The Coffee War - chapter twelve
Chapter twelve:
“They’re all women.”
Life’s eyes were on the Phoenix, supervising the installation of the towing line. “Who are?”
“The crew. I just realized we’re the only men. Us, and Cannon. That’s unusual for a Feorean ship.” Kovel shook his head. “In fact, it’s downright rare.”
“It is rare. I’ve never heard of another crew like it.”
“You think something happened to make the Captain no longer trust men?”
“I think there were a lot of able bodied Feorean women who couldn’t get work elsewhere.” Seeing the ships were secured properly, Life pushed away from the stern, ready to get underway. The sky was already graying in the east. “And I think Paramis had a daughter who could no longer pass for a boy, so she had to do something to protect her on the sea.”
“How exactly would a crew of all women protect her better than a mixed crew?”
Though they didn’t have time for it, Life drew up short to stare through the darkness at Kovel. “After seven months at sea, I suspect she would be a temptation for any man.”
Kovel laughed. “She would be a temptation for any man after seven days! What difference does that make?”
“You would be wise to keep that opinion to yourself while we are on this journey.” He glanced across the deck, but their conversation appeared to be ignored. “I know the customs of our countries are quite different at times, but do men and women really commonly cohabitate on long voyages?”
“Certainly. We were split almost evenly on the Arislean ship I first took to Feor. I knew that Feorean ships ran exclusively male crews, but I thought that just had to do with the backward Feorean attitude toward women.”
Life checked the rigging. “How do you keep your men from taking the women once you have been on the water for months?”
Kovel blinked. “What, you mean forcing themselves on the women?” He shook his head. “How did you keep the men from forcing themselves on Paramis before?”
Baffled by the question, Life redirected his attention. “She’s the captain.”
“That’s all?”
“She commands a certain respect. She picked men she trusted, and who respected her.”
“All right. How do you keep from forcing yourself on Amist?”
“I’m not interested.”
“And if you were?”
Life looked away. “What is your point?”
“My point is, my people respect each other. If someone doesn’t want to have sex with someone else, they don’t have sex. And if they do want to have sex, well, they do. We don’t have the taboos about it that you or the Feoreans do. Any Arislean captain would keelhaul anyone who attempted that.”
If Life’s father knew how much that made sense to Life, he would be disowned. “You’re telling me that Arisle has no rape at all?”
Kovel shrugged. “It’s been known to happen. Anything is possible. It’s not common. Certainly not on a ship! Why would you jeopardize your job like that?”
Despite himself, Life smiled. “Even when I think I know all there is to know about Arisleans, you do something to surprise me.”
They soon heard the sound of approaching steps across the deck, and turned to find Annas nearer them. “We ought to sail with more Arisleans,” she said, smiling at Kovel.
Kovel grinned, looking her over. “I’d certainly not say no to that.”
Banishing away his smile, Life turned to Annas. “Status report?”
“Sorry, sir.” Her expression became serious again. “Both ships are secure and ready, and all crews are aboard and accounted for.”
Inclining his head, Life gave a glance toward the shore. “Excellent. Inform everyone then; we set sail within the hour.”
--
It was not easy for any of them to leave the Phoenix behind, but it was hardest on Paramis, who treated it as though she were abandoning a member of her crew.
Life insisted she captain the Lightning, but he could tell her heart wasn’t as into it as it had been her own ships and for much of the journey he acted as co-captain. As they moved north, the winds blow steadily colder and the waters became choppier. It was spring in the rest of the northern hemisphere, but in Korvalstieniav, the world was still held in the grip of deep winter.
When the coast finally appeared along the starboard, they could see ample amounts of snow and ice. There were patches of green as they traveled, and occasional places where mountains jutted through low-lying clouds, but the main expanse of terrain was just endless fields of snow.
In preparation, the crew had brought plenty of winter clothing, but even bundled up, wearing gloves and a strong warm coat sometimes the wind sliced right through Life’s layers and chilled him to the core. How Denny had survived years of this, he couldn’t imagine.
The frozen coast hardly varied at all, though turned vibrant shades of color when the sun rose or set. Since they had no desire to be spotted by patrolling Korvalstieniav warships, once they began seeing settlements, they shut down the steam engine and its toasty boiler and covered water by the wind in their sails. At night, they lit no lamps above decks, all of which only served to make the cold feel colder.
Below decks, between crates of coffee, they made a haven where Paramis allowed one lamp to burn. When not on watch, most of the crew gathered there for the warmth that only several bodies in close quarters could create.
The night before they were due to arrive in Rajnar, Cannon entertained the otherwise female crew with his fiddle down below. Ignoring the eyes of the others, Life went to join Kovel below. Instead, he found him sitting close to Amist, so he took a separate seat, and watched them talking in depth.
Paramis kept her eyes on them as well when she joined Life on one of the crates. She took a swig from a bottle and passed it over. Life, grateful even for the false warmth of alcohol, took a gulp himself.
“Have you given much thought,” Paramis began, “to what you’re going to do if Visnek is there?”
“Mm.” Life took another drink. “I gather you’re opposed to vivisection?”
“It can be time consuming.” She glanced at him. “Not to mention messy.”
Life swallowed another mouthful, before handing the bottle back. “Suppose it all depends on what state Denny’s in when I find him.”
Paramis was quiet for a long time, listening to the trill of the music. “Have you ever killed someone before?”
Life closed his eyes and vividly saw Sariae lying on their marital bed again, her face drawn and worn as she died. Sweat beaded her brow and her beautiful, dark eyes were wide and glassy. He shivered and pulled his coat closed. “Not intentionally.”
Beside him, Paramis moistened her lips. Her gaze finally shifted off Kovel and Amist. “Perhaps you ought to take Cannon with you.”
It was an admission of knowledge he didn’t much care to learn. “Kovel will be more than enough. If Visnek is going to die, I won’t have his murder on someone else’s hands.”
“If you want my advice,” Paramis said with a nod, “you’ll go in at night. Catch him in bed and slit his throat. Don’t think about it, just do it.”
“I’ll bear that in mind.” He found he could only stare at her.
Paramis remained matter-of-fact. “I’ve a suitable dagger in my cabin. I’ll give it to you tomorrow.”
It was difficult to know how to reply to that. “Thank you.” He felt uncomfortable now, and the strong alcohol had made him sleepy. The soft sound of laughter floated from across the room, and his gaze returned to Kovel and Amist. “What are you going to do about those two?”
Paramis follow his gaze and took a slow, deep breath. “If you don’t get him killed tomorrow, I suppose I’ll have a talk with them when you get back.”
“She’s the same age now that Denny was when I met him.” Life shook his head. “Why does she seem so very much younger?”
Paramis laughed softly. “This, coming from the man who was married at thirteen.”
“I’ve been out of Fioryss a long time.”
Paramis leaned back against the crate. “And he’s the same age you were when you met Den.”
“Is he?” He shook his head and stared at his feet. “What young idiots we were.”
Paramis smiled. “At least I know a little of his history. Kovel probably thinks I’ve forgotten all those things he talked about on that long journey seven years ago, but I remember. I remember them well. Amist looked at him then the way she does now.” She shook her head. “I would have killed him back then if he looked at her the way he does now.”
“And now?”
She got to her feet. “It’s late and you’ve got a long day ahead of you. I’m not going to worry about any of that unless you both return.”
Life leaned back on the crate. “Thanks for the vote of confidence; I think I’ll stay up a little longer.”
--
They arrived at Rajnar quite early, but as far north as they were the sun had already begun sinking in the west, casting the snowy little village into golden hues. Paramis lined the Lightning up between the docks and the setting sun, so the strange steam ship would appear to be little more than a black silhouette to anyone on shore.
Rajnar was smaller even than it appeared on the map. No men were on the docks, waiting to help arriving ships. As the crew struggled-and failed-to find bollards to tie mooring lines to, it became clear no merchant vessel had ever bothered to seek trade with them.
It meant that by tomorrow news of a foreign ship trading with Rajnar would be all over Korvalstieniav.
By the time they got the Lightning anchored, the villagers had come to stare. They were wide-eyed, clearly afraid and didn’t speak a word of Feorean-or Arislean. It took Paramis almost an hour just to get one of them to come close enough to try to explain why they were there.
It was only when Kovel appeared, carrying a bag of unroasted coffee beans, that they opened up.
Although the Korvalstieniavs were generally fairer even than Kovel, he certainly looked more like an native than anyone else on the crew. “We come to trade!” Kovel said, loudly. He scooped up a handful of coffee to show. “Trade.” He mimicked eating with the other hand.
One of the villager’s faces lit up in understanding.
Turning to Paramis, Life said under his breath, “We made one serious error of judgment here.”
Paramis didn’t take her eyes off the villagers. Her face was stony. “Just one?”
Life clenched his jaw, and then nodded. “These people can hardly afford to feed and clothe themselves. They’ll never be able to afford coffee.”
“You leave that to me.” She noticed one of the Korvalstieniav serfs approaching, carrying a tanned hide. He mimed giving it to Kovel. Kovel nodded, then, without having to mimic too hard, mimed that he was cold. The serf nodded and made a gesture with his arm implied he wanted to be followed.
Paramis clapped her hand to get attention from her crew, and ordered them to start bringing up the crates of coffee. Once they’d begun, she turned back to Life. “Be ready as soon as it’s full dark.”
Life stared ashore at the endless expanse of snow, still glittering in the dying sunlight. “This is going to be the coldest night of my life, isn’t it?”
Paramis smiled. “I hope it’s worth it.”
“That remains to be seen.”
She grasped his arm firmly and looked up into his eyes and said in Fioryssean, “May the Gods deliver you, Liar.”
Returning to his small quarters, Life wrapped himself in layers of clothing until he was sweltering in the protection of the ship. He took the dagger Paramis had given him and strapped it securely into a sheath in his boot. Then he took up a sack that they had filled with provisions enough for three people for a week and secured it to his back.
It was terribly dark by the time he emerged and he stood on the deck to allow his eyes time to adjust to the starlight. The moon hadn’t yet risen, but already the snow glowed with its own inner light. He found Annas waiting for him by the lifeboat and while the rest of the crew distracted the Korvalstieniavs with trade, they lowered it into the water and rowed some ways down the coast.
After they came ashore, Annas shared a small cup of potent Arislean wood liqueur with him. Once his belly was warmed, he bid her well, sloshing through toward shore in his water proofed boots. He found a rock outcrop with a clear view of the coast and, hunching there, began the long wait for Kovel.
It was impossible to tell time while he waited, but it felt as though Kovel would never make it. Life couldn’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t be better if he stayed with the ship. Korvalstieniavs seemed instinctively to trust him more. If he weren’t around to trade tomorrow, they might be upset.
Then again, by tomorrow Life hoped the Lightning would be waiting in Tykovalt for him. After a considerable wait, the moon began to rise, allowing him to more easily gauge the passage of time. Once another hour had passed, he made out feet crunching through snow toward him. Doing his best to hide beside his rocks, Life made sure it was Kovel before revealing himself.
He breathed as sigh of relief upon recognizing the man’s profile. “What took you so long?”
“Life! You frightened me!” Kovel put a hand over his coat, somewhere near his heart. “Sorry for the delay. They wanted to celebrate and it felt rude to leave much earlier. I’ve never drank so much coffee! As it was, I had to pretend to be too drunk to sit up and had Cannon carry me out. Mum’s tits, is it cold out here!” He stomped his feet. “Surprised you didn’t freeze over while you waited.”
“I thought about it. And this is supposedly spring. Are you ready?”
Kovel nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”
Life consulted the route on his map by the moonlight one last time, though he had long since memorized their course. He glanced behind him one last time, but in the still darkness, not even a glow from Rajnar showed. Taking a breath, he adjusted the sack on his back, picked a path along the coast and began to lead the way.
They snuck past several similarly small villages through the night, often not noticing them at all until they were walking wooden planks. Fortunately in the cold and the quiet, there were no sentries posted on their worn and tired docks and no sleepless serfs wandered the icy shores.
They slipped past as no more than silent shadows, walking in the small shore between snow and sea. In the still of the night, Life could help but wonder just how so many people could survive such harsh weather.
--
They reached the outskirts of the city of the capital city Tykovalt just before dawn. Unlike all the other villages they had passed, Tykovalt was dripping with money. They saw more wealth in some of smaller, outer homes than there had been in all of Rajnar. It was as though the capital city had sucked up all the money that should have been spread throughout the rest of the country.
It unsettled Life in many ways. It certainly wasn’t fair that the people of Tykovalt should have such better living conditions than those out in the country. At the same time, he was greatly comforted by the thought that Denny likely hadn’t been living in the sort of conditions he’d seen last night.
As the sun rose, they became much more visible-and noticeable; despite the cold, none of the Korvalstieniavs were wearing even half as much protective clothing as they were. They opted to take a break then, to share breakfast. Kovel produced a flask of mulled Arislean wood liqueur, still warm from the night before. They ate beneath a tree just coming into bud, and Life consulted the map of the city.
“Assuming this map is still accurate, we should be able to avoid most of the people by cutting through here,” he said, tracing a finger along a back alley. “We’ll emerge near the center of town.”
“And we know that he’s being held in the center of the capital?” Kovel asked around a mouthful of bread.
“We know Visnek has had quarters there.”
“That isn’t much.”
“It’s the best we’ve got.” Life loosened the scarf around his neck and folded the map back away. “If he’s not here, we’ll find out where he is.”
“We really should’ve brought someone who speaks Korvalstieniav.”
“Do you know anyone who does that isn’t a Korvalv?”
“Well, no. But, then, how’re we going to figure out where they’ve moved Denny?”
Life flashed his teeth. “Let’s hope they speak Arislean.” Life took to the road again.
“Let’s just hope we don’t run into anyone back here and that Denny’s still in Tykovalt.”
Life couldn’t argue with that; if Korvalstieniavs spotted him there’d be no escaping. Checking that the road was clear, Life picked up his step. Traveling through the snow had been harder than he had anticipated and they hadn’t covered as much ground as he had estimated they would. Paramis be expected them at the ship tonight, and he was suddenly as confident that they’d make it, especially as the smartest thing they could do right now was to find a safe place to hide until the sun went down.
Being this close to Denny and not doing anything was too difficult a thought bear. “If there are too many people, we’ll find a place to hide until dusk. Until then, I want to cover as much ground as possible.” He reached down and felt the dagger at his ankle and, reassured, led the way through the back streets of the city.
The benefit of the cold was that Life could pull up his hood and hide his face in shadow. He would be easily noticed as a foreigner if someone looked at him, but he was hoping no one would look closely enough to see more than a cold figure hurrying down the street.
The alley ran between the backs of several houses. It was the place refuse and unwanted things were dropped and abandoned. Reeking brown slushy snow had accumulated along the wall, freezing and unfreezing over the course of weeks until it had, in places, formed an almost impenetrable wall of brown ice. Old food rubbish lay preserved in the ice, half rotted as the weather thawed.
In the narrow confine of the alley, the smell at times was overpowering. In places the slush was ankle deep and only their water proof boots kept them from soaking all the way through. It didn’t keep the cold out, and by midday Life could hardly feel his toes. The one fortunate thing about the disgusting alley was that the rancidness of it kept everyone away. With the alley open to the sky, the only protection it afforded was against wind, and putting up with the smell and the slush made it a very bad hideout or homeless shelter.
The closer they got to the city center, the more disgusting the alley became. It was clear that during warmer months some people did live there. They climbed over frozen crates and slushy nests of blankets.
They stopped once in an attempt to eat, but Life only managed to choke down a few bites of bread before the smell of the alley overpowered his appetite. Kovel managed better, finishing off the Arislean liqueur. He shrugged. “I don’t even smell it anymore.”
Life swallowed down the bile threatening to rise. “I am glad we don’t have to come back this way.”
“How much further is it?”
Putting away the food, Life retrieved the map and handed it to Kovel. “I figure we ought to be around here.” He pointed with a gloved finger. “Hopefully there will be a service door somewhere to get inside. Otherwise . . .”
“Otherwise?”
Life shrugged. “You’ll have to provide a distraction so I can sneak in.”
“Great.” Kovel shifted a little with the cold, leaning closer to study the map. The city was half built in a spiral, with part of the structures facing the coast and the rest half circling a large circular lake. Paramis’ intelligence had pinpointed a large stone palace as the likeliest place for Visnek’s chambers-and the location of some of the Arislean prisoners. “Did they dig that lake themselves?”
“No. That’s the crater left by the flaming rock the Gods sent here when they invaded Fioryss decades ago. It’s said that it wiped out the original capital.”
“Oh, I remember studying that in school.” Kovel chaffed his hands. “They said it knocked over trees three times the width of a man.” He looked to Life. “You believe gods sent it to them?”
“Yes. They were attacking my country. We were not advanced enough to repel them back then. My country would have fallen to them if the Gods hadn’t sent the rock and forced them to retreat.”
“Don’t know how much that helped in the long run. You can tell they’ve restructured their city around that lake now. Look how tidy the streets are. And this general’s living right on the water. Must be a spectacular view. Wonder if it’s frozen over in this weather.”
Life looked up, noticing the heavy cloud layer that had begun to form. It made the already cold temperatures drop even further. He was grateful for it though. The colder it was, the less likely people would be out to see them. “Even if it made them more powerful in the end, it has given my people time enough to prepare. At least now if they attacked we could defend ourselves.”
“You’re right of course, and Arisle certainly needs help.” He nodded to the refuse they were surrounded by. “Hard to believe a country so full of poor villages and filthy alleyways could be so strong.”
“They focus their money into their military and upper-class.”
In the distance they could hear the low toll of a bell begin. “And their religion,” Kovel said.
“That the Korvalvs believe in gods and the Arisleans don’t will forever be a source of consternation for me.”
“They don’t believe in gods. They believe in God, singular, and that god might as well be their Tyria for as much power as they give her.”
Life put the map away and picked out a side route to begin following. Overhead, light snow began falling. “It is reasonable to believe that only one of the Gods visits Korvalv, so they see fit to only worship one. I would certainly not want to rule over this frozen land.”
“You really believe that stuff, don’t you?”
“What ‘stuff’?”
“That gods exist. That there is an ocean god who watches your ships and an earth god who watches you on land and a fertility goddess who makes and kills babies. That there’s a god in charge of what happens in Korvalstieniav. That some god let them kidnap your boyfriend and the other artists and scientists. That some god just stood aside and let them ransack Arisle.”
“Have you ever considered that such things occurred because Arisle is godless?”
Kovel laughed. If he was offended, as Life had suspected he would be, he didn’t show it. “Now is hardly the time for a theological debate.” Kovel stepped over a soggy crate. “Though, interestingly enough, just last night Amist and I were discussing this. Sometimes I think it all comes down to translation error. She sees the beauty and majesty of, say, a tree and says ‘Clearly the spirit of Ae Feon is there-she believes in the Feorean Gods, of course, not your Fioryssean ones.’ Whereas, I see a beautiful, majestic tree and I see the brilliance of existence and time in it. I see the whole universe in that tree, as to me everything that’s happened since the beginning of time has happened to create that tree. It’s an amazing thing. She calls that Ae Feon, God of earth, and you call it, what, Duweir? Liarae? I can never remember, but that’s just the point. I call it existence or life or time, but in the end, it’s virtually the same thing.”
Life stepped over a pile of frozen blankets and shook his head. “But you don’t revere it. If you truly believe that all of time and existence came together to create that tree, how can you so easily cut it down without giving a prayer of thanks to its creation?”
“Who says I don’t? I just don’t thank a deity, or call it prayer, or have to sacrifice a gobboa to do it. How does that even make sense? Killing one creation in thanks for another?”
“We don’t give sacrifices anymore.”
“And that’s another thing. The rules are always changing. Feor and Fioryss can’t even agree on things, and your religion stems from the same creation myth! Look, I said now isn’t the time for a theological debate, and it isn’t, but I will say this: doesn’t it make a lot more sense than there aren’t any gods and that everything you call god is just existence than it does that the Fioryssean gods are right and the Feorean, Dislan, Korvalstieniav and all other gods are wrong? Arisle believed in gods once. I’m sure there are gods in Nan and Diank and Japrea’chi. There are probably thousands of gods. Does it really make sense that your gods are right and all the other ones are wrong?”
Life scowled. “You just lack faith.”
Kovel chuckled. “Of course. The perfect fall back.” He shook his head. “Tell me, did you and Den ever discuss this sort of stuff?”
Life refused to look at him. He knew deep down that Denny was as Arislean as they came; that he revered science over spirituality. Somehow back when they had been together, it just hadn’t mattered. Aware his silence was answer enough, he sought to change the subject. “You have certainly been spending a lot of time with Amist.” To his delight, Kovel’s face turned pink.
“Well, she’s become a very pretty young woman, hasn’t she?”
“Mm.”
“You don’t think so?” Kovel looked surprised. “You haven’t entirely sworn off women now, have you?”
After all the tension in the talk of the Gods, that made Life chuckle, for which he was glad. “No. It’s that she . . .” He swallowed. “She’s only a few years older than my own daughter would be now, had she lived. I’m afraid I will always see her as that child I never had.”
“When you put it like that . . .” Kovel came to a stop as the alleyway ended. In Life’s map, it ran right into another alleyway, but here it simply opened onto a street. The thoroughfare cut through the alleyway before resuming further down. The snow was falling harder and the streets were mostly deserted, but both men stopped to stare at the open passageway with concern.
“There could be a patrol just around that corner.” Life took out his map to consult again.
“We don’t need that. Look, I’ll walk out and drop my glove half way across. If I pick it up and continue on, you’ll know it’s safe to follow me. If I don’t, then you stay hidden until I do.”
“That does not sound very safe for you.”
“Too late!” Kovel called. He skipped forward into the thoroughfare, dropping his glove midway across. He bent to pick it up, glancing down the thoroughfare as he did. As Life watched, Kovel froze, staring wide-eyed at something Life couldn’t see.
Fear gripping his heart, Life reached down for the dagger at his boot. He could hear nothing but the howl of the wind as the snow picked up, but he could imagine a patrolling guard stalking toward him. As the seconds ticked past, he soon pictured an entire legion coming down on him.
After a few more seconds, Kovel looked over to him, his eyes still wide. It took a moment for him to focus on Life, and then he waved his arm for Life to come toward him.
Cautious but curious, Life poked his head around the edge of the building, looking down the thoroughfare. What he saw was astounding, truly Korvalstieniav and he kept his eyes on it as he walked to the middle of the street to join Kovel.
Chapter thirteen