Free The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock by Timothy L. Cerepaka Page A

the way of the other
sailors who were also trying to see the island.
    From what Kinker could see of it, Ikadori Island was
large. The shore stretched around the island like a ring, while a
thick, dark jungle covered almost every inch of available space.
The only space on the island that had not been conquered by the
jungle was the white, sandy beach. Big, hand-shaped fruit hung off
the trees near the shore, which Kinker instantly recognized as
ikadori peaches.
    No sounds came from the island. Nor was there any
movement among the trees. Ikadori Island looked totally
uninhabited. There was no sign of civilization, nor any sign of
animals either. Of course, if there were any animals, most of them
were probably deep inside the jungle. Still, the island seemed
unnaturally silent to Kinker, making him grateful that he was not
part of the initial expedition.
    Malock soon emerged from his stateroom, now wearing
a hunting jacket instead of his boat cloak, and gathered the ten
sailors he was taking with him to the shore. They stood near the
davit, but they weren't the only ones there. Malock had summoned
the rest of the crew, too, in order to give some last orders before
the expedition departed.
    “All right,” said Malock, once the rest of the crew
had assembled before him. “While I and my expedition pick fruit and
explore Ikadori Island, Banika Koiro will act as captain of the
ship. Obey her every word as if it were my own. And if something
happens and the expedition is killed, you must weight anchor and
depart right away. There is no reason for you to go any further
south if I am dead.”
    That was a surprisingly humane thing for Malock to
say. Kinker supposed he shouldn't be too surprised. Malock did have
a human side to him, despite being stern to his crew. Kinker had
seen it a few times, but he still thought this was awfully generous
of Malock.
    After that, it took only a few minutes for the
members of the expedition to hop into the rowboats, which were then
lowered into the sea. Kinker stood at the port with the rest of the
crew that was staying behind, watching as the expedition rowed to
the shore of the island and hoping they would be all right.
    -
    When the expedition got within a couple dozen yards
of Ikadori Island's shore, the rowboats got stuck in the shallow
waters, forcing the members of the expedition to get out of their
boats and haul them the rest of the way. The water was warm,
thankfully, but Malock still didn't like getting water in his
boots.
    As soon as they hauled their boats safely up the
shoreline, Malock was glad he had chosen to wear his hunting
jacket, rather than his boat cloak. Sand clung to his boots and
pants and the dark jungle ahead of them looked like it would snag
and tear the clothes of anyone who tried to enter. It was not an
inviting-looking place.
    Nonetheless, actually setting foot on the sand was
wonderful. He had not realized how used he was to the constant
motion of the Iron Wind until he found himself unable to
stand straight for more than a few seconds on the sand. The other
sailors also had a hard time adjusting to the stability, one of
them even falling flat on his bum, like he was dizzy.
    Despite that, Malock felt far more at home on the
sandy beach of the island than he did on the deck of the Iron
Wind . Unlike the rest of his crew, Malock wasn't a sea dog. He
had never been much interested in the sea until he received his
vision from Kano. A part of him wondered if that was why he had
lost the entire fleet besides the Iron Wind , but he ignored
that and put it down to bad luck instead.
    Malock unsheathed his sword and said to his men,
“All right, men, we're going to mostly skim the treeline and shore.
Don't let your guard down and if anything attacks you, shoot or
stab it.”
    The sailors all checked their guns and swords.
Malock wasn't sure how well the guns would work, as this was the
first time they had ever needed to use them on the voyage, but he
had taken special care to