The navigator, p.20
The Navigator, page 20
"Fuck me! Goddamn fucking bitch cost me my whole catch!"
Styvers snatched the knife from Lhan and began to saw through the line. Once he cut through, the net fell into the sea.
The little fishing boat immediately jerked forward, now free of its heavy anchor.
"This is a fucking awful time to get in a chase." Styvers shook his head, disgusted. The hail began to land on the boat's deck, making loud pops that sounded like gunfire. "I'll push this old girl as fast as I can, but I doubt I can outrun him."
Petal, Lhan, and Quill cowered next to Styvers, under a little awning behind the helm. Their boat chugged forward, cutting through the waves. As the storm grew worse, larger balls of hail smashed against the windshield, crackling on the glass, until it looked like it was about to shatter.
High above, in the swirling clouds, constant rumbles of thunder made the heavens heave and roar, as if the sky itself had turned on them.
- 39-
The rain pounded Styvers's boat with gale force. The hailstorm had passed, but Styvers could only see a few hundred feet in front of him. The Widower was still stalking his little ship, slowly closing the distance through the wall of wind and falling water.
The fishing boat smashed against each wave, flying forward at full speed. Styvers hadn't ridden the boat so hard in ages and it seemed to be coming apart from the stress. He turned back from the helm and grinned at Quill, who was huddled next to him.
"You may not be much to look at little lady, but you sure know how to get an old man excited! Haven't had to run from pirates in years! Forgot the fucking fun of it! Weehee!"
The fishing boat crested a tall whitecap and almost took a nosedive into the trough that followed.
"What – what did you say?" Quill couldn't believe she heard him right. She clenched the back of his seat to keep from flying into the air. "Fuck you, you old goat!"
"Hahaha!"
Dhooom!
A large explosion went off a few dozen yards to starboard. It created a bubble of sea water and foam that seemed to hang in the air, before vaporizing into a giant cloud.
"They're shooting at us!" Lhan shrieked. "Do something!"
Dhooom!
Another explosion sounded off to port. The resulting shockwave rattled the boat.
Quill stared back at the Widower and saw a flash illuminate its deck. "They're going to sink us! Zigzag! Double back! Get out of their line of fire!"
Styvers whipped around in his chair and watched the shadowed deck of the Widower light up from each salvo.
"You think I'm stupid, ya bastards? The fire lily was right! If they wanted to sink me, they would have already! They're just trying to frighten us into surrender! Hahaha! I'm no pussy! You want us alive - come get us!"
"This is crazy!" Lhan panted. "We can't get away! He'll blow us to pieces if he can't catch us!"
"I know." Styvers pulled the wheel sharply to port and the boat arced away from the Widower. "But we're more agile than them. It's like a shark after a seal. The shark's faster, but the seal's got more to lose. 'Cept we don't have enough fuel to keep up this speed - but I guess seals can't swim forever neither."
"Naris won't stop." Quill was hysterical. "He'll keep coming!"
"Then the oaf next to ya is right, and we're all fucked, girl! But I'm going to savor this while it lasts. It makes me feel young again!"
Petal watched the Widower try and keep up with Styvers's erratic, zigzagging course. The Widower's deck looked empty, like a ghost ship. Its masts were capped with thin, black strips that flew as its flag. She spent a few moments watching its guns take pot shots at their little boat, the shells dropping down on either side of it, into the sea. The rain continued to pour down from the sky, running down the awning in front of her in a constant waterfall.
"Wait! Up there! What is that?"
Quill leaned forward so she was almost on Styvers's lap. She tapped her fingernail on the windshield, pointing to a pattern of twinkling lights far ahead of them.
"Move your hand!" Styvers batted it away.
The sea ahead of the boat was clouded by rain. Through the gray fog, Styvers could see bright flashes of light. They were too close to the water to be lightning bolts, and too far away to be from the Widower.
"I don't know. They're. . They're ships! More ships ahead!"
"Are they firing at us?" Lhan craned his neck to get a better view. The jarring motion of the ship nearly decapitated him on Styvers's headrest. "Whose ships are they?"
"Don't know! Too far!" Although Styvers was directly in front of Lhan, he had to shout to be heard. "They're either friend or foe. But since we've got a foe right up our ass, I'll take the chance there's a friend out there!"
Styvers pushed his boat forward, toward the dark ships. At first only four of them were visible - black splotches against a backdrop of slightly grayer rain. But as they grew closer, they morphed from a few scattered boats into an entire flotilla.
The flotilla was divided into two warring sides, two parallel lines of warships that were firing at one another. Each ship was being jostled violently from the storm. They couldn't properly aim at the enemy. Most of the shells crashed into the sea or exploded in the air, giving the surrounding cloud of fog and rain an orangish-yellow afterglow.
Quill and Lhan gawked at the battle through the glowing fog, occasionally whipping their heads around to see if the Widower had overtaken them.
The Widower stopped firing and slowed its speed. It was now just keeping pace with Styvers's boat, as the two of them approached the looming battle.
"Those cruisers are Yong ships!" Quill could see them clearly. "So are those transports. I can't tell where the frigates and destroyers they're fighting are from. Mann maybe?"
"No! They're pirates. The sea around Mann is crawling with them!" Styvers yelled. "Maybe some friends of your friend!" He gestured back to the Widower.
Petal watched the battle unfold. The guns of the Yong and pirate ships shone through the rain with bright streaks of orange. One of the smaller Yong ships was hit by a well-aimed pirate shell. The back of the ship broke off and began to sag down into the sea. The forward section was rocked by a loud, internal explosion that soon consumed the rest of the vessel in a blinding fireball.
Styvers pushed on, straight into the fray.
The Widower hung back. Compared to the warring ships, Styvers's boat was an ant - but the much larger Widower couldn't come any closer without becoming part of the battle.
"Haha!" Styvers watched the Widower keep its distance. "Knew he was a pussy! We'll be safe as long as we stay in the thick of this - hidden in the jaws of these sharks."
"Safe? We can't stay here!" Lhan yelped. "Both sides are shooting right over us!"
"Sail to the Yong line, maybe they'll take us aboard or shepherd us! They must be better than any pirates!"
Styvers ignored Quill, holding his place in the sea, bobbing up and down in the no-man's-land between the two navies. After several volleys of fire arced over his boat, a new wave of ships advanced into battle.
"Look, look!" He nearly jumped out of his seat. "I know those ships coming in. See those reinforcements? They're nomads! The Sand Tiger Horde! We can hide in the swarm of em!"
The looming Sand Tiger Horde was a giant armada. Among its ranks was every type of ship imaginable - from giant battleships to little fishing skiffs. It looked like a massive swarm - a mobile, militant, ant colony of a thousand separate vessels. The warships spearheading the sprawling horde quickly moved in close to the Yong flotilla. They maneuvered between the Yong forces and the pirate fleet, shielding the Yong ships from all incoming fire.
Less than a mile back, the Widower slowed its speed to a crawl. Petal saw it turn sail and drift away.
"The Widower's leaving! Naris is sailing away!"
Quill and Lhan turned around to see it for themselves. The Widower disappeared behind the curtain of rain.
To the right of Styvers's boat, the pirate fleet began to withdrawal as well, fleeing in the face of the swarm of nomads, before their sheer numbers overwhelmed them.
"We made it!" Quill hugged Lhan tightly. "I can't believe we made it!"
"Don't throw a fucking jamboree just yet," Styvers hissed. "I got no idea what the hell nomads are doing protecting Yong ships, but it looks like we're going to find out soon. Someone's curious about us!"
A nomad destroyer was bearing down on Styvers's boat. Behind it loomed what seemed to be the Sand Tiger's flagship - a three hundred foot juggernaut - the Typhoon.
- 40-
Quill stepped onto the top rung of the ladder and scanned the main deck of the Typhoon. Across the juggernaut's bridge was a stylized painting of a tiger shark – symbol of the Sand Tiger Horde – one of the largest nomadic hordes in the Southern Ocean.
Oceanic nomads and pirates were actually quite similar to one another. Pirates were predatory packs of ships which would attack any weaker vessel that contained valuable cargo. Pirates lived off what they stole, and stole from whomever they liked - Hesperians - sea people - anyone. While tolerated in some sea people settlements, pirates were vilified by almost everyone else as common criminals.
To a Hesperian like Quill, there was very little difference between such pirates and oceanic nomads. Like pirates, oceanic nomads would attack any weaker Hesperian ship they encountered. However, nomads had a code – they would never attack peaceful, sea people vessels.
Oceanic nomads were large colonies of fishermen, marines, and sailors who made a living entirely off what they could glean from the sea. The nomadic colony would sail together across the ocean in one swarm called a horde. Each horde was headed by a single leader – the Khan.
Ea's nomadic hordes made a living peacefully when they could, but never shied away from attacking Hesperian or pirate vessels. Hesperians of all flags were the traditional enemy of the hordes, and the Isle of Mann was their ally. The Isle was the largest and most populous sea people settlement, and it was a religious Mecca for all nomads. Every year the various hordes would sail to the Isle to participate in religious rights, and their respective Khans would pay homage to Mann's highest priestess - the Great Seer. This raucous, annual festival was called the Jurga or "the gathering."
Oceanic nomads were the cultural and biological ancestors of all sea people. Their hordes were the original pioneers of sea people settlements from Bimany, to the Raft, to Mann itself. Nomads had even landed as far away as Enoch and Atium.
While Quill was elated that the Sand Tiger Horde had saved her from Naris and the pirate fleet, she was terrified as to how she'd be treated. There was no nation nomads despised more than the P.R.K., and she feared they would show no hospitality to one of its exiles.
When the Typhoon and its accompanying destroyer first loomed over Styvers's little fishing boat, its nomadic crew gawked down at Quill, Petal, and Lhan for over an hour, trying to figure out who they were, and what they were doing in the middle of a battle. After getting a good look at Styvers's motley crew, the nomads waved for the two girls to climb aboard the Typhoon.
Once the girls boarded the ship, they were met by twenty armed men and women standing in a long, arced formation.
After a few minutes, a uniformed man walked out from the Typhoon's bridge and skipped ahead of the formation. At his side was a long, curved sword that looked like an ancient scimitar. It jangled with each of his steps. The official examined the two girls with a slightly perturbed expression. His jungle green eyes seemed to linger on Petal.
Petal stared back at him, unblinking.
"Welcome aboard the Typhoon - flagship of the Southern Sand Tigers. I'm first officer Atalai. Our Khan wishes to see you."
"The Khan?" Quill was incredulous.
"Yes. You and Petal please follow me below deck to meet him."
Quill hesitated, dumbstruck. She looked to Petal.
"How - how does he know your name?"
***
Quill and Petal paused outside the door to the captain's cabin. A squad of heavily armed nomads crowded the cramped companionway around them.
Atalai delicately cracked open the door and peeked inside of the Khan's cabin. Assured his Khan was ready for visitors, he threw the door open and made a salute, holding his right hand up to the tip of his eyebrow.
"All hail Rho - Khan of the Southern Sand Tigers!"
The nomads in the companionway stooped down to their knees, bowing.
Quill followed their lead, worried not doing so would offend them.
Petal stayed on her feet. Her knees didn't budge.
The Khan's cabin was large - as big as Quill's room on the Deep Star twice over. It had a king-sized bed full of decorative pillows, a cherry wood dresser and armoire, a grandfather clock, a set of upholstered chairs, and a large, oak bureau. In the center of the cabin, a little back from the door, stood the Khan - Rho. He was dressed in flowing blue robes and dull gray button-up trousers. His face was pink like he'd just come in from the cold. His grayish eyes shifted between Quill and Petal.
"Petal." Rho gave her a quivering smile. "I feared I would never again get to look upon your face. I'm humbled you've come back to me."
Petal didn't respond. She stared at Rho contemptibly.
Quill spoke, hesitantly. "How do you know Petal?"
"My little flower, you didn't tell this woman about your father?"
Petal stayed silent, her eyes burning into Rho like acid.
"Her father?" Quill stammered. "You - you're her father?"
Rho nodded. Petal continued to scowl at him, the hair on the back of her neck standing on edge. Her whole body bristled.
"Petal said she was an orphan."
"Well, in truth, that's correct. I wasn't her father at birth, but I raised her as my child. It pains me to hear she doesn't regard herself as such - but back then I was not as wise a man - I was not yet Khan. Petal, I'm so sorry for all the pain I caused you."
Petal eyed the doorway like she was going to bolt from the cabin.
Rho shook his head. He put his hand on Atalai's armored shoulder.
"Give my daughter some proper attire. And give her a weapon, if she wants one."
Atalai gave Rho a deep bow before leading Petal out of the cabin.
"I'm sorry." Quill looked down at the thick rug that lay across the cabin floor, still avoiding eye contact with the Khan. "I had no idea you were her father."
"And who are you?"
"Sorry again." Quill curtseyed. In all of her time at sea, she'd never been in such a powerful man's company. "My name is Quill."
"Where are you from?"
"Kudu," she said softly, glancing at Rho's looming guards. "I - I mean. . .don't worry, I'm not-"
"No need to worry. You have shepherded my daughter all this way. I'm in your debt. I could not harm you."
"Petal cared for me too. She saved my life."
"Then I taught her well - even though she'd rather forget me."
Rho pulled a cigarette from his cloak and lit it. He took a few puffs and thick, bitter blue smoke began to swirl around the cabin.
"How did you become Petal's father?"
Rho smiled at Quill's question. He took a seat in one of his plush armchairs, and waved for her to step further inside, away from the guards. Once she walked in, the nomads in the companionway closed the door to give them privacy.
"When I was a young man - a foolish man, I went off in search of fortune. I'd been told by the Great Seer that I could find untold wealth where no winds blow – out in the Dead Ocean. I went there with my ship and crew and, like every other treasure seeker, we found nothing. After weeks of heat and thirst, our ship came upon a little atoll near the center of that cursed sea. On that atoll was a little girl. I found her naked and speaking in tongues - babbling. I rescued her and raised her as my own. I even named her - Petal."
"Why Petal?"
"I thought it was a pretty name. I'd never seen hair colored like hers – vibrant as a fire lily."
"How did Petal wind up there, in the Dead Ocean? There's nothing there. No ships, no colonies. . ."
"I don't know. I never knew how she got there, or how she got that mark upon her cheek, but I took finding her as an omen of my fortune. I tried to raise her as best I could, but Petal was a very difficult child," Rho paused. "She always went her own way. You understand? Even a man as strong as myself could not tame her."
"She ran away from you?" Quill took a seat opposite Rho. She sank into her chair's spongy cushion.
