Journey to the Forgotten Island

Chapter 7 - Never Doubt the Strength of Duro

Something wasn't right at the port of Duro City as Toma arrived. The great four-masted ship he had seen weeks ago, the Vuela, was docked, and the sailors walked back and forth along the gangway, lugging barrels and sacks of food and equipment. The gulls wailed and fought over scraps of bread and meat that fell from the luggage. All this was normal and unsurprising. But on either side of the Vuela were two smaller traderships and the group of people waiting to board the ships was much larger than Toma had anticipated. As he approached, Toma saw not only the sailors and soldiers he had been told would accompany him but families – women and children.

'Ah, Captain Adelmo, I am glad to see you,' said Sub-Commander Torros, turning from a conversation with a middle-aged lady in a luxurious frilly dress.

'What is the meaning of this, Sub-Commander - who are all these people?' Toma said, ignoring the strange name Torros was calling him.

'Captain, I am shocked. Since our first meeting, your manners have been impeccable. Why are you so flustered?' Torros smiled. As usual his eyes gave nothing away.

Toma said nothing and looked around at the crowd. There were perhaps as many as seventy civilians, a mix of merchant-class people and low nobles, standing with nannies and servants, who carried sacks and wooden crates with all their belongings. Children ran and giggled, chasing each other, weaving through the legs of the adults, oblivious to the world of war ships, sailors and merchants that surrounded them.

Torros now spoke with a neutral, blank face. 'Captain Adelmo, if you are to settle Magoa, you will be in need of settlers. It is not soldiers that make an empire but the people who live, dwell and occupy space, who engage in commerce and build families. These women and children are far more important than your soldiers and they will be under your protection.'

Toma looked around at the families. Some of the men and women had a mild look of concern on their faces but most looked as comfortable as they had ever been in their opulent homes, fine silks and shining jewellery. He could not imagine how these families would fare in unfamiliar territory, in a new land with none of the protections and comforts they had been born to perceive as customary.

'What is this name you are calling me?' Toma said, not looking at Torros.

Torros laughed. 'Captain Adelmo Deduras is your noble name. Though you have not been granted the status of noble until the settlement is complete – we have agreed to bestow your new name upon you now.'

Toma looked at Torros in disbelief. The name Adelmo Deduras was alien to him – simply having a surname was a sign of wealth. None of the people he had known on the walls had been given more than a single name. Whereas before the talk of becoming a noble had seemed like impossible fantasy, now he could not help imagining himself living in a large manse with Lady Ximena as his wife and little children that slept in beds, ate when they were hungry and went to school to one day become governors and generals. 

'This is now my official name?' Toma whispered.

'Yes, this is how all the families aboard your ship will know you and how the soldiers and craftsmen and builders and farmers will know you. I will attend to them now and introduce you to them once they are comfortable in their cabins. I will leave you now and meet with you on the deck before the ship leaves.'

Torros nodded and walked towards the families.

Toma could not quite believe he was about to sail across the ocean to a new world. He had been on ships before. But the ships had stayed close to the coast, ferrying soldiers north towards Solapailtea or south towards Vulnir and the fertile lands of the south. He had never crossed the wide-open ocean. In the Duro Empire, where nobody any longer believed in gods or magic, where reason, ingenuity and wisdom were said to prevail, the open ocean still stirred a deep superstition of gods and monsters. This, Toma believed, was the true reason the ship had been named after the old Vetustan goddess of the skies.