Chapter 243: First Contact (1/2)
With one last heave, Julia finally managed to fully stow the mainsail. As soon as she succeeded in tying it down with her shaking hands, she collapsed onto her knees to catch her breath.
”A fine job, girl. We'll make a sailor of you yet.” Skarn complemented from his seat a little ways away. To her chagrin, he was casually drinking from his wineskin while watching her work. A casual observer might think that he was simply leering at her while she exerted herself. However, Julia had grown accustomed to the man's unusual tendencies, and knew that he was merely making conversation, infuriating though it may be.
”You know, you could have helped, instead of sitting there and drinking.”
”What? You'd make a frail old man do the heavy lifting? That's some gratitude you're showing to your savior.” He replied with mock indignation.
It was a familiar exchange for both parties by this point, and only served to increase her irritation. ”Frail my a**! I've seen you in a fight. There isn't anything frail about you.”
Skarn laughed heartily. ”Ah, but if I did everything for you, how would you learn? As I've said before, everyone on this ship has to carry their own weight-”
He froze suddenly, head cocked at a slight angle as if listening to something that only he could hear. After a few seconds, he looked back at Julia. ”We're getting close. Best be quiet now.”
She glanced around at the almost impenetrable fog they'd been floating through for much of the last half-hour, and didn't see anything different from the last time. ”How do you-”
”I have my ways.” He replied curtly while standing and moving to his usual position at the rear of the ship, giving quiet orders along the way. Pretty soon, the Fireforged's oarsmen were in place, and rowing in near silence.
With no established task, Julia moved back to the rear of the ship as well. She made sure to kick her erstwhile angel companion awake, who was stretched out next to a barrel, snoring softly. Unfortunately, she forgot how sturdy Cariel was, and only succeeded in hurting herself.
While Julia was grabbing her foot, wincing in pain, the angel sat up and glanced around blearily. ”Ah? What's going on-”
”Shh! Keep your voice down. We're in dangerous territory now.” Skarn whispered from his position, eyes still rooted on the mist in front of them.
Cariel leaned over and whispered, ”What's going on?”
Julia, finally recovering from her injury gave her a dark look. ”We're almost to the rendezvous point, but there is a possibility of enemy patrols in the area, so we have to be quiet.”
”Right, right...um, who are we meeting with, again?”
Burying her face in her hands, Julia resisted the urge to scream in frustration. She hissed, ”The First Prince's group. Don't you remember?”
The angel tapped her chin with one hand, evidently deep in though.”I think that stiff guy mentioned something about a prince...”
”That stiff guy is the noble in charge of all this. He's the one who had connections to the person you're looking for. The one you are supposed to meet. You know, the whole reason why we're stuck on this bloody ship. Why is this so hard for you?!”
”Haha, well, I've never been the best at remembering things.” Cariel replied with an innocent smile. ”According to the goddess, I have the memory of a gold tuna.”
”...Do you mean a goldfish?”
”Yeah, that! Not really sure what that means, but it can't be too bad since it has gold in the name, right?”
Julia took several calming breaths, which gave her a chance to reexamine her poor life choices. It was a topic that she'd been revisiting quite often over the last few weeks, and she'd yet to find an answer to her burning question. What did she do to deserve this?
[Definitely should have accepted that apprenticeship at the bakery. Bakers don't have to deal with this kind of crap.]
At that moment, Skarn tapped the boards of the ship three times, which evidently was some kind of signal for the rowers, who lifted their oars out of the water and quietly stowed them. After a few seconds of silence, Julia felt the gravelly crunch of the longship running aground. As soon as it did, the rest of the crewmen lept into action, hurling themselves overboard and starting to haul the ship further onto land. To either side of the Fireforged, she could hear the other members of their small fleet doing the same.
”Come on, let's go.” Julia murmured as she grabbed her weapons and moved towards the prow, hoping to avoid dropping into the water. Thankfully, Cariel had the presence of mind to follow suite, and soon they were crouched on a barren stretch of beach. They waited until they heard Skarn's soft voice in the swirling fog.
”Warriors, with me.”
Julia and Cariel had the dubious honor of being in the vanguard force that had been assigned to meet with the First Prince's group and guide them back to the ships, by virtue of being two of the stronger members of the Fireforged's crew. Although this was more the case for the angel than for the beastman, it was decided that Julia needed to go along since Cariel needed a minder to keep her from doing anything stupid.
It didn't take them long to meet up with the few dozen representatives from the other ships, and after a couple short bursts of conversation they were on their moving again. Grabbing the guide rope which would help them stay together in the fog, Julia followed after them while making sure her 'charge' kept up. A difficult task since, in addition to her many other flaws, Cariel had a terrible sense of direction.
After a few minutes of traveling in near total silence, the signal for a halt was passed along the guide rope in the form of three quick tugs. They had evidently reached their destination.
[If I recall, we should be moving up to form a defensive perimeter, although I'm not sure what the point would be. This fog is so thick I can barely see my hand in front of my face.]
Nevertheless, she went along with the rest as they settled into a loose circle, with every person facing outwards. Knowing that there wasn't much else to do, Julia tried to get as comfortable as possible.