Holy Land

“It’s Nephthys, ma’am. Moonlight’s a-looking for ya. Says Mercy is in trouble. She’s got a lot of ships wit ‘er, and lots injured. They ‘er still coming in when I left. We’re unloading them with rowboats, there’s so many!”

Water dripped off the colt’s hat and jacket. In his haste he had forgotten to button his jacket, and his chest was plastered with wet snow.

“I’ll be there right away,” Alice said, setting her tea down on the table in the inn's kitchen. “You stay here and warm up a bit. You’re done for tonight.”

“Thank you,” he stammered, trotting eagerly to the nearest of the two fires in the dining hall of the inn.

Gingersnap put down his own drink and hastened to the window. It was ten to eleven, and most of his shipmates had retired to their rooms. Pushing aside the heavy brown curtains, he looked out upon a scene upside down. Beneath the overcast sky the harbor was bright with running lights and swaying lanterns. He counted twenty ships for sure through the snow. Leading the fleet was a strange-looking vessel with a high, curved prow, its deck sitting almost level with the water, or so it seemed from a distance. There was a round insignia on its single white sail, and through a lull in the storm he noticed that the deck was packed with passengers.

“What’s going on?” He asked the colt, joining him at the fire. Marigold, the old innkeeper, had just brought a mug of coco and some cookies for him.

“I canna tell you exactly,” he said absentmindedly, looking into the fire. He couldn’t have been more than twelve years old, yet a mature grimness shrouded his fear. “We’ve ne’er seen this afore. Nephthys ha’en’t sailed in years. She’s all’s ready, I s’pose. But she’s kep’ in a warehouse usu’ly. Moonlight loves her too much, and with Falconeye gone ‘s she is, I did nae think she’s too eager to sail her anywhere. It can’t be good if she’s a-needed.”

“Thanks,” Gingersnap said before heading up the stairs. He did not run; the boy would notice.

Coral Frond was knocking on his door when he got upstairs. He was already dressed.

“What’s happening out there?” He asked. “What’s with all the ships? Is Yellow Jack coming?”

“I don’t think it’s Yellow Jack himself,” Gingersnap said. “They’ve evacuated Port of Mercy. Do you think you can do some heavy lifting tonight?”

“All this off time is making you soft,” Coral Frond said, stretching out his back like a cat. “It’s the middle of the night and freezing outside. Let’s go already.”

“Grab anyone else that’s willing,” he instructed, trotting backwards down the hall. “Make sure they know we’re not under attack. We’ll do whatever the harbormaster tells us.”

In five minutes a band of sixteen sailors and marines headed out the door. Coral Frond and Gingersnap were warm enough, but the others huddled close together, clutching their collars against the icy wind. There had been few winter uniforms onboard the Spectre to begin with, and none at all after the mutiny.

The road was well lit and quickly filling with ponies and griffins alike. All along the street they were shoveling sand and salt, so the walk was not especially treacherous. Guards with heavy black cloaks over their armor were heading for the harbor, forcing civilians aside but not stopping them. There was no shortage of guns and lances in the procession, but food and drink were being brought down as well. They were ready for anything.

As they came within sight of the boardwalk they encountered a huge gathering. Children were crying as they sat in the slush that covered the streets. Hundreds of ponies rushed through the crowd, distributing dry clothes and towels, looking for the most vulnerable to bring into the relative warmth of nearby warehouses. Tarps; ship covers; umbrellas; tents without poles; anything that could have been slightly waterproof had been brought out to give the refugees some shelter.

“Ask around,” Gingersnap ordered with a bit of hesitation. “They’ll probably need more rowers. Come on.”

The path through the crowd was narrow and perilous. Before he knew it Gingersnap had given his hat and jacket to a pegasus mare with two foals.

A chestnut unicorn with a grizzled beard was standing at the edge of the boardwalk, his horn blinking in code.

“We brought fresh rowers!” Gingersnap announced over the din.

“Perfect,” replied the unicorn without turning away from his task. “They’ll be coming in on the floating docks. Get down there, four to a dock, and switch off when the dories come back.”

Looking out onto the water Gingersnap saw the red ship again. It was even stranger up close. The deck was unusually narrow and indeed as low as it had appeared from a distance. The only rooms it had were above deck: a big house at middeck and nothing else. The hull was thickly lacquered from prow to stern, appearing like a ship hewn from a single gigantic tree. A mast rose from middeck, with a single yard supporting sails much wider than the ship itself. The prow rose to three times the height of a reared up pony, curving backwards and then forwards and ending with a gigantic golden cobra with fangs bared.

The dory was packed when it returned. Gingersnap and Coral Frond held the bow and stern lines as they disembarked, and bid the previous rowers go up with their passengers. There was little time for questions.

“We’re unloading the Airmid,” instructed one of the rowers. “She’s the sixth ship out, with a blue-tinted lamp. The crew’s waiting on her starboard side.”

Gingersnap was thankful for the activity; without his waterproof layer he was soaked and freezing. He primed the lantern again before setting out, with Coral Frond rowing beside him. Other dories moved all around them as they wove through the fleet. The docks only had room enough for the smaller sloops and schooners.

The first wave beyond the bay threw the dory a full ten metres off course. Gingersnap and Coral Frond rowed hard against the wind, guided by the blue beacon and the shadows of ponies stationed around it. Other ships were even further out to sea, visible only by their color-coded lights like a perverse Hearths Warming Eve display.

Coral Frond called out to the crew as they neared, and fenders were lowered just in time as a wave threw their dory against the ship. Gingersnap tossed up the lines, and a ladder was lowered from the deck. They were loaded hastily with fifteen ponies, eight adults and seven children. They were grimly silent, and on each face was an expression of fear and shock. The dory barely moved under the incredible load, but in time the dock appeared once again.

Any sense of time was swiftly worn away. They made six more trips before the old rowers relieved them. After the Airmid they evacuated the New Moon, and two more after that. Gingersnap did not notice the coming of morning until the sky had become entirely grey. Two inches of snow had accumulated on the roofs of the warehouses. Finally a pair of town guards dragged him out of the dory along with the load of passengers.

“You’re exhausted,” said a griffin through his scarf. He brushed Gingersnap’s shoulder roughly. Instead of light snow a chunk of ice flew off into the puddle that stretched out like a lake around him.

Gingersnap tried to reply, but found that he couldn’t. The other guard was slowly ascending the steep steps to the boardwalk with Coral Frond draped over his shoulder.

He closed his eyes just for a blink, and opened them to find the world sideways. His skin was numb, and he had no energy to move. He saw hooves and lion’s feet and bird’s feet walking before him. Feet without bodies as far as he could tell. There was a great weight on top of him, but it was not at all uncomfortable.

When Gingersnap came to again it took all his strength to roll onto his back. He gasped in pain as the headache set in without warning. He could not free his hooves from under the covers. Every effort to move only brought on new sources of pain.

Somepony, a nurse perhaps, found him eventually and wiped the sweat from his brow. She was saying things, he did not know what, but the sound of her voice was enough to lull him back to sleep.

Every time he awoke it was dark. Each time he grew more panicked. He thought he lost days; weeks. But each time someone was around to sooth him. He thought he heard his crewmates saying goodbye; telling him that they would be leaving for Equestria soon.

I’m coming! He cried out in his mind, but his mouth would not move. He watched them leave one by one, getting up from the beds around him, some staggering without falling, never looking back.

Finally he saw daylight, grey and dreary in the dusty room. It gave him hope. He resolved not to close his eyes again, though the pillow might as well have been moulded from fresh sea foam. He worked on sitting up. His back felt completely rigid, and he could not rotate his shoulders very much.

“Hey!” Someone shouted from above him. “Hey! I need a nurse over here!”

Moments later someone was beside Gingersnap. Unfortunately the feeling of sharp talons through the blanket had the opposite of the intended effect.

“Who are you?” He gasped, trying to push away the claw.

“Gabrielle,” said the griffin. “My name is Gabrielle. Do you need anything?”

“I need to get back to Equestria,” Gingersnap mumbled as he was lowered back onto the pillow. “They left me here.”

“You were dreaming,” Gabrielle assured him, putting her scaly palm on his forehead. “Your shipmates are all here. Do you remember anything from last night?”

“Last night?”

“The fleet from Port of Mercy showed up late last night,” she recounted. “You and a bunch of other navy officers came down from the inn to help us get everypony unloaded. It’s just past noon right now.”

“Let me up,” Gingersnap said, stubbornly pushing her away. “Where’s everypony else?”

“You won’t get far,” she said, sitting down beside him. “You can walk around here if you want. You don’t have a room at the inn anymore. Or anywhere. We just quadrupled our population overnight. We have foals sleeping in cupboards, and any properly docked ship is crammed full as well.”

Gabrielle helped him to his feet. He was a little unsteady, but after a few steps he got used to the feeling of his legs. It didn’t hurt nearly as bad as he thought it would. He could not change his posture easily, but on flat ground he could walk just fine.

The makeshift clinic was in a big warehouse on the docks. Most ponies had spent the night on thin mats at ground level just as he had. The room was drafty, and the ponies that had not left sat with blankets wrapped around their shoulders.

Gingersnap found Coral Frond sitting outside, wrapped in a thick patchwork quilt against the chilly wind. A layer of sharp ice shards coated his left side. With bags under his eyes and raw matted coat he looked a proper vagrant. But when he noticed Gingersnap he smiled.

“You want coffee?” He asked, raising a nearly empty mug. “They had coffee earlier. Here, I saved you something.”

He offered up a half-eaten bun. Gingersnap snickered.

“No, seriously,” Coral Frond said. “I don’t think there’ll be much food for the next few days. This is all they gave me, and they said there won’t be more until seven. And I think it’ll just be worse after this.”

Gingersnap took the cold bun and ate it in one bite. He wanted much more, but as he looked up to the town he saw smoke billowing from every chimney. Cooking fires, probably.

At the doorway of the deckhouse of the nearest ship a few ponies were huddled around a sack of oats. The sack had been roughly torn open. A young pegasus colt, maybe five or six years old, was licked the inside of a tiny can. Gingersnap asked them for some food. The colt’s mother filled the empty tin with oats and flew it over to him. It was like chewing on rock chips at first, and by the time he finished the inside of his mouth was completely dry.

“That’s one weird ship, don’t you think?”

Gingersnap followed Coral Frond’s pointing hoof. The odd red ship was hidden except for its mast and figurehead. The cobra leering at him over the decks of lesser vessels. The single mast was little more than a pillar. There were no fixed yards, and only two stays supported it.

“That big red one is Nephthys,” Coral Frond said. “I went down there and had a look for myself earlier. I saw Moonlight this morning. She was far too busy to say anything.”

“Is Mary okay?” Gingersnap asked, sitting down on the icy boardwalk beside him. Coral Frond offered him a part of the large quilt.

“She’s fine,” Coral Frond said. “Moonlight’s keeping a close eye on her. She’s taking all this pretty well. Better than I would have at that age. Or even now.”

Gingersnap got hungrier by the minute, and Coral Frond seemed to forget he was there as soon as he stopped talking. He went back to his bed and tried to sleep through the dreary day.

It was full dark before the ponies from town arrived, many of them with bags under their eyes. Gingersnap could not stand up to go to them. He could only hope that he would not be forgotten again as the others crowded around the doors.

In additional to catering carts they brought carriages lined with cheesecloth and stuffed to the ceiling with bread. Metal-sided carts were loaded with soup packed in barrels, smoking like fires. Five squeaky wood carts arrived last, looking like a poor porcelain dealer’s caravan. The town must have been emptied entirely of food containers and cutlery, for the carts contained everything from small pots to salad bowls to infants’ bottles.

Guards soon broke through the crowd and ushered children to the front. A few dozen lines formed, all of them murmuring restlessly. No one dared to speak up. Even children of three or four walked with their food in solemn silence, ushered along by older siblings or parents. Gingersnap watched all the ponies and griffins acting out this parody of a feast.

He was losing hope when Coral Frond appeared out of the food line with two trays. He set down his quilt as a kind of picnic blanket on the muddy floor and set down their dinner. The soup was a thick sludge of every soup ingredient ever conceived in history, and the dense, dry loaf was some combination of cornbread, pumpernickel and fruitcake. Gingersnap thought it was the greatest meal he ever had.

Strengthened by their meal, many of the refugees got up to offer their help. Gingersnap and Coral Frond joined the growing line of ponies and griffins awaiting instructions. The messenger boy from the previous night was back along with several of his peers, serving simultaneously as guides and supervisors.

“Hey! Coral Frond!”

Gingersnap jumped. Mary was right beside him. She wore a reflective vest over her snowsuit, and a loosely-tied blue scarf. Her mane was uncombed, and an occasional twitch of her eyelid betrayed her exhaustion. She looked at him, and seemed genuinely surprised.

“You’re here too!” She yelled, apparently unaware of her surroundings. “That’s great! My mom wants to see both of you right away! It’s urgent! Come on!”

She ran up the pier unsteadily like she was drunk. Even with his sore legs Gingersnap had no trouble keeping up. Their destination was the stone house just beyond the gate of the harbor. Through the window Gingersnap could see that the first floor lobby was packed with ponies.

“Excuse me!” Mary said, pushing ruthlessly through the crowd. One stallion tried to kick her, but Coral Frond was right behind her and checked him so hard he fell over backwards. As the last pony in the group Gingersnap took the job of damage control, mumbling apologies to every glaring face he saw.

Fortunately the crowd ended at a row of three tables where fully-armored town guards were desperately working through boxes upon boxes of paperwork. Mary led them up a flight of wood stairs, narrow but incredibly sturdy.

On the second floor a single door stood ajar, emanating a flickering orange light. Mary barged in without slowing down.

“I found them!” She announced, gesturing to the confused sailors with one hoof.

“Thank you dear,” Moonlight said with a tired smile.

She was half-dressed in a jumpsuit, and was struggling to keep her eyes open. She looked at Gingersnap and Coral Frond, as if to say, “Give me a moment.” They backed into the hallway.

“Go to bed, sweetie,” Moonlight said softly. Her shadow receded off the wall as she leaned over her daughter. “You were such a big help today. But you need to be rested for tomorrow.”

“What about you?”

“Don’t be like this, Mary.” Midnight sighed. A grossly-distorted black hoof slid across the floor and up the wall, tenderly connecting with the filly’s gigantic head. “I know you want to help, but the best thing you can do for me right now is to go to sleep. The attic is all set up for you. You can keep the lamp on if you want. Come on.”

Gingersnap and Coral Frond shuffled to the side to allow Midnight to pass. Mary was slung across her back, looking rather annoyed. Alice appeared in the doorway shortly after and ushered the boys inside.

The bedroom was arranged simply and tastefully, just like everything else they had seen of the Chain Islands. The bed was a simple wood frame containing a hay mattress topped with clean blue sheets that nopony had yet lain on. There were six chairs, evidently gathered from a variety of sources. The vanity, if a long desk with a shallow drawer could be called that, was covered half in a mess of paper and quills and half a dozen spent inkwells, and half in the remains of a messy tea.

Upon Alice’s invitation, Gingersnap and Coral Frond had emptied the open tin of butter cookies before Midnight returned. She showed them a tired smile, which Gingersnap felt embarrassed yet obliged to reciprocate.

“Winter Oat told me to find you,” she said, raising her engraved brass mug to her lip with a slightly-trembling hoof. “He filled me in on what has happened since you left Port of Mercy. Up to the point when you found the Spectre anyway.”

“We’ll tell you as much as we know, ma’am,” Gingersnap said. Feeling suddenly self-conscious, he quickly wiped the crumbs off his cheeks.

“I don’t need much from you,” Midnight said. “I want your candid answer. That’s all. You were among the last ponies to see him before he sailed.”

“He sailed with a big fleet,” Coral Frond remarked.

“What was his plan? Did he say he would kill Jack?”

“He expected to win,” Gingersnap said. “He… I mean… speaking candidly… he didn’t speak to us directly. He didn’t tell us anything at all after we got here, actually.”

Moonlight bowed her head. Gingersnap felt his own hope waning.

“He won’t be coming back here then,” she said firmly. The exhaustion was completely gone from her face, replaced with ruthless, bloodthirsty determination. “Yellow Jack is our problem now. His forces took Port of Mercy. He can land there whenever he wants. Even if we can intercept him, he’ll just ram through any blockade we can put up. Fighting him with the ships we have is pointless. Whatever damage Morning Breeze might have done, it can all be patched up at the in Port of Mercy. He can pick up supplies, a fresh crew and heavy cannons.”

Coral Frond had been edging backwards involuntarily. He bumped against the doorframe and jumped.

“We’ll need everybody and everything,” Midnight said, turning to Alice. “Call up Kelp Town. I'm sure the Snow Queen is high priority for the Children of the Night. Tomorrow we’ll send out messengers and get the reserve fleets, and hope that Jack hasn’t turned them too.” She squinted at the boys. “You’re able sailors, I suppose?”

“He’s a marine, actually,” Gingersnap offered. Coral Frond looked at him in alarm. “I was raised on ships; all kinds of ships. We’re ready to help, if our captain permits.”

“Good,” Midnight said, her features softening into a warm, motherly smile. “Get rested. You seem to be in decent shape, and I need all the sailors and soldiers I can get. I’ll send someone to fetch you tomorrow morning.”

She gave them a lantern for the walk back. The road was slick with ice, and fresh snow was falling. Gingersnap’s spot on the floor had been taken by two fillies. Most of the available floor space was wet and muddy. After ten minutes they managed to find a half-broken crate at the very back of the warehouse. They let the lamp burn half-covered by their shared blanket until the fuel ran out. Despite the bent nails and splinters poking his back Gingersnap slept soundly that night.