Malspire

  ***

  The day was drawing to a close by the time the call came.

  "Land ho!"

  The ship must have been off course as I had expected to sea land sooner, understanding now the need for a proper navigation officer. It would be dark by the time we reached the coast. There was a good chance that it would be too risky to take her in and we would have to wait for the morning. Doctor Eebel had left me in a contemplative mood and I never managed to fall asleep, but now I concentrated on the distant coast. It was cold but not the biting chill of winter. The sky was a glorious blaze of gold and scarlet, broken by dark, ragged clouds. Standing on the castle, I scanned the landscape through my glass. Above us, seagulls gathered and circled, floating on the strong winds. The sea was rough but not too rough to move in closer.

  "The land looks rocky, Mister Harl. Cracked bluffs and fingers of stone in the waters."

  "It's getting late, Captain."

  "What do you think? Should we try to find a cove now or wait until tomorrow?"

  "We can get closer, sir."

  So we did, and as the sun touched the horizon, I saw what looked like a fjord or perhaps the mouth of a river that had cut a deep gorge in the rocky face of the land.

  I hesitated. All of a sudden, something felt chilling beyond the wind, as though a shadow reached out to us from that gorge, as though a malevolent presence looked upon us and beckoned us in. I hesitated, but I did not baulk. "Take us in, Mister Harl. Keep a distance from the rocks." It was nerves, nothing more, I told myself. In time I would learn to better trust my instincts, but not yet, not then.

  I could hear the breakers and see where they foamed white as they hissed and crashed on the black rocks sending up plumes of spray. Birds sat in the nooks and cuts in the higher reaches, watching the Lady Ocean as she slowly entered the waterway. It quickly got dark in that rent in the coastline, but the waters calmed, and the ship surged on into the eerie quietness of the channel.

  Everyone not needed below was on deck looking up at the steep walls of rock on either side. Even the doctor was on deck, wrapped up in a thick overcoat, his hands still visibly shaking. There was no sign of human life but on the cliff tops were a few trees and long grasses drooping over the edges. The screech of pair of fighting birds echoed down the gorge.

  "Water’s calming, Captain. We could weigh anchor here. Do the painting by lamp light or wait till morning," said Harl.

  "Let's keep going for a bit," I said. The gorge was thinning and the land falling the further in we went. "There is still some light. I want to see what's up ahead."

  "Aye, sir."

  The channel began to turn and twist. It was thinning but there was still plenty of room for the ship. A man had fixed a long pole to the front side of the vessel. This pole had a small yellow flag at the top, and plunged deep into the water below. Another man was sounding the depths with a lead. I kept a weather eye on the flag, knowing that if it dipped forwards, it had hit something. It was a simple way to tell if the waters were getting too shallow for the ship and faster than casting a lead weight. The last thing any of us wanted was to run aground on these rocks, in this enemy land.

  It got dark. Slowly the ship kept going until finally Harl had to say something. "Captain?"

  "I know. Mister Harl."

  "We've lost the light, sir."

  "Look!" I said, pointing into the gloom.

  In the dim light cast by the large lantern held at the bow by a crewman, I saw something.

  "Over there." I pointed ahead and from the shadows emerged what looked like a pebble beach. The flag dipped.

  "All stop!"

  "All stop!" repeated Mister Harl. The engine noise died and the paddle wheel slowed to a halt, then reversed until we had stopped.

  "There. The end of the fjord. It's a beach, and look, a wall." I could just make out the wall that ran from one edge of the gorge to the other, built roughly fifty feet up from the waterline. It was more a palisade than a proper defensive wall, made of weathered wooden poles driven into the ground.

  "Can't see anyone," said Harl. "No lights."

  It was silent, the only sound, the lapping of water on the hull, hiss of gentle waves upon the pebble shore, and venting steam. Even the gulls were silent now.

  “Drop anchor. Run out the launch. I want to have a closer look,” I said to Mistor Olvan.

  In the darkness, we lifted the launch which was kept covered at the centre of the ship. Using the crow's-nest mast and a boom as a crane, the boat was lowered into the calm inky waters by men manning the capstan. There was an odd smell to the place. It was fish and crab and rotting seaweed, but combined with something sweeter. I wanted to see more. There was still no sign of activity from the shore or the wall. Perhaps we had scared off the inhabitants? But why would they not guard their wall?

  "You're in command, Mister Olvan," I said as Harl, Jodlin, Sergeant Lamtak, Willan, ten other crew and marines and I slid down a rope net into the launch. I left Sudlas behind just in case there was any trouble Olvan could not handle.

  All the marines had taken to wearing sailor's clothing as part of the ship's disguise. In fact the marine sergeant looked quite the pirate with a cutlass, rings and pistols fitted to a bandolier.

  "May I join you, Captain?" This was Doctor Eebel, who, standing over the ship's gunwale peered down at the men in the boat.

  "I would prefer it if you stayed aboard, doctor. Is there any particular need to join us?"

  "The smell, Captain."

  "What do you mean?" I said. It was an odd smell.

  "Do you not recognise it? It's rotting meat. Rotting flesh. There's death here, Captain. I'm a doctor, and I should go ashore to see if I can help."

  I suddenly recognised the smell of rotting flesh, and it turned my gut. Death did hang heavy over this knife's tip of water, where it had stabbed deep into the lands.

  "Come aboard, doctor," I said, and shivered at the prospect of what we might find.