Odelion found Decker sitting in the chief’s chair by the council rock. Of course, Captain Decker would have no way of knowing it was supposed to be a sacred seat, like a throne of sorts. Odelion did not mind. He just took Balamine’s seat.

“Are you all right?” he asked. Captain Decker spoke but he did not look at Odelion.

“Why did you bring me on this mission? I nearly killed everyone.”

“A-ha! So you admit that lady Alice and Glen and I are all the same person.”

“It would be kind of hard not to admit that at this point.”

Odelion waited before he spoke in case the captain had something more to say. “You are here because of your military background. You are a marine, you have been with the seals, done specialized missions in the field and have the training in both strategy and tactics that may be needed to get everyone home safe and in one piece.”

“But that is why I almost killed everyone. And I could have.”

“But you didn’t, and now that glamour will be much harder for another ghoul to get away with. You are experienced, and with such experience comes a natural resistance.”

“Small comfort.”

Odelion stood, but he had one more thing to say. “Take as much time as you need, only remember your crew needs you, too.”

Captain Decker nodded before he asked his question. “So why are you up?”

Odelion smiled a very broad smile. “I have four wives. You don’t think I get any real sleep, do you?”

Captain Decker nodded but said no more as Odelion walked off.

Roland came back to the hut at the same time. “Ghoul scouts come in threes when they are searching for something,” he said. “And seven in the force to follow.”

“That is two,” Mingus counted. “Anenki’s and Odelion’s.” No one had to say there was another one out there, somewhere, and seven to follow after that.

~~~*~~~

In the morning, Odelion took them straight to the docks. “This is modeled after the ships of the Aristopholas in the south. They regularly make trips to trade in North Africa, so it should be seaworthy for as far as you are going.”

“Look out for the Gott-Druk in the orange jumpsuit,” Lockhart reminded Odelion. “He looked to have a sophistication of devices that your present-day Gott-Druk do not possess. He and his crew called your Gott-Druk weapons primitive.”

“You really think he does not belong here?”

Lockhart looked around before he nodded. “We all think it, and he may yet tip the balance of the coming conflict.”

Odelion nodded. “I will watch. My wild men are out even now on the edge of the village, watching. That was how we knew of the attack in advance.”

“Technology is good,” Captain Decker said, with a look at Lieutenant Harper. “But there is no substitute for a good pair of eyes.”

Odelion just nodded again and he and his wives said good-bye. “I have asked that Oceanus watch over you in your journey,” Odelion added at the last, and he waved while the travelers shoved off. No one saw a small fishing boat with a good sail pull up its own anchor and drift into the wake of the bigger ship. No one noticed, so no one saw that the boat appeared to be empty.

~~~*~~~

The land began to fall away behind the travelers, slowly. They had to row against the wind. The ship, as the marines called it, was just big enough for the eight of them. The rowers sat on two benches, side by side. Lockhart and Captain Decker sat toward the bow, Roland and Lincoln toward the stern. They each had an oar and had very little room between them as they tried to row in unison.

Alexis and Mingus sat on the two benches in the bow where they stowed some of their packs. They had a fairy weave tent and spare oar between them and they were trying to rework the plain flat sail into a sufficient fore and aft style where they could tack in the contrary wind.

Boston and Katie were in the stern on the simple oar that acted as a rudder. They had pulled it up to let the rowers work, so there really was little for them to do other than watch where they were going and watch where they had been. The craft did seem big enough, so they did not worry about standing up, but Captain Decker also pointed out that they only had a short, built-in keel, so there was a chance of tipping over if they were not careful.

Boston kept her eyes on the amulet and kept them generally headed in the right direction. She ignored Lincoln when he complained he could not possibly row twenty miles. Katie watched the land recede and the waves roll. After a while, she thought she saw something different. She reached down to her pack, which got stored in the stern, and retrieved her binoculars. After a look, she handed the glasses to Boston.

“What is that? There,” she asked.

“Another ship,” Boston confirmed. She looked without the glasses and then tried the binoculars again. “It is beyond twenty-twenty sight, but with these…” She paused before she finished her thought. “I would say it is following us.”

“Yes,” Katie confirmed when she got the binoculars back. “Only I can’t see anyone in it.”

“Oars up,” Alexis spoke from up in the front. Whatever she and her father had concocted was ready for a trial. Some of the concoction had been magical. Boston and Katie both expected that. Most of it, though, looked like simple technology. They managed to adjust the square sail rigging to give more side-to-side action so it could be used for more than just downwind sailing. Then with the oar and fairy weave, they made a jib which they erected in the bow.

“Not very strong,” Mingus admitted. “We might not go much faster than the oars, but that is just as well. We don’t want to roll.”

“I have grown the keel a little,” Alexis added. “But there are limits.”

The oars came up and if anything, the ship slowed down, but it continued its forward progress, and the men were glad to think they did not have to row the whole way.

“Roland.” Boston called the elf, having thought of his hunter’s eyes. “Come look at this.” They reached for each other and held one another at the elbows to carefully traded places.

As soon as Roland got to the rear he announced, “Another boat, following us.” Boston concluded that the elf eyes were better than twenty-twenty. She had guessed as much. When Roland took the binoculars for a closer look, he said something they did not want to hear. “Gott-Druk at the helm. One in orange.” He returned the binoculars. “Cloaked. Invisible to human eyes, but not so sophisticated as to prevent my seeing.”

The click they heard came from Captain Decker, attaching the scope to his rifle.

“Hold,” Lockhart said.  “He is staying beyond normal human sight. He probably doesn’t imagine he has been seen. We are too vulnerable at sea. As long as he keeps his distance, we can ignore him.”

“I am sniper trained,” Decker said.

“But he is invisible to your eyes,” Roland reiterated.

“Besides, return fire given the weaponry that is probably at his disposal would blow the ship out from beneath us.”

“At least,” Katie agreed.

“We just ignore him?” Lincoln asked.

“For now.” Lockhart nodded. “If he follows us through the time gate, we can probably set a better trap further on.”

“Agreed.” Captain Decker unattached his scope.

Then they sat until the silence became complete.

They sat for a long time with nothing to look at but the sea and each other.

“Hats,” Alexis insisted early on. “We are getting much too much sun.”

They sat and listened to the water splash against the sides of the boat.

“I wish I brought a deck of cards,” Lockhart said.

The Mediterranean smelled especially strong of salt and brine.

Boston fingered her khaki shorts made from that marvelous fairy weave. She began to change the color, tried stripes, dots and flower prints before she changed them back to khaki. That entertained everyone for a few minutes.

The sea looked as endless as the time.

“This database is interesting,” Lincoln said. “Did you know there are whole novels downloaded?” Several hands shot out and slapped Lincoln hard enough to almost make him drop the handheld.

************************

THURSDAY

The episode will conclude tomorrow. They are being followed by an invisible man. Good luck with that…

*