Stone

Chapter 38 – Shipbuilding

Stone entered the shipbuilding business, and saw an arrow sign painted with the word ‘office’. That led to a door with the same word, and Stone ducked into the door. The office was only seven feet tall, so he had to crouch a bit: nothing new to him.

There was a man furiously working on papers at a desk. Behind him was a large plate glass window showing a huge yard: a dry-dock. It was mostly empty: there were two white men down below working on a tiny boat. Otherwise the vast place was empty.

“Good day sir,” Stone asked. “Are you the shipbuilder in this town?”

“That I am,” the man said, looking up at the man whose head touched the ceiling. “What might I do for you? And take a seat: I’m afraid this office is a bit small for the likes of you.”

Stone sat on a sturdy looking chair. “I would like you to build me a boat,” he said.

“A boat, or a ship?” the man said. “There is a difference. A boat is a vessel small enough to go onto a ship.”

“A ship then,” Stone clarified.

“Are you going into the whaling business then?” the man said.

“No. Actually I am looking for a boat … I mean a ship that will cross the ocean to the other side,” Stone said.

The man gasped, and set his pencil down. “I haven’t made an ocean-going ship in years. The last man who sailed across the ocean never came back. Mostly I do whaling ships, although I have built a few freight boats that travel from Westport to Lakeport and back, and some ocean fishing boats. But none built for sailing across the ocean.”

“Well, I will probably send the boat out on some trips to Lakeport,” Stone said. “Just to shake-down the vessel and train up the crew.”

“The crew is going to be a problem for you,” the man said. “Not too many white men will make such a voyage. You might find Kithrens who will do the trip. They come from over there, don’t they? But none of them are captains or officers. You might find one who has done a stretch as a mate on a whaler that was hit by the sea-disease. But whaling ship owners prefer a white captain and mates.”

“Well that is another step I will have to take,” Stone said. “Can you make suggestions on a vessel?”

“Let’s see,” the man said, pulling out a sheet of blank paper. “Whaler and traders are both pretty wide to carry more cargo. I think an ocean-goer would be longer and narrower, to cut through the big waves you get in mid-ocean. Three masts, I think.” He sketched a ship on the paper drawing in three masts with three rectangular sails on each.

“What if we did this?” Stone said, picking up another pencil. He drew three triangular sails in at the front.

“Harumph,” the man snorted. “Sails has to be square. Where did you get the idea to make them triangles?”

“Where I come from they use those all the time,” Stone said. “They funnel wind into the main sails. We call them jibs.”

“Odd. But you are the customer. If you want them jib things, I’ll build them for you. Or at least my sail maker will. But he’s liable to think I’m a bit tetched to suggest them.”

The man set down some figures, and calculated a bit before coming up with a price. “Have you got ready cash?” he asked. “I can’t build on credit. I need to call my men all back in, and order wood and brass and other bits.”

“Would 3000 gold make a good deposit?” Stone asked. The man smiled and shoved his papers away. That money would get him through his current cash crunch. “I’ll make additional payments at the start of each month, as the boat … er, ship, progresses.”

“It’ll take four months,” the shipbuilder promised. Usually a vessel that big would take six to eight but as you can see we don’t have anything laid down right now. I won’t start anything else till your ship is in finishing up mode, and by then I might start laying out a whaler. Those buggers can’t continue to be lucky much longer.”

Stone walked home, expecting dinner to be ready soon. Great smells were coming from Cass’s kitchen, and it wasn’t Kithren food today. It smelled like a pork roast.

The big man sat on the couch, and Rayla cuddled in next to him. “How was school today?” he asked.

“The morning went smoothly. Emily and Jason helped out because we were working on more basic things: recognizing letters and numbers and drawing the initial letters of their name on the floor. It will be good when we get slates for them to practice on. We had nine, mostly boys, including the three who were here last night. I expect we will see them after dinner again tonight. I have Cass making a bit more than we need for the family and the men. Jason has made friends with them, even though they are a bit younger. They were out with Kalo all afternoon learning Kithren culture, the one thing I can’t teach.”

“No,” Stone said.

“No what?” Rayla asked.

“No you are not adopting those three. We have two kids, plus Sissy, who is practically a child. We don’t need three more.”

“Well, the thought had crossed my mind. They are far too young to be on their own, and their shoes and clothes are near rags. And they probably go without food too often.”

“No,” Stone repeated. “You can buy them clothes and shoes, and feed them when they need it, but we are not adopting them.”

“I spoke to Cass about them. Two are brothers and their father was a whaler who was killed on a voyage. Their mother just disappeared a few months later, leaving the boys wild. The third boy is also an orphan. He has an aunt, but she has four kids of her own and no husband. She does laundry and sewing but barely makes enough for her four, let alone another one.”

“Well, we don’t need sewing done, with Sissy here,” Stone said. “You want to start sending her our laundry?”

“Well, we could do that, and it would help her out, but it doesn’t help the boys. What if we paid her to keep the boys? We have more money than we need, and the boys need a mother. If she takes them we could give her a gold every three months to cover the expenses. That would pay for food for the boys, plus her four. I will get the boys new clothes and shoes before then. Jason needs new shoes anyway.”

“I’m okay with that. Talk to the aunt and see if she agrees. Make part of the deal that the boys need to go to school, and her four as well.”

“Okay.” she replied. “How was your day?”

“Well, I made contact with the shipbuilder, and paid a deposit on a boat … no, a ship. But it sounds like it is going to be hard to get an experienced captain and officers. Apparently there are no white captains who will take the ship over the ocean.”

“What about a Kithren captain?” Rayla asked.

“Apparently there are none. All the owners of the whale ships insist on white officers, so the Kithrens don’t get a chance to learn the trade. Apparently there are a few Kithrens who have filled in as mates along the way, when one of the white officers gets the ocean sickness or is injured on the ship. But any of them will need a lot more experience. We plan to go back to Greenstone for two more years before we go over there to find those three towers. Perhaps during that time the Kithrens can sail the ship between Westport and Lakeport on trading runs. That way they will gain the experience they need to tackle a longer voyage. It will also ensure that the new boat … ship, will sail well.”

“Um, about that: going back to Greenstone,” Rayla said hesitantly. “I would just as soon spend the next two years here. I have the school, and the kids are making friends. I think this would be a much better place for them to grow up, rather than in a town where they are the only Kithrens.”

Stone pondered. “I guess we could do that. I have to head north with the wagons this trip. I could sell the house up there and make arrangements with someone to handle that end of the run. O’Breyne has handled the sales on the trips I don’t make: he could be the agent up there. He has been hinting about retiring from driving wagons.”

Rayla just smiled. “I know the reason why. He has a woman up in Greenstone, and only gets to see her for a few days between trips, and then is gone for nearly two weeks. She is not happy about it, and I suspect she is sniffing around for a job for him up there.”

“Well, I will have to beat her to the punch and hire him as resident agent before we get back. And if we are not going to be travelling any more, we can take one of the caravans back. It will provide them a base up there: heck, if they want to live in it they can.”

“For a year or two. Sapphire is quite young, and I’ll bet they have children before long. You saw how O’Breyne took to Jason and Emily when he was driving.”

“Well, I’ll set his pay high enough that he can start to save for a house when little ones arrive, although three or four could live in the caravan. We can keep the other caravan down here. It is just one more place where the men can rest on the turnover down here. It will only be one or two nights, I suspect. This two-week layover was to allow me to get things in order so we could go back. If I am down here again permanently, there isn’t as much to do. In fact, we could head north again in a few days.”

The pre-dinner snuggle was nice, as Stone and Kalo left after dessert to go to a bar. Kalo had met someone who had actually been born on the other side of the ocean, and Stone wanted to talk to him.

In the Kithren bar, Stone met the oldest man he had ever seen. He turned out to be 92, and while he had been born on the south shore, his family had sailed across when he was two, so he had no actual memories of the other side. What he did have was memories of the tales his parents and uncles had told him in his youth: nearly as useful as first hand memories.

“Do you know about the three towers?” Stone asked after getting the man’s glass refilled.

“Oh yes, they talked about them all the time,” the man mumbled. “There are four sections of the land down there. The very east is not controlled by the towers, but it is a land of magic anyway. There are unicorns, horses with silver horns in their foreheads, and fairies: tiny women about this high,” he held his had a foot off the table, “and they have four wings each, and can fly about, casting spells and causing trouble.

The eastern tower is stone, and about 150 feet tall. The oldest of the wizards lives there, and he controls all the land around. He makes odd beasts: centaurs that are half woman and half horse, sometimes with male horse parts, and sometimes with female parts. The front part is always woman, though, with big breasts like a dolly. Then there are werewolves, huge things, nearly as big as a horse. They have huge fangs and sharp teeth, and especially like eating humans. There are mermaids in the river but you aren’t likely to see them, cause they live in the river that surrounds the tower. They have huge teeth like the werewolves, and they can strip a carcass down to the bone in five minutes: less if there is more than one. The centaurs are vegan, eating no meat, but they love to throw people into the river and watch the mermaids tear up the prey they carry to the river.”

“That sounds pretty scary,” Stone said.

“It is,” the old man agreed, “especially when you consider that almost all of the creatures were once human. The wizard can’t make his beasts intelligent without starting with a person.”

“What about the other towers?” Stone asked.

“I dunno as much about them, seeing as we lived in the east,” the ancient said. “The central tower is further back, and doesn’t reach the ocean at all. I do know that it is where the wizard makes the Dollys, but I don’t know how. Somehow they just appear on this side of the sea. He must have an agent or something over here and some way to get them here. And to get the money back: I know Dollys cost a lot of money, and only rich men can afford them. I have no idea what he uses for guarding his castle. One uncle said he has Amazonian women, nearly eight feet tall, but I can’t be sure.”

“The third tower is in the west then,” Stone prodded.

“Yes, and I don’t know a lot about that. The Kithren desert is there, and that is where we Kithrens all originally lived. I think the wizard there uses his magic to enslave the remaining people.”

“But Kithrens never would allow themselves to be slaves,” Kalo said angrily.

“If the wizard has magic, then they wouldn’t have a choice,” the old man explained. “He has enslaved thousands, maybe millions, and they provide him with his power. They work his fields, man his factories, and fish his seas. Not only that, they also protect him from any intruders.”

It was late and the old man was starting to nod off. Apparently he had a table in the corner and he tottered over to it, put his head down, and was soon asleep. Stone and Kalo rose and went out, walking back to the house. Kalo was incensed at the thought of his people being enslaved, and vowed to stop at nothing to free them.

“Well, I suspect we can’t free them until we meet up with the other wizards first,” Stone said. “Rayla and I want to find out how and why we were transported here, along with Arthur and Doug. I don’t think any of us want to go back, but it would be nice to find out how we got here, and why.”

Soon they were at home. Stone went into the house and Kalo went back to the caravan he had been sleeping in.