Kahuel of
Yalta hated boats. He leaned downwind over the bow of the three-mast
Galleon, as it dropped down a deep trough then cut into a
white-capped swell as high as a hillock. The spray drenched his face.
The sails flapped, and the gusty wind swallowed the shouts of sailors on
deck. His breakfast of fish eggs in lard with a mug of morning kawa
welled up his gullet and emptied into the foamy soup below, leaving a
sour taste in his mouth. Blast the Council of Kassouk for refusing to
lend their precious flying machines.
A squeeze on
his shoulder made Kahuel jump and turn.
"Haven’t found
your sea legs, little brother?" The tan, cheery face of Basilk radiated
health, even under such leaden skies. "Not very dignified for a prince
of Yalta."
"I’m big
enough to kick your ass, brother or not. And call me Black Jaguar. You
know I hate pompous titles." Kahuel wiped his mouth with the maroon
sleeve of his coat. "If you came to mock me, I’m not in the mood."
Basilk laughed
good-heartedly, and the wind whipped a strand of dark hair across his
face from under his blue captain’s hat. "Princess Esperana wants to see
us in my cabin, at once."
"Now?" Kahuel
straightened his baldric and sword over his wool coat. "Do I look
presentable?"
"Pale as the
main sail, but still handsome enough to get you in trouble with the
ladies." Basilk chuckled.
Kahuel grunted
at the mention of the very affliction that had sent him sailing to the
other end of the world. "I can’t help it if they flock to me for
favors."
"But
apparently their husbands do mind."
"I changed my
ways. I’m here now."
"I know. And I
admire you for it." Basilk slapped Kahuel’s back. "Better not keep the
high and mighty waiting."
How could
Kahuel stay mad at his big brother? In an effort to regain his good
mood, he made a parody of saluting. "Aye, aye, Captain."
Basilk
grinned. "At ease, sailor."
Kahuel was no
sailor but he relaxed his stance. "Blasted Mutants. You and I have as
much Goddian blood in our veins. Just because they have six fingers they
think they can summon us anytime."
Staggering and
lurching, Kahuel clung to the pin rail as he followed his brother on a
path strewn with coiled ropes, wooden buckets and barrels of various
sizes, sliding in rhythm with the waves. On their way toward the stern,
his brother barked orders to the crew trimming the sails high in the
shrouds. How could they hang on in this wind?
Kahuel
stumbled into a goat that bleated and bolted out of the way. Chickens
cackled and flapped their wings as they cowered in the collar casing at
the base of the main mast. Kahuel wished the roll and pitch would ease,
just long enough for him to recover. No such luck.
"May the Great
Engineer blast all jealous husbands!" he muttered under his breath. But
Kahuel also wanted to prove to his royal family that he was a reliable,
responsible man. At twenty-five, he could handle anything... except this
miserable ocean crossing.
They finally
reached the stern and climbed the ladder to the aftcastle. Basilk held
the door open against the wind while Kahuel entered the crowded
captain’s cabin. With so many inside, it seemed much smaller than usual.
So high in the stern, the movement of the boat made him lurch. He barely
kept his balance in front of the mighty princess, her guards, and his
brother’s officers. How pathetic.
Princess
Esperana, blond flaxen hair falling on each side of her face, sat very
stiff at the round table. Even seated, her height and white silk robes
marked her as a Mutant. She looked thirty or so, but she was well over a
century old.
Kahuel nodded
in greeting. Behind the handsome princess, a half dozen taciturn Mutant
guards in gray armor, Grays for short, stood at attention, six inches
taller than him, and as motionless and austere as the sparse furniture
bolted to the floor.
Princess
Esperana nodded politely. "Captain, Black Jaguar, please sit."
The mention of
his warrior name prompted him to straighten his spine and look as
dignified as he possibly could.
Kahuel and his
brother dropped into swivel chairs around the dark wood table, while
Basilk’s four officers remained standing. Kahuel immediately regretted
sitting down. At least he wouldn’t fall, but his stomach welled and
plunged with each motion of the boat.
After taking a
deep breath, the princess exhaled slowly and her hazel eyes scanned the
eager faces of the Human crew. "I have bad news from Kassouk."
"Tell us."
Basilk’s eyes narrowed.
Kahuel didn’t
trust the Mutants either.
"This
unexpected storm is not just a bout of bad weather." The princess
touched the azure crystal hanging from a duranium chain around her neck,
the transmitter all Mutants carried. A device forbidden to Humans. And
the princes of Yalta were considered Human. Esperana sighed. "It’s a
typhoon. And in a few hours the brunt of it will be upon us."
"Blast the
luck!" Kahuel blurted. "It’s about to get worse?"
Basilk slammed
the table with his fist and rose. Never had Kahuel seen his brother so
red in the face. His steely blue eyes glared at the princess. "When my
family accepted this mission as a favor to your father, you said the
ocean would remain calm for the season. I built this vessel for Yalta
lake. It’s not designed to withstand raging seas, much less a typhoon."
Princess
Esperana sighed. "This atypical storm took us all by surprise, Captain.
My brothers in Kassouk detected it only an hour ago."
"Freak quakes
and tidal waves, now a typhoon out of season?" Kahuel was no scholar,
but he could see a pattern. "What’s happening?"
Princess
Esperana pursed her lips. "We are gradually warming the planet, to make
more land habitable, but it’s changing the weather in unpredictable
ways."
"Taming the
weather is the Mutants’ job." Red crept up Basilk’s face. "You promised
to keep us safe during this voyage!
Kahuel
couldn’t let the lazy bastards escape their responsibilities. "We have a
hundred warriors onboard, twenty sailors, fifty horses and fifty
felines. And my brother and I vowed to our father, King Terek, to bring
them back to Yalta alive."
"You Yaltans
are not that noble." The princess pressed her lips into a thin line.
"You also hope to bring back medicinal plants, new fruit and spices, and
new animals to breed."
"How dare
you!" Kahuel had about enough of the lofty princess. "We are merely
hoping to cover the exorbitant cost of your little expedition."
Basilk spat on
the floor, in Zerker fashion, and for once, Kahuel approved. "And what
do you expect to find on that continent, Princess?"
"I cannot talk
about it." The princess shifted her gaze.
"Of course
not!" Basilk spat again.
Again, Kahuel
wondered about the secrecy. "That better be important, because a lot of
people might die for it."
"It’s
important enough to take me away from a reclusive monastery life."
Princess Esperana sounded distressed at the loss.
"Humans always
end up suffering for Mutant mistakes," Basilk shouted. He paced three
steps and back in the crammed cabin, impervious to the lurch of the
Galleon.
"My fifty
Grays and I are on this crude vessel with you, and in the same danger,
aren’t we?" The princess spoke calmly in the face of Basilk’s rage. "The
only good news is that the typhoon is heading straight for the foreign
shores and will bring us to our destination faster than we thought."
"You call that
good news?" Kahuel couldn’t believe such a nonchalant attitude in the
face of impending disaster.
Basilk tore
off his blue felt hat and threw it on the table. "By the time we reach
the shore my ship might be in pieces and we may all have drowned."
"Can’t the
Mutants of Kassouk rescue us?" To Kahuel it seemed logical. Mutants
didn’t let other Mutants die, and maybe, by the same token, they could
save the crew and his warriors.
Princess
Esperana stared down at the table for a few seconds, drumming the
polished wood with her six-fingered hand, then she met Kahuel’s gaze.
"By the time their flyers reach us, it will be too perilous for them as
well. The Council voted against it!"
"Blasted
Council!" Kahuel’s chest clenched as if caught in a brace. "If they had
allowed us to fly in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this
predicament."
"I agree,
Black Jaguar."
"You do?"
Kahuel never thought he’d ever hear those words from a haughty Mutant.
"But this
delicate mission is not sanctioned by the Council." Princess Esperana
rose. "I will retire to meditate and ask the Great Engineer to protect
us all."
The six Grays
of her personal guard stepped forward to surround the princess.
Basilk barred
her way. "By all the deities, you are some piece of work. We face
a typhoon, and you meditate?"
Glancing at
the phasers resting in the Grays’ six-fingered hands, Kahuel feared for
his brother’s life.
The princess
steadied the Grays with one shake of the head then offered a sad smile.
"That’s all I can think of, Captain. I do my part and you do yours. Our
lives are in your capable hands." She glanced up beyond the swaying oil
lamp hanging from the ceiling. "And in the hands of the Great Engineer."
To Kahuel’s
relief, Basilk stepped back to let Princess Esperana and her Grays walk
out in perfect order, without struggling for balance. Did these Mutants
float instead of walk?
Basilk turned
to his officers. "To the rigging. Furl those sheets. Secure the cargo
and supplies. Get the passengers down below." He sighed. "The Great
Engineer be damned, we have a typhoon to whip."
The officers
saluted and scrambled out of the cabin.
Although
Kahuel worshiped the Great Engineer, he refrained from pointing out
his brother's blasphemy. "What can I do to help?"
"Just stay out
of our way." Basilk shook his head in apology. "I’m sorry, little
brother." He squeezed Kahuel’s shoulder. "Just make sure the passengers
remain below deck... including the animals."
Kahuel nodded
gravely. "I’ll do my best. And it’s Black Jaguar to you," he called to
his brother’s retreating back.
Basilk
shrugged as he walked out the door.
* * * * *
Sitting in
the hold, alongside other warriors huddling with their feline
companions, Kahuel scratched the jaguar’s heavy black head laid on his
thigh. "Rest easy, Diablo."
The floor
rose and fell, throwing men and cats upon each other, each sway more
nauseating than the last. After an entire day of this monstrous storm,
Kahuel had no food left in his innards. A tiger roared, answered by a
frightened lioness. Beastmasters shushed their felines in soft cooing
voices barely audible over the raging tempest. Some animals, picking up
on their masters’ fears, refused to calm down and kept lamenting.
Other Humans
and cats lay despondent on the wet planking, as if resigned to die.
Deafening thunder punctuated the downpour battering the deck. The smell
of fear and urine covered that of the dangling oil lamps that swayed
wildly, providing a sick, flickering glow and threatening to spill with
each toss.
Between the
miserable chaos below deck, the tempest outside, and the moans of
straining masts and rigging, the Galleon shuddered in agony.
Water splashed through the locked shutters and cascaded down the steps
each time the gale blew the deck hatch open. The hull creaked, and
Kahuel was certain it would soon shatter. But he had no prayers left in
him. If the Great Engineer wanted to spare their lives, he would.
Diablo mewed
pitifully.
"I know."
Kahuel scratched his wet coat. "Drowned like a rat in a box is no way
for a warrior to die."
Diablo
grunted in agreement.
Resigned to
his unescapable fate, Kahuel patted his feline, the largest jaguar in
the hold. "Shall we go on deck, and stare death in the face?"
Diablo
scoffed, the typical short roar of his species, and lurched sprightly on
all fours. Kahuel turned to his warriors and waved. "I’ll go check with
the crew."
Listless
moans answered.
He staggered
across the wet, slippery planking toward the stairs then gripped the
railing on both sides for balance. As he reached the top, the gale flung
open the hatch. A cold blast of downpour drenched him to the skin.
Kahuel paused
in the hatchway. It looked so dark outside, was it night? Sheets of
downpour blurred the view. A furious wind whipped the rain, and giant
waves engulfed the boat and cascaded across the deck, sweeping
everything that wasn’t bolted down. The few sailors he could see through
the watery veil clung desperately to the rigging.
In a blinding
flash of lightning, Kahuel glimpsed his brother, up on the aftcastle,
alone at the rudder. Like a mad man, he fought the elements with a grin
on his streaming face, shouting his defiance to the whipping wind.
Basilk looked magnificent, larger than life as he battled the very
deities he worshiped. Although secretly proud of his irreverent older
brother, Kahuel wondered what kind of king he would make when his turn
came to reign.
A sudden jolt
shoved Kahuel out through the open hatch and onto the deck. He fell,
face down, and three-hundred pounds of feline muscle landed on his back.
The main mast cracked and snapped overhead. Lookin up, Kahuel rolled
aside in Diablo’s embrace, barely avoiding the sharp claws. The top part
of the mast came crashing down slowly, like in a nightmare. Sails and
rigging tangled with the foremast and the giant trunk hit the deck in
front of the doorway, smashing deck and hatch it in a roar of booming
thunder.
Yards of
heavy wet sheets unfurled upon struggling sailors, pinning them to the
deck. Lightning flashes illuminated the ghastly scene. Screams of pain
and cries of fear pierced the space between thunderclaps. The boat
shuddered, and the lugubrious sound of something solid ripping through
the hull made Kahuel shiver with dread.
The
Galleon shook so hard, Kahuel wondered what they had hit. He grabbed
hold of a slippery rail while Diablo dug his claws into the deck. Shouts
and roars of panic surged from below. Whinnies filled a brief lull in
the deafening noise. Frantic felines and beastmasters appeared in the
broken hatchway, but the rolling white caps and the squall hurled the
vessel upon jagged rocks with renewed violence. A leopard squeezed out
onto the deck and leapt into the broken shroud, to be slung overboard by
the wind. Beastmasters pulled themselves out of the hold, only to slide
and fall overboard.
The ship
listed dangerously to port, treading heavy water. It would sink for
sure. Gripping the main stay with both hands, Kahuel held on with all
his strength... anything to prevent sliding off the boat. Diablo,
spreadeagle on the deck, hung on by his powerful claws. Amidst the
violent typhoon, the boat stopped rolling and pitching, and it felt
strange, after so many days, not to feel the constant motion under him.
"Land!" a
weathered sailor shouted in a raspy voice into the battering sheets of
rain. "We are on land!"
Land!
A vague sense of gratitude filled Kahuel as he thanked the Great
Engineer. A flash of lightning showed the water rising to swallow the
hull, and a promontory of rocks breaking through the dark surface.
Land. His hand slowly released the rigid tarred rope he had been
holding and he let himself slide off the deck.
He slunk into
shallow waters. But as he tried to command his numb body to stand on the
slippery rock, the raging storm around him receded, and he drifted into
nothingness.
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