5. Insights
There was a battering at the cabin door. Jopish was sitting on his bed
thinking about what he had experienced during the past week on Greenrock
Isle. At this point, he was sailing home with the merchant ship he came
with in the first place.
"Who's there?", he said.
"It's me, Kaku. The captain sends me. There is something you need to see on
deck."
On deck, Jopish turned to the captain: "What is going on, captain. Home is
still far away."
"Kaku, give that man the binocular. Here Pathfinder. Take it and look ahead.",
answered the captain. Jopish took the binocular and as he was looking in
the direction the captain was pointing at, Jopish flinched. He could not
believe what he saw. Some would say that the object at the horizon was a
small oddly formed island. But for someone who did know it as Jopish, one
could already vaguely discern the sharp shape. It was the Wargrin. The
warship made for transporting thousands of men whose crew could raid a whole
island in one attack. The crew was led by warlord Baoht. Baoht, who said
that he would wait for Jopishs return.
"Captain, you'll get your payment a little bit earlier. I am changing the
ship.”
"Welcome home, Jopish!", said a loud euphoric voice as Jopish stepped out of
the elevator. Indeed, the wooden floor marked by countless encounters made
Jopish feel home. "Good to be back, Beth. We’ll talk later. The time is short
and I must report to the warlord. Where is he?", Jopish returned. “He is in
the war room, planning the attack.”, Beth answered. Jopish was perplexed:
“Attack?” “Yes, on Greenrock Isle. Baoht already gave the orders. Tomorrow we
will ram the harbor.”, explained Beth. Jopish managed to not show his
astonishment and replied: “Thank you for that information, we really have to
talk later.”
Jopish entered the war room. Standing in the door frame he saw Baoht at
the great round table taking notes on the world map. His warchief was
looking vital, radiating an aura of firmness making everyone unfamiliar to
him unable to estimate his actual age. Although Baoht seemed to be at his
physical peak, Jopish remembered the rumors about the warchief Baoht raiding
cities even before Jopish entered the Wargrins crew.
"Warchief, I'm back from the mission. Requesting to report."
"Come in Jopish! I was awaiting you impatiently."
Jopish stepped further into the room.
"Welcome back, son. Were you successful?"
"It was informative"
"You did not get the stone?"
"No, I couldn't. It was different as we expected."
Jopish told everything about the people, the king and the memories he inhaled
and the size of the Heart of the Night. Expecting to see an astonished face
Jopish got disappointed by Baoht seemingly being unimpressed. Not knowing on
how to respond to that he changed the subject.
"Why didn't you wait for my return? And why are you already on the ram
course?”
"I received new information, which lead to the conclusion that I can not
wait any longer for the attack."
"What is this information? And where did you get it from?"
"I can't tell you about them, yet."
"I have a right to hear about the happenings which concern my missions."
"You have the right to obey and accept my will. It is difficult to
understand the whole issue without misinterpreting my intention. You need
sleep. Everything will be revealed tomorrow. You can leave now."
"Tomorrow is the raid. Are you telling me that our men shouldn't know what
they are fighting against?"
"Are you questioning my authority? They know enough for now. Be patient
and leave now or I will make you leave!"
"My apologies Warchief Baoht."
As Jopish left the room his formal smiling was replaced by a serious frown,
something was different about his master. Baoht changed during the few weeks
he was on his mission.
Jopish tried to ignore his frustration and moved on to another task. His
mates must have been curious about the stories he would have to tell. As
he enters his own cabin, Beth and Cole were already waiting. It was also
their cabin because no one except the warchief had a whole room for himself.
Jopish could already read the curiosity flashing from their eyes.
In his youth, Beth Blackwater was a trained smith when he had his massive
shoulders and muscular body from. At least that is the story which he told
Jopish about himself.
Cole Bardson was a childhood friend of Jopish and the reason why he joined
the Wargrin crew.
Destined to become a bard because of his musical family he flew. Cole wanted
to become a fighter. Jopish Timin the son of an hunter and the seeress of
his hometown promised to protect and bring back Cole. Ironically, Jopish
fastly became one of the higher ranked officers due to his skills inherited
from both sides of his parents.
The three friends had a long chat. It went cheerful until they came to
Baohts behaviour. Beth had to look around and said quietly:
"Sometimes I think Baoht is crazy. On patrol and coming across his room.
He is talking but I don't know who he is talking to or if there is someone
in general. He also ordered the tinkers to build stuff. None of us warriors
know what they are building. Must be a new weapon. But we are not allowed
to go down to the construction areas in the lower floors."
Later on when most of the crew was sleeping, Jopish was still awake. He
could not sleep. All his thoughts were about what was going on down there
in the construction halls. As he sneaked out of the room and went to the
lower floors he was hearing working sounds. 'They are still working?',
Jopish was mumbling to himself.
As he entered the construction halls and saw what there was being built, he
was shocked. He remembers the parts from the memories. They were parts
from the nightbringer machine. But with modifications. It looked like they
wanted to fit the nightbringer plans to the architecture of the Wargrin.
Then Jopish came to a conclusion. They want to make the Wargrin into a
nightbringer device. “Where does Baoht have the knowledge from?”
:
