Winterfinding (15 page)

The Blockade

It wasn’t his ship. It didn’t feel right.
Not just because it was a foreign ship, but it was a strange
creation. Everything was just slightly off—the misplacement of
ordinary or normally forgettable things, the colors of the wood and
sail and rope, and the faint hints of Lappala itself. It was what
the Lappalans thought a sovi ship was.

‘
Sovi’ was a queer word as
well. He could still remember the first time he had heard it. Flung
out casually and with disdain from the woman’s mouth as she stood
in the shadows of the brig giving impatient orders. Then each time
the torturer came and worked his art on them, he heard it said to
him, said about them. They knew the session was over when the
torturer said in his even, incurious tone “Until tomorrow, sovi,
when we will learn some more.”

Riv had always considered people just to be
people. No, he thought, that was a lie. He had always seen the
difference that coin made. How earning riches still set you apart
from those born rich, those who had never to think about coin in
their lives. He remembered the inarticulate rage he once felt
hearing a noble express shock at actually seeing an aureus.

Riv had been a boy, barely in his teens,
living in the northern Rautian valley and working at tavern on the
high road. Clean and well run, the tavern courted the posh
travelers. One night as he was clearing tables, the noble and his
valet had entered. Immediately, Riv had been peppered with demands
for a room, for food, for drink, to go get their baggage, and to
see to their horses. The noble had never looked at him, just talked
in that icy, proper Silvincian accent.

“
See that he’s
compensated, Aleric.” He had said. When the valet fished out a gold
coin for Riv and handed it to him, the noble seemed casually
amused. “I never knew the aurei were so shiny.” He shrugged off his
cloak and held it out to the valet, “No wonder they covet them
so.”

Riv had gripped the coin so tightly its
embossed image of the Seven Spires pressed a red indentation into
his palm that didn’t disappear for hours. That had been the day he
had decided to head for the Novostos Sea and become a free trader.
He was never going to feel that kind of shame again and never at
the hands of such a trivial person.

It wasn’t until he first heard that word,
then heard it from the mouth of the torturer that he realized just
how much contempt all peoples must have for each other. They were
different, the woman and the torturer. They looked different but
not dissimilar than he and Cochrane. They were taller, for one. All
these Lappalans were tall and slender. Their faces were soft,
rounded giving each a haunting beauty. Even the soldiers looked
pristine and elegant.

Riv felt like a twisted sore among them,
this was what being a sovi was to these people. Thinking about it,
Riv would unconsciously grind his teeth. He felt it, the shame,
again. This time though he realized what it was—embarrassment. The
way the woman had said ‘sovi’ was the way he had said ‘athingani.’
He had hurt athingani the way the torturer had hurt him. So was
this going to be his absolution?

Riv couldn’t have imagined this path. The
greatest imposter was a native traitor. He had forged documents
captaining a false ship manned by foreign soldiers disguised as
domestic sailors ferrying domestic soldiers who were truly foreign
combatants. This tactic, it was madness.

“
Captain.” Before Riv
stood a Silvincian commander garbed in pristine armor.

“
Yes, Riv Bloodtangle of
the
Kopis
.” Riv
handed his charter vellum over to the commander.

Reading the vellum, the
commander glanced up at Riv, “
Kopis
? So you’ve been doing our
resupply run for some time now?”

Riv nodded, “More than a few times
certainly.”

“
Then you’re familiar with
our requirements.” The commander asserted.

“
I am.” Riv said warily,
not quite sure what the commander was getting at. “Have they
changed?”

“
Recently.” The commander
nodded and gestured at one of his subordinates to assist with the
disembarking of the Spires soldiers.

“
They I may not be
familiar.”

The commander didn’t look at Riv but seemed
to be casually taking in the ship, “This ship, this crew and
yourself, are now conscripted into the Silvincian navy for the
foreseeable future.”

Riv blinked stunned, “What?”

“
You are now an official
part of The Blockade and you will join the force of conscripts that
will defend it from any potential threats.” The commander cocked
his head toward the open sea where in the distance the black
Lappalan fleet could be seen.

“
I’m afraid I’m going to
have to protest, we have…” Riv began.

The commander waved him into silence
dismissively, “You’ll get to make your petition to the admiral.
Lucky you. Your ship has been noticed.” The commander smirked.
“Follow the ensign here.”

The commander turned away before Riv could
respond and before him a youthful ensign stood sheepishly waiting.
“Go on then.” Riv said shooing the boy onwards.

He could see now as he was
led along the great chain of ships that were locked together to
form The Blockade, his ship wasn’t the only one detained. Some he
recognized like the
Red Tide
belonging to the only Adrenine captain Riv had
ever met, Iko Synx (it always struck him as odd that the Adrenines
were brilliant shipbuilders but were rarely among the captains or
crew); the
Albio
n, a gigantic slow heap of a cargo ship; smuggler Anton
Bevic’s
Sturm
;
the twin trimarans named for and helmed by the twin Nica sisters
Alois and Eudocia; and the
Helion
, the long frigate of his
nephew Asa’s friend Evan Novak. There were maybe four or five more
ships he didn’t recognize. Whoever the admiral was, he had moved
quickly. Riv hadn’t thought the woman’s plan practical but so far,
everything she had said would happen had.

“
I’ll take it from here
ensign.” A well-dressed man put out his hand stopping the boy dead
in his tracks. He wasn’t a soldier and had a queer aura of command
and service. “You are Captain Bloodtangle, I take it.” He
asked.

Riv nodded and held out his hand, “I am, you
can call me Riv.”

The man didn’t acknowledge the gesture and
turned on his heel the moment after he said his name. “The Admiral
will see you. When you are dismissed, I shall take you to your
cabin.”

“
I didn’t catch your
name.” Riv said as the man led him down a narrow hall below deck.
The man didn’t say anything until they reached a door. As he opened
it, he said in a whisper, “Best not to argue.”

Riv entered the room and the door closed
immediately behind him. Before him hunched over a long table
rummaging through several documents stood a mature man draped in a
long purple cape. He wasn’t balding but his hair was cut close to
the scalp, not grey but silver. His face was red with several tiny
purple veins peppering his cheeks and nose. Next to this man, who
must have been the navy’s admiral, was another commander, young and
well-built with a face that didn’t look like it knew how to grow a
beard.

The admiral looked up and held out his hand,
“Ah, Captain Bloodtangle.”

“
Yes,” Riv shook the
admiral’s hand, “I’m here about my ship.”

“
Of course you are.” The
admiral turned away. “This is commander Moxley; he’ll be leaving
for Ardavass soon to inform the Spires about this situation with
the Lappalan fleet.”

“
Lappalan
fleet?”

“
Certainly you saw it
coming up on The Blockade.” Moxley said.

“
The ships out at sea? I
assumed they were Silvincian.”

The admiral shook his head, “No, they are
not and we do not yet know their intentions.”

“
Which is why Admiral
Lesur has decided to detain and conscript the ships of the
privateers that have been servicing our supply needs.” Moxley
added.

“
Ships and crews.” Riv
said.

“
And captains.” Lesur
smiled at Riv, “Your ship is rather well known.”

“
I wouldn’t think it is
spoken of too poorly, sir.” Riv shrugged.

Lesur laughed, “But you haven’t always been
the captain.” Lesur turned to Moxley, “Who was it?”

“
Salda, sir.”

“
Right, Asa Salda. He was
the captain until very recently.”

Riv wasn’t comfortable yet
talking about Asa but he did his best to hide it, “I’ve lived my
entire adult life on the
Kopis
. Asa was my nephew, and I
served him as his first mate.”

“
Where is your nephew
now?” Moxley asked.

“
Dead.” Riv said flatly
looking the admiral in the eyes. “On our last contract, he picked a
bug from the soldiers we were ferrying back to Anhra. He died at
sea, so I took over.”

“
My condolences.” Moxley
said rather robotically.

“
Seems we owe you then.”
Lesur said as he turned his attention back to the pile of papers on
the table.

“
Pardon?” Riv
asked.

“
No, not quite that.”
Lesur shook his head.

“
I’m sorry, what
admiral?”

“
We know your ship was the
primary mover of black trade goods. We know that you or, more
likely, your captain was responsible for breeching our siege and
conducting business with the Rikonese.” Lesur spoke
matter-of-factly.

“
Sir, we didn’t…” Lesur
held up his hand for Riv to stop talking.

“
We knew what was going on
and we permitted it because it was necessary to keep the men
sated.” Lesur assured him. “And whatever dealings you had with the
Rikonese must have been minor because they were few and far between
and our surveillance never recorded any real boon to their
forces.”

“
Captain Salda did what he
thought was best for his crew.” Riv asserted.

Lesur waved Riv’s explanation away, “I don’t
care. I really don’t care. I just wanted to let you know, we know
about you.”

“
Which is why the admiral
has decided that you will be put in command of the conscript strike
group.” Moxley said.

Riv shook his head, “I don’t
understand.”

Lesur pulled up a frail looking sheet of
paper, onionskin thin, and held it out to Riv. “You are now a
commissioned officer, Commander Bloodtangle.”

Riv took the paper and held it gingerly. He
read the long flowing script that was his commission. “What if I
don’t…”

“
Don’t want the
commission?” Lesur finished his sentence for him. “Well, in that
case I still keep your ship and your crew but put you in irons and
send you along with Commander Moxley here. He’ll see to it that you
are tried for treason in Ardavass and, most likely,
executed.”

Riv’s face betrayed no emotion, “Well, I
wouldn’t want that.”

Lesur’s tone changed taking on a sharper
edge, “And if you fail to serve me adequately or if you try to
undermine my authority I’ll keel your body at every ship that makes
up this siege chain.” Lesur scowled at Riv, “Do you
understand?”

Riv nodded and the admiral turned away
departing the room through a door at the far end. Moxley stepped
forward rubbing his chin.

“
He wants you for this
because he believes you can best handle the conscripts.”

Riv was still looking after the admiral,
“Aye. I gathered as much.”

“
He also respects anything
bold enough to venture to break The Blockade.”

“
Again, we did what we had
to.”

“
But he appreciates you
more for removing an unfit captain.” Moxley seemed to whisper this
last bit. Riv snapped his head to look at him squarely.

“
What did you
say?”

Moxley turned away, “None of our men were
ill. We always check our marines before the leave to make sure they
are as healthy as possible. We do it to ensure that there’s no
interruption in our labor. If the kyrios began to think that
serving at The Blockade was actually dangerous or that the soldiers
came back diseased, then we’d the resource that has allowed us to
stay the course.”

“
So you think I
lied.”

Moxley nodded and chuckled, “I know you did
so does he. But we also knew that Salda was a less than savory
character and, no offense meant, rather duplicitous. Everyone knows
that you were the force that kept the Kopis successful. Salda
would’ve gotten himself killed years ago were it not for you.”

“
That’s not something I
believe.” Riv asserted.

“
Well, it really doesn’t
matter what you believe. Your job now to obey commands.” Moxley
tapped a thick looking glass paperweight on the table several
times. The door that Riv had entered through opened immediately
revealing the man who had ushered him in.

“
Baxter,” Moxley pointed,
“Will get you settled in your cabin aboard out command ship. There
you’ll find your instructions. Read them over, memorize them, burn
them, and give the ashes to Baxter.”

Riv realized that there was nothing to be
done. He nodded to Moxley, who had already started to busy himself
with the papers and maps on the table and was no longer paying
attention to him, and turned to follow Baxter out. When they emerge
back on deck, Riv noticed the ships adjacent to them were being
pulled apart from the great siege chain. He asked Baxter what was
going on but the man didn’t respond to him. Rather, Baxter seemed
only to walk faster leading Riv to the edge of the ship. Looking
down, Riv saw that a skiff was waiting.