A Hollow Mountain (The Brightest Shadow Book 2), page 52
"Stop that, you fucking lunatics!" The captain of the ship roared down from the upper deck, spittle flying to land between them. "It's bad enough that you errants dance around on my ship, don't go chopping it up!"
"My apologies." Slaten returned his sword to his side and bowed, but the captain only threw a coil of rope at them.
"You do understand you need the ship to float, right? Is 'wood floats' too difficult a concept for you sword-swinging imbeciles?" The captain pointed down at the rope he'd used as a projectile. "At least use that freakish strength to get this tied!"
Tani nodded and gathered the rope to take to one of the sailors. She had grown somewhat accustomed to life on a larger vessel, but didn't think herself a sailor. The man instructed her on how the rope needed to be tied high above the mast, so Tani quickly ran up the side to fasten it. They had taught her a few sailors' knots, at least, and usually relied on her instead of climbing themselves, as the sailors seemed happy to have her help, aside from the captain.
Meanwhile, Slaten helped the others tie the other end of the rope properly. Tani balanced atop the spar waiting for him to finish, then dropped back down beside him. Once he finished his work, he turned to her and spoke without preamble.
"Your knife trick is clever, but it lacks cutting power."
"I know." Tani dangled a knife from a thread of sein, considering it. "I could pull it back harder, but I don't think that will be enough. The true problem is that all the sein in the knife is spent on the throw. If I held the sein within it, do you think you would notice?"
"Most likely not." Slaten blinked as he considered it. "Could you so easily just leave sein in a weapon after it has left your hands?"
"No, that's beyond me, but perhaps one day..."
Slaten ran his hand over the edge of his blade, frowning. "I failed to cut your threads."
"Did you truly expect that to work? It's not as if sein is invisible metal, to be smashed against itself. So much of myself is built into the threads, I don't think the sein of another could simply cut it."
"I still believe it might be possible."
Tani regarded him, then nodded thoughtfully. "If that's what your instincts tell you, you might be correct. I wish that we had Veron or Olondris along with us. They would no doubt be able to provide insight on the matter."
"Perhaps we could ask one of the stronger errants? I believe that three of them are Steeljudges."
Though Tani suppressed her frown, she suspected that Slaten might have noticed. He might not embrace the northern ranks uncritically, but he accepted them where she remained skeptical. It was not a significant point between them, but she disliked seeing the terminology creeping into his language. In any case, their sparring was clearly done for the day.
That complete, it was, sadly, not yet time for a meal. Tani had found the prospect of an entire trip of dry rations terribly sad at the beginning of her journey. Fortunately, the ship had quickly developed an informal exchange market for food, making each meal a strange puzzle that was all the more satisfying for the difficulty in creating something delicious.
The Bloodskins and Earthbreakers always had unusual foods to trade, though she feared that they had raided them. Contrary to what the Espalese had told her, Portantese errants cared deeply about food, carrying a variety of sweet sauces that could make even hardtack rations palatable. Tani herself traded from a bundle of food that Mantyos and Olondris had given her before she departed.
Natala sat at the center of many food exchanges. Tani was still uncertain how the Bloodskin woman had managed to acquire so many different items, but her collection had grown throughout the journey south. A few of the raiders grumbled about it, but the errants and the others seemed happy to trade with her, despite the fact that Tani suspected she was trading them their own delicacies.
As much as it pained her to set food aside, she admitted that there were more important things she could be doing. Training was actually the least of her work: most importantly, she needed to speak to the errants who journeyed along with them. Melal's purpose had torn them from their homes, but until they reached the mountains, Tani thought there was hope.
At least, a different hope.
Tani padded to the front of the ship and hopped to the deck the sailors called the forecastle. Her goal was Cantyan, an older errant who had come along with them. Despite his age and heavy armor, he balanced atop the spar at the front of the ship. She leapt up to join him, keeping a respectful distance.
"Are you busy keeping watch, Cantyan?"
"Just looking." He turned back to her, his helm propped back on his head so she could see all of his weathered face. "We have sailed smoothly so far, but the Hero declared that cannot last. I agree. Can feel it in my bones. We'll start to run into problems sooner or later, mark my words."
"Is that much of a prophecy?" Tani asked the question with a smile to soften it. "Since we sail toward a war, trouble is nearly certain."
"Ha, so it is!"
As before, Cantyan did not overtly reject her ideas, but they failed to budge him. He simply continued searching forward, scouting for the Hero. Tani struggled with her thoughts and settled for a different approach. "Aren't you worried about falling into the water?"
"Oh, I trust that I'll keep my feet beneath me. Old Cantyan isn't so old yet!" He leapt and clicked his armored boots together before landing lightly. "But if I did fall, it would be a matter of if I could reach safety before my sein gave out. And it would not be pleasant for my armor, let me tell you. So don't go pushing this old man, eh?"
"You've ruined my trick." Tani stepped out closer, staring at the blue ribbon as it arced toward the mountains. "Are battles over water particularly dangerous for heavily armored errants?"
"A bit of water wouldn't trouble a Steeljudge, but lesser errants... aye, promising young Ironlords have lost their lives in rivers. And only Wahleen has a real navy, which is why the Hero needed to commission Captain Piefar there."
Always back to the Hero. Tani sighed and surrendered to it. "Forgive me, Cantyan, but I need to ask: why come with us? Why risk your life for an old man you've never met?"
"I haven't met the Sage, but there's a brilliant young man I have met! I haven't felt so alive in years..."
"But the risk... it's rumored that the Zeitai himself is involved, and the armies and raiders would be dangerous enough..."
Cantyan turned and put a gauntlet on her shoulder, his eyes soft. "Tani, you are very young. Your fires are still rising. You've never asked for my rank. Do you know it?"
"I don't understand why that w-"
"I am a Peak Ironlord, just as you are." He gave her a slightly pained smile. "In a year you will surpass anything I ever accomplished. I don't begrudge it, but I... I've known for a long time that I would not become a master. So I have been merely a petty errant, accomplishing so little... this is my last chance to fight for something that matters."
Tani's chest ached as her arguments fell away. "Surely... surely you have friends and family. Do they not matter?"
"Aye, but defending them from a war that would destroy them all matters more. My wife is years dead and my children are grown. This is the best use for an old errant, I think. Better to go out as part of the Legend than to grow weak and watch the world leave me behind."
In a different time and place, Tani had uttered many similar words. For a moment she felt a stab of pure hatred at Melal for turning her own arguments against her. Though she longed to draw Cantyan away from the futile conflict, she understood that he sought his own honor and couldn't deny him it. Instead she merely stood alongside him as they watched.
The silence stretched until all of Cantyan's armor clanked. At first she thought that he had been struck and Tani nearly drew her knives, then she saw that he was surprised. Spinning back, the old errant bellowed out to the others.
"Something's not right ahead!"
Many of the sailors scrambled to look and Melal rose from his sleeping position, his sword singing from its sheath. Tani took the more practical step of gathering her sein and peering forward. Whatever his other limitations, Cantyan clearly had excellent vision, because it took her some time to realize what he had seen.
Ahead of them, around a cluster of dusty rocks, a company of soldiers with several ships lay in wait. From such a distance it was difficult to be sure, but from the way they gleamed in the sun, they were likely mansthein. Something shone in the water as well, perhaps a chain to block the river. Tani frowned and stepped down to the forecastle, only to find that the others were already reacting.
"I've stopped the rowers." Captain Piefar scowled up the stairs to join them. "If this is some madness like another errant contest, I'll throw your damn armor overboard."
"There is a blockade ahead," Cantyan said. "I doubt they have seen us, but there is no way to pass them."
"Deathspawn." Melal stepped up beside them, seizing the conversation. "I can smell them from here."
Captain Piefar sighed. "If you want to fight them now, that wasn't our deal. I need to reach the trading camp and sell bef-"
"You'll get your foul profits. Normally I would want to slaughter them, but this group can only exist for the sake of capturing me." Melal put one leg up on the side of the ship, eyes piercing over the sands. "If we are to save the Sage, we cannot be waylaid here. Is there a way around?"
"There's only one river."
"I know that, fool! But though there may be only one path through the Legend, there is always more than one path in life. Find it."
Slaten and several errants and joined them, listening quietly, but no one seemed to have any ideas. Tani tried to stretch her mind toward a solution, but the problem seemed too simple: there was only one way forward and returning was no choice at all.
Piefar grunted and shook his head. "It's time for some errant stupidity. I hate this idea, but I can't have the Deathspawn seizing my goods... or bleeding all over them, if you have your way. Time for the brutes to earn their keep."
He turned away and began shouting orders, but Tani was entirely unclear on just what they could possibly do to avoid the blockade. The rowers let the boat drift back along with the river, sliding toward one of the less rocky banks. Just when Tani feared they would run aground, they did, the deck lurching underneath her. She kept her feet, but some staggered or fell.
"What are you doing?" One of the stronger errants approached the captain, visor down but voice contemptuous. "Unless your ship is secretly a turtle, like in the stories, this is foolishness."
"We have no choice but to avoid the Deathspawn for now," Melal said. His voice was entirely confident, but he regarded Piefar with a strange look. "But you should explain just what you intend to do."
"All of you brutes are going to carry the ship over the sands." Piefar sneered in the errant's visor. "Unless your freakish strength is not enough?"
The woman hesitated, taken aback by the suggestion. Tani thought it must have been a jest, yet the errants seemed to take it seriously. After considering, the errant turned back to him. "The difficulty is not strength, but preventing your wooden boat from falling apart. I demand that you give us command of this operation, if it is not to ruin us all."
"Do as you wish. Just remember that my cargo isn't as dense as your heads."
The mad plan was set into motion. All non-essential crew were sent over the sides to the sandy shore. Several errants moved the anchor chain to a braced position and one of the Steeljudges began to drag it onto the shore. Tani jumped down in admiration for the feat of strength, her boots sinking into the sands.
Beaching the ship was nothing compared to carrying it over the distance necessary to avoid the blockade. She had expected them to stop to build some device to roll the ship, but it seemed that the errants intended to physically carry it. They already had the raiders at the sides, grunting and heaving as they tried to prove their strength against the errants.
They succeeded in moving the ship several times, though never properly carrying it. Tani decided that she had stood back for long enough and moved to stand beside the errant in charge of the others. "Excuse me, can I help?"
"And you are?" The errant looked down at her, eyes moving to her shoulder. Tani reluctantly showed the rank band she had been given.
"A Peak Ironlord? We could use your strength, however... you see that most of us are much taller than you. We'll give you something to carry and trust you to scout ahead of the ship."
Tani was soon handed a surprisingly heavy crate. She might have staggered, but didn't want to appear weak in front of the older errant, so she let her sein flow through her and shifted the crate to a better carrying position. Looking at all the sweating and grunting warriors struggling to move the ship, Tani decided that she preferred this task.
She took her crate to a safe distance and watched as the ship actually lifted from the ground. Slaten heaved at one side along with the Bloodskins, no doubt lifting his share. Some of the younger raiders and errants looked to be more trouble than their strength was worth, getting in the way of the others, while the strongest could lift a considerable part of the ship on their own.
Difficult as it might seem, the group managed to heft the entire ship onto their shoulders. Once the crew finished balancing everything remaining and climbed down from the sides, the warriors actually seemed more than capable of holding the weight. Whether or not they would last carrying it across part of the desert was quite another question.
Once they began marching, Tani moved to the head of the group with her crate, scouting for any sign of a threat. She wished that they had Veron for this and wondered yet again about why the older woman had refused to come with them. During the argument with Melal she had implied she would follow soon, but Tani wondered if she had any intention of joining the war.
Simple walking was painfully slow for Tani, so escorting the ship soon became agonizing. Desperate for anything to distract her, she eventually found Piefar walking to one side, using the ship to blunt the sands blowing against them.
"Excuse me, Captain Piefar?" Tani smiled at him, but he refused to match her expression.
"Don't you have something heavy to be carrying?"
Tani hefted her crate demonstratively and the man grunted.
"I'd tell you to leave, but Natala said you were reasonable for an errant. I suppose I can suffer you for a time."
"Ah, you know Natala?" Though Tani smiled as she fell into pace alongside him, she found herself wondering just how Natala had formed that connection and how much she had already said.
"The girl has a good head on her shoulders. Usually the young ones idealize the brutish fighters, begging your pardon. But she saw them for what they were quick enough. Good to hear someone else with the right ideas about errants."
No doubt that was no coincidence, but Tani wasn't interested in whatever Natala schemed. "You must admit that you would not be able to carry a ship overland without them."
"Wouldn't have to." Piefar shook his head slowly. "I've been to a great many lands and seen a great many warriors. Whatever they're called, it's always the same. Errants, illuminators, blood artists, miasmists, soul legionnaires... just fancier names for bandits."
"That is unfair. The errants risk their lives to defend merchants like you from bandits."
"And they take coin for it. The numbers look just the same in a ledger. They may not have planned it, but they're running the greatest scam in the world."
Tani frowned, struggling not to resist his words as swiftly as she wished to. "You assume that warriors have nothing to offer others. But they can be leaders, counselors, symbols... sein may be used for violence, but it's so much more than that."
"Of course you would say that."
She thought she saw some real contempt in the man's eyes now, so Tani let the point rest. It reminded her of certain arguments between Master Yanumi and other Nelee masters. Always the same words, the same emotions, never truly advancing. Her master somehow let the anger drain from her, but Tani held it inside. With a deep breath, she did her best to completely refocus.
"You're obviously an educated man, Captain Piefar. Is that normal for ship captains?"
"No, no." He regarded her for a time, then rolled his shoulders. "It's not much of a story. I was the fourth child of a minor Espalese family. I learned well enough, but they didn't need another scholar, so they sent me to manage the family business instead. In the end, the family didn't last, but the business did."
"I see. There are profits to be made taking goods along this river?"
"Oh, there are, but this route is new for me. No, I used to sail the Bienal Islands. Have you been there, girl?"
Tani had never seen a single island in her life, so she merely shook her head.
"They're grim in winter, but beautiful in spring. Crossing from Anteln to Felgaad is the only safe way to pass between Fareshel and Breilin, you know. Larger ships might take a southern route, but the Embien Ocean... you have no idea just how vast it is, girl. The emptiness alone will swallow you."
"And so you sail rivers instead?"
Piefar gave a wry smile. "Such long voyages are for the young. I admit that I grow tired of seeing Espalese and Portantese faces every day, especially so many damn errants, but that's a safer path for a merchant. If you can safely carry valuable enough cargo, even a trip like this can be worth it."
"You must have seen a great many wonders in your travels."
"And I'm not inclined to talk about them with brutes, however short they may be."
By now, Tani suspected that he was less than sincere, so she simply smiled. "At least tell me about this idea of yours. I hope that you had some reason to believe that carrying a ship would be possible?"
"Oh, I heard of it from a traveler I met on the islands. All the way from Taln, he was. Very strange fellow. But when he drank enough, he told tales of a land filled with rivers. The brutes they have there train to carry their ships, easily passing between rivers to strike anywhere in the land. Their legends of the most brutish of them had warriors carrying ships on their own, though he might have been talking out his ass there."
