The Faithful Ones

Part 3- Chapter 25

Almost everyone from the army had decided to leave their homes and follow the Faithful Ones. They were staying in Northesa until Autrin's Ehv, but the Faithful Ones were anxious to be travelling, and the Northesians didn't want to stay. Most of the dwarves had already returned home, leaving fifty or so who'd chosen to follow the Faithful Ones. Among them were Miedôle, Glazalkr, Jadaihz-Hailëm, and Iemley the Ice Clan bard. There was something about having fought besides and for the freedom of the Northesians that bound the army together. Given that Raine's definition of family was anyone she'd fight for, she now had the biggest extended family anyone had heard of. Yet some memories from the battle still sat lodged in her mind, so she kept to the closest of her family which was the Faithful Ones.

Autin's Ehv came, and the preparations were made. Everyone celebrated it enthusiastically, in their own ways. The dwarves mixed their own customs with the Northesians, and the Faithful Ones knew there was a power greater than the cycling of seasons. The Season's Promise was easily turned to fit their view of the world, but it still had points that could be understood to mean about the Creator, so they didn't bother. They danced around their campfires, celebrating the new freedom the Northesians had now. They also celebrated the death and resurrection of the Creator, which had enabled anyone who trusted in Him to have new life. They sang with joy and with the wildness of being brave enough to show the depth of that joy.

The army crossed the Northern Range, the first time ever leaving Northesa for all of the Northesians. Well, they didn't really go through the mountains, but between two ranges. The Northern Range drew most of the border between Northesa and Westheath, and were the kingdom of the dwarves, but there was another smaller range on a portion of the west coast. Protected only on the eastern side was a city on that coast, which had begun as a trading port but had expanded so much that another wall had had to be built. They headed south-west to that city called Port-Clare, and when they arrived they camped in the valley around it.The army mostly provided for themselves, but some people started working in various shops to be able to afford things they couldn't make or needed to be able to make with. Matthew found a carpenter who agreed to apprentice him for a season, and Zadut worked with him too. Salma had gone to the healer's hall, and Bouniek and Freya were working with the Sages. Sunny, Blaze, Taigat-Zhëtzen tended plants that grew around the army's camp and sold them at the market. Raine, Mel, Rose, and Amedël were helping Sunny, Blaze, and Taigat-Zhëtzen at the market. A lady came by to buy some tubers, and noticed Sunny's pretty, neatly-done hair.

"Who did your hair?" she asked.
"My friend Rose. She's really good at it," Sunny smiled. Rose came over to talk with the lady, and Amedël lifted her head.
"Maybe you could work as a maid for me for a turn," she offered, then asked if she could buy a basket's worth of tubers.
"Oh, we don't have a full basket. But we can give you three carrots, four potatoes, and one burdock root. That's one large armful," replied Sunny. Amedël had gathered them into her arms, without the chance of them falling to the floor, and the sight reminded Raine of the first time she'd met the dwarf. She tried to give them to the lady, but she didn't have the same ability to balance stacks of stuff. She paid for the tubers, and Amedël carried them for her. Rose agreed to work as a maid, and Amedël was offered, and she agreed too, a turn of looking after the lady's Buchod Room. Mel with her swift leopard pace ran errands and delivered messages for the lady, too.

They waited until the twelfth moon, when the first ship since the beginning of spring arrived. The Faithful Ones asked the captain if he could take them to the Archipelago, and he agreed, saying he would set sail with the first turn of the tide in two days. The Spirit would be the leader of the army in the mean time. The Archipelago was five little islands with strange creatures. Since it would be just the Faithful Ones and whatever creatures they befriended there, it would be a good chance to spend more time together, which there hadn't been much of over the past year and a half.

"I'm Carlos. Welcome aboard the Merfolk's Voyage," said the captain of the ship as the Faithful Ones boarded. Carlos told one of the crewmen to give them a quick tour and get them settled. They'd brought tubers and greens as part of their payment for the service, and once those were given to the cook they friends went back up to the deck to watch the land sail away. It was a good clear day, but they were unused to the feeling of walking on a surface that pitched and rolled. Within a few days they were balanced again, and able to help the crew. They learnt the shanties and taught them some of the songs they knew, but the shanties fitted with the waves and creaking, so they sang to the winds and shrieking seagulls with the rhythm of the ocean. The ocean was a heartbeat, their movements were the beat, the captain's orders was a drum keeping time, their voices were a chorus.

"Back and forth/ over the crest,/ back and forth/ under the trough./ To and fro/ we heave away,/ to and fro/ we haul away. / Over the rolling rolling blue/ we sail sail over the sea/ where swims the selkies/ and sirens call for you./ Don't listen to the call/ of the sea,/ just listen to the call/ of the captain,/ and sing a shanty over the sea." The crew of the Merfolk's Voyage taught the Faithful Ones their favourite shanty in their rough, deep voices. The crewmen were skilled in various professions but had chosen to work as sailors, drawing their ship across oceans to trade in a dance of 'have this, give that' through different countries. They spoke amongst themselves of lands the Faithful Ones had never heard of. Some of them had come from those strange lands, bringing with them an accent, unfamiliar clothing, and unfamiliar speech patterns. But the speech patterns aboard ship were unfamiliar regardless of who spoke, as there was a whole range of words and phrases the Faithful Ones didn't understand at first. But they fell into rhythm with the shanties and ocean and routine that was ordered by Carlos and the ship's bell.

At night the Faithful Ones told stories over the meal, and sometimes the crew put on shows for each other by shining a light onto the sail and acting out scenes behind it in silhouette. It was hard to tell they were going anywhere once the land was out of sight, but the same air of wild adventure hung over the ship as hung over the Faithful Ones as they ran and sang when they travelled.