An Aimless War - Chapter 5: Chapter 5

I didn't like the ship.
As soon as I stepped onto its deck I hated it. Even if I tried to ignore the water around us, it was impossible to not feel the slight swaying as it was hit by waves. It was a medium sized ship, easily larger than the little fishing boats, but not as big as the huge warships and cargo ships that floated further out in the water. Sailors rushed around us, and some of them were already up the two masts. I watched them a little jealously. The view would be amazing from up there.
Tannix walked across the deck as confidently as if he owned the ship himself, which for all I knew he might have. I followed him across the deck to a set of stairs, which led up to a slightly higher section. I recognized the wagon wheel used to steer the ship. Nearby, a man who was probably the captain was looking over a piece of parchment.
"Captain Roland," Tannix said.
The man looked up, and smiled. "Ah, you've finally arrived. Are you ready to set out?" Like Tannix, he struck me as someone who was used to being in charge. He was dressed fairly simply in a dark jacket, pants and boots. In sharp contrast to his simple dark clothing was his hat, wide-brimmed and decorated with a blue feather that fluttered in the wind. A thin, slightly curved sword hung from his hip.
"Yes, we can leave. I apologize for taking so long; there were some things to clear up," Tannix said.
"Nothing to worry about, lad. The weather's been holding, so we should have an easy sail. I reckon we'll reach West Draulin early tomorrow morning."
The man had the slight accent I had heard from sailors before, and he didn't look quite like a Telt. His face was tanned, but his skin was still paler than mine. His neatly trimmed beard and long hair were very dark instead of Teltish blond. His eyes, too, were not quite Teltish—green as opposed to the usual blue.
He continued speaking, "One of my lads will take your bag below to my quarters. I take it Tandrin's staying behind?"
Tannix nodded. "For now, at least."
The captain passed the parchment he was holding off to his sailor. "Well, let's be on our way, shall we? Lads!" He started to call out to his sailors in what sounded like complete gibberish.
It suddenly really occurred to me that we were going to be leaving the safety of the port, and we would be doing it in the dark. "Tannix? Did... did he really mean it when he said we'll reach West Draulin tomorrow?"
"The trip takes about a day, less in nicer weather."
"You didn't tell me it would take that long."
"You've seen maps."
"That doesn't mean I had any idea how far away it was!" I lost the fight again my mounting panic. "I can't be on this boat for that long. I don't like water. I can't swim. What if there a storm and I fall over the side and—"
"Finn, stop." Tannix put his hands on my shoulders, and just that simple touch was enough to put my racing thoughts on hold. "Nothing's going to happen. I will not let you fall off of the ship and drown. I swear to the Goddess. Besides, Captain Roland is more than capable of getting us to West Draulin safely, and his crew is very experienced."
I took a few deep breaths. "It isn't the people I don't trust, it's the water. I don't like water. I never have."
Tannix paused. He glanced towards the open water beyond the port's protective walls. His eyes were the same colour as the water. The same colour as his blue tunic. West Draulin's colour was blue because of their connection to the water. What if I hated West Draulin?
He looked at me again. "Finn, you have a water god, correct? What's his name?"
"He... uh... Roe."
"Roe," Tannix repeated thoughtfully. "I thought... no, I guess that makes sense. Come here." He let me go, and walked over to the side of the ship.
I didn't want to, but I did anyway. I grabbed the railing that went around the whole ship and squeezed it tightly.
Tannix leaned against the railing, which seemed incredibly risky. "Let's ask Roe to bless our trip."
I stared at him for a moment before nodding. There were old Zian prayers for sailors, there must have been, but I didn't know them. So I spoke in Teltish. "Roe, please make the water stay calm until we reach West Draulin. And please bless the... what's it called? The ship?"
"The WDN Queen of Crele."
"The WD—what?"
"The West Draulin Navy Queen of Crele," Tannix said. "Just the Queen is fine."
"Please bless the Queen, so we don't get tipped over or sink. Thank you."
I did feel a little better, but I still turned my back on the water. While I had been distracted, Captain Roland's crew had untied the ship, and we were now drifting away from the docks. I didn't want to think about land getting further away, so I focused on something else entirely. The captain was standing at the wagon wheel, shouting out instructions in his odd accent.
"Tannix? Where's the captain from?"
Tannix was still comfortably leaning against the railing beside me. "Crele. Hence the name of the ship."
Crele was one of Zianna's three islands. I knew that the capital city was called Co, but not much else. "People on Crele aren't Telts?"
"You really should start calling us Teltans," Tannix said lightly. "But no. Most of the people on Crele are Crelans. They're a sailing culture, so they tend to stick to big port cities. Actually, I was a little surprised when I didn't see many Crelans in Zianna. The West Draulin Navy is full of them. Roland met my father before I was born, and they've been friends since. He's almost like an uncle. His nephews are two of my guards."
"Do they all talk like he does?"
"It depends on who they're talking to, usually. You'll get used to it. Do you want to go below for a bit?"
I nodded. It would be nice to not see the water for a while.
We went back outside once I was feeling more comfortable. Tannix wanted to talk to Roland about the sails and the wind direction—nonsense I didn't understand—so I found a safe place to sit and watch the crew. They were constantly moving around, adjusting the sails, pulling and tying off ropes, or moving cargo. Most of them were what I now knew to be Crelans, but a few of the men were Native Zians.
The cook was a Crelan, and as the sun started to set, Tannix and I had dinner. It was apparently a Crelan specialty, fish cooked with a delicious white sauce. I ate two helpings, and only just remembered to not lick all the sauce off of my plate.
I spent the night curled up in Tannix's arms again, in a room called the captain's quarters. The night passed restlessly, but eventually I fell into a deep enough sleep that Tannix managed to leave without me noticing. When I woke up the next morning, he was gone.
As I got to my feet, I realized that I couldn't feel the ship moving. Either it wasn't swaying anymore, or I was used to it. I tentatively pushed open the door and stepped out into the bright sunlight. It was a windy morning; the sails above me snapped as they fluttered in the wind.
"Finn! Good morning," Tannix suddenly appeared beside me. "Feeling better today?"
"Not really. I'm starving."
He was obviously expecting that, because he handed me a warm bun, then gestured for me to follow him. We walked to the left side of the ship, and he leaned against the railing. I stood back warily as I tore off some of the bun to eat. Tannix wasn't wearing his cloak. The strong wind would have made it impractical. Still, I liked the way the wind ruffled his hair and tugged at his rolled-up sleeves. He didn't have his sword, just his dagger. He looked more comfortable than he ever had in Zianna.
"Look at it," Tannix said.
Distracted, it took me a moment to actually hear what he had said. "At what?"
Tannix waved his arm towards the water, and for the first time I really noticed the rocky shoreline we were following. Cliffs jutted out of the water, just as straight and tall as the Cliffs of Loth. The ancient Zian belief that the gods lived on this island suddenly made much more sense to me.
"Is the whole island like that?" I asked.
"Mostly," Tannix said. "The port of West Draulin is the only place where the land actually slopes down to the water. It's the only way on and off New Teltar. Aside for diving from a cliff, I suppose."
I eyed the cliffs. "People can dive that far?"
Tannix chucked. "Absolutely not. Not without dying. Isn't it beautiful?"
"The cliffs?"
"The island." Tannix pointed further up the coast, to where the land seemed to fall away and leave nothing but ocean behind it. "Do you see the tip of the island, there? The dark spot, right at the top, is the West Draulin fortress. We're almost there."
West Draulin looked nothing like Zianna.
Zianna was an old Zian walled city, with three rings of walls dividing the lower city, from the upper city, from the palace grounds. West Draulin was a Teltish city.
As we got closer, I forgot my unease about the water and stood near the front of the boat, just gazing at the city as it became clearer. What Tannix had called the fortress sat high on the very tip of the cliffs. It had tall walls and guard towers, and almost looked big enough to be its own city. The city sprawled from the fortress, down the sloping land until the houses turned into huge warehouses, construction zones and dry docks. Piers and docks poked out into the water, surrounded by more ships and boats than I had ever seen in my life.
I made sure to stay out of the way while Roland and the sailors brought the Queen of Crele into the port. As we neared a long dock, a few sailors leapt off of the ship with ropes to tie the ship in place. Above me, other sailors quickly rolled the sails up. Finally, when the ship was settled, a wooden plank was pushed into place to create a little bridge.
When Tannix came to collect me, he was wearing his sword again and had his bag slung over his shoulder. "Well, welcome to West Draulin," he said, grinning. "Ready?"
I was a little surprised to find that I was ready. Most of my doubts about leaving Zianna had vanished. West Draulin looked incredible. I wanted to explore every corner of it. I wanted to know its streets and alleys as well as I knew Zianna's.
But until I had a chance to explore, I was going to follow Tannix closely. The port was crowded with sailors, traders, visitors, and countless other people. Usually I could comfortably blend into a crowd, but this crowd was different. I saw Telts and Crelans, but almost no Native Zians. Of course, it was like I had explained to Tandrin the year before. The gods had lived on this island. Most Native Zians wouldn't want to step foot on New Teltar.
I offered Zianesa a silent prayer for forgiveness as I trailed after Tannix. He wasn't getting the looks he got in Zianna's lower city. Without his cloak he looked like any other Telt.
"My lord!" A tall Telt stepped through the crowd to stand in front of us. Tannix managed to somewhat blend in, but this man was attracting attention. He was wearing a chainmail tunic, and metal bracers on both forearms. A short blue cloak draped around his shoulders and hung halfway down his back. A sword and two daggers hung from his belt, and a third dagger was strapped to his right boot. His blond hair was neatly tied back into a knot, and it must have been fairly long, considering the size of the knot. He was probably a handful of years older than Tannix.
Tannix grinned when he saw the man, and clapped him on the shoulder. "Acen! I wasn't expecting an escort."
"My charge is finally back in West Draulin, of course I'm going to escort him," the knight replied, returning Tannix's friendly gesture. "Did you really think I would let you walk up to the fortress on your own? You had a five-year break from us following you around. That's it. Five years was long enough."
"I hope you're not still holding that against me," Tannix said. "What would you have done in Zianna?"
"My job."
Tannix shrugged. "Oh, well. I suppose I'll get used to it. Oh." He surprised me by reaching back to put a hand on my back and guide me forward a step. "Acen, this is my friend, Finn."
The knight glanced me over. It was a curious and calculating look, exactly what I expected to get from a knight charged with guarding someone as important as Tannix. "The Native Zian you rescued?"
"There's a little more to the story, but yes," Tannix said. "Finn, this is Sir Lord Atricen, captain of my personal guard."