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Salt and Blood - Chapter 35
🕑 Added 2024-10-07 13:08:32 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 34 | Table of Contents | Chapter 36 >>
1.35 - Seagulls and Smiths
Seagulls weren’t Baxter Fudd’s first choice of courier, but his other birds kept going missing. Every morning he’d wake up and find a seagull perched on the open window of the sorting office. Eventually he caved to the fiend. The tradition stuck. Not that we have much say in it.
-Quoted from Guillermo Fudd, Chief of the Bluestone Postal Company
Rose had asked for a tour of the mechanisms, but the worker had just laughed at her. That was fine. She had a plan. Pirates didn’t ask when they wanted something—they took it.
For now she would content herself with simply riding the platforms up to the city. It was a thrill of its own. Felix was practically vibrating with excitement.
They were assigned to platform four and pointed towards a queue in the distance. People of every flavour were lined up and waiting to enter Eastfel Bay. Merchants, wanderers, and migrants were but a few.
And, most thrilling of all were the pirates. Real pirates. It was her first time seeing them, if you didn’t count the attack and subsequent adventure with Trent.
She was curious as to how pirates were able to freely wander on the docks, especially in the country that had put Castell Saltbeard to death. The woman in front of them in line seemed quite friendly when they joined the queue, so she decided to ask her.
“Excuse me miss, I have a question for you.”
The lady turned around. She had curly, cinnamon hair and freckles dotted across her face, along with a beaming smile. “Of course dear, what can I help you with?”
Rose wore a nervous expression as she made her query. “I was wondering why the pirates are allowed to roam freely in the city. Isn’t that dangerous for us civilians?”
Her charade worked perfectly. The gentle woman adopted a motherly tone and pinched her cheek with a warm smile. Rose held back a grimace.
“Don’t be silly dear, the handsome navy men would never let the pirates harm a hair on your head. Besides, who would do business with the idiot pirate that decided to raid their town?” she chuckled, turning back around to chat with the woman in front of her.
That… made a surprising amount of sense. More goods coming into Minenblum was good for the economy. The navy would be happy to look the other way where gold was involved.
As long as the pirates behaved themselves while they were on shore, it was a deal that benefited both parties. It also helped Rose to relax—knowing that they wouldn’t be locked up simply for stepping foot in Eastfel Bay.
The queue slowly dwindled as large groups of people were ferried up to the city on the platforms, until it was finally their turn to board. They’d not quite made the cut for the previous journey, saying farewell to the jovial woman as the sun began descending from its zenith.
Although she hadn’t been let behind the scenes of the magnificent machines, seeing them up close was still wondrous. Huge iron gear-wheels locked into iron rails that ran all the way to the top of the cliff and slowly trundled their way upwards, ferrying fifty people at a time a vertical distance of almost two hundred metres.
By the time it finally returned downwards, empty save for the guard standing by the iron gates, Rose was shaking with excitement. Felix was in a similar state.
They practically sprinted onto the wooden platform the moment the guard swung open the gate, nearly knocking the poor fellow over. The burly fellow waiting behind them scoffed.
“Bloody country bumpkins. It’s just a lift, what’s all the fuss about,” he muttered.
“Oh, stop being such a grump, Derrick. Didn’t you piss yourself the first time you rode one of these?” jeered one of his companions, elbowing him gently.
“I remember that,” chuckled another. “We had to skip the first leg of the tavern crawl to find you a bath and a clean pair of trousers.”
Rose looked at Felix. They both burst into laughter, causing the man to go bright red and start grumbling to himself.
They spent the journey upwards bantering with the group of men, who turned out to be a group of pearl divers.
It was the first time she had heard of such a profession. Felix explained it to her, but his lack of knowledge soon meant the men had to take over.
She listened with rapt attention as they told her stories of exploring the ocean floor. Of searching hundreds of molluscs for the rare few that held the prize they sought. Their dedication to their craft was inspiring.
So fascinating were their many tales, that she almost forgot to take in the breathtaking view as they neared the end of the journey. However, it was the bearded fellow who they’d embarrassed earlier that gave her a nudge and pointed at the radiant colours of the horizon.
Endless ocean stretched as far as the eye could see, in every direction. Gentle waves and the occasional seagull added texture to an otherwise calm seascape, decorated by the blues and oranges of the early afternoon sky.
For a while she simply stared, making sure she branded the image in her memory. Later that evening she wished to recreate even a fraction of its beauty in her sketchbook.
A loud clank signalled the end of their journey, as the iron gears locked into place. Rose really wanted to see how they functioned. Ruminating on the visible parts of the machine hadn’t given her much insight, though she was fairly certain it had something to do with the turning of the different size gear-wheels.
Your profession has advanced!
Apprentice Scholar 6 > 7
According to the Tide, she seemed to be on the right track. It hadn’t seen fit to give her a new skill however, so she must still be missing something. Another problem to add to the pile of things to figure out later.
“Well, you promised me a final adventure,” said Felix, tapping his foot. “This is a beautiful view, but it’s not exactly… thrilling.”
She let out a breath before turning away from the view. The pearl divers had long since entered the city, though she had missed their goodbyes, being so caught up in wonder.
It was a bad habit of hers. Her father had always said she was a born artist—her mind constantly in the clouds, far from the petty troubles of the world.
Turning around, she got her first glimpse of the city from up close. Having seen the walls and castles of Highbream, it was not quite as shocking to her that the smallest of buildings were two or three floors tall.
However, the village girl in her marvelled at each and every structure as they strolled along the cobbled streets. They held hands, so as to not get separated.
Felix seemed content to let her lead the way, though she didn’t have a particular destination in mind. Her only pressing task was to visit a smith and see if she could get her treasures turned into some worthwhile gear.
She’d asked for a recommendation from Trent, but he refused. “I often find that the world will take you where you need to go, if you open your mind and let it guide you,” he’d said with a smirk.
As infuriating as it had been at the time, she wasn’t in a rush. In fact, his advice resonated with her usual way of doing things. Rose didn’t usually operate with a plan. All she had was a dream.
Now that she’d actually taken the first step towards that dream—becoming a pirate—she was content to relax and see where her new path was taking her. Suddenly, she smacked into a solid wall and came to an abrupt halt.
“Hey, don’t stand in the middle of the road, you’re block–” Felix said, freezing as the giant that she’d bumped into turned around.
It turned out that Rose hadn’t stumbled into a wall, but actually a titanic man with muscles hard as steel who could be mistaken for a wall. Not just because of his size—he was well over two metres tall—but because his skin was as grey as stone.
The oddities didn’t end there. He was entirely bald, yet on each side of his forehead there was a small white crystal embedded. Both were sharpened to a point, like horns.
It reminded her of the stag from the blue forest. This was no monster though. She took a step back, preparing to run the moment things turned sour.
Felix gripped her hand tightly. Despite her recent advancements, she was under no illusions as to their chances of taking this hulking beast on in a brawl.
Yet, the furious rebuke they were expecting never came. Instead, the giant’s eyes flashed. She realised they too, were made from crystals. With a voice like tinkling wind chimes, he finally spoke.
“A curious little girl. I sense great fortune on you.”
Suddenly, his crystalline eyes went dark, a deep abyss that seemed to drink in the surrounding light. Then they returned to normal, as though nothing had happened.
His gaze of interest turned almost fearful, but that was soon quashed. Rose thought she may have even imagined it. She was still trying to connect the delicate, airy voice to the colossal figure before her, when he spoke once more.
“You must follow me. Fate demands it.”
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