Cerule

Chapter 4

When I woke I knew I wasn’t alone. Someone was very near, so I kept my breathing slow, and let the AIA Mind assist me in simulating sleep. I took a moment to take in my situation, Mind very helpfully, pulling up a view of where I was to my inner eye, which was very much like a holovid screen behind my eyes. I was in a small cramped narrow cabin, occupying a cot with a tall man working at a wood counter. He wore white leggings under a white canvas shirt and seemed to wear an apron around his neck as well.

He turned around and dark eyes glanced at me from over broad shoulders from a grizzled face. “Well now, somethin’s changed, despite that nasty knot on your head that’s bruised your entire scalp, m-Lord.”

I was shocked and relieved. Shocked that I could understand him so well that he seemed to have far less of an accent then those sailors who had dragged me aboard their skiff. Relieved that, supposing this man was a ship’s doctor as the implements, vials and other paraphernalia in this room suggested he might be,  the bruise Mind had engineered on my head was apparently realistic.

Fuck it, I decided to wake up. I heaved a breath, and drowsily opened my eyes.

“Well its about time, lad. We’ve a nasty brig-war hunting this sloop, and only the shoal waters a this maze of little islets and shoals is protecting us. No, no, don’t get up. That hit to your head needs quiet.”

I had started to rise and he held a strong hand to my chest, pushing me back. Unshaven and a bit unkempt as the physician was, he was attractive in a dissipated sort of way, and his dark eyes were alert under his grey flecked brows and salted dark  curly hair, the latter of which was tied back in a rough que.

“I be Sim-Cothbit, for ill ways, the saw-bits a this here vessel. And you… well… not that I make a habit of studying the seals on rings, but that ring on your hand declares you have some no so distant relation to the ruling family a Nor. Can you tell me your name, lad?”

I decided to speak slowly and carefully, leaning on Mind to enunciate the way he thought the former Paraldon might have done. “I am Par, Par-Aldon.” My voice came out in a bass croak.

He quickly grabbed a ten cup and handed it to me. It was about half filled with water. I drank it thirstily.

He the Aldons are well known.” He went on, nodding, as of what I had said was in accord with his observations. I wasn’t much encouraged by the wince that accompanied his conclusions, whatever they might be. “You stay here, m-Lord I’ll be telling our Mr. Wil-Kait, our senior office, who you are, m-Lord. And… “he bent, picking up some folded clothing, putting them in a small pile by my side on the bed cot. Yid best be putting something on. I told him what ya might be and he loaned out one of his spares for ya to wear. I, ah been spongin the ointment off ya I put on to heal the skin burns, but I think ya could manage clothing if yer careful. I’ll be back with the Captain in a only a bit. You dress nbut don’t move around much. Mind yer head injury.”

He gave me a nod, or something between an awkward nod and a bow to me, and with just a few steps turned and left the infirmary.

With him not watching, I moved more quickly, examining the clothing. It comprised a blue waist coat with a single ring of yellow threading woven around each cuff. The waist coat was so weather warn the blue was a faded sky blue. The leggings were white and clean but worn, and proved to be more of a leotard in that they had shoulder straps to keep them up. I pulled those on first and found that I was clearly a bit large for them, the material hugging me close. There was a canvas shirt of stained off white that tucked into the blue sash hooked on around my waist. The sash was this world’s answer to a belt and the straps and leotard an answer to trousers. I couldn’t say I complained as the outfit was clearly designed to show off a man’s assets, worn and faded as it was. My cock was making a statement down the inside of my right thigh. The crew and officers above might have been startled by my smirk.

A pair of worn oiled boots waited for me to try. They were a touch snug but the leather or whatever it was, seemed to rubbery and stretchy to be leather. They came up to just below the knee and would do.

I was just pulling the second one on when Som-Cothbit stepped back in and moved aside for another.

The second man leaned in and then let his feet follow as our eyes met. His were a striking set of turquoise that were startling in his dark lashes under light brow brows and a head of thick wavy golden hair.

He wore a far more richly and fresh version of what I wore, and my eyes went right down his slender but well made form to a very nice looking outline of manhood tucked down his left thigh. Yum. I felt my mouth begin to drool and quickly jerked my eyes up to that handsome head. Oh those lips. Those eyes. I was slowly aware that his eyes gazed back at mine with every bit of interest I was showing his.

“Remember you are injured,” Mind reminded me.

Startled I jerked, winced, and with a slight groan leaned against the counter.

“Bits!” hissed this Lightenent or whatever they called them here, and Cothbit scambled to my side, taking my arms. I let him ease me down on the bed.

“M-Lord, we are .. overwhelmed to know you are alive. I believe your family and the navy fears you lost an quite, ah, dead.”

I just looked at him. “Not quite.”

He smiled a brief smile. “Ah, we have a, ah situation here. We are being hunted by a ship that is more powerful. I have ducked us in the narrow cove behind a grove of -sand Bram, and our masts are hidden well. But once they take to their boats, they will surely find us. My Lord, you are doubtless my senior. I was only appointed Lightenant two months ago and given this command when its former commander was killed. You are senior….”

I put up a hand and winced, “No, I …this… is your ship.”

“Sir, you should…” He began, but I shook my head.

“Retain command.”

“Until you recover, then M-Lord.”

I closed my eyes and gave him a very slow nod. Lt. Wil-kait retreated from the little cabin. I badly wanted to go up on deck, however long it might take me, but the doctor took a seat. “Let me put some soothing salve on that bump.”

I grunted assent. A moment later he was leaning over me, applying the cool cream to my scalp. It only took a moment. “My Lord, pardon, but it be best if I asked you a few questions, see if that wound might have affected your memory.

Oh boy, well here goes and I might as well return the favor.

“Well lets start with an easy one. “Who is your mother?”

“My mother?” I repeated softly and slowly.

“Yes, her name.”

I let him wait but then said, “Alera.”

I looked at him and repeated. “Alera?”

He looked at me and shrugged. “I have no idea. I only know of the names of the Gre-Duchessa of Nor and her immediate children not her grand and great git and all their common mates. Oh and every one knows the sigil of the Dukal line. So can you tell me your grand -mare’s name?”

“Which one?”

He shrugged. “Either, my Lord.”

“Lady… Tia is one… and “

“That will do, my Lord. Now, do you remember how you got that wound to your head?”

Mind’s internal voice interjected. “Paraldon was aloft when the main mast of the ship he served on was dismasted. He fell into the sea and was killed when a piece of rigging followed him down and crushed some of his skull. It is questionable that he would remember any of that if he had survived. The wound was extensive and part of the reason memory ingrams were taking so long to be imbedded into your biologically based flesh.

I waited a long moment, letting myself consider how to play this. It was my back story for who I would be on this world. Vagueness was my safest option. “I don’t… there is … something. I remember the … mast… I was … aloft I think. We fell… the ship…”

“Aye the Dignita, a fine ship. She went down with all hands… well not quite all. Some of them may have been taken prisoner. And then there is you. This ship was has been ordered to keep a look out for any missing sailors, or any taken. The Empire has been doing a lot fo that lately, taking our people,:”

“At least we found you.” He smiled, and I carefully smile back.

He looked at me and then nodded. “Your weak from lack of food, I expect, skin and bones, you are. Lets get you aft and maybe the Wil-Kait’s steward can get some food into ya. Here, now, I’ll help you.”

Leaning heavily on Som-Cothbit, we moved very slowly out into the ship, moving past gear, two mess tables, hammocks slung to the low ceiling of the lower deck, moving aft to a wooden door and into what had to be the great cabin which included a small dining cabin. I glimpsed through a door a stern  cabin with large ports, a large desk with charts, and not much else, though there were some chests.

Overhead I could hear the soft sounds of bare feet, and the sound of low orders.

“Ren-lin, lad where are ya?”

“Here, Bits.”

A young man possibly not through his teens appeared wearing nothing but white leotard rolled down low on his hips and an apron. Freckled, red headed and sporting a gap in his front teeth, he looked me over with frank curiosity.

“Don’t stare, ya fool. Now get his Lordship here some bread, cheese, and a bit of the ship’s stew if ya got it handy, aye and a slice er two of fruit in a tankard of water.”

“He’s a Lord?”

‘An Alden Lad, related to the Gre-Duchessa Herself, he is. Now git to it.”

“Or fuckin all!” gasped the boy.

I raised a hand to hide a smile as he jerked into motion, scurrying out of sight.

A few minutes later a tubby  bear of a young man appeared carrying a tray with large bowl of something that smelled good if different. Whatever, I was willing to try it. This new body was gaining strength every second, but it craved food, just as a real body would.

“This is our ship’s cook, Wot-lin, and the cabin boy, Ren-lit. ( I was to learn that in this part of the world, many men and women had family names of Lin or Lit, or Bit. With the most common one of all being, as on old terra, Lee.)

They were waiting for me to try, so I picked up the wooden spoon like utensil and dug in, taking a tentative bite. There was a definite consistency of shell fish mixed with the swimming kind, a smattering of vegetables and something rubbery that would later click as being Bram-weed, a type of seaweed.

The doctor shooed both men away when I nodded satisfaction. “What has been going on? You were being chased by an Empire ship.” I said, slowly, careful to speak so as not to betray an otherworldly accent. The AIA, Mind, was coaching me, and I let it, shaping my mouth and words for me, and I could feel something clicking when I got things right, something the only partial memories of Par Alden, agreed with.

“Aye, we picked up that enemy brig a few days ago, and the Lightenant has been doing what he can to keep us out of their clutches. Unfortunately, its taken us away from Nor and any protection our ships might give us. We’ve no weather worker, so no way to grant ourselves extra speed.”

The physician paused as I continued to eat. I was really enjoying the taste of actual natural food instead of space ship cantina processor muck.

“If they find us, do we have weapons?”

“Oh Aye, you might be wanting a sword, not that your in any condition to fight.”

“Might not have a choice.” I said back.

“I’ll be right back.” Som Cothbit said, and rising from across the table from me with a little bow he headed up some steps to the deck, and a moment later I heard the just audible sounds of hushed discussion from above. By the time I was spooning up the last dregs of the stew, he was back bearing a leather encased object that curved slightly, leaving a hand guard and handle made of some sort of cream-colored wood exposed. “We have a few spare Selcuts in storage taken from the enemy. The bosun went over the blade, giving it a quick go over, but the blade is yours, m-Lord, by order of the Captain.”

A selcut was this worlds name for a bladed weapon like a sword, but also referred to a type of sword. I slowly drew the blade from it’s sheath and immediately recognized the fine forgery of something very like the Japanese katana. It made sense. Every where I looked there were hints of old earth oriental culture, from some wood carving design in the wood trim of the cabin, to sigils on the edges of charts that I could see from my seat at the table.

I rose, slowly, blade in hand and moved the blade in a slow snake like dance. I had always delighted in martial arts training, even though one rarely needed it in Space unless facing an actual boarding action. But that, I suspected, was about to change.

I raised a wooden tankard and pouring water into it, gulped all that down in one tipping up gulping session. Awwhhh, that felt so good. I felt my body pulling energy from what I had taken in, and knew I had never felt anything like it. This body didn’t just recharge, it took every erg of nutrient and made mountains out of it. Putting the empty tankard down and then sheathing the salcut with the other hand, I said to the Cothbit, “Thank you, but now I think I better go up and take a look at our situation.”

“Aye, my lord. And my lord your looking better already. Never saw a man improve so fast with a single bowl of stew.”

“I am feeling much better, thank you.”

“Take care, my lord, from the look of that wound on your head you may have suffered a skull fracture. A slight one to be sure, but I do not recommend a lot of unnecessary fast movement.”

I nodded and gave him a bow, which seemed to fluster him, as he flushed and quickly bowed back.

Slowly, taking my time so as not to alarm him, I essayed the steps to the deck I had seen others use and shortly arrived above. A gentle breeze stirred my hair, and I could see the day was marching on toward sunset. A dense canopy of trees threatened to tangle the taller of the two masts. Again, it was a mix of lower tropical palms and large ferns under an overarching canopy of tall pines. A plant like bamboo grew everywhere out of the sea. I saw no beach where we were, just a maze of growth straight from the water. The word Bram came to me from Par’s dim memories, and I remembered that Bram-wood was a sea born and grown wood that floated on the sea surface in huge forests of horizontal tree trunks with roots at both ends and springing up into the sky like the shoots of bamboo I was seeing now. Bram wood came in various colors and hardness. Brown Bram was the most basic wood and made up the trunks. Quite hard, it was used for ship hulls, and on Cerule, it was an inexhaustible supply. Black Bram was super hard, and used for armor, as was a somewhat less dense Grey Bram. Black Bram was also used for rigging, the ships masts and spars. White Bram was often used as a solid form of trim and décor and was very carvable and from the looks of things, used like teak on old earth or like jade. Gold Bram was also used for trim but was considered soft and quite vulnerable to damage, more like ivory or bone.

As all this came to me, like a day dream, I took in the white Bram on the deck, the brown Bram on the side gunwales, and cabin works.

“Lord Par-alden, I see you have a sword.” Came a hushed voice to my right, and I turned to see the Lightenant Wil-Kait. “And I see your looking much better, my Lord.”

“Appearances are deceiving.” I said, and put a hand out as if to be steadied. He was right there at my side, taking my jacket covered bicep in his firm grip. He guided me over to a corner of the main deck where there was a sort of wooden shelf not far from the ship’s wheel.

“What is happening?” I whispered to him.

“Scouts have reported two long boats with seaman from the enemy brig, hunting through the shoals for us. They could be upon us at any time. We have anchored so as to give our Pelters a good range of sight toward the mouth of this cove, but it won’t take them long to charge in under our fire and board us, m-Lord. I wish we could set sail and attempt to escape, but we don’t have a wetherwork aboard like we think they do.”

“I see you have bowmen stationed along the well.”

“Aye m-lord. We can try to take some of them out before they reach us.”

I was still trying to get used to being referred to as “my lord”, when all I wanted to do was reach over and run my hand over his flank which looked extremely hot in those skin tight leggings. Well at least that was consistent with the old Commander Jake. My libido had always been heightened by danger. Apparently, nothing had changed.

“I am sure you have the situation well in hand.” I told him. Even in the late day sun I saw him blush. “Thank you, my Lord. If you have any suggestions…”

I looked at the entrance to this small cove, the tangle of limbs reaching up, some of them quite thick. I remembered a trap the Xolted had pulled on our squardron in space when we passed through an asteroid belt on our way in system to Cerule. The Admiral’s subsequent decision to turn and engage the enemy closing in behind had been what cost us a number of the screening ships. I decided to take a lesson from the Xolted. “The entrance. Can we station bowmen there?”

“A surprise?” He asked.

“Flanking maneuver. Wait until the enemy come inside and fire into their backs, maybe give the boats pause so our Pelters (catapults) can have time to do their job.”

Lightenant Wil-Kait stiffened beside me and then nodded. “We can do that; bowmen would be more effective there with all that Bram Rooting to hide behind.” The young man gave me a surprisingly warm look of surprised admiration, before stepping away to give the orders.

By night fall the new arrangement was in place, our bowmen posted out at the entrance to the hidden cove.

Wil-Kait ordered them back to the ship to rest. He reasoned that those enemy long boats would also return to their ship to rest before resuming their hunt at dawn. I was less convinced of that but kept my own council. For all I knew, he might well be right.

I did not have to sleep, not really. This body was like a ship. It needed fuel, but it could run for an eternity without any sort of rest if it had to. The only limit was that the more energy I expended, the more the body needed to ingest. However, the Ellumian crystalline material in every cell of my new body absorbed Ellumian in the very air of the planet. So, I sat there in the growing gloom, largely ignored by the seamen.

Mind, do you have a way to see where the enemy is? After all Mind had shown me maps of the world and even maps of the local part of Cerule within a hundred K or so.

I can. It answered. The enemy ship is at anchor, but two long boats still hunt among this configuration of shoals and Bram-wood water plants. They have not turned back to their ship.

I got up from where I sat and walked over to the young Captain, Lightenant Wil-kait who stood silent watch by the helm as he sipped some hot cyder.

“I could do with a tankard of that myself.” I said. A seaman nearby answered. “I’ll get it for you, your Lord-ship.”

We stood together silently. The Lightenant sighed. “Do you think I should have kept the men out there?”

“This is your ship. But I just have this nagging suspicion that they are more determined then might be usual for Imperial ships. Perhaps my experience has humbled my view.”

There was another long moment but then he jerked a nod. “Aye, I will let them eat their dinner, then send them out again.”

“Mind, can we give the crew time for food?” I silently asked the AIA.

The AIA’s answer was quick. “Affirmative. At their current slow pace, they are a few hours from discovering us.”

I mentally ordered, “Please review all best martial arts forms and prepare our muscles and flexibility. I may appear half starved to death, but I need full function.”

You already have full function. When you were given the selcut, I prioritized bladed forms.”

Good! My AIA was using initiative. I decided to be grateful for the help.

The crew got their dinner, eating in silence in the mess below, many of them eating at their station by the pelters.

I went below and retrieved a plate of salted meat, some more of the green seaweed which tasted surprisingly good, even if you had to chew it for a long time, and which Mind said was very rich in nutrients, a rice like bowl that was actually called “rice,” but which was dark brown. The meat was a pork like meat called gark, which was raised by large rodent like animal that ate pretty much anything from smaller slow animals to all sorts of vegetation and even fish, and which was very veined with fat, and quite delicious.

Wil-kait joined me on the deck, both of us eating from plates held by one hand while we forked up food with chop sticks.

I asked him about his family and was told that he had a male Consort waiting for him, who worked as a designer of house robes for men and women, but who had lately been branching out with day wear for men, serving some of wealthy in Nor’s capital city of Accao.

I had a sinking feeling. Here I was, very attracted to one of the first men on Cerule I had met, and he was attached to someone. Angie might have cheated on me. I wasn’t going to tempt another man to cheat on his husband.

“I imagine he misses you very much.”

“As I miss him,” Wil-kait said, “but Tel-en has an assistant in his shop who is very handsome, and very helpful, if you see what I mean.”

“You do not seem to mind?” I said.

He shook his head. “What can I do. I would not with Tel-en deprived because I choose to serve at sea. I could be killed, taken prisoner. Anything could happen.”

He fell silent and I did not pursue, but then he said, “When we were consorted, he was just starting his business, and in need of a partner who could provide him with a steady subsistence to live on. I could do that. We were very romantically passionate at the time, and we eventually wish to adopt and raise children together, but we both know most of that work would fall to him, unless I am stationed ashore. That is unlikely, considering the pressure from the Empire on small nations like the Gre-duchy. Cri-set understands, that’s his assistant, and when I am home, he either steps back, or if I invite, joins us.”

I could almost feel Wil-kait’s grin in the darkness. “Cris-et is a beautiful young man. I can understand what my consort sees in him. And, besides, he is very good in bed.”

Well, that opened my eyes, and it came to me, suddenly if dimly through Par’s memories, that Cerule society was very complicated. The Ellumian influence for some reason caused a birth ratio of three men to one woman, more or less, and part of that was a very high ratio of miscarriages among women pregnant with a female fetus.

What it meant was that women tended to have both a formal spouse, a trusted consort called, a husband, a consort also, and a second consort referred to as a Paramount. A paramount was considered a temporary love interest. A consort was considered to be a second husband.

“Do you intend to marry a husband or raise you Tel-en to Husband?” I asked, once I was certain I had the ranks of those in my head correctly.

“Perhaps, but since I am so much at sea, it would be more proper to let him choose a husband who can be with him all the time. Cri-set is his paramount, but… he could raise him to husband. I would accept that and understand.”

"No interest in a female...?" I began.

He puffed in a sort of quick laugh. "My eyes tend to go lower than a woman's chest to other bulges." His head turned and he looked down at my crotch with a frank interest that almost shocked me.

Mind interrupted me, “Enemy boots are still moving and approaching this area of the network of should. ETA, forty minutes if they remain on this course.”

“That was excellent food, but then again, I can’t eat enough after losing so much weight. Time to send the men out again?” I said, as if curious, trying not to sound as if I were pushing him.

He sighed. “Aye, aye.” And stepped away from me to see to his duties. Moments later the ship’s small boats went out again to the entrance, each holding eight archers. That left only thirty two men to man the ship and it’s pelters. I strolled over close to one of the pelters, studying it.

There was slight resemblance to a catapult. The Cerule pelter had more resemblance to a massiveCompound bow. Parts of it were made of black bram wood, and parts made of white which had the flexibility. Both of these woods were combined with metal such as might be found in the selcut I wore at my hip. There were many pullies and parts but the main feature I found intriguing was the spring loader at one end that had to be cranked by a winch. A simple hammer like mallet released the tension and the coiled spring which smashed the arrow forward into a socket padded with the Bram seaweed as a gasket. The projectile was not a cannon ball, but more like a long hard metal phallic object, not unlike a missile. It was designed to both smash and penetrate.

The Par memories accepted all this as common place. The space faring Jake Saunders part of me wondered why there was no packed explosive. Mind answered the unasked question. “Cerulean weapons rarely use explosives. Two reasons. They are vulnerable to psionic pyrotechnic interference, and unstable in use due to the higher then Terran presence of Oxygen.  

“High explosives tend to go off unexpectedly on the user.” I murmured to myself. Luckily no one was near me to hear.

I had thought the lack of torches or lanterns meant we were being cautious against detection. Now as I looked around, I saw no lanterns to light. I wondered how people found one another in the night, but then a Par memory came to me of floating globes lit from within by glow sticks, sticks that were soaked in fluorescent algae from the sea.

Mind contributed, “Aural perceptibility is also used for nighttime orientation.”

For a moment I was stymied. Aural perceptibility? But then Par memories blossomed, and I remembered that there was something like actual magic on Cerule! There were people who with psychic abilities enhanced by Ellumian crystals, either on rings, or medallions’, or cane and staff tops, crystals that effected things such as local weather, empathic influence, even mind control. Other uses were healing, and martial arts enhancements.

I nearly had to sit down as the revelations washed over me. Of course! That was why I had been a candidate for this mission in the first place! I scored relatively high with kinesthetic latent abilities.

To me, all that meant was that I had been able to move air bubbles around in micro gravity, or maybe make a stylus roll across a flat surface with mind alone. But that was then, and this was now. Ellumian enhanced such abilities. What could I do, if given the time to work on it? I had to subdue my excitement, which was balanced by a sense of wariness. What might I do to myself? Or others?

Hmph, well the Ral had sent me here, so they must know what they were doing, right?

Well, I put that aside for now. Somewhere in Par’s memories, when he was very young, he had been tested by some priests or some such and had failed whatever those tests had been. But I suspected they had to do with checking him for any sign of extra sensory abilities or powers.

The signet ring I wore had no stone, no crystal, and somewhere I remembered that was significant.

Sudden intense whispering alerted me, and I looked up toward the entrance of the cove to see a faint luminescent glow moving up and down and then off.

“That’s the signal”, Lightenant Wil-kait said at my shoulder. The enemy is near.”

He was close beside me in the dark. I reached over and gave his shoulder a squeeze. Apparently, that was all he needed, because he was suddenly against me, his lips on mine, his tongue seeking entrance.

I kissed him back, unable to stop myself from passionately joining in the tongue play. We moaned softly and then broke. He was panting, one hand against my chest.

“Pardon… I … just needed to do that before…” he said in a soft whisper.

“Understand,” I growled back, well more of a purr. I was glad it was dark, my leggings were tented, projecting. I was hard as a rock. Typical Jake, I thought, mentally rolling my eyes. Danger always got me going. I reached for the sexy Lightenant but he had already stepped away. Good for him, I thought. He had more discipline than I did.

Orders went out in whispers, preparing the men. I could feel the tension rising. Out beyond in the direction of the entrance I heard the faint creaking of oars and soft water splashes of oar blades.

They were coming…