Triton's Destiny

Part Forty-One

It was rather chaotic on that dock, with people shouting back and forth, men hauling supplies onto the ship, and crew frantically running around, looking for comrades who were still missing. The directive from the guard chief must have thrown a wrench into whatever plan the Sunderland's captain had for their stay in Vollendale. On one hand, the frenetic activity was completely overwhelming. On the other hand, it was absolutely perfect.

No one was really paying attention to who was coming and going on the ship. It seemed like everyone was more concerned about getting things ready to go as quickly as possible, and that was an opportunity that Tristan and Maki could definitely take advantage of. Casting his gaze around them, Tristan assessed the area, looking for their angle to exploit. He smiled when he saw a huge pile of food crates and the one hapless sailor tasked with loading them all aboard. With a soft hand to his mate's shoulder, he got Maki's attention.

"What are you thinking, love?" Maki murmured.

"I'm thinking we're going to help that poor guy over there." Tristan pointed to the young man who'd just come back to the pile of crates with his face sweaty, taking a moment to catch his breath. "It looks like he's the only one loading those crates, so I'm sure he'd appreciate the assistance."

"Won't he know we're not part of the crew?"

Tristan shook his head. "We don't have to be. Come on."

"Tristan!" Maki stumbled behind him as they emerged from their hiding place and walked toward the dock.

"Follow my lead, all right?" Tristan murmured to Maki over his shoulder. He placed his duffel at the back of the stack of crates, put a smile on his face, and approached the sailor with his hand outstretched. "Evening, friend. Sorry you got stuck with this thankless job. We thought you might want a little help with the loading."

The man eyed them warily. "Who sent ya?"

Tristan's smile widened. "Nevyn did. From the market. He told us about your large order and the need to get you loaded quickly, so he sent us down to help. We're the stock boys, you see. We do this all the time."

The sailor's skeptical gaze lingered on Maki. "Looks a mite fragile, this one."

With a laugh, Tristan shook his head. "Not at all. He's stronger than he looks. Trust me."

"All right." The sailor grabbed his next crate and turned to the gangplank. "I'll show ya where to put it, then."

Meeting Maki's eyes for a second, Tristan grabbed a crate of his own and followed the man, hearing Maki do the same behind him. Maneuvering down the ladders into the ship's hold proved challenging, but they soon got the hang of it, stacking crates in neat rows at the back of the open storage area outside what looked like the door to the galley.

All they did for a while was that, trekking back and forth from the dock to the hold, working up a sweat. Tristan didn't mind, though. He thought of it as payment for their passage off Wyntos and that made him feel better about stowing away. That didn't mean he wasn't paying attention, though. On every trip down into the hold, he looked for somewhere he and Maki could stash themselves for a few days. There had to be some unused closet or something, someplace out of the way that no one would check. When nothing presented itself to him, though, he knew he'd have to be a bit more proactive.

On the next trip down with the sailor, Tristan pulled out his best naïve townie impression as he paused for a moment to rest and catch his breath. "Wow," he said, dragging his arm across his damp forehead. "This sure is a lot of food. Explains why Nevyn didn't really need us in the shop tonight." With a smile, he nudged Maki in the ribs. "The supply ship should have just left everything here at the dock, huh? Could have saved us some work."