Chronicles of Aurderia: The Balance (6 page)

It is believed this was once a settlement of the ancient First People, and superstition had kept most away. The fact that the cove is both protected and blocked by the insidious Serpent’s Fangs just adds to the stories about the place being cursed.
 

Codger and the others approached the keep and the Sun was setting over the Great Sea and the last rays of light pierced through the Fangs, casting eerie light and shadows upon the keep and surrounding cliffs. As they neared a stone structure that appeared to be a stables and carriage house, a small group of men came out of the shadows to greet them.
 

“Who approaches?” A raspy voice called from the group of men still standing in shadow.
 

“Old Codger. I’ve got a vessel here, and me and my folk intend to pack up and head out at Aknard’s leave,” Codger replied.
 

At the mention of Aknard’s name, the group separated to allow passage to the piers and causeway to the guild’s toll office.
 

“Old Codger!” Bellowed Aknard as he walked the causeway down to greet the newly arrived wagon.
 

“Aknard by friend. How goes business since last I left?” Codger inquired in an overly friendly tone.
 

“Been lot’s of folk arrivin’ lookin’ for passage. Seems times are gettin’ desperate in New Draven and the area, for folks to brave this cured place,” Aknard answered with question in both his tone and face.
 

Aknard is a dwarf, full blooded; once a prominent member of a leading clan in the Orenthal Mountains. The details of why he chose to leave the mountains and live among the humans he does not share.
 

“Turmoil has come upon Aurderia my friend. Has news of the breaking of Lalli Mah not reached you?” Codger asked.
 

“Oh it has, but is just now confirmed. How bad is it?” He asked Codger.
 

“It is just beginning, but let us talk more in privy while my friends here get settled on my vessel,” Codger said while tossing a bag of coin to a nearby shore-man and motioned for Moona and the others to head to the boat.
 

Moona gave a sizable portion of her coin to some of the shore-men to provision the ship with enough food for a full cycle of travel.

Aknard sat behind his desk and motioned for Old Codger to take the seat across from him. “Codge, you know I have no love for the Order but they pay well for information,” Aknard stated making his point clear. “Why just days ago a man, or something masquerading as one, come ‘round asking about an old woman traveling with a younger one carrying a new sprat,” Aknard implied his suspicions.
 

“That be my Moony with me and our young charges, both too old to be a new sprat!” Codger toned with mild irritation.
 

“Let’s not mince here Codge. We have been friends for a long time, but I got a business to run here.”
 

What do you want you pirate!” Codger demanded.
 

“I had me a look see at your fine vessel while you were gone,” Aknard smirked. “No I don’ be wantin’ your boat friend, just the plans and purpose of the odd gear works you have workin’ it.”
 

After what seemed like many minutes Codger cast his eyes down and replied. “Come aboard with me and you’ll have what you asked for,” Aknard smiled broadly.

Codger’s boat was a decent sized vessel. The outward appearance was that of any normal passenger and cargo ship. What was special about this ship was in how it operated.
 

Already onboard, Moona and Mally walked about the ship in curiosity wondering what they were looking at. They found themselves in the pilot deck staring at a vast array of levers, gears and wheels all made of a heavy but light metal alloy. They were still there when Codger arrived with Aknard following closely behind.
 

“Ah, good you are here. That keeps me from having to explain all this twice,” Codger stated.
 

“I see you been busy with your tinkerin’ while I been gone Codge,” Moona remarked.
 

“This,” Codger said gesturing to the pilot controls, “is a design based on ancient writings and diagrams I discovered some time ago. It is a working or gears and pulleys that power a paddle system.” Codger went on to describe how all the workings fit together and both moved and steered the vessel at different speeds. The fuel source was a furnace that used heated water vapors to drive the entire system. As he described everything, Aknard and the others could not help but stare in astonishment at this marvel of creation.

“Where on Ersetu did you find the design for such a wonder?” Aknard asked knowingly. “Not even the most skilled of dwarves could have even dreamed of such a thing!”
 

“Where I found it is of no consequence,” Codger quickly answered. Codger reached below a panel of gears and from within a hidden chamber produced a rolled parchment. He handed the parchment to Aknard. “Here is all you need to reproduce what I have done here.” Reluctantly, Codger handed over his drawings over to Aknard who took them gladly and left the ship.
 

The Shore-men untied Codger’s ship the Melammu Nanna, and they pushed them off from the dock. Codger opened the vapor vents from the already burning furnace and set the paddles in motion. Slowly and carefully the Melammu Nanna made it’s way out of the cove and into the Fangs.

Navigating the fangs is a dangerous proposition at best. The jagged rocks and spires above the waves are bad enough. Below the waves there are just as many dangers from more rock that can tear a ship apart. Only one way through the fangs is safe for a vessel of any size greater than a rower or raft. Codger is one of the few outside the smuggler’s guild that knows the way through only due to his old friendship with Aknard.
 

The going was slow but steady. Moona was amazed by the ease with which the Old Codger navigated the vicious fangs edging closer to the mouth and safe waters. She was remembering one of the many reasons she married the man so many years ago.
 

Mally was mesmerized but the whizzing and whirring of the many gears. More than once Codger had to pull him clear before a burst of steam would blast from the pipes before he got burned.
 

Shuran was giggling and taking turns being passed between the three of them to find the best view of all that was going on.
 

After an hour of navigation, Codger finally eased the ship beyond the last spires and outcroppings.

***

Aknard finished looking over the plans for the engine with delight. He was only curious about one piece centered on the control board that seemed to serve no purpose. He quickly put that out of his mind as he called in the guild members currently at the keep.
 

“We have a new purpose friends. We need to recruit builders and smithies.”

The Great Sea is a vast body of water that stretches over one thousand leagues from the southern parts of Aurderia to well into the Frozen North beyond the Orenthal Mountains. The strong winds out of the West along with the strong currents make travel difficult heading north and impossible to the West. The Warm waters from the South Sea mix with the frigid currents from the Frozen North. The fast currents that the result makes travel from the North fast but the same could not be said for the opposite. Their journey would normally take a normal ship two cycles or more to sail by wind and sail to the coast outside Birchshire.
 

The Melammu Nanna however, did not use only sails. The gear works and paddle system Codger had re-discovered allowed the vessel to counter the strong currents and added to the wind in her sails, journey time would be cut in half. The trip would not be without obstacles, as they first had to get past the wildly unpredictable waters north of the Fangs. The way the coastline hooked to the West joined by the layout of the Fangs, the currents and undertow of this area caused whirlpools to form in unpredictable areas and times.

Forty leagues beyond the Fangs, Codger steered his ship in as close as he dared to the coast where the waters churned the least. Everyone, save Shuran were on edge and listening intently for the telltale gurgling and sucking sound that accompanied a whirlpool. The churning waters made seeing the danger impossible until it was too late.
 

It appeared to Codger that they were to have a clear passing of the wicked area and be saved from the danger of being pulled to a watery grave. His relief suddenly turned to terror as the sudden sound on the edge of his hearing made his stomach sink to his feet.
 

The Ship began to lurch and list to port. The sudden shift in the ship brought with it a cacophony of sounds. The ship was groaning under stress. The paddles were slapping at the water in vein as the aft of the ship was lifting up out of the water.
 

Moona was screaming and running to tie things down.
 

Mally was securing Shuran while holding on to the mast with all strength he had in the one available arm.
 

Codger stood grunting in the pilot deck white knuckled hands gripping the helm.
 

As the aft of the ship began to spin starboard, the stern began angling to stare deep into the eye of the mother of all whirlpools.
 

Codger struggled to hold the helm. He let loose with one hand in order to reach for his belt and loose it from his waist. He tied one end with his free hand to the helm then with both hands he stretched the belt up to the control boards and tied the other end to a pipe. While trying to hold up his now sagging pants, he wiggled his way to the back of the deck to locate another secret compartment from which he produced an oblong crystal of quartz minerals. He struggled back to the control panel and reached out with the crystal in an attempt to affix it to a similarly shaped metal section. Several times the rocking of the ship threatened to knock him about but he held fast to the pipe work and continued reaching. Just as he was loosing hope a forward lurch of the ship suddenly forced him forward and as he slammed into the controls the crystal made contact with controls and nesting into the metal Codger intended.
 

Just as suddenly as the shipped had been sent pitching about, the vessel began stabilizing and leveling.
 

Equal parts relief and confusion washed over Moona and Mally as they looked about them wondering what was happening.
 

The sea began to drop away below them as they realized the Melammu Nanna was lifting skyward. The sides of the ship that had appeared to only act as decorative wings folded out and down on each side of the ship. With a deliberate stroke the wings flapped down parallel to the vessel.

Moona, Mally and Shuran stood wide eyed at the ship’s side looking down directly into the mouth of the vast whirlpool that only moments early tried tirelessly to swallow them into its watery gullet. They looked at one another and then to the pilot deck where they could make out Codger standing at the helm with one hand on a glowing leaver the other on the helm.
 

His pants were a sagging mess around his ankles. As they made their way back to Codger, the sails filled with wind and were pushing on northeast past the monster into calmer waters.
 

“Codger?” Moona called. “What in the name of Damkianna is going on?” Codger just smiled and gradually moved the glowing control crystal forward, thus lowering the ship back to the water. When the ship gently settled back down, he reengaged the paddle system and Melammu Nanna lurched northward. He removed the crystal shard from its place on the controls and handed it to Moona.
 

“That my dear is the one piece of information I did not share with Aknard. It is the only thing I cannot re-create and could not afford to loose it.”
 

“I can feel its power!” Moona exclaimed as she examined it.
 

“It is called ABNU EMUQ in the ancient tongue, a Power Stone,” Codger beamed. “I found it with the diagrams I used to fashion this vessel.”
 

As Moona continued to marvel at the shard, Shuran stared at it curiously and reached out toward it. The Quartz began to hum and color danced across its surface. Suddenly the stone leaped from Moona’s grip and flew into Shuran’s waiting hand.

In Shuran’s grip, the stone began to hum louder and pulsate with a dazzling show of lights. The hum was almost musical, as various tones emanated from it in time with the flashing of colorful light. As the light grew in intensity, a glow began to inch its way from the crystal along Shuran’s arm. Soon his entire began to glow and the crystal began dimming in luminosity.
 

In a sudden cry, Shuran released the quartz stone and fell back into Mally’s arms.
 

Moona quickly moved to him and tried to make sense of what just happened.
 

Shuran seemed to have been knocked unconscious. His breathing was steady but he had a faint glow along his skin.
 

“He is sleeping!” Moona decided.
 

“What was that?” Codger asked.
 

“I have a theory, check the crystal. My guess is that it has been drained,” Moona deduced.
 

Codger turned the crystal in his hand, having retrieved it from the deck floor after it was dropped. He nested the crystal in its place. There was no reaction from the shard. The control lever would not move. The crystal was completely drained of energy. “Well, I hope we don’ have need ‘cause this thing is D-E-D dead!” Codger declared.
 

“We need to have plenty of food ready when the boy wakes,” Moona said as she took Shuran below decks to a cot in the sleeping chamber. “No telling how much he is going to grow from the power he absorbed from that rock!” Moona wondered.

Shuran slept through to the next morning, nearly a full thirty-hour day.