Talk Of The Wars, And Concern For The Steward

“Where to begin? Bah. I told Noah of the Ubyr War. The blueskins and the taint and how the human kingdoms eventually fought them to a stalemate. But when I got to the biters I put off the rest of the story,” Amaruq’s mouth twisted in a tight half smile.

“You didn’t have to tell me, truly, and I don’t need to know now,” Noah said, “I can only guess how painful that history must be to you. To all of you.”

Hyvin shook her head, “No, I agree with the captain, it might help to hear of it, and you admit you are curious about the history of these lands. It affected us all, of course, but let me tell you a bit.”

The woman sat back in her chair. “My experience might be different, for in the West we had the worst experiences with the Ubyr, but ironically after that the true carnage happened on the continent and in the east. We knew of the Ubyr, but mostly pretended they did not exist as they rarely left their home islands.”

Hyvin began, “For generations, the deep craft had been fading. According to the scholars, a century or two ago mages used to be able to call lightning from a clear sky like it was nothing, and then a scant few generations later found it difficult to make a mage-light last an hour. There were only a small group of truly powerful wizards and normal folk were honestly relieved that one whaleshit crazy old man in a tower couldn’t turn acorns into cat sized insects any more.”

Noah laughed, and Hyvin smiled, “That anecdote was sadly true. But while the deep magics were fading, alchemy and what they started calling small magic grew. More people could make useful items powered by tiny bits of magic and chemicals, and that was more than enough for most folk.”

She pointed at the lanterns in the cabin, “Like these, now skilled craftspeople can do useful things like make smokeless lanterns that last for a year with no fuel, instead of, say, a priceless enchanted diamond that will show a dream of how you die but that only one person in the world knows how to create.”

As she paused for a moment, Hannah nodded and said, “We heard the same, the theories that the Ubyr attacked because of something to do with magic disappearing. That they blamed humans.”

“Seems as likely as anything. Though the blueskins still had terrifying magic during their attacks, certainly,” Hyvin agreed. “But that was just before I was born. It was at the end of the Stalemate, in 741, that the lizardkin attacked.”

“So that was… 24 years ago?” Noah couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes, that was the start of the Biter’s War, as we mostly call it now. It lasted about 7 years, depending on where you are from, and it was the worst of it. The Ubyr completely destroyed an entire kingdom, leaving not a single living person as near as anyone could tell, but the Biter’s War was still worse.”

She looked at the captain, and Amaruq nodded and continued. “I was in the navy when I was 14 years. Times were… very grim. There were famines on the continent, crushing losses of entire armies, constant slow defeats. The lizardkin, well they look like monsters from an old play. Tall as a man, but much thicker. Covered in scales, with mouths of sharp teeth. Tens of thousands of them, swarming up from the southwest. They are also good sailors and had a large navy, and their war galleys roamed the seas looking for food.”

Noah was curious about so much of the lizardkin, but the way Captain Amaruq tensed up slightly when discussing them made him shift the topic instead. He said, “So the end of the Biter’s War was the start of the Widow’s War?”

“Aye. It was no one thing though, but the conflict changed 6 or 7 years after the lizardkin arrived. The battles tended to ebb and flow, and in winter the land battles slowed down. Everyone assumes the lizardkin don’t like the cold, but while they did roam all over, they were more active in the arid south, and in the summer.”

Hyvin took up the story while Amaruq paused, “The Widow’s War is how we describe the fighting that started after a longer than normal winter's stalemate. The lizards had not pressed the exhausted and starving human armies when spring started in 749, and the extra few months gave the humans a chance. For a few years now the remaining forces had adapted. New tactics against the lizards. A group of older women, veterans and royalty, had been making smaller companies, and were able to use the new instruments more often.”

At the stewards confused look the second mate chuckled, “Aye, ‘instruments’, I’ve never seen one but that’s what they were called. Built by alchemists and clockmakers, the most advanced of them somehow helped the lucky few who had them know roughly where the lizardkin forces were hiding. And other uses.”

“I did see some,” the captain said, putting her wine glass down, “when our squadron brought a small **** around the Spear to let them attack a Ubyr port. The marines said they were magical charms, but an officer told my captain that they only had a bit of magic - they were actually a mixture of alchemy and copper mechanism. But they did work like magic, and if you had them against your skin the trinket used body heat to somehow make the Ubyr unable to sense humans at a distance. Vitally important for any sort of sneak attack, obviously. There were other inventions in those times.”

Amaruq smiled, “I’m afraid my story is meandering, Noah. The Young Widow, a princess of Tanyuet named Váo-dài, was about your age. Her husband had married her on her 18th summer day, then gone off to the front lines and perished along with so many others. She was a fighter too, and in a few years, she gathered a group of 200 warriors and alchemists to her cause - taking the fight not to the grinding wastes of the main conflict but a way to strike at whoever was directing the armies of lizards and Ubyr.

“So, that’s what she did. And they circled the whole continent over the course of 3 months, avoiding lizardkin and Ubyr fleets. The stories of what they did, or didn’t do, number in the hundreds, even though many of that hallowed group survived we really only know they ran their ships aground at the sacked capitol of Daegom, the first place the Ubyr had attacked a few decades before. Whatever happened, the Ubyr essentially vanished from the wars, and the lizards were no longer solely focused on attacking the human armies but began fighting each other. The human armies pressed forward, and a year later the Wars end with the lizardkin pushed back into the sea.”

Hannah said, “The last big battles, the combined armies scattering the last lizardkin forces, was 12 years ago. The biters were driven off, more or less, but half the continent was a charnel pit and every nation had lost a large percentage of their young. Many lands had most of the men dead, and fewer babies born to the survivors who were tainted by the early magic battles as well.”

Noah looked pensive, and the captain gave a small chuckle. “So that’s both too much talk about the Wars and not nearly enough to answer your questions, I’m sure. But while I hope that history lesson helps you understand these lands better, that is not why I asked you to dine with us.”

The other two women stiffened slightly, expectant, and Noah glanced around. He said, “I appreciate the history, truly. And, uh, what did you want to ask me?”

“The Nawyet has been making good time,” Amaruq said as Hannah nodded. “And the crew is working very hard. I wonder if they have the same notion I have had, but I have not mentioned anything to them lest they get… overly hopeful.”

Now the steward braced himself to be asked for something he could not give.

“We know you still intend to stay at the Empty City,” the captain continued, “and while many of us are concerned about the risks you take, that was the agreement. But we may be able to get there early, and stay for almost a full day. Would that give you the time you require?”

Hannah shifted her seat, clearly excited by the offer and eagerly awaiting his reply. Hyvin studied him as well, politely waiting for Noah to react.

“I… I honestly have no idea, I’m sorry.” Noah felt a surge of regret wash over him. He hurried on, “I know I take a chance, and I am very touched by the concerns of the crew, but there is something I need to find there and I do not think it can be found anywhere else. It is incredibly important to me, and I have dedicated my life to it. But I won’t have a clue about how long it will take until I start looking.”

Captain Amaruq could see the conflict on the man’s handsome face as he spoke. For a moment, she wanted to question him about his real plans for the Empty City as clearly he had not travelled halfway across the world just to make sketches of old roads for some foolish scholarly concern. But any sailor was allowed to keep their private life private as long as it did not impede on their work, and his work had certainly been exemplary.

“I see,” the captain said. She gave him a small smile, hoping to reassure him as he looked increasingly upset. Not for the first time, she recognized that that he cared for the crew greatly and did not want to worry them for all that he had only been on the boat for nine days. “I have an alternate offer then. We will get to the City as quickly as we can, and stay for as long as possible, and if that is enough time for you wonderful. If not, I have a suggestion - you wait there and avoid other boats until we return from Currielle. On our return leg, which would be about 20 days, we will stay at the Empty City and wait as well.”

Hannah nodded rapidly, unable to contain herself any longer, “Yes, indeed! Noah I’m honestly pretty nervous about you staying there alone. But I am just as concerned about you thinking you can get a ride out from another river boat doing the trade run.”

All three women paused, and gave each other complicated looks. Amaruq sighed and Hannah grimaced, but finally Hyvin turned to the steward and said, “It is true. We are all sisters and brothers, the boats and crews that do the trade run from Anglet to Currielle, we consider each other rivals but also fellow sailors and colleagues. But, well, some of the crews are less… morally reliable than others. And you are a very handsome young man, Noah. You may flag down a passing boat and not be well served by the reaction you get.”

“You might be stripped naked, locked up, **** to smoke serpent horn to keep you stiff and used by the crew until they get close to port, at which point they’ll slit your throat and dump your body in the river to avoid any awkward questions,” Hannah said bluntly, and Amaruq winced at her words.

“Not all of them,” Amaruq said smoothly, “and many - perhaps most - of the other captains are honourable women with good crews. But a few, well a few are not. And who knows who would find you? There have been a few boats go missing the past year, and some of the captains and I suspect piracy. A boat may run aground or even sink here, but for no one to see any trace is odd.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that, although a few of the crew said things about me being kidnapped but I thought they were joking,” Noah was chewing on a thumbnail, deep in thought.

The captain said, “We’ve given you a lot to think about. I don’t want to scare you unduly… but what you intend to do is very risky and I want you to know we all would feel much better if we give you every chance to fulfil your goals while being safe. And we are not just saying that because we want to convince you to stay for our own benefit.”

“Oh! I don’t think anyone is exaggerating or anything,” Noah said.

Hyvin, as one of the handful who had not bedded the steward, smirked and said, “I don’t blame you if you did think the crew might want you in your bunk for another month for various reasons! But truly, the captain is right - no one wants you in danger if we can help it.” Hannah gave a loud laugh and even Amaruq chuckled at the obvious truth that the crew indeed loved having Noah available.

“So please, consider your options Noah,” Captain Amaruq shifted in her chair and gave him a firm look, “we will do what we can to accommodate your quest, but I hope you heed our concerns as well. Even before you learned the provisions you brought are not nearly enough to live on, I know some of the crew have been vocal about their concerns for your safety and will not accept the notion we are simply leaving you alone in the middle of nowhere to die.”

Noah shot a guilty glance to his side towards the wall the captain’s quarters shared with his room. Amaruq knew she shouldn’t use the things she overheard to press her case, but she wasn’t above some light manipulation for something so important. And while he was clearly embarrassed by the mention of his spoiled food, the example needed to be made.

And, based on how lost in thought Noah appeared, the captain was hopeful he was at least giving it some serious thought. It was all she could do, and she hoped it would be enough.