The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock (36 page)

In the morning, Malock was awoken early by Banika.
He and Vashnas were cuddled together under his boat cloak, and all
he wanted to do was sleep. So when Banika shook him slightly,
muttering in a low voice, “Captain, wake up, there's something you
have to see,” Malock waved his hand at her and said, in a
half-asleep voice, “No. I'm sleeping. Bother me later.”

“It's urgent,” said Banika. “She says she's not
going to wait any longer if she can't see you.”

Malock looked up at Banika and blinked. “She?”

Banika nodded. “A woman. Not just a woman, but ...
well, I think you should see for yourself.”

Malock got up when she said that, but carefully so
that Vashnas wouldn't wake up. He pulled on his boat cloak, wrapped
the blanket more tightly around Vashnas's sleeping form, and
followed Banika out of the stateroom, stepping over or around the
other sleeping sailors who had taken up residence in this
place.

The morning air outside the stateroom was crisp and
cold. He shook violently when he felt it, but he got over it
quickly when he spotted the woman Banika had spoken of standing at
the stump where the mainmast had stood. Though she wore furs now,
Malock had no trouble recognizing her at all, her very appearance
spiking his anger to new levels.

“Hanarova,” said Malock as he and Banika stopped
several feet from her. “Did the Mechanical Goddess send you to
recapture me and Jenur?”

The katabans grinned. “Nah. The Mechanical Goddess
has better things to do than kill a couple of disrespectful mortals
with inflated egos.”

Malock scowled. “Are you working for those other
gods now? Because if you are—”

“Nope,” said Hana, shaking her head. “Those three
left when you guys escaped. They said the Mechanical Goddess let
you free. Said they're not going to speak to her ever again, but
they said that before. I imagine they'll be back in a couple
hundred years when they fail to catch any mortals on their own and
need something to sate their hunger.”

Malock cocked his head to the side. “Then why are
you here? Are you going to kick us while we're down? If so, you
picked the perfect opportunity to do so.”

Hana laughed. “Wrong again. The Mechanical Goddess
didn't realize you were a Chosen One of Kano and feels rather awful
for almost feeding you to her siblings. Though Kano is a northern
goddess and she is a southern, she and Kano have generally gotten
along pretty well. Therefore, the Mechanical Goddess has sent me to
oversee a group of automatons who will repair your ship and make it
better than new.”

Malock's eyes widened and Banika actually
gasped.

“No need to be so astonished,” said Hana. “My
mistress is a very generous goddess. She would rather that your
boat not stink up the waters around her island anyway.”

Malock shook his head. “No way. This has got to be a
gigantic joke. You're going to reveal that you're actually going to
kill us. Right?”

“If you're so skeptical, take a look over yonder,”
said Hana, gesturing with her head over to the starboard side.
“Seeing is believing, isn't it?”

Malock, feeling as skeptical as Hana seemed to think
he was, walked over to the starboard with Banika by his side and
looked overside. He was surprised by what he saw.

Floating in the water by the
Iron Wind
's side
was a large platform that had a crane, several tons of wood,
several large crates, and many other things resting upon its
surface. Standing upon it were two or three dozen automatons, all
identical in appearance. Around their waists were tied tool bags,
with hammers, saws, and a variety of other tools Malock couldn't
even name. They all stood at attention, like soldiers awaiting
orders from their general.

“It's not a joke,” said Malock, resting his hands on
the railing. “I can't believe it.”

Hana was by his side instantly, wisps of smoke
rising from her hair like she had teleported. “As I said, my
mistress is very generous. We also have food, water, clothes, and
medical supplies for your entire crew.”

Malock looked at Hana skeptically. “What's the
catch?”

Hana leaned against the bulwarks, looking completely
innocent. “What catch? Can't you accept that some people are just
innately generous, expecting nothing in return for their kind
deeds?”

“I've seen too much on my voyage to accept that,”
said Malock. “Gods usually expect something in return for any
generous acts on their part. So what does your mistress want?
Eternal servitude from me? Half of the crew so she can feed them to
her friends or even eat them herself? Sexual favors of some
kind?”

Hana grimaced. “That last one is kind of icky, but
you're wrong on all fronts. All the Mechanical Goddess expects from
you is that you make it to World's End. Unlike the other southern
gods, she doesn't play politics and has no reason to attempt to
thwart Kano's plan.”

“Kano's plan?” said Malock. “What's that?”

“No idea,” said Hana, shrugging. “She simply
mentioned it in passing to me and didn't see fit to explain it. I'm
used to it. She usually mentions things offhand like that and I've
gotten used to not getting a straight answer from her or any answer
at all when I ask.”

Malock stroked his chin. “Well, if this truly is as
you say it is, then tell your mistress thank you for her
generosity. On these dark seas, I didn't think there existed beings
who could be even half as generous as she is.”

“She normally isn't this kind,” said Hana. “The ship
repair platform is usually reserved for her own ship, but she
hasn't had any reason to travel recently so she is allowing you to
use it. All that I ask is that you keep your crew from getting in
the way while the automatons work.”

“I suppose that is a reasonable request,” said
Malock. He looked over his shoulder and said, “Banika, go and tell
the rest of the crew—”

But Banika was already gone.

He looked back at Hana and asked, “Have you had
experience overseeing the repairing of a ship before?”

“Of course,” said Hana. “These automatons aren't
difficult to boss around, you know. If they had any sentience in
them at all, I'd say they even enjoy it. Now you should probably go
back to your stateroom so you don't get in the way, either.”

But Malock didn't leave. He stayed out of the way,
of course, but he believed it was pure insanity to assume that the
Captain of the ship would simply let someone else work on it
without him at least watching. He was especially concerned about
the crane, which looked large enough to smash straight through the
hull of the
Iron Wind
without much effort.

To his everlasting astonishment, however, Malock
really didn't need to supervise them at all. Hana showed a
surprising amount of leadership, ordering the automatons about like
she did this sort of thing every day. She didn't speak Divina when
she did this, but rather an odd language that the automatons had
spoken earlier. All he knew was that he was happy that she actually
seemed to be doing some good.

The automatons operated the crane and repaired the
ship with expert precision. They installed a new mainmast, complete
with sail, and repaired the sail on the foremast that had fallen
off. It took them hours to repair the port, but when they did, it
looked like it hadn't been ripped off at all. Malock would have
sworn up and down that it was all magic, but when he thought about
it, he couldn't recall seeing any spells cast.

They did all of that in just a few hours and after
that they started to lift in the crates full of food. Malock
personally inspected each one, just to make sure they weren't full
of poison or hostile automatons or something even worse, but he
discovered nothing but delicious food completely fit for
consumption by both humans and aquarians. The medicine looked
legitimate, too, but he was not a doctor so he couldn't be sure.
The clothes all appeared to be fit for people to wear, too, and
there was a variety for summer and winter times.

When the last crate was lowered onto the deck of the
ship and the automatons began moving it down to the hold, Malock
walked up to Hana and said, “Okay. Why do you have crates full of
food and water and medicine and clothes for mortals? The automatons
don't seem to need any of it and I can't see the Mechanical Goddess
sitting down to eat a nice roast duck for dinner.”

Hana smiled. “Remember the food we had laid out on
the table back in the castle? Sometimes we actually let the mortals
eat it. And as a katabans, I do need some of this stuff. Not all of
it, obviously, but quite a bit of it is necessary for my physical
form. I can only hope this is enough for your crew.”

Malock shook his head. “It's more than enough. How
can we ever repay your mistress?”

“Like I said, all the Mechanical Goddess expects of
you is for you to reach World's End and see Kano,” said Hana. “It's
that simple.”

Malock frowned. “It's never that simple with gods.
You should know that, having served the Mechanical Goddess for as
long as you have.”

“I've found quite the opposite, actually,” said
Hana. “Sometimes, it is that simple. You forget that the southern
gods in general tend to be less—how would I put this?—materialistic
than their northern counterparts. They're a lot more simple, more
in tune with nature. They rarely get involved in godly politics and
generally have no patience for complicated plans that are designed
only to get back at someone they don't like.”

“Right,” said Malock. “Unlike the northern gods,
when these guys want someone dead, they just go and do it, rather
than come up with some convoluted plan that may or may not
work.”

“Exactly,” said Hana. “You seem to understand the
southern gods very well despite having lived up north your whole
life.”

“You figure them out pretty quickly,” said Malock.
“Because if you don't, they'll kill you.”

“Of course,” said Hana. “Well, I do believe we have
the entire ship repaired and your supplies restocked. I should be
leaving now and I'll be taking the automatons with me.”

Malock looked overside at the automatons standing on
the repair float and said, “Are you sure we can't borrow a few?
Just a few, you know. Not forever.”

Hana put one foot on the bulwarks and threw him a
smirk over her shoulder. “Sorry, but the Mechanical Goddess is very
protective of her children. She would never let you have any of
them, not even one. She's not
that
generous.”

Malock sighed. “Okay. You may leave, then. We may
have to stay in Stalf for a few more days, though, until most of
the crew is feeling up to going south again. Is that all
right?”

“Oh, I doubt my mistress would be very bothered by
that,” said Hana, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “Although, I'd
suggest you leave as soon as you can. There's a pretty bad storm
coming in a few days and if you can't leave now, well ...”

“I get it,” said Malock. “We'll leave as soon as
possible.”

“All right,” said Hana. “Then this is good bye,
Prince Malock. May the final leg of your voyage give you more peace
than the last leg did.”

With that, Hana leaped off the bulwarks and landed
on the crane with practiced ease. Half an hour later, the
automatons who had taken the last crate below deck returned to the
surface and joined their brethren on the repair float. The float
then zoomed away from the
Iron Wind
to Stalf, skirting the
ice ring and heading for the back of the island.

As the repair float zoomed away, Malock turned and
looked back at the newly-repaired
Iron Wind
and smiled.
Maybe things were going to get better for them after all.

***

T
o say that the rest of the crew was ecstatic
about this (and mournful that they couldn't take any of the
automatons with them) was like saying Kano is the Goddess of the
Sea. Those sailors who could still walk, ran around the ship,
gaping at the new mainmast, testing the stability of the new port,
and tasting the new food. Ranof in particular was pleased at the
new supply of medicine they got, which turned out to be exactly
what they needed.

But as Malock had predicted, the ship remained in
Stalf Bay for another three days. The fact was, even with all of
the new supplies, the crew still needed time to rest up and heal.
This bothered Malock because the drive to reach World's End had
reignited in his soul, stronger than ever, but he was patient.

Soon, however, most of the crew got well enough that
Malock decided it was time to ship up and head out. This meant
reassigning certain crew members to different tasks, especially the
fishing crew, which he disbanded when he realized they had enough
food that they no longer needed the trawl anymore. The surviving
members of the fishing crew greeted that particular announcement
with joy, which took Malock by surprise as he hadn't realized just
how much they disliked that particular task. Even Kinker seemed
happy about it and he was the only one who actually liked to
fish.

When Malock learned that Deddio had been one of the
sailors killed in the Tusked God's assault, however, he immediately
understood why the other fishermen were glad they were no longer
doing that task.

With slightly more than eighty crew members left, at
least half of which were still recovering from the attack, the
Iron Wind
set sail south, in the direction that Malock could
feel Kano pulling him. Rather than spend all of his time cooped up
in his stateroom, however, Malock went around helping the crew in
whatever ways he could, from helping Arisha Frag prepare breakfast
in the morning to steering the ship with the coxswain in the
afternoon and swabbing the poop with cleaning crew.

He did this for a couple of reasons. First, the lack
of healed sailors meant that the crew needed every hand they could
get if they were going to keep the ship in shape; that meant that
Malock had to help. Besides, it allowed him to get to know his crew
better, a fault of his he realized after his talk with Kinker. The
crew was at first a little hesitant about letting him work
alongside them, but they eventually relented and now no one found
it strange when Malock was found throwing out uneaten food or
helping to adjust the sails to the wind.