Mistakes...
The day dawned, and Nimbus had swollen eyes from crying for much of the night. Early in the morning, Lonios called him for breakfast; however, Nimbus didn't get out of bed, only rising a few minutes later. They had clean clothes similar to those worn by the castle guards, albeit without the helmet and armor. Certainly, there was no time to buy squire clothes for him.
After dressing and fastening the belt of his sword at his waist, he went for a walk in the courtyard. It was easy to mistake him for one of the guards. When he noticed, Lonios was by his side.
— We are departing later this afternoon, Nimbus. If you want, you can join us and say goodbye at the port. There won't be the usual crowd as in Aldair, so it will be easy for you to get close. We will also leave without alarming the people. After all, the departure of two ships is not something spectacular. Furthermore, I have been assigned to the older ship, and Sir Flavius, Portos, and Araniz to the new one.
— I don't want to see that!
Nimbus ran away and returned to the castle, leaving Lonios alone in the courtyard. The boy raced up the stairs and went straight to the room, where he lay on the bed, cried, and fell asleep again. In this sleep, he lost track of time.
When he woke up, it was almost night. He remembered that the journey would be very dangerous, and perhaps he would never see his master again. He would never forgive himself if he couldn't say goodbye. By now, the two were very close, and Nimbus was beginning to see the old man as a family member, a friend, maybe even as a father.
He went down the stairs and found no knights. So, he asked one of the servants where everyone was.
— Sir, they left a few hours ago. I think they're about to depart.
Nimbus was too worried to notice that it was the first time someone addressed him as "sir," as if he were someone important.
He just ran to the courtyard, spoke with one of the stable boys, and requested a horse to go to the port. The stable boy hurried into the stable and soon emerged with a saddled horse. On the way, he had been tightening the saddle on the animal until he finished the work just before approaching Nimbus with a "Here you go, sir."
Without a word, Nimbus mounted the horse and raced towards the gate. Even before he exited, the guards of the Fort recognized him and opened the gate.
Nimbus galloped towards the docks, where the departure was likely to take place, urging the horse to its maximum speed and catching sight of the ships.
The first was a familiar one, the Brand, the only ship that had returned from the previous expedition. The other one was about twice as wide and tall as the Brand, with an uncharacteristic shape, resembling more a quadruped lying on the ground, with its rear raised.
The front part was divided into three sections, a main part like a box, where the command cabin was visible, with a box-shaped "leg" on each side housing the steering turbines. The rear part, also box-shaped but much taller than the front, had an observation post at the top, with two massive turbines on each side.
The boy felt relieved; since they had not yet departed, Nimbus could say goodbye to his master. Upon reaching the docks, he dismounted the horse and tied it up in the port stable, where other animals from the castle were also kept. Then, he headed for the dock and began searching for Lonios.
The activity was bustling, with hundreds of people moving back and forth, carrying various items. It was a chaotic scene, and some individuals seemed lost, unsure of what to do, quite different from the organization in Aldair.
He circled the dock several times. Night was falling, and the departure time, according to Lonios, was before sunset. In other words, they were very late. However, in a dark corner of the dock, the boy heard some loud laughter. In the twilight, a group of men was drinking and enjoying themselves.
Since the search for Lonios had been a failure, Nimbus considered observing this group's conversation but decided to approach and observe quietly.
— Hey, kid, what are you doing there? Come here with us, don't be shy. Soldiers have to stick together, after all; we're embarking on a suicide mission, aren't we?
Perhaps they were confusing him with a soldier. Timidly, he approached and sat on a crate with the group. The smell of alcohol was noticeable, and many were slurring their words. They didn't mind Nimbus being dressed like a soldier without armor.
During this time, like a good group of drinkers, they began to boast, tell stories, offered him some of the beer they were drinking, and the boy accepted. Despite fearing a beating from Mrs. Zeliudes, he had secretly drunk before, and that beer managed to be even worse than the one he had had before.
But despite that, he drank. The camaraderie among the drunkards was contagious; everyone was happy. When one of them clumsily spilled half a glass of beer on him, laughter was the response. He was clearly cheerful but still conscious. Then the flamboyant stories fueled by alcohol began.
— They say that years ago, a traveler ventured through the ether alone in a ship. Rumors say he could tame the monsters of the ether. He would leap onto them, and on their backs, he would calm them down and send them back to the depths. After that, he would command them, and every danger that arose, he would call the creature, and the beast would fight for him.
This made Nimbus remember that Lonios had warned him to get used to women who grew larger and stronger in combat, warriors who could see the future, and men who tracked by drinking blood, or something like that. Now it didn't make much difference; his thoughts were too jumbled for him to remember exactly.
— I know this story, it's not just a few years, it's decades. I heard this story when I was a child, and it was already old — one of the soldiers disagreed.
— Not at all, this happened just a few years ago. It was on one of those clandestine ships that travel through the ether and docked here. I know a man who saw it with his own eyes — the other soldier retorted.
Nimbus was starting to get interested in the conversation; he liked the subject. He began telling some stories he had learned from the old sailor. It was the beer talking, not him, liquid courage.
Suddenly, a commander approached and caught the group by surprise; he was the tallest and strongest man Nimbus had ever seen. "Could he be related to that woman who tracked and grew strong, or something like that?"
— What are you doing standing around here?
Immediately everyone stood up and assumed the position of attention. The state of all was deplorable, dirty clothes from food and drink, disheveled uniforms, and the vast majority staggering, including Nimbus.
— Nothing, sir Boagrius — one of the soldiers replied.
— Nothing! — the officer shouted, incredulous — we have a lot to do, and we're late for departure. Help load the ship, grab those boxes there, and take them to the old ship now. — Immediately, the soldiers ran and stumbled, each grabbing one of the wooden boxes that were nearby. Nimbus still had a silly smile on his face, standing, sitting on a crate with his hands in his pockets, watching the soldiers being reprimanded.
— And what are you laughing at over there? — the officer asked when he saw Nimbus laughing at the soldiers.
— Nothing, sir, just waiting — the boy stood up and unsuccessfully tried to stand stiff as if at attention, the world seemed to be spinning around him.
— Shameful, you're so drunk you can't even move properly. Where's your armor, soldier? — Now Nimbus was understanding; the officer had also mistaken him for a soldier, probably because of the clothes he was wearing.
— Answer, soldier, I don't have all day.
— I don't know, sir, I think I lost it in the rush — he spoke with a slurred tongue; perhaps a lie would keep him out of trouble with this officer.
— Every year they send me younger and more incompetent soldiers! — The officer grabbed Nimbus by the scruff and dragged him along the dock. — Look at you, you look like a kid; if I saw you on the street, I'd think you were a baby just out of diapers.
Come on, a little work will sober you up. — The officer pushed Nimbus to the dock's arsenal, grabbed a leather armor and a metal helmet, and threw them on the boy's chest — Here's your gear, and don't lose it again. What are you waiting for? Put it on!
To avoid more trouble, Nimbus began to put on the armor; he had never done this before, and the "joyful" effect of the beer forced him to laugh at each unsuccessful attempt.
— Cursed be, come here.
The officer helped Nimbus dress, then impatiently pointed to the pile of boxes nearby. — Hurry to the ship and take one of these boxes, so we don't waste any time. — When Nimbus put the heavy box on his shoulder, he felt a strong blow. — Faster, soldier, no more slacking off.
At that moment, he had an idea: perhaps he could pass himself off as a soldier and get on the ship, maybe even continue the journey. It was a brilliant idea, but he remembered that Sir Lonios would surely find out and make the ship turn back to bring him back. However, if it were discovered that he wasn't a soldier after a few days of the journey, it would be impossible for the ship to turn back.
Nimbus started to climb the entrance ramp of the Brand and noticed that the knights were inspecting the entrance. At the door, Sir Adon on one side, Sir Lonios and Sir Elisis on the other side were noting everything loaded onto the ship. Quickly, Nimbus shifted the box from one shoulder to the other and positioned it to hide his head on the side where Sir Lonios was. On Sir Adon's side, he pulled the helmet down over his eyes, almost obscuring his vision, and went on. His heart pounded as he passed the knights, then Sir Lonios spoke.
— One more box of dried plums, that makes eight, seven more to go.
— Noted, seven boxes to go! — Elisis said.
Finally, Nimbus passed through. He walked through the ship following the other loaders, noticing that everything inside was very simple. The walls were entirely made of metal, and along the corridor, at regular intervals, there were several doors—some closed, others open—all made of metal but with rubber edges.
After walking through this entire corridor, Nimbus descended a level and arrived at an area that seemed like a common area. In the center was a large hall with several tables, a few larger rooms, and several larger bedrooms. The boy looked into one of them and saw several metal bunk beds.
He walked a little more, following the other loaders. There were a few more flights of stairs to go down, but they were ignored. In the middle of this corridor, they entered what seemed to be a massive kitchen. Inside, there was a flight of stairs, and they descended. Down there, it seemed to be the pantry—several rooms with doors filled with supplies, each with a different type of food or item. But these rooms were smaller than the ones on the upper floor. The central part was more extensive, with at least twenty meters in width and almost the total length of the ship. There were various stacks of boxes, reaching up to the ceiling and tied to the floor with ropes.
He carried his box to the pile that was being finalized, and after everyone stacked everything, he stayed behind and hid among the ready stacks. There, he lay down, waiting for his hangover to pass, and eventually fell asleep.
When he woke up, he realized what he had done—disrespected his master's orders and lied about his identity. In other words, he had broken almost all the codes of the knights, and the worst part was that he would be in deep trouble when Lonios found out. The old man would skin him alive, make him train until his arms nearly fell off, and then make him train even more.
But then he realized the gravity of what he had truly done. Mrs. Zeliudes, his mother, was alone in Cenferum. He hoped to see her at least once a month, as Lonios had promised. And now, he had abandoned her. Who would get her medicines when rationing got tight? If he were there, he could at least talk to Sir Ahbran for help, and now everything was lost.
Even worse, if he went up on deck, Lonios would make the whole expedition turn back to the continent, further delaying the journey. And so, he lay down again and slept, his head throbbing from the hangover of the previous day.
And so the days passed, with Nimbus hiding in the ship's pantry. The task was not difficult for the boy; the cooks only grabbed the boxes near the door, and the hold was enormous, making it easy for him to stay hidden. He ate very well—meat and dried fruits were abundant. He stayed there for weeks until the inventory count finally came.
⸸ ⸸ ⸸