***
A brisk easterly wind met the Lady Ocean head on, making her rise and then fall to crash on the waves, sending spray high into the sky. It made the job of Seaman Gogloy, one of the youngest lads on board, quite terrifying and near impossible as he dangled over the stern by a rope and tried to paint over the name of the Lady Ocean with black ship's paint.
"Damn this weather, Mister Olvan," I said. The ship was making headway but it was slow progress.
The paint was being applied to a wet surface. It was the proper paint, but it would be better if the surface were dry. Although sitting in a crude harness, Gogloy was hard pressed to hang on to the rope as he did with white knuckles, let alone paint. Below him was the rear of the wheel housing. Should he fall, he would in all likelihood be dragged into the churning wheel before being spat out, a rag doll.
"Perhaps we should find a cove, Captain? A place where the land can protect us from the wind and waves," said Olvan.
"No. We're in enemy waters. I don't want anyone on land to see us painting over the name. They could pass on a message, and then the enemy would be on the lookout for us."
Olvan looked as though he wanted to say more, but I did not want to hear it, knowing the young officer wanted to suggest turning back, and so I turned away from him and saw Doctor Eebel coming up the castle steps.
"To what do we owe this pleasure, doctor?" This was the first time I had seen the surgeon on the officer's deck in a while.
"Needed some air. Still heading west?"
"That we are."
Eebel shook his head. He had made it clear the previous morning when I had presented my plan to the senior crew, that he thought it was madness.
"Gentlemen," I had said to the gathering, "I have invited you to breakfast with me so that I can tell you of my plans for the coming weeks. I have it in mind to set a course for the port of Sulenfir. We will masquerade a privateer in the rebel navy, drop anchor at port, find ourselves a lectrocoder code book and it return it to the Imperial Navy. I think that would make a good sea trial. After which we can report for duty."
To my satisfaction, the men around the table had sat open mouthed and dumbfounded by the statement. Even the reserved Harl had looked surprised.
"But, Sulenfir is a rebel port," Olvan had felt the need to point out.
"Yes," I said. "Which is where we will find rebel lectrocoders and code books."
"If I may, what's the plan, sir?" Harl then asked.
"We have the ship of a privateer and the letter of marque to go with it. I just have to change my name to Yorlwig. It's simple. We sail in, find a lectrocoder officer, copy his book and then sail away again. What do you think, Sergeant Lamtak?"
"What do I think? Sounds risky, sir. What if this Captain Yorlwig is known to be dead and his ship taken as prize?"
"It's a risk, I admit. Their naval office will probably know. They must have spies in Umuron, but I'm betting that Captain Yorlwig was not a well-known figure. I'm betting that privateers are not in the books."
"Hm," Lamtak had said, twirling his moustache. "I suppose it could work, sir." He did not look convinced.
Now, a wave shook the frigate and I heard Gogloy yelp. "How is the medico cabin for supplies and tools? I paid a pretty penny for the items."
"Satisfactory," said Eebel looking down over the rear at poor Gogloy who was being held in place by Harl and a few men.
"Good. How about the health of the men?"
"Good gods man. The health of a seaman in this navy? That's like asking me to judge the quality of Hobster's Cave Chease. It stinks, It's rotten, tastes like vomit, and yet the toffs fight to get their hands on it." He rubbed his temples. "They're fine. Diseased, pox ridden, worm infested, lice covered, flea bitten the ugly lot of them, but they don't complain which in my book is as good as you're going to get out of a sailor."
"And morale?" I pushed, ignoring the doctor’s tone.
"They seem happy enough. Is that my job now? Morale officer?"
"It's the job of any officer to see to it that the men are in good mind and good health, and you are technically an officer, Doctor Eebel.”
"Then I prescribe a few more barrels of wine, and perhaps some spirits," said the doctor with a knowing glance at his captain. Harl who had overheard grunted a laugh at this.
Olvan was looking up at the crow's-nest. "The men want to leave the crow's-nest, sir. They're being thrown about up there."
Stepping forwards, I squinted up at the crow's-nest where I saw two men waving. "Why the bloody hells are you looking down at us? Watch the seas you miserable bastards!"
"But, sir…" The men fell into the crow's-nest as the ship hit hard on yet another wave. Gogloy yelped again. "Too rough, Captain," called one of the lookouts as his head reappeared.
"I don't care," I shouted. “These are enemy waters. This is a fighting ship, not some dandy yacht on a summer cruise. Tie yourselves to the mast, and watch the damned seas!"
Seaman Gogloy was hauled back onto the deck. He was soaked and covered in paint and Harl shook his head as to say that it was impossible. The ship's former name was the Wraith Deep, and to paint it back over the new Lady Ocean now we would have to have calmer waters. I could only hope we did not meet the enemy before the disguise was complete, but there was no sign of the rough weather letting up for a while yet.
"We need a figurehead Mister Olvan. Remind me when this mission is over," I said, the thought suddenly striking me. No point in brooding over the enemy when there was nothing to be done, although I could not help turn an eye to the smudged horizon.
"Like the grander ships, sir?"
"Yes. Something fitting. Something sticking."
"Sticking?"
"Like a thorn, Mister Olvan. A thorn in the side of every pomp, dandy and aristocrat that cares to care what I put on my ship."
Doctor Eebel gave me a sideways glance.
"I see, Captain." Olvan sounded like he was not sure he did see at all.
"Come up with something. Give me ideas if you can."
"Perhaps a naked mermaid?"
"No! Something others wouldn't expect. She would have to have three breasts, a beard, and a horn for me to even consider it. Think about it for a while."
Another day passed and still the seas had not calmed enough to allow the painting of the ship's name. There had been no sight of enemy shipping and only larger fishing vessels and merchant ships ventured this far from the coast. We had seen a few but steered clear of them. I did not want to be caught without a ship's name, and I did not want the watch towers to see us. It would be far too suspicious, and any naval captain would want to investigate it further.
"Mister Olvan?"
"Captain?"
I was now in my cabin consulting my charts and notes taken with a sextant. They were all copied from standard navy charts and notoriously out of date. "Is there no way of painting the name in this weather?"
"None, Captain. Mister Harl assures me that it's just not possible. We have to pray for better weather or find calm waters."
Expecting this answer, I was already studying the coastline. I knew we should have returned to Umuron to prepare for such an endeavour but I also knew that if we had returned, I would have lost the courage for this madness. I would have seen reason, but did not want reason. I wanted adventure.
"Then there's nothing for it. We must make for land and find a cove or natural harbour. Do you know much about these waters?"
"No, sir. Sorry."
I sneered at the young officer, not that I knew much about them myself. "Well. As far as I can tell, Mister Olvan, we're not close to any major ports. We need to see some land for confirmation of our location anyway. Head south. Call me when land is spotted."
"Aye, Captain."
With that, I tugged off my boots, went to my cot and lay down on my back for a short sleep. On deck I could hear Olvan shouting orders. The ship was being buffeted by waves. I had found sleeping when at sea much preferable to land. In fac
t when at port I often found it hard to get a good night's sleep being so used to the noise of the engine, the thrashing of the wheel, the heaving waters. I liked the sea. I liked the raw elements and their mischievous ways and being close to the edge were all that stood between me and the abyss was some cleverly crafted woodwork and skilled men. Just as I closed my eyes, there was a knock at my cabin door. I groaned, but did not rise or even open my eyes. "Enter!"
The door opened and closed. There were some footsteps. I looked to see Doctor Eebel with his red rimmed eyes, holding onto a post, looking madly at me.
"As you can see, I'm trying to get some rest. What is it you want and be quick about it?"
"What the hells am I doing here?" The boat heaved and the doctor had to hold on with both hands.
"You're a ship's surgeon. You go where the ship goes," I said, closing my eyes again, perhaps a little unnerved by the look on the doctor, but wanted to show an indifference to the doctor's personal problems as a captain should. Also, I wanted a rest and the drunk could wait.
"There's booze on this ship. I know it. I can smell it. The men are hiding it from me!"
"I recon the men have taken it upon themselves to save you from the dark spirits, but money is often a fine argument in such a predicament."
"I'm broke! I was kicked out of this damned navy and left penniless. I need a drink!"
"None to be had here," I growled. It was a lie, but I preferred a sober surgeon as did the crew. I was also not sure I liked the man or not. At least, I did not respect him yet.
"I didn't ask to be here. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to drink. I wanted to drown in the stuff, and now I'm caught somewhere between life and death and it's all thanks to you!"
I should have been angry but instead I was roused by the anguish in the man's voice and relenting, sat up. "Sit down, Doctor Eebel."
The doctor watched me for a moment then, turned the captain's chair round and sat in it. It was contrary to protocol for anyone else to sit in the captain's chair but I was now getting used to the doctor's disregard for such conventions.
"What's your given name?" I asked.
"Nalistor."
"May I call you Nalistor?”
The doctor shrugged.
"You are here, Nalistor because we need a doctor and you were the only one available."
Nalistor was silent. His hands were shaking.
"The Navy is the Emperor's arm. We are his tools. We are all duty bound to serve him and the Empire. Are you a loyal servant of the Emperor, Nalistor?"
"Never met the man."
I looked up sharply. I was about to chastise the doctor for his lack of respect for the Empire's father, the great leader of the Emben Empire, but before I did, it struck me that I had never met the man either. What did I really care for the Emperor? I had a certain concept of duty to the Empire and Duchy, but the Emperor was just a man; a figure head. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that the doctor had a point.
"If death is what you want, then I don't see why you're complaining. We're in enemy waters, about to enter an enemy port. If captured, we'll be treated as spies, and probably tortured, then executed."
After a further silence, the doctor leaned forwards and said, "You certainly have a way of putting one's mind at ease, Captain. I'm so pleased we had this talk." The mood eased and the doctor visibly relaxed a little.
"It's my fault, doctor. I was keen to be about our business and at sea. You were the only doctor available."
"I know why you did it. I don't see how I'm much good to you as I can just as easily take your leg off when the wound is in the arm, but I know why. You want to impress someone," Nalistor stated. "Not the navy, nor the men either. You don't think much of the high and mighty, but someone."
I was puzzled, even annoyed by this statement, but I knew I was angry because Nalistor had hit a nerve. I was trying to prove something to someone, but I didn't require or want the respect of others. At least that was what I told myself. Was it my father? Was it my brother? My brother loved and respected me whatever. I had no need to prove anything to Ajator.
The doctor noticed my struggle. "Yourself. It's you that you're testing and pushing. You may be the grim and moody captain son of a lord admiral, but I know you. I see right through you, Captain Malspire."
"You presume a lot Doctor Eebel."
"Not Nalistor anymore? I tell the truth as I see it and you get prickly?"
"The truth? We hardly know one another. You spend your time hidden away, drinking whatever spirits you can find, and you presume to know me?"
"I've been watching you. Even when I'm drunk as a fish I see people. It's a way I have. You have a dark soul, and you're rough cut, but you're not an evil man. You've a sense of right and wrong better than most, but you're cursed.”
"Cursed?"
"Aye, cursed by insecurity. Cursed by a rot in the soul. You think little of yourself and little of humanity, and feel the need to prove yourself better in your own eyes," the doctor hissed. "It will be the death of you. Probably the death of us all!"
I considered this. It annoyed me, but maybe that was because it was true.
"I'm still young and inexperienced, doctor, I know this. I'm also wrong to get angry with another officer for telling the truth as he sees it. I'll admit that there might be some truth to what you say." I forced myself to say these words. I wanted truth and respected honesty, wanting to be open to it even when it grated. A fire in me was bursting to lash out and hurt the doctor, but I forced it back. Like the fear I had learned to fight, the anger too was to be controlled.
"Well, I'm old before my time and tired. Truth or not, I'm still stuck on this rotting boat without a drink and a long way from home."
"Where is your home?"
"The valleys of Brimalod, a long way from the sea. I'm a mountain man." Nalistor reflected on his homeland for a moment. "I had land once. Not much. Not fertile, but plenty of wood."
"A squire?"
“Yes. Not aristocracy, but new money. I had land, a wife and a son on the way. I should have stuck to that, but I wanted more."
I nodded. "Why did you become a doctor if you had land and resources?"
"I met my wife, Astinan in Norlan where I was studying medicine. I went to Norlan to study because I hated the country. I was young and wanted to see the world, but I fell in love, so I married her and returned home a doctor but with the intention of making it big instead." Nalistor wrung his hands and rocked gently as he spoke. "I wanted to put her in the finest manor, with the finest clothes, food and wine. I wanted to make her a princess. She was everything to me, and I wanted the world for her." He fell silent.
"Go on," I said.
"I was a fine doctor. I did well in my studies, and was sought after, but I let it go. I borrowed money and built a large saw mill. I borrowed more money and purchased barges, horses, carts, tools and men. Then the Emperor in his wisdom decided that the Empire's insatiable hunger for timber would come from the northern realms, and ruled that the woodlands of the homelands were protected," said the doctor bitterly.
"I see." I knew of this ruling as it affected my own home. Timber was always in great demand and the homelands were in danger of losing all its forests and woodlands to the Navy and its ships. A single battle ship could take six thousand oaks to build. Lords of the skies knew how many a grand battleship would take to build. An entire forest! Of course, the Guild of Sea Merchants was making a fortune, having sole rights to the shipping of the timber and also happened to own vast swathes of northern forests.
"I had borrowed far more than I could pay off as a doctor, so I was bankrupted. The bankers took my lands, my goods, and every penny I had and left us to starvation. As a doctor in disgrace I could get little work, so we were forced to Norlan again where I was taken in by the Navy who cared nothing for reputation, but for skill as a surgeon."
"The ship needs a surgeon."
"It does that, but a wife doesn't. The very first letter I
got from her told me that she had divorced me and was moving on. Ever been bankrupted, Captain Ardalrion?"
"No. I never had to borrow money."
"Of course not. You're an aristocrat with a rich father. When you're bankrupted, you lose everything. Even the right to a wife. She just had to sign a single document and that was that. It was three years before I got a chance to visit her. She was remarried to a banker in the city and had a child. It was my child. A boy who hid behind his new father when I stood at their door, drenched and freezing in the cold rain, begging for another chance, begging for justice." The doctor clenched his fists. "There was no justice to be found there. The banker swine had me carried off and beaten black and blue. No justice! But I found it elsewhere, Captain Ardalrion. I found it in a bottle, and the bottle has never let me down."
I felt awkward. What could I say? I said nothing.
"You're still young. You wouldn't know about these things."
"I know about rejection," I said, understanding the need to find a common thread. "I know what it is like to be alone."
"Yes," said Nalistor. "You do." It was unnerving how the doctor was so confident in his judgement of me. "I know about your brother. I've seen him. Like night and day you two. Twins, are you?"
"Yes. How do you know about my brother?"
"You're both the sons of Lord Admiral Lord Ardalrion whom I serve. Everyone knows about you two. Your brother is a shining star in the Navy. A born hero of the Empire. He's cursed too."
"What?" I was shocked by this statement. "How can he be cursed?" How could anyone think this of Ajator?
"I don't know. Something's not right though. Something's eating at him."