Sam spent most of the afternoon on the deck of the ship watching the ocean. A couple of times he saw what he thought were dolphins off in the distance breaching the surface of the water. After he got bored of looking out at the empty sea he started speaking with the crew of the ship or he at least tried to but not many of them were actually willing to speak.
One of the sailors however, an older man named Ozz, was quite chatty and more than happy to answer the plethora of questions Sam sent his way. The old sailor looked how Sam would have imagined a veteran sailor. Ozz looked like he’s been carved out of driftwood and sea salt. His skin was weathered and leathery from what looked like decades under the sun, etched with deep lines that mapped out a life spent battling the waves and the wind. He had a thick beard which like the hair on his head was a bright white with a few slivers of silver running through it. “What is the craziest thing you have seen while sailing?” Sam asked the man. “Aye, that would be back when I was a sailor for the navy. It was towards the end of the war 15 years ago just before I left the navy for a more commercial setting. We were outnumbered 15 to 7 and all of our cannons were working overtime with some overheating and cracking causing the subsequent shots to explode in the face of the gunners manning them. We had to hold the line as transport ships were behind us dropping infantry off on the beaches for a surprise attack on an enemy fortress. Just as it looked like we would be defeated a giant whale 200 times the size of our ships leaped out of the water and landed right down on top of the Vinnrian ships instantly sinking all but one”. “Wow that’s incredible” Sam replied in amazement. “Aye it was. If it wasn’t for that whale those transport ships never would have lasted long enough for the soldiers to disembark and the subsequent ambush and victory never would have happened” he said trailing off as his eyes became distant. “Well, thank you for telling me your story” Sam said before excusing himself to leave the man to his thoughts and reminiscing.
Once Sam had started to get used to the feeling of the ship raising and lowing in the water he spent the next couple of days reading in his cabin. He woke up, went up to the deck for some fresh air and a chat before returning to his room to eat and start reading. He did this for a couple of days and became comfortable travelling on the sea. That was before what happened later that night occurred. Sam was in a deep sleep wrapped up in a blanket in his cabin. While it had been warm at night on land it was chilly travelling across the sea.
Sam had gotten used to the gentle sway of the ship that lulled him into a deep unwaking slumber or at least that was what it was before a deafening crack of thunder sent him jolting upright, his heart hammered in chest as adrenaline caused through his veins. The lantern above swung wildly, casting erratic shadows across the cramped room. The ship lurched violently, sending the bag he had left out on the desk tumbling and slamming onto the floorboards.
Sam scrambled to his feet before bracing himself against the walls as another wave struck the ship. The ship began tilting at a steep angle as Sam prepared for it to flip over. It seemed a furious storm was raging outside, and the ship was helpless but to ride it out. Rain pounded the deck above sounding like a thousand war drums, as the wind shrieked through the thin gaps in the hull.
Sam threw on his jacket and burst out of his cabin, nearly colliding with a sailor sprinting past him to climb up onto the desk. Sam followed the man and climbed the stairs up onto the deck to get a better look at what was happening. When he emerged, he saw that the deck had become chaos. Snapped ropes whipping in the wind, one of the sails was torn thrashing around narrowly avoiding the crew as they ran across the deck and water surged over the edge washing the men off their feet. The captain was trying to shout out commands over the roar of the sea mostly going unheard. Lightning split the sky overhead, illuminating the excited terror etched into the faces of everyone present.
Sam was immediately soaked through from the pounding rain and as he watched on in fear he decided to head back down into his cabin where he could at least remain dry. While he wanted to help the sailors, he knew he would just get in their way. Sam quickly slunk back into the stairwell and ran back down to his cabin. He nearly lost his footing when the ship lurched in the opposite direction but managed to brace himself against the walls before the lean got too much for him. Once the ship reached its apex on the wave Sam quickly moved down to his cabin and entered it before the ship began its tilt in the opposite direction.
Sam climbed onto his bed and positioned himself at the foot where the bed met the cupboard that stored his larger bag. This allowed him to sit with his back against the hull of the ship and brace himself against it and the cupboard. Sam sat there listening to the howling wind and thundering rain pushing his fear aside as he focused on keeping himself in place for the rest of the night.
As the storm eventually started to pass them by and the seas calmed Sam fell into an exhausted sleep. He woke sometime the next day feeling very hungry and very tired. His arms and legs ached from the constant tension he had been using to keep himself from flopping all over the room as the waves tilted the ship up, down, left and right. Sam had at first enjoyed his time on the ship and thought he might actually enjoy sailing on the sea. This storm however had drastically changed is opinion of sailing and of the insane sailors who worked the ships every day riding out storm after storm.
The final few days of the journey were uneventful. Most of the passengers stayed in their cabins after the storm too afraid that they would be thrown overboard by the waves. Sam didn’t blame them as he himself spent most of the remaining time reading in his cabin rather than going up on deck to look out at the sea and socialize.
It was only when he went up on deck for some fresh air did he realize his time on the ship was coming to an end as the city of Vahlitice appeared on the horizon, the ship drawing closer to it with every passing second. Sam saw Ozz standing on the deck and asked him how much longer before they arrived in the city. “We’ve got a good wind behind us so we might make it into port not long after midday” he said. Sam pulled out his watch and checked the time. It was about 8am so that meant there was just over 4 hours left of his time on the ship.
Sam descended back below deck and tidied up his cabin putting away everything he had left out the past couple of days. Once he was packed he went back up on deck to watch the city as they drew nearer to it taking in the surrounding landscapes as they came into view.
The city from a distance appeared to be smaller than Pexicon by what appeared to be a third. It was situated at the base of a small mountain ridge which looked like it was used for defense as he could see what looked to him like defensive emplacements built into the mountain side. He also noticed that there wasn’t a wall defending the city on the sea side of the city only the land side which he thought was quite odd. This however became much clearer as the ship pulled into the port.
The city itself was sat upon a high vertical cliff more than 30 metres above sea level which explained why there was no need for a wall. The port was carved into the side of the cliff with the ship passing into the entrance. As they passed through the opening in the cliff face they were greeted by the sight of a huge magic crystal built into the ceiling lighting up the whole of the underground cavern casting shadows across the deck of the ship as they closed in on an open pier.
As Sam glanced around he saw nearly a hundred ships all loading and unloading cargo which were being delivered to the piers from huge warehouses further in. It almost looked like an underground town was built around the city’s port. He now knew why the city itself was so much smaller than Pexicon. That was because its port and its related building were all underneath the city. Taking all this into account it may in fact be bigger than Pexicon.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
It took about 30 minutes from entering the cave port for the ship to be docked at one of the piers. Once it was docked Sam retrieved his bags from his cabin and departed the ship eager to get back onto dry land. On his way out the quartermaster was ticking off names on a clipboard as passengers returned the key to their cabins to him. Sam walked down the gangplank and onto the pier heading towards a large, illuminated sign that said “Information”. Sam was glad that they had an information office so close to the pier as he didn’t want to spend too much time wondering around trying to find his way up to the surface. Not to mention he had to find the Merchants guild to ask about transport to the capital.
Sam entered the information office and saw a large number of sailors and merchants standing in line. Sam scanned across the room trying to find the shortest line when he noticed a sign on one of the counters that read “First time visitors only”. Sam being a first-time visitor headed straight towards the counter with the sign thankful that it was also the shortest line there. It was but a 5-minute wait before it was his turn to go up to the clerk and ask for assistance.
“Welcome to Vahlitice, how may I help you today” the Clerk asked Sam. “Good Afternoon, I’m looking to make my way to the merchants guild and was hoping I could also get a map of the city” Sam said to the woman manning the desk. “Are you looking to get to the above ground merchants guild branch office or the underground one?” She asked him. “Above ground please. I’m supposed to go there to get transport through to the capital” he replied. “I see” the clerk said as she pulled out a map. “Are you familiar with how the magic maps work?” she asked Sam. “I am” he replied assuming that it would be the same as the one he had picked up in Pexicon.
The clerk unfolded the map and laid it out on the counter. “This here is where the elevators that take you above ground are located.” She said pointing at a portion of the map that read Underground. “You will want to take one of these up to the surface here” she said now pointing at the elevator entrance on the above ground section of the map. “From there you will want to set your destination on the map to the Merchants guild here” she said as she pointed at a spot on the map that said Merchants Guild. “Thank you, how much is the map” Sam asked. “No cost for maps for first time visitors to the city. Just make sure you don’t lose it as its 5 copper coins for a replacement” she said as she gave him a warm smile. “Oh, I see, thank you so much for your help” Sam said as he smiled back to her before collecting the map and leaving the line.
Sam followed the magical arrow floating in front of him to where the elevators to the surface were located. There were 5 in total and Sam had to wait in a long line before he was finally able to get into one. Sam stepped into the metal box that was the elevator and pressed one of two buttons. One of the buttons was an arrow pointed up, and the other was an arrow pointed down. He pressed the up arrow and the doors to the elevator closed and he felt himself rise. It felt a bit like how it did when the ship went up a large wave during the storm the other night Sam thought to himself as he heard a chime as the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened to let him exit.
Sam stepped out of the elevator and into a cobbled courtyard. He quickly moved out of the way to allow the person waiting in line for his elevator to enter. He moved off to the side out of the way and pulled the map back out and activated the arrow for the merchant’s guild. Sam followed the arrow a short distance through the streets before an opulent building came into view. It looked like it had been made out of marble and had gold accented decorations all over.
Sam headed through the unguarded gate and walked into the guild building. He entered a large lobby area with more than 30 reception desks with huge lines of people standing at them. There must have been more than 200 people waiting in line he thought as he scanned the crowd. Sam immediately felt deflated. He hated having to stand in line at the best of times, but this was ridiculous he thought as he joined the end of the very long line.
After more than an two whole hours of waiting it was finally Sam’s turn to talk to one of the desk clerks. “Good afternoon, how may I help you today” A male clerk who had a name badge that read “Henry” written on it. “Hello, it sure is busy here” Sam said to the man. “This isn’t busy, this is actually a quiet day” Henry replied with a slight chuckle. “Seriously, this is a quiet day?” Sam asked skeptically. “That it is. Vahlitice is actually a shipping hub for the south sea. Most trade heading north from here goes through Vahlitice instead of transporting them around to the northern sea directly. It’s much cheaper to bring them here and the take the merchandise by cart up north.” Henry explained. “Oh, I see. That makes sense then” Sam replied. “Now, how can I help you?” Henry said again repeating his earlier question. “I’m supposed to be getting transport from Vahlitice to the Royal Capital” Sam said as he handed over his travel card. Henry took the card and placed it onto a glass plate. “I see, it looks like you’re to travel alongside one of the merchant caravans heading to the capital. It doesn’t list a specific date due to the unpredictability of when you would arrive in Vahlitice. I will book you in with the next one leaving for the capital tomorrow morning. You also have a hotel booked for a couple of days so you should be okay to stay there tonight. Looks like you’re booked in Chester Hotel. That’s quite a nice one” Henry finally finished. “I see, tomorrow morning. Okay, thank you” Sam said as Henry passed him a piece of paper with the information for the merchant caravan written on it. “You will meet the caravan at the Northern gate at 8am. Your contact person is Gertrude from the Jeramiah Trading Company. Hand this paper to Gertrude which will confirm you’re booked for the trip” Henry said. “Okay, wonderful thank you for your help Henry” Sam replied thankfully. “The pleasure was all mine. Please have a safe journey” Henry said as Sam left reception desk and headed back out of the guild into the street.
Sam pulled the map out again and changed his destination to Chester Hotel. The arrow popped back into his vision, and he followed it to the hotel he would be staying at for the night. It was quite a nice hotel, not quite as nice as the one he had stayed at in Pexicon but this one was still clearly a high-class hotel. The building was made out of wood but was painted in bright white with black accenting features. Sam entered into the lobby that had a dark polished wooden décor. He walked up to the front desk and got the key to his room. It was on the second floor and was located above the dining hall. Sam was worried that he would be able to hear the people in the dining hall through the floor, but he was surprised by how quiet the room was when he closed the door.
The room was a lot like the one he stayed in in Pexicon and he quickly put down his bags and flopped down onto the soft bed. He hadn’t slept well since the storm the other night as he kept waking up in a minor panic every time they went up and down a slightly above average sized wave. With this being the case Sam decided to have a quick nap before having dinner.
After his nap Sam went down to the dining hall and had a simple meal. The dining hall was a lot more basic than the one in the hotel in Pexicon and served a much simpler and more limited menu. That was fine for Sam however as he just wanted to get something fairly plain to fill his belly.
After dinner Sam went for a walk through a small park near the hotel. He wanted to walk his dinner off before he went back to bed. In the park there was a tree with bright red leaves that had a short metal fence around it and a placard. Sam walked up to the tree and read the silver placard. Here stands the last blood leaf tree this side of the Yuriya Mountains. Sam had learned in his short time in the city that the Yuriya mountains were the mountain range the city was pressed up against. The mountain range ran nearly the whole way through to the crown territory. In the grand scheme of things, it was a small mountain range but for Keivania it was the largest mountain range they had in the country.
Sam finished up his walk in the park and returned to his room. He wasn’t quite feeling tired yet, so he decided to sample the selection of books that were in the bookshelf in his room. He didn’t find much of interest in any of the books, which was probably why he fell asleep so quickly after he had begun reading them. Sam woke up the next morning at around 6am and went down to the dining hall for a quick breakfast. It was just after 7 when he checked out of the hotel and headed for the northern gate to meet up with the Jeramiah Trading Company caravan.
