Commander Teasdale In the Dragonlands, page 4
Well he would continue to protect her as long as she would have him. In the meantime, as an Amulet Wizard who had over the years become quite skilled, he was deeply interested in the townhouse. He finished his breakfast and set out to examine the place.
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The little alcove that held the model townhouse would not open to him, which was disappointing but not really surprising.
The garden was interesting with its shelves of growth medium and the lights above them that encouraged the plants to grow. So were the other rooms. He finally reached the small temple. It was a circular room with shrines to each of the twelve gods of the good pantheon, but no god was given prominence.
That was a little strange because usually a temple was dedicated to one god with the shrines to the other gods all a bit smaller. Or often enough a lot smaller.
Then he remembered what Teasdale had said about the "not a god," who had aged the magical doorway that produced Tensy's townhouse. Elbert John Corninth had developed the townhouse as a combination of book and amulet wizardry. But that was because Elbert was an arrogant arse who didn't want amulet wizards to be able to create it.
But there was no inherent reason that the spell to invoke the townhouse couldn't be put into an item, say for instance the model.
The problem was that such a model would have to be aged for years to hold the spell or more likely the suit of interlocking spells.
He examined the shrine. What had Tensy said about the "not a god"? "She's not exactly a god. In fact she's an intercessor of Justain." That was it or close to it anyway. He went to the shrine to Justain and behind it there was an image of an orc woman. He touched the image.
Location: Fort Research
Time: 16:50, 2 Wovoro, 1272
Kaggluk was cleaning her gear. The platoon had finished a ten mile hike and her uniform had gotten dirty and sweaty. Orcs didn't sweat the same way humans did but they did sweat.
She could have gone into her townhouse to have the clothes cleaned but she chose to do it herself. Suddenly she was aware of a presence in her townhouse and for just a moment she was terrified. But then she realized that they weren't actually in "her" townhouse, they were in Tensy's townhouse. Knocking at her door so to speak.
Kaggluk slipped out of her body into the place in the spirit world where her home was located.
Years ago, she had been a Bargainer to an orc god. Then her tribe lost a war. She was forced to flee and had reached the human lands. In exchange for sanctuary, she swore before Justain that she would give up human sacrifice.
Kaggluk didn't pretend to be nice, but she was honorable. If she gave her oath she kept it. The god of her tribe had not approved of her oath, and didn't want her keeping it. So when she had opened herself to the god it had tried to eat her.
It would have too, but she called on Justain and the god of Law and Justice had saved her. Justain had so weakened the god of her tribe that when it had made a final desperate attempt to eat her she had eaten it instead.
Its place, which had become her place, was still a horror and every time she opened herself to Justain she found herself in that horror of a place.
She had continued to pray to Justain and follow his rules but had not opened to him, less she be called into her previous gods home.
Then Peter Banyan had taught her how to change the place in the nether world into a different place. A comfortable place with orc-berry beer and good food and rest. Finally she had been able to open herself to Justain and in her place in the nether world she could even get whatever spells Justain gave her.
Kaggluk now had a place in the spirit world and even more, she had a place where she belonged in the human world. She had friends, humans, orcs, and even an elf. She felt she owed Chips, Tensy, and Peter for that. So when Chips had asked her to age some magical items she'd been willing, but it had taken Peter and consulting with the gods to figure out how to do it.
Now Kaggluk could age magical items and would do so for her friends. But in consulting with the gods about aging the things she'd been informed that she should ask for something in exchange, a temple in the case of Tensy's Townhouse.
Peter, Chips and Tensy had agreed and modified the model that acted as a guide in forming the wizards townhouse. But Kaggluk wasn't a god and didn't want to be one. So she'd insisted it be a temple to all the good gods. With just a doorway to her townhouse, located behind the shrine to Justain. Now someone was at that doorway.
Kaggluk was not an original thinker. It had never occurred to Kaggluk that she could change her place in the spirit world, until Peter had suggested it. After Peter had shown her how to make her place in the spirit world comfortable, it didn't occur to Kaggluk to make any other changes. Others had suggested a shrine to Justain but it was Justain that had made the temple. Which was as large as the rest of her townhouse. Her place in the netherworld was still based on Elbert John Corninth's wizard's townhouse.
Kaggluk aged a magical item the same way she healed someone or cooked a stew. To heal someone she took the wounded person into her townhouse, healed them there, then willed the real person to match the person in her townhouse. To fix a stew she took the fixings into her townhouse, and had the servants fix the stew. Then she willed the real world fixings to match the prepared stew. To age the door to Tensy's Townhouse she took the door into her townhouse, put it in a room where a year passed for every day in the real world and left it there for a couple of weeks, then she willed the real world door to match it.
When she was healing someone or fixing the stew, the person in the real world was frozen in place till they returned from her place in the other world. In the case of a stew the stew disappeared from her townhouse as soon as she made the real world match. Though she could call the stew up at will. In the case of magic items that she aged she kept a copy of the item in her townhouse, usually in the wizard's library. It seemed the appropriate place. In the case of the townhouse that left her with a doorframe that was a copy of Tensy's doorframe. So she had one of the servants install it in the Wizards Library in her townhouse. Aging the model of Tensy's Townhouse she ended up with a copy of the model. She knew where it belonged. It belonged in an alcove in Tensy's townhouse, so she put it there. It didn't occur to her that since the spell had not been cast there wouldn't be a townhouse there. When she went through the door she was in a copy of Tensy's Townhouse in her place in the spirit world. She hadn't planned it that way but her door into Tensy's townhouse came out in the temple of Tensy's townhouse behind the shrine to Justain. She placed the model in the alcove where it belonged and went back.
Now there was someone in Tensy's townhouse knocking on her door. She stepped through the door and found herself in her copy of Tensy's townhouse. It was different though, along with the servants there were people. The human who had touched her image—knocked on her door—was there, still looking at the image of her and not seeing her.
After a moment she decided she preferred it that way. She wandered around the townhouse. Everything seemed to be in order. She went back to the image of her behind the shrine to Justain and noted in passing, that the human who had touched her image was gone. He hadn't called her anyway, he'd just touched her image. She stepped back into her place then back into her body. She didn't mention it to anyone, it didn't seem important.
Location: The Duke Aragorn, Londinium Harbor
Time: 15:53, 5 Wovoro, 1272
Tensy had yet to have a watch scheduled. It was a surprise, she'd expected Barnes to have her on watch the first day. She was the senior Lieutenant of the Port Watch but the Duke had seven lieutenants, for two watches, port and starboard. That meant that the lieutenants had days off watch when they could do their other jobs, taking care of the parts of the crew under their direct supervision, the sails, guns, or stores, that were their direct responsibility. For the first two days it might have been that he'd just added her to the rotation. But on the third day it was fourth officer Lieutenant Dan Ramore again and yesterday it was sixth officer Lieutenant Katelyn Walker. It was time, Tensy decided, to see Mister Barnes. She got up, the servant helped her with her uniform and she left the townhouse. She continued to worry about the matter as she climbed the ladders taking her up through the lower and middle gun deck.
The First Officer, Lieutenant Barnes, didn't stand watch. That was standard in the Kingdom Navy. He performed most of the administrative functions of the ship. But that wasn't true of the second officer. Tensy should have been scheduled for a watch by now. Tensy had also not been assigned as the officer in charge of guns or sails during combat. Nor in fact any duties aside from the Captain assigning the officers of the Port Watch to reside in her townhouse.
She had spent the days since she'd come aboard bringing in the water, the additional foods and drink, and making sure that the garden was planted.
Aside from Lieutenant Ramore the fourth officer and Lieutenant Harris the sixth officer, Midshipmen Robert Carter, Andrew Johnson, Katelyn Walker, David Cooper, and three others there were also fifteen petty officers she was asked to find room for. Mostly carpenters' mates, and sail makers' mates.
She offered Master George Brisbane, the purple room and he accepted. She also offered Mister Brown the ship's carpenter, the amber room and he accepted, Kevin Kilpatrick the boatswain had declined politely, almost nervously which was strange, she remembered Kilpatrick as anything but nervous.
The ward-room was on the upper gun deck just below the Captain's Cabin. She noted the ballistas—huge crossbows loaded and fired by a crew of men. Not only did the Duke Aragorn not have gimbals, it didn't have cannon.
She got to the wardroom which seemed rather empty with so many of the officers and warrant officers quartered in the townhouse.
She knocked on Lieutenant Barnes' door and was answered by a sharp "Come."
She went in and Barnes looked up. "Oh. It's you. What do you want, lieutenant?"
With an internal shrug she decided to meet rudeness with bluntness. "To know why I have not been assigned a position on the watch schedule, or, for that matter, any other duties."
"What? Didn't you know?" Barnes asked, surprised. "Your friend the captain has informed me that I am not to assign you any duties."
"No sir. I was not aware of any such order." Tensy said. "Did the captain give a reason?"
"Do you think that's any of your business Teasdale?"
"Considering it affects my duties on this ship, and the morale and efficiency of the officers on this ship, yes I do. However, if you would rather not speak about it, I will of course respect that." She waited a beat and saw a little half smile on Barnes' face before adding. "I will ask Captain Tucker directly."
The smile died and Barnes stared at her resentfully for a moment before saying. "Sit down Lieutenant."
Once she was seated he said. "The captain informed me that he could not trust me to keep my sadism in check."
That almost made sense. Barnes had been the one quietly urging Applerite on as he attempted to break Tensy. The problem was, that left Tensy as a privileged person with no duties or responsibilities, which would corrode the morale of the ship over time. At the same time, since Tensy wouldn't be given any duties to perform, she couldn't demonstrate to the crew that she was capable of performing those duties.
It would, in the long run, damage the functioning of the ship. Make Barnes look weak and ineffectual and make Tensy seem ineffectual and privileged.
Captain Tucker was a subtle player of the game of naval politics. However he was so busy being clever about the game that he forgot its goal. To have ships of war at sea and ready to fight. Of course Tensy couldn't say any of that. Certainly not to Barnes. Though she was certain that Barnes would agree. The question was what could she do about it?
She sat and thought and Barnes demanded "Well Teasdale is your curiosity satisfied."
"Did the captain's orders preclude me from assigning myself duties?" Tensy asked.
"What? What are you talking about? All the captain said was that I wasn't to assign you any duties."
"Lieutenant Barnes, if you were free to assign me duties what would they be?"
He looked at her for a long moment. Then said "I'd have you cleaning the hold with a toothbrush. The captain wasn't wrong."
Tensy looked at him in surprise. She hadn't expected that degree of honesty or for that matter that degree of self awareness from Barnes. "No he wasn't," Tensy agreed, "but he wasn't right either. If it wasn't me who had just been assigned to the Duke. If it was a hypothetical Lieutenant Joe Smith. He'd served on a frigate, been given an independent command, excelled at that command and had won a major prize. What duties would you assign Joe Smith?"
"What are. . . No never mind. Alright I will play along. In that case I would assign him to the port rotation before Raymore and after Harris. I would also watch him in case he was just a lucky fool."
"Good enough sir. With your permission, and only with your permission, I will assign myself as officer of the watch on the next port watch."
For the next hour they discussed the skills of Lieutenant Joe Smith determined his level of skill at the various duties of a naval lieutenant. Tensy was familiar with cannon but not with the ballistas the Duke Aragorn carried. She was familiar with setting and rigging sail but on a frigate not a ship of the line. She was familiar with leading men, well orcs, in combat but the marines had their own officers.
Finally in consultation with Lieutenant Barnes she assigned herself to the mizzenmast.
Location: The Duke Aragorn, Londinium Harbor
Time: 16:34 PM, 6 Wovoro, 1272
Captain Tucker saw Tensy standing watch and went to see what was going on.
He knocked, he was always polite. As soon as he entered Barnes stood.
Nathan Tucker carefully closed the door before speaking. "I gave you an order, Mister Barnes. What is Teasdale doing standing watch?"
"She assigned it to herself sir." Barnes said.
"What? Since when do officers assign themselves duties."
"Yesterday Lieutenant Teasdale came to me to determine why she had not been assigned any duties on board the ship. I explained your orders."
"That had to have been fun for you Barnes." Nathan said.
"No sir." Barnes said.
Nathan laughed.
"At that point she asked me what duties I would assign her were I allowed to do so."
"Go on." This was fascinating.
"Lieutenant Teasdale didn't choose to assign herself to scrub out the hold with her toothbrush. Instead she asked what duties I would assign a hypothetical Lieutenant Joe Smith" Barnes repeated the whole conversation and the duties that, after consulting with First Lieutenant Barnes, she assigned herself.
Nathan hadn't been expecting this. He'd expected her to sit in her townhouse playing with her magical gadgets while Barnes went nuts.
This was a little frightening. It sent his mind back to the Captain's Mast where she had almost ruined his career. She had more scope now and more friends in high places. Very high places.
He looked at Barnes. "Hortense Teasdale is a most dangerous young woman. Wouldn't you say?"
Barnes, looked back in consideration. "Yes sir, very dangerous. At the same time when she approached me about not having been assigned a watch she claimed that she was doing so for the good of the navy. I find that I believe her."
"She said the same thing when she almost trashed both our careers," Captain Tucker reminded Barnes. "Do you believe her about that time too?"
Barnes looked at Nathan Tucker for a long time then said. "Yes sir. That doesn't mean she was right, but I believe that she, at least in part, was acting for what she thought was the best good of the service."
That was the scariest thing about all this. The good of the service was Barnes' justification for everything he did. Keeping women out of the Kingdom Navy. The sadism that "broke men to the navy" all justified as being for the good of the service. He really believed it. In part that belief was self-serving but it was real all the same. If Teasdale was acting for the good of the service she "wasn't" the enemy. "Has Lieutenant Teasdale made another convert? Are you now a fan."
"No sir." Barnes said. "Teasdale is mistaken. Her way leads to a weak Navy. One that will lose battle after battle as the seamen fear death at the hands of the enemy, more than they fear their officers."
Captain Nathan Tucker basically agreed with that, though Teasdale didn't seem to be afraid of either the enemy or her officers.
Location: The Duke Aragorn, Londinium Harbor
Time: 08:13, 7 Wovoro, 1272
Ronald Foster wasn't happy. He'd been in sickbay for the last two weeks during which he'd lost fifteen pounds. The surgeon, Barbara Monte, was a new woman who'd arrived after the trial. Ronald Foster measured his life in terms of before and after the trial. The trial was the trial of Pete the Cudgel Banyon. The trial in which Tensy Teasdale had said under oath that Mister Midshipman Carlton Applerite was trying to rape her and that the captain and officers knew it. Before the trial the Duke Aragorn was a preferred posting for a young lieutenant. After the trial it was a dead end and Ronald had lacked the connections to get transferred.
Now Teasdale was back and not only had she gone from midshipman to lieutenant she was now senior to him. She, not he, was the new second officer on the Duke Aragorn.
