Campaign Log: A Doe Among Wolves

[coronatiger]

We had gotten a good look at the harbor of the city where we had stopped, and the question arose of what city that might be. I thought I recognized a landmark from a sailor’s tale and guessed Kar-Hara. If I was right, that meant we had sailed north and out of Ardaland’s waters and into Vinthar.

When the guards came with bucket and rags, they also had fresh clothes for us. Our old clothes would be taken away and washed. None of my new clothes had any pockets, I noticed sadly. I didn’t have many belongings here, but it would be nice to have somewhere to stuff my coupons.

Grimleif asked Torkil what he had done to be put on this ship, but Torkil didn’t reply. Grimleif confessed that killing some people was what got him here, but he failed to elicit a response from Torkil. I don’t think the orc mutant likes the smelly dwarf very much. I can understand that. Grimleif doesn’t appear to like anyone, except perhaps Koldan.

Koldan asked if anyone was a gang member. Sindre waved his hand, displaying a small tattoo between his thumb and first finger. It identified him as a member of the Claw, he explained. Grimleif asked if the Claw had anything to do with the Brothers of the Warg. Not much, Sindre said. The two gangs were rivals, but their territories didn’t border each other, so they weren’t in direct conflict. Grimleif went on to assure us he was not a member of the Brothers of the Warg. His tone said he didn’t like them, but that was hardly surprising.

I didn’t say anything about my connection to the Gray Cat Crew. Compared to the other gangs mentioned, the Gray Cats were insignificant. If it became necessary, I could always spill later, but if I spoke now, I couldn’t unsay anything if I came to regret it.

Sindre admitted that the Claw had asked him to recruit us, and that he only had a few days to convince us. I couldn’t think why anyone would want to recruit me to their gang, but now I had two offers in one day. Koldan and Karya had a lengthy conversation in their own language while Sindre waited patiently. Finally, Koldan said they were accepting his offer.

Sindre looked down at me expectantly from the top bunk. I didn’t want to get involved. These gangs were clearly up to no good, and the little display in the queue this morning told me I should stay as far away from them as possible. I promised solemnly not to interfere with the Claw’s business, but Sindre warned me that I needed to join a gang or be preyed upon by all. He wouldn’t force me to anything, though, and he turned to Grimleif to hear what he had to say. Grimleif said he thought the Claw sounded like a nice bunch.

Sindre told my cell-mates that the Claw required one coupon every other day, starting tomorrow, from prospective members. He also warned them that the Claw was in conflict with the Honorables, prompting Koldan to tell him about the Honorable’s recruitment attempt earlier today, and Sindre asked them to pass it on if anyone else made a try. Grimleif mentioned that he had heard about another group represented among the prisoners, the Shadows; they were beggars and thieves, and not quite in the same league as the Claw and the Honorables.

The idea of being everyone’s prey didn’t sit well with me, so I asked Sindre what was required of members. Paying taxes and supporting the Claw’s initiatives, Sindre said. The latter would require breaking the law, I was sure. Membership was not for me, then. I needed to find another safe path through my stay with all these convicts.


6th of Høylys

I woke up in a panic. Something was burning! It took a few seconds before relief washed over me. It was just Grimleif and his new smell. How did he do it? I don’t think the smells came by design; who would want to smell so horribly?

Koldan handed over a coupon to Sindre, who said he expected payment after work, but he was happy to take it now. Nobody else gave him a coupon. We needed to pay for breakfast, and I didn’t think anyone was flush with coupons.

We were still lying at anchor when we came up on deck. It was raining today, but that didn’t dampen the burgeoning brawlers in the queue. Our cell was among the first to get in line, and those behind us suddenly began battle. I barely got out of the way of a fellow prisoner who was pushed violently towards me. I hurriedly hid behind Koldan and Karya, and Koldan prepared himself to strike back at anyone who came too close to his girlfriend.

It didn’t take long before the alarm bells began to toll, and I threw myself down on deck with my hands on my head. I remembered that rule. Most of the other prisoners did the same, even a few of the fighters. Koldan stayed on his feet, despite Grimleif urging him to comply with the rule. First when the guards approached did he lie down.

The guards quickly quelled the combatants. They tied them up and arranged them in a line a towards the middle of the ship. Koldan was grabbed and put with two others, even further back. I guess they too were slow to follow orders.

Then an officer told the rest of us we could stand up. We should line up with our backs against the railing, he said, looming threateningly over us with his hair standing up in a ridge over his head like a cockerel’s comb, a menacing stare and a huge sword on his back that I didn’t doubt he could use to lethal effect.

I expected punishments to be dealt out swiftly, but the officers stood around talking. Some, including Molle Måse, went to a guarded door at the rear of the ship to fetch some rich guy with fancy clothes and his nose in the air. He conferred briefly with the captain before retreating to his room.

The captain announced the punishments. Koldan and the two with him would receive three lashes and would not be allowed to work today. Eleven others, ten lashes and a fine of three coupons; they too couldn’t work today. If they couldn’t pay, they would get ten more lashes for each coupon they lacked, although they would have three workdays to come up with the coupons.

The last two insurgents were sentenced to something called the poor man’s duel. A plank was pushed out over the water, and the two had to duel with knives until one fell into the water. The guards attached cords to the knives so they could be retrieved if they were dropped.

I hid behind Karya so I wouldn’t have to watch. The sounds were bad enough. First, grunts and yells and the occasional tap of metal as one knife parried the other, then a splash. I thought it was over, but several crossbows snapped, followed by another splash as the winner followed the loser into the water. More crossbow shots ensured that the two men in the water didn’t survive to swim ashore. After a pause of a couple of minutes, the sharp crack of a whip slicing bare skin assaulted my ears. Two more cracks followed, then after a pause three more, and then another three. I took a calming breath and took my place in the line again, only to realize that eleven more sets of ten lashes waited, so I hid behind Karya again. Sindre muttered about soldiers and guards not even following their own rules.

When it was finally time to work, I chose potato peeling again. Grimleif offered to brew healing potions for the injured guards, claiming to be an alchemist. Molle said he had to work his way up to interesting jobs, and to do something about his body odor. Although, she wasn’t about to supply convicts with expensive and dangerous herbs. Grimleif chose to peel hemp again, but Karya joined me in the kitchen. There were only five of us peeling potatoes today. I thought one of the others looked particularly scary, so I tried to focus on my work and not draw attention to myself.

After the first half of the shift, the scary guy introduced himself. His name was Rune Rønne, and he was young to have developed dragon’s breath, maybe in his early twenties. The horrible smell of dragon’s breath comes after years of chewing narcotic leaves. I’ve seen inside the mouth of an addict before, and it’s not a pleasant sight. It looks as bad as it smells, black and rotting.

Rune assumed that I was unaligned and tried to convince me to join the Claw. I looked at Karya, eyes pleading, and she came over. She glared at Rune and told him not to mess with her roommate. She crossed her arms and glared until Rune retreated. I thanked Karya for her intervention.

[coronatiger]

A little later, one of the others took a seat beside me. He was very large, but I could tell he made an effort not to intimidate me. Bjorke was his name, and he had overheard that I wasn’t affiliated with any gang. I squeaked Karya’s name, and again she hurried over to loom menacingly, but Bjorke wasn’t threatened. He told me he was unaffiliated too, and that we should stick together for mutual protection. He also was in the business of gathering information, and if there was anything I needed to know, I could pay him a coupon to find out. Voice shaking, I thanked him for the offer. Bjorke told me we should watch out for what job the other took, so we could meet again if we needed to talk.

The encounters with Rune and Bjorke had me on edge, but I still managed to earn two coupons for the day’s labor. Karya did so poorly, she wouldn’t be allowed back into the kitchen. After meeting up with Grimleif and Sindre and receiving our payments, we were escorted back to our cell.

Koldan lay on his bunk resting, and Torkil was sitting on the floor playing like a two-year-old. He had taken every blanket and all the eating utensils and stacked them up around him. Torkil also had the large, worn tooth of an animal, as long as my hand. I wondered where that came from, but not for long.

Grimleif sat on the broken bottom bunk of his bed and glared at Torkil. When Torkil’s head was turned away, Grimleif seized the tooth possessively. He lashed out verbally with racial slurs at the big brute. “Mine!” Torkil yelled, ripping the tooth out of Grimleif’s grip. “Mine, ugly stinky man! I don’t want to play with you!” More slurs poured out of Grimleif and Torkil hurled a fist at the dwarf. Bones would have broken if Grimleif hadn’t been able to dodge the blow. Sindre intervened and made Grimleif hide in his bunk, out of sight from Torkil as long as he didn’t stand up.

Torkil kept muttering angrily, but he returned to his play. The guards arrived shortly after with our washing stuff, and they offered us a coupon each if we could get Torkil to comply with the rules, which I understood to mean not to make a mess and to join the rest of us at the back of the cell when the guards announced that they would open the door.

When the guards were gone, Koldan whispered something to Grimleif. “What?” Grimleif asked; I thought he was hard of hearing. “If you want your thing back, do as I say tonight,” Koldan instructed. I thought they might try to kill Torkil, and I wanted no part in that. If I survived, the guards would assume I was in on it, though.

I steeled myself and approached Torkil. “Can I play with these?” I asked, indicating some of the spoons. Torkil allowed me to pick up three. I could maybe have taken more, but my bravery ran out, and I retreated hurriedly to the rear of the cell. After a deep breath, I began to juggle. My performance delighted Torkil, who took a seat on his bunk, tooth in hand. Koldan tidied up Torkil’s mess; only one blanket remained on the floor, but Torkil’s foot pinned it in place.

Torkil sighed sadly when I wrapped up the act, but Sindre clapped appreciatively and Grimleif urged me to go on, so I did. I did this trick where I raised a leg and tossed up the spoons from under it, and when Torkil began to clap excitedly, Grimleif’s tooth went flying. Grimleif threw himself out from the top bunk to catch it, but he crashed into the floor without even coming near the tooth, which continued its arc in Karya’s direction.

Grimleif’s painful landing made me flinch with sympathy, so when I reached out to snag the tooth, I dropped one of the spoons. Like any good performer, I pretended like it was part of the routine, so after a few low throws where the tooth took the spoon’s place, I launched the two spoons all the way up to the ceiling and the tooth in a graceful arc towards Grimleif’s bunk, then I picked up the dropped spoon and rose just in time to catch the other two, after which I resumed the routine seamlessly. Three spoons in a simple cascade.

When I wrapped up for the second time, Sindre said it was time to pay taxes to the Claw. Koldan had already paid, and Grimleif paid for himself and Karya since she hadn’t earned any coupons during today’s shift. I asked Sindre if I could pay for protection, but without trying to become a member. Sindre was fine with it, but he warned me I would have to pay throughout the entire duration of my sentence. I happily handed over a coupon.

We had to hurry to get the washing done before the guards returned. When they were gone again, Karya asked if anyone had learned anything about her knives, but nobody had. She asked Sindre for his assistance as a full-fledged member of the Claw, seeing as she was a trial member. He said he would try.


7th of Høylys

Despite getting to juggle properly again for the first time in over a week, yesterday’s events had me so unhinged I couldn’t find sleep at all. It had to be almost morning when I heard Koldan mumbling to himself. I didn’t understand one word of that foreign language.

“Shut up! I want to sleep!” Torkil’s angry words only made Koldan get up. Standing in front of me, Koldan raised his arms while the words kept pouring out of his mouth. When Torkil reared up, Sindre jumped down from his bunk and pled with Koldan to stop. Koldan didn’t react, but Sindre convinced Torkil to sit down while he dealt with Koldan.

Then Karya intervened. She didn’t want anyone to disturb Koldan, and she ignored Sindre’s warnings that Torkil was on the verge of going berserk. I briefly considered throwing my bowl at Koldan, but when Sindre’s slap failed to rattle him, I was glad I hadn’t made that display of animosity. Karya had saved my life yesterday, and I didn’t want to antagonize her.

Torkil’s patience was running out, and he stood up again, fists clenched. I covered my face with my hands, but peeked out between my fingers. Sindre tried to calm Torkil, but Torkil punched him right in the chest. I heard Sindre’s ribs crack, or was it just my imagination? Sindre managed to stay upright, but he had to take a couple of steps backwards to keep his balance.

Then the door burst up and three guards yelled to ask what was going on. Torkil complained about Koldan being noisy, and Koldan asked what was going on. The guards warned us that if anything like this happened again, we wouldn’t like the consequences.

When the guards knocked on the door again, I realized I had dozed off for a few minutes, but it was soon time for breakfast, so I yawned and dragged myself out of bed. Koldan was out of coupons and couldn’t pay for breakfast, so I shared my meal with him despite protests that he didn’t need to eat.

After the meal, the guards escorted us up on deck. We now had ocean in all directions; only behind us could I see peaks sticking up from behind the horizon. We were last in the line, so we had plenty of time for chatting. Sindre asked Koldan what he had been up to this morning, and Koldan admitted he sleep walked on occasion. Apparently, he sleep talked too. I wondered what he had been dreaming. Was he a mage casting a spell?

Sindre told Karya, Koldan and Grimleif that they should find a way to get Torkil to attack the Honorables. He had talked to a few people and learned that before he came to our cell, Torkil had worked like everyone else, but after he got into a fight, the guards deemed him unpredictable. Sindre reckoned that if we could get Torkil to behave like the rest of us, the guards could be convinced to let him out again, and then there might be opportunities to orchestrate a run-in with the Honorables.

Molle only had two jobs available when it was our turn to choose, repairing clothes, and something she called “plank wrestling.” I asked what that was, and Molle explained it was like yesterday’s duel, but with padded poles instead of knives. Its purpose was to entertain the guards. The prospect of being knocked into the cold water, let alone the danger of getting seriously hurt, made it unappealing to everyone, so we went off to repair clothes. Molle hinted that we could try to come up with jobs ourselves, and I recalled that Sindre had been allowed to tell tales, at least for a couple of days.

Only one other prisoner worked at the repair station, an old woman, hunched up like a withered ghost. Her long years had obviously given her lots of practice with the needle, for she was allowed one of metal where we were dealt bone needles, and she worked on a fancy officer’s uniform while the rest of us was tasked with mending blankets and rags.

Koldan whispered that we were going to need many needles. Clearly, he didn’t mean for today’s work, so whatever he had planned was something I wouldn’t take part in. I stepped away from the others and asked the old woman politely if she could show me how to do this. Gerd took me under her wing and showed me the ropes, or threads, I should say, and I noticed that she exaggerated her frailty, probably to escape attention. I didn’t think that strategy would work for me. If I appeared weak, that would only attract predators. Grimleif also wanted instructions from Gerd, but after one whiff of his fabulous fragrance, she turned him away. Sindre, on the other hand, was allowed to sit with us, but he didn’t quite get the hang of it, despite Gerd’s thorough explanations.

[coronatiger]

After the halfway mark of our shift, when we received feedback on our work, Sindre wanted to get the group together to plot and plan. I stayed by Gerd’s side and focused on the sewing. Grimleif also wanted to concentrate on the work, but Sindre told him he was required to sit with the others and help make plans. Occasionally, Sindre, Karya or Koldan had to raise their voice to penetrate Grimleif’s ears, but I couldn’t make out what they were planning, so I assumed nobody else did either.

We were the last in the line for receiving coupons. I relished the additional minutes of fresh air before I was to be locked up with Grimleif, but Sindre was displeased. He had planned to put on a show for the other prisoners, I reckoned, but our place in the queue was ill suited for it. Sindre also told Koldan to get in touch with someone he only referred to as “him,” but Koldan said he would do it tomorrow.

Torkil was behaving himself when we were stuffed back into our cell; he sat on the side of his bunk trying to twiddle his thumbs. The task was apparently beyond him, but that only inspired him to keep trying.

After we washed, I asked Karya if she could watch over me while I tried to get some sleep. With only one hour of shut-eye last night, and maybe not even that, I was practically falling over. Karya was happy to oblige. She and Koldan were sleeping on shift, and Koldan was going to bed now too, before keeping watch at night. Despite my tiredness, Sindre and Grimleif kept me awake for at least an hour before I fell asleep. I got up for supper in the evening, then I went back to bed.


8th of Høylys

I felt well refreshed when the guards woke us this morning. The ship heaved under clearly strong winds, but that didn’t bother me at all. Koldan and Grimleif shifted with the ship’s movements and hardly seemed aware that it tried to throw us all in a jumble.

Grimleif was out of coupons, so I offered to share my portion with him, but after paying for their food, both Karya and Sindre decided their stomachs were too upset to get any food down, so Grimleif could have their food instead.

We got up on deck in a short respite in the deluge, and we could see a coastline to our left again. I assumed we had crossed a bay earlier and now continued our voyage along the coast of Vinthar, but I could easily be mistaken. I have no knowledge of geography or navigation.

We got a place in the middle of the line today. One of the guards scowled at me, and I kept an eye on him watching me, but blessedly, he never came closer. When it was our turn to pick jobs, only one spot was still available in the kitchen, and Sindre claimed that. Then he pulled up his shirt and showed Molle how one of his cellmates had attacked him. Koldan raised a threatening fist and said something angrily in his own language. I thought it was Torkil who had given Sindre that bruise. Had something happened between Sindre and Koldan while I slept? Despite the markings that Sindre displayed, Molle didn’t take it seriously. She chivvied the rest of us to pick jobs. Grimleif opted for deck scrubbing, while Karya, Koldan and I chose to mend clothes again.

Gerd was there, as I expected, but also the Honorable who had tried to recruit Koldan earlier. He grabbed Koldan and Karya and sat down with them out of earshot from Gerd and me. I guess they were plotting something, but I made clear I had no interest in paying attention to them by focusing on my work. That paid off, for when we lined up to receive coupons, I got three.

I gave one of my coupons to Sindre, and Karya, Koldan and Grimleif did the same. Sindre produced a bundle of herbs, a root of some kind with small, round growths that reminded me eerily of eyeballs. I was pretty sure he wasn’t allowed to have that, even before he gave it to Grimleif and said he owed him a favor if this wasn’t used to further their agenda. Grimleif said he planned to use the herbs just for that purpose. Since I didn’t want to hear about this, I retreated to my corner and hummed quietly to myself.

After the washing, Sindre made a ball again, which we tossed around, and Grimleif told stories about monsters that we might encounter on our voyage. Koldan went to bed early so he could stay up tonight for his watch. I needed some time after Grimleif’s grisly tales before I was calm enough to sleep.


9th of Høylys

I was surprised to find I had slept well for the second night in a row. After paying yesterday’s tax, Karya and Koldan didn’t have coupons for breakfast, so Grimleif and I paid for their food in addition to our own. I didn’t mind at all, despite thinking yesterday that maybe I should save one coupon for later; I didn’t think it very likely that I would earn three again any time soon. If anyone asked why I was so willing to dish out for other people’s food, I would say it was to gain goodwill and a reputation for kindness, but the truth was I couldn’t stand seeing anyone in need when I could help.

Karya spoke about seeking out Bjorke to buy information about how long this voyage would be and whether any of the guards could be bribed, and she suggested we all looked for him today. She really wanted her knives back, I believed. How wise that would be, I didn’t know. If the guards found the contraband herbs Grimleif had hidden away somewhere, they wouldn’t like it very much, but if they found we had weapons stored away in our cell… I didn’t want to contemplate what would happen then. Instead, I wondered why those knives meant so much to her. Maybe they had been a gift from her mother? My hand moved towards my medallion before I could stop it, but I don’t think anyone noticed.

Grimleif’s scent of the day was sour metal again. I looked at him and began to ask about it, but only “Why” slipped out before I caught myself. Grimleif asked what I wondered about, but I told him it wasn’t important. I supposed he must have had an accident with some kind of alchemical concoction for him to give off this terrible smell, but it was strange how the smell changed every so often. Maybe magic was involved? I didn’t know what alchemy entailed. Maybe you had to be a mage to do alchemy? If he offered information freely, I would strain my ears to hear the explanation, but I wasn’t comfortable asking. Why do these people all have to be so scary?

Sindre suggested that I offered to juggle for work today, but I told him I didn’t like performing in front of people. That wasn’t really the problem. Once I stood in front of an audience, balls whirling in complex patterns, I could be quite at ease. I was just afraid of how people would react if I volunteered. I had seen how Molle shut down Grimleif’s suggestion of making beer. Sindre had been allowed to tell stories, but he had been shut down too, after a couple of days. Grimleif and Sindre sat down in a corner to whisper until the guards came to fetch us.

When we came up on deck, we lay at anchor again. I had no idea what city it was I was seeing, but I didn’t have time to ponder it. I didn’t like the mood of the queue; someone just ahead of us were warning others away from deck scrubbing and potato peeling, and I felt that those were places I didn’t want to be. Something was going to happen there, I was sure.

Nobody gave us any warnings, though, and Sindre said we were lucky to be affiliated with the Claw; we could freely pick what jobs we wanted. Molle said only the job of washing clothes was filled up. Grimleif and Koldan picked scrubbing decks, and Karya chose something to do with sandpaper. I hesitated. I would have liked to peel potatoes, but not today.

Grimleif told Molle that I could juggle, but she waved him off without really listening. I offered that I really did know how to juggle, if anyone cared to watch. Uncertainty made my voice taper off, but Molle sent for a few potatoes, then gave me five with an expectant look. “Um, should I just begin? Should I do it here?” Molle replied that it was here on the main deck that the guards and crew would take their breaks now that the weather had turned sunny again.

I took the potatoes a little away, so I wouldn’t stand in anyone’s way. I put two on the ground and began cautiously with a few simple routines. As I built up courage, the number of potatoes flying above me grew, and so did the crowd of onlookers. When the time came to line up for coupons, I was completely exhausted, but I felt I had done well. Even the nobleman who only had come out so far to discuss punishments for the big brawl with the captain came out to watch my show.

When I started to juggle, I had to compete for attention with those arranging the plank wrestling, but by the time I finished, they had given up completely. Some of them weren’t too pleased with me for stealing all the spotlight, but they begrudgingly acknowledged my skill with applause and some of them even offered smiles.

[coronatiger]

Molle handed over six coupons and strongly recommended I kept at it for the rest of the voyage. And when we arrived at our destination, she would put in a good word for me so I could continue to entertain and delight everyone with my wonderful juggling. I asked how much further we had to travel, and she said that if Fare was with us, not much more than a week.

I had noticed that we were following another vessel now, and Grimleif said it was a warship escorting us. They could easily sink this hulk, was his opinion. Karya had bad news. They had botched the planned action, and Sindre had to talk really fast to explain away why the two of them were where they weren’t supposed to be. I informed everyone what Molle had said about the duration of the journey.

Grimleif told us he had done so well with the washing today that he was going to get a promotion. That meant he would be allowed to wash more exclusive locations than the common areas, so he might be able to look around for Karya’s knives. Koldan, Karya and Sindre joined in to discuss the layout of the ship and where the knives were likely to be found.

With four days since last we changed clothes, new garb came along with the water for washing. I was happy to find pockets in my clothes. They weren’t very large, but I might be able to put potatoes in them and pull those out for my juggling routine.

Koldan went to bed early as usual, but Grimleif woke him. Apparently, dwarves can sense the presence of precious metals, and Grimleif thought he could sense something. He thought Koldan might have a sharper sense than him, but Koldan said he found nothing. I didn’t see him do anything to detect gold or whatever, he just sat up on his bed and suggested that Grimleif might be mistaken. I proposed that if there were valuables on board, it could most likely be found in the pouches and purses of rich people, like the officers or the reclusive nobleman. Grimleif grunted and marched up and down between the bunks.

Grimleif seemed in a fouler mood than usual, and I was afraid that could pass over to Torkil, who up until now had behaved himself well. I picked up my spoon, cup and bowl and began to juggle, hoping to lighten the mood in the room. Sindre encouraged Karya and Grimleif to spend some time thinking on how to execute the plan, and the two of them sat down in a corner to whisper.

Suddenly, Koldan burst out of his bed and began to draw patterns on the floor with his spoon; he probably dreamed he was holding a charcoal stick. Karya confirmed that he was sleep-walking again. When Koldan finished drawing, he knelt down and banged his forehead against the floor, leaving a red smear in the middle of his pattern. “Who hit me?” he asked angrily before realizing that he had done it all on his own.

After supper, I lay down in my bed, thinking I would likely lie awake for a while or wake up during the night. Hopefully, I would get the equivalent of a full night’s sleep before the guards came to announce breakfast in the morning.

[coronatiger]

3. Vomit

10th of Høylys

I woke when the guards knocked and announced that breakfast would be served shortly. Koldan dished out for Karya, who had run out of coupons. I bought two portions; I still felt a little hungry after the first, and due to my recent performance, I was rich enough that I didn’t have to worry. Grimleif also felt rich, for he paid for beer to go with his meal. He was quite smug where he sat enjoying the luxurious beverage.

Up on deck, the guard who had stared at me earlier was there again. He had two scars crisscrossing over his face and had cut off all his hair, looking like nobody I would like to hang out with.

There were no more kitchen spots today, Molle said when we reached the front of the line, and all the hemp had been peeled already. Grimleif wanted to scrub the decks again, since he had been promised a promotion yesterday, and Molle told him that he was to wash officers’ cabins. He grunted that he would do his best. Koldan also volunteered to scrub decks, but Karya had to wash clothes, having been banned from nearly all the jobs on offer.

I suggested mending clothes, thinking that I’d done decently well at that, and I expected Gerd to be there, the nice old woman. Molle would rather that I juggled again, and she offered I could work during the next shift, so that people who hadn’t seen me could get the chance. The prospect of returning to my cell and being alone with Torkil wasn’t attractive, so I asked if I pretty please could hang around on deck while I waited. Molle said that was fine; I could sit over by the plank wrestlers.

Sindre was allowed to tell stories again, and he and I went over to the plank wrestlers together. I sat down near a cargo hatch to watch and wait. I frowned when I realized that Sindre wasn’t doing any storytelling. Instead, he walked around looking for Claw members he could scheme and plot with, and there were enough to choose from. I didn’t think Sindre was going to earn any coupons today, not if he shirked work like this, but hopefully he wouldn’t get me in trouble.

After maybe an hour, the alarm bell began to ring. I afforded myself a quick glance at Sindre before throwing myself down on the deck, but I didn’t think he was the reason the alarm was raised. The two prisoners currently wrestling on the plank dropped their staffs into the water and lay down right where they were. Like the knives, the staffs were attached to cords, so the guards were able to retrieve them easily enough.

The bell rang for a few minutes, then one of the guards told us we could get up. I took my seat again, looking around cautiously for any signs that more trouble would arise. Sindre continued his scheming, and I spotted a few prisoners asking the guards if they could be escorted below, claiming to be sick. I thought maybe this was part of Sindre’s plan, and I was terrified this was the beginning of another uprising, but nothing apparently came of it.

I joined the others from my cell in the line for coupons, but Koldan didn’t appear. Grimleif and Karya earned two coupons each, but as expected, Sindre got none. Molle asked me to remain when the others were escorted below. When I was the only prisoner left, I asked Molle if I could bring some potatoes with me down to the cell, so I could practice new tricks, but that was against the rules, so she told me no.

For my juggling routine, Molle provided tent pegs. They were well balanced, and their identical forms made them easier to grip than potatoes. Yesterday, I had attempted a few tricks that I didn’t really master, but I got lucky and pulled them off; today, I played it safe and stuck to what I knew better. The spectators enjoyed the show nevertheless. I earned five coupons, and I was content.

The guard that brought me down to the cell gave me water and a rag for washing. The others had already cleaned themselves and the cell, but Koldan was not there. I asked Karya, who replied in her own language, seemingly upset. Grimleif shrugged and said Koldan was involved in whatever it was that got the alarm going. There wasn’t anything we could do about that, so Karya and I put up a blanket so I could wash in private. When I was done, Grimleif said he’d overheard someone say that Koldan had been locked up somewhere else.

I gave a coupon to Sindre, to buy protection. Torkil wasn’t in a good mood, so I juggled for him, but he didn’t even look at me. He just sat there scowling and muttering to himself.

Grimleif asked if I thought Koldan would be keelhauled. I didn’t know. It hadn’t been mentioned when they read out the rules for us, but I didn’t think that would stop them, should the guards decide that was the right punishment for Koldan’s crimes. Grimleif speculated that Koldan may unsuccessfully have tried to enact a plan. I didn’t know if he was referring to a specific plan that they had made together, or if Grimleif thought Koldan had gone off script.


11th of Høylys

I fell asleep early, but I wasn’t allowed to sleep long. The sound of retching tore me away from my dreams, and in the dim light of the cell I saw Karya crouched over the chamber pot. I sat up and hurried to help. There wasn’t much I could do, but I could at least stroke her back and pull back her hair so it didn’t fall into the filth.

Days spent enduring Grimleif’s odors hadn’t prepared me for this. The sharp smell of sick had my stomach twisting itself in agony, but I told myself I wasn’t sick. Grimleif, on the other hand, climbed down from his bunk and joined Karya, taking turns hogging the pot. I did what I could for him too, but it wasn’t much. Luckily, his beard was so short that he might keep it out of the pot while he was throwing up.

Torkil sat up, covering his ears. The chorus of the sick was not pleasant listening. From time to time, he asked Karya and Grimleif to be quiet, but their sickness refused to be muted. Eventually, Torkil wrapped his head in a blanket and lay back down, and it looked like that did the trick, for he fell asleep.

In their reduced state, Karya and Grimleif sometimes lost control of their aim. I allowed myself to take one of Koldan’s blankets, and I wiped away the worst mess on the outside of the pot and on the floor around it. After an hour, the door opened, and a guard delivered a bucket of water and three rags after a quick peek inside. I used the new equipment to wipe my cellmates’ faces, but it didn’t take long before they dirtied themselves again.

When my stomach decided it couldn’t take it anymore, I fell to the floor and barely had the strength to get my mouth over the chamber pot before emptying myself. By that time, Karya and Grimleif didn’t have much more to throw up, but they kept going through the motions every ten minutes or so. Sindre got up and took over the washing, but he wasn’t very diligent about it, not that anyone had the energy to complain.

The guards came in the morning to see if there was anyone who wasn’t sick yet, and I pointed towards Sindre and Torkil. The guards delivered breakfast and water for drinking, but the way I was feeling, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to eat or drink again. I watched Sindre and Torkil dig in with a mix of envy and disgust, and then Sindre was fetched for work.

Torkil got sick not long after that, and he didn’t bother getting out of bed for doing his business, making a veritable mess in his bed, with his blankets soaking up most of what didn’t spill onto the floor.

In one of his better moments, Grimleif explained that this was just a stomach bug. Nobody had poisoned our food or anything like that. While it was certainly unpleasant to endure the sickness, Grimleif was confident that it would pass in a day or two. The only danger would be if someone couldn’t keep down any water, so we should try to drink a few drops every so often. Putting anything into my mouth sounded like a terrible idea to me, but I decided I would try, at least.

Sindre returned earlier than I expected, but he only came to take away our dirty things and to replace our chamber pot. Behind him stood a guard, and Grimleif tried to instruct him how to make medicine, but not even hours of retching had purged the offensive language that Grimleif was wont to use. The guard clearly didn’t want to listen.

Supper came earlier than usual, but only Grimleif tried to eat. He soon threw it all up again, so I didn’t think he got much out of it. Maybe the taste of the broth made him forget for a moment the foulness that otherwise infested our mouths. Karya tried to drink a little water, but she started throwing up again almost before she had time to swallow. I decided I would rather keep dry retching for a while.

Sindre came with more supplies for washing after the meal. With the sounds drifting in from the neighboring cells, I reckoned he was one of just a few people on board who wasn’t sick. He had to leave again to keep working, but he came back another couple of hours later to sleep. Despite his being driven to exhaustion by having to work all day, I envied that he somehow seemed to have evaded the sickness.

[coronatiger]

12th of Høylys

Despite having worked so long yesterday, I didn’t think Sindre was able to sleep any more than the rest of us. He sighed exasperatedly every time someone hurled.

I managed to get some food down when the guards brought breakfast, but it was only a matter of minutes before the food came back up.

Miraculously, I started to feel a little better today. I was aching all over, like someone had pulled me through a clothes press, but my stomach didn’t heave as it had for what seemed like an eternity. I managed to drag my carcass into bed before passing out.

I woke up when I needed to throw up again. I worried I had only had a temporary reprieve, but I crawled back into bed when I was done. Karya and Grimleif still lay sprawled on the floor near the chamber pot.

I was able to sleep for an hour or two between retching, unlike the others who still had to empty themselves every ten minutes or so. In the evening, I ate and drank carefully, and I didn’t even have to throw up before I passed out again.


13th of Høylys

This morning, the guards told us we were going back to the usual routine where we had to pay for our food. However, those who didn’t feel up to working were allowed to recuperate in their cells. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that I bought two portions, but it wasn’t that long ago that I felt like I could never eat again. Karya paid for breakfast too, despite not feeling all that well. Only Sindre raised his hand when the guards asked who were going to work. I went back to bed after the meal. When I woke up in the afternoon, Karya, Grimleif and Torkil all looked to be on the mend.


14th of Høylys

Over breakfast, Grimleif told Sindre he could help get people back on their feet quicker, if Sindre could convince the guards to let him try. Sindre said Grimleif wasn’t their favorite prisoner, but he promised to try anyway. In a fit of magnanimity, Sindre told us nobody had to pay the tax for the day before yesterday, although in the same sentence, he reminded us that we had to pay today.

For the rest of the meal, Sindre told us what he had observed while working during our sickness. We arrived at a city yesterday, and when we left, the escort ship stayed behind. Sindre didn’t know which city that had been.

Karya wasn’t fit to work today either, and the guards didn’t force her, but she didn’t have any coupons. I told her not to worry; I’d pay her taxes, just like I had paid for her breakfast. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep paying for two, but as long as I had coupons, I would share with those in need.

Sindre, Grimleif and I went up on deck to line up for work, and we were among the first to arrive. I hoped that meant we could get our first choices for work, but Molle told us we had to use the first half of our shift to clean ourselves and our cell, and to put on clean clothes. For the second half, we had to line up again and would probably be set to peeling potatoes or washing clothes. I thought Molle and the guards looked tired. They had likely just got out of their own sick beds.

On the way back down to our cell, Grimleif asked me to distract Torkil while he threw water at him. That sounded like a recipe for disaster. Despite Koldan’s apparent eagerness to get rid of Torkil, if I were to pick the two of my cellmates with the worst blood between them, it would be Torkil and Grimleif. Grimleif just has this way of antagonizing everyone. I said it would be better if Sindre washed Torkil, for I wasn’t about to volunteer for that task.

Sindre asked Grimleif what they were going to do about their plan, and the two of them lowered their voices to confer. Then Sindre addressed the guards escorting us, telling them he didn’t think we’d be able to clean up Torkil. The guards just said to do our best.

In our cell, Torkil had removed all his clothes and thrown them on the floor, along with a sick-soaked blanket. I piled it all up near the door. Grimleif and Sindre began washing the cell, but their minds were elsewhere, I think. Most uncharacteristically, I began telling them what to do, and surprisingly, they actually followed my instructions. Karya was helpful, at least insofar as to getting herself cleaned up, and I managed to convince Torkil to allow Sindre to scrub him.

We had been promised one coupon each for the cell-cleaning job, but the guards must have been so impressed with how we even got Torkil all squeaky clean, they gave me six. I gave one to each of Sindre, Grimleif and Karya for the cleaning job, and two more to Sindre as tax for Karya and me. Grimleif had enough to pay for himself.

Sindre asked if anyone wanted to hand over additional coupons so he could bribe people to find out where Koldan was. Nobody took him up on it. I thought Karya might have, or maybe Grimleif to help out a fellow dwarf, but I don’t think they felt they could afford to throw away coupons like that. I suspected they reckoned like me that he would come back without our interference. Or he might be dead, in which case dishing out coupons to locate his corpse would be a waste. I could tell Karya still held on to hope, so I didn’t say anything.

Returning to Molle, I offered to peel potatoes, but all the spots were taken. Grimleif was sent to an officer’s cabin to scrub it down. I opted for clothes mending, hoping to see Gerd again, but she wasn’t there. I recalled her instructions from last week, and I earned another coupon for my efforts.

I wasn’t fully recovered after the sickness, so I crashed onto my bunk when the guards escorted me back to the cell. I didn’t get any sleep. Even after nearly two weeks with these people, I still had the feeling that someone would try something. The only mean thing to happen was Grimleif using unpleasant language towards me, but he did that with everyone but Koldan, and I was beginning to believe that his bark was worse than his bite. His offers to make healing potions for people he didn’t even know made me think he had a soft heart under that gruff façade.

I lined up as usual with the rest (except Torkil) at the back of the cell when the guards came with supper. The guards came back with a second serving for those who could pay for it, and Grimleif continued his trend of charitability and paid not only for an extra portion for himself, but also for Karya. I lay down to sleep after the meal thinking about Grimleif’s kindness, and it didn’t take long before I dozed off.

[coronatiger]

4. Storm

15th of Høylys

At breakfast, Karya said she would like to contact Bjorke to have him find out about Koldan and her knives. Sindre said he could help. He knew guards who could be bribed, but he needed at least two coupons so he could buy tobacco he could use to bribe them. Karya looked at Grimleif and me with begging eyes, but I didn’t want to facilitate rules breaking, so I shook my head. Grimleif only had one coupon, so he said he would have to see if he could better afford the bribe after today’s work, but Sindre said he could lend him one. Karya said she was good to work today, but I thought she still looked sick. I guess she felt she had to work to earn coupons for the bribe.

We were last in line today, right behind a one-eyed woman covered in tattoos. She accused us of living in the same cell as Koldan and asked why he wasn’t with us today. I slipped behind Sindre so the scary lady wouldn’t pin me down with her eye, but Grimleif told her Koldan was in solitary confinement. The woman asked how he knew and how long Koldan had been away. Sindre jumped in and told her to mind her own business, which she seemed to respect. At least, she turned her back to us again. Two of her cellmates got her to calm down. Sindre said they were Claw members, but the woman was a high-ranking Honorable. I searched my memories, but I was certain I’d never seen her before my capture.

Sindre pointed out some other Claw members and he described the top dogs. Viggo Vekt, the leader, at least here, was a fat man around forty years of age. According to Sindre, Viggo liked to wear lots of jewelry, but he wouldn’t have that on the ship. Viggo’s two lieutenants were Jon Blund and Nolle. Jon was young, in his twenties, and we could recognize him by his crooked left eye and some missing teeth. Nolle was a baby-faced woman of thirty or so years, blond but partially bald. I remembered having seen Viggo and Jon the day I juggled on another shift. Neither of them worked; they just relaxed on deck. Taxes and protection payments kept them with all the luxuries that could be acquired on board, like the smokes I had seen Viggo enjoy. Sindre confirmed that climbing in ranks led to a good life, and he promised he wouldn’t forget if we gave him a boost up the ladder.

I overheard two of the ship’s crew talking, and one remarked that the weather was unexpectedly warm. I found that odd as it was the height of summer, with yesterday being the longest day of the year, but when the continuation of his sentence was “for being so far to the north,” it made more sense. Even a city dweller like me knew that it gets colder when you travel north and warmer when you go south.

I looked around, and all I could see was open sea in all directions. There were no landmarks to be seen, but I wouldn’t have known any to recognize them anyway. It was just instinct that made me cast about for clues as to how far north we were. I felt foolish.

When it finally was our turn to choose jobs, only scrubbing the decks was still available. Grimleif muttered contentedly to himself, but Karya was banned from that job. She flat out told Molle that she could offer sexual favors to the guards, which prompted the officer to have Karya escorted back to the cell.

Molle offered me the opportunity to juggle during the third shift, and until then, I was allowed to stay outside and watch the plank wrestlers. Sindre declared that he was going to tell stories again. Molle just rolled her eyes at him and instructed him to remain on deck where she could keep an eye on him.

I wasn’t keen to watch the plank wrestling, so I sat down on the outskirts of the crowd and studied the ship’s crew instead. That wasn’t very interesting either. Sindre went around talking to people, but he did no storytelling that I could see.

A dwarf woman with brown hair flowing freely in the wind came over and took a seat next to me. “Hi,” she said. “Hi,” I replied warily. The woman believed we had a mutual acquaintance, someone skilled at sewing. She had to be talking about Gerd, one of the few people on board that I thought was nice. We went a little to the side so we could talk privately.

The dwarf woman, Gyda, then tried to recruit me to her crew, the Shadows. She said it was important to be affiliated with a gang. I’d heard that before, and it didn’t resonate well with me this time either. So as not to offend her with a refusal, I told her I had to think about it. She warned me I had to decide before we arrived at our destination in two to four days.

I asked what being a Shadow entailed. Gyda explained that they sought to control the flow of information and to balance the bigger actors. The Shadows tried to deal with everyone without stepping on anyone’s toes, all the while avoiding notice. This sounded more tempting than trying to join the Claw or the Honorables, and I said as much.

Gyda left me to think about it after saying I could discuss the issue with our mutual friend. However, from what I knew of the Shadows from before, they were no more law-abiding than the other gangs except perhaps when it came to violent crimes, so I couldn’t really see myself joining them either. Besides, joining the Shadows might put me at odds with my cellmates, and if I was going to live with them for Vite knew how many years, I couldn’t afford to antagonize them. I’d much rather keep up my current arrangement of paying the Claw for my protection.

A little while later, I noticed some guards dumping a roll of something over board. I only got a quick look at the jetsam, but I thought it looked vaguely shaped like a body. Perhaps someone hadn’t survived the sickness. It had to be a prisoner, the way they threw away the roll like it was trash. Someone from the crew or the guards would at least get sent off with a prayer to Veide. Or perhaps to Fare, seeing as it was into her sea the corpse was deposited. I idly pondered whether this issue might be a source of contention between the goddess of death and the goddess of the sea. According to the calendar, Veide and Fare aren’t the best of friends, but they shouldn’t be the worst of enemies either.

I spotted the creepy guard again, the one with the crisscrossing scar on the cheek. He seemed to be talking about me with other guards and with several crewmen. I couldn’t think what I’d done to offend him. Maybe an ice elf had slighted him in the past, and my violet eyes reminded him of that. If that was the case, assurances that I was human would fall on deaf ears.

The next thing to catch my attention was Sindre being grabbed by a guard and pulled below deck. They stayed below for ten minutes, and it looked like Sindre had received a talking-to, but when I approached him, a wide grin blossomed on his face. He must have bribed the guard and got the information he was after. That might best be shared in our cell, so instead of querying about his talk with the guard, I offered to bring any message he might have to his superiors. I was allowed on deck for the rest of the day, so it would be easy for me to talk to prisoners on the other shifts. Sindre had nothing that needed to be said to Viggo or anyone else, though.

At the end of the shift, a guard came with Grimleif in tow, and he told Molle that Grimleif had stolen brandy from one of the cabins he was supposed to clean. Molle declared that Grimleif was demoted and would never receive an important job again.

On the second shift, a small woman with short, dark hair came up to me. She folded her arms under her massive chest and glared, asking who I was, and accusing me of encroaching on her turf. I promised I wasn’t going to poach her customers. I was stunned. I might be fifteen, but I hardly looked it, and I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to approach me when someone like her made herself available. I kept an eye on her for the rest of the shift, and it was clear she had succeeded where Karya had failed, doing that particular brand of one-on-one entertainment; she vanished below with several guards during the four hours she was supposed to work.

[coronatiger]

I didn’t see Viggo today, but Jon was hanging around the plank wrestlers. The creepy, scarfaced guard watched from his post nearby, so I moved over to where Molle sat. She did some writing work, and occasionally people came to make reports, but for the most part she played some board game with one of her guards. The two of them took turns placing stones on a square board, and it was a lot of thinking that went into choosing where to put the stones. Even without interruptions, it could take several minutes between moves.

Finally, the third shift came and it was time to juggle! Molle provided tent pegs and I threw them all up in the air. As they came back down, my hands darted for the lowest ones first, and I launched into my routine. When I handed the tent pegs back to Molle, she complimented me again and gave me five coupons.

The creepy guard and another approached me as if to escort me down to my cell, but the way the former looked at me, I was sure I wouldn’t enjoy what they intended. I pleaded with Molle to assign another guard to escort me down, and she did what I asked but said this was the only time she was helping me with such inappropriate requests. Scarface couldn’t hide his annoyance that I’d slipped away, and I decided I wasn’t going to do anything alone anymore. Grimleif, Koldan, Karya and Sindre might not have much authority compared to the guards, but their presence might discourage the guards from breaking the rules. I was pretty sure that the creepy guard had in mind something that wasn’t allowed.

Koldan was back when I entered our cell, and Torkil had once again seized every loose item and was playing on the floor. I ignored everyone and hid in my corner. Dinner was served almost before I had time to sit down, and I took the opportunity while Torkil ate to grab my things. I lay down to sleep afterwards, but I was so rattled I didn’t dare close my eyes for several hours.


16th of Høylys

It felt like I had just fallen asleep when Koldan woke me again. He was lying in his bed, sleep-talking in his own language. He kept it going for maybe a quarter of an hour, after which I lay awake waiting for the next thing to upset me. Hours later, when the guards announced breakfast was coming soon, my eyes were still open.

I didn’t notice yesterday, but Koldan looked like he’d been severely beaten, and Grimleif offered his medical expertise, hoping to help Koldan recover faster. Neither Koldan nor Karya had any coupons, so I paid for their breakfast, in addition to my own.

When the guards came to fetch us for work, they announced that Koldan wasn’t allowed to work anymore. I hoped he’d get the Torkil treatment; Torkil couldn’t work either, and he didn’t have to pay for his food.

We were first in line, and I suggested to Karya that we mended clothes. Karya asked why I wouldn’t want to juggle, and I told her I drew unwanted attention yesterday. Sindre said he would tell stories again, which made Molle roll her eyes, but she allowed it. Grimleif wanted to wash the decks, the very job he’d messed up yesterday. I expected Molle had barred him from that job, but she agreed that he could scrub the main deck.

Gerd and two others followed Karya and me into the clothes mending room. One, Sindre had pointed out as a Claw member, but I didn’t know the other. After yesterday’s scare, I had trouble focusing on my work, and halfway through the shift I was told I had to get it together if I wanted to earn coupons or even be allowed back tomorrow.

I managed to get some work done eventually, and I earned one coupon. Karya and Grimleif got two each, as did Sindre, so he must have told some decent stories in between all his plotting and planning. When we got back to the cell, Sindre reminded us that it was pay day. Karya paid for Koldan, but she wouldn’t have to pay for him again, as Sindre declared that he was now a full-fledged member of the Claw. I supposed whatever got him in trouble with the guards had earned him his membership.

Karya said we had to get her knives tomorrow, because the voyage was soon over. Koldan said he might get through to the neighboring cell; perhaps we could get further from there. The walls between the cells weren’t as sturdy as the door or the wall to the hallway. Sindre said that one direction was preferred over the other, since it would be better if we emerged into a cell of Claw members rather than Honorables.

On the outer wall was a boarded-up window from before the Southern Wind was refitted as a prisoner transport, and Koldan began to kick at it. Sindre and I stopped him. Even if the guards didn’t hear him, they certainly would see the next time they opened the hatch in the door, for the window was straight ahead.

Koldan concluded that he wouldn’t be able to find Karya’s knives, but she might be able to get them herself. She knew where they were now. She just would have to sneak off from work tomorrow.

The temperature dropped in the afternoon, and the ship began to rock under heavy winds. Everyone in our cell had grown accustomed to the movements of the ship by now, and only Torkil looked slightly uncomfortable. Not all the prisoners had found their sea legs, for we could hear vomiting from down the hall. It didn’t take long before the prisoners at work were sent down to their cells; they couldn’t work in such bad weather. I also picked up a shouted order of taking down the main sail.

I sat on my bed cross-legged, trying to sway along with the ship, but I had to grab the bedframe during the worst heaves so I wouldn’t be thrown to the floor. When the evening meal came, it was hard biscuits and a strip of dried meat, and we didn’t have to stand with our hands behind our heads while waiting to be served, as that would quickly have us in a jumble on the floor. When the guards closed the hatch, I overheard one say to the other that he hoped the storm passed before we ran out of dry food.


17th of Høylys

I was thrown out of bed several times during the night, and I got little sleep. When the guards came to wake us, they only had water. Torkil complained loudly at the lack of food, and Koldan told him the guards had food, but they didn’t want to share. Torkil pointed at Koldan and called him an ugly liar.

When nobody came to get us for work, I lay down in my bed to get some sleep, but it wasn’t easy. After a while, Karya came and sat on the side of my bed. With one hand on the bedframe and one on my shoulder, she steadied us both, and I managed to get some rest.

In the evening, we only got water again, and this time it was Grimleif who complained, but he wisely waited until the guards had left. Karya, bless her, continued to support me when I returned to bed.

[coronatiger]

18th of Høylys

I woke in the middle of the night to shouting up on deck, but I couldn’t discern what was said. Then I heard a rope snap, and the Southern Wind shook for a moment before I was floating above the bunk. The weightlessness only lasted a moment, and then I was slammed back into the bunk at the same time a loud crack of splintering wood resounded through the night. We must have dived under water for a moment, for a little spray of sea water burst through the cracks in the boarded-up window.

Someone was running in the hallway outside our cell, and Sindre stated the obvious, that this didn’t bode well. Grimleif said not to worry, though, for Nidhoggir watched over us. I have no idea who that is. Maybe it was another name for Fare, goddess of the sea? I prayed to her fervently for salvation.

Koldan declared he wasn’t letting any of us drown, and he began to hammer on the door. Grimleif told him to use the bed as a makeshift battering ram. Usually coolheaded, Sindre lost his mind to fear. Torkil just sat up in his bed, staring into nothing.

Koldan demolished Grimleif’s bottom bunk that Torkil already had broken. Wielding an improvised club, Koldan continued his attack on the door, but it seemed too sturdy against his wooden weapon. Grimleif suggested Koldan went after the light hatch above the door, but that was out of his reach. I recalled Koldan saying something earlier about breaking through to the neighboring cells, and I reminded him that this could be our way out. The sounds reaching us from outside indicated that the guards and crew were gone and that the ship was taken over by prisoners.

Sindre wailed that they were coming to get us, and he wasn’t wrong. A young, redheaded boy peeked in the hatch and asked for a crossbow. I rushed past Torkil to hug the wall and I tried to pull him with me out of the line of fire, but he just sat there, far too large for me to budge. Koldan hurriedly held up a piece of plank to cover the hatch so the boy couldn’t take aim, but that didn’t stop him from shooting. The crossbow bolt tore through the plank and would have struck Torkil, but miraculously, he ducked aside and the bolt instead hit the wall behind him. Koldan called for the kid to open the door and fight like a man, but the boy laughed and ran away.

Grimleif started to assist Koldan in making weapons from the broken bed, and he asked if Karya could use her magic to help us. She said she could make a hole somewhere, and Grimleif pointed at the door. Karya’s hands moved in a strange pattern, and she uttered an incantation, but nothing happened. After a few seconds, she staggered from exhaustion and said she couldn’t do it after all.

Getting out of our cell took time. I didn’t know what to do to help, and my attempts at enlisting Torkil’s assistance were futile; he was adamant that the guards were going to punish us for this, and he wasn’t going to take part. We were shot at again, but that bolt also missed. Whoever was shooting, someone opposed to the Claw from their comments, didn’t think we were important enough to finish the job properly. Or maybe they were focused on escaping the sinking ship. For sinking it did. Every time a wave crashed against the side of the ship, I imagined it hit just a little higher than the last wave. There was enough panic in the room, so I kept that conclusion to myself and prayed.

Once Koldan had a wide enough hole in the wall to the next cell, we left. Torkil refused to come, and he was too big for any of us to force. Sindre, in his panic, almost seemed to struggle against our efforts to get him through the wall, but the rest of us got through fairly easily. Grimleif made a last attempt to taunt Torkil into following, but he replied, “Ugly stinkyman, go away!” I poked my head back inside and informed Torkil that the ship was sinking and that he was going to drown if he didn’t move. His response was, “Drown, blubb-blubb! The ship goes up and down. Good bye!”

The door to the hallway was open and the cell abandoned. Outside lay a dead guard, stripped of his belongings, but otherwise the hall was empty. We hurried towards the stairs, but with both Koldan and Karya staggering from exhaustion, it didn’t go so fast. The ship swayed heavily under the wind and the waves, and we had to hold on to the rope railing that went along the hall so we wouldn’t be thrown off our feet.

The stairs leading down were submerged in water. Grimleif stated the obvious, that the ship was sinking. From the way Karya’s eyes went wild, she couldn’t have realized that before, which I found odd. Weren’t she and Koldan experienced sailors?

We went upstairs to the next level. Karya’s knives should be in a room nearby, a room where guards slept. We passed more stripped corpses on the way there, but saw nobody alive. Sounds seeped through the ceiling, announcing the presence of people on deck. I assumed they were abandoning the ship, as we would do soon.

The dormitory was cleared of most valuables, but we searched for Karya’s knives anyway. Everybody helped with the search, but it was Karya who found the knives. Grimleif discovered a roll of silk string. He cut off a length and used it to secure that big animal tooth of his around his neck. I got a bit of string too, and I hid in a corner with my back turned so the others wouldn’t see my medallion while I threaded the string through it. I stuck the medallion back between my breasts. I was pretty sure we were going to have to swim ashore, and while the medallion had stayed put so far, I would do anything to ensure I didn’t lose it to Fare’s dark depths. Grimleif peered out a hatch and reported that there was no land in sight. There had to be land in the other direction. Otherwise, we were doomed.

Koldan led the way back to the stairs. Two dwarves holding broadswords came running the other way, and they had almost passed us when they stopped. “Wait a minute! I know that smell,” one said to the other. Koldan turned around and bellowed “Run!” And I ran. Behind me, one of the dwarves yelled, “Die, assassin!” A short fight broke loose on the stairs behind me, but my companions were quickly victorious. When everyone joined me up on deck, Grimleif was carrying one of the broadswords.

Several corpses were strewn about the deck, and the living were clearly prisoners. Grimleif whispered that they were killing Claw members, so we had to get away quickly and unseen. Thankfully, the darkness of the night concealed who we were, at least as long as nobody came close.

We needed something to help us float. There was land where I had hoped, but it was several hundred meters away. Sindre was still completely mindless and wouldn’t reply when we asked if he could swim. Grimleif and I were the only ones with even a sliver of a chance of getting to shore unaided. Koldan could swim, but not that far, not without regaining his strength first. Even if people weren’t out to kill us, the Southern Wind was going down soon. Koldan began to pry loose the wooden hatch covering the stairs. Grimleif, Karya and I dove inside the nobleman’s cabin. Sindre remained by Koldan’s side, staring vacantly into the night.

The cabin was already plundered. Only three large chairs lay strewn on the floor, but Grimleif said we could use the curtains to tie them together to make a raft. Karya and I began tearing down the curtains and she set about making Grimleif’s raft. One other thing still hung on the wall, a rapier covered with gems. I picked it down, wondering why nobody had taken it. This rapier was probably the most valuable item on board, and I thought it might very well be the thing Grimleif had detected with his dwarven sense. But it wouldn’t float, so perhaps it wasn’t so valuable right now. I still tucked it behind my rope belt. It wasn’t so heavy that it would pull me under. I’m a decent swimmer, and it would be easy enough to lose it if I started to grow tired.

Grimleif came back inside with an armful of ballista spears; I had been so taken with the rapier I hadn’t noticed he left. He asked if there were any curtains left to tie the spears together. They were large enough that they could make up another raft. I got Karya the rest of the curtains, and she tied them expertly around the spears.

[coronatiger]

Grimleif warned us that we had to be quiet, for there were dangerous people in the neighboring cabin. Karya was afraid that they’d spot Sindre and Koldan, and I offered to fetch them. Between the two rafts we had made, we might be able to get all five of us to shore, and I pointed out that the windows in this cabin were large enough that we should be able to get even the chairs out that way. Grimleif put a hand on my arm and went in my stead, muttering something about worthless humans having crappy night vision. He brought our friends as fast as I could have, and I hadn’t been too keen on going back outside where I could be seen, although I was sure my companions were higher priority targets than myself.

Koldan tried snapping Sindre out of his daze, but it did no good. Grimleif approached the windows and was about to break them when I showed him how to open the windows. Maneuvering the chair raft through proved harder than I had first thought, and as we struggled, Grimleif began calling me names like half-elf bastard, and worse.

Suddenly, five men burst into the cabin. Three of them wielded long knives. I recognized some of them from the third shift, when they were plank wrestling. “Who are you and what are you doing?” the leader asked in a low but fierce voice. Koldan brandished the sword Grimleif had taken from the other dwarves and roared at the strangers. “Shut up!!” the leader roared back.

I scooted slowly and carefully towards the window not blocked by the chair raft. If a fight broke loose, I wouldn’t be any help. I had no misconceptions of being able to use the rapier in my belt, and while it would pain me to abandon my companions, I would rather live than follow them to their deaths.

“Give us a reason not to kill you all,” the leader threatened. Nobody said anything, perhaps wisely. Sindre was the only one who had a way with words, and he was still catatonic. I continued my slow escape, but then Grimleif turned towards me. “Edel! Say something!”

I froze. Everyone looked at me. “Um… If we all work together, we’ll all make it to shore alive?” I squeaked. “Can you swim?” the leader asked. “Yes,” replied Grimleif and nudged me in the side with his elbow. “Some of us can swim, but not all,” I clarified. “You’re not members of the damn Claw?” the leader continued, and Koldan, Grimleif and I all replied with a resounding “No!”

The strangers wondered why we were inside this cabin when we could as well be outside, and I jumped in to say before anyone could put their feet in their mouths that this was where the chairs were. Grimleif said there were scary people outside, and I groaned inwardly.

The strangers had two doors with them, torn off their hinges from wherever they had been hanging. I estimated that each of them could carry two people, and that our two rafts could as well. None of the strangers could swim, so Grimleif and I would need to get ashore unaided.

I explained how we would do it. We would eject the four rafts through the windows, and then Grimleif and I would help everyone cling to a raft. I lay down on my stomach to show how everyone should move their legs to propel the rafts towards land. “Land is that way,” I said, pointing.

Now, the ship was sinking so fast I could practically feel the floor lowering under us. The people outside felt it too, and a mass exodus began. Somewhere out there, crossbows snapped. Men shouted and screamed, and there were splashes when bodies hit the water, alive or dead.

In the cabin, we quickly got the rafts out the windows. Grimleif and I climbed out after them. The distance down to the water, neckbreakingly high during the plank wrestling, was now considerably shorter. I jumped, with one hand on the rapier so I wouldn’t cut myself and one hand on my chest to secure the medallion. Ice cold water enveloped me, but I wasn’t under for long.

The waves had dispersed our rafts, so Grimleif and I had to swim to retrieve them. As soon as I laid my hand on the bundle of ballista spears, Karya’s knot unraveled, but I was able to retie it. Hanging out the window, Koldan bellowed in his own language. Since he clearly wasn’t trying to tell me anything, I ignored the yell. I needed to preserve my strength for the long swim. When I was back at the ship, chair raft and spear raft pushed ahead of me, the Southern Wind lay markedly lower in the water.

I repeated to the strangers how four of them should climb out and that two of them should grab each of my two rafts. Koldan, Sindre and Karya already clung to one of the door rafts, and Koldan began to swim, pushing the raft slowly towards shore.

Grimleif brought the last door raft, and the last of the strangers came out and latched on to it. I swam over to them to see how Grimleif fared. He looked tired, but I thought he should be able to get ashore with help from the other man.

Koldan struggled more. When I glanced over at them, Karya had fallen unconscious, and Koldan had to use all his strength to hold her head out of the water. I hurried over, and Grimleif and the stranger followed with their raft. Grimleif said we should move someone over to his raft; Koldan said that should be Sindre.

Grimleif tried his best to move Sindre, but he clung to Koldan’s door, unresponsive to verbal urging. I slapped him across the cheek to snap him out of his catatonia, but that was a big mistake. Sindre screamed, pushed off the raft and began to pull Karya under. “Sindre!” I screamed desperately, only to watch him, Karya and Koldan sink below the surface. I glanced at Grimleif, pleading, but he shook his head. Clinging to the abandoned raft with my arms, I reached out with my legs, but I found only water.

A few seconds later, Koldan reemerged, despair and sorrow in his eyes. There was no sign of Karya or Sindre. Resignedly, Koldan grabbed the raft, looking like he was on the verge of following his lover to the bottom. What little strength he had left, he needed to hold on to the raft, and I realized it was up to me to get us ashore. I needed to exert myself more than I had planned. When Koldan fell unconscious, which wouldn’t take long, I would have to split my efforts to keep his head above water. I soon lost track of Grimleif’s raft.

After a while, I could make out where land was. I could vaguely see squarish shapes among the trees, an overgrown ruin city. Koldan muttered something in his own language. He sounded so resigned, I understood that he wanted me to let him die. I gritted my teeth and pushed on.

We were nearly ashore when Koldan’s eyes closed and he slumped down over the raft, his face under water. I reached out and grabbed the hair on the back of his head, pulling to bend his head backwards so he could breathe.

I blew a sigh of relief when my legs touched the bottom. I stood up, holding Koldan under his shoulders, and took a few moments to catch my breath. Then I pulled him up on the beach and into the shelter of some bushes.

Turning around, I caught sight of Grimleif and his swimming partner. I waded out to them and helped them ashore. Grimleif sank down on the beach, thoroughly exhausted. His partner’s companions came sauntering down the beach, and they thanked us sincerely for the help. “Now what, Edel?” their leader asked, looking around for my other cellmates.

I said we needed to find shelter. We might be out of the water, but we were all soaked through, and we might all freeze to death tonight if we couldn’t get a fire started. Along the beach, about half a kilometer away, stood a building that looked relatively intact, at least in the darkness and from this distance. “Let’s go there,” I suggested.

Two of the strangers carried Koldan, and I had to support Grimleif if he were to walk. The others took a moment to pull our rafts out of the water. They stored them where Koldan had lain. We might find a use for them.