Chapter 48

Five Life-changing Days

BarnacleEyes

“Another successful delivery,” I said.

“Listen BarnacleWise,” GloomGlower said without looking up.

“BarnacleEyes,” I said.

“Sure. Listen.”

The deckhouse door opened at that moment and smacked me from behind.

“MeatFist!” GloomGlower said, suddenly sporting a grin.

“Woops! Did I get you there?” MeatFist said, clomping in with brand new leather boots.

“Have a seat, MeatFist,” GloomGlower said. “StubToes will fetch us some beer and grounds.”

I cleared my throat. GloomGlower saw me as though for the first time.

“BarnacleMice? What are you doing here?”

“You told me to listen,” I said.

“Oh. Oh yea! Listen. You’ll be delivering your last shipment next week. MeatFist will be taking over after that.”

My heart was made of rock. It fell to my stomach and my knees nearly buckled. I’m sure I would have crumpled in despair, were it not for my now sturdy boots.

“But-but-but,” I began.

“That’s the problem,” GloomGlower said. “But-but-but. Always but-but-but with you. You talk too much.”

MeatFist and GloomGlower laughed. They laughed.

“But,” I began once more. That extra ‘but’ was a mistake because both goblins groaned and threw their hands up.

“If you don’t get it now, then you won’t ever get it,” GloomGlower said.

“Or tomorrow,” MeatFist said.

“You won’t get it tomorrow,” GloomGlower agreed with a single nod.

I gathered courage into a ball of bravery. I lifted my heart up like a ball and chain.

“I know the way through the tunnel to the Thrush monster’s cabin.”

“We don’t need you,” GloomGlower said. “We can do it without you.”

“Yea,” MeatFist said. “It’s my turn to be at the top.”

“You’re dismissed, BarnacleLice. You’ll escort your last shipment at the end of the week. After that, you can go pick a ship and a captain to work under—but not mine. Now Scram.”

∞

“Yes. A human,” SlimeTooth said. “I know. I met the Hawkman.”

“He fixed my boots,” I said.

I leapt up onto one of SlimeTooths black barrels. I was lucky to have to deliver half the beers to him because he had some warm-spit beer he was willing to share with me. I drank my fill. The beer turned my heart into an ember.

Even fortified, I felt sad.

“That’s a mighty kind thing if it came from kindness,” SlimeTooth said, testing ptooey batches one at a time.

“Seemed nice to me.”

“Things seem what they seem when they seem that way.”

I gazed at my boots in the bright lantern light that hung from a banister. Slimetooth cast a wicked shadow as he stood straight and regarded me.

“What’s bothering you, BarnacleEyes? You’re not yourself.”

“I got demoted,” I said. “I’ll be escorting the last shipment of beer at the end of the week. Then I’m back to working under a captain.”

“Oh, no,” SlimeTooth said. “I feel terrible about that.”

“Me too. But at least I still have my promotion boots.”

“That’s why I believe you’ll make it to the top again.”

SlimeTooth resumed testing the barrels of ptooey. He went at them one by one, slurping one slimy finger at a time. He rolled a couple of barrels to an opposite corner of the cargo hold, and rearranged some other barrels. I tried my best not to speak. My very best.

“SlimeTooth,” I said.

“Mnh?”

“Do I talk too much?”

SlimeTooth’s yellowed eyes shone in half light.

“Who told you that you talk too much? Who was it? I’ll strangle them!”

“...gloomglower,” my sadness whispered.

“Uh… …well I won’t be strangling that one—however, he shouldn’t have said that. It was mean and he was probably mis-speaking. I’ll tell you what, BarnacleEyes. You’re like a daughter to me. You just keep speaking your mind. Every speaking goblin has the right to speak. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”

There was a pain in my chest. My heart was a tangled knot of raw hurt. I dropped off the barrel and left SlimeTooth’s cargo hold. I just wanted to go to bed with my boots beneath my pillow.

“Barnacle Eyes,” SlimeTooth called. “BarnacleEyes!”

The hallway was blurrier than I remembered it being. My cheeks were wet, but it neither rained or snowed when I climbed up on deck.

“BarnacleEyes!”

For the first time in my life. I felt so outcast by my own family. By a king that I’d looked up to since I was a little snot.

∞

I knocked on the cabin door. Thrush opened the door and smiled horrifyingly.

“BarnacleEyes,” he said. “Right on time. Won’t you come in?”

I entered.

“BarnacleEyes!” Hawkin said. “Good to see you! How are the boots holding up?”

I nodded.

“I’m glad to see that. Would you like some onion soup? Some beer?”

I nodded.

Thrush put a barrel out for me to sit on. He placed a folded wool blanket upon the barrel to give me some height. Hawkin filled a bowl with stinky soup, and a mug with a fair beer. They tried to talk to me, but I avoided answering by filling my mouth with drink or with food. They eventually left me alone.

“We’re probably pestering you with questions,” Hawkin said.

“I think she’s just quiet tonight,” Thrush said.

Thrush looked at me like he knew I didn’t want to open my mouth and risk talking too much.

“Anyways, Thrush,” Hawkin said. “Do you really think there’s more metal at the shipwreck? We’ll need twice as much as you just returned with.”

“I’m going to barter with the goblins and see what metal I can get my paws on.”

“When are you leaving?”

“Right after I grab a few more of your beers.”

Hawkin and Thrush conversed some more before Thrush gathered his belongings and left. I watched him close the door behind him as I finished my last gulp of soup. I went for the beer and found it would be my last sip as well.

“All done?” Hawkin said.

I nodded.

“Did you like it?”

I nodded.

“Oh shoot,” Hawkin said. “I should have asked Thrush for help with the barrels.”

I tapped my fingers on the table. I wanted to say “thank you”.

“Would you mind helping me with the barrels?” Hawkin said. “They’re not that heavy—there’s just a lot of them. You don’t need to lift them, just roll them up the ramp and out the door. I’ll load them onto the carts myself.”

I shrugged. I wanted to say “sure!”.

Hawkin led us with a goblin candle into the cellar. There were a ton more barrels than what SlimeTooth kept in his cargo hold. One by one, we rolled them up the ramp, out the door and across the clearing to the carts.

We were both sweating by the time we were done. My breathing was labored and I watched Hawkin load up the barrels onto each cart. He was strong for a human. Any goblin could appreciate a strong snot. After loading the last barrel, Hawkin shook my hand.

“It’s a pleasure doing business with you,” he said. “I appreciate your help with the barrels. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

I wanted to say something back. Instead I kept my mouth shut and turned away. I was confused. GloomGlower said ‘We don’t need you. We can do things without you,’ and Hawkin just said, ‘I don’t know what I would have done without you.’”

Someone was lying to me.

I climbed onto the last cart that we pushed back through the tunnel of snow. I scowled at the human who smiled and waved goodbye.

∞

I couldn’t believe what StinkLip was telling me. My heart was in two. I barely registered a sudden gale that swooped over us at the helm of our ship where I’d taken the goblin to talk to in a somewhat private place.

“I’m sorry,” StinkLip said with a wild shrug. “It’s the way of things.”

“You’re lying to me,” I said. “How does he get a ship before me?”

“MeatFist apparently had a talk with GloomGlower. That’s what he told me, at least.”

“This is unbelievable. I was promoted before MeatFist. Why does he get his own ship so soon? I thought that GloomGlower’s right hand goblin gets the next ship?”

“What can I say?”

“I can’t believe it,” I said. “I worked so hard! What are we going to do?”

“What are YOU going to do,” StinkLip said. “MeatFist recruited me on his ship.”

“You-you’re leaving?” I said.

“It’s the way of things.”

I couldn’t very well ask my only friend to turn down the opportunity at a promotion, just to stay with me on the ship we were reared on together. My life was falling apart. I was losing everything. I felt like I was bailing a ship with too many holes. My heart was sinking.

“Look on the bright side,” StinkLip said. “You get to choose whichever ship you want to work on. You’re friends with SlimeTooth. Maybe you can work with him?”

“Yea,” I said. “Maybe.”

“Aww, cheer up BarnacleEyes. You’ll get another shot at another promotion soon enough.”

“StinkLip!” Meatfist said, as he came up on the deckhouse through the hatch. “StinkLip!”

“I’d better be going,” StinkLip said.

MeatFist was faster at arriving then StinkLip was at leaving.

“Sheesh,” MeatFist said. “No wonder you’ve been missing. BarnacleMouth has been talking non stop, and I bet you’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to walk away.”

StinkLip looked at his toes. I couldn’t blame him for deferring to his new captain. It was the way of things.

“Why do you talk all the time,” MeatFist said.

“I don’t-”

“Here we go again,” he said. “Come on StinkLip. Help me bail out my new ship. Let’s get some goblins under our sails!”

MeatFist walked away. My friend trailed behind him. Neither looked back.

∞

“You’re being awfully quiet again,” SlimeTooth said.

I shrugged.

“Still not talking?”

“I’m talking.”

“You say you are, but I’m a good listener and there’s nothing to listen to when you've been around lately.”

SlimeTooth didn’t usually mind that I was quiet. I knew what he was doing. Trying to coax me into speaking. I didn't want to. Instead, I just watched him experiment with a new beer that involved a tin of coffee. He spoke mostly to himself, and that was enough for me.

I heaved a forlorn sigh.

“You know,” SlimeTooth said. “The same thing happened to me when I was doing errands for GoneHand on another fleet. Ever heard of GoneHand?.”

“You knew GoneHand?”

“There you are, BarnacleEyes. Nice to have you around again.”

SlimeTooth sampled some of the beer he was working on and moved between containers that were foaming over. He muttered to himself for a moment. He stared at his supplies and tapped his foot. Then he turned back to me.

“Anyways,” he said. “I was promised a ship. An Orc ship if you can believe it.”

“An Orc ship?” I said, unable to help from reacting to an already wild tale.

“I was young. Naive. I did what GoneHand wanted me to do, and he simply forgot I ever existed after that. I pressed him for my reward and he threatened to throw me to the sharks while I bled from my ears. He accused me of extortion. ”

I sighed once more.

“I was faced with a dilemma,” Slimetooth continued. “Either I could continue to be bullied by GoneHand, since I worked on his ship, or I could defect onto another goblin fleet. I defected. I stole a barrel of beer from GoneHand and told GloomGlower that I could make spit beer. It was all a lie, but that lie got me this far, and I learned to brew spit beer along the way. Became quite good at it.”

I nodded.

“The point, BarnacleEyes, is that you have options.”

“We’re frozen in ice,” I said. “There isn’t another goblin fleet around for thousands of knots.”

“Ok. Listen, and listen well. I’ll just leave you with one more thought. You don’t have to stay with the goblins if you’re not getting what you deserve—what you worked so hard for. Don’t let anyone push you around.”

“Where would I go? I don’t understand.”

“Not with the goblins,” SlimeTooth said.

“Then with who?”

“Use your snot filled noggin,” SlimeTooth said. He knocked on my head.

“I’m thinking as fast as I can,” I said. “I don’t understand. I’m hurt. I feel like my heart is about to rot away.”

“Hmm,” SlimeTooth said. “Maybe it’s not your brain you’ve got to listen to. Maybe it’s your heart.”

“My heart?”

“Your heart, BarnacleEyes. Your heart.”