Chapter 11: The Emerald of the Northern Sea

Chapter 11: The Emerald of the Northern Sea

The Emerald of the Northern Sea

The ship was headed home, to an island very far away from the continent Kalen had left, and they wouldnt arrive for at least two and a half more weeks.

The boy slept for most of the first three days in the ships warm bunk room, only occasionally disturbed by the stupendous snores of the sailors. Every few hours, he was woken by the red-bearded manJornwho would spoon soup and crushed crackers into his mouth until he was full to bursting.

Jorn told him all about the ship and the ocean and his wife, Shelba, who hated the sea almost as much as Kalen did. She sounded like an intelligent person.

Some of the sailors took Kalens fear of the vast wetness beyond the safe walls of the ship in stride, but others seemed to think he might be cured of his loathing. To these men, the fact that hed somehow survived in the freezing waters was proof that he had a seamans constitution, and the fact that he was unbothered by the rolling, rocking motion of the boat meant he had good legs.

These sailors approached him regularly with stories about the wonders of the sea and even small gifts, trying to entice him onto the deck. Kalen enjoyed the stories, and he was very pleased with their offerings. So far, hed collected a wooden whistle, a packet of dried fish, and a lumpy pink pearl. But once he left the safety of the bunk room, he refused to set foot outside the ship.

Instead, he explored the hold.

The ship was hauling many crates and barrels full of supplies, but these were not to be opened. No matterthe cargo that interested Kalen was running about in a pen made of stacked crates in the center of the hold.

Piglets. Twelve small, spotted pink piglets and an exhausted sow. Apparently there had been another sow, but shed died not long before Kalen was found. Hence the abundance of fresh pork soup aboard.

The pigs belonged to Jorn, whod joined his brother Holv's crew this season just so that he could travel to the continent and purchase them.

While Kalen sat in the straw, selecting first one piglet and then another to hold, Jorn explained that they were a special kind of pig. They were famous even in places beyond the mighty continent, and he had been saving up to buy them for several years.

The pigs required a peculiar diet and luxurious treatment, and if you gave them these things they would grow up to be very delicious.

Except for this one, said Kalen, having finally settled on a particular piglet that was more enjoyable than all the others. It was little enough that he could hold it well in his lap, and being lazier than its fellows, it seemed disinclined to run away from him. It had small black ears and a wet nose.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

I think that one will probably taste the same as all the rest. Jorn's voice was amused.

This one is mine, though, Kalen said matter of factly. So nobody will ever get to taste it.

The other sailors had given him things. Jorn, being his favorite of them all, would obviously give him something, too. And what he wanted was this warm, plump piglet.

Jorn stroked his beard and stared at Kalen for a long time. Aye, Kalen, he said at last. That one will be yours.

Her name is Sleepynerth, Kalen said promptly. But thats too long, so she ought to be called Sleepy.

Sleepy it is, said Jorn. Mind you, small man, I dont think Shelba will take too kindly to having her in the house. Shell have to do her sleeping in the barn with the other pigs.

This was how Kalen learned that he would be living with Jorn and his wife when the voyage across the ocean was over. He had questions about this, and Jorn explained the matter to him carefully several times.

The sea Kalen hated so much was sacred. She brought gifts to men, and what a man took from the belly of the sea was his. Oftentimes, the sea was much wiser than the men who sailed her. Kalen was proof of this.

Jorn had gone looking for the pigs. One day, hed hoped to sell them and their offspring and buy the talents of a particular wizarn.

He and Shelba could not have children, and though there were a few wizarns on the island, none could help them. Some years, however, a more powerful wizarn arrived from far away. She brought healing potions to trade with the islanders. Maybe she could give Shelba a child.

So I thought, said Jorn, leaning over a crate to tousle Kalens hair. But the sea, she is smarter than me. And she is more powerful than any wizarn. Shelba will be glad I left for pigs and returned with a son.

#

Over the next few days, Jorn managed to coax Kalen onto the deck several times. They had discovered that the ocean bothered the boy less if there was something in sight besides the water. So when he was called up to the deck, it was always to observe some point of interest.

Once it was a school of fish that leaped out of the water and sailed through the air. Another time it was a rocky island covered in huge, pale birds. Kalens favorite by far, though, were the whales.

The ship sailed near a pod of the enormous beasts, and Kalens eyes widened at the sheer size of them. Their backs and tails broke the surface like leathery islands. They spouted water into the air from a hole on top of their heads.

Kalen, with Sleepy the piglet gripped tightly in his arms, was so enchanted by the sight of them that for a moment he forgot to be afraid of the ocean at all. He leaned over the railing and stared.

Look, look! he said, pointing at a flash of orange deep in the water. One of them is on fire!

Should Dort vote to kill the baby whale? he asked the coin. Then, he flipped it the way Tomas had shown him.

He was supposed to catch the coin before it landed, but he wasnt very coordinated. Especially when he was shivering out here in the cold ocean wind. It smacked into the decking with a pleasant plinking sound and rolled a short distance. Kalen stepped over to where it had fallen and crouched down to examine it.

It says no, he informed Dort. You should vote no.

He grabbed the coin, and turned to the two men, feeling very pleased to have made such an important decision so simply. They were both giving him the strangest looks.

What kind of coin is that? asked Dort. Ive never seen a gold piece that big, and its covered all over in wizarn marks.

Jorn made a shushing motion at him, then leaned over and whispered something. Dort nodded before passing Sleepy to him and leaving.

Come here, small man, said Jorn, holding the piglet in one hand and gesturing to Kalen with his other. Lets go back belowdecks.

#

In the hold, surrounded by the snuffling sounds of pigs and the creaking of the ship, Jorn asked Kalen about the coin.

Oh no. Here was another need for a lie. Kalen didnt like lying to Jorn anymore, but he couldnt betray Tomas. Maybe only a small lie, then?

Its mine, said Kalen. My family gave it to me before the ship sank in the ocean.

He showed Jorn the hidden pocket in his tunic where the coin was kept. It was a piece of Tomass blue silk shirt, stitched into place by clumsy hands. Jorn touched the haphazard stitching. Well, its a wonder youve managed to keep it at all, he said, more to himself than Kalen.

He examined the coin next, turning it over in his thick fingers. Doesn't look to be any kind of money Ive seen. Though if its gold all the way through its a fine amount of it. Is it a gods token maybe? Were your family followers of one of them?

Not knowing what a gods token was, or if the Orellens followed any particular deity, Kalen shrugged.

Mayhap its a good fortune charm, Jorn mused. Like the people from the Fog Islands use. But such things are usually nailed above a houses door and never taken on journeys.

I was told it was for making decisions, said Kalen, but that I shouldnt expect it to be right a lot of the time.

Ha! Jorn smiled at him and handed the coin back. Such is the nature of coins and dice. All right, then. You should keep it hidden until Dort fixes it for you. I doubt any of the men on this ship would take it from you, but others are not the same. And its the sort of thing that will cause talk either way. Many folk are superstitious about the work ofwizarns.

Above decks, the vote was concluded, and Dort appeared in the hold a few minutes later looking relieved. We wont kill the whale calf. Its been settled.

He borrowed the coin from Kalen, then, and pressed it into a ball of wax hed brought along in his pocket. So I remember the size of it, he said, peeling the coin away from the wax and handing it back to Kalen.

This whole exchange was mysterious and pointless, as far as the boy was concerned. But a few days later, Dort found him eating roast fish on ships crackers in the kitchen and showed him what hed done. Hed carved a clever case for the coin out of some kind of bone. It was in two round pieces, just a bit bigger than the coin itself, with grooves cut into them so that they could be fitted together.

You put a bit of the wax in, said Dort, showing Kalen how to do it. Then the coin which side is the face, by the way?

That side is yes, said Kalen, pointing.

Dort nodded. He fitted the coin into its new case, packing it with wax so it wouldnt rattle around, then he fit the groves together with a small twist and handed it to Kalen. This side is your face, he said, pointing to the side with a rough, birdlike shape carved into it. Or your yes. And the blank side is your no. That way you dont have to take the coin out to flip it if youre around other folk.

The coin was now much more unwieldy, being nearly the size of Kalens palm in its case. But he didnt want it to be stolen, so he thanked Dort.

Will you flip it for me sometimes? asked Dort, looking at the case curiously. A man needs an answer once in a while, and a wizarn coin is surely better than a regular one.

Yes, Kalen agreed, feeling magnanimous. But you have to follow all the rules, or it wont work right.

#

A week later, with a bone-covered coin in his pocket and a piglet in his arms, Kalen stepped out onto the ships deck to see their destination finally coming into view on the horizon. As he watched the island approach, he soon realized it was huge. Not at all like the little rocky place that had been covered in birds. This island was mountainous, and it was forestedfrom nearly the tops of the peaks down to the stony beacheswith an endless swath of deep green fir trees.

The people of the big landthe continentcall it the Emerald of the Northern Sea, said Jorn. But for us it is Hemarland.

Hemarland, Kalen repeated.

Aye, said Jorn, laying a hand on his shoulder. This is our home.