Combing the beach in teams of six men apiece, each carrying iron-tipped spears, short swords, and crossbows, were no fewer than sixty workers. Drake had given them all strict instructions on how to find the sand monsters and how best to deal with them, and as yet they’d apparently killed five of the beasties without losing a single man. Though one woman from Sev’relain, a former guard in the employ of Loke, had taken a nasty gut wound that was likely to put her off her feet for a couple of weeks.
Kebble Salt stood watch over it all from a rickety wooden tower, where his gaze could cover every corner of the beach. His hawk-like vision and precision aim with his rifle had already become something of a legend – one with many different versions, most of which ended with him killing half the crew of the Man of War single-handed, all from the safety of The Phoenix. Keelin was as happy as Drake to let the stories persist if they meant order was kept in the fledgeling town, and nobody had to know that the man was currently able to fire a total of one shot before his store of black powder would run dry.
“Is she still refusing to leave your cabin?” Kebble said quietly as Keelin mounted the steps of the little wooden watchtower.
Keelin laughed. “I just thought I’d come and take a tour around our new little town.”
Kebble glanced at Keelin knowingly.
“Fine. I haven’t asked her to leave yet.” Keelin reached the platform at the top of the tower, where he was greeted by an accusing silence.
“I know,” Keelin continued, feeling strangely guilty. “I’m the captain and it’s my ship and my cabin. I should just ship her here to shore.”
More silence.
“But what sort of life is that condemning her to?” With a dramatic sigh, Keelin shook his head and stared out towards the jungle. Drake and his Arbiter were close to the tree line, though what they were doing there was a mystery.
“She’ll just have to stay aboard for now.” Keelin waited for an argument and got none. “Until we find somewhere better to drop her off.”
Still no argument.
“Well, I’m captain, damn it, and that’s what’s happening.”
Kebble pointed out westward over the sand. “Over that way, between the palm tree and the jungle. What do you see?”
Keelin squinted. He saw nothing but sand and a bit more sand. “Sand?”
“Exactly. Sand.” Kebble nodded sagely. “Do you see how it moves?” Embarrassed, Keelin coughed and pulled out his monoscope. He looked again. The sand was moving very slightly, grains being flung up into the air and thrown a few feet at a time like sea spray on the wind.
“The wind,” Keelin said, automatically trying to feel the breeze. There was none. It was a warm day with air as still as death.
“That’s what I thought at the beginning,” Kebble said. “Nothing but a cool breeze yet to reach my face. But the longer I looked, the more I saw beneath the surface of the event. The more I saw a pattern and understood what it meant.”
“What does it mean?”
“There is a creature there.” Kebble spoke with the air of a man absolutely certain of his words. “As it breathes, underneath the surface of the sand, grains are thrown into the air in such a way that it looks to be just a breath of air on an island which is strangely still.”
“You’re certain there’s a sand monster there?”
Kebble laughed and smoothed down his moustache. “I wouldn’t call them monsters, just animals looking to find their next meal. It’s a lure, you see. On a hot, humid day, what do men and animals alike look for on a beach such as this?”
Keelin thought about it for a moment. When it came to him, the answer seemed obvious. “A breeze to cool down.”
“Exactly. An interesting adaptation in an attempt to lure in potential prey, or just a byproduct of the inescapable need to breathe? Maybe both.”
“What does that have to do with my problem of the woman in my cabin?”
“Maybe nothing.” Kebble sighed. “May be that the more you look at a thing, the more you see of it, and the deeper your understanding goes.”
It seemed to Keelin that there was definitely more to Kebble than met the eye. It was hard to believe the man had been working as a guard for a small-time stolen goods dealer just a few days ago.
“Perhaps you should tell the teams about your little discovery regarding the sand monsters,” he said, deciding to shift the subject away from his own problem. “Might be it could help them clear the beach faster.”
“You’re the captain, Captain.” Kebble laughed. “Though I do think someone should warn that man of the danger he is in.”
Chapter 23 - Fortune
“What the fuck is he doing?” Drake didn’t expect an answer, and he didn’t get one.
Keelin Stillwater was charging across the beach, his arms waving in the air, towards a pirate who looked to be heading over to a palm tree; no doubt the man was searching for a cool place to rest in the afternoon heat. The fact that the pirate was wandering across an uncombed area of the beach was alarming enough, but Stillwater running blindly towards him seemed far more dangerous.
“You spent a lot of time courting his alliance to let him risk his life like that,” Beck said. She was smirking, which only served to make her more beautiful.
Drake snorted. “You sound a little jealous, Arbiter. Besides, what should I do? Go running after him and put my own life on the line? Reckon I’d rather him die than me no matter how much work went into getting him on my side.”
A bang echoed through the still air of the beach. The pirate walking towards the palm tree paused, looked around, and stopped when he saw Stillwater running towards him. A few moments later the two men met. Keelin pointed towards the palm tree, and both of them started backing away quickly.
“What was that noise?” Drake said.
“Gunshot. That rifleman of Stillwater’s fired a shot into the sand in front of the pirate. No idea why though.”
“Reckon there’s one of them sand devils over by the tree. Bastard must have figured out how to spot them.” Drake silently cursed that he wasn’t there to take credit for the discovery, but he had a more important task to deal with.
The jungle loomed up large and close in front of them. The trees were tall, green, and buzzing with all manner of insects. Occasionally a hooting call from some animal or other sounded, usually followed closely by more, similar cries, but they always fell silent after a while. Then there was the roaring. Whatever beast called the jungle its home must be large and then some to make a noise like that, not to mention the shaking of the trees.
Drake glanced sideways at Arbiter Beck and prayed to Rin that she was as capable as Hironous gave her credit for. With Drake’s right arm in a sling he would be less than useless in any real fight, and he didn’t want to leave the world as a nameless meal in some great monster’s belly. That being said, wandering into the trees to slay the beast that threatened them all was exactly the sort of heroic deed he needed folk to think he was capable of.
“Ya ready?” Drake said with a grin he didn’t really feel.
“Me?” Beck shook her head. “You’re the one who volunteered to slay the beast. I’m just coming along to watch.”