The guard introduced himself as Thomas and as he led them through the city he seemed to know every merchant and person that they passed. He would meet them with a wave or had a quick hello here and a good afternoon there.
He told them about the areas of the city and that while no area was off limits the best area to keep to where the merchant areas. While the guards tried to keep the laws there were many a young lad lead astray by the ladies of the night who would show you a good time but rob you blind.
They passed a tavern called the Red Cockatoo “Stay out of there, lads I’m positive that the Tavern Keeper is the head of the local thieves, If we could prove it I’d hang him from the nearest tree myself. I’m positive that he’s involved in a number of open murders cases we have.”
Soon they came to the docks “Here you go lads, delivered safe and sound. Good luck on your travels maybe see you again you never know” with that he shook hands with them and headed home.
Turning to the path that led down to the docks the friends headed down to the docks, None of them had ever seen a river wider than a few meters. As they came down the steps they stepped onto the docks that stretched along the river.
The far side of the river was a good six hundred meters away. The city had been built near the meeting of six mountain-fed rivers each of which would have impressed them all by itself the meeting of the six rivers here and the rocks that the city was built on meant that the water churned and tossed white spray into the air.
A workman smiled at them seeing the awe on their faces.
“Is that the sea?” said Dareon staring wide-eyed at the water rushing past.
“This little thing?” queried the dock hand and answering his own question he continued “No, but it eventually leads to the sea though you would have to travel for two weeks and have good winds to reach the sea.”
Picking a bale of some wares up he lifted it to his shoulder with a grunt and headed into a local warehouse. When he came back a minute later they were still standing in the same place watching the powerful water rush past.
“You guys never see a river before?”
“Not this size, in the mountains they are maybe a couple of meters wide and you could jump, wade or swim across,” replied Darr.
“I wouldn’t recommend trying to swim in this river lads,” he said, grabbing a stick which he threw with all his might. The stick flew about seven meters into the river, once the current caught it the stick flew downstream and suddenly disappeared under the water only to appear further out into the middle of the river. Before disappearing again if it came up the lads didn’t see.
“Fall in this river here and you would be sucked under before you even realised you had fallen in and you’d be pulled out into the middle of the river quicker than you’d believe. If you were lucky a boat might be able to catch you. We’ve lost many a sailor who has fallen into the river with too much drink in him. Its all of the rivers that connect here six of them the water churns and sucks things down.
“We’re looking for Lord Turok’s boat would you know where it would be.”
He set the bale that he was trying to pick up down. Scratching his chin he replied, “Don’t know any boats owned by a Lord Turok, but the woman to ask is Dock Mistress Sally,” pointing at a tall thin woman “That’s her over there, there’s no boats’ arriving or leaving without her knowing about it. Safe travels lads I better get back to work now,” he finished picking his bale and heading into the warehouse.
They headed towards the Dock Mistress and when they arrived she was busy talking to the Captains of a couple of ships. They waited their turn to speak with her.
She was a middle-aged woman with a stern look about her. She wore a worn blue long coat and dark pants. The coat had a row of silver buttons down one side although one or two were missing. Her brown wavy hair had touches of grey and her face had several worry lines around her eyes.
She was dealing with a number of ship captains that were arguing about which one should be allowed to leave first. Finally throwing her hands up in disgust she turned on the bickering captains and with a voice of command that showed no mercy, she cut the bickering.
“Ok, gentlemen this is the order you will be leaving, First will be yourself Captain Inkle, followed by you Captain Marshall then you Captain Kerson. I trust that this is satisfactory” before Captain Kerson could object she continued “Captain Kerson you have the largest load and will need more time to get past the Keystone Turn this order allows these two ships to get past before you so they won’t hinder you agreed?”
Reluctantly the three captains nodded their approval and returned to their ships waiting for their slots to leave. With a heavy sigh, the Dock mistress turned to the waiting group.
“I’m glad to see some people have the manners to wait their turn, for some reason the captains never seem to think of the simple courtesies. Well gentlemen,“ and looking closely to Mal “ and lady, you have waited long enough what can the Dock Mistress do for you today,” feeling in a whimsical mood she dropped a deep curtsey to the lads when she came up again she was smiling in glee.
They bowed a deep bow in return that they had seen a courtier do to Lord Turok.
“Who says the mountain folk have no manners,” she responded.
“We are looking for the boat of Lord Turok, we are to report to him at noon," Said Mal with an extra flourish.
With an open-hearted and friendly laugh, she pointed to a boat, not three feet from where they were standing. “The Captain of the ship is called Captain James or just Captain. He’s a good man, so show him respect. Have any of you ever sailed on a ship before?”
“No mam,” Mal replied.
“Heres some free advice, The captain is judge jury and executioner on his ship, If he says jump to you jump to. Most captains have a first mate that runs the crew for him, do anything he says and you’ll get on fine, don’t and he can make your life hell.”
As Darr started to walk towards the gangplank she continued “Never board a ship or boat without asking permission, ship captains are a fickle bunch and none boards without permission without expecting a fight.”
Darr stops blushing slightly “Sorry and my thanks.”
“Speak of the devil and he should appear,” she said looking at a man walking towards them. “Captain James good to see you I have some companions of Lord Turok here to meet you.”
“Really? And who might you lads be?”
“I’m Mal, this is Dareon, Tomi, Darr and Grego, Lord Turok asked for us to meet him here for sailing at noon”
“I like passengers that arrive with plenty of time, Come on board I will introduce you to my first mate who will get you sorted with where you will be sleeping.”
When they followed him onto the gangplank they were not expecting it to bounce quite as much as it did and Darr nearly fell in. Once they were all safely on board, they noticed that the Captain was talking with a man who he introduced as his first mate.
“Welcome guests you can call me Mister Grimshaw, let me take you to your accommodation while you will be on the River Queen the swiftest river vessel in Caplo”.
With that, he headed to the back of the boat through a set of wooden doors with blue stained glass windows. Entering the room behind the doors they were greeted with a large area with windows and cushions scattered on the floor.
Mister Grimshaw led them down a flight of stairs to a corridor full of doors.
“This room will be Lord Turok’s, this one is the Captain and I’m in this one. You will be using this room to the left it sleeps ten in hammocks you can store your belonging here during the trip. We have an hour before we set sail so you can spend some time on the deck, when we are leaving the dock or arriving at another dock you will be asked to return to the lounging area above so that you are not underfoot” with that he turned and left.
As they put their things into the room they looked a bit dubiously at the hammocks that they were to sleep in.
Everyone had a good laugh trying to get into a hammock and then out again.
“Bit like riding a horse hard the first few times but will probably get easier with time,” said Mal who seemed to pick up the knack for getting in and out the hammock quicker than the rest.
Noticing that her bowstring needed replacing Mal decided to take the opportunity to go on deck and replace the string. Taking her bow and arrows Mal headed up to the deck to find a location she could repair her arrows. Darr and Dareon decided to join her while Tomi and Grego decided to wait in the lounging area.
Mal and her friends went up on deck and set about checking the bows and arrows. In the light of the day, Mal started to restring her bow while Darr and Dareon deemed theirs to still be in good condition.
The three friends then sat down to fix the fletching on their arrows. They had separated the arrows into two batches those that were deemed good enough and those that would need mending or the parts salvaged from them.
They were just slinging the quivers over their shoulders to go back to their cabins when a cry cut through the noise of the dock from further upstream followed by a large splash and the cry of “Man overboard”
Silence descended over the docks as people rushed to the boats looking for the man that had fallen in. Mal spotted him being swept out to the river and pointing in the direction of the man she shouted “There”.
Soon other voices where shouting directions. A large ring was thrown from a boat two boats upstream it failed to reach half the distance it didn’t stop people dragging it back in ready to throw again Mal watched in horror as the man was swept further out into the river faster than she could believe when the first mate arrived with a hoop to throw. Mal had an idea
“Lads get ready, Throw master Grimshaw and throw high”
Without thinking Master Grimshaw threw the ring as high and as far as he could as it reached the top of its arc it was easy to see that it wasn’t going to make the distance.
Suddenly three arrows smacked into the ring making it sail further. It was still going to be short by a few meters when Mal’s second arrow hit it squarely beside her first arrow and the ring landed right in from of the man, he grabbed the ring and flipped it over his head.
A cheer went up from the dock hands and crews of the ships as they stood watching the river. Soon the man was dragged on board a ship further down the river as the rope tightened he slowly came back to the docks.
Master Grimshaw stood looking at these young mountain folk who as calmly as you like shot four arrows into a wooden ring as it sailed through the air. Darr was looking critically at his bow “Bugger the forgewood has cracked. Probably only got one to two shots left in it”
“Forgewood?” Inquired Master Grimshaw.
“It’s a type of wood we use for making longbows, it is very strong but also flexible. The fight with the goblins must have damaged it more than I thought” replied Darr with a sigh.
Lord Turok arrived to see the whole dock in turmoil, When he approached the River Queen to board her he found most of the dock standing around the noise was deafening all he could think of was “Oh god what have they done now,”
It took several minutes to make it through the crowd to the gangplank. When he eventually arrived he found most of the Captains of the ships including the Dock Mistress standing on the deck of the boat.
“Permission to come on board Captain James” Lord Turok announced loudly to be heard over the noise of the crowd.
“Permission granted my Lord and welcome” he replied
“What's going on here? it’s as if a fox got in the hen coop.”
When Lord Turok heard Captain James say that a man fell overboard he was suddenly worried about the young men in his care.
“Who? One of the mountain people?” he interrupted knowing the deadly current that swept past the docks and scanning the river.
“No, my Lord one of the sailors from the Jolly Maid” when Lord Turok looked both confused and relieved, he continued thumbing up the docks “She’s berthed further upstream. He was swept out to the river, we all thought he was lost as the rings couldn’t be thrown far enough to get to him, but Mal here ordered the lads to be ready then told Master Grimshaw here to throw with all his might. Would you believe that they put four arrows in the safety ring driving it further out into the river? It landed slap, dang in front of the sailor, saved his life it did. I’ve never seen fancier shooting in my life”.
As he told this the docks had quietened until you could have heard a pin drop everyone wanted to hear the details from someone that had seen it first hand.
“When it comes to the Orge Slayer and her men, nothing surprises me,” replied Lord Turok gripping Mal lightly by the shoulder.
Murmurs of “Orge Slayer” rippled through the crowd as the story had already started to spread. The taverns of the city had been full of villagers all telling their story for a drop of ale or a few coppers. Now that they were homeless and impoverished.
“Well, while I would like to stand around all day we need to get to the King as soon as you’re ready Captain James.’
“I’ll see to it that your ship’s given first exit priority Captain James’ said the Dock Mistress. ”Gentlemen if you will excuse me I go take steps to make it happen”.
One by one the ships captains made their leave all except the Captain of the Jolly Maid.
“Lads can’t thank you enough that man was my nephew. While he’s lazy and incompetent my wife adores him. You have my thanks if you ever need passage and I’m about you will have it.” Shaking the hands of the boys he placed a small bag of coins in Mal's hands. "With my thanks, and to help your friend get a new bow for the one he broke saving my nephew," with that he turned and left heading down the harbour to get his nephew.
“Gentlemen if you will go indoors we will be departing shortly. I’ll send Master Grimshaw to let you know when you can come back on deck.” He turned away and started bellowing orders to the crew who started moving about all over the ship Mal, Lord Turok and the rest of the party made their way to the lounge area where large cushions covered the floor.
They almost had no time to even sit before the ship began to move out into the turbulent river. The windows at the back of the boat showed the harbour receding quicker and quicker from view, the more that the river gripped the boat.
They could hear commands being called to man this and move that and shore up something else. After about twenty minutes the first mate came to tell them that they could come on deck again.
When they arrived on deck they saw a difference in the river it was more smooth here that back in the docks. When Grego mentioned it in passing a Sailor that had been working close by looked up from his task of mending a sail.
“Yes sir, the dock area is very dangerous. I supposed that the water from six rivers meet there and fight over the direction it wants to go in. By the time it gets past Keystone Turn it has agreed where it wants to go,” Pointing back up river where a large granite rock four hundred feet high and a mile wide forced the river to move aside before it could turn downhill again.
Looking side to side to make sure he wasn’t overheard the sailor continued, “That was some fancy shooting Mam, you could earn a bit of money in the Capital as one of the competitions they hold my Lady”
“I’m not a noble,” Mal said absently “What do you mean competitions.”
“The king often has competitions where the winner gets a prize. There are lots of different competitions including Archery I bet you guys would win that one.” Looking around to make sure no one else was able to overhear. “If you do enter let me know we could get good odds on you we could all win good money, just let me know if you are interested,” with that he returned to his task.
Mal and her friends stood by the rail at the front of the boat and watched the world whiz by. While the river was not as turbulent here the surface changed slightly as they watched it.
Walking over to Mal Lord Turok enquired, “Mal, have you ever played a game called pebbles?”
“Never heard of it my Lord,” replied Mal.
“Its called a few different names around the world it helps pass the time maybe I could show you how it’s played. We will have a lot of lounging around time on our trip and it will help pass the time.”
Mal agreed to try the game to keep Lord Turok happy. As they went back to the lounge area of the boat Lord Turok started to describe the game
“Its quite a difficult game to master but easy to learn the basics, Two masters could play for hours before one wins. I’m considered a decent player myself though nowhere near the level of a master.
The game is played on a grid of lines with two bags of pebbles and each bag holds a different colour. Players take turns to place pebbles of their colour on the board my set is black and white pebbles though you can get them in a variety of colours.
The idea is to surround all of the opponents' pieces and control the board the winner is decided when there are no more pebbles to play you count the number of pebbles that you have left on the board and the one with the most is the winner.”
Lying down on a set of cushions beside a low table Lord Turok took a money bag from his belt untied it and spread it out on the table. Mal saw that it didn’t contain money but rather two smaller coloured bags one while and one black. It turned out that each held a hundred small pebbles that matched the colour of the bag. The inside of the money bag was actually a cloth with the grid that he had described earlier. Some grid lines connected and had black dots on them.
When Lord Turok had smoothed out the grid on the table. He handed Mal the white pouch saying: “As your new to the game, I’ll let you go first so you’ll be white. Normally I would take a pebble of each colour and put one in each hand and give you the choice to choose which hand but for now let us let you go first.”
Pointing to the lines on the board he continued. “These are the grid lines you place your pebble on the intersections of the lines. The black dots are where you get any bonus pieces placed to a maximum of nine pebbles. The game is a handicapped game so for your first few games, I’ll give you nine extra pebbles.
The object of the game is to gain as much area as possible. You can add a piece anywhere on the board you want. You need to create an army by putting two pieces beside each other. To kill the army I have to surround all the grid lines and I can remove these pieces. Now if you create a circle of pieces then I have to surround it on the outside and on the inside.
If you can connect two circles then they can’t be destroyed as once I fill the inside of one those pieces would die because they are surrounded. Also, you can’t play the same pebble twice one after the other. For example, if I took a pebble you can’t put it back straight away.” Each time he described something Lord Turok showed an example.
The first game lasted an hour and Mal enjoyed it even though she lost. They played two more games and while Mal lost each game Lord Turok told her that she was doing better. Darr and Dareon had been watching and when Lord Turok and Mal had finished the last match they asked if they could play the game.
With Lord Turok helping Darr won the first game by twelve pebbles and Dareon won the second by two pebbles.
Life on the boat settled into a quiet routine for the mountain folk, either watching the world go by or playing pebbles. The swift current took them down the river at a good clip, the hills sailed past showing many farms and small woods.
Sleeping in the hammocks was an experience in and of its self. They ate a lot of dried fruit and meat and some smoked fish. At night the boat was tied up against the river bank.
The captain announced that they would be stopping at the next town called Bergion, They would be there for about an hour while they unloaded some cargo and if they wanted to stretch their legs on dry land they could.
When they eagerly responded with a “Yes” everyone shared a laugh. Lord Turok announced that he too would accompany them into the town. As he wanted to speak with the local lord and inform him of what was happening,
The Town of Bergion came into view as they rounded a corner in the river. It was a good size almost big enough to be called a City in its own right. Stone walls thirty feet high surrounded the town and stretched one hundred meters into the river. At the tip of the wall, a large stone tower stood. Mal could see two guards patrolling around what seemed to be a large crystal that shone brightly at the top. As they got closer Mal could see other guards walking along the walls.
“Gentlemen and Lady if you would go inside again if you please we will prepare to dock.”
Once the boat had passed the stone tower at the end of the wall it swung around and came in behind the wall in a tight line. The speed dropped as the boat was now using sails and not the current to move forward. They heard someone asking permission to board and the permission was granted. Slowly the boat moved into the dock area passing different boats that where leaving or preparing to leave. Once the boat finally stopped Master Grimshaw came in to inform them that they had finally docked and they could go back on deck.
As they came out on the deck they saw a man shaking hands with the captain and then disembark.
“Who’s that Mal asked the first mate”
“Harbour pilot,” he said with a level of hardly hidden contempt, “You’re not allowed to sail your own bloody ship in this dock. So he comes on board and does everything we would have done and charges us for the privilege too,” he said spitting over the side of the boat.
As they disembarked from the boat Lord Turok led them up the pier to the market town. “I have to go see Lord Keiff to see how my instructions are being implemented. Here is a silver each for you to spend as you wish. If you are getting a drink get it to go so that we don’t have to hunt through every tavern in town. I will see you back on the ship”. With that, he turned and left them standing there.
“I wonder if they have a Bowyer in this town I need to find a new bow mine is done. If they don’t well I hope they have a carpenter that I can get some wood from to make it my self,” said Darr.
“I’ll accompany you too I want to get more arrow shafts and feathers,” said Mal “What about you guys?”.
Tomi, Dareon and Grego, said they wanted to have a look around the market to see if there was anything they needed. “We’ll see you back on the boat”
As Tomi, Dareon and Grego moved off into the Market. Mal and Darr tried to figure out where they would find a Bowyer. Realising that the town was too big and they would need help to find what they wanted, they looked around to see if they could see someone that would be able to help when a member of the town watch passed by and they hailed him.
“Excuse me, Sir, would you know where we could find a Bowyer?” asked Darr.
“Yes young sir, If you head up toward the Keep there is a Bowyer called Master Christian, just ask one of the Guards at the keep and they will send for him.”
“Thanks, you've saved us some time,” replied Darr as he and Mal started to walk up the hill the guard had gestured too.
As they got to the top of the hill they noticed that the Keep had commanding views of the town and surrounding countryside. As they walked up to the gates of the keep two guards came out of the guardhouse to intercept them. As they approached the two young men they took into account their fine clothes
“Yes young masters, what can I help you with?” asked the first guard.
“We are looking for Master Christian the Bowyer, and we were told he’s at the keep” replied Mal,
Nodding to the other guard who stepped into the guard house and pulled a rope, the first guard stated “Wait here we will get a page to ask him if he wants to speak with you. What business do you have with him?”
“I need a new bow or at least the wood to make it myself,” replied Darr.
“And I’m looking to replace some lost arrows shafts,” continued Mal
“And your names?” said the Guard as a page arrived.
“Mal and Darr, part of Lord Turok’s party, Sir” replied Mal remembering the conversation about using the titles with the people of the kingdom.
“Ogre Slayer,” said Darr nodding towards Mal.
At the mention of Mal’s unofficial title, the guard's eyebrow raised slightly in disbelief. He turned to the page “Ah Master Williams, please go to Master Christian and inform him that the Ogre Slayer, requests permission to talk with him about matters of his trade.”
With that the page ran off, the guard pointed to a bench by the wall, “It shouldn’t be long please take a seat while you wait,” Darr had to practically drag Mal to the seat.
"I can't believe that they have heard about it," whispered Mal.
"Mal, Sailors left the morning after we arrived and would have been busy spreading the tale to all that wanted to hear for a tankard of mead.
Fifteen minutes later an old man appeared at the gate and looked at the Mal and Darr requesting to speak with him. “Yes, how can I help you?” He said in a gruff tone of a man that was interrupted and not happy to be interrupted.
“Sir we are looking for a new bow for my friend here. His Forgewood one has cracked and it will eventually give out, We have some small amount of money and would like to purchase a new bow or the wood to make one ourselves, we would also like to get arrow shafts to restore our supply. If it pleases you, Master,” said Mal formally.
“Forgewood? That's a strong wood hard to damage, let me see this bow of yours. Tell me how you damaged it and if you miss treated it you’ll get no help from me.” Master Christian replied curtly.
“Here sir,” said Darr handing his bow over to Master Christian “it’s cracked just here,” he said pointing about three quarters of the way up the shaft, “I had to block a goblin mace a couple of days ago but when I used the bow two days ago it cracked. I might get one more shot out of it but I doubt it.” He finished sadly.
“You won’t get another shot out of it I’m afraid,” he said critically of the bow “Come with me lets see what we can do for you lads” he continued in a kinder tone not seeming to notice that Mal was a girl either that or didn’t care for the fact.
He led them through the courtyard to a workshop with a lot of bows being produced each in a different stage of production. There were two apprentices and a Journeyman working in the workshop producing bows and arrows by the bushel. One apprentice was working on a strange type of bow with a wooden stock running down the middle of it.
“I’ve never seen a bow like that before,” said Mal to the apprentice.
Who replied, “It’s a crossbow," noticing the bow on Mal's shoulder he added, "shoots further than a longbow as well”.
Master Christian took three pieces of wood that could be made into bows and asked for them to choose the best one.
After studying each piece of wood, which Darr rejected one after another for some imperfection or another. Darr said “Sorry each piece is flawed and would break within a couple of uses if they survived the strains of the bow making process. That first one would crumble as soon as you tried to bend it”
Smiling Master Christian said: “Good, you know your wood. You are correct each piece of wood is inferior in one way or another. Here this is a piece that I have just finished.” Hefting a black bow he passed it to Darr. Who flexed it slightly before pulling out a bowstring and stringing the bow. The bowstring made a lovely twang when plucked a reverberation that flowed through the wood of the bow in harmony.
“Wow, this is a good bow I don’t think I could afford this bow sir”. Darr and Mal knew that a bow of this quality back home would cost at least a silver piece, Here in the lowlands where everything cost more. They couldn’t even put a price on it.
“Ha, it's up to me to put a price on my work. How much have you got”. He said to Darr whose hands were stroking the wood in an abstracted sort of way.
“Three silvers sir” replied Darr honestly while he wanted the bow he didn’t want to be caught in a lie.
“I have another three silvers sir I’ll add those too” spoke up Mal.
“Six silvers mmm and that’s all the money you have?”
“Yes Sir,” they said in unison.
“Mmm and you said you need arrow shafts, ok four silvers and you can each have twelve arrow shafts and as much fletching as you need for them” he replied.
The generosity of Master Christian was a shock to them. “Thanks, Master Christian that is very generous of you” they stammered.
“From all reports, you saved Lord Turok and I think that should be repaid,” said Master Christian with a nod that spoke volumes to be the end of the conversation.
When they had given over their money and received a bushel of arrow shafts. Master Christian noticed Mal looking at a large curved black bow.
“This,” he said taking the bow down from the shelf it had been sitting on and wiping off the dust. “Was made by Master Winslow, the first Master Bowyer of this town three hundred years ago. He left instructions that the owner of this bow is the person that can string it, in three hundred years no-one has been able to even bend the wood. God knows many have tried,” seeing Mal’s eyes never leaving the bow he continued “Want to try?” handing it to Mal with a smile.
“I would be honoured to try Sir but I doubt if I would be able to where others failed,” Mal said humbly every muscle in her body was trembling as she held the bow. Taking out a bowstring she tied it to one end and turned it around and gripped the other end of the bow. Straining her muscles to Master Christian smile who had seen many, many people fail to bend this bow, in his sixty years working in this workshop.
To his surprise, the bow started to bend slowly at first as it resisted the young woman that held it, then it was as if it started to lose the will to resist. Which is exactly how Mal thought of the process putting all of her strength into bending the bow and it seeming to fight her with a will of its own.
As Mal slipped the string over the second end of the bow, she breathed a long gasp of air and realised that the sweat was dripping down her face. She lifted the bow up to look at it and plucked the string and was rewarded with a resounding twang as the string quivered the tone of the note was about an octave higher than Darr bow.
Mal realised that she stood in a circle of people staring at the newly strung bow. “It’s your’s now young lady would you like to try it?” Asked Master Christian walking to the back of the workshop.
Following Master Christian to the back of the workshop who opened a wide set of doors. There was a shooting range with a number of straw baled targets of different sizes.
Master Christian picked up a quiver with thirty-six black arrows and held it out for Mal to take an arrow. Mal ran her fingers down the shaft of the arrow. It was made of the finest wood and lacquer she had ever seen.
The feathers were blazing white against the black shafts and fixed in a helical twist spiral against the black wood of the arrows and the tips had silver arrowheads. Mal had never seen an arrow where the fletching spiralled around the shaft.
“Try hitting a target,” said Master Christian
Mal set her first arrow to the string pulled back and released, Mal knew she had hit her target the bow was beautifully balanced and before anyone could blink she had two more arrows in the air. Each one hit the centre of the targets.
“Wow this is a fine bow, are you sure that I can have it?” Asked Mal
“Yes the bow and these arrows were all made by Master Winslow and after seeing you shoot it I am certain it is your bow,” Master Christian replied.
Master Christian sent one of the apprentices to retrieve the arrows and handed the Quiver to Mal who clasped Master Christian’s hand in open friendship
As Master Christian took them back to the gate to show them out they met Lord Turok on his way back to the boat. Saying their fair-wells to Master Christian they headed back to the boat when they got there they were happy to see their friends who were standing on the deck waving to them had also made it back in good time.
“Permission to come on board, Captain James,” said Lord Turok
“Permission granted one and all,” he replied to the three of them. “Perfect timing we’ve just finished unloading and reloading supplies so are ready to go.”
“Fortunate timing Captain, in that case, we are ready to leave when you are Captain,” said Lord Turok as he crossed the gangplank.
“Excellent, the just need a Harbour pilot” replied Captain James, looking up he continued “And speak of the dark one,” he said to the crews’ delight.
A pompous looking man was walking across the docks towards his ship: “Permission to come on board Captain,” he said when he reached the gangplank.
“Granted” turning to the passengers “If you would go below we will get underway.
The boat sailed out into the harbour and slowed to allow the Harbour pilot to disembark. Then the shore around Bergion sailed past and the rest of the day was given over to idle chatter and playing pebbles.