The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock (7 page)

“Perhaps I do not,” said Kinker, “but still—”

Malock took a step closer to Kinker and leaned in
closer. “You may not have noticed yet, having only been on the ship
for less than a week and having spent much of that time in one
room, but everyone here is on edge. Losing the rest of the fleet,
plus hundreds of sailors, has harmed my crew in myriad ways,
physically, mentally, and emotionally. I've been doing everything
in my power to prevent a mutiny and maintain order, but it's been
very difficult, mostly due to the distrust that the human sailors
and aquarian sailors have for each other.”

“Ah,” said Kinker. “I was wondering about that. Why
do you have a mixed race ship? Seems to me like that's asking for
trouble. Why not just humans?”

Malock looked offended. “Because aquarians are some
of the best sailors around. They have an instinctive understanding
of currents and weather conditions at sea. And I know that you came
from a small backwards island in the middle of nowhere and you
probably have never actually met any real aquarians, but come on,
Kinker. That's just offensive.”

Kinker tilted his head. “How often do fights break
out between the human sailors and aquarian sailors?”

“Ever since we lost the fleet, about once a week,”
said Malock. “Even though I make sure to punish both participants,
someone always says or does something that angers or offends
someone of another species, and they get into a fight. The rest of
the crew hasn't been much help because they like to stand by and
watch, sometimes even goading the fighters into being more
violent.”

“How many of the fights are started by humans and
how many by aquarians?” asked Kinker.

“That's none of your business,” said Malock. “Why
does it matter?”

Kinker shrugged. “I just know that aquarians are by
nature much more aggressive than humans. Maybe what you need to do
is minimize the contact between sailors of different species.”

“Aquarians aren't any more aggressive than humans,”
Malock said. “And anyway, there is no way to minimize contact. The
Iron Wind
may be a large ship, but she isn't that big. What
I am trying to do is promote unity among the sailors, not separate
them by species.”

“Then perhaps you shouldn't have hired both human
and aquarian sailors,” Kinker said. “I have heard that the
aquarians are less respectful of the gods than we humans are.
Perhaps that's another source of conflict.”

Malock looked like he was about to explode with
anger and when he next spoke, it was in a forced calm voice.
“Kinker, because you're new here, I'm not going to punish you for
your extremely bigoted, wrongheaded opinions. I'm just going to
give you a warning, if I catch you fighting an aquarian or saying
something intentionally offensive I
will
punish you same as
anyone else. Do you understand?”

“Perfectly,” said Kinker. “I don't see why you're so
offended, by the way. You're not an aquarian.”

“And you don't know anything about actual
aquarians,” Malock said. “So why don't you keep your mouth shut on
this issue until you've actually interacted with real aquarians?
Maybe have your preconceived biases challenged?”

Kinker sighed. “All right, I'm sorry for being
offensive. Can we continue the tour now?”

Malock turned away from him and said, “No. You're
going back to the stern. I'll have someone else show you the rest
of the ship later. Right now, I've got better things to do than
listen to your ignorant opinions.”

With that, Malock stomped off, leaving Kinker
standing alone and slightly confused, near the mainmast. He didn't
call Malock back, however, because frankly he was starting to
dislike the Captain, primarily for his attitude toward his
elders.

Then again,
Kinker thought, as he began
making his way back to the stern, having nowhere else to go,
he
probably thinks that his status as royalty gives him the right to
treat me however he wants. Very much like how Priestess Deber
treated me back home, actually.

Then he stopped dead and tried not to think about
Deber, but just remembering her like that cause a memory to flash
in his head. A young boy lying at the altar, as cold as stone ...
Deber standing over him, holding a knife in hand, smiling like a
madwoman ... the blood, so much blood ...

Kinker shook his head. He did not want to remember
that. He had escaped Destan specifically so he could forget.

But though he managed to shove that memory out of
his head, as he resumed walking back to the stern, it was all he
could do to blink back the tears that the memory had invoked.

***

T
he next five days were surprisingly
uneventful, despite the southern seas' reputations for sinking any
ships that sailed them. After hearing about the dangers of the
southern seas for his entire life, Kinker thought they would be
attacked by sea monsters daily, yet all they ever saw were the fish
they caught in the trawl (which Kinker had failed to improve on in
any significant way).

The weather was beautiful as well; clear skies, a
warm sun, and water so blue it looked like paint on a canvas.
Legend said that Kano had painted the ocean blue because she wanted
it to look like the sky; but true or not, it was a wonderful sight
to behold nonetheless.

A routine became apparent to Kinker. Every day, he
and the fishing crew would get up at the crack of dawn and haul in
the trawl. They would then spend about an hour going through the
morning's catch, tossing out the fish unfit for human and aquarian
consumption, keeping those that were, and then tossing the trawl
back into the sea.

After that, they spent another hour or two cleaning
the fish. This was probably the easiest part of the job because
Kinker had had a lot of experience cleaning fish, but it sometimes
took longer than expected because he kept trying to correct the
others' methods, which were often clumsy and ineffective. This did
not endear him to the others.

When they'd cleaned all the fish, they would haul
the bits of fish to the galley, where the ship's cook, Arisha
Frag—an older woman who was probably a few years younger than
Kinker—would begin making breakfast. Often Kinker and the other
fishermen would help, as Arisha could not make enough meals for a
hundred and twenty sailors by herself.

By this time, the rest of the crew would be up,
doing their daily chores and checking on the things they had left
the night before. While Malock never came to breakfast, Kinker
often saw Banika going around making sure that everyone was doing
what they were supposed to do. He never asked her about the
punishment she had inflicted on the two fighting sailors from the
day before, mostly because when he saw those two sailors himself at
breakfast the day after they were punished, they looked as docile
as puppies.

Breakfast was always a noisy, messy affair. Due to
the low food supply, each sailor, whether human or aquarian, was
only allowed one fish. This was very clearly not enough for the
fully-grown men and women who made up the crew, but they all seemed
resigned to it, probably because it was the only way to make sure
that every sailor got at least something to eat.

After breakfast, the crew would return to their
normal duties. The fishing crew usually took this time to sit
around and rest after a long morning of hard work. Often the
fishermen began talking about various things, such as how awful the
food was (even though they helped prepare it), what the weather was
going to be like that day, and whether Malock and Vashnas actually
were sleeping together, among other topics. Kinker rarely
participated in this conversations, partly because they did not
interest him but primarily because the rest of the fishing crew
didn't really like him that much.

The routine was repeated at lunch and dinner time.
The fishing crew would haul the trawl out of the water, pick out
the good fish and toss away the bad, clean the fish, deliver them
to the kitchen, help prepare the food, and then eat with the rest
of the crew.

Then after dinner they'd toss the trawl back into
the sea one last time, make sure it was firmly attached to the
bulwarks, and then go to sleep below deck. Kinker always slept
well, despite the cramped conditions and lack of proper bedding,
because by the end of each day he was always drop-dead exhausted.
It was usually a good exhausted, the kind you get after a good day
of hard work, which was probably the only reason he managed to
sleep through the combined unwashed body odor of four humans and
two aquarians sharing a cramped room together in an even smellier
ship.

Because Kinker had direct access to the food supply,
he noticed that Malock often got more food—not a whole lot more,
but enough that Kinker noticed—than the rest of the crew. Not only
that, but the Captain's face was fuller than the faces of his
sailors, which were mostly due to a lack of food. Of course, Kinker
didn't see Malock very often due to his busy schedule, but every
time he saw the young Captain, he was always struck by how well-fed
he seemed to be.

On the fifth day, shortly after lunch, Kinker shared
this observation with Jenur Takren, as they and the rest of the
fishing crew rested at the stern, near the trawl. Despite her
earlier attitude toward him, she was the only member of the fishing
crew who didn't actively avoid or exclude Kinker from their
conversations; if anything, she seemed to like him (despite her
wisecracks) which Kinker was thankful for because he felt very
alone on this ship. Having someone who he could talk to, even if
that someone was old enough to be his granddaughter, made him feel
a lot better.

“Yeah, I noticed,” said Jenur as she tossed the
remains of her fish overside, which was the usual disposal method
for the sailors. “He's got his own supply of food in his stateroom.
It's been that way for a while.”

She sounded more than a little bitter, prompting
Kinker to say, “So he's keeping a lot of food for himself?
Why?”

Jenur rolled her eyes. “Isn't it obvious? He's the
Captain and he's a Prince. He thinks he's the most important,
special person ever. Thinks he's chosen by Kano, remember?”

Kinker looked around uneasily, but the other
fishermen were having a spirited conversation about when the next
fight would break out and there was no one else nearby who might
eavesdrop on them. “I don't know if I'd talk that way about our
Captain, Jenur.”

Jenur stared at Kinker. “Why do you think I care
about what Malock hears? He knows what we think about him. He just
doesn't care.”

“He doesn't?”

“Of course,” said Jenur. “The boatswain, Banika, she
doesn't just make sure the ship doesn't fall apart. She spies on us
and reports everything she hears directly to the Captain. There are
no such things as secrets on this ship, at least to Malock.”

Kinker disagreed with that (after all, he had plenty
of his own secrets that he was determined to take to the grave),
but he kept his disagreement to himself.

“As long as we don't try to mutiny, Malock doesn't
care what we think about him,” said Jenur. “All he cares about is
getting to World's End.”

“That's not exactly true,” said Kinker. “There was a
fight five days ago between a human sailor and an aquarian sailor.
He broke that up and punished both of them.”

“Oh, right,” said Jenur, rolling her eyes. “Yeah,
human-aquarian relations are a big pet issue of his. That's why
he's sleeping with Vashnas, you know.”

Kinker could not help but shudder at the thought.
“But that's so ... disgusting. Why would any human do that?”

“Who knows?” said Jenur, who Kinker was pleased to
see was equally disgusted by it. “All I know is that he's royalty
and so he thinks he can do whatever the hell he likes.”

Kinker leaned against the bulwarks and nodded. “That
is true. It still boggles my mind, though, and probably always
will.”

Jenur looked like she had a lot more to say about
that, but at that moment, a loud voice roared from the crow's nest:
“Land ho!”

-

Those two simple words acted like a spark to dried
wood on the ship. Sailors dropped what they were doing and ran to
port, starboard, and bow, leaning over the bulwarks, trying their
best to see the land that the lookout had announced. Kinker didn't
try, mostly because his eyes were not that good, but he nonetheless
walked over to the starboard side, where the rest of the fishing
crew had gathered in order to see the island.

It seemed like the entire crew had gathered on the
top deck, straining to see the first island of the southern seas.
There was a lot of pushing and shoving to get the best spots, but
no fights broke out. A few of the smarter sailors climbed the
ratlines, putting themselves well above the others, and put their
hands over their eyes in order to catch a glimpse of the
island.

“Where is it? I don't see it.”

“Vinji! Did you really see an island or did you make
another false call?”

A head poked over the side of the crow's nest above,
too far up for Kinker to make out any details, and shouted, “I sure
as hell see an island. Just because I made a false call
once
—”

A loud whistle suddenly blew, its sound so loud that
it drowned out almost every other noise on the deck. All of the
sailors immediately turned to see Malock and Banika standing near
the mainmast, Banika holding a boatswain's call in her hand, the
obvious source of the whistle.

Malock himself stood on a box, as though trying to
make sure that everyone could see him. He waited until all of the
sailors were paying attention to him before saying, “I am glad to
see that you are all excited to see the first island of the
southern seas. It has been many weeks since we last set foot on
solid ground and I can confirm that we will definitely be anchoring
off the shore of this new island, which Vashnas informs me is
called Ikadori Island.”