ROAD TO CORDIA (3 page)

     “Tide’s upon us. Move it!”

     Ja’Nil’s mouth was half filled with sausage roll, so she was unable to protest effectively, as Aunt M’eer dragged her out the door and down the path that lead to the wharf.

     “No!” Ja’Nil dug in her feet… to no avail. Aunt M’eer dragged, poked, and prodded her all the way down to the wharf. Once there, Ja’Nil was literally thrown into the boat.

     Lying on the slippery deck, Ja'Nil was promptly sick to her stomach.
Lord of the Circle, save me…
her prayer was abruptly cut off when Aunt M'eer threw a pail of seawater over her, and then gave her an ungentle kick in the side.

     “Clean up that mess.”

     Ja’Nil was still on her hands and knees when her aunt ordered the docking lines let loose.

     One of the watching village woman protested that perhaps it was all too much for the poor child.

     Oh, yes, agreed Ja'Nil. Please someone get me out of here.

     Unfortunately, the woman shut up when Aunt M'eer glared at her.

     Then the tide caught them and Aunt M'eer snarled at her to raise the mainsail. Her only escape was to swim. Swim? Ja'Nil shuddered. She was even more afraid of the sea than she was of Aunt M'eer.

     “Where are we going?” she finally asked.

     “To Cordia.”

CHAPTER 3

     At first, it wasn’t too bad. They steered north following the coast. The wind was mostly with them so they made fair time without having to do much tacking. There were no fishing nets out to slow them down. Instead, the boat was loaded with the trading goods the village sent off once a year, usually with Cho.

     So Aunt M'eer is taking Cho’s place, thought Ja'Nil. She’s probably taking Cho’s share of the profits, too.  Lee-Uno will do a fire dance when she finds out. Still, it was none of Ja'Nil’s business.

     Suddenly, something occurred to her. “But if you’re taking the trading goods…” she said aloud, before trailing off.

     “What did you say? Speak up, girl. I hate it when people don’t finish their sentences. Makes you seem half-witted. You a half-wit, girl?”

     Ja'Nil gritted her teeth and took a few deep breaths. “If you’ve got the trade goods,” she said, “that means we’re going to Market City, not Cordia.

     “We’re going to Cordia,” said her aunt.

     “But Market City is closer, isn’t it?” asked Ja'Nil.

     “My contract is to Cordia. Village needs a healer. Now shut up and keep an eye out.”

     Ja'Nil looked around at the vast empty sea on her left and the steep cliffs of Cancordia on her right. “What am I looking out for?” she asked.

     “You really are an idiot, aren’t you? You’re useless.”

     “Then, why did you bring me along? I didn’t want to come.”

     “Don’t talk back to me.”

     Ja'Nil dropped her eyes, unable to meet her aunt’s glare. Aunt M’eer snorted. “Wasn’t my idea, believe me. Elder Ban’Et thought you could earn enough credits to pay the priests for your adult ritual. Because I’m sure as all the seven hells not shelling out for it. All of you, always trying to get my money. Taking advantage of my good nature.”

     Now Ja'Nil wanted to snort, but she didn’t have the courage. Daddy had pitied her aunt. “Always thinks she’s going to be robbed,” he had said, shaking his head.

     “And has she been?” Mama had asked.

     “It’s all in her mind,” said Daddy. “Gets worse every year.”

     Don’t think about Mama and Daddy, Ja'Nil told herself. She turned away to scan the horizon, blinking her eyes rapidly to contain her tears.       

     It was late afternoon, the wind was holding steady. A soft mist had been falling for some time. Ja’Nil shivered. She had only one change of clothes and needed to keep the other set dry, so she shivered and endured. She also did whatever Aunt M'eer told her to do, including keeping an eye on the horizon, refusing to even glance down at the choppy waters just a few feet from where she was standing.

     She had been staring at the sail for several minutes before it finally registered that a strange boat was heading for them.

     “Ah, Aunt M'eer.”

     “What?”

     “There’s a sail out there.”

     “What? Where?”

     Ja'Nil pointed. Aunt M'eer took out her spyglass and trained it on the fast approaching sail, which now could be seen to have a boat attached to it. It was definitely headed for them.

     “Can you make out the village insignia?” asked Aunt M'eer.

     “No, it’s blank. Why would a boat not have an insignia?”

     Aunt M'eer didn’t answer.

     “Could they be pirates?”

     “Don’t be more stupid than you have to be. Queen Ten’Aj routed the pirates years ago. Cancordia is the safest country in the world. The seas are as safe as our roads. ”

     “Maybe these aren’t Cancordian pirates,” said Ja'Nil.

     Aunt M'eer continued to stare out at the rapidly approaching boat. “Put on more sail,” she said.

     “What?”

     “Unfurl the main, you moron. We’ve got to get out of here.” Aunt M'eer was busily raising the jib sail.

     “But…”

     “Look.”

     Ja'Nil looked. As she watched, the strange boat was finally hoisting an insignia. Not one that Ja'Nil had ever seen before.

     “What is that?”

     “The Green Raven. Raise the mizzen, too,” she said. Aunt M'eer herself moved quickly to the helm. No longer content with the steady but gentle breeze, she began tacking to take full advantage of every shift and thrust of the wind.

     Ja'Nil closed her mouth and jumped to hoist more sail, but Aunt M'eer’s boat, The Profit, was not built for speed. The extra sails helped, but the Green Raven was gaining fast.

     “I thought there were no more pirates,” Ja'Nil muttered to herself.

     By now, she could make out the other boat clearly. It was stripped down for speed with a deep, narrow hull. High on its mast waved the Green Raven banner. There was no way The Profit was going to outrun her. To make matters worse, the light mist was now a steady rain. At least the wind was still holding steady.

     “Take the sword,” yelled Aunt M'eer.

     Ja'Nil turned to her in horror. “Sword?”

     “To cut the lines.”

     “What lines?” Ja'Nil started to ask, just as The Green Raven rammed them. She was knocked to her knees. The pirates, there were five of them, threw grappling hooks onto The Profit. The hooks were heavy and bit deeply into the wooden sides. Ja'Nil jumped to her feet, grabbed the nearest one and tried to pry it out of the wood.

     “No!” yelled Aunt M'eer. “Here, cut the ropes.” A sword came slithering across the deck toward Ja'Nil. She had never held a sword in her life. It was much heavier than it looked. She needed two hands to lift it. She almost lost her balance when she whirled with it to slash down on one of the ropes. The sword was incredibly sharp. It sliced through the thick rope like a hot knife through mare’s butter. Unfortunately, Ja’Nil had put too much power behind it. The blade went through the rope, continued into the wooden guardrail, and stuck there. Ja'Nil was tugging fruitlessly at it when one of the pirates threw another grappling hook. He was pulling on the rope, tying off The Profit to the pirate ship when Ja'Nil finally stopped arguing with the sword, pulled out her knife, and hacked at the rope.  

     In the meantime, Aunt M'eer had managed to cut the other two ropes. They were going to escape. Yes! Er, no. Ja'Nil was still sawing at the rope when one of the pirates jumped from his ship onto The Profit. He landed right next to Ja'Nil. He was huge and (God of the Circle!) he stank. Ja'Nil wrinkled her nose and backed away from his odor. He grinned at her. That was even worse. He was missing two of his front teeth and his breath was indescribable. Didn’t pirates brush their teeth?

     He reached for her; she backed away and slashed at him with her knife. He seemed to find this funny. He kept coming. Ja'Nil backed up and tripped over a neatly curled rope. She scrambled away and picked up a heavy wooden pin used to secure ropes. It was wet and slippery in her hand. She flung it in the general direction of the smelly pirate. To both their surprise, the pin hit him solidly on the forehead. He staggered back. Ja'Nil took the opportunity to push away from the cockpit wall. Unfortunately, she rammed (unintentionally) into the off-balance pirate. He grabbed at her, but she was too quick for him. She feinted to the right, zipped to the left, and shoved him. Open mouthed, she watched as his feet skidded across the wet deck and he toppled into the water. 

     There was a scream behind her. Aunt M'eer had a lance sticking out of her left shoulder. Blood was flowing down her side. Suddenly, the present vanished, and for a moment all Ja'Nil could see was blood pumping out of her father’s side. Aunt M'eer looked at Ja'Nil in amazement. “I’m bleeding,” she said, as she slowly crumpled to her knees, leaned over and tumbled into the sea.

     Ja'Nil forgot all about the pirates. She scrambled over to where Aunt M'eer had fallen and stared into the dark waters. The rain was coming more heavily now and it was harder to see any distance. The pirate boat had drifted away when Ja'Nil had cut the last rope. Suddenly, there was a flash of light and a flaming arrow stuck quivering into the deck.

     The fire was spreading with amazing speed. Ja'Nil grabbed up some extra sailcloth and starting beating at the flame. “There she is,” yelled a voice from the pirate boat. “Get her.”

     Get her? They were still here. Why, oh, why didn’t they just go away?

     One of the pirates jumped from his boat onto The Profit. “Come here, girl.”

     “Please go away,” said Ja'Nil.

     “Sure we will, girl. You come with us.”

     “No, thank you, please.”

     He wasn’t as big as the other pirate, but he was big enough. He also wasn’t as smelly, but that wasn’t really saying much. He reached for her. Without thinking, she swiped the burning sailcloth at him. He jerked his hand back, but the sailcloth brushed across his arm setting his shirt on fire. He ripped wildly at his shirt. Another pirate jumped on board. He made no attempt to help his comrade. In fact he laughed. “A hot piece, is she?”

     Ja'Nil turned, but there was nowhere to go but into the sea. She leaned over the guardrail. No. Never.

     She remembered her mother once saying, “Never say never.”

     No! She would go with the pirates first. How bad could it be?        

     “Get her,” yelled the on-fire pirate. The other pirate stopped grinning and looked very serious.

     “You’re for it now, girl.”

     Ja'Nil stood dithering. Jump or surrender?

     The on-fire pirate had finally torn loose his burning sleeve and was examining his blistered arm. “Use your belt on her,” he yelled.

     The un-burned pirate (which is how she was thinking of him) smiled at her. He had even less teeth than the man she had hit over the head.

     Maybe it was a pirate thing. She couldn’t believe she was thinking of teeth at a time like this.

     The toothless, un-burned pirate unbuckled his belt and pulled it out from around his thick waist. He was really going to beat her. Aside from Aunt M'eer kicking her, Ja'Nil had never been struck in her life and this man was going to beat her. With a belt.           

     The pirate raised his arm, preparing to swing. Ja'Nil was already crouching down; her arms raised to protect her face when the Green Raven swung around and bumped hard into The Profit.

     Ja'Nil, poised to dodge the descending belt, was knocked back into the side rail. Her toes were still on the deck but she was bent over backwards on the rail. The toothless, burn-free, belt-swinging pirate scrambled to stay on his feet.

     Another bump, this one much harder. The Profit shifted and raised slightly on the starboard side; unfortunately for Ja'Nil, she was on the port side. With agonizing slowness, she was dumped out of the boat into the cold, deadly sea.

     She went under. And under. And further under. Shocked by the bitter coldness, her lungs froze in surprise. Before she could stop herself, she swallowed a mouthful of icy, death dealing seawater, and panicked.

     Flailing, not knowing up from down, Ja'Nil kicked out, hit out, screaming inside her head, her lungs burning, her eyes straining desperately for any sign that would lead her out of this watery coffin. All around, black water clutched at her. This was her nightmare come true.

     Then, like a cork, her head popped out of the water. She looked around wildly. It was late and darkness was settling on the water. About fifteen lengths away, she could make out the still burning Profit. She could also see the two pirates peering into the water, searching for her.

     She waved frantically and tried to call to them but all she got was a mouthful of deadly seawater. Anything was better than dying. She started to swim back to the pirates and whatever it was they had in mind for her when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a dark object, separate from the sea. Had one of the giant killer sea eels found her? She was going to be ripped to bloody pieces, she was going to…She swirled around to face this new horror. Not a shark. An impossble distance away land jutted out of the sea.

     Impossible or not, it was that or the pirates.

     At first, she swam frantically until tiredness finally forced her to fall back into a steady, economical pace. Like all Fisherfolk, Ja'Nil had learned to swim almost before she could walk, but she hadn’t been in water over her knees in almost four years. Still, the skill was coming back to her now. As long as she didn’t run into one of the larger and more unfriendly sea creatures, she would probably make it.

     She swam doggedly, too tired to lift her head and check the distance. Gradually she began to hear the pounding of the waves hitting the beach. Suddenly she was caught up in swells, and then, Oh Lord of the Circle, something bumped into her. She practically levitated and struck out at it when her other hand was caught on cloth. Cloth? Then the sea creature moaned. One of the pirates? That was as bad as a sea monster.