Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK I - Chapter 39

Essen, Acalee and their two remaining ships, the Sleight and the Arbowlan, had arrived back at Brynnyfirdia just a day before. They were now sat in council, pleading for another chance to sail south. Hoping that the loss of ships, plus the loss of life entailed on the previous voyage, wouldn't dampen the opportunity. Normally councils in Brynnyfirdia were held out in the open, in the fields or woodland, but due to the biting cold this one was taking place inside a large wooden banquet hall. An array of local elders stood around, including Colm, whom neither Essen nor Acalee had seen since they had arrived back. With Acalee in particular eager to tell him everything that had happened on their travails.

In the hall were the captives: Coulema Galina, the ship's pilot and the young boy. Along with Eartaria, who was still heavy with the death of his brother, Meamya. The gruesome death amidst the viscous fighting at Sails' End still fresh in his mind. His mood one of anger and bitterness. Of the three hostages only Galina was still shackled; with loose, but heavy chains cuffing his hands. His warrior physique and size inspiring enough worry in the Brynnyfirdians to forgo the risk of setting him at ease. The other two, however, were completely free of movement, with just the general threat of violence and recapture being used to douse any thought of escape.

Essen, having lost two ships, was very much on the defensive as he relayed the story of what had occurred. The long journey back had been particularly sobering. He'd left with naïve hopes of capturing the entire island, but returned having little more to show than three hostages, and a trail of strewn enemy ships. As he made the long voyage back he did so with his tail firmly between his legs. The deaths of so many crew members - many close personal friends - weighing hard against the slow ocean boredom.

The destruction he'd caused with his harrying of the Tunidan coastline was considerable though, and as they made their way back Acalee tried to spin things into an overall success. Furthermore, the young boy, who'd not yet spoken a single word since capture, was clearly someone of importance. So, whoever he was, his capture was a potential asset in regard the wider war ..and where exactly he was heading to, or indeed from, when they captured him only added a further element of mystery. A mystery that had occupied the thoughts of Acalee as much as the sense of failure had occupied Essen's. Consequently, as they sailed northwards, back to the Western Isles, it was Acalee that had convinced Essen of the need for another voyage - only this time with an emphasis more on espionage and discovery than warfare.

In fielding the endless questions Essen tried to relay this positive spin that Acalee had placed upon the expedition. The loss of ships and men, along with his own demeanour, made it a hard sell though. The elders and other listeners stood around only hearing a tale of wasted blood and resources. They appreciated the damage that had been done to the Tunidan ships, and listened to the adventure with relish, but even so, they suspected that there was perhaps a degree of exaggeration. Making both Essen and Acalee look especially young in the face of the more senior figures now weighing up their actions. They'd taken a risk in sanctioning the first endeavour, especially when it came with the danger that the secret of black powder would fall into enemy hands. So a second journey didn't find great appeal in the noisy wooden hall. The reality that all the harbours and ships of Tunida had already been fired - if Essen's account was to be fully believed - making another trip somewhat redundant anyway.

It was Colm who delivered the final blow.

"What you've done will benefit us. It'll have sent the plans of the mainland into chaos - they'll now have to spread themselves more lightly across all of the ocean, just in case we attack from the south again. But.. we really can't spare ships for more forays into that region. We need to press home our advantage here. These are our waters. Capturing the trade between Erba and the mainland must be our next step."

Upon hearing this Acalee stepped up, moving Essen to one side as he took the foreground.

"A small voyage, just two or three small ships ..one even. There are things down there that we need to explore. Six warlike ships arrived in those waters, as if from out of nowhere. The boy and the men we captured were out on an empty ocean. Sailing to, or from, an empty patch of sea."

He looked over, illustratively, at Coulema Galina and the boy, then turned back to face Colm, "A spying mission. To find out exactly where these people were heading."

"Can we not just ask them?" replied Colm, half in jest. The men in the hall, including Essen, broke out into laughter. Even Acalee himself couldn't hide the faintest of smiles. Nevertheless, he pressed on.

"Try asking them. They simply won't talk. We pressed them the whole return journey ..and even if they do speak, only a voyage will provide certainty."

"So, you want to risk yet more life?" butted in Eartaria, entering the conversation with a blunt tone, "To find out where a small boat was sailing??" He then sighed angrily, "There are countless reasons why they might have been out on that sea. The same with the ships. They could've been out on an exercise. Or they may have been returning from the Lower Desert. There's no great mystery."

"Six ships? Plush with armed men?! ..Plus, they clearly came from the east."

"So?" quipped Eartaria, "They could have arrived from any direction for any manner of reason." He then turned to the wider gathering and once more raised the spectre of lives lost. An appeal that had an extra potency given his brother's fate.

"Surely we cannot risk more life on games in a time of war."

An awkward pause followed.

At this point Coulema Galina broke forward from behind where Essen was standing, breaking the brief lull.

"That wasn't the case when you shot one of my men at point blank range," he forcefully intoned.

He did this in a way that conveyed a clear sentiment, but with a calm that didn't quite cross the line into outright aggression. The two men standing guard pulled him back reactively. He accepted the restraint, and, putting up no resistance, stepped back.

The accent of Galina sounded strange and foreign to the native Brynnyfirdians gathered in the room, but the words were well understood, and his confident tone came with an air of authority that was unexpected. After another short pause Eartaria snapped back.

"I only shot him as he refused to cooperate ..and he drew his sword on me. He'd already deceived me too, by claiming they were fishermen." He then laughed, much like he did the first time the guardsman had told him the lie.

"Fishermen!", he then repeated to himself, as if reliving the moment and justifying the action.

"So, you do think their being out at sea is a little suspicious," observed Essen, who was now feeling a tad more sure of himself.

Eartaria stopped for a moment, then responded, "Suspicious, in a basic military sense, yes. They are captives that are lying to us. They still lie to us now. My brother died because of these men. Yet, here you are more concerned with their safety than you are with your own people. We should be torturing the secrets out of these men, not sending more of our people to die to find what's buried in their skulls. It's odd that we're even contemplating another voyage. We could find out more with five minutes of firm interrogation than we'd find with five months of sailing."

As he made this point a few of the men nodded in agreement. Colm, sensing the room, offered his own words.

"Torture is a bit far perhaps, but we are at war, after all, and lives do depend on information. So we may have to robustly interrogate them. We should start with the boy maybe. He might be easiest. It might be best to separate them too."

Eartaria then walked towards the boy, grabbed him by the scruff of his long tunic, and started walking him towards the exit.

Galina, with visible concern, stepped forward, "You don't have to torture him. He's the king's son, Prince Estorie. A very valuable prisoner to you - if you treat him well - but he knows nothing, and it's pointless interrogating him."

Eartaria stopped cold as he heard this. The reaction in the hall one of both shock and glee. Some of the men even started cheering. "We have the king's son!", went the whispered exclamations. Essen and Acalee looked to each other with a smile. Even Colm's eyes seemed to brighten a little at the revelation.

As Eartaria turned the boy around and brought him back Colm walked over.

"Is this true?"

The boy refused to speak.

"You'll find out soon enough," interjected Galina, "The king will be eager to have him returned. So even if you do not send communication of his capture, sooner or later diplomatic enquiries will be sent here. He'll know by now that he's missing. The villagers that were with me - the ones you had the sense not to kill at point blank range - will have conveyed the news back. You'll need no more proof than that."

"So I guess we wait then," acknowledged Colm, as he patted the boy gently on his back, giving a clear indication he would be treated well. He then looked at Galina and the ship's pilot. "As for information regarding where exactly the boat was heading I guess we'll have to focus on you two." He moved closer to Galina, "You seem like an upright man, but we are at war with your kingdom ..and your kingdom, in league with the mainland, has inflicted much death and abuse on our people. So we really do need the information you have, and we may have to be firm ourselves to rectify the situation. It's nothing personal."

"Likewise with you, my friend," he then added, looking to the ships' pilot, who looked deeply alarmed at the prospect awaiting him. With that both men were then led towards the wooden door of the hall. Then, at this point, the boy, Prince Estorie, the king's son, finally spoke.

"There is an island in the Eastern Sea that is not on any maps. Royal Fields we call it. It's where my father moors many of his ships ..I can give you the directions, but if you head there you will be killed."

"I knew it," crowed Acalee, with a sense of vindication, "Now we just need to head out there to confirm it."

Essen nodded in agreement.

"The boy is conning you," quipped Eartaria, unmoved, "There's nothing down there. You're being sent on a wild goose chase - I do admire the boy's cunning though."

"It makes too much sense not to be true," rejoined Acalee, excitedly, "I always wondered how a small island like Tunida could command such a power over all these oceans. Now we have the answer. The boy was heading to the east ..to a secret safety. The ships coming at us, to help relieve Tunida, were returning back from the east. It fits like a glove."

"Or, it's all quite fanciful," objected Colm, coolly, "And I would be inclined to agree with Eartaria ..but, I guess stranger things have happened. So it might be worth double checking, just in case..

..you can have your small spying assignment."