Owin #30 — More goods for The Needle

Owin’s apprehension did not fade, though Gwen seemed to settle down after they had eaten some bread and cheese.  Her ease might also have come from the excitement of seeing things she had never witnessed before.

Looking out from the front of the ship, she spent most of the afternoon and evening watching the waves rolling across the horizon. With the occasional whitecaps, her clothes soon clung to her thin body and her cropped hair always hung on the verge of being wet enough to drip.

Niam’s Cove, as Arn had called the narrow bit of water between a pair of long rocky protrusions of land, offered a bit of calm water that only partially eased Owin’s mind. No stranger to being on board a ship, the motion of the sea did not bother him. However, the crew and his mission did.

Imtor had done his best to avoid looking at Gwen and him, but his avoidance was so pronounced, that it drew Owin’s attention. The others, Warren and Den’ah especially, seemed to enjoy themselves, telling stories and boasting about their many feats of daring and cunning.

By the time the ship slid onto the rocky beach, Owin could have claimed to sail with the most interesting people in existence. However, it did not take much to know that most of the claims were highly exaggerated.

Once The Needle was secured, Arn and Tyron headed further inland, climbing a small rise in the land that showed signed of regular use. Calvin and Den’ah grabbed a hand ax each, and with their swords, they hopped off the ship and headed after Arn and Tyron, but angled more toward the south.

“We’ll stay here for the night,” Warren said easily. “Even if The Captain can’t find our contacts. It’s too dark to sail much further and we’re far enough from any towns that no one will see the fire.”

Owin nodded his head, wishing yet again that he could read minds. “Anything you want us to do?”

“Naw, we’ve got it covered. Just sit there for now.”

Owin nodded his head. He tried to appear relaxed, but he kept a careful watch between the shore and Warren and Imtor. The two brothers continued to move about the ship, gathering and organizing supplies with all the appearance of getting together items to make dinner. However, neither of them were ever more than three steps from a loaded crossbow.

He noticed Gwen watching him with her lower lip between her teeth. The easy smile she had acquired earlier while enjoying the adventure of sailing north along the coast had faded. He forced a smile to his face and she returned it before she glanced back up the slope to where Arn and Tyron had disappeared.

Movement on the slope drew Owin’s attention, as well as that of the brothers. Calvin’s bald head was the first thing Owin noticed, but Den’ah followed closely behind him. Thank you, Owin said to himself when he saw they carried armloads of firewood. The two men moved down the slope and started stacking the wood next to a pile of stones that Owin could now tell was a fire pit.

Gwen relaxed against him, perhaps sensing his own tension fade slightly. “I’m looking forward to a nice warm fire,” she said as she watched Calvin carefully put kindling into the circle of rocks and then stack larger items over the kindling.

“Let’s see what The Captain has to say,” Warren said, inclining his head back up the slope to where Arn and Tyron descended.

The two men were quickly back at The Needle. “Sano will have his men load up the mules and bring the crates down. They have ten of them, so things will be a bit tight with the load, but we’ve carried more.” Arn glanced at Owin and Gwen. “If Gwen will do the cooking, and you help with the loading, we can get Sano and his men out of here. They’re not happy with getting delayed.”

Owin got to his feet and helped Gwen to hers. “We’d be happy to help.”

“Good. I want to be able to push off with the early tide, so it means loading everything tonight. The ship will be heavy and no fun to push off this beach.”

 

Owin knew his back would hurt in the morning when he saw the mules and the size of the crates. The Needle already had more than a dozen smaller crates and casks on board. The heavily laden mules struggled to make it down the slope to the beach. Once they did, the men leading them stepped back and let Arn, Owin and the other men untie the large wooden boxes and heft them into the ship. Each crate took four of them to load and the weight definitely caused the shallow bottomed boat to settle just a little further into the rocky beach.

Even before they were done, Sano and his men had already started to lead the unloaded mules back up the slope. I can understand their desire to be gone, but… Owin did not want to finish the thought.

With the work completed, he joined Gwen next to the fire and helped her and Den’ah finish preparing a stew for the evening meal. “Hey Den’ah, you ever deal with these guys before?”

“A few times. Why?”

“They ever that eager to leave before?”

Den’ah shrugged. “I think Sano was pissed we were so late. We had to sail a bit out of our way to pick you up.”

Owin pursed his lips. “How’d you know to pick us up? I didn’t know I was coming until just recently.”

Den’ah gave Owin a toothy grin. “The Captain’s got a holy artifact. I think that holy warrior friend of yours and his gave it to him. I’ve not seen him use it, but from what I understand, it lets them talk through Oron.” Den’ah gave him a shrug. “Don’t mess with those who do work for the gods, that’s what I always say.” Den’ah smiled and then walked over to join the other sailors who had pulled out a cask of ale and were having a drink.

Owin nodded his head, though the man did not notice. He had no intention of doing that, but at least that answers a question I had. “Gwen, I want you to stay close to me tonight. I’ve got a bad feeling.”

She looked up at him, her lower lip again between her teeth. “I think I have the same feeling.”

Continue to the next episode.