In the Land of Stories Old

Chapter 36

It was near to a week before the Northern Rover returned to the Black Isle, but she did not come into the harbor. Because Captain Roberts had had a great deal of time to speak with his various royal passengers, and after hearing about the multiple mysterious raider attacks on the Black Castle he’d considered for a moment and then shaken his head. “It sounds like you have a hidden dock, and Rufus Fear found out about it somehow. His ship is probably still there, in fact—it certainly hasn’t been seen anywhere else of late. I’m happy to take you around the other side of the cliffs once we get back to the Black Isle, to see if we can spot the entrance.”

The Seven had quickly agreed that this was a good plan, as they’d all been worrying about heading off on a quest while the castle was still vulnerable to surprise attacks from raiders. And so now they were cruising around the northeastern side of the island where towering walls of stone loomed over gloomy and restless water. There were weathered pillars of stone piercing the waves from below as well, their submerged foundations making sailing around them a somewhat dangerous undertaking. Captain Roberts’ crew was experienced, however, and navigated their ship through the dark water without incident. “There’s no beach on this side a’tall,” the helmsman pointed out to Hans, who was standing to one side of him. “It’s no wonder no one ever thought to look for anything over here.”

“It is not a welcoming place,” Hans agreed. “But then, the front of the island looks rather forbidding as well.”

“That it does, Your Highness,” the helmsman agreed. The crew had all been a bit intimidated at first, having the Fearless Seven aboard, but the princes were pleasant, polite, and stayed out of everyone’s way unless they were needed. Prince Hans had especially endeared himself to everyone, as he was easily bored and had descended into the galley on multiple occasions to chat with whoever was working—the Northern Rover was too small to need a dedicated cook, having a crew of only ten men including her captain—and offer them assistance. Consequently, the helmsman didn’t think he was the only man aboard who wished the prince from Holle could stay with them at least little while longer. “And when it began to be said that a witch was here…well, people avoided the place.”

“They did,” Captain Roberts agreed, coming up beside them. He was frowning. “I suspect that’s what kept Rufus Fear away, in fact. He must have come into knowledge of the hidden dock before that, but he’d not have risked attacking when the castle was full of guards, and certainly not once he heard rumors of a witch having taken up residence.” He must have seen Hans scowl out of the corner of his eye, because he shook his head. “Prince Merlin told me about that…incident, but no, I’m certain Fear knew of a secret entrance long before that. It was well-known in certain circles that he’d long wanted to take this island, this castle, for his own and set himself up as a king over all the other raiders, and he’d often made noises that sounded like he was simply biding his time.”

“From a location such as this one, he would have had a stranglehold on the Fairy Isles,” Hans agreed. “Thank goodness things worked out as they did.”

Just then a yell went up from another member of the crew. “Captain! I think we’ve found it!”

Roberts strolled over to the rail and took the glass that was handed to him to have a look for himself. “I think we might’ve,” he confirmed. “It’ll be a bit tricky getting us in there, but that opening looks to be large enough.” He handed the glass back and started giving orders. “Ready the dinghy, we’ll use her to pilot us through the rocks. I want two men at the forward rail and one more on each side of the forecastle to watch the rocks, and one up the main mast to keep watch on that opening—we don’t want to be surprised if we’re not the only ones here. Prince Arthur, Prince Merlin, I’d like you behind the men at the bow, if you please, in case we need to fire on someone.”

“Of course, Captain,” Arthur agreed at once, and dashed below to get his bow—sea spray would stiffen the string and eventually cause the wood to warp, so the weapon was safely tucked beneath his bunk in a protective wrapping. Merlin just nodded and went to the men who were about to lower the dinghy, taking the lantern they were using and conjuring a blue flame to burn inside of it—a flame that burned far more brightly and steadily than oil or tallow would have—before moving to the bow of the ship to do the same to the lantern which hung there. The other princes spread themselves out along the main deck to help watch, and Roberts himself moved back to stand beside his helmsman at the wheel. The ship was already turning, her bowsprit with its bright green jack that marked her as a trading vessel swinging around to point toward the deep cleft in the cliffside, which at first glance looked to be a mere shadow cast by the surrounding stone. Prince Arthur emerged and took his place on the foredeck with his bow just as the dinghy was pulling ahead, the lantern she carried shining like a sapphire in the sunlight. “All right, men, in we go!”

The ship slid between two stone pillars that, as they drew closer, could be seen to bear the weathered remains of ancient carving. Had it been a gate once, or perhaps the collapsed remains of an archway? Roberts had to give Prince Merlin credit; he knew the younger man no doubt wanted to examine and possibly record those marks, as so much of the history of the Black Isle had been lost to time, but aside from a brief, frowning glance he’d kept his attention forward on the cleft where it belonged. The helmsman was making minute alterations to their course in accordance with the instructions being shouted up at him from the forecastle, instructions which were being informed by a set of flags in use by one of the men in the dinghy, and although the ship passed quite close to piles and pillars of stone both above and below the water she never once scraped either her hull or her sides. It was still a rather nerve-wracking passage, but luckily it was a short one and soon the dinghy’s lantern was lighting up the tall, narrow cleft and showing it to be plenty large for a ship the size of the Northern Rover to pass through so long as she was careful. Which she was, and in no time at all the trading ship was gliding into what turned out to be a sizable cavern, partially open to the blue skies far above, which contained its own narrow beach and an ancient-looking but still intact pier. There were several ships present, although there was no sign of life about any of them, and when a stray gust from above caught the flags one unfurled enough to display the knife-and-skull emblem once used by Rufus Fear.

Merlin had moved to the forward rail, and in the murky dimness of the cavern Roberts could see that his eyes were glowing faintly. “There’s some taint here, Captain!” he called back over his shoulder. “But not enough to be concerned about, it’s not on the pier or in the water that I can see save for around that last ship, the one with the arrows on her flag. We should be able to dock here safely enough.”

“Good enough for me!” Roberts called back. “Bring us in, Taran.”

The helmsman did as he was ordered, and soon they were sliding into place not far from Fear’s ship, which had once been known as the Cursed Blade. As soon as the gangplank was put out, the seven princes were on the pier and boarding the raider ship, their various weapons in hand. Captain Roberts indicated that his men should continue to keep watch, and he himself moved to one side of the gangplank to do the same. He was quite relieved when one of the princes from Vinci reappeared on the Cursed Blade’s deck and waved an all-clear. The rest came up shortly thereafter, Prince Merlin bringing up the rear with a wrapped bundle in his hand and a murderous look on his face. Roberts descended onto the pier himself to meet them, Jordan scrambling to follow him. “I take it you found something.”

There were several nods. “Captain, I hereby give you permission to loot this ship down to the boards of her hull,” Merlin almost snarled, the words making the very air shiver with power. “Take anything that may be of value to you, and once you’re done I’ll burn it like we burnt its foul wretch of a captain’s body.” His hands clenched on the canvas-wrapped bundle for a moment, and then he handed it over. It felt like it probably contained the ship’s logbook, and one or two other, somewhat smaller books besides. “If you’d please secure that for me, we need to check the other untainted ship. We’ll split the takings from that one with you, and from the tainted one once it’s been cleansed, but this one…I want nothing of Fear’s entering my castle save what I just handed to you.”

“Of course, Prince Consort,” Roberts agreed with a small bow. Now was not the time to question the terms of such an uncommonly generous offer—more usual would be ten or fifteen percent, with the kingdom taking first pick of the spoils—but he resolved to instruct his men to make sure the split came out well-weighted in favor of the gold-poor young rulers of the Black Isle. “I’ll secure this in my own quarters, and set some of my crew to evaluating the salvage, such as it is.” He had noticed something, though. “Her dinghy is missing.”

“And I know where it went,” Merlin told him. “We can confirm that after dinner tonight, but for now we need to make certain we’re alone down here.”

“We will also see about making sure we stay that way,” Noki added, and gestured back toward the cleft where they’d come in. “If the mechanism is not rusted in place, that is.”

Roberts turned to look, and his eyes widened. He could just barely make it out, but there hanging above the cleft was the distinctive outline of the lower portion of a large iron gate. He swallowed, trying not to think about whatever mechanism was holding it up failing while a ship was underneath those corroded iron teeth, each one of which was easily as long as a man was tall. “Well,” he managed, “I suppose that’s an end to the Black Castle being surprised by raiders, then.”

fanfiction In the Land of Stories Old