I
"Wake up," Jakob ordered, kicking the bed. Morning had come and gone, and the time for work had already begun.
"You're lucky nobody came in early today."
Matthew rolled off the raised cot he called a bed and groggily nodded at his brother, "It's the start of the week, ships never come in early today."
"Fortunately to your benefit," Jakob added, "For as little as you care about The Savior, you sure do benefit from his death."
"Yes, some prophet dying thousands of years ago in a place far away lets me sleep in later one day a week."
"One day a week?"
A smirk appeared on Matthew's face after sliding his shirt over his head. It was true that it was often more than one day a week when he was late to wake.
"I assume since you woke me that someone's coming into dock?"
"Looks just like a few fishermen coming in with the tide."
"Well, I better get down there than, huh?"
"If you'd like to get paid this week, I'd say so," Jakob scorned.
The brief coolness of an Aurelian late summer morning was fleeting, and the heat was replacing it. It didn't take long to walk to the dock, and by the time he had arrived, sweat was already starting to soak into his shirt. His brother had been right. Three small skiffs were slowly sailing in from the open sea.
"Hurry up, Hurt, you're already late, boy," Stephen Gerrad derided. He was the foreman over all the dock workers. All five of them, that is.
Matthew increased his pace slightly and made his way to his usual bay. There were only eight, and no more than half of them were ever used. Especially not at the time of the year when trade on the Stormborne was hardly worth whatever reward was earned.
"You and Katherine went into the woods last night, I see," Matthew's friend, Sparky, jibed. The boy was the same age as Matthew, yet had lived a life twice as long as his own. He had been born into slavery in Norvege and at the age of ten he had managed to swim across the sea to escape. Unlike most residents of their home, Sparky was not Aurelian, and his parents had been stolen from another region up north. The boy's name was also lost to him once he and his parents had been separated. When he arrived in the small town of Ramschek, 'Sparky' was all he'd ever been called.
Matthew shook his head, "No, I convinced her to climb the silo. Wasn't fast going up, but took nearly three times as long going down."
Sparky laughed, "Never took Katherine as much of a climber."
"For good reason," Matthew joked back, "Had to use rope for her."
"I'd wager she loved the view, though?"
"Oh yes, as did I," Matthew recalled, "There are little things in this world better than that."
After a few more minutes, the first skiff reached port, and the two boys tied it off and helped the men on board unload.
"How was the catch today?" Sparky asked.
"Little of it, sadly," an older man responded, "I'm just happy to come back in one piece."
"Ay, not all can say the same," his partner added.
"The sea's getting too rough for your age?" Matthew joked. He had recognized these two men. While they did not live in this town, they often would dock here to save a coin or two.
"Watch your tongue, boy," the first man said, "I'll ride the sea until the day it decides I won't be coming home."
"Of course, sir. I wouldn't believe otherwise."
"So, if it's not the sea giving you worries, then what is it?" Sparky asked.
The two fishermen exchanged looks. It was clear they were hesitant to divulge any information. At least without a price that is.
"I'll cover your first round at the Sea's Breeze," Matthew suggested. This was enough to put the men off their guard. The older of the two even cracked a smile at the thought of free ale.
"Pirates have been capturing every kind of ship and killing their crew on the Stormborne all summer."
"Why would pirates be attacking fishing skiffs. What is there to take?" Sparky asked.
"Not my question to answer."
"No, it's the King's responsibility," the younger of the two men sneered, "That is if he had an actual king."
"I'm sure the king has more important things than pirates this far east," Sparky said.
"Or you can deal with them yourself," Matthew suggested, "There are a lot of Aurelians who travel on the Stormborne. I'm sure if you all came together, something might happen."
The younger man scoffed, "Ay, that something would be the death of all of us. These pirates are different; only a few have survived them."
As silence fell over the group with the boys finishing up their work, Matthew quickly put the thoughts of the pirates behind him. Fishermen were a gallery of information, and half the time, it was all more than exaggerated.
He tossed the two a coin each as they said their farewells. It would do him no good to go back on a deal. Many of the men who worked on the docks had built up reputations as keepers of information, often the secret variety, and Matthew was starting to build his own.
"It's no wonder you are always low on money," Sparky said, "You're late for your work and are free with your coin."
"The only thing a heavy purse does is slow you down."
Several more ships came into the harbor over the next few hours, and they brought little excitement with them. Most of them were skiffs similar to what the day had started with. That meant lots of blabbing men who wanted nothing more than to be lent some money in exchange for a story. However, Matthew heeded his friend's advice and kept on with what little he had left.
Finally, once the sun began to set and it seemed that the majority of ships had returned, Stephen called the day. It had been a light day, and Matthew was glad for it. What he had neglected to tell Sparky about the night prior was that while helping Katherine climb down from the silo, he had managed to slam his ankle against the wall. It was nothing major, but moving on his feet all day did not make it feel better.
"What's your plan for the rest of the day?"
"I think I'm going to work on the cabin," Matthew answered as they made their way up the dock. He and his brother had begun to repair an old lumber mill in the woods surrounding the town. Both of them being orphans, they had been given an abandoned house that barely fit the two of them and was nearly in a less-than-livable state.
Sparky nodded, "I'm going to stay in today. Got a bad splinter while tying up a skiff today.
He pulled out his hand to show Matthew, but the boy's attention had already shifted. While they had been passing Stephen, a conversation had perked his ear. Matthew knelt about five feet away to fiddle with his pant leg.
"Corby and Hal didn't make it back in today," he had heard a solo fisherman tell the foreman.
"They said they were docking here and not in Montenschek?" The fisherman nodded. A sullen look had come over Stephen's face.
"I'll send our courier with a report tomorrow."
"Don't know how much good that'll do," the man said, "Been happening all summer and nothing's come from the west."
"Well, we all know why that is," Stephen bit, "I worry for the governor, though. They're sailing in more than a skiff and would make a fat target for these damned pirates."
"He has my prayers."
"They have mine as well," Stephen said before turning to head in from the dock with the man.
Matthew rose after they were well on their way back, "You hear that?
"Mhm. Maybe that old man isn't so crazy after all."
"Well, he's gonna have me avoiding the seas for a while at least," Matthew said, "It's no threat to me as long as they stay in the water and I stay on land."
"Agreed"
It was well into the night by the time that Matthew reached the lumber cabin. He had taken his time to eat some food and gather supplies before heading into the woods. By the time he got there, though, his ankle was so sore that there was hardly any work he could do.
Instead, he decided to sleep the night there and leave the supplies for another day. He enjoyed being able to spend the night in the woods. Over the years, they had become a place of comfort for him as both his brother and friend, Katherine, had spent days marking paths and exploring the inner workings of the forest.
No effort was needed to drift asleep with the swaying of branches and the sounds of nature being all Matthew needed.