The Jongurian Mission (30 page)

Del went to the back of the boat, stepping over the net his son had strewn about, and opened one of the wooden boxes built into the side of the railing.
He pulled out a small fish, no more than the length of Bryn’s finger and came back over, grabbing the hook on the pole and sticking one prong of it into the fish’s eye, while he twisted the line around it, then dug the rest of the hook into the body. He checked the small weighted stones tied up near the hook, then nodded.

“Good, you’re all set, now just throw her out.”

Bryn looked at Del questioningly.

“Alright, I’ll do it for you this time, but don’t think I’ll be getting in the habit of it,” he said as he took the pole from Bryn.
He held it in his right hand and with his left motioned for Bryn to step back behind him. He looked to either side of him, then satisfied, waved his right arm outward toward the water and the small hooked fish went sailing out to plop into the lake a dozen feet in front of them. He held the pole out over the railing and walked back to the rear of the boat, kicking Cren’s netting out of the way.

“Give the boy some room here Cren; we’ll make a fisherman out of him yet
!” Cren moved his netting closer to the other side of the boat while Del stuck the end of the pole through one of the metal rings fastened to the railing and held the pole out for Bryn to take.

“There you are.
Now just wait for a bite,” he said as he went back to inspecting the peeling paint along the cabin.

Bryn wondered how long that would take.
Would he even have a chance of catching anything with the sails full and the boat moving at a steady clip across the lake? He’d never been on a boat before and this was a lot different than tying twine to some branches back home, so he had no real idea about the fish or the time it would take for the boat to reach the river, and then Dockside. He leaned up against the railing and looked out at the lake. This was pretty easy work, he figured, being a fisherman, but boring. There wasn’t much to see or do, and he realized now why Cren was so quick to grab up the netting and start mending. Still, he reminded himself, he was a long way from the fields of Eston, and the work he had there wasn’t anymore interesting than this.

The sails remained full well into the afternoon and Bryn could
n’t see the shore on their right or even the small dot that had been Baden on the horizon behind them. Water and clouds were all he could see in every direction, and occasionally another boat would dot the distant horizon in front of them. It was quiet too; the only sounds were the water slapping against the sides of the boat and the sails rustling in the wind. He’d given up on catching anything after more than an hour had passed, but glancing down at the pole still fixed to the railing did relieve his boredom somewhat. After a while Willem came out of the cabin and walked over to him.

“So how’s sailing treating you, Bryn?” he asked as he grabbed the fishing pole, let some line out, gave it a few tugs, then put it back into the metal holder.

Bryn looked around him at the empty horizon. “Well, to tell you the truth sir, it’s a bit boring.”

Willem gave a deep laugh.
“You can say that again! There sure isn’t much to do when you get out onto the water and there’s nothing around you.”

“So how can you do it in Duldovia all the time?” Bryn asked.

Willem folded his arms and leaned forward onto the railing as he stared out at the lake rushing by behind them. “Well, Bryn, when you’re raised up working on the water your whole life, it just becomes a part of you. It’s probably much like you and farming in Tillatia, I’d imagine. You get up each day and do it, knowing that’s your place in the world.”

Bryn thought that wasn’t much of an answer, but instead asked if Willem would like
to bait his own pole and try his hand at fishing. Surely he would have better luck than Bryn, being an old hand at it.

“No, no, I’m fine.
I’ve done enough fishing in the Sea to the point that it’s not much fun anymore.”

“Does the Duldovian Sea have different fish than the King’s Lake?” Bryn asked.

“Some, but not many,” Willem answered. “Since the Sea is larger, we do have some bigger fish, but most are the same.” He straightened up and looked over at Bryn. “You know, they say that thousands of years ago the King’s Lake was part of the Duldovian Sea, and that both took up twice the area they do now, stretching from the base of the Montinos all the way to the Barrier Mountains.”

“Really, what happened that caused them to break apart and become smaller?”

“Land changes, it’s like a living thing itself, just with a much longer lifespan. I don’t think anyone knows for sure, but if you walk around the Klamath Plain looking at rocks, you can see some with seashells imprinted on them, so we know it’s true.”

“I’ve often thought that Adjuria and Jonguria was one continent before as well,” Bryn said.

“More than likely,” Willem replied.

A few minutes passed where they both stared out at the horizon.
Finally Bryn got up the nerve to ask Willem a question he’d been wondering about for the past few days.

“Willem,” he began a little nervously, “they say that you could have claimed the throne as your own after the Battle of Baden.
Why didn’t you?”

Willem continued to stare out at the lake as if he hadn’t heard the question, then let out a loud sigh.
“We’d just fought against the Regidians and their allies, and we called them the usurpers. I didn’t want that name applied to me.” He checked the fishing line, flicking the switch to let out a little more line, then put it back again. “Sixty years ago when Duldovia was still a part of Culdovia my grandfather had cast his lot with the Regidians in their first attempt to take the throne when the king died. They managed to hold it until they made the mistake of invading Montino and bringing all of Adjuria to war. I’ve always thought that if he would’ve remained loyal to the Culdovian line like the other nobles then that war would never have occurred. You see, he was one of the most powerful and well-regarded of the nobles, but after the province was split in two his status was stripped away and my family was left with nothing. It took us many years to climb our way back up, and I’ve always vowed I’d never let those mistakes happen again.”

Just then the pole shuddered and Willem and Bryn both looked at it in surprise.

“Well, don’t just stand there, grab the pole Bryn!” Willem yelled.

Bryn did just that, taking a firm grip with both hands on the thick butt of the pole as he slid it out of the metal holder. There was a lot of force on the other end of it, and the pole bowed under the weight of whatever fish had bit down on the line.

“Can you reel her in?” Willem asked, excited.

“It’s heavy, but I think I can manage,” Bryn said as he went to work reeling in the line. It was difficult and it seemed that for every few inches of line he reeled in the fish took twice as many back with it into the lake. He kept at it however, and soon the line had moved from out in the lake to right under the pole.

“You’ve got her now,” Del said excitedly as he came up behind them with one of the long-handled nets from the cabin
wall. “Just keep at her slow and steady now, lad.”

Bryn wound and wound the spool with all his might, and soon the water under the pole was a maelstrom of splashing
from the large fish fighting for its life. With just a few more turns Bryn had the fish out of the water and into the net. Del held the net down on the deck so they could get a better look at the fish thrashing about. It was large, the largest fish Bryn had ever seen. It was too big for the net even; that was obvious at it thrashed about the deck, and Cren took one of the oars from the railing and smacked it on the head a few times before it lay still.

“Well, boy,” Del said with a smile as he bent down to take a closer look at the massive fish, “you’ve just caught the largest sturgeon I’ve ever seen.”

“Look at the size of it,” Willem exclaimed as he stood over it. “I’d say it’s at least five feet long.”

“Aye, at least,” Del agreed as he untangled the fish from the net and laid it out.

The cabin door swung open and the others spilled out onto the deck.

“My oh my,” Rodden said looking down at the lifeless fish, “what have you caught here?”

“Not me, this was all the boy,” Del said, pointing at Bryn.

“Well, I’ll be,” Halam said.
“That’s the biggest fish I’ve ever seen.”

“Aye,” Iago agreed.

“We’ll be well fed tonight,” said Pader, “unless you want to wait until we get to Dockside and sell it. I’m sure she’d fetch a fancy price.”

“That she would,” Willem agreed.
“I’ve heard of fish that large being taken from the Sea, but have never seen one before.”

They all looked up at Bryn.
He still had the pole clutched in his hands and all he could do was smile back at them. “I think it would make for a fine supper,” he said.

SIXTEEN

That night they dined on fried sturgeon and potatoes, cooked up on the small stove Del had in the cabin.
There was more than enough for each man to have two large helpings with some left over. Shortly after eating they reached the King’s River. During dinner the southern shore of the lake could be seen off the bow, and a while after they could make out the river with trees and plains on either side. The boat gathered speed as it approached the river, and the swift current was easily seen. Whereas on the lake the going was slower, their movement determined solely by the wind, on the river the current pushed them along at a good pace. Small waves dotted the river’s surface, creating a continuous noise all around them. It wasn’t the thunderous roar that Bryn had heard along the Tillata River the week before, more of a low humming.

The river was quite wide, and two boats would have no problem moving down it, with still a third probably able to squeeze in between.
Occasionally a large boulder would jut out in the middle of the flow, but they could always be seen clearly by the foaming white waters churned up around them. The banks of the river rose up high on either side and then leveled off; so that it appeared they were sunk down below the surrounding countryside. On their right was verdant grassland while on their left plains stretched on endlessly.

I
t began to grow dark by the time that everyone had eaten and the lake was a distant mass off the stern. Bryn decided that he’d grab his bedroll and sleep atop the cabin under the stars. Del informed them that with the river’s current pushing them faster they could expect to make good time. Everyone was satisfied by that, and with little else to see or do, most decided to call it a night. Halam, Rodden, Pader, and Iago slept in the cabin bunks, while Millen, Edgyn, and Willem joined Bryn on top of the cabin. Del and Cren took turns sleeping on the deck while the other manned the boat. Bryn stared up at the stars and listened to the hum of the river and the waves slapping against the hull as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

He awoke the next morning with the sun shining brightly in his eyes.
The other men were also waking up so they all broke their fasts on bread, cheese, and apples as well as the little amount of fish that still remained from the night before. During the night they had left the plains behind so that now grassland surrounded them on either side. The banks had lowered too, allowing them to see clearly in all directions. The river had widened with several smaller channels branching off here and there while the strong current from the night before had weakened. Instead of rocks and dirt on the riverbanks, now they could see fine yellow sand, a sure sign that the ocean was close by.

Edgyn was standing at the railing near the bow looking ahead.
Bryn decided to go up and ask him about Dockside.

“We must be close by now,” Bryn said.

“Aye, not more than an hour away,” Edgyn replied. “You can tell by the amount of sand on the banks as well as the smaller channels shooting off the river. The closer we get to Dockside the more of those we’ll see.”

“What’s Dockside like?”

“It’s a wondrous place, Bryn.” Edgyn folded his hands together and leaned his arms on the railing. “She’s a very large city, but well spread out along the water. All these little channels we see forming off of the river,” he pointed, “well they all grow larger the closer we get to the ocean. Many are small rivers by the time we get to Dockside, and each is used by boats coming and going from the sea. The King’s River is the largest, however, and that’s where the largest of the ships debark.” He straightened up again and looked down at Bryn. “You see Bryn, Dockside isn’t actually on the Apsalar Ocean at all. The King’s River forms a delta as it approaches the sea, and there’re dozens of different routes that can be taken. The city itself is set back many leagues from the ocean, but small settlements continue to follow the rivers down to the coast, with quite a few smaller villages set up right on the beaches. Collectively they are all known as Dockside, but you’ll see in hour what I’m talking about.”

Edgyn walked off to
talk with Del about their exact destination in Dockside, leaving Bryn to wonder how the city would look. He’d seen two great cities now in little more than a week. Plowdon was large and breathtaking; the first city he’d ever truly seen. Baden was much more regal, being the seat of the royal council and the home to kings. After seeing Plowdon and the lesser cities of Coria and Lindonis, however, Bryn had grown accustomed to a city’s appearance. He wondered if Dockside would have anything new to show him. From what he’d heard and read, most of the city was raised up high off of the water, but he had a hard time picturing exactly what that would look like. At the same time he doubted that it would inspire much awe. A city was often nothing more than a mass of buildings crowded too close together with too many people crammed into them.