Chapter 34 - The Ferryman

Lydia and Oddy walked along behind the dune for some way, to avoid giving away where the others might be. They clambered up the sand and made their way towards the water's edge. The cloaked figure had tied the boat up at the far end of the landing stage. Its red ochre sails were furled and lashed. As they reached the wooden pier, they could see the boat was open, having no deck. There was a sort of tent arranged for shelter in the centre of the boat, below the boom of the mainsail. In the bows and the stern, there were wooden benches. A tall figure emerged, crouching, from the shelter. It stopped and stood up straight, then fell still, as if prepared for a lengthy wait.

Lydia and Oddy looked at each other, then approached the boat. The figure, the ferryman they presumed, had the hood of its dark cloak raised and pulled well forward. It stood motionless, facing the bow of the boat, side on to the approaching couple.

As they walked the length of the creaking stage, the ferryman did not move. At the end of the stage, they were close enough to get an accurate impression of the creature's height. Although its feet were on a lower level than theirs, it towered over them. It was hard to tell with the billowing of his cloak in the light breeze, but he impressed them as being skeletally thin.

"Hello?" Lydia ventured, unsure what language the boatman might use.

"Hail to you both," the creature said.

The reply astonished Lydia and Oddy. While the figure's voice was deep in pitch, it was mild and musical.

"We are friends," Oddy tried.

"I am glad that you are at ease with one another," the man answered, sounding confused.

He had not moved, even to look at them. Oddy tried again.

"I meant we mean you no harm," he said. "We are prepared to be friendly towards you."

"That is wise of you," the ferryman assured him. "I have nothing to fear from you, powerful though one of you might be. If we are to be friendly, then you will have nothing to fear from me. I believe you wish to cross the sea."

"Yes," Lydia admitted. "Yes, please. Can you take us?"

"I can. It may not seem so, but once all ten of you are aboard, you should be comfortable."

"There are only nine of us now," Lydia corrected him.

"Would your cat say there was only one wishing to travel?" the ferryman asked. "An old friend of mine taught me you should disregard no one simply for being a cat at this moment."

"Huh," Lydia scoffed. "I'm pretty sure Xander would say there was only one wishing to travel."

"What would you want from us as payment for crossing the sea with you?" Oddy asked.

"Ah. What do you have that is of any real value?" the ferryman asked in return.

They looked at each other again.

"Honestly?" Lydia said. "Each other."

Oddy gasped.

The boatman chuckled. "The best answer of all, young witch. You are wise. Your friend suspects that I mean to trick you, that I might claim one of your friends as payment. I will not."

"Good," said Lydia. "We wouldn't give you any of them."

"The cat, perhaps?" the ferryman suggested.

"We would rather walk," Lydia decreed.

The boatman flipped back his hood and laughed. It was a hearty laugh. His face was slender and lined, though by exposure to the weather rather than by age. He seemed smaller now. His eyes were on a level with theirs, though his feet were still lower, being in the boat.

"What sort of payment can we give you?" Lydia asked.

"I need no payment," he replied.

"How do you survive?" Oddy asked. "Why do you ferry people if you take no fee?"

The ferryman furrowed his brow. "I exist as a ferryman. It is my nature, not something to be traded for trinkets. The sea and the land provide me with their bounty for sustenance. What better way is there to be?"

They shrugged.

"My name is Lydia," Lydia introduced herself.

"You may call me Aron," the ferryman smiled.

He held up a hand, palm facing them, in greeting. It had six long fingers.

"I'm called Odysseus," Oddy added.

The ferryman tilted his head and peered at him.

"Ah, you're back. You took your time," he said, then explained, "I am making an old wayfarer's jest."

Oddy grinned. "Yes, I hoped you were."

"Shall I call for the others?" Lydia asked Aron.

"You will find that your cat has already issued the invitation, I think."

They followed the ferryman's gaze and looked behind them. The students were approaching across the beach, Xander in the lead.

"How do we come aboard?" Lydia asked. "There's no gangway."

"You are magical," Aron said. "I am sure you have your ways."

"We are trying not to use magic," Lydia disclosed. "In case it attracts unwanted attention."

Aron nodded. "I see the wisdom in that. I believe it may be in your best interests."

Lydia sighed. "Thanks. Nice to know I'm not being paranoid."

"I only believe," the ferryman pointed out. "I do not know."

Lydia and Oddy shared a look and frowned.

"I am a ferryman," Aron went on. "That is my nature. I carry people from one side of the sea to the other. No help is offered beyond that. I can offer no other help. If the Watcher himself needed me to carry him, I would do so. I would not tell him of your people, nor will I tell you of his. You may trust me to carry you as passengers. Trust me no further than that. It is the way it has to be."

"Thank you," Lydia said. "That I can understand. We're still your friends, if you'll allow us to be."

Aron smiled.

"Do you have a gangway or something to help us get aboard?" Oddy asked.

"You mean something like that, Odysseus?" the boatman asked, pointing to a wooden gangway with a low handrail which they were sure had not been between the boat and landing stage a moment earlier.

"Yes. Something like that would be helpful," Oddy chuckled.

"I shall see what I can do," Aron said.

They heard the tramping of feet on the boards of the landing stage. Lydia turned to them as Oddy tested the gangway.

"This is Aron," she told them. "He's the ferryman. He's going to take us across the sea. Aron, these are…"

"Sophie, Freddie, Shona, Christie, Jimmy, Corben, Dev and Xander," Aron said. "I am a ferryman. It is in my interests to know my passengers. One might say it is my nature."

"Hi, Aron," said some of them. Others waved.

"If you would board, please," said Aron. "It is traditional for passengers to be on the boat when it sails, if they wish to go where the boat is going."

The sky was clear, and the day was growing warmer. Aron advised that the tented area would be cooler. Christie and Shona wanted to sit in the bows for a while, but the rest took cover under the awning. Aron sat in the stern, holding the long wooden handle of the tiller. The sails raised and set themselves at a nod from the ferryman. The ropes tied to the landing stage leaped aboard and wound into neat coils. Without drama, the boat pulled away from the stage and Aron steered it out to sea.

A while later, Freddie went to sit with the ferryman.

"Hi, Aron!" he said. "I'm Freddie. I've never been on a boat like this before."

"Hail and well-met, Fredlington," Aron smiled. "I have."

"Have?"

"Been in a boat like this before."

Freddie laughed. "Well, that's good! I was hoping you had. Is it a long way to where we're going?"

"Distance depends on many things, young Fredlington," Aron warned. "If you measure it in the lengths of furrows, you arrive at an answer a farmer may understand. If you measure it in the passage of the sun, a guard may prefer that answer."

"O… K," Freddie replied.

"And if you measure it in hardship," Aron continued. "Then our journey may be longer than is usual."

"Why? What hardships?"

Aron raised an arm and pointed forward. Freddie turned to look. Above the horizon, a line of dark clouds towered like a distant mountain range. The line stretched across his view as far as he could see.

"Should we turn back?" Freddie asked. "Wait for it to pass?"

Aron gave him a puzzled smile. "You cannot travel forwards by turning back, Fredlington. And we both know this storm will not pass until it has fulfilled its intent. Its sire is prepared to wait indefinitely for you. That is in his interests. Turn back and you give him his desire."

"By 'him' you mean the Grey Watcher," Freddie surmised.

"He has many names," Aron said. "As do we all."

Freddie sat on his hands. He could feel the grain of the weathered wooden bench. He looked at Aron. The ferryman was surveying the horizon once more. He watched and made fine adjustments to the tiller. Freddie gazed ahead to the storm clouds. They were still there: no closer, but inevitable.

"Are we going to make it through, Aron?" he pleaded.

"I am a ferryman, Fredlington," Aron reminded him. "We have resolved to be friends, and I have told you of the bounds of that friendship. I am a ferryman. That is my nature. Friends or not, I will do everything I may to ensure my passengers reach their destination. I can do no more, but I will do no less. There is one thing I can tell you, which I hope will bring you comfort. I have never died doing this — not yet, at least."

Freddie shrugged and smiled. "Can't say fairer than that!"

Aron continued to steer. They sat in silence for a while and watched the horizon. It was unmoving, clouds and all.

"How long will it be before the storm reaches us?" Freddie asked the ferryman.

Aron turned his head to look at the young man. "First, you ask me about distance, which is complex enough. Now you quiz me about time, which is beyond the grasp of the wise. Time is a consequence of consequences; caused by causality. Every tiny cause has an effect, every tiny effect has its cause. Time emerges from the flow of these interlinked causes and effects. How fast that flow seems depends on the weight you give to the consequences. It depends upon the degree to which you care. Do you eat because it is a certain hour of the day, or because the tasks at which you have toiled have caused you hunger? Each of us approaches everything differently. How can my time be yours? The storm will reach us. We will see its approach, we will prepare as well as we do, and we will succeed as much as we do not fail. Consequences, Fredlington."

"So…?" Freddie asked.

"It will seem long because you care," Aron said. "But it will feel short because you fear for your friends. You care. You know this."

"It was a stupid question?"

"It is said there are no stupid questions, no stupid answers, only stupid people." Aron went on. "But neither of us is stupid. I will say that it will be dark when the storm hits."

"Is that because it'll be nighttime or because the storm will make it dark?" Freddie persisted.

"Yes," Aron smiled. "Now you understand."

Freddie blew out his breath like he was deflating.

"Should I tell the others a storm is coming?" he asked.

"You are one of their number, Master Fredlington. I am a ferryman. Consequences."

Freddie sat a little longer. It was still sunny, though the breeze was cooler than before.

"I'm going to tell them," he told the ferryman. "They'll make their own consequences."

"And so time flows on," Aron said as Freddie stood.

Freddie turned and smiled for a moment. Then he went into the shelter and sat next to Lydia.

"Aron says a storm is coming," he told her.

"I know," she replied.

"Not sure when, though."

"It'll get here when it gets here." Lydia said. "We'll know when it's close."

"Shall I ask Aron how long we have?" Oddy suggested.

Lydia looked at Freddie and smiled. "What do you think, Fredster?"

"Silly me," he shrugged. "Forgot to ask!"

Oddy sighed and left towards the stern.

"You were listening, weren't you?" Freddie asked Lydia.

She smiled.

"You're so bad!" he told her. "I don't know why we all love you so much."

"Get your wet weather gear on, and hurry!" Lydia called. "We need to get this tent down before the wind gets any stronger."

Oddy shone a couple of torches to help them change in the gathering gloom. The boat was bucking and rolling. Waves slapped against the bows.

With all of them trying to dress at once, it was chaos. Lydia threw the boys out into the open air while the girls dressed for the weather. Freddie complained bitterly that he was getting wet from the spray. Then the storm distracted him and he was too busy hugging Xander to go in and change with the other boys. They took down the shelter as Freddie was still pulling on his waterproof jacket.

They sat on the 'thwarts' — boards which ran across the boat and provided seating — and huddled together in twos and threes. Those at the edge of the boat hung on as it rolled and tossed. Freddie and Xander went to sit near Aron. Apart from having pulled his hood up, Aron looked the same as before, a calm constant amid the tempest.

"How come the sails are only half the size they were, Aron?" Freddie inquired. "Wouldn't we be better going as fast as we can to get through the storm as quickly as possible?"

"We are already going as fast as we can," the ferryman informed him. "If I raised the sails any further, they would catch so much of the wind that its force would turn us over. Drowning is a poor way to escape a storm."

"Just let the man get on with the sailing, Freddie," Xander advised. "I suspect he has more experience than you."

"The cat is as wise as he is handsome," Aron noted.

"Thank you," Xander replied. "It is kind of you to be so complimentary — and observant."

"It is kind of you to take my words as a compliment," Aron observed.

Lydia clambered towards the stern and sat opposite Freddie. Xander strutted forwards to see whose turn it was to cuddle him. Sophie was good for his bruised ego.

"Aron, how best can the rest of us help?" Lydia asked. "Without using magic, that is."

"My dear lady," he answered. "The best thing would be for you all to remain in the boat. There are cleats and eyelets which you may use to rig lifelines. It may help to tie yourselves into your seats. Just take care to ensure you can release your bonds in case we capsize."

"Is that likely?" Lydia asked in alarm.

"We are at sea in a small boat sailing through a storm," Aron pointed out. "Many things are possible, most of them unwelcome. I have never, to the best of my knowledge, died under such circumstances. There is an unprecedented vehemence to this storm, however. Perhaps you have enemies in far-off places."

"Well, that's no huge surprise," Freddie remarked.

"Aron," Lydia said. "I mean this as no slight on your skill as a ferryman."

"I am aware I have limits," he assured her.

Lydia smiled. "OK. So, if there comes a time when you think we need to help, please let me know. I will use magic if I have to."

"Agreed," Aron said. "Though there may be consequences."

"Ohmygod!" Freddie exclaimed. "Don't get started on consequences again."

"I'll tell the others to strap in," Lydia agreed. "And I'll take Freddie with me."

"Not on my account, Lydia," Aron said. "Freddie will be as safe with me as anywhere else in this boat. I enjoy his company."

Lydia grinned. "We all do."

Keeping low, Lydia scrambled forwards to the others.

"Missing you already!" Freddie called after her.

Lydia made a rapid and ambiguous hand gesture without looking behind.