of fresh svella in Merkataritza. Looking forward to that made the temporary privations bearable.
Every day, the passengers assembled on the observation deck and talked. Heyna told of her adventures. The Fennec told tales of their people. Many times Ak’ne joined them and spoke about her family in Saidai, the oldest dome, and her life at sea. The Erda treated her with suspicion at first, but once her views on the slave trade were known, and what she’d done for Heyna, she was accepted. Beetah had a million questions and emerged as the leader of the Erda. When they were alone, Heyna talked to Beetah and the Fennec about their plans.
“We’ll let whoever wants off at Merkataritza-hiria. Anyone who wants to continue to Beoford is welcome.”
“What about the Paititi Erda?” Beetah asked.
“Well…” Heyna said. “I haven’t thought that far, yet.”
“Where do you go after Beoford?”
“North. To visit the Gryphon Witch, Jakintu. We,” Heyna indicated herself and the Fennec, “have business with her.”
“I’ll go with you,” Beetah said. “Nothing for me in Merkataritza-hiria or in Beoford. Someone older and wiser needs to look after you.”
“She’s done alright,” Sronban objected.
“You are right. She’s been stubborn, disobedient, and lucky. Nobody’s luck holds forever.”
“You are welcome, Beetah,” Heyna said. “Xico is safe and Jaasi is… well, I have done what I set out to do. I now have debts to pay. If you would help me with that, you are welcome. Thank you.”
“What is this business that you have with Jakintu?”
“Gems,” Sronban said, pointing to the jewel in her own breast. “Our homeland has no more, and my people cannot mature to their full power without them.”
“And,” said Heyna, I have a task to perform for the Kelpie to repay them for helping us.”
“What task? You know, you haven’t told me anything about these Kelpie.”
“I don’t know. The Kelpie said to ask Jakintu. And… you can’t speak of their existence outside this circle.”
“I understand. Well! I never expected to have such adventures at my age,” Beetah said brightly. “I think this is going to be fun.”
“I told you she was weird,” one of the Erda said in a stage whisper. Heyna thought that was hysterical and dissolved into giggles, which got everyone else laughing.
The next morning, the little band gathered on deck. Jaasi’s body was sewn into a clean white sail cloth and weighted with a cannon shell. Heyna said goodbye and committed her brother’s body to the deep.