User:JohnB/The Book and the stone 3

Leaving for Good

The journey from Ald'ruhn to Ebonheart then over the sea to Cyrodiil gave Asantus a whole new perspective on the outside world.

Once they were ensconced in a lodging in the Imperial City, Master Cyreril took the boy to a haberdasher and had him decked out in exquisite shirt, pants, and shoes, saying the expense was like a rental fee for the power that was to be taken from the stone. The boy had no objection to that as long as nobody deprived him of his precious gift from the sky, but he had no idea what was being rented.

The two presented themselves at the Guild of Merchants, and the merchants asked the boy good-naturedly what it was he had come to show them. He showed what the stone can do with a needle. Their reaction was swift and uproarious. They reassured the boy that they didn't need the stone itself, only the power that it contained.

"What are you talking about?!" Asantus exclaimed in exasperation.

Master Cyreril and the merchants looked at each other realizing for the first time that the boy was totally ignorant of the power that resided in his stone.

"Is this the needle you have been using all along?" a senior member asked him.

"That it is."   The senior member asked for another fine needle to be brought. Then he gently touched Asantus's needle to the new needle and lifted it slowly. The new needle hung suspended from the Asantus's needle.

At first, Asantus looked thoroughly flummoxed.

"Yet another needle trick," he responded getting irritated.

"The points I'm trying to make," the senior member added, "is, first, that this power is transferable and, second, that you can magnetize as many needles as you want, and the power will be the same for each."

A bowl of water and a cork were called for. The senior merchant placed Asantus's needle on the cork and placed the cork on the surface of the water.

"We have known about this from ancient lore, but actually to see it in practice is something I thought I would never live to see. The needle is pointing north, and will always point north," he said turning the bowl this way and that to show the needle always pointing in the same direction.

"And this, boy," he continued, "is what will help our expedition to the land beyond the horizon as shown in the map that was recently discovered."

Of course, to maintain that the whole expedition hinged on a magnetized needle would be a gross exaggeration. Tamriel was a very large land mass, so sailing among the various ports therein required a good knowledge of navigation instruments such as the astrolabe, the sand glass, and the plumb line, one to establish how far north of the Equator the ship was located, the next to estimate the distance traveled, and the third to avoid entering water that was too shallow.

When it came to coastal port-hopping, dead reckoning by following prominent landmarks was quite sufficient, but when it came to sailing on vast expanses of ocean, it was crucial to know how far north or south of the equator the ship and ventured. The angle of the sun had to be measured at high noon within a right angle formed by the zenith and the southern horizon, or alternately the northern horizon, and this was done with the astrolabe.

(The seated navigator is using an astrolabe to check the angle of the sun. The standing navigator is using the cross-staff to check the angle of the North Star. The superscript in German reads: "Was hilfft der wechter in der statt / Den geweltigen schiff im meer sein fart / So sie Gott beyde nicht bewart?" I take this to mean: "What helps the watchman in the town / The worldly ship in sea its voyage / if God didn't protect both?")

The Recruit

In the mean time, a recruitment table was set up in the Imperial Capitol to sign up any able-bodied sailor who wanted to help verify the contents of the Bethamez map. Of course, there weren't many, so they had to crank up the hype and make all sorts of outlandish promises.

A High Elf approached the table and asked to sign up as a rookie seaman. The recruiter looked him up and down. He was wearing a scholar's robe, and he didn't have much speck on his bones. Experience, none. Previous employment, would rather not say.

"Look," the recruiter said exasperated, "we need guys who can eat wormy hardtack when they're hungry and endure the lash when they've done wrong! Why should we take a wuss like you?!"

"I'm the one who discovered the map, so I have a vested interest in this venture. I understand you're taking on a 14-year-old boy who also gave you a hand."

The recruiter rubbed his stubbly chin as his eyes narrowed.

"I heard the fellow who discovered the map has gone stark-raving mad," he said.

"Ah, Peragon the Paragon--poor blighter! I told him so. You see, lying doesn't come easily to some people."

"Well... as we're running behind in our quota, I guess you'll do as well as any other."

"By the way," the High Elf said as he picked up the quill to sign, "this is only a one-way voyage for me."

"Running from the law?"

"Yes and no. I do have a small price on my head, but there is a past lifestyle I want to be as far away from as I can, even if it means going to the opposite side of the world."

"As you wish."

The High Elf signed "Aldaril Mapfinder" on the ship's roll.