In the Heart of Anvard (My Kingdom For a Horse): Free RP

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@.#Siawn#.@ (mostly)

OOC: I am assuming that we are all on the Forlorn Hope and out to sea.

Siawn works as hard as any of the other sailors, earning his keep and that of his brother. As the Forlorn Hope sails out to sea, he hauls barrels below deck, pulls ropes taut, and assists in the kitchen. He does all of this work with a cheerful smile on his face, even joining in with the song some of Woefulgut's sailors are singing.

I trust my letter will be delivered, the young man muses as he peels another potato. She has to know where we are and that we are safe.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Arlis's obedient troops take a ship of their own, smaller than the Forlorn Hope, and set out for sea in pursuit of the wiggle captain. Their sails snap in the wind and they make good time until they run into a group of mermaids.
 
Welcome back, Fantine, but I hope you ARE cast in that opera

~ ~ Since I initiated the involvement of the Merfolk with Woefulgut:


Scores of weighted hawsers came flying up from the water, shooting from port to starboard and starboard to port, fouling and entrapping everything on the deck and lower rigging of Arlis' ship. Then a deep-voiced Merman roared from near the bow: "Attempt any resistance, and your hull will have more holes in it than the Steward's head has! Let every man show himself at the rails, with no weapons! You are going to be MADE to listen to the truth, NOW!"

The Forlorn Hope, meanwhile, was making good time, for Spalik's captain had been able to spare five expert sailors to help man her. "We must trust my Merfolk friends," the Marshwiggle remarked to his crew. "The thought of THEM turning traitor is beyond even a Marshwiggle's pessimism!"


P.S. To harmonize with Inkling NOT having written any reaction by the men whom Retaw the Gryphon had addressed, I will assume that they were able to convince Retaw that they were not doing anything amiss. Retaw therefore has resumed his own business for the time being.
 
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Coming up alongside Siawn, Woefulgut said, "When we come even with the Narnian coastline, I'm going to keep the land just over the horizon from us, so that our lookout aloft will be able to see the land, but it will be hard for anyone on land to notice us. I have no way of knowing what part of the coast will be safest for us to land a boat on. Probably NO place is really safe now, for that swinish traitor Arlis has likely slipped a message about us to the Witch. But it's our duty nonetheless to try to find more Children of Adam. So be ready to contribute any knowledge you may have of whatever part of the coast we do finally choose."
 
@.#Siawn#.@ (mostly)

Siawn pulls his hat down even lower, and his words ring with sincerity. "Of course. I will do my best, but I do not know this coast as well as my mother would. I trust that you will hurry. I can only imagine what she's facing at the present moment. Say nothing of the danger to my brother, I beg you. I do not wish to concern him."

The young man allows a brief smirk to form. "As for Lord Arlis, I have dealt with men of his ilk before. He will be too busy with paperwork to provide any real pursuit."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Arlis crumples the report that his men have sent to him and flings it into the fire, where it is soon consumed. "They were not fast enough to catch the Forlorn Hope", he scowls, "But we know the captain and we know the ship. If they will not follow protocol, then should they return to our waters they will be seized. We will not have an international incident with our northern neighbors."

He strides to his desk as quickly as his portly frame will allow and begins scribbling a series of orders and jotting down the detailed description of the vessel that his men have provided him with.
 
Let us put Dar back on the map shall we.

Dar awakened after his first night with Vandrick the tanner. It was still early and he decided to go outside and have a look about that area of Anvard.
 
Retaw the Gryphon, long admitted to be under Copperfox's control, dropped out of the air alongside the young man. "Good morning! I've been checking on some of the refugees from Narnia; how are you faring?"

 
"That's good as far as it goes," the Gryphon said. "But why do I see no sign of concerted official action by the Archenlandish government? Even after a Narnian Werewolf escaped a patrol right ON the streets of Anvard the other day, the King doesn't seem to be doing anything. Is he asleep?"

======================

Meanwhile, the Merfolk who had detained Arlis' ship were trying to figure out if Inkling was contradicting the fact of their having told the sailors the real truth about what was happening in Narnia.
 
Flower

After taking a catnap on her perch Flower climbs down onto the deck. She wanders around for awhile, but when no one notices her or speaks to her she gets bored and heads down below deck.
 
Marshwiggle

Captain Woefulgut, after long hours awake, had been snatching a nap in a hammock below. But his ever-alert senses awoke him upon even the kitten's quiet descent into the hold. "Flower, is anything wrong? The Merfolk did stop that pursuing ship, didn't they?"
 
@.#Siawn#.@

The Archenlander passes an uneasy rest tossing in his narrow bunk. Unable to fight his wakefulness, he determines to put it to good use. Stealthily, he creeps over to his satchel, careful not to disturb his slumbering little brother.

He rearranges the items so that he can easily lay hands on them, and secrets a small, narrow dagger about his person.

There may well be need of this if there is trouble. Which I anticipate, given what I know of Lord Arlis.

This attended to, he slips abovedeck and makes his way to the prow of the ship, where he watches the sky for hints about the day to come.
 
~ ~ Since Inkling has had every opportunity to contradict it, and as far as I can see she has not contradicted it, I hold it to be true that, as I said, the Merfolk not only halted the progress of Arlis' ship, but forced the men on it to listen to the truth about Jadis. This truth will have included the Merfolk's own eyewitness accounts of seeing maimed corpses of humans and other Narnians being washed out to sea from the rivers of Narnia. Thus, unless every man on Arlis' ship is an intentional traitor against all humanity, there HAS TO BE some dissent now brewing against the despicable Arlis.


Going from one crewmember to another even as all of them toiled or briefly rested from toil, Captain Woefulgut managed to tell everyone what amounted to the following:

"We dare not assume that our sailing back to Narnia is unexpected. Even if Arlis has not himself succeeded in passing word to her to whom he sold his soul, there are many ways the enemy may have found out. Just the publicly-known fact that I did bring humans out of Narnia will suggest to the enemy that I am apt to try again. To the best of my knowledge, the Witch has no seagoing resources of her own; but the coast is probably being watched by her spies.

"Before the original evacuation, I devised a way that my grown children could convincingly pretend to have rejected me and to be loyal to the Witch. Thus, the enemy _shouldn't_ be looking for Marshwiggles to aid me and my friends. But since almost everything goes wrong in this life, we can't rely heavily on this. Therefore, I plan to slant the odds more in our favor. Before we get as far north as Marshwiggle territory, I plan to swim ashore alone, leaving Gareth, as my earliest human follower, in command of the ship. While not _trying_ to get myself captured, I will attempt such a stirring up of Narnians against the Witch as is sure to attract some attention--attract attention to an area _other_ than your objective.

"The rest of you will go ashore a day or two later, if it seems safe, a league or so farther north from where I put out to sea with refugees the first time. If it isn't safe there, try farther north. Either way, try to learn if any more human survivors can still be reached and evacuated. The Marshwiggles will _probably_ assist you; I will make sure you all know certain private things to say which will prove you know me.

"Don't worry about retrieving me. If I am not caught or slain, I will eventually dive back into the sea, and the Merfolk will help me get clear. Your aim above all is to rescue more Children of Adam and Eve if possible. Secondarily, to bring back any evidence which will help to make the King of Archenland realize that Steward Arlis is a lying traitor deserving of death."
 
Flower, who was now sitting on the deck listening tried to make her own plans fit around this.

'To get to Middy I have to head for the woods. I've no idea where we're supposed to land at all in Narnia, first or second time so that doesn't help... Middy wanted to keep me safe though, so maybe I should stick with these people... No, I've got to help Mid and the rest of the resistance. But I guess this /is/ the resistance so....' her mind in turmoil Flower climbs onto the deck rail and perches there, a small forlorn figure.
 
Flower jumps at the sound of the marshwiggle's voice.
"Oh, I, um... well I was trying to figure out whether to head into Narnia on my own and try to find my brother there (thats the reason I came on this ship) or iffin I should stay here and help get people out. But I've already done that. I don't know what's happening in Narnia but its my home and sometime I'm going to get back into it. My brother sent me out to keep me safe but what was he thinking? He needs help more'n me no doubt so I'm gonna rescue him out of Narnia. Or we'll stay there and hide till the resistance is strong 'nuff to take out that old witch!" she says confidently.
 
Woefulgut

"Flower, I don't believe that the resistance will EVER be able to defeat the Witch, until Aslan Himself returns; and He will not return in our lifetime, because too many Narnians have been unfaithful to Him. What the resistance CAN do is to evacuate humans, as we are seeking to do, and then to keep the truth alive within Narnia until Aslan does return.

"But if you want to search for your brother, you can if you wish go ashore with me as I begin my diversionary mission."
 
"Well for now I'm going to think." says the kitten. Swiftly she shoots up to the top of the mast, her perch and lookout post. She scans the area but sees nothing but water and sky.

'Mid why did you have to send me here? You know I'm a great help. And you'd better be safe, if you're not safe I'll kill you.'
 
Woefulgut, though not built for climbing, had mastered it rather well through years of familiarity with ships. Thus, he could scramble up the shrouds to come within hearing of the cat again. "You have less than twenty-four hours to decide if you want to come with me. By the progress we've made, I judge that by late tonight we will begin to draw even with the southern half of Narnia. Unless my presence on board the Forlorn Hope is needed longer, I'm going to swim ashore before sunrise."
 
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