Zypheria's Call (A Tanyth Fairport Adventure) (21 page)

“’Bout time,” Rebecca said. She snatched up her own jacket and hat, following Tanyth down the stairs and out the door. “You’re not goin’ wanderin’ alone, mum. Not while I’m here.”

They set off for the market district, but soon found their path leading to the docks. Residents gave the strange old lady in trousers and a big hat a wide berth. The odd young man at her side glowered at everybody they passed. Tanyth snickered inwardly at some of the looks they got. A couple even made a warding sign against evil when they thought she wasn’t looking. She ignored them and kept walking.

They were only halfway to the docks before her left knee started complaining. “Gettin’ soft, old woman,” she grumbled.

“What’s that, mum?” Rebecca asked leaning over and casting a look of concern at Tanyth’s face.

Tanyth shook her head. “Knee doesn’t like the moisture. Keep goin’. It’ll be fine after a bit.”

A final turn brought her onto Front Street—the main road that bordered the harbor. A row of warehouses and chandleries lined the shoreward side while long, stone piers stretched their narrow fingers out into the harbor on the other.

She stopped then and took in the view, drawing deep breaths of the cold, wet air into her lungs and blowing it out. The tang of salt and fish invigorated her and she wondered why Mabel served so little fish. Surely there were fisherman who could supply some decent catches.

After resting for a few moments, both hands on the head of her staff, they set off again, heading for the Harbor Master’s office. As they strode along, the iron heel of her staff made rhythmic thumps on the wooden boardwalk, and she found herself admiring the view of crisp blue water, white gulls, and long piers. She probably should have been paying closer attention to her path and less to the sailing ships and seabirds.

As it was, she ran headlong into a portly man with broad shoulders and a hint of gray at the temples. The impact set him back, and would have knocked her off her feet, if it hadn’t bumped her against the weathered boards of a warehouse.

“You should watch where you’re going,” the man snapped.

Tanyth recovered and both apology and jibe died on her lips as she saw the man’s face. Even curled in a snarl, she recognized something about him. “Mapleton...” she murmured.

The man stopped dusting off his coat and pants, glanced at Rebecca, and peered at Tanyth, his eyes taking in the face under the wide hat and then her general shape fully registered. “What did you say?”

“Sorry. I shoulda been more careful to not be where you were walkin’.”

“No,” he shook off her apology. “You called me Mapleton.” He scowled at her, taking in the lines on her face and the gray in her hair. “Do I know you?”

Tanyth shook her head. “No, sir, but I believe I know a relative of yours—William?”

The man stiffened. “You know William Mapleton?”

She nodded once. “Well, enough that I saw him in you just now.”

“He’s my younger brother.” He squinted at her in the glare of the late morning sun. “And you are?”

“Tanyth Fairport. I spent the winter at your brother’s village.”

He seemed surprised. “Did you? And is he calling his little encampment a village now?”

She smiled. “No. He calls it Ravenwood now. So do the rest of the villagers.”

“How’s he doing, my little brother?”

She shrugged. “Amber keeps him in line. He’s holding up under the strain.”

“His kids? James and Matilda? They’re well?”

“You mean Riley? He’s goin’ to be a handful when he gets older. He’s already got all the kids in the village in line.”

He tilted his head to one side, almost birdlike, to look at her. “You really do know William.”

She laughed and nodded. “Indeed I do.”

A thought seemed to slap into the man’s head and he looked about, staring first at Rebecca and then around the quayside. “Is he here? Did he come to town with you?”

Tanyth shook her head. “No, sir. He’s needed in Ravenwood. I rode in with the first load of clay for the season.”

“Ah, Frank is here then? Frank Crane? You know him?”

She smiled. “Oh, yes, I’m quite familiar with Frank Crane. He left this morning to take the lorry wagon and supplies back.”

“And left you behind?” The man seemed astonished.

“I’m heading north, Mr. Mapleton. Going back to Ravenwood wouldn’t do me much good.”

“North?” He turned and looked at the ships as if seeing them for the first time. “What? Sailing to North Haven?”

“Well, it’d be rather a dampish walk from here, now wouldn’t it?”

He looked at her and, for the first time, smiled. “Yes, mum, I supposed it would.” He held out a hand. “Stephen Mapleton, at your service, mum.”

She shook the offered hand and noted that for all his foppish dress, his hand was strong and callused from labor. He was not the office-bound dandy she’d first taken him for. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Mapleton. This is Rebecca. She’s—”

“Mr. Mapleton,” Rebecca broke in and shook the man’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“And you,” he said eyeing the young woman’s apparel with curiosity. “And you, too, Mother Fairport. Please be more careful on the docks. It’s a dangerous place here. You could fall off the pier and drown.” His concern seemed genuine to Tanyth, if a bit condescending.

“Thank you, Mr. Mapleton. I’ll watch my step.”

He tipped his hat to her and started to walk on when he stopped and looked at her, then at the ships lined up at dock. “You’re booking the first ship north, I take it, mum?”

“That’s my plan.”

He nodded, as much to himself as to her, before speaking. “A word of advice, mum?”

“Yes?”

“Pick a ship that’s insured.”

She frowned at the unexpected answer. “Insured?”

He nodded once, very sharply. “Insured.” He looked around as if to see who might be watching or perhaps near enough to hear. “Just be sure.” With that, he hurried off, leaving Tanyth and Rebecca standing on the boardwalk staring after him.

“How odd,” Tanyth said.

Rebecca pursed her lips but kept her own counsel.

With a small shrug, Tanyth straightened her hat and set out again along the boardwalk, Rebecca keeping pace alongside. The harbormaster’s office lay just ahead and she had a mind to stop in.

When they got there, a barrel-chested man with a heavy beard stood behind the counter. His eyebrows shot up when he saw her enter. Tanyth saw him settle a welcoming smile on his face like a mask and fold his hands on the counter, as if he’d been up to something that he wanted to pretend he wasn’t doing.

“Good day, sir. How may I help you today?” he said while Rebecca was still closing the door.

Tanyth smirked and took off her hat, letting her hair fall free and stepped up to the counter. “You could call me Tanyth as a start, young man. We can see what happens after that.”

She saw his face sag in surprise, saw him glance at Rebecca who also removed her hat, and then watched him puff himself up again. She sighed.

“I’m sorry, mum. Tanyth. Of course, mum. How can I help you today...Tanyth?”

“Is North Haven open yet?”

He blinked, clearly not expecting a direct question. “North Haven, mum?”

“Yes, the port that’s to the north? Last I heard it was still closed because of ice, but should be clearing any day. Have you any news?”

He grumped about for a moment, stroking his beard and stretching his braces. “Well, certainly, mum. That is to say, no, mum. There’s been no recent news. North Haven is still iced in. Prob’ly. When the Zypheria blows, we know when to send the ships north again, but no, mum. It hasn’t started yet.”

“Thank you.” She started to put her hat back on but paused to ask, “Where is the other young man? Bright lad, tow-head, about eighteen or nineteen winters?”

“Parkins, mum? Why he’s havin’ a bit of lunch. He’ll be back shortly.”

“I see,” she said. “Can you tell me which of the ships will be heading north when the time comes?”

“Oh, I couldn’t do that, mum. That there’s what we call confidential information.” He puffed up his chest and smiled in a way that made Tanyth want to poke him with the iron end of her staff and let some of the air out.

“Indeed,” she said and settled her hat on her head. She turned and scanned the chalkboards mounted on the wall. “Then all these markings here? They have nothing to do with the ships or their ports?”

“Um, well, mum. Those are just notes we use to try to keep track. ’Tis a busy port, you know. A lot of trade from here goes out to the eastern kingdoms and the island nations to the east. Lots of cargo in and out.”

“I imagine that’s true,” Tanyth commented and noted the vessels on the board marked North Haven. Just as before four names were scrawled in chalk, three on pier two and one on pier three. “Tell me, young man, have you heard of a vessel named the
Zypheria’s Call
?” She turned to the man and saw his eyes flicker toward the board and then back at her.

“
Zypheria’s Call
.
Zypheria’s Call
.” He fingered his beard and made a big show of trying to recall. “I believe that’s a coastal packet, mum.”

“So, she’s not in port now then?”

“Oh, no, mum. Certainly not.”

“Do you expect her soon?”

“Well, mum, she’s a coastal packet and keeps her own schedule. Rather independent these ship captains. One never knows.” He cleared his throat and glanced at the board again before looking back at Tanyth. “One never knows for sure, mum. Never for sure.”

“I see,” she said. “Tell me, young man, can you read? Write?”

He pulled his head back on his neck and peered down his nose at her. “Well, of course, mum. You can’t hold this job without knowin’ your letters and your numbers.” He said it with a degree of pride.

“Well, it might interest you to know that I can both read and write as well.”

His face took on a pasty look where it showed around the face moss. “Zat so, mum?”

“Quite well, in fact.” She gave him a hard look for a few heartbeats. “You might want to keep that in mind the next time you have confidential information that you don’t want just anybody to read off these large boards around the entry.”

“Err. That is, mum. You have a good point.”

“Are you the actual harbor master?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, mum. He’s my uncle.” His voice lost some of its timbre and a great deal of its volume.

“And your name?”

“Wesley, mum. John Wesley.” He lowered his head.

“Well, John Wesley, when Parkins gets back from lunch, you might be nice to the lad and ask him about the ships. He seems quite knowledgeable.”

Wesley looked up at her. “Yes, mum. Excellent suggestion.”

She smiled and, with a nod, followed Rebecca out of the office.

Outside she shook her head and sighed. “Why is it they have to be such idiots?”

Rebecca giggled. “You handled him quite well, mum.”

Tanyth just sighed and shrugged a shoulder. “Be better if they didn’t need quite so much handlin’.”

A seabird soared overhead and uttered a call like a rusty hinge shuttering open. It dropped a large white deposit on the boardwalk in front of her.

She snickered. “Exactly my point,” she called to the bird then set off down Front Street in search of Pier Three, Berth J.

Chapter Seventeen:
A Tall Ship

They walked along Front Street and noticed a large sign with a number at the foot of each pier. She lead Rebecca down pier three, walking by large letters painted on the bollards in a regular off-set pattern with A on one side and B across from it. Berth J was near the end closest to the harbor’s mouth. A cold wind blew steadily along the length of the broad stonework and they soon walked with hats clutched in hands rather than risk losing them to wind and sea.

Tanyth spotted the ship by its position and the nameplate across the stern. She was able to read it from some distance because two berths behind it were empty. The
Zypheria’s Call
looked poised to sail, her bow aimed almost due north by Tanyth’s reckoning.

The ship appeared well maintained, her metal parts gleaming in the sun and the painted bits looking bright and solid. Tanyth didn’t know much about ships, having sailed only twice before in her long trek, and never across open ocean. As she drew alongside, the ship itself seemed to have an odor—clean and pungent smelling, at once familiar and foreign. It took her several minutes of taking deep breaths to place it as tar and rope.

A reinforced plank stretched from the deck of the ship onto the pier itself. It seemed to Tanyth to be a rather steep climb up to the deck. A rope ran along either side like a kind of handrail and she eyed it dubiously as more problematic than proper. Perplexed as to what to do next, she stopped at the end of the plank and looked up toward the ship and then higher still to where the empty masts and rigging stretched into the cloudless blue sky. The sight thrilled her and she really couldn’t explain why.

Footsteps coming along the pier behind them made her turn and look to see who approached. A man of medium years and darkly tanned skin nodded politely and smiled. He carried a leather-bound book under his arm and wore a tasteful wool suit against the chilly breeze. “Good morrow, mum. Miss.”