Jerome’s Mother

Hildred and Harald pulled up the anchor, the clink and clank of heavy metal rising until it was out of the water. Two dozen oars almost immediately slammed into the deep as The Whisper left the pier. Jerome was at the stern, waving and talking loudly. Then yelling as they slowly ambled away from the pier to the sea walls.

It didn't take long before they passed the centerpiece, a tower where they were waved along by the guards. Soon the village of Azura started shrinking. The icy blue waters surrounding them completely.

"We left far too late." Hildred said, being given a dense fur poncho, her biceps open to the cool air.

"We must be careful of being seen as spies so leaving with reason is important." Said Haralrd.

"I've made sure, the Head has been spoken to, we have left a few sympathetic comrades willing to maintain our image."

"And our boys' testimony?"

"I have passed to the Head, Jerone's word directly. That's why it took so long."

Harald sighed and rubbed his eyes before nodding and walking away. Another dark-skinned woman took the helm. Her dark skin was very much broken, sections yellow and white, along with her long thick black hair holding patches of white.

There, on either side, were two dozen men and women on oars. Next to them their Golems humans shaped boulders pulling and pushing wide, large-finned oars that deep and pulled hard, with strength enough to cut The Whisper through the sea like a knife through butter.

"This is going to be an issue."

Hildred's gaze focused on the oarsmen.

"What's the worry?" Herald asked.

"We survived the storm, our lives hard fought. And upon our arrival, spent a week upon the harvest. Which takes a lot of us."

He pointed at their people, their Golems were all stone but the floor, at their feet, was layered in rock chips, like the litter of a marble sculpture. He bent low and scooped up the pieces and pressed them into his fist. He faced her again.

"Our Yana Kay has not recovered. We lose our strength. Along with the time we'll make."

"I accounted for that. Come." Hildred said with a smile.

They passed the oarsmen to the lower decks, passing a third row of oarsmen, but they consisted entirely of Golems and instead of oars they pulled on large, interconnected levers with gears leading down the ship, their movements slow and rhythmic.

The captain's cabin which was a wide wooden home with a desk, a bed and a large table that would've best suited a war room. A dozen maps lay open, weighed down by tiny stone figures, like chess pieces. Hildred sat at her desk, legs crossed and fingers steepled.

"Here's the simple truth of the matter. Were it up to me. We would have just taken the boy. It is a bridge worth burning. But as we are, though entirely possible to get some distance, we would need a guarantee as to our ability to get away. I believe we will be sent back to Azura to collect the boy anyway."

"And to exactly what harvest festival will we be returning to?" He asked with arms crossed.

She smiled, simply throwing her hands up in shrug, before she steepled her fingers mid stretch.

"We, believe our boy, they will not. Not with anything of this magnitude. Even I struggle. Were it any of our other boys. But Jerome, the least invested? What better messenger of the Gods. A second Golem, at the age ten! Individually a creature creation unseen by these peoples' eyes. The winds have tilted, the gods, still and steady as the forest have made a move. Change is good, but good for who?"