Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK I - Chapter 53

"Where are we?!"

By this point both ships, the Arbowlan and the Sleight, had sailed deep into the Eastern Ocean. Each tacking the other for fear of getting separated. Fortunately for the crews the sea was calm. Still, their general lack of direction, and the confusion as to where exactly they were, added a mild underlying dread. They were also aware that they were being tailed by enemy ships. Though this concerned them less at this point, and as they drifted further eastward, into the vast, and now seemingly empty sea, they felt like they'd escaped the sight of their unwanted pursuers.

Essen and Acalee felt a sense of frustration, but each in a different way. Acalee, still enthusiastic, spent his time beavering away, hoping that success lay just beyond the sea's edge. Plotting his charts and straining his eyes beyond the ever distant waves. Essen, on the other hand, just spent his time lounging on deck. Watching out for any sight of ship or land, and occasionally bursting into fits of rage. The weeks at sea, and the meandering lack of purpose, eating into his patience. Feeling this frustration once more he stormed down into the ship's quarters. The ship's pilot, who they'd brought along to act as guide, swaying carelessly in his hammock. Essen, without warning, dragged him from it; then forced him up the stairs and onto deck.

"Where in hell is this eastern landmass your prince promised? These 'Royal Fields'?"

The ship's pilot tried to speak, but struggled to think up a quick response.

"Where??!"

Essen grasped the ship's pilot by the scruff of the neck, "We've been sent on a goose chase here, haven't we."

The ship's pilot knew this was the case. He'd always known ..there was no 'Royal Fields,' there was no veiled landmass in the Eastern Ocean, hidden from the maps. The young Tunidan prince had simply made it up. Of course, the pilot couldn't betray his prince and reveal this fact. In part, due to loyalty, but more so for fear of what would happen to himself, or his family, if he was to do such a thing. Albeit, with Essen and the other crew members now increasingly a danger to him as well, he was between a rock and a hard place. Consequently, he tried hard to think on his feet.

"It's out here somewhere. We've probably just lost our bearings. It's a big ocean - you can't expect to chart the entire thing in a few weeks. Plus, it's not my fault your crews are unfamiliar with these seas. We just need to keep heading east, I think."

Little episodes such as this had now become a recurring feature of life aboard the ship, and though such deflections and excuses would buy the poor ship's pilot some brief reprieve, they sounded less and less believable with each utterance. This latest response did little to assuage Essen's worries that they'd been duped by the crafty Tunidans. Nevertheless, he let go of the pilot's collar and reined in his ire. Were it not for Acalee's zealous eagerness to keep looking, Essen would have surely turned back by now. Perhaps razing a few more Tunidan ships and settlements along the way as a conciliatory prize. Yet, though Acalee still had his way, there were some problems even he could not paper over. Particularly with regard to supplies. The diminishing reserves of freshwater being of especial concern. So their days left exploring were now most certainly limited in number anyway - whether Acalee liked it or not. The ship's pilot, being acutely aware of this, hoped that eventually a decision would be made to give up the ghost. Allowing him the leeway to keep paying lip service to the young prince's ruse. Keeping the elusive Royal Fields alive and well, somewhere out there in the imagined ocean, just beyond a journey's reach.

As these ever more troubled days at sea passed, his likelihood of his success increased. The louder calls from crew members to return west and head home buoying his hope. That Essen was now in accord with this feeling leaving everything hanging on the finest of threads of Acalee's hope. But, alas, as this final thread was about to break a propitious sign appeared. For the first time in weeks they spotted a bird overhead out at sea. It circled the ship a few times then dropped calmly onto the crow's nest, almost oblivious to the exhausted crew down below.

"This time I will get the bow," quipped Essen, looking upwards, recognising the unmistakable colours of the Tunida Bird's white-fingered wings. He then headed with a skip in the direction of the cabin.

Acalee turned to stop him, at which point another crew member jutted in: "They say it's bad luck to kill a Tunida Bird."

"That's just another little scare story to stop you from shooting their little messengers," mocked Essen, continuing on to the cabin.

Acalee smiled as he gently blocked Essen from the door. "You can't kill it. We need to see where it goes. Land can't be too far away."

Essen had no argument for this. They were obviously close to somewhere dry if birds were now appearing. Still, he brushed Acalee aside and continued to the cabin. Re-emerging, he then fixed an arrow, drew the string back to the limits of tension, then sent the arrow flying hard into the mast of the ship. The whoosh of the arrow, and the ricochet as it buried itself into the wood, spooked the bird; which then lit off in fright and darted swiftly south.

Acalee, with relief, followed its path with his gaze. The bird had swung the pendulum back in his favour. He gave the order to chart south. The tired crew reluctantly followed, and within moments both ships were heading in the bird's direction. With the weather still calm, a gusty breeze pushed on them generously. Within barely an hour two more birds had been spotted. Now confident that land was somewhere near Essen and Acalee headed below deck, taking the ship's pilot with them.

"I think we're simply reaching the outer coast," lamented Essen, "There will be land, but it'll be little more than desert."

Acalee pulled out his chart and spread it on the table. Their long path, all the way from Brynnyfirdia and into the Eastern Ocean plotted out neatly - though tentatively in the latter parts. "I agree." He then turned his words to the ship's pilot.

"We've easily sailed as far as your little boat escorting the king's son would have managed; perhaps twice as far, or greater. There is nothing in these seas that would've been within reach of the Island of Tunida. We've charted it all."

He then paused for effect, making it clear that he knew with certainty that both the ship's pilot and his young prince had lied to them. He then looked at Essen.

"I had to take us this far, to make sure. Hopefully, if these birds are anything to go by there may be some slithers of land on the coast that allow us to take on supplies. Perhaps our pilot friend here and his prince were heading to one of these little pockets on the desert's edge."

He once again turned to the ship's pilot, "You can tell us all you know now. There's little point continuing to conceal things. We know with certainty there is no Royal Fields. We know with certainty that you have deceived us, my friend."

As Essen fixed the ship's pilot with a glare, waiting for a response, a cry came from above.

Land ho!

As they headed out on deck land was indeed there in the blurry distance. Barely visible with the naked eye, but clear to see nonetheless. Acalee grabbed the looking glass and scanned the long stretch of coast. A small outcrop of green against a seemingly endless desert was apparent. Both he and Essen were familiar with the desert's edge, thanks to their travails on the Free Sea, and it looked much the same here. However, there it was simply a long wall of yellow sand, rising up out of the sea and infinitely towards a dead horizon. In contrast here it seemed there were the odd oases of land, jutting out just far enough to be temperate. Like versions of the desert kingdoms to the south-west in miniature, the so-called Three Deserts.

As they approached closer they could see that the first patch of green was so small it would be pointless landing there. Just the odd tree, with a small notch of shrubland. Further southwards there was another outcrop however, this one slightly larger. They pushed on. Finally, they dropped anchor, and put rowboats over the side to check it out. To their great relief they found fresh water. The lush vegetation also suggested the possibility of other quarries, though the unfamiliarity of the trees and plants made taking advantage of this unlikely. Either way, the vibrant greens were a welcome sight, and stood in stark contrast to the sea of sand it was half-surrounded by. With joy most of the crew took the opportunity to head ashore. Taking time to relax and feel steady ground again. They also took the time to hunt some of the Tunida Birds that flitted about in the trees. As minor repairs were made to the ships Acalee made sure to mark this noteworthy discovery on his charts. Interesting and useful as these outcrops were though, they were hardly sizable enough to be a hideaway for a prince. Or indeed a landing place for a fleet of large ships.

Still a touch puzzled Acalee approached the ship's pilot, "Surely you can't have been heading east simply to come here? There's hardly anything. Is there more along the coast perhaps?"

The ship's pilot refrained from answering. Acalee took his looking glass and lifted it to his eye. He then looked along the stretch of desert coast as far as he could see. The green of the tiny bay they were anchored at quickly receding into the more familiar sandy vistas. As he pulled the glass back down another Tunida Bird took off into the sky and zipped away - vaguely in the direction he'd been looking. "Maybe there is more along the coast?" he repeated, this time primarily to himself.

"There's nothing more down there," assured the ship's pilot, finally speaking up. He then looked out ponderously along the coastline, following the path of the bird as it disappeared beyond the limits of his vision.

"Certain, are you?" laughed Acalee, assuming the pilot's assertion was another bluff, though also mindful that it could indeed be a double bluff, "Perhaps there are Four Deserts, and not Three Deserts."

After the briefest of consultations with Essen, Acalee decided it was time to start readying the ships. When all was complete, he issued the order.

"We're returning home ..but hug the coast."