John Ringo - Emerald Sea

“What are you trading?” Talbot interjected. “Sorry, I’m General Talbot, UFS ground force.”

“The general is also the duke of Overjay,” the skipper interjected.

“Duke?” the islander said with a grimace.

“Over my bitter objections,” Talbot said, “they’ve reinstituted a hereditary aristocracy. I at least got them to include methods of turnover.”

“How’s the war going?” Mapel asked. “There’s not much news.”

“It’s bad in Ropasa,” Commander Mbeki said. “New Destiny is Changing many of the people there against their will. But… it does give them some advantages.”

“In the short term,” Talbot snarled. “We’ve had to fight them and even captured some. They’re brutal, aggressive, strong and dumb. Personally, I’ll pass, thank you.”

“But surely they can be Changed back,” Mapel protested. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to Change but here we didn’t really need to. I can imagine in Ropasa that having enough farmers…”

“Their Change is under the seal of a council member,” Talbot said. “It will take her, or a quorum of Key-holders, to release the Change. Even they cannot release it.”

“Now that’s evil,” the islander snapped. “You’re sure of that?”

“My wife is a doctor, a fully trained one,” Talbot replied. “She was given enough power to investigate the Change. Most of them are bound to Celine’s security protocols. Bound by her name in a very old way of putting it. There is no way to release them, short of winning this war. So, since many of them are people who resisted them in the fight in Ropasa, if you fall into the hands of New Destiny… well, you know your ‘new destiny.’ ”

“Shit.”

“But on the subject of why we’re actually here ,” Talbot continued. “Have you seen sign of the mer?”

“They’re not here, now,” Mapel replied after a moment’s thought. “They’ve moved to the Ber Islands because of the weather; they’re seminomadic. They told us they were leaving and we were sorry to see them go; they and the delphinos that cluster with them were helpful in finding fish.”

“How are you fixed for nets?” Commander Mbeki interjected.

“Not well,” the islander admitted. “Most of the ones that we have are cast-nets from pre-Fall. We don’t have good materials for making our own.”

“General?” the skipper asked.

Talbot grimaced but then shrugged. “We have some we brought with us, but they’re for trading with the mer. I can release a couple of the gill-nets to you. That should help. But I’d appreciate it if you could show the skipper the location that you think the mer have traveled to.”

“Easily,” Mapel replied. “And I really appreciate it.”

“I think that you’ll see some traders coming this way soon,” Commander Mbeki said. “You might want to think about what you can come up with in the way of trade goods. We’ll tell them that you need nets and suchlike.”

“Thank you, again,” Mapel said. “Now, if you’ve got a chart of the area I’ll point out where the mer went.”

After the islander had left they looked at the maps and the skipper snarled, angrily.

“That’s the other side of the Banks,” he said, pointing to the soundings marked on the chart. “There’s shoal water everywhere unless we go all the way around the Isles. The area they are in is on the edge of a deep, but everything to the north, west and south of them is shallow. They’re in a sort of crescent. It will take two or three more days, if we have fair weather, for us to beat around to where they are. There’s a passage through the shoals, but it’s just too damned shallow, and narrow, to dare trying it in the ship.”

“I’d suppose that makes sense if they’re trying to get out of the weather,” Talbot said with another grimace. “Jerry, do you think the wyverns can forage off of fish?”

“What are you thinking?”

“It’s silly for me to be impatient after this long,” Talbot admitted. “But I don’t want to spend another two or three days, if the wind holds, beating around the islands. On the dragons we can make it there in an afternoon.”

“We can,” Jerry admitted. “But they’ll be ravenous by the time we get there.”

“Can we carry weight over and above us?” Herzer interjected. “We can have some of the salt beef and pork cooked before we leave. Load it in bags and we can carry our own food. It won’t be enough for more than getting there, but it will tide them over. Surely we can find something when we get there.”

“What about water?” Jerry temporized.

“There’s a spring marked on the main island that’s by where we’re going,” Edmund replied.

“These islands are nearly deserted,” Jerry said. “When it comes to wyverns getting fed, you don’t want to go with if .”

“Get Joanna up here,” Talbot said. “I want her input.”

The dragon, when the problem was presented to her, was unsure and unhappy.

“I’m not sure we can catch enough fish to matter,” she admitted. “You’re talking about a lot of fish.” She looked over the side and then turned to the rail. Tapping it open she slid over into the water.

“All sails aback,” the skipper yelled. “Bring her into the wind.”

Herzer ran to the ladder to pri-fly and when that wasn’t high enough scrambled up the shrouds to the crow’s nest on the mainmast. He could see the dragon’s form in the clear water. She had submerged and was coursing along the reefs that were visible deep below the ship. Suddenly she lunged to the side and snapped at something, swimming rapidly with her sinuous, snakelike sculling. She appeared to catch whatever she was hunting and moved on. He realized that she was holding her breath for a long time and wondered if that was a normal function of dragons. Finally, she surfaced and sculled over to the side of the ship.

“If these Ber Islands are anything like here, no problem ,” she said happily, working her tongue at a morsel stuck in her teeth. “With your permission, Skipper, I’m going to do a bit more foraging. Sushi’s not so bad with enough salt water and salt beef as an alternative.”

Talbot looked at the sky and nodded. “Jerry, get the wyverns up. See if they can do the same. If they can find enough food here for their midmorning snack, we’ll load as heavily as we can with rations, a few of the nets and other things we brought and then head over to the Ber Islands.”

“Will do, sir,” the warrant said. “I’m not sure about getting them in the water, though.”

In the event it turned out to be not too hard. Once the riders dove over the side, fighting the strong current, the dragons followed. They also quickly learned the technique of fishing from watching Joanna and before long they were darting throughout the reefs, picking off the large fish that dotted it.

“We’re in the islanders’ fishing area,” Herzer pointed out, looking over the side longingly at the water. “I’m not sure they’ll appreciate us eating out all the big fish.”

“They’ll eat better with the nets,” Talbot said with a shrug. “I’m sure they won’t begrudge us a few grouper.”

“Is that what they are?”

“Probably, from what I can see. Grouper and big hogfish. Hogfish is good eating; I wish we could get them to bring a few back alive.”

“Permission to go over the side, sir?” Herzer asked. “I’m sorry, but the water looks awfully inviting.”

After jockeying his ship back and forth the skipper had dropped the anchor and the Richard now floated in the current. Most of the riders were back on board. The few who were not were holding onto a rope let out over the stern.