Singer Sailor Merchant Mage

Chapter 120: Time to skedaddle

“Skedaddle - to depart quickly, hurriedly or to flee”

Dictionary

Although it had felt like a long time during the wait. Once he had finally returned, I realized that it had hardly been any time at all. It was simply the consequence of being somewhere new and unknown. I always found the journey out to somewhere new to be twice as long as the journey home. I thought it was because on the way out everything was new I would second guess the directions I was taking and whether I was going the right way, whereas I knew where I was going and what to expect next on the way back. I could have been watching the countdown on my HUD but watching the seconds tick never sped them up for me. I was tempted to retreat to my mind but being somewhere new and burying my head in my mind was not the best decision to make.

“Come on let’s get going,” Father said to me as walked quickly along the walkway and rapidly untied the boat before he jumped down into it. The boat rocked on the water as he landed, “Did anyone come by asking for money in the end?” he asked as he moved across the boat to the helm.

“Not in the end. Just a fisherman and his son who tied up next to us.” I replied. “They liked the boat,” I added proudly. I was happy with the ownership despite the dubious way in which it had been acquired.

“Anyway, let’s be off.” He put the oars out and pulled out into the harbour as I attempted to push us away from the wall. His oars propelled us far further than my push. “Just as well no one turned up, Wester Levante was settled a lot earlier than our island and they have started to pay their taxes in the last decade. They have a taxman who charges import and export taxes from people who pass through here depending on what they are carrying and selling. Most stay for a little longer than us and have goods to unload or take onboard which means that he doesn’t have to man the port just sally forth when news of a new arrival reaches him. Usually, it wouldn’t be too much, but I don’t want to think what the tax would be on a chest of treasure if he discovered it.” He said as he continued to row.

“Why didn’t you tell me,” I asked suddenly a lot keener to be gone. I checked the people in the port to see if anyone was paying any more attention than they had been but no one seemed to be paying any extra attention to our departure.

“I gave you the purse just in case he turned up.” He weakly defended himself.

“A tax man?” I asked for clarification. If they were paying taxes to the Mayor who was paying them onto the Prince were we as part owners of Wester Levant through Mercurio’s bargaining entitled to a cut of said taxes or liable for some I thought to myself.

“Yep, but not something we have to worry about for a while longer or ever seeing as any taxes claimed would end up being paid to you, little lord.” He laughed, “One of the benefits of being a pioneer island. A few of our residents used to live here but moved over when they heard a taxman would be arriving and that Wester was finally being settled, according to my father.”

Once away from the wall and as we were heading towards the exit of the harbour he lowered the sails. “Gently now Kai. Just a little bit of wind to get us moving but not too much to draw attention to how you are doing it.” He gestured. I realized that for the most part, we did our sailing alone on the open ocean away from any prying eyes. Here though the harbour was busy. None bar the fisherman had come up to say hello but that didn’t mean the others weren’t watching us as we set sail after such a short stop. The large ship seemed to have finished provisioning and although most of the sailors had disappeared into the town for a break there were still a few idling away on board waiting for their next set of orders from the captain.

I ever so slowly raised a little wind just enough to fill the sails but not enough to be immediately obvious it wasn’t natural, and our boat slowly started to head towards the exit of the harbour. It was time for the next leg of our journey.

As we were crossing the exit to the harbour I saw a man running frantically down to the dock. He quickly scanned the empty berths and jetties only to then stare out across the harbour towards the sea after our receding stern. He gestured angrily for us to return. I turned to my father who was still concentrating on setting a course through the centre of the gap.

“Father there is a man . . .” I started.

“Eyes front Kai.” He ordered and I scampered forward to look over the prow of the boat the order always to keep sharp eyes and senses out for hidden or submerged rocks.

“But what about . . .” I called back.

“I saw no man, especially not a tax man.” He laughed out loud. “I’d like to see him get a penny out of the Mayor for the birds.” Treating it as a game rather than tax evasion.

I didn’t turn back to look at the man again and we soon passed out of sight leaving any trouble we might have caused out of sight and out of mind. We turned southwest aiming for the southern current and Little Wester. As we travelled further south though I did wonder what the tax rules on salvaging sunken treasure might be and reflected that I was happy he never caught up with us for the short while we had been docked. It struck me that man with a job like that would probably have some sort of sense regarding money and I was glad we had not tried to test it. I doubted that my deception, misdirection and lie skills would have lived up to the task.

Now that we had left the harbour and with my father’s consent I filled the sails and we shot southwest towards where we would find the southern current again.

. . .

It was not long before we found the Southern Current and this time we were not fighting our way across it but sailing with it. We shot south like a knife through the water. Speeding south faster than we had ever sailed before.

“Kai take the helm.” Father directed me to hold our helm steady pointing towards the direction we needed to follow.

I held the rudder steady keeping to the centre, of the current. With my senses, I could see where fish joining the current would suddenly speed up as they entered it. It meant that even though it was hard to see the width of the current from the surface I still had a good idea of where it was and how to stay in the centre of it.

“Hold it steady now.” He muttered as he looked at the sun and his map to judge the distance we were rapidly covering.

“Are you not sure where the island is?” I asked concerned.

“No, we are fine even if we shot past it we would see it to our starboard.” He said unbothered by my concern.

“Then why am I holding the helm?” I asked as I wrestled the boat south. It was not hard for him with his size and weight however for me with my comparatively smaller size and weight even though we were running with the wind and pulled along with the current it was challenging to keep us on our course.

“The more effort you put into your sailing the better you will be rewarded for it.” He half explained his intentions.

“I know you have been learning lots of skills with Lady Acacia what with your languages, etiquette, instruments and weapons but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn lots from me. You live on an island if you are ever going to travel further afield you will need the skills I can teach you unless you want to be a passenger dependent on someone else’s skills. You are balanced now, we don’t have anything to worry about and despite how young you are, you have built the strength you need for this. We have favourable wind and current and I’m here to catch any mistakes you might make. Let’s see what you can pick up.” He enthused keen to give me the skills of a sailor.

. . .

Half an hour into our speedy journey I heard a Ding! The boat smoothed a little with the chime and on looking within I soon found the reason. “Father I have Tier 2 Cruising (Lv 1)!” I shouted excitedly. He was right about the effort in helping me to pick them up. The boat seemed to sail smoother, cutting through the waves with ease rather than being buffeted by them quite so hard.

“Congratulations Kai! Keep going. We need to get there and back by nightfall. You manage to do that and you’ll win yourself a pearl from me.” He upped the ante and added another challenge.

“A pearl, that seems like a poor wager to me.” I mean most of the pearls we had were grown by me.

“You’d like a richer bet then, how about your half of the treasure?” He upped the ante again.

“Half? Isn’t it all mine? I mean I found it.” I spluttered not having thought that he would care to challenge me for a cut. He was so laid back about most things what would he even do with the money, I had a lot of plans that would benefit from a little more. Still, this was his area of expertise he considered the sea his domain of the family.

“Aye, you found it. But . . .” he held up his hand to stop me from interrupting, “Could you have pulled it up without me?” he asked sardonically smiling at me. I thought about how heavy the chest was and whether I could have really pulled it up on my own, probably not.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not mine.” I grumpily replied without answering whether or not I could have got it up to the boat without him.

“Well, will you take that bet then?” he challenged me teasingly.

“Fine,” I answered determined to win it even though I knew it was going to be a challenge and the third leg a lot harder than our current smooth and speedy sailing.

“Shake on it.” He said and leaned over to where I sat on the helm clasping hands we did.

. . .

At the speed we were skimming across the water it did not take us long to get to Little Wester. Probably covering twice the distance that we did between Wester and Wester Levante yet in half the time. As we glided to a halt on the beach that Father had directed us to. I heard a familiar Ding! And looking closer discovered I now had Tier 3 Racing (Lv1). Being in charge of the boat was helping to level my sailing skills rather than passively waiting for it to happen while Father sailed the boat instead.

“Super sailing.” Gather congratulated me when I told him. “I was a lot, lot older than you when I got that one. Although it was using the Southern Current that I got it. Takes a boat so much faster, it is almost cheating gaining the skill through circumstances of our environment rather than skill. However, you haven’t won our wager yet. I will pop ashore quickly hand off the birds and see if you can’t get us back in time.”

“Well hurry up then,” I said handing him the next set of birds and eggs. Pushing them into his hands and practically pushing him out of the boat. I knew the last leg was going to be the hardest without the current everything would feel a lot slower and I was tired from holding the helm on the second leg.

He jogged up to the village of fishing huts and homes. There did not seem to be much on the island other than that. But appearances could be deceiving and I didn’t have time to explore the island further than what I could see. Judging by the number of boats, nets, and traps selling any fish here would be a challenge but perhaps they would be interested in the salt to help their fish last longer.

It was not long before Father returned to the boat. Jogging down across the beach. “There’s not a lot here. Even less than on Wester more a fishing village than a town.” He explained his speed. “Ready to challenge yourself?” he asked aware that I was getting tired.

“Yes,” I answered firmly. I was winning the full chest one way or another.

“Great.” He started to push the boat back into the water and once he had shoved us out to sea deep enough for our draft he jumped aboard as I once more filled our sails with wind. It was immediately obvious that this last leg of the journey was going to take longer even with the wind I was providing. We had left the southern current to arrive at the island but without it, our progress seemed so much slower.

. . .

We had left Little Wester not long ago but we were making little progress North. I was having to tack back and forth to make progress. At this rate, I was not going to win.

“Too bad about that wager.” Father falsely commiserated.

“I’ve not lost yet,” I answered stewing. This was going to take some extreme measures if I hoped to win this one. So far I had only used my skill Gale to bring the wind, it was all I had ever needed. Now I needed something stronger. I needed my spellcraft and spellsong. Thankfully Lady Acacia had introduced us to calling the elements. I needed to call them and grow them.

I brought the boat around to be heading due north. Our sails grew loose without the wind. I tied the helm into place.

“What are you up to Kai?” Father asked confused.

“You might want to stay seated for this.” I answered before calling on the wind, “Aiera auxano!”I called out channelling my mana into the spell.

The wind whipped up behind us and started to drive us forward.

“Aiera auxano!” I called again. The wind grew with each reiteration of spellcraft.

“Aiera auxano!” I called for the last time my reserves of mana dipping precipitously but the wind driving us north was established now, still growing driving us north faster and faster until we had reached the same speed we were when using the southern current to travel south.

“I’m impressed,” Father shouted over the waves and the wind.

Now I just had to keep up with the mana expenditure which was going to be a challenge despite my trait source for mana as I watched it continue to drop. Still, the wager and the experience of being in charge of the sailboat were doing wonders for my skills.

Sailing had finally tripped over to (Lv51) and I could see that Cruising and Racing were both continuing to level along with the experience I was gaining from exploration.

I just had to keep it up.

. . .

I lasted an hour. But even I eventually ran out of mana or near enough that it would be painful to use anymore. Lady Acacia had cautioned us to always leave at minimum a margin of 100 mana to prevent us from injuring ourselves.

I reckoned we had made it about halfway back.

“You gave it your best, shot,” Father said as the wind I had been conjuring finally died down. If I had been only blowing myself not an entire boat I could have made it further or lasted longer but I was still only an infant after all.

“I’m not finished yet,” I answered. I still had a few tricks up my sleeve. I pulled out a pouch and unwrapped my amulet. For my core to form properly I couldn’t wear it anymore as it would absorb all my excess mana. Apparently, this is what helped to form the core’s shell or skin. With the amulet absorbing all my excess my core’s shell had never formed properly my body was able to hold the amount that my stats indicated. But the amulet had absorbed all of the excess mana, for years.

There was a lot of mana in there.

“Now wait . . .” he started.

But I had already placed the amulet against my chest and depressed the southern rune. The stored mana within the emerald gem poured forth through the rune for air. It pressed me against the helm of the boat while filling out the sails once more. We short north again.

“The race isn’t over yet,” I shouted over the wind billowing forth.

“This is cheating Kai.” He shouted back but he was laughing as he did it.

“All’s fair in love and war,” I shouted back gleefully. I was unsure just how much mana was held within the emerald and did not plan on using it all. Just enough to let my mana recover before I could cast my spellcraft again.

Ding! Seafaring (Lv 1)

The system seemed to approve of my methods awarding me with my third sailing skill of the day. I was using all four skills now. Sailing, Cruising, Racing and Seafaring the skills working in harmony to even the keel, smooth our course and fill our sails. The mana and magic seemed to almost lift the boat out of the water until we were skimming along the top. This was the fastest I had ever been and it was thrilling. We might just make it yet. I raced the sun as it dipped towards the horizon.

. . .

It was dusk when we finally arrived at the base of the cliffs.

“I win,” I shouted exhausted when we finally arrived.

“Well done, Kai.” He smiled proud of my progress. He had felt the improvement of my sailing skills on my frantic race north. Money motivates many a man but treasure has an effect all of its own and I had pushed myself to my limits. I had no strength left to help with anything and he stepped in to tie up the boat and unload our hidden cargo.

He placed the chest onto the pallet to winch it up to the top. It was a small chest but it was a heavy one. Kaius was used to using it for the haul of fish that we brought home each time. Although once more he had me sit with the chest on the pallet while he ran to the top of the cliff to then pull us up.

I was glad for the lift as I was completely tuckered out.

. . .

I awoke to find myself being carried on one shoulder the chest on the other. Dark had fallen as we descended into the centre of the island out of the rays of the setting sun. I noticed that father had walked round to the northern entrance of the town rather than walk through it with our salvaged treasure. I marvelled at his strength to carry both me and the chest for such a distance.

I fell asleep again

. . .

I woke once more as we made our way quietly through our palace to our old rooms in Grandfather’s house. He was placing me on my pallet the chest alongside.

“Night, Kai. Sleep well little lord sailor of the sea.” He whispered as he left the room.

As I patted the chest I had enough energy to sink it into the stone beneath my bed read this was my treasure and I looked forward to counting it in private away from Aleera’s avaricious eyes. I finally fell asleep for the last time still exhausted after a fantastically profitable day in terms of skill progress there was one last little surprise.

Ding! Smuggling (Lv 1)