Call of Caldiria Chapter 9

Call of Caldiria Chapter 9.

              “Marike, get to growing already and pull those sails in.  We are almost at our destination.”  Marike nodded her head and did as she was told.  It was nearing the end of the second day of their voyage, and at this point, it had become second nature for everyone to see her change in size.  She even had gotten used to leaving her clothing in the hold for the time she was on duty to avoid ripping it to shreds.  No one seemed to care that she would stud around the deck almost butt naked, and if they did, Ien would make sure that those complaints were lost to the wind.

              As Marike quickly grew, her hands wrapping around the sail, which was her duty, she noticed the small island that they were rapidly approaching.  “What are we doing all the way out here?  There is nothing out here but miles of palm trees.”  Still, she did her work, wrapping the sail in so Ien could bring the ship into a small inlet without being at the mercy of the winds.  As the Canary’s Cry came to a stop, another crewmate dropped the anchor, and Marike shrank down to a more manageable size.

              Telean then walked up to the pilot’s box and addressed the crew. “We are here to find something. It’s a simple earned run for the government. Just head inland, find the cargo, and we bring it back home. Easy payday.”

              Ien crossed her arms.  “Something about this stinks.  Why are we being sent all the way to the middle of the damn ocean to pick up cargo like this?  Why would they just leave it out here?  Are they really that stupid?”

              “You know how many pirates there are out on these waters, Ien.”  They walked down from the pilot’s box.  “These days, everyone has to take extra precautions to even get cheese into Anchorhead.  You don’t want your lovely food being taken by pirates or worse—”

              Marike arched an eyebrow.  “Worse?”

              Telean put his hand on her shoulder.  “Trust me, you don’t want to know.  Now, why don’t you go below deck and put some clothing on?  We are going to have to search for the cargo.”

              “What?”  Marike laughed.  “If it’s hidden, why don’t I just grow and look for it?”

              “Because we don’t know who else might be on this island, and we don’t want them to know we are here.”  He pointed at the hold.  “Now go.  I am not having you go out there naked.  It’s one thing on the ship, but you won’t leave here without your clothing.”

              Marike sighed.  “Fine.”  She hurried down into the hold and grabbed her clothing.  “But they better not leave without me.”  She quickly dressed in her garments and then hurried back onto the deck just as everyone else started to make their way off the ship and onto the small island.  “Hey!  Wait for me.”

              The crew slowly made their way onto the isle, and the jungle and palm trees quickly became all that surrounded them.  “What are we looking for?”  Marike looked around at the endless forest.  “I would think that if they wanted us to find a package that, they wouldn’t hide it in such a place.”

              “I am with the size-changing gal.”  Ien crossed her arms.  “Something is up with this Telean.”

              “Hey, we have to do this every once in a while if we want to work for Keel.  I—” He stopped short.  “There!”  He pointed to a clearing.  “That looks like the cargo we were sent to fetch.”

              Marike narrowed her eyes at the tall wooden boxes in the center of the clearing.  They had suspicious wooden holes in them as if to let whatever was inside the ability to breathe.  “I don’t feel good about this.  What are we doing?  Trafficking some kind of animal?”

              One of the crewmates approached the containers.  “Umm. . . you might want to change that statement.  There are Velerens in here.”

              Marike held her hand over her mouth as she resisted the urge to vomit.  Telean walked up to the boxes and looked at the shipping labels.  “What the hell is this?  We are supposed to take these to the northern coast near the farmlands?  But there have been countless raids by Perditions from the Spire up there.  Why the hell. . .”  He slammed his foot on the ground.  “Why the hell would we traffic these people into a place that is already being raided for slavery.”

              He ripped open the container, the young lady inside slamming herself against the wall of the box.  “You.  Tell me what is going on!”

              “Don’t hurt me!”  She turned away.  “Please.”

              “I am not going to hurt you.  Tell me what happened to you.”  The young lady shrank away, hugging herself.

              Ien walked up to Telean, putting her hand on his shoulder.  “We are not going to get any answers out of her or any of them.”  She took a deep breath.  “But we have to do something.”

              Marike clenched her hands into fists.  “I agree.  This. . . this is absurd.  The government of Anchorhead, this Keel, they can’t really expect us to do this!”

              Telean sighed.  “You are right.  We have to do something.”  He looked around at his crew.  “Don’t worry, we won’t be bringing them to their destination, but they will be coming with us.  If we don’t bring them on board, someone else will just come along and take them.”  He rubbed his brow.  “I will decide what to do with these people once they are on the ship.  For now, get them onto the Canary’s Cry.”  He turned around.  “And bring them in their containers, but leave their doors open.  They are too scared to come out, so we have to give them the space to know we are not here to hurt them.  If we try and force the issue, they won’t be able to know we want to help them.”  Telean walked away.

              Marike looked back at the woman cowering in the crate and couldn’t imagine what horrors she had endured.  But she was going to do what she was told and began to grow in size.  She would be able to help bring them to the ship faster by carrying them as a giantess.  She just hoped she wouldn’t scare them.