Dawn, The Tenth Day Out

The skies were medium blue, the sun just below the horizon, when Captain Amaruq appeared on deck. Her legs were sore, as were many of her muscles, but she bounced up the steps onto the deck with verve. Hannah was near the port railing and gave her a delighted look that the captain mostly ignored, partly because she knew the woman would ask a thousand questions about all the noise of the previous night but mainly because time was of the essence.

Most of the the crew would be eating breakfast, but Hannah was with Kireama discussing something so Amaruq pointed both of them towards the front of the boat. Both gave quick salutes as was tradition when first meeting the captain during the day and moved to follow her.

Inside the hatch, the captain marched to the crew’s quarters and stopped. A few of them saluted and, since there truly were no secrets on a boat, excited voices started to call out to the captain. Hannah and Kireama hustled past her so they could crowd in with the rest of the crew, who all fell silent as the captain clearly meant to speak to them all. Most of them were at the tables, but the cook looked in from the galley and a few stood near the hammocks and watched.

Hyvin, twisting her head at the table, was counting to herself and she looked at the captain and said, “Fourteen, including you. So, all of us except the steward.” She arched an eyebrow and Amaruq shook her head - he was snoring in his bunk as he tended to right up until the four bells of dawn, which would be in a few minutes. As she had hoped.

Standing straight, Amaruq wore her most serious and commanding expression. “We are one day away from the Empty City. We have been making good time, and I have to thank each and every one of you for your hard work. We have sailed past dusk several nights, which isn’t easy upriver and not a one of you has complained. I suspect you all know why.”

A few nods at that, and Amaruq looked at each crew in turn for a moment before continuing. “Noah intends to disembark at the Empty City, and stay there to do his own private work.”

A round of unhappy muttering at that, and the captain waited for the noise to die down. “I know, and I agree. It is his decision, and every sailor on this boat is free to do as they will when their contract is up. He signed on to get to the City, and he shall.”

Thirteen stone faces, frowning, told Amaruq what they thought, and she smiled thinly. “He shall, but I intend to make it as easy for him to stay on the Nawyet as possible.’ The crew murmured, excited, and Hyvin had to rap her knuckles on the table to get quiet. The captain nodded thanks at her and said, “We will sail hard today, and push through to the last stopping point late tonight. I intend to get to the Empty City by mid-day tomorrow, and give our steward a full night and most of a day to do whatever it is he feels he must in that haunted waste. Then, hopefully, he will be able to continue on to Currielle with us, and we can know he is safe.”

Several voices sprang out again, and Amaruq saw the concern shifting into hope. At the edge of the crowd, Hitty stood, her eyes clearly full of tears, her hands clenched into fists that she held to her mouth. Amaruq felt a twist of concern for the girl, so clearly in love with the boy in a way beyond the affection and longing many of the others had, but she had to put that worry aside.

“If he cannot do what he needs to do, he will stay there and we will sail on. I know, I know! Several of you have approached me about that. It is dangerous and foolish, and I hope he sees now how much he risks. So, my plan is that if he does stay behind, he keeps to himself and does not flag down the next boat that passes by. That he waits until we sail back down, and we will dock at the same old stone quay on the western bank of the river and light a signal for him.”

Finally, the crew could not take any more, and Yutu called out, “But that would be weeks later!”

The captain nodded at the young man, “Indeed, but it would be the safest I feel. And we would hurry as much as we can on the return leg. So, I know you all love the three days leave in Currielle, but if the crew accepts, I’d ask we only spend two days getting the trade goods and then we sail hard back.”

Shirisha, who did not often care to give her opinion in matters of schedules and crew concerns, loudly said, “We could sail every night downriver. Shave days off the return, if we have double watches.”

The crew loudly agreed, and Amaruq sighed in relief. She shouldn’t have worried, of course the crew was going to do whatever they could to help Noah.

“Ok, excellent. As I said, we may not need to worry, but if he does not return to the boat, we will work to get back as quickly as possible. Agreed?”

Loud voices as everyone nodded and expressed their willingness to go along with the idea. The tension in her chest loosened slightly, and Amaruq nodded gratefully at the crew.

They fell silent again, and the captain began to turn to leave them to their morning preparations, but she paused. A rare smile flitted across her face as the crew waited, and Amaruq gave a casual shrug, “But who knows, with how hard I worked him last night he may sleep all the way to Currielle?”

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Near the stern, Noah emptied his pots into the river, cleaning up and wondering why no one else was on deck. The sun was just edging the horizon, so he doubted he missed the dawn bells. A sudden, tremendous cacophony of laughter, loud cheers, and whistles from the bow startled him and surprised a few birds nesting in the reeds nearby enough that they flew off in a huff.

He was still looking towards the front of the boat when the crew started coming out of the hatch 90 feet away. They appeared happy or excited by something, and when a few of them saw him and started laughing again as they waved at him. Noah shook his head. “I don’t even want to know,” he said to himself with a smile as he waved back.