Bitter History

It was nearly midnight when the Nawyet anchored. The captain seemed pleased with their progress and the crew retired to their quarters with some satisfaction, a combination of professional pride and the more tangible fact that if the Nawyet was able to shave time off its journey they would get a share of the resulting bonus.

As the boat settled down for a late night, Noah sat at his desk with his books when he heard a knock. It was confusing, as it was from close to his head, and it took him a second to realize it wasn’t a knock on the door but rather the wall he shared with the captain.

“If you wish to talk, I am here.” The captains voice through the wall was barely even muffled, and for the first time Noah wondered what she was hearing when he was with the crew.

“Oh yeah, thank you,” he replied. He stood and then thought to grab his smaller notebook. In the narrow corridor he saw the door at the other end open, and Hannah walked out. She was dressed in a long shirt with apparently nothing under it, but didn’t seem bothered by that as she looked quizzically at Noah. Feeling oddly foolish, he gave her a half wave as he paused in front of the captain’s quarters and tapped on the door.

“Come in,” Amaruq called, and Noah could see Hannah arching an eyebrow. Somehow, Noah now felt slightly guilty in addition to silly but he opened the door and quickly entered.

The captain’s quarters were, naturally, the largest and most well appointed in the ship. A good-sized desk and a bookshelf - both with straps you could use to secure their contents in rough seas - were close to the wall the room shared with Noah’s own. On the other side of the room was a small table and 2 chairs, and against the back wall was a bed and wardrobe, underneath small windows set into the top of the wall. As he looked Noah could see a woman walking slowly past the windows from the waist down, pausing at the boat’s exposed wheelhouse at the very stern.

Captain Amaruq was standing next to the table, holding a bottle. “Would you care for some wine? I had this bottle of sand wine from Was’mattawa and I thought tonight would be as good a time as any to open it. I’ve had a glass, it’s not bad at all.”

“Yes, thank you Captain,” Noah said. She had a pair of glasses on the table and poured what looked like a white wine into both glasses before gesturing to him to sit as she did herself across the table. “And this is a good reminder of how grateful I am to talk to you. Normally, I’d just sit and drink but now I feel I can ask potentially odd questions. For example, where is Was’Mattawa and, uh, what is sand wine?”

Amaruq smiled at the handsome younger man as he sat down, a bashful look on his face. “You are from a kingdom I have never heard of, over the great ocean! It’s natural you not know those things - Was’Mattawa is a small kingdom in the south east of Tembina. It is mostly known for its wine, and it is called ‘sand wine’ due to the fact they grow the grapes in the desert using vines alchemically treated to use need little water, yet produce a uniquely sweet taste. So, no actual sand in the wine, but a strange name now that I think of it!”

Noah chuckled and accepted a glass. Taking a sip, he nodded appreciatively.

“You speak the Lingua so well I still often forget you are from so far away,” she said thoughtfully, referring to the common language of the Tembinian continent. “You have a slight accent but it sounds like none other I can think of.”

“It is the only language I speak that anyone on this continent would understand,” Noah said slowly, “but I have picked up some random Kuniq words I suppose.”

“Well, half the languages of the continent are based on the old language of the Kherbat Empire a thousand years ago, so the shared tongue is enough to get by almost anywhere. Did you learn the Lingua on the voyage over the ocean? Out of curiosity, when you met Hannah and I in Anglet what ship had you come in on? You must have only just arrived, and I know none of the cargo ships or whalers that work the Northlands would cross the oceans.”

The steward nodded vaguely, “Yes I got to Anglet on a different ship, it was a long journey and I learned the Lingua then.” He pulled open his small notebook and said, “But I’d love to know a bit more about the history of the continent.”

Taking another long swallow of the very good sand wine, Amaruq paused. “I suppose it would be best if I don’t assume you know things, but I also won’t bore you with a long list of the dead emperors of Old Kherbat. Just know that the kingdoms, free states, republicas, nations and domains of Tembina had been mostly peaceful for a century. There were disputes and border skirmishes, but nothing like the ancient wars. Some people say it was because magic was waning, and the new combination of science with the speculative thought of alchemy was responsible. But the fading of deep magic and the rise of artifice and clockwork magic was a century ago, so if it led to the Ubyr war no one has ever explained to me how.”

Her glass was already empty, and Amaruq re-filled it, thinking to herself that it might be good to limit herself. But who could talk about the past sober?

“I have only seen an Ubyr once, and that was enough. She was well over six feet tall, with pale blue skin and fangs so long they showed even when her mouth was closed. She was beautiful, with iron grey hair and long pointed ears jutting off to the sides. She had the very detailed, tight leather armor of her people, with a long thin blade. I saw her kill a dozen marines in the space of 5 heartbeats, and she looked so bored.”

Amaruq frowned, “She didn’t have the dull red eyes of some leaches, but the dark blue, almost black, kind with white pupils. On the naval ship I served on an artificer had a crystal cannon that shot burning pellets of grass and leaves. The explosion killed the artificer, but while it didn’t kill the Ubyr but did hurt her enough to make her run away. If it hadn’t, I have no doubt she would have jumped onto our ship and probably killed us all.

“I’m sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. Here, you still on that glass? Well, a refill for me regardless.” The captain poured a half glass for herself. Or a bit more than half.

“The Ubyr had always been… what’s the best word… inimical to humans. They are too different from us in many ways, but it didn’t matter as they stayed on their big islands to the south west and almost no one ever saw them. And then, 36 years ago, their baroque fleet sailed to the human kingdom of Daegom, their nearest neighbors, and in a few weeks they razed Daegom to the ground. The Leach’s War lasted 5 years, with most of the other nations of humanity sending armies to fight at some point. There were maybe ten thousand Ubyr, but killing one of them was so damn hard, and if they drank a human’s blood they could heal any injury. And of course, even with less magic they still had more than us, so their armies had a few adepts who could float in the air and breath a fog that would blanket a battlefield and sicken or kill every human.”

Noah was listening intently, not hurrying her or interrupting, but showing he was paying attention without judgment or impatience. No wonder he was such a good steward.

“In the year 735 was the Stalemate, or the False War. I was 7 years old, and all the united peoples, our combined armies a quarter of a million strong, had ground down the leaches. We couldn’t push them out, but they couldn’t advance either. The human kingdoms squabbled in those years, some armies returning home only to have to return a year later to hold the leaches back again. This was when people started wondering if there were fewer babies, even more than you’d expect with the casualties.”

Somehow, her glass was empty again, and Amaruq wondered if she hadn’t had a third glass yet. But no, the bottle was almost empty. She looked at Noah and saw he still had some. The captain picked up the bottle and went to pour again, only to have the bottle knock into her glass.

Her mouth dry, she stared at the uncooperative glass for a moment and said, “The False War lasted 6 years, depending how you decide the start of the stalemate. The third war began just after I had joined the Kuniq navy as a teen. The Biter's War, the worst of them all, by far. The war against the Lizardkin. They came from… gods only know where, ney? Thousands upon thousands of them, some with Ubyr leading them like generals, some roaming warbands, they came in their black and red galleys, smoke billowing, and we didn’t know at first the smoke was from the great cooking pots they lit when they saw humans and went to battle. Hissing ‘Kl’sssek! Kl’sssek!’ - meat, meat.”

Amaruq went to pour again, but grimaced because the glass was shaking and made it difficult. She was about to call out to Hyvin on watch to go check the anchor, but a soft hand gently placed itself on hers and she realized it wasn’t the boat moving.

Noah had shifted over closer and softly took the bottle from her, his expression understanding. Looking at him, Amaruq quietly said, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to talk about the lizards right now I don’t think.”

He smiled and said, “I understand completely. I am sorry for dredging it up, but we can talk about something else if you prefer, or I can leave you be, it’s quite late. But I would prefer to stay with you if you don’t mind, we can talk about sailing, or your home? I spoke with Hitty and Ipellie earlier, they told me you are all from a Kuniq town called Iipuri, which of the Ice Islands is that?”

He wanted to change the topic to something less upsetting, she could see. Amaruq’s mouth quirked at this man, almost 20 years her junior, wanting to make sure she was feeling better before he left her. It was almost funny, she thought.

She reached out and took a hold of his shirt, then pulled him closer. His eyes were surprised but his lips were warm and inviting, and the captain wondered how long her last kiss had been. A few whores in ports over the years, but had she kissed any of those men? She doubted it.

With a frustrated groan, Amaruq pushed the young man away. “Akna curse me, feeling drunk and sorry for myself and grabbing you like a bitter spinster!”

Noah shook his head, “Oh no, I didn’t mind, I was surprised maybe but that’s all!”

She closed her eyes for a moment to clear her head. “Noah, I grabbed you without asking. That was rude at best. I also said you were not working tonight, and denied the crew your services, and here I am exercising a captain’s privilege like you have no say in your body. In the navy, the officers would take the boys like that, but those were bad times. Even if you truly didn’t mind, I am sorry.”

The steward sat back, thoughtfully, and said, “I accept that, and thank you for realizing it. If I may Captain, I hope that, er, you do ask for my services. You are a very… I would enjoy it. Truly.”

Amaruq felt the wine, but that was not the source of all the heat she felt inside her now. The man was attractive, aye, more than most any man his age you would see almost anywhere. But it was his honesty and curiosity, his gentleness, that woke the she-wolf in Amaruq when she looked at him. The way he still didn’t fully realize how half the women he met wanted his cock so badly they could faint. He was a man of a different world, and his sweetness made Amaruq want to grab him and protect him from everything, to keep him pure and kind.

It also made her want to rip his clothes off and devour him.

“I told myself I wouldn’t bed you,” she said slowly, “but I want to. Much more than I thought I would. I hear you with the girls, and it makes me wet. But then I hear you whisper and talk to them, and the giggles and quiet words make me-” she abruptly cut her self off.

She felt herself calming down, her sudden ravenous need for him settling into her, changing from an overpowering craving to an honest desire she could at last admit to herself, and to him. “I think I will Noah, when we have a chance, I will ask you if you wish to lay with me then. Thank you for listening to me, and we will talk about the Biter’s War. But you are right, it is late and I should get some rest. You too, I’m sure the women who thought they would be in your bunk tonight will be extra demanding tomorrow.”

They smiled at each other and he took his leave. Amaruq put the wine away and covered the lantern, then pulled her shirt off and her pants down - dropping them on the floor - and got into her large bed. Before she had finished laying back her hand slipped into her drawers and found her pussy, hot and wet, and she thought of nothing but the steward for a time.