A Soldier's Life-Chapter 259: Elven Customs

Chapter 259: Elven Customs

As Maveith had mentioned, Dee’s hammock really was palatial. The massive hammock was far more comfortable than my own. Currently, the short woman was sprawled across my body, sleeping. She was much heavier than I would have thought. Her intense body heat was causing us both to sweat under her heavy blankets, but the alternative was exposure to the cold night air of the sea. Her head rested on my chest, and she drooled slightly as she slept. Well, at least she didn’t snore.

I had recently used my amulet and didn’t need sleep, so I lay awake while she rested after a grueling day. Her perfumed wardrobe held the fishy scent at bay. I lay awake the entire night, playing complex Elvish phrases in my head. Before the sun rose, a short, hard knock came at the door. “Captain Dee. First light is coming, and we are ready for honors.”

Dee licked her lips, coming awake quickly. She pushed off me and barked at the door, “Thank you, Isaak. I will be on deck in moments.” Dee slid out of the hammock, ignoring me completely while she dressed. I lay on my side and watched her.

When she was almost dressed, she addressed me. “You said you wanted to help. We will need help with the sails if we are going to reach port. I am sure Maveith will help.” She wasn’t very good at guilt-tripping me.

I thought I was the paying passenger here. But I understood the necessity. With an affable smile, I asked, “Do I get to keep my cabin upgrade?”

Her eyes traveled over me quickly while she fought to hide a lecherous smile. “Perhaps we can negotiate a suitable payment for such an upgrade.” Before we could start negotiations, she was out the door. I rolled out as well, planning to attend the burial services for the dead crew.

Bowls of nuts and jerky were tossed carelessly on the floor. Last night, we started by testing the structural integrity of her table before moving to the hammock, and the food had been victimized. I started dressing, shaking out bits of food from my clothes before donning them. I walked on deck as the entire crew moved somberly. The sails were ordered to be luffed so everyone could attend the ceremony.

We all gathered near the stern deck, a few crew members eyeing me and nodding in gratitude. Maveith came and stood behind me as we waited. “Did you play backgammon all night?” he asked quietly. “You never came out of Dee’s cabin.”

A little confused, I turned to see a massive grin on Maveith’s face. He knew what we had been doing, and we had not been doing it too quietly, either. I was coming up with a reply when Captain Dee stepped forward. Dee had a sorrowful look on her face and made eye contact with each of her remaining crew. She then stood over the canvas-wrapped bodies and spoke reverently.

“A bounty given by the seas can be a bounty taken by the waves.

“The sea is a harsh mistress, but her salt runs in our veins and is hers to reclaim.

“We give our friends and companions eternal rest in the deep, dark depths of her embrace.

“We hope they may watch over us until we can join them below the surface.”

A few men nodded at her words, and two moved to the first body. Isaak came to stand where Desdemona had stood. He took a deep breath. “Cook joined the crew in the port of Ishmael three years ago. He was the finest cook I served with on any ship, and his stuffed crab cabbage will be missed. Whatever god rules the sea will now be blessed with his services.”

The two men pulled the wrapped body to the edge and dropped it in the water. The ship had slowed enough that the splash was easily heard. The men moved to the next body, and someone else came to speak in memory of them.

I watched the wrapped body float behind the Shorebreaker. With the backdrop of the rising sun, it quickly sank in the ship’s wash. I stood and listened to someone tell a short story of each crew member before they were sent into the water. When all the bodies were cleared, the two crew who had been pulled overboard by nets were honored with words as well.

Without further ceremony, Dee ordered the ship back to full sail, and the ship lurched under our feet as the wind caught the primary sail once again. Vodoma was still using her aether to heal the crew, but Lasho was calming the waters since his aether had recovered.

The rest of my day was spent with Maveith learning how to be a sailor. Truthfully, most of the time, it was just Isaak or another of the crew yelling at us what to untie, pull, loosen, or retie on the cleats. Without Vodoma creating our wind directly behind the sails, we needed to constantly work on angling the sails ourselves.

Most of the time, I had no idea why we were doing things and just followed the commands that were yelled at me. At midday, Isaak asked, “I thought you would need a break by now. How are the hands?”

“I heal fast.” I held them up to show they were completely healed. Earlier, I had untied the wrong line, causing a boom to shift. Foolishly, I grabbed the line and was dragged across the deck before bracing my feet. The hemp rope had been pulled through my hands as I fought the wind, tearing them up. “I can go as long as you need me to,” I said confidently.

He patted me on the back, smiling. “Well, save some of your energy for the captain.” He walked away, smirking to himself. I shouldn’t have been surprised that the crew had put the deaths behind them so quickly. It was something I had learned in my Legion company. It hurt, but you found a way to compartmentalize until you could lift a pint of ale in memory.

Maveith’s gray skin was sun- and windburned, and he had left for his cabin to rest and eat. I stayed and worked the entire day, finding the work satisfying as I puzzled out what effects my actions had on the sails.

That was how I spent my next two days: slowly learning to sail during the day and resting in Desdemona’s company at night. Maveith would join us for the evening meal, play a game of checkers, and leave. There was nothing romantic about our time together, and I understood I was a distraction from her loss. On the third day, an elven cutter was spotted, and soon, the coast.

The cutter was half the size of our ship and didn’t even have lower decks, but it surfed the waves effortlessly. It sailed parallel to us for over an hour before it moved alongside, and Desdemona conversed with their captain. I thought my Elvish was actually better than Desdemona’s but was wise enough to keep that to myself. From the exchange, I learned we were only twenty miles south of Sanco and they would shadow us there.

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The shoreline was sandy but turned into thick woodlands after a few dozen yards up the beach. I watched the shore with my spyglass when I was able, and monstrous crabs scuttled across the beach. There were very few signs of civilization until we approached Sanco. The first hint that we were getting close was a large number of fishing boats. Dee was standing next to me. “Elves don’t like the water much, but they love to eat fish.”

“That is just the high elves,” Isaak said from behind us. “Eryk, your loot crate is ready for you when we dock, but you can pick it up at the Adventurers Hall. They will use it to confirm our sahuagin kills.”

Isaak left and Desdemona faced me. “I will help you through customs. If they do have an Inquisitor, tell them you are fleeing the Telhian Empire. Try to avoid saying you were a legionnaire if you can.” Our purely physical relationship was over. She turned away from me to bring her ship to port with her message about the dungeon.

We approached the massive stone wall, which formed an artificial bay. Our sails were stowed and Vodoma and Lasho guided the ship with their magic. Tower fortifications dotted the wall, and ballistae and bowmen were visible as we sailed past. The water in the bay was eerily calm, with only small waves created by ships underway by magic.

It was hard to take everything in at once. The city was built entirely out of stone, and the buildings had no sharp corners; everything was rounded and flowing like water.

Since elves lived for centuries, I didn’t know what to expect for my first time in one of their cities. The buildings had numerous garden terraces, but no structure exceeded five stories to my eye. With magic and time, I expected something more—grandiose. We crossed the bay to some long wooden piers. Four other ships were here, three flying the Bartiradian flag. The other ship’s flag was unfamiliar.

Burly elven shoremen help tie off the Shorebreaker before extending a ramp to our deck. Desdemona had changed into more formal clothes and walked down the ramp alone to wait on the pier. There were elven guards—probably the city watch—in dull-green garb along the length of the pier, but they seemed surprisingly unconcerned about our arrival.

A figure in red marched down the pier. When his flowing robes reached Desdemona, he stopped, and they got into a lengthy conversation. The language was not Telhian or Elvish, so even though I could hear them talk, I had no idea what was being said. All I could do was wait.

“It doesn’t smell.” Maveith’s deep voice sounded behind me. I inhaled deeply, and he was right. The familiar salty air was gone, and the persistent fishy smell had vanished from the Shorebreaker.

Isaak’s voice chuckled from behind us. “It’s not gone, but sort of purified by some ancient magic. I told you the high elves don’t like the smell of fish. Like most elven cities, this city sits in a ley line nexus but doesn’t have a dungeon. Once we leave the harbor, the fishman stink will resume.” He groaned in realization.

Desdemona waved us down the ramp to talk with the port authority. Maveith tramped behind me and we approached the tall elf. His silvery red robes pooled around him as he assessed us with his eyes. He seemed more interested in Maveith than me, and I assumed goliaths were rare in Esenhem. “Planning to port to Artiria?” he finally said in Elvish.

I nodded. “And then on to Gramney.”

“Your guild medallion?” He held out his hand and I pretended to retrieve my belt, pulling it from my storage. “Fifty silver for each of you and five gold for your horse.” He pointed. “Pay at the white stone building at the end of the pier. It is the registration office. You need to be screened by the mages to confirm you are in good health.”

Desdemona interrupted, “The goliath still needs to enroll in the Guild.”

The elf sighed impatiently. “He can return to have his medallion stamped. For now, I wish to make certain he will not bring any disease into the city.” I now realized that we had moored at the docks for foreign ships. We couldn’t enter the city without passing the white building he indicated.

After Ginger was unloaded, two city guards in pea-green uniforms walked us down the docks to make sure we didn’t pass the white building without entering it. I looked curiously up at the other ships as we passed them. The Bartiradian ships were bulky merchants with mostly human crews on deck. I did see a chatty halfling and a hairy dwarf sunning himself. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

One remarkable thing about Sanco was how clean the city was. There was no filth on the smooth cobblestone walkways, and all the buildings looked as if they had been recently washed, the ancient stone looking almost new. Ginger was interested as well, and I just hoped she wouldn’t do her business while we were being inspected.

For such a large city, there were surprisingly few foreign ships here. I surmised that was probably due to the war. I hitched Ginger to a post outside the white stone building and entered with Maveith. A silvery-haired elf offered us a big smile. “New arrivals on the Guild ship from the Telhian Empire?” he asked in Telhian.

Apparently, the idea of slow-moving customs was not unique to Earth. Maveith and I had to endure an hour of questions while the old elf slowly scribed our answers. I got off more lightly than Maveith, maybe because I had the guild medallion or because I was human. The questions for Maveith never seemed to end. Maybe the administrator was satisfying his own curiosity.

We ran into our first hurdle when we were asked to declare our artifacts. Maveith readily volunteered, “Two rings, one hammer, and a skinning knife.” Fortunately, he wasn’t required to note what the artifacts did, but the old elf was impressed by the count, judging from his reaction.

When my turn came, I crafted my words to be the truth. “On my person, I have two rings, an amulet, bracers, one blade, and one dagger.” I was wearing one of the simple runic blades from Boris’s men as well as Corvus’s dagger. My paranoid inner self was screaming at me for revealing so much. Maveith was acting unconcerned, but I felt my anxiety rising. I had trusted so few people for so long, this declaration was not easy.

After he wrote out what I had said, he looked up. “The belt?” His question hung in the air, and I was somewhat shocked. Did he have a way of seeing artifacts—some type of aether sight? I didn’t panic and put on an act, pretending I had just forgotten about the belt—which was true.

“Yes. I overlooked that. It has a few potions in it, too. Do you need to log them as well?” He studied me and slowly shook his head.

“No. Potions are fine for adventurers. That will be six gold for you two and the horse. The healing mage will be by this evening. You can wait in that room, and Mikhael can order food for you from the tavern.” I placed six gold dungeon coins on his desk and he nodded appreciatively. I checked on and fed Ginger before moving to the waiting room with Maveith. Maveith ordered a ton of food, and from his appetite I guessed he had “accidentally” removed his ring of sustenance again.

It was more than two hours before a vibrant, black-haired, blue-eyed elf arrived. He was full of energy and beaming happily. “Your mount has been cleared to enter Esenhem. I healed her cracked hoof.” He looked us over, beaming. “It is true! An actual goliath!” Maveith didn’t speak Elvish, so I worked as a translator.

The medical exam was quick, but like the old elf, the healing mage was curious about Maveith, and it took him over an hour to finish with us. We were still not finished, though. There was another customs room with two disinterested guards. My anxiety rose when the older elf said, “Please empty your packs and anything you have in magical storage for us to examine.” Well, dragon shit.

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