Chapter 129

A Change of Mooring

BarnacleEyes

Nearly all the sounds stopped. The sound of the sea. Of a thousand goblins. Of the racket of ships. All I heard were the waves crashing against the pilings of the dock, and the orcs running toward me. The mist was a soft hush.

I scrambled for one of the broken bottles of Mist Hidden attribute beer. The shattered bottom of one bottle held a bit of foaming beer. I put the lip of the broken glass to my lips and drank. Just in case I needed to pass through the Mist Hidden wall during my escape. Then I hopped onto my boat and pushed off from the dock. Moments after, I heard orcs splashing in the water, calling after me.

But I outpaced them. I paddled north along the coast in the thickest of the mist. I bumped into rocks and scraped against shallow areas a few times, but I managed to shove myself back out to sea and sail back to my cove.

The mist was so thick that I nearly missed the inlet. After arriving at my usual mooring, I leapt onto land and danced with joy. Clapped. Hollered. Spun on one toe.

“I did it!”

I really did it. Then I paused and put the tip of a finger to my chin.

“I hope I did it,” I whispered at last.

My only goal had been to lock out Abigail. For all I knew, I could have locked her inside the mist walls. That worried me.

“Some things are never finished when they’re finished,” I muttered.

I felt weak and naked without my boots, and I needed to check to see if the woman was inside Hawkin’s new base. And however much I desperately wanted to rest and take a moment to breathe, I couldn’t afford it. So I shook my legs out and ran as fast as I could back down the coast. I sprinted down the path I’d made over the past few months. Leapt over logs. Leap-frogged over boulders. Slid around switchbacks.

When I neared the coast, I saw the glowing base of the wall of mist. After an hour, I passed the dock, empty of orcs. I continued north for a couple of hours and searched the area. Even called out Abigail’s name. I knew the boundary was quite further out, but I thought if I didn’t find her right away, it was safe to say she was outside the base.

I came upon my boots later in the day and called for Abigail’s name there too. But this time, I kept my pliers in a tight grip behind my back. Just in case.

By evening, I was somewhat satisfied my insane plan had worked, so I returned to Hawkin’s cabin. There was no sign of a woman having been there and Hawkin and Thrush were still nowhere to be found.

I followed my nose to Thrush’s smoker, but the monster wasn’t there either. I peeked inside to see the fish, but burned my hand on the handle of the smoker door. In only a few moments, blisters formed on my palm and fingers. I could feel tears well in my eyes. I blew on the burns and cursed.

Nursing my hand, I looked in Hawkin’s cellar but he wasn’t there. Checked my shed too. Then I took the path down to the sea. That’s where I ran into both Hawkin and Thrush returning from the port.

“BarnacleEyes,” Hawkin said. “You did that? That was you? You finished the Mist Wall?”

“Of course,” I said. “Piece of jelly! You can always count on me!”

“You could’ve gotten yourself into some trouble.”

“Like you said,” I reminded him. “I’m free to get myself into trouble. Plus, I had to do it right away!”

Thrush listened as Hawkin and I discussed my actions for some time. I told them all about my encounter with the woman in the woods. Told them about the god. That they had spoken of Thrush and of killing him. Near the end of my rambling, I was near tears. I told him I saw a good opportunity and took it—though there might still be some confused orcs roaming about.

Throughout all that, Hawkin and Thrush exchanged looks. Thrush wasn’t surprised.

“I can smell her,” he said. “I recognize the smell. She followed me from Omes Arbor.”

“Anything to worry about?” Hawkin said.

Thrush gave an easy “no”.

Relief washed over me.

“What about the orcs?” I said.

“I took care of them,” Thrush said.

“Did you eat them?” I said.

“No. I guided them through the mist wall.”

“That’s when we discovered something rather interesting,” Hawkin said. “Thrush doesn’t need a key beer to pass through a Mist Hidden wall.”

“Wow,” I said. “But that means you miss out on beer!”

Thrush chuckled. “I’m not surprised I can pass through the wall,” he said. “Some things… don’t affect me. Never will.”

“Come on,” Hawin said. “Let’s return to the brewery and talk about how we’re going to handle deliveries from now on.”

On our return to the cabin, we deliberated a good while on how to organize deliveries. Hawkin had the best questions—”Who would transport the beer. Us or the goblins and orcs? Would we allow anyone through the Mist Hidden wall? Would we make deliveries straight from the dock?”

“BarnacleEyes and I can manage the deliveries,” Thrush offered. I nodded my affirmation as he continued. “I can use my inventory to transport all the beer. BarnacleEyes can use a key beer to meet the orcs and goblins out at sea and guide their ships to port. We’ll let them load the barrels directly from the port.”

They asked for my opinion, but I didn’t really care what made sense as long as it made sense. It felt nice for someone to ask what I thought, though. As long as I felt useful and had something to do, I was pretty happy about it.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I said at one point. “Does this mean I can dock at the port?”

Hawkin smiled. Said, “yes.”

As fast as my feet could carry me, I made for my cove. Then paddled out to sea and down the coast to the port. The sea was choppier there, and I was afraid the cordage I had wouldn’t be enough to keep my boat moored there.

Thrush had rope.

“One of the many things I’ve purchased while on the road,” he said.

With that rope, We were able to secure my boat.

I was ecstatic. Having my boat so much closer to home meant I could work on it a lot more everyday. I pictured my boat being higher. Longer. Big enough to have a deckhouse and a bunch of cabins.

“Imagine if I could live on my boat instead of the shed,” I joked.

“You’d have to build a bigger boat,” Hawkin said.

“Oh I was kidding,” I said.

“Would you be happier living on a boat?”

I thought about it. “I’d love to live on the sea,” I said.”

“Then why not?” Hawkin said. “I’d love to help you build a bigger boat. I’m sure Thrush would love to help as well. That way you can live where you want. Since we have a base now, you’ll be safe there.”

After Hawkin told me that, I was no longer joking. The only thing I wanted to do was exactly that. Build a bigger boat and live on it. I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind and wanted to start immediately.

“When can we start?” I said.

“Let’s fill our bellies with some freshly smoked fish,” Thrush said. “Then I’ve got a surprise for you, BarnacleEyes.”

“A surprise?” I said.

Thrush showed his teeth through a smile.