Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK I - Chapter 15

BOOM! A huge shot thundered out across the sky, the noise and recoil of the cannon shaking the very ship itself. Acalee immediately leapt from his hammock, slipping on the floor as he tried to race out onto the deck in the panic. He got there to find Essen, along with most of the crew, saluting the ship's flag, ready to fire off another volley. The ocean air was beautiful, and the Sun was glistening off the water. The weather perfectly calm and peaceful. Everything good and shipshape, with just the cannon fire breaking the tranquillity. Acalee, quickly realising there was no real danger, charged over towards Essen; "What the crux are you doing?!"

Essen, nonchalant, and not understanding the fuss, was calm in his response. Pushing Acalee away with a single hand. The slight figure of Acalee brushed aside with ease by his much brawnier cousin, making it easy for Essen to simply ignore his concerns. The animated mannerisms of Acalee amusing some of the other crew members, who were all stood around watching the drama.

"We're commemorating a milestone in our journey," retorted Essen, with coolness, "We're now officially south of Erba - if our reckoning's correct. So we're over halfway towards Tunida. Surely a fitting point at which to salute our flag, cousin Acalee."

The Brynnyfirdian flag that was now billowing out from the mast was blue and green, and Essen saluted it once again as he said this. Doing so in a slightly mocking way, as if to deliberately annoy Acalee even more so. Acalee briefly looked up towards the flag, but remained unimpressed.

The rippling flag in many ways exemplified the basic simplicity of the Brynnyfirdians, and Acalee didn't quite have the same fondness for it that Essen and the other sailors had. It's top half was blue, just like the sky. The bottom, green, reminiscent of the dark green fields of Brynnyfirdia. The line separating the two halves like the horizon of a vast, but very basic countryside vista. An uncomplicated, but somewhat symbolic vision of a dear homeland. Though out at sea, the blue strip often blended into the backdrop of the ocean skyline, leaving just an elongated taper of visible green. Which still, nevertheless, inspired fondness on the part of the ship's inhabitants.

"Are you crazy?" asked Acalee, his tone unchanged from his earlier remark, "You'll draw attention to us. Every ship on the ocean will have heard that. They'll have heard it even out on land."

"There's no one around for miles. Besides, there's no harm giving the cannons a little test. We might as well get some practice in."

"What about all the ships travelling to and from Erba?"

"We're too far south now. Nearly all that traffic heads north-east. You know that. This is the quietest part of the ocean. There's no chance we'll even come close to another ship."

"What about ships sailing out from Eldbee?"

"From Eldbee to the Three Deserts? C'mon, ships rarely sail out this way from Eldbee - they're too lazy to try such a journey, and even if they spotted us they'd run and hightail it outta here."

"Exactly, they'd run ..and tell everyone we're here."

At this point Acalee was starting to calm down a little, and even though Essen was arguing his case, as he always did, there was at least the sense that he was getting through to him. To push the point further Acalee then noted that there could also be the odd ship from the Lower or Middle Desert lurking around, and that any one of them could be heading straight to Tunida. Then, as if to signify that he'd finished having his whine at everyone, he half-jokingly saluted the flag himself. As he did this a large bird landed on the prow of the ship. About seagull sized. It had a brownish head, with a tawny-orange ring of feathers around its neck, that then blended back into the same brownish colour covering the rest of the body, including the wings - though the very tips, in contrast, were a bright white.

"A Tunida Bird," noted one of the crew members, "We certainly must be far south."

"Perhaps we're a little too close to the tip of Caster," pondered Acalee, with a furrow of minor worry, "Unless I'm mistaken it's unusual to be seeing them in the middle of the ocean. We might have to check our course."

"At least it can't talk and give away our whereabouts," chimed in Essen. With this, he then started creeping towards the bird playfully, as if trying to catch it.

"Perhaps it came to see what all the noise was about," replied Acalee, dryly, "After all, it's said they nest in fire. Plus ..and that's another thing, you could've caused a fire cracking these cannons unnecessarily. We sealed the black powder in the hull for a reason. One spark and we're up."

One of the older crew members stroked his scraggled white beard. "Perhaps the bird's an omen," he mused, "..I'll go and check that everything's in order down below, just in case." As he headed off another crew member had a thought. "We should try to catch it, it might be one of the King of Tunid's - they use them as messengers, y'know. It could be carrying something important."

"I can't see a ring or tag on it," observed Essen, moving ever closer as he said it, peering beneath its plumage to get a better view.

"Maybe it's the Tunidans that actually breed these birds," meditated Acalee aloud, his own mind clicking into gear further as Essen crept towards the feathered intruder, "They must be bred somewhere. They can't literally nest in fire."

He paused for a moment as he recalled hearing about the birds as a child. It was a well held belief across all the kingdoms that Tunida Birds nested in the desert fire. It was commonly observed that they flew south once a year to breed, flying directly into the increasing heat of the desert. Given this impassable heat, and that no one had ever seen them nest, it was something of a conundrum as to how they actually managed to produce their younglings. Naturally, the myth had grown that they nested in the fire itself. Their young being born amidst the very flames of the unseen and impassable outer desert.

"I've heard that they bury their eggs in the desert, like turtles ..the sand warming the eggs," noted the crew member.

"That makes sense," acknowledged Acalee, somewhat impressed by the idea.

At this point Essen was now within a few metres of the actual Tunida Bird. Fearing the talk would scare it off, he looked over his shoulder at the others, as if to demand silence. He then made his move. Springing forward, his arms outstretched.. he then missed by a comfortable distance. The bird, with calm buoyancy, taking off into the air. Soaring up briefly, then heading in the direction of Tunida.

"I should've fetched my bow," bemoaned Essen.

"It would've been quieter than the cannon shot," jibed Acalee, with a grin. They then watched the bird, now barely a speck on the skyline, vanish beneath the white clouds in the distance. The Arbowlan peacefully and swiftly bound in the same direction.