In Search of Spice, page 24
“Really? What did they say?”
“They told me to go away. They said Moea was not to go with me, but she would have my child. They wanted my magic, but said in me it was tainted by my own God. They said their magic was not for the people of Harrhein, but they were not against us, they approve of us.” He looked at Sara. “They like you, and they thank you. They are gentle Gods and they say this is their last refuge. They are under attack from other gods, especially those of the Umayyads and those of Hind. They ask for protection from other gods, including ours.” He looked down at his feet.
Sara was sitting next to him and touched his arm. “It’s all right Perryn, I understand. I will do as they ask.”
There was silence around the group, broken by Lieutenant Mactravis, who let out a long sigh.
“Not sure what I think about gods who talk to you. At least as soldiers we don’t have to worry about that, usually. I hope to the nine pits of hell Little doesn’t upset them.”
Hinatea answered him, surprising everyone with her Harrhein. “The Gods like him. They understand him, and how he thinks. They have asked the girls who are staying to have children by him and the others like him. They want his soldier blood to protect the island.” She looked around the group, smiling quietly. “All the girls who stay are already pregnant. The Gods say we need the men, and the new blood.”
Suzanne took a breath angrily. “The girls who stay? And how many are coming with us? And why do you think you will come?”
“The Gods have told us we can go. You will need us, and some of your men will not be happy to leave us behind. We are not pregnant.”
Lieutenant Mactravis cleared his throat. “I am afraid this true. If some of the girls do not come, some of the men will not leave. They will take to the hills.”
Before Suzanne could reply, Perryn spoke. “Some of the men need to stay. They won’t be able to leave.”
“Well, it’s not too bad. We need to leave some men here, some soldiers and some sailors, to build an outpost. So let’s consider who stays and we’ll take the girls to replace them.” Lieutenant Mactravis spoke as if it were already decided, but before Suzanne or Sara could think of a suitable reason to object, the Bosun spoke up. “Better to leave the third mate, Taylor, and his wife. They’re not right for working, and they’ve taken to island life. Also gets you promotion to second, Suzanne. Got maybe a dozen others who can stay.”
“Walters should and wants to stay, but I am not sure he should,” contributed Perryn contradicting himself.
“Indeed,” agreed Suzanne, giving in to the inevitable, “Brian and the Captain ought to stay, but we shall take them and see if they recover on the journey. It’s all the older people. We’ll leave the non-essentials.”
“I am not happy about leaving any soldiers,” said Mactravis. “I doubt any of them actually want to stay, and they could be a bad influence. Bloody Little, I caught him, ah, having sex with a girl in the middle of a crowd of people! They were all watching and telling him what to do!”
Hinatea looked at him in puzzlement. “Why is wrong? We often do, is nice to get compliments from others, and it helps people to learn. If we learn more, we get more pleasure.”
Suzanne looked at her incredulously. “You often do it? Really? In the open?”
“Oh yes. I think I understand from talking to Pat you have competitions in Harrhein? Archery? Running? Riding on animals? Kicking a ball? We do too. Sometimes it is fishing, but usually it is sex. We all know who the best are, they are popular. I am one of the best!” She answered smugly. “Very popular!” Both Pat and Grey Fox looked embarrassed, the first time any of them had seen an expression on Grey Fox’s face.
Sergeant Russell broke in suspiciously. “How can you have competitions when you have no men?” Clearly he was worried about hordes of men coming out of hiding.
“It is difficult,” replied Hinatea seriously. “We share the seven men on the island, they move around the villages, plus we use the old men and soon the first boys will be old enough. But also we go with two girls. That is fun!” She smiled brilliantly and looked around, projecting an invitation at Sara, who looked shocked. Hinatea’s smile grew wider and wicked. “I have special stick I carved. You want to see?”
“No!” Suzanne said, trying to take back control despite the thought of Grey Fox taking part in these competitions. She really didn’t want Sara to work out what the stick would be. “Bosun, make a list for me of those who want to stay. We’ll aim to sail in two days. Pat, speak to the dwarves and work out how many barrels of yellow flowers to take with us. It’s a powder, right?”
“Powder and crystals. The crystals are more expensive. I will pack the crystals in the powder so we have both.”
Later, Suzanne took a walk by herself in the heat of the day down to the bathing pool. She needed to be alone with her thoughts. She sat on the bank, her feet trailing in the water, idly kicking at the little fish that came to nibble, and allowed her desolation to flow out. The sight of Pat brought a huge up-welling feeling of love for him but it felt odd. Letting it flow over her, she felt it was tainted, adulterated by the magic, and she felt used, for it felt like the love she had experienced as a young girl, before life took the complicated turns which left her in a brothel. She realised it wasn’t Pat with whom she was angry, or even Hinatea and the Pahippians, but simply with the way the magic had not only taken away her control, but tried to impose feelings on her. She sighed, thinking she needed to have this conversation with Sara and wondered if she would be allowed.
A fish nibbled her toes, tickling, and she giggled slightly, welcoming the interruption to her thoughts. She felt a presence and jumped to her feet, to find Pat watching her from a few yards away.
“Damn it Pat, don’t do that! Creeping up like that. What do you want anyway?” She asked crossly, clamping down on her heart which raced at the sight of him.
Pat hung his head and looked at his feet. “Don’t know,” he mumbled. Pat was in considerable turmoil himself. His had sorted out his feelings for Sara, which had fizzled out in the revelations after the attack, but the sight of Suzanne had wakened others. While he didn’t love Suzanne, the night with her had been sensual and physically rewarding and he wanted a repeat, but had no idea how to say it. The running and the Pahippian girls had worn the magic out of his system and he was becoming very fond of Hinatea, a rewarding partner on many different levels. Hinatea and her friends were off to talk with their families and friends, exchanging stories and catching up, so he had responded to the emotional turmoil he felt at the sight of Suzanne by slipping away and following her. Now he took a step towards her.
“Stop!” Suzanne cried, alarmed at how closer proximity made her feel. “Pat, you’ve made your choice, now go to your girls and leave me alone. I am trying to plan.”
Pat had learnt a surprising amount about the magic from talking with the girls, and now hatched his cunning plan with immense subtlety. “I was worried about you, Suzanne, and how the magic was affecting you. You haven’t had much opportunity to exercise, it must still be coursing in you, and so I thought I would help you get rid of it.” He smiled hopefully at her, pleased with how delicately he had spoken.
Suzanne’s eyes narrowed. “You filthy little boy,” she hissed. “You didn’t come here to make me feel better; you just wanted to rattle me. Well think again, farm boy! You will never, ever, touch me again. In fact, I’ll make sure you don’t touch anyone!” With that she started to spin towards him.
Pat fled, the memory of her kick to Fourth Lieutenant Reilly running through his brain, and felt the waft of air as she missed him, barely. Suzanne watched him leave, fuming. As her anger dropped she realised it had blown away the last of the magic within her and her mood turned. She laughed, thinking Pat was just like every other seventeen year old boy who had discovered sex.
In the evening Suzanne discussed trade with Poema, while Sara listening in without much interest. It was difficult, as the main traders were the Captain and Brian, laid up by the magic, but the girls understood the importance. The only valuable trade products seemed to be copra, pearls, and trepang. Sara couldn’t understand why Suzanne was so happy and cheerful. She had even winked at her.
Trade talk did cause the Captain to perk up a little and come and listen, but although he saw the value in pearls, none of them knew what copra and trepang were. No, Rereau and Poema didn’t know what they were used for, but they planned to trade them to the next island along, one day.
Taufik was consulted, and they discovered copra was a large dried nut, the source of oil that was a basic commodity in Hind, while trepang was sold to countries to the East, who valued it highly and was worth its weight in gold. It turned out to be a huge sea slug, about a foot long before being dried, that looked totally revolting, both before and after being dried. Suzanne couldn’t help laughing at the sight of one and had to hold one, while Sara was shocked at both her behaviour and the indecorum. She didn’t find what the slug looked like remotely funny.
The Pahippians wanted many of the Harrhein trade goods, but did not have much of anything with which to trade. They weren’t prepared to put in the hard hours gathering either. Life was easy on the island and it was more fun to party than work. Nevertheless, they had a small store of copra and trepang, and more of pearls which they used for decoration. They were happy to give this to the Queen Rose in exchange for knives and mirrors. Eventually Sara cut through the problem by stating Harrhein would rent land and employ local workers in return for their goods.
Surfing
The following morning Captain Suzanne Delarosa convened her meeting on the poop deck rather than ashore. Present were her officers, Lieutenants Mactravis and Starr, the Bosun, Sailing Master Taufik and Priest Perryn. Taufik gave them hope for the recovery of Captain Larroche, for he was much improved over the last two days.
“Thank you for attending Gentlemen and Ladies,” started Suzanne. “I called the meeting here rather than ashore because I want to remind you and all the crew that we are a crew and will be sailing shortly.” She looked around at them, and they nodded.
“Now there are two major problems I foresee, and I want you to contribute any others you are aware about. First is the state of the Captain, the Mate and the Bishop. It is my opinion, given Master Taufik’s strong recovery, we should ignore their requests to stay and take them with us, by force if necessary. I intend to enter the command in the log, but first I wish to give each of you the opportunity to lodge any opinions or objections to be entered in the log.” She looked around enquiringly, but met with looks of approval and nods.
“You log it, Cap’n,” said the Bosun. “We’re with you. I’ve sailed with Wilbur for more than ten years and it’s what he really wants, whatever he may say when that skinny brown tart looks at him.” The others looked a little startled to discover the Captain’s first name, but nodded their agreement.
“Very well. It is so noted.” Suzanne wrote in the log while the others admired her penmanship.
“The next problem is more interesting. So we sail on.” She looked at them with level eyes. “How? I have been a ship’s officer for barely a month. I can run a watch, and follow orders, but I do not have the slightest idea how to plan a route or judge the wind. I don’t know where to go next.” The lieutenants and Perryn looked blank but the Bosun chuckled.
“Don’t worry about the sailing. It’s me and Taufik does that anyway, whatever you bloody officers think. As for the route, dig out the Captains rutter and see what it says.”
Perryn leaned forward. “I can get out Bishop Walters’ maps, and perhaps Taufik can explain?” He looked at Taufik who nodded, so Perryn slipped off to collect the maps.
“Captain, don’t worry about the sailing,” the Bosun went on. “I know you and the Lieutenants don’t know a blamed thing, but me and Taufik can set the course alright. You just decide when to go and where to go. You’re doing a right fine job if you ask me so keep it up.” The others murmured agreement.
“Captain,” began Sara, “it seems to me we need to proceed along the chain of islands, checking each one out to ensure there are no dangerous surprises for following trade ships. We need safe ports like Pahipi all along the chain.” Sara and Suzanne had conspired overnight, during which Suzanne told her about Pat at the pool. Sara cried, threw a tantrum and slapped Suzanne, then burst into tears while the girls hugged each other. Suzanne told her how the anger wiped out the last of the magic, but Sara confessed she still had some in her, in a small voice, though the slap helped. They hugged again, exchanged apologies and were almost back to their old selves, though Sara vowed to herself never to trust Suzanne with a boyfriend again.
Suzanne nodded. “Yes, that makes sense. What else is in the bigger picture? I am thinking of us as a trade ship, but you have other ideas?”
“Oh yes,” Sara nodded . “Of course we need to find trade opportunities, but politically it is difficult at home. There are lots of dissidents at the moment, and this damn parliament is causing problems for the Crown. They are trying to restrict the Crown’s ability to tax, which means our income which means our power. This trip could be really important for us. If we can set up trade routes, with established partners, they could cause money to flow to the Crown and we won’t need to worry about the machinations of parliament. It’s just some of the barons and traders trying to take power.”
“If you say so,” said Suzanne doubtfully, as she had friends in Parliament. She traded on both sides. “But I do understand about the trade routes. The whole country will benefit from those, as well as the Crown.”
“Sure will,” said the Bosun. “We’re the first, but the ship yards are keen for us to succeed as they want to make more carracks like this. You know the carpenter’s mate is the son of my cousin, who owns the yard that built the Queen Rose? If we start building loads of these ships, it will make lots of people rich.”
“The Crown will need to build warships to patrol the trade routes,” mused Mactravis, alternative career paths opening up in his mind.
Perryn came back with the maps and also with Captain Larroche’s rutter. This was an astonishing book, full of not just beautifully drawn maps, but very specific descriptions of winds, currents and weather, with specifics on sail setting, stars and directions. It ended at Pahipi.
Looking down at the rutter, her fingers tracing one of the maps, Suzanne spoke. “Can we sail tomorrow, Bosun?”
“Three days, please Captain. I want to change all the water casks, and the cook will want to take on as much dried fish as he can. I suppose we’ll need some of those bloody poi roots if we’re taking some girls. I need three days to finish the re-provisioning, wood and other stores. Sara, can you work out how to pay for the provisions?”
“No problem, Bosun. That helps me, we need to buy cargo from them.”
In fact it took another week before the Queen Rose sailed, leaving behind the Third Mate, Taylor, and nine crew with orders to build a Harrhein embassy and trading post. The oldest of the crew, hardest hit by the spell, they were taking the longest to recover. Sara charged them to protect Pahipi from intruders, using the threat of Harrhein retribution. They were married couples, ones the girls hadn’t subjected to temptation, plus a couple of gentler souls.
Suzanne, on advice from the Bosun, promoted several people. One of Taufik’s assistants, Stevens, she promoted to fourth mate, while Pat found himself a Bosun’s Mate in charge of the second watch, under Lt Mactravis, with additional responsibility for the ship’s archers. She hoped the Captain would ratify them when he recovered. He had agreed perfunctorily, but she doubted he would remember. Captain Larroche’s recovery moved at a snail’s pace, and he threw a tantrum when he discovered Rereau was not coming with them. She took him into the hills for a night, and afterwards he agreed to sail. This was better than Walters, who was older and making up for a lifetime of abstinence. He needed to be carried bodily aboard by the soldiers.
Sixteen of the girls sailed with them, all excellent sailors, possessing greater sailing lore than most of the crew. They were agile and loved working in the rigging, all competing with Pat and Nils in the upper yards. Crew morale went up, as the girls were making up for a lifetime with few men, and would spend their time off watch debating the merits of each one while deciding which one to settle down with. The idea of having a man for your very own, without having to share, was exciting, not something they had imagined they could ever have. They were determined not to make a mistake in the selection, which meant intensive research. Nor did they possess the Harrhein attitudes to sex, being very open about it and indeed happy to make love in front of each other. At first horrified, the Harrheinian girls deemed the debate a good idea and joined in the discussions with enthusiasm. The men found it intensely embarrassing. Pat’s explorations were curtailed, as Hinatea didn’t allow him to join in the free for all; he was hers. At least she wasn’t sleeping around.
Suzanne’s fears eased as they sailed from Pahipi without any problems. She stood on the poop deck, with a critical eye on the sails. Taufik tried to explain what she should be looking for, while Captain Larroche stood beside her moping and on occasion interjecting unhelpfully.
“You check the sail to see if wind changes. If sail starts to flap, it means....”
“Luffing,” said Captain Larroche gloomily. “Called luffing.”
“Yes,” said Taufik, after a pause to see if the Captain wanted to explain more. “If it luffs, you are steering too close to the wind and are losing speed. See: watch the sails as I turn into the wind slowly. There! See it? Usually in these waters the wind is very steady, but around islands it can be different. But also I will use it to slow the ship, or to go into harbour.”
