Saxon: The Emperor's Elephant by Severin Tim

Author:Severin, Tim [Severin, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780230766877
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2013-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

‘I’VE MADE THIS VOYAGE a dozen times, and never a problem,’ Protis boasted. We were standing on deck, side by side, and it was a splendid morning, the second of our sea voyage. The breeze was just enough to belly out the sail and the sun sparkled off a sea that showed a brighter, sharper blue than anything I had seen in northern waters. A flock of gulls wheeled and hovered alongside, attracted by the occasional splashes of water as our sailors dumped buckets of bilge overboard. Unsurprisingly, the hull of Protis’s ramshackle vessel was far from watertight.

‘I recall you saying that your family have been seafarers for generations,’ I remarked, making conversation.

‘As far back as any family in Massalia, and proud of it. My parents named me after the city’s founder.’ Our youthful captain liked to chat, and once he got into his stride he was almost unstoppable. ‘The first Protis was from Greece, far back in the mists of time, a trader who dropped anchor in a sheltered bay along the coast. The daughter of a local chieftain fell in love with him, the two got married, and they and their people flourished. Massalia grew up around the same natural harbour. My family tradition is to name one of the sons after the city’s founder.’

‘So your father was also called Protis?’

He nodded. ‘Though it brought him no luck. He went down with his ship in a sudden, bad storm when I was just a toddler. My grandfather taught me my sea skills. He’s now retired, of course. His eyesight’s gone.’

That might explain the age of the vessel, I thought to myself. Protis had probably inherited it from his grandfather, a vessel put back into service after the family’s other and newer ship had sunk.

‘To lose one’s eyesight is hard for anyone,’ I sympathized.

The young captain smiled sadly. He was obviously fond of his grandfather. ‘It’s the worst thing that can happen to a mariner. He needs good eyes. We make most of our voyages following the coast or sailing from one island to the next one already visible on the horizon.’

He pointed away to our left. ‘Right now we are staying well off shore for safety, yet close enough so that I can keep in sight those mountains.’

Judging by the number of other sails we had seen moving in both directions along the coast, it was how most captains navigated locally. Sailing from one port to the next in the Mediterranean did not appear to be as demanding as the conditions Redwald faced when finding his way from Dorestad to Kaupang.

‘Do we follow the coast all the way to Rome?’ I asked, trying to visualize what Abram’s itinerarium had shown.

‘There are one or two stretches where we lose sight of the mountains because the land is too low. At those places we will steer further off shore and take a more direct route to our destination.’

One of the sailors in the bailing team put down his bucket and came aft to speak with us.

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