FicWad

Chapter 2 The map

As soon as I had received my payment, and the story of what would happen to me if I didn't show up next time or revealed anything about the syndicate, I left. Now I had some money and I would be able to buy the new cannon I had seen for sale lately. As a mercenary I had to own my own ship, which was now docked in the Nasrad harbour. It didn't have any sails, so I had to keep a good supply of moonstones. I had made some special modifications and changed it a bit ever since I came to this hellhole known as the desert. No one would be able to recognise that the ship I used was a small Valuan one-man ship. Sure, it wouldn't stand a chance against even a Valuan gunboat but that wasn't the meaning either. It was designed for espionage and other sly stuff like that. It could stay in the air and that was enough for me.

I went off to the sailor's guild where the ship-seller had his office, but the shop was closed. The guild staff informed me that he was currently in Maramba, but he would be back soon. I decided to go and wait for him down at the harbour. There it would be a little less crowded. As I made it to the harbour, a familiar ship was being rigged. It was him, the local dealer in ship-parts. I decided to wait until he spotted me. The salesman jumped of the ship, looked around and then he saw me. I walked over to him.

"Hey, you're that customer for the G-type cannon, right?"

"Yes. And now I have the money."

"Good for you, but it'll have to wait until tonight."

"What?"

He lowered his voice.

"I just got in some trouble with the local authorities, so to say. I'm gonna have to pay them a bribe."

"In form of my ship-parts, I presume?"

There was always something that got in the way. Almost nothing worked smoothly. I was a living proof for that. Least said.

"I'm sorry for this," he said, "As soon as I'm done here I'll go back to Maramba. By then I'll have the cannon ready for you. I'll even throw in a discount."

I felt a slight feeling of Déjá vu.

"My renting-time at the harbour will have finished before then."

"Oh. I'll pay for it as well."

He quickly went over to the harbour-booth to extend the rent. As soon as I saw that the transaction was over, I stepped onboard my ship. I had plenty off supplies already, so I wouldn't need to go back to the city to spend my new unexpected income, and I had free rent until evening. The heat had steadily brought me down so I decided to take a rest. I went in to the small bridge-cabin, threw of my waistcoat and unbuttoned my shirt. After I had some water I laid down in the hammock. I had never liked Nasr in the first place, since my birthplace was... I slapped myself across my forehead. No need to think about the past.

xXx

I blinked, and realised I had fallen asleep. At least I hadn't been aware of it. Sometimes I slept very badly. When I looked out of the window, I saw it was night. Just outside my ship there were two men, arguing. One of them was the harbour's morning-star-equipped, heavy-set, muscular and bald guard. The other man seemed like he was from the mid-ocean or Valua. He was heavy-built (in muscles) and he had a weird large brown haircut. He wore black trousers and an open blue waistcoat that would be sure to attract women who were equally brainless as he looked, if not for his somewhat aslant nose. Maybe it was just me, but it looked like he had some trouble walking. Apparently he had tried to sneak away with his ship without paying for the rent. Not very smart.

"Alright, now how much do you want, baldy?!"

"2500 gold. Five-hundred for the late rent, and two-thousand for insulting a civil-servant!"

Although I didn't have the warmest feelings for this place, I had been around enough to know that you wouldn't want to be on the harbour guard's bad side.

The latecomer paid the guard eventually and then he took off in his fishing-boat. After shouting some insults after the fleeing man, the guard went away. I decided to stay awake to be ready for the delivery. Not to mention stay away from the dreams...

xXx

Finally the new cannon was delivered. The salesman didn't seem to enjoy transporting expensive equipment across the streets of night. But "everything for the customer", as he said. Hard against window-shoppers, fawning for paying customers. I reminded myself to maybe check back to this particular salesman. Not only had he given me a much lower price but he had also paid my rent. I probably wouldn't use the new cannon much, but it was reassuring to know that I had at least some decent defence. Defence as in assault, that is. Although, I never took missions that included murder. There were too many risks for too little money. After the cannon was installed and paid for, I went over to the helm, started up the engines and set the course at north. Thanks to the new low-effective engine I had managed to lay my hands on, I could sail over the skies. It was a real catch. Yafutoma's trade with the west was still very small. It was very possible that I was the only one who had this type of engine in the whole western world. Well, apart from that Blue Rogue, Vyse, who had made it to the bottom of the world.

xXx

After I was out of sight of Nasrad, I prepared to sail upwards. Some months back, I had had accidentally found a small island high above the sky. It was small and, best of all, it was uninhibited and there was no need to pay a harbour fee. If it hadn't it been so cloudy below, it would also offer a great view for those who cared about that. But suddenly, I spotted something in the distance. I picked up my binoculars, had a look and saw that it was another ship. A lower medium-sized fishing-boat, it's bow pointed at the north. It seemed familiar somehow. I could see that it wasn't a Black Pirate ship, so I decided to get closer. When I approached the fishing-boat, a man ran out the ship's deck, waving frequently. I slowed down the speed to a minimum and aligned myself parallel to it, but I kept a slight distant. I stepped out on the deck, my fingers drummed lightly on the crossbow I wore by my belt. It was small, but the moonstone gave it an extra touch. I kept the arrows hidden underneath my coat.

"Finally someone arrives!" he bellowed. "My ship has broken down!"

I suddenly recognised him, or should I say his nose. It was the man who had been caught at the harbour some hours ago. I felt quite tired, and all I wanted was to get some sleep. But I couldn't leave a potential reward.

"If you have a tow-cable, I can take you to as far as Nasrad," I said.

Judging from what I saw of him the first time, he probably wouldn't be facing a welcome-back-party when he stepped off onto the harbour, but right now I would do anything for a sleep. Had I been more awake, I would have found it strange that the ship was seemingly broken, while it remained functional when he ran off from Nasrad. The man went into his ship's bridge-cabin and returned with a long grey cable. He attached it to a robust hook that was located in the bow, and then threw over the other end to my ship. The spy-ship's basic model didn't have equipment for towing. The basic, that is. After I hooked up the cable, I turned the ship around and set the course back to Nasrad. On the way there, I sailed in a slightly irregular course. I went up and down and to portside and starboard. If he tried to climb over to my ship using the tow cable, he would have a hard time and maybe fall down to his death. Just one lapse in attention could be fatal...

xXx

We had almost reached Nasrad when I stopped. I stepped out on to the deck. The other man came out as well.

"Why did you stop!?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

"How are you going to handle the payment?" I asked straight.

"Payment? You never said anything about payment!" he shouted over from his ship.

"No. And you are not in the harbour yet," I yawned.

That seemed to trigger something in the man. He growled and ran inside his ship. Did he think he could hide? Then he returned, carrying something that looked like a huge pipe. Then I realised what it was. A handheld cannon! Only the highest hens in Valua had had access to these weapons. There were several names for this situation, none of them was "promising".
"You're wrong, kiddo!" he snarled. "You are now going to hand over your ship to me, admiral Vigoro! And I don't think you'll be able to protest after this!"

He pulled the trigger. I threw myself down on the deck, avoiding the shot just in time. The shot hit my ship's roof. It caused a loud explosion. Small pieces of debris hit my head. While that happened I grabbed my crossbow from the belt and was up again, ready to fire.

"Drop it!" I screamed.

My heart pounded so hard that I almost thought he would hear it. I wasn't used to this. Sure, I carried weapons and I knew how to use them, but it was very seldom I really had to. Vigoro just laughed.

"A crossbow!? Do you even know which age we live in now?!"

He didn't seem willing to give up. I lowered my weapon a bit, and then I fired off an arrow. It hit Vigoro right in his left shinbone. He screamed out in pain and dropped his weapon. It clattered down on the deck. While he yanked out the arrow, I quickly reloaded.

"Now you've seen it and can be assured that it works," I said.

I stood up and backed to the steering wheel while still keeping my aim on him. I set the engine in reverse mode and slowly backed against his ship. Now we laid bow to stern with each other's ships. I grabbed the gunwale on Vigoro's ship and jumped over.

"Go over to the stern. Hands over head."

"Why should I!"

"Because I'm going to look through your ship to see if you have something to trade for the tow. Judging from what I saw in the harbour, you're destitute."

Vigoro limbered to the stern at a slow pace. If he felt better in slowing me down, good for him. Thanks to his bragging, I knew his lineage: thus I didn't have to be nice, although people would probably say I never was in the first place. This would be a fine night indeed. I opened the door to the bridge-cabin and stepped in. With the door open, I began to look through the room. There was nothing special, it could be just any regular fishing-boat, although there was no fishing-equipment around and no smell of fish. A quite unexceptional place, except for a bunch of pictures of young women with little to no clothes on. Their eyes gave promises of no limits, but I was cold to their seduction. Nothing here was worth anything. But as I was on my way out, I noticed something lying on a big wooden chest. Below some pictures, a corner of some old, worn out paper could be seen. I glanced quickly at the admiral's backside outside and then I took out the paper and had a look at it. It was a map of some sort. Below the map itself, some writing could be seen. It was old and hard to read, but what I could make out from the text and the big red "X" made it clear that I would have big use for it. This could secure my living for a long, long time!

"Are you finished yet, or are you stuck somewhere?!"

I didn't bother to answer. I put the map inside my waistcoat, looked quickly in the chest to see what was in it, but there was just a small pounce of gold coins. I didn't need it much, so I let it be and then walked out of the cabin. I didn't want him to know I had taken his map, which meant I had to...

"Your gun."

"What?"

"It will do as payment."

As it was close to dawn, I saw he literally turned red with anger, veins making blue lines over his face. If it hadn't been for my crossbow, he would probably have tried to beat me both sense- and lifeless, and I wouldn't stand a chance in close combat. I walked over to where he had dropped his cannon, picked it up and jumped over to my ship. His weapon hadn't much value for me, I had got the map and that was enough, but I figured it would be unwise to let him know I had taken it from him. I started the engine and immediately our ships collided. I heard him screaming some not-so-friendly words. I turned off the reverse effect and set the course for Nasrad harbour. It didn't take long for us to arrive. Vigoro was once again back at square one. For me, a long night was awaiting. Although, it probably wouldn't be peaceful. Mindly peaceful, that is. As his ship was rigged he jumped off, turned around and glared up at me.

"You just don't know what trouble you have put me into!" he growled.

I rested my elbows on the gunwale and looked down at him.

"Spare your sob story for the guard. Maybe you two can work together. 'I got busted by the guard and all I got was this nose'."

Vigoro didn't laugh, and neither did I. He took one step closer.

"You can be sure I won't forget you. Someday, you'll pay for messing with me. Yes you will, you little piece of..."

"Funny. I never forget a face either. But in your case, I'll make an exception."

With those last words, I steered off again to the north, leaving the Valuan scum behind me.

xXx

Finally, Nasrad lay behind me and the Iron Star was above me. I put the ship in a tight upwards course and soon ascended over the clouds. There it was. The island at the end of the rainbow. It was a small island with just a few trees, a small mountain (or a huge rock) and a small pond. It was peaceful and quiet and, best of all, no one lived there but me. Although the term "lived" was wrong. It was just that it was cheaper than having the ship rigged at a harbour. And I preferred to move around and not get attached to anything. That word never had a high value for me. "Attachment". As I laid the ship next to the island, I remembered the map I had acquired from Vigoro. I reached for my pocket and had a close look at the co-ordinate ridden map and the writing: "Jade moon. North West. Beneath the sky." I stopped reading, I couldn't concentrate either. I put the map back in my pocket and continued to moor the ship. After that was done, I went inside the ship and fell into my hammock. Wasn't there something strange about the map's description, by the way? "Beneath the sky." That could only mean lower skies. That was an area my ship couldn't venture into. As far as I knew, there was only one person in the world who had a ship with that ability.

That Blue Rogue...Vyse... was the last I thought before I fell asleep.