Wellspring of Chaos

LII

The Seastag waited two days more to leave Worrak, because the captain had been promised a cargo of brimstone for delivery to Dellash. Brimstone was a good cargo, provided it didn’t burn or get spilled, and Hagen had planned to port at Dellash anyway, according to Rhylla. Kharl didn’t complain about the delay because he appreciated being able to begin to walk on a steady deck. His damaged boot had been patched, but he felt unbalanced, even though he had lost just his littlest toes, rather than his largest.

By the evening before the Seastag’s departure, Kharl was walking with a slight limp, and the stabbing in his ribs had receded to a dull ache. He’d tried a little work with the lathe, but he could only manage it for a quarter of a glass before the pain in his ribs began to worsen. He stopped, but that was better than he had been doing.

After sitting on Tarkyn’s stool for a time, he made his way back onto the main deck. The sun was hanging above the low hills, just to the south of where the Fakla River entered the harbor. There was enough of a sea breeze to carry the harbor odors inshore and leave the deck with the clean scent of the Eastern Ocean, although the breeze was brisk enough that the deck would be chill once the sun set.

“Cooper?” called a voice.

Kharl turned. Ghart, the second mate, stood several cubits aft.

“Yes, ser?”

“Captain and the first are on the poop. They’d like to see you.”

“I’ll be right there.” Kharl headed aft and went up the ladder, carefully and slowly. So long as he moved smoothly, the pain in his ribs wasn’t too bad.

Hagen and Furwyl stood waiting under the aft mast.

Kharl stopped several cubits short of the two officers. “Captain, ser, you asked for me?”

“That I did,” replied Hagen. “I’ve been thinking, Kharl. We’ve got a long voyage ahead. Tarkyn says you’re good, better than most ship’s carpenters. You saved us from losing everything. So, we’re going to pay you as the carpenter’s second.” Hagen smiled. “And you start wearing carpenters’ grays onboard. You won’t be doing deck work, but you’ll have to take in-port gangway watches once we get to Ruzor.”

“You use any sort of weapon besides that staff?” asked Furwyl.

“I’m not bad with a cudgel,” Kharl said.

“That might be a little handier on watch,” replied the first, with a laugh.

Hagen handed Kharl a small pouch. “That’s your pay for the last eightday.”

“Thank you, ser.” Kharl wasn’t quite sure what else to say.

The captain nodded, as if he did not wish to be thanked. “Ghart is in charge of in-port watches. He’ll be letting you know which sections you’ll stand.”

“Yes, ser.”

“Tarkyn’s rustled up two sets of grays for you,” added Furwyl. “Says they’ll fit you just fine. We can use another subofficer.”

“I’ll do my best, captain, ser.”

“You already have,” Hagen replied. “More than most. That’s why you’re crew, now, for so long as you want.”

“Yes, ser.”

Hagen nodded, as if to dismiss Kharl, and the cooper-carpenter’s second-stepped back and climbed down the ladder. He doubted that he really wanted to remain a ship’s carpenter, but if he couldn’t find a place where he could be a cooper, at least he’d have shelter and coin and something useful to do-and with woods, which he knew.

He stopped as pain shot through his ribs.

Most healers were black mages. He wondered if The Basis of Order had sections on healing, and if they might teach him something about how to speed his own healing. He might as well read through it and see. He certainly couldn’t work full-time as a carpenter. Not yet.

And, based on what he’d already experienced, the information-if he could understand it-might prove useful.