Julien
by Engor
Chapter 58
The Emperor... right at that moment he was soaking wet, cold, hungry and asking himself for the umpteenth time why he had chosen to leave a wonderful rotten summer in beautiful rain-drenched Normandy to come instead to a horrible archipelago that was being scoured by a storm brewed in the depths of hell. They had finally managed to travel far enough in a north-westerly direction to be once again in the lee of Martchoung Island, and they were currently heading for what the chart described as a good anchorage, well-protected from every direction except the south-west.
The chart was not lying, and once they reached the promised anchorage they were able, for the first time in ages, to enjoy the stability of a deck that wasn't pitching and rolling all over the place. They were inside a sort of circle of reddish rocks, probably the remains of an ancient volcano crater that was now open to the sea. The light was poor because there was still a covering of thick, dark clouds, and they could hear the wind howling on the higher ground above them, but here in this haven there was a wonderful calm, and neither the bitter cold nor the few snowflakes that were beginning to swirl around could detract from it.
"Waal, laddie," said Tenntchouk, "Naaw we can get warm."
He had tried several times to send Julien below to the stateroom, but Julien had refused to leave his companions: he was fully aware that by taking the wheel himself it freed them up to deal with the sails, a duty that was exhausting in conditions such as they had just been through. He had also insisted on taking his turn at the pumps, even though his hands were soft for that sort of work, even protected by gloves. He hadn't done it deliberately, but his attitude had completely won the respect of the sailors and had transformed him from a luxury passenger to the true master of the ship. He was half dead from exhaustion, but the soup was delicious, the stove radiated a heavenly warmth and the sailors' obvious respect made him feel stronger. It also gave him the energy to try to comfort Ugo.
"Don't feel bad," he told him. "If it hadn't been for you I'd never have got back here at all. If everyone sticks to what he's best at things always work out in the end. And I still need you at your best, because we're not out of trouble yet, and we'll need you to stand a watch on the moorings now while we sleep. And it's starting to snow out there, so good luck!"
They slept until the evening, when they had a bit of a feast to celebrate their survival. The tide was rising again, although there was no danger of it making them drag their moorings, and the deck was now covered in ten centimetres of powdery snow. The wind seemed to have dropped a little, but they still decided to wait until morning before setting sail once more.
For once the dawn brought good news with it: the temperature had risen considerably and the sky was at last free from its veil of heavy storm clouds – all that was left were a few scraps of ragged cloud such as are often seen after a storm. The wind had subsided to a far more reasonable level and what they could see of the ocean was pleasantly flat. The snow that had been on the deck the previous evening had had the decency to melt, and Gradik was getting the rigging shipshape again while Tenntchouk was filling the stateroom with the scent of the breakfast he was cooking. Julien had decided against washing in freezing cold water and had instead treated himself to the luxury of a complete set of dry clothing.
"I think we can probably make a move," he said, while they were demolishing a large stack of pancakes. "Of course we can't be sure exactly where the First Trankenn is, but if we head north we'll probably be going in roughly the correct direction. Just as long as we don't run into another storm..."
"'Tis naat the season yet," said Gradik. "Thaat were just a good gale."
"I'm sure you're right, but I'd prefer to avoid any more like it. I've had about enough of that sort of weather for the time being. Haven't you?"
"Oi haave. But 'tis naat the same on a big trankenn as in a little boat loike our Isabelle – although she's brave, roight enough. She holds 'er course loike a maach bigger ship."
So they sailed northwards, propelled by a good south-westerly breeze and a gentle sea. The weather was cold, but at least the sun was shining and the clouds were progressively vanishing. They were able to use the autopilot again, and after what they'd been through this part of the trip felt like a nice holiday. Tenntchouk even put out a fishing line baited with little pieces of cloth and caught a dozen or so phenomenally ugly creatures that looked like some sort of a cross between eels and fish, without scales but basically fish-shaped. Julien would have thrown them back without hesitation, but once they'd been through Gradik's expert hands in the galley they tasted exquisite.
"Gradik," commented Julien, "you're a master cook. You ought to be working in a nice warm kitchen of some upper class inn, not breaking your back hauling sails out here."
"Oi love the sea too maach for thaat. Me an' Tenntchouk, we couldn't live aall the toime ashore. 'Tis baad enough as we 'ave to stay ashore in the staarmy season. But mebbe 'tis haard to understaand for one as isn't fraam these paarts."
"You're right, Gradik: I'm not from round here. But I can understand; all the same. Where I come from there are plenty of people who don't want to settle in one place and see nothing of the rest of the world."
"An where do ye caame fraam?"
"Do you really need to know?"
"Waal, no. Oi suppose ye'll tell us when ye're ready."
"I'll tell you as soon as I can – but first I have to deliver my message"
Authors deserve your feedback. It's the only payment they get. If you go to the top of the page you will find the author's name. Click that and you can email the author easily.* Please take a few moments, if you liked the story, to say so.
[For those who use webmail, or whose regular email client opens when they want to use webmail instead: Please right click the author's name. A menu will open in which you can copy the email address (it goes directly to your clipboard without having the courtesy of mentioning that to you) to paste into your webmail system (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc). Each browser is subtly different, each Webmail system is different, or we'd give fuller instructions here. We trust you to know how to use your own system. Note: If the email address pastes or arrives with %40 in the middle, replace that weird set of characters with an @ sign.]
* Some browsers may require a right click instead
