The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock (26 page)

In the end, Malock decided they would land at Stalf.
Not very long, of course, and if they saw the slightest hint of
trouble, they would leave without hesitation. When he shared this
with Vashnas, she didn't seem happy about it at all, but she agreed
to it regardless.

After making this decision, Malock went out and
announced to the crew that they were going to land at Stalf for a
few days. Many of the crew (at least those whose mouths hadn't been
frozen shut by the cold) cheered the decision and quite a few asked
who was going on the expedition. Malock explained that he would
have a list in another few hours or so but that in the meantime,
the crew would have to keep working.

This the crew did cheerily, much more so than they
had since Vinji's death. And so Malock returned to his stateroom,
where he began drawing up a list of people to go with him onto
Stalf when they landed there.

-

Kinker was quite glad that Jenur was not taken away
by Messenger. He had to admit he was shocked when he heard about
Telka being taken away, but he didn't grieve for the doctor much.
True, Telka had saved his life when he first joined the crew, but
the two had never been close and after all of the stuff he had been
through over the last few days, he didn't have much room in his
heart to be broken about this betrayal..

Yet, as glad as he was that Jenur was not taken
away, he found the time they spent around each other to be quite
awkward now. Even when they were just hauling in the trawl or
preparing the fish for Arisha to cook, the fact was they both still
knew their deepest, darkest secrets. Kinker's conversation with
Jenur back in the stateroom had been done under the impression that
he and Jenur would never see each other again, but now—unless one
of them got killed somehow—it seemed like they were stuck
together.

The two made a silent agreement never to talk about
the things they shared with each other, either among themselves or
with anyone else. After everything they talked about, there wasn't
much else to say on the matter.

When the cold weather came in, life on the
Iron
Wind
became far less bearable than before. Especially for the
fishing crew, who spent most of their days getting splashed by icy
cold water, hauling in the freezing trawl, and doing their best to
skin the fish, which were becoming far less common now, thanks to
the cold weather. Kinker managed to scrounge up some old blankets
and coats from the hold, but those did little to keep him and the
others warm.

It became even harder when Vinji died, if only
because his death came as a genuine surprise to most of the crew.
As with Telka, Kinker did not shed any tears over the lookout's
death, not because he disliked Vinji but because he didn't know the
aquarian. That, and he was an aquarian, which made it even harder
for Kinker to feel sad about Vinji's death.

The most immediate danger that met Kinker every day
was the frozen surface of the deck. Though Kinker had had years of
experience working on boats and ships, he had to be extra careful
when walking across the frozen desk of the
Iron Wind
. More
than once, his old feet nearly caused him to slip and fall on his
behind, often only catching himself at the last minute. He wished
the trawl was located on one of the lower decks, which had not yet
frozen over, but because that was impossible to do, he had to make
the climb up the stairs from the hatch to the top deck, with the
knowledge that at any moment he could slip and crack his head wide
open.

Yet even that wasn't too terrible until the snow
started falling. The snow began falling not more than a couple of
hours after Stalf came into view. It was not heavy snow by any
means, but there was enough snow to cover the entire ship in a thin
layer of it from stern to bow. Beautiful flakes fell gently from
the sky, covering the ship in a gentle blanket of the white
stuff.

While Kinker wasn't too fond of the snow, Jenur was
ecstatic. She'd pack snow together into large balls and throw them
at some of the other sailors, who retaliated with snowballs of
their own. Not only that, but she also somehow built a snowman that
vaguely resembled Malock, which she cheerfully knocked over when
she got bored of it.

“Why are you so energetic?” Kinker asked at
lunchtime, shivering as he ate his fish (which thankfully was still
warm from the oven). “It's just snow.”

Jenur stopped kicking the remains of the Malock
snowman around and looked at Kinker with enthusiasm shining in her
eyes. “Just snow? Kinks, back where I come from, you'd be lucky to
see even some sleet once a year. But I've always loved snow and
always loved islands that have regular snowfall. It just makes
everything look so different, magical even.”

Kinker looked around. The other members of the
fishing crew were in various states of displeasure at the snow,
from Deddio dusting snow off his jacket to Gino shivering so hard
that he looked like he was about to fall apart. The snow that had
melted so far had created yet another layer of ice, which Kocas
discovered when she slipped and fell on her bum trying to stand
up.

“Magical,” said Kinker. “If you say so.”

“You just need to learn how to have some fun,” said
Jenur. “Take it easy for once.”

Kinker wished his fish was a little hotter. “I'll
take it easy once we're back in saner seas.”

Jenur rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Say, what's
that?”

Jenur pointed toward the oncoming island. Kinker had
to rise to his feet to see what she was talking about, but
carefully, as the spot where he sat was covered with ice like the
rest of the ship and he didn't want to trip and fall.

Once he succeeded in that endeavor, he looked out at
Stalf and squinted. The island wasn't very far away at all now; in
fact, they would probably make landfall in an hour or so. Despite
that, Kinker could not make out as many details about the island as
he'd like. The entire thing looked like a big white splotch,
probably because it was completely covered in snow, but soon Kinker
spotted what appeared to be rounded white walls (whether of ice or
snow, he couldn't say) in the interior, surrounded at its base by a
ring of trees.

“Huh,” said Kinker. “I have no idea what that
is.”

“Looks like someone built it,” said Jenur. “At
least, I doubt nature could have made something like that. Only
question is, who?”

Kinker didn't have the answer to that, nor did he
try to think of an answer. His brain was too frozen for anything
like that.

After lunch, Malock nailed up the list of people who
would be going on the expedition with him to Stalf. As usual,
Kinker had to rely on Jenur to read it for him. She informed him
that only five sailors were going on the expedition with Malock
this time and that, surprisingly enough, she was one of them.

“You're going on the expedition?” said Kinker as he
and Jenur walked back to the poop deck, away from the gathering
crowd of sailors who were trying to read the list. “Why would
Malock pick you? Especially after, well, you know.”

“I don't know,” said Jenur with a shrug. “Maybe he
thinks I'm a good hunter or maybe he is trying to make up for being
a dick. Either way, I'm not complaining.”

“Why not?” said Kinker. “You remember what happened
on Ikadori Island, don't you?”

“Yeah, but look at all of the snow,” said Jenur,
gesturing back over her shoulder. “Looks like there are layers and
layers of it, completely undisturbed by anyone. I've never seen so
much snow in my life.”

At that moment, Kocas appeared out of nowhere, her
dreadlocks frosty, and got right up next to Jenur. She glared at
Jenur, being so close to her as to make even Kinker feel
uncomfortable.

“How did you do it?” said Kocas.

Jenur looked at Kocas, frowning. “What do you
mean?”

Kocas brushed her dreadlocks out of her eyes and
said, “Don't play dumb with me. How did you convince Malock to make
you part of the hunting expedition that's going to Stalf?”

“Excuse me?” said Jenur as she, Kocas, and Kinker
climbed the steps from the main deck to the poop. “I didn't do
anything.”

“No, I'm pretty sure you did,” said Kocas as she and
Jenur stopped at the top of the stairs. “Malock would never have
chosen you and you know it. Even now that we know you aren't the
spy, everyone knows about Malock's paranoia and I know for a fact
that he wouldn't want to be anywhere near you under ordinary
circumstances.”

“Yeah, Malock can be paranoid, but he's also about
as threatening as a puppy dog sometimes,” said Jenur. “He was
really broken when he found out that I wasn't the spy. He
apologized so much. You should have seen him. If you did, you
wouldn't be saying this crap.”

“Did you sleep with him?” said Kocas. “I mean,
everyone knows that he's sleeping with Vashnas, obviously, but I
could see him sleeping around with female members of the crew.”

Jenur's face quickly turned into a grimace. “Sleep?
With Malock? That's disgusting. Besides, unlike a certain
dirty-minded somebody who is talking to me, I'd never consider
sleeping with someone in order to gain their favor. I value my body
too much.”

“I'm not dirty-minded,” said Kocas. “Just realistic.
I know how horny royals are and I know how much Malock likes
younger women. So maybe—”

“I did not do anything to get Malock to put me on
the hunting party,” said Jenur in her firmest voice. “He chose me
entirely on his own. Kinker can back me up. Right, Kinks?”

While those two talked, Kinker had spent the last
few minutes doing his best to mount the stairs leading up to the
quarterdeck. This was normally not a difficult task, but with the
steps as icy as they were, Kinker had to exercise extreme caution.
He had just made it about halfway up when Jenur appealed to him,
causing him to look up and say, “What?”

Unfortunately for Kinker, all of his attention had
been focused on making the climb and so when he looked up at Jenur,
he accidentally missed the next step and went sliding down the
stairs back to the bottom. It wasn't a particularly long fall and
he didn't break any bones, but the fall was so painful that all he
could do was groan.

“Kinker doesn't look like he's in any condition to
give us his opinion,” said Kocas. “Doesn't matter. I'm going to go
talk to Malock and convince him to let me go instead of you.”

“A little help?” Kinker called from the bottom of
the stairs. “Just an old man here, with a back that is possibly
broken, needing some help from you youngsters. That's all.”

Unfortunately, neither Jenur nor Kocas seemed to
hear him, so Kinker was forced to think of thinking of another way
to get back up. Or perhaps he could just lay there, trying not to
get stepped on, waiting until one of the other sailors noticed him
and decided to help him up. He could not decide.

“Why do you want to go to Stalf so badly, anyway?”
said Jenur. “Getting a little sick of the sea?”

“Because at heart, I am a hunter,” said Kocas,
putting one fist over her heart. “I am, after all, a follower of
Ghatmos, the God of Hunting and the Woods.”

“And?” said Jenur, sounding a bit bored. “What does
that have to do with anything?”

“This expedition is going to be a hunting
expedition,” Kocas said. “Captain Malock is hoping to gather some
food and fur from the native animals on the island. Before becoming
a sailor, I hunted for years in the dark forests of Natachan. I am
the most logical choice for this party.”

“I guess Malock didn't think so, otherwise he would
have chosen you instead of me,” said Jenur. “But sure, you can go
and talk to him. See if you can convince him to let you go. You
might have to sleep with him first, though.”

Kocas threw such an evil glare at Jenur that she
seemed to be trying to kill her with it. Then Kocas stomped down
the slippery stairs, somehow making it to the bottom without
falling over, and walking over Kinker without stopping to help
him.

“Geez,” said Jenur, leaning against the stairs'
railing. “That girl sure has some issues, doesn't she?”

“Yes, she does,” said Kinker. “Now, Jenur, could you
please help me up? Contrary to popular belief, the deck of the ship
is not a soft place to land on. Especially when it is covered in
ice like it is now.”

***

T
he
Iron Wind
was incapable of landing
close to the shoreline of Stalf, not due to to the depth of the
bay, but rather because of a thick ice ring that surrounded the
entire island. Malock considered ramming the ice ring, but then he
remembered that the
Iron Wind
was not a cutter and any
attempt to break the ice ring would probably do more damage to the
ship's hull than to the ring.

So instead, Malock directed the ship to be anchored
right next to the outer edge of the ice ring. Then he gathered his
hunting party together, which consisted of Jenur, Gormas Okina, and
three others who he had picked based on their skills as hunters.
One of them was Kocas Iknor, a Natachan woman who had not been one
of his original choices but who had managed to convince him of her
capability as a hunter a few hours ago.

All of them were armed with guns and swords, with
one of each per hunter. The guns were partly frozen, but a quick
test revealed that they all still worked. At the very least, a
frozen gun could always be improvised as a heavy bat of some sort,
which didn't make them entirely useless.

They then gathered near the davit, where Malock gave
Banika orders to keep the ship under control while he was away.
Here he said his good byes to Vashnas, while also asking for any
last minute knowledge she may have had about Stalf. Unfortunately,
she had nothing new to give him, so Malock and his hunting party
got into the remaining rowboat and Banika lowered it to the ice
ring from the davit.