After they had ridden for perhaps thirty minutes Stannous reined in the horses and led them into a small copse beside the road, there he dismounted and helped Freder down.
“Let’s see what the Hand have in the way of provisions.” He commented with a slight smile and began to pull the saddlebags off the horses and throw them into a heap.
“Quickly now Freder, any food, maps or useful items, put them on one side.” He directed.
Freder tipped out the contents and rifled through them finding several packages of bread and cheese, one bottle of wine and various small packets of sweets. These he replaced in one set of saddlebags, then rummaged through the remaining items, mainly clothing, gloves and the like. One bag was almost totally taken up by a rather fine cloak with the red hand emblem embroidered upon it, he was about to stamp his muddy boot down on this when Stannous grabbed his shoulder.
“Whoa ! I know how you feel, but that is excellent camouflage for us, see if there is a cap that goes with it.”
He found three, which he placed on the cloak for Stannous to try for size. The last items were all tools of the Hands trade, cheap aumeters and tough rawhide bindings, these Stannous indicated he should either break or throw into the scrub. Meanwhile Stannous had loosened off the fixings of all the saddles bar one, he fully intended to dispose of these along their route so that the Hand lost as much equipment as possible.
“Hmmm, not bad.” Stannous commented as he sorted through the items of clothing that Freder had put to one side and selected a pair of stout leather gauntlets to go with the cap and cloak.
“Let’s be off then.” He said hefting Freder back up into the saddle and mounting behind him. “If we meet anyone on the road I’ll wrap the cloak around you Freder, nobody will think to challenge us save a member of the Hand.”
“What about the rest of the horses ?”
“We’ll find a nice quiet field off the main road and let them graze.” Stannous winked.
The saddles disappeared into the first river they crossed and floated away from view around a bend, the horses were let loose into a meadow some miles further on where there were several others already grazing.
Now they were free of encumbrances Stannous set their mount to a steady canter away from the moors and towards the coast and the welcome prospect of escape across the sea. They passed a few farmers and other riders, all of whom showed due respect for the ‘Hand’ but showed no signs of wanting to indulge in conversation. Under the ‘cloak of respectability’ they rode through villages and hamlets arousing only a few curious glances that were quickly averted when Stannous turned to stare them down. The most alarming moment came in a market town where a traction engine towing a heavy boiler towards a distant harbour was causing mayhem amongst the horses it passed. Stannous seemed to have a few tricky moments when their mount got skittish but then deployed his aura as he had with the dog and overcame the horses disquiet enough to direct it away down a sidestreet until the engine had disappeared. Taking the time to consult a plundered map, Stannous took one of the minor roads out of the town with the intention of finding one of the small fishing villages. On this road there was hardy any traffic and the lank grasses were starting to encroach upon the hardtop, their mount showed considerable interest in their green shoots.
“Let’s take our good companions advice and stop for a bite to eat.” Stannous said in a light tone as the horse came to a stop and began to feed. “We are far enough from the town I should think.” He paused and let his eyes defocus as he swept the surrounding land with his sight. “Yes not a soul for at least two miles and they’re going away from us.”
He dismounted and helped Freder down. Both were glad to be on the ground again as neither had much experience of riding and their bottoms were definitely aware of it. Stannous took off the cloak and set it on the verge for them to sit upon, then handed Freder some of the provisions. They ate for a while in silence.
“You told me some very strange things just before we broke out of the Stone Freder. Tell me more of where you live.”
“You didn’t believe me before, why should you now ?” Freder answered him sullenly, he hadn’t forgotten Stannous manner at the time.
“That was before I got to know you a bit better my young friend, please, tell me.”
Freder looked at his companion, he supposed that they were friends of a sort, certainly companions of circumstance.
“Okay, what do you want to hear about ?”
“We, let’s start with galvanism, what did you call it ?”
“Electricity.”
“Electricity, yes that.”
“We use it to power things, lights, trains, the machines in factories, lots of things.”
“Does it look like lightning in your homeland ?”
“My home.” Freder said softly, feeling the awful isolation of that simple statement before he answered aloud “You can’t see electricity, it’s moved along wires.”
“What are they made of ?”
“Copper I think.”
“Mmmm.” Stannous nodded. “Go on.”
“We have a network of really big wires that takes the electricity from the power stations to the towns and cities, they buzz in wet weather, Dad says it’s the electricity jumping between the wires.”
“Lots of wires then ?”
“Yes.”
“How many ?”
“I don’t know, Jo knows all this technical stuff, he’s really into it.”
“So you don’t know much about it really ?”
“It can kill you, people flying kites by the wires sometimes get electrocuted, bit like being struck by lightning.”
“Really ?” Stannous mused stroking his thick stubble. “Enough galvanism to kill, the Hand would give a pretty penny to learn that trick I think. So your electricity is dangerous.”
“Yes, and no. The mains electricity is dangerous but we have another type that comes from batteries, low voltage, it’s very safe and doesn’t hurt anyone.”
“Low voltage, what is voltage ?”
“I…I…” Freder began to stammer, he was uncomfortable with this rather intense questioning. “I…think it’s something like potential, yes potential difference.” He said recalling an article in a science mag Jo had lent him. “In an electrical circuit one conductor is at a higher potential than the other, that’s what causes the current to flow and drive the motor or light the bulb.” He said in a remembered rush. “The high voltage, uh, over 240 volts can kill you, but the low voltage 12 or 24 is safe.”
“You speak like a galvanist.” Stannous said somberly. “They say that their galvanism is safe, just good for a few pretty tricks but you say that electricity is like lightning, and you have electricity that can kill, like lightning.”
Freder nodded silently in the face of Stannous darkening mood.
“Yes indeed, the Hand would pay plenty for that and they have your brother Josef who knows much more than you do about electricity.” He surmised ominously.
Freder desperately wanted to hear about his brother but Stannous’ mood deterred him, or rather the changes in Stannous’ aura deterred him for he could see the same crimson flashes darting through the clear blue, just as when he had been subduing the members of the Hand who had come after them at the farmhouse. The silence between them resumed until they had finished eating and Stannous’ black mood had diminished.
“Why do the Hand want my brother ?” Freder asked quietly. “What are they doing to him ?”
Stannous sighed and looked across at him.
“As I said before Freder, they have provided him with fine living quarters and a laboratory filled with every device of a galvanic nature that they can lay hands upon. They bring leading members of the Society of Galvanists to talk with him and from what we hear he astonishes them with his knowledge. I can guess what the Hand want your brother for, they want his knowledge to build a weapon to use against us, maybe a lightning machine. That would be a rich irony, to be wiped out by our own most powerful weapon, lightning.”
“And they’re forcing him to help them ?”
Stannous shook his head.
“Hardly. He is by all accounts more than happy to help them.”
“But he wouldn’t help them to build a weapon to kill people with, he wouldn’t.” Freder insisted tearfully. “Not Jo.”
“The Hand are devious my young friend, they would lie to him about it’s purpose or who it would be used against. His intentions may indeed be pure but the result will be the same.” Stannous told him seriously but then smiled. “But we have you Freder, the first dark aura for two hundred years, stronger than any lightning machine I’ll wager.
Come on, we’d best be off, I want to get to Fletley by evening.”

Their horse seemed somewhat more cooperative after its meal and they made good time along the little winding road, arriving on the hillside above the little fishing village with about an hours daylight left. The sky was darkening from the west and the wind brought a wet tang upon its breath, it would rain soon.
“Time to change our appearance I think.” Stannous commented. “And sadly part company from our trusty beast of burden.”
Freder looked around at him in surprise.
“But we could sell it for money.”
“Ahhh, a couple of ragtags like ourselves selling a fine horse, that would attract some unwelcome interest from the local constabulary. No Freder we shall walk into Fletley as befits a couple of down on their luck travellers.”
The cloak and other items of purloined apparel were quietly stuffed into a gap in the hedge and the saddle dumped in a ditch. The only item they retained was the saddlebags and this Stannous aged with some mud and a rough stone so that the polished leather surface became dull and grubby.
“I think that will do.” Stannous said, holding up the bags for a final inspection. “Right, let’s step lively before that rain comes.”
They attracted stares as they walked down the main street that led to the little harbour but they were merely curiosity in an out of the way little village. They halted on the harbourside and Stannous let his sight rove over the motley assortment of fifteen little boats tied up alongside.
“There.” He murmured after a few moments. “The one with the red stripe around it’s funnel, that’s our ticket out of  Devoon.”
“Why this one Stannous ?” Freder enquired as they walked up the quay to it.
It was in poor shape with several rotted timbers and paint peeling from every surface, moreover as they neared it they could hear someone hitting metal with assorted muffled curses.
“Because they need us Freder, and a hungry man will ask fewer questions of us.”
“Ahoy the Star.” Stannous called down to the boat.
The curses stopped and a grizzled grey head poked up out of the hatch.
“What’s your business ?” The man asked them sourly around the pipe clamped in his teeth.
“A little mutual benefit, may we come aboard and discuss it, privately.” Stannous replied in a quiet voice.
The man looked up and down the quay where a few others were loitering, waiting for the tide.
“Come aboard then.” He gestured them and clambered out onto the deck.
No more was said until they were all seated around a small table in the little cabin below the wheelhouse.
“Benefit ye said.”
“Mutual benefit captain.” Stannous replied easily. “You are the ship’s master are you not  ?”
“Aye. And how are you going to pay me for passage then ?” He demanded gruffly. “Ye haven’t two pennies to y’re name I’ll warrant.”
“We will work our passage.” Stannous replied.
“How ? Ye’ve never worked a ship in y’re life, y’re hands tell me.”
“True, but I have worked metal all my life, and you need my kind of help captain.” Stannous said completely unfazed by the old mans surly manner.
“Aye, maybe I do.” He allowed reluctantly. “But ye don’t have the look of a mechanic.”
“A mechanic ?” Stannous laughed. “Captain, with the state your boiler is in you don’t need a mechanic, you need a magician.”
As he spoke Stannous lifted the hurricane lamp from its bracket and wafted it over to the table in front of the captains startled gaze with a gesture.
“And luckily for you, I happen to be just such a magician.”
The captain sat back in his chair, his eyes narrowing as he took in the information, these could be some of the escaped Sinisterres and there was a reward out for them.
“I think you’ll find that we are more valuable to you free and unmolested.” Stannous told him lightly. “The reward money certainly wouldn’t buy you a new ship.” He added in a more menacing tone. “And any captain foolish enough to deny the friendship of the Brotherhood of the Good Arm would certainly find himself, beached.”
The hurricane lamp began to slowly crumple in on itself so that the glass shattered suddenly in the heavy silence.
“So captain.” Stannous said mildly and regained the others immediate attention. “Do you want our friendship and help, or shall I take it elsewhere ?”
The captains eyes swivelled to the partly crushed lamp then back to Stannous and then onto Freder.
“The boy can find you fish when none are to be had.” Stannous said. “He’s a seer.”
The captains eyebrows raised, he badly needed to get to sea again and a seer to find a rich harvest would indeed be a good payment.
“Agreed.” He said abruptly and thrust his left hand across the table.
Stannous accepted the gesture and gripped his forearm firmly.
“Show me the boiler captain.” Stannous said with clear authority, he did not want to remain here.
“This way master.” The captain said with a certain diffidence, now their bargain had been struck.
In the cramped engine room Stannous ran his left hand over the outer casing of the boiler while his sight peered into its hidden interior.
“Not good captain.” He said after a minute. “Two tubes are beyond repair, best that we cap them off, six need some rebuilding where they meet the firebox but I can do that. But the worst is a joint in the firebox crown, its badly corroded, fit to burst if you steam it now.”
The captains face fell. The tubes weren’t serious but a failing joint, he couldn’t afford a boiler rebuild in his present circumstances.
“Have faith.” Stannous told him. “Faith and some iron for me to work with. We need to drain the boiler so I can place the iron correctly.”
The captain snapped out of his gloom and set to work with a huge spanner to start unscrewing a big drain plug. Within a few minutes a torrent of truly filthy water was gushing from the boiler and swilling around under it.
“The boy could make himself useful on the pump.” The captain growled and pointed at a distant handle.
Stannous nodded to Freder who reluctantly crossed to it and began to push and pull the grimy wooden handle to send the foul bilge water cascading out into the harbour. He wished he knew how Stannous had made the lamp move, then he could make this pump do all the work instead of having to sweat it himself. As he pumped he kept his attention upon Stannous as the captain removed an inspection port and placed a lump of iron bar into the firebox. There was a sequence of clanks from inside the firebox as Stannous levitated the bar up to the offending joint, causally knocking it into several stays along the way and causing the captain to jump in surprise. Freder smiled when he saw that Stannous was playing with the man, he could have avoided the stays but the noise made for a better performance.
Now Freder let his mindseye free and watched as Stannous sought out the nearest energy stream, the frothing river that tumbled down the hillside into the little bay through the harbour, and brought some of the energy to bear upon the obdurate iron. Part of the flow held the bar in place whilst the rest coursed through it like silver fire and began to heat it until it shone like a bar of captured sunshine in his sight. Now Stannous began to work the metal, welding the bar to the wasted metal of the firebox, displacing the old rust in a shower of bright sparks so that the joint was completely renovated. Indeed this would be the last part of the boiler to fail now. Stannous removed his hand from above the hot metal and looked over at the captain.
“I believe you were plugging the failed tubes, don’t let me stop you. I’ll attend to the six others now.”
“Aye.” The man agreed with a growl and picked up the big lump hammer to crawl back into the smokebox.
“You can stop pumping Freder.” Stannous said causing him to jump. “Enjoy the show ?”
“That was amazing, you channelled all that energy into the iron.”
“Brute force Freder, hardly worthy of a master. The tubes now, they require finesse. Watch closely.”
He returned to the boiler where the captain was hammering and swearing in roughly equal measure, almost cursing the iron into position. Stannous once more summoned a sparkling stream of energy from the river but this time he used it with surgical precision, peeling slivers of the tube where it still had sufficient metal and then moving them to the severely wasted area around the tubeplate and wrapping them around the joint like bandaids. Each new sliver was heated and welded into position so that the temperature inside the smokebox rose steadily causing the captain to curse even more volubly, especially when he touched the hot metal. Finally he emerged, soot blackened and irritable and looked at Stannous who was still clean and had not a bead of sweat on him.
“There’s the firebox plugs to secure.” He said grumpily.
Stannous held out his hand to pull them off the work bench, then sent them serenely cruising around the boiler to the open firebox door and rammed them home in two mighty bangs. As a final measure he gripped each plug in an irresistible fist of force and squeezed them to spread them into the hole completely plugging them, even against the fierce pressure they would soon endure.

“High tide is in about four hours isn’t it ?” Stannous enquired.
“Aye.” The captain confirmed suspiciously.
“Then we should be able to sail upon it, and I should very much like to sail then captain.” Stannous said calmly and levitated the drain plug and inspection port over to the mans feet to impress upon him the urgency.
“We’ll have barely enough pressure to make any headway.” The captain protested, the boiler was stone cold and would take hours to heat up.
“Faith captain, faith.” Stannous said with smile. “Shall I go and summon your crew aboard ?”
The captain was effectively railroaded into agreeing, and told Stannous who the two men were and where they could be found, the tavern.
“Stay aboard.” Stannous told Freder. “Keep out of sight. I may have our captain under control but there’s many an unfriendly eye about even in a place like this. I could pass for a local with this,” He commented scratching his stubble. “but you are clearly not.”
Freder nodded his understanding.
“Stannous.” He called as his companion started up the dockside ladder. “I don’t know how to find fish.”
“Oh but you do my young friend, just cast your sight into the water.” Stannous replied with a hairy smile and then rapidly ascended the ladder and strode away down the quay.
Retiring to the cabin Freder set the chant circling in his mind and let his sight expand out beyond the wooden walls and plunge down into the water. It was not like dipping into the rich energy of a fast flowing river, here the currents couldn’t supply that silver sparkling energy for they were slow and massive. But all around him little flashes spoke of the energy of life from tiny prawns and crabs to much bigger fish flashing through the water after their prey. He was so wrapt in his contemplation of the scene that his mindseye revealed, that he did not register the captain leaving the boat and heading down the quay away from the tavern.
Stannous returned after about half an hour with what looked to be flecks of beer about his mouth on his stubble and two men in tow. The first was old looking, skin like a baked piece of parchment, heavy shoulders hunched as though bearing a continuous load, and heavy scarred hands. The second was a teenager but he already was showing the patina of accelerated aging from working long and hard in sun and sea salt, his shoulders to had a bowed aspect but his fair hair had yet to turn to the greying matt of his older companion.
“This is Peter and Drew.” Stannous introduced them to Freder. “My cousin Stanley.” He waved towards him with a conspiratorial wink.
“Hello.” Freder said as he endured the pairs scrutiny.
“Well shall we see how your captain is progressing ?” Stannous enquired and led them out of the cabin with Freder trailing behind. They all descended into the gloom and Stannous called out.
“Captain ?” Then turned about to face Freder. “Where is he ?” He demanded.
“I…I don’t know.”
“Found ‘em eh ?” A familiar voice sounded down from the quayside.
Stannous pushed past them all to get back on deck and confront the man as he stepped back onto the deck.
“Where have you been captain ?” He asked calmly but his aura full of repressed threat.
“Harbourmaster, I have to tell him I’m due out or I’ll still be paying fees. We have a bargain master and we’ve shaken on’t.”
“So we do captain.” Stannous replied looking for signs of deceit in the others aura.
“Look sharp lads, we’ve the tide to catch. Get the boiler filled and set a fire going, the master here is in a hurry.”
The two men looked at Stannous dubiously, they knew that it would take the best part of four hours to get a decent head of steam and the tide would be falling away rapidly and leaving them stranded in this little silted up harbour.
“The master will lend a hand when y’ve set the fire lads.”
“Aye sir.” The older replied and led the other below deck again.
Back in the cabin the captain pulled a well used chart from its rack and spread it upon the table.
“So lad, where do I go to find my fish ?” He asked Freder directly.
“I…I…I.” Freder stammered into silence in the face of the question.
“It doesn’t work that way captain.” Stannous said easily. “We must be clear of land and then Stanley will be able to find the shoals you desire. He’ll point which way and when to drop the nets, you can put that away.”
The captain didn’t look that convinced but rolled up the chart and went to see how his crew were getting on.
“What’s up Freder ?” Stannous enquired softly. “You’ve got the ability and more besides, why do you get so nervous at such a little challenge ?”
“It…it’s hard for me to have such confidence.” He admitted. “At home I’m looked at as being useless, useless at school work, useless at football, just useless.” He concluded miserably.
Stannous shook his head and reached over to warmly grip him by the shoulders, looking him in the eye.
“You couldn’t be more wrong about your abilities Freder. I have sighted you and seen you reach to energy streams that I can barely see. You think all that I do is so great, but it’s small beer beside what you will achieve. Have faith in yourself, faith and a little patience while you learn. You’ll be a master Freder and Master Supreme if I’m any judge of talents.” He paused to smile broadly. “And I am a very good judge of talents Freder.”
Freder smiled back, it felt good to be told by a man of such obvious ability as Stannous that he, Freder Adams, was to achieve great things.
“That’s the spirit.” Stannous said resting a firm left hand upon his shoulder. “Come on, let’s light a fire under these fisherfolk.”
A fire of kindling was crackling in the firebox as the youth placed a few coals into it with a well practiced toss, a full fire was still sometime away. He eyed Stannous as he strode up to the cold boiler and placed his hands on the firebox crown and the main boiler.
“Keep stoking.” Stannous said and let his aura channel in the energies from the river.
For long minutes there was only the crackling of wood and a few wisps of smoke curling about the smokebox door where the seal was poor, then the youth let out a small yelp of excitement.
“It move’.” He exclaimed pointing at the steam pressure gauge.
The older man Peter came around to look at the gauge and tap it with a sceptical knuckle, but his eyes widened.
“I’ll be.” He breathed. “She’s got 5 pounds on the clock.”
He ducked down to look into the firebox where a few coals were beginning to glow, then looked back at the gauge and saw that it was passing 6 pounds. Quickly he threw in some more coals and cautiously cracked open the blower valve, a distinct low roar filled the chimney as steam vented up it and drew the fire up brightly.
Stannous didn’t look at them, he held his hands away from the hot metal now, but his concentration didn’t falter and the energies flowed through the metal to further heat the water.
The blower now took on a deep healthy roar as the gauge passed 25 pounds pressure and the fire was glowing a bright red, hungrily devouring the coals that the youth Drew fed into it.
“50 pounds.” He announced in astonishment as Stannous took his hands away completely and smiled smugly at the incredulous captain.
“I think we can get under way any time that you are ready captain.” He announced and gathering up Freder, left the three men to marvel at his handiwork.

It still took time to prepare to go to sea and Stannous chafed whilst the men were about their work. His impatience was fuelled by the sight of two other boats casting off and swinging away into the rainy night past the solitary lantern marking the end of the breakwater. Finally the captain called for Peter to cast off and cautiously moved the telegraph to Ahead Slow. Down below Drew opened the steam valve and the little engine clanked and hissed into life, propelling The Star away from the dockside; Stannous finally ceased his pacing of the little cabin and stared out of the porthole as Fletley began to diminish into the night. Once they were clear of the harbour the captain called them up to the bridge.
“So lad, which way do I sail ?” He asked Freder and this time he was ready to answer for he had seen the bright flashes of a shoal out in the inky waters.
“That way.” He pointed about twenty degrees to port.
“That’s the open channel.” The captain grumbled. “Never caught so much as a smolt out there.”
Freder kept his arm up and the man shrugged before turning the wheel and setting the telegraph to Ahead Full.
It was just as well that the wind was driving the intermittent rain against the glass of the wheelhouse with such force that it covered the noise of the hard worked engine, it’s slack bearings and worn pistons made a fearful row. They sailed for perhaps twentyfive minutes before Freder turned around.
“They’re just ahead.”
Stannous nodded when the captain looked across at him, this close he could detect the shoal, not big but a good starter catch.
“Peter !” The captain bawled out of the window against the wind and in the dim illumination of the two hurricane lamps they could see a dark oilskin clad figure set about getting the net over the side. At the same time he set the telegraph to Ahead Half and blew into the communicator tube.
“Yes captain ?” Came the muffled reply.
“On deck.”
A second figure emerged and together they rolled the net into the water and began to pay out the lines. Freder could feel the metal parts of the otter boards at the mouth of the net as they sank down to the sea bed and waved his arm to the left as the shoal responded to the disturbance. It didn’t take long for the boats speed to overtake the slower moving fish and after less than a quarter hour he turned round.
“Raise the net.”
“Wha, raise it now ?” The captain balked, this wasn’t how trawling was done.
“It’s either raise it or scrape the bottom for a few more crabs.” Stannous intervened. “You have all the fish in the net already.”
Still looking very dubious he opened the little window and bellowed out.
“Peter, up, up.” Waving his arm furiously when the other seemed reluctant to obey.
“There is a bigger shoal that way.” Freder announced pointing to starboard by ten degrees.
“Let’s land this ‘un first.” The captain muttered but Freder wasn’t listening, his mindseye was swirling through the murky channel waters as though they were clear glass and he could see shoals large and small everywhere around them. But he had in the back of his mind Stannous’ admonition to point out the fish that took them close to the Welsh coastline, thus getting them across the channel in the night so that the captain would opt to land the catch at dawn in a Welsh port.
It took sometime to winch in the net but the captain steered onto the new heading and got Drew to open the throttle as soon as the catch had been dropped onto the deck. The sight of the pile of flashing silver bodies twitching and thrashing was evidence enough for him that Freder could indeed point him towards the fish. The net was back in the water long before Drew and Peter could gut all the fish they had caught in the first trawl and this time the captain noticed the drag of the filling net as he steered in accordance with Freders arm motions, this was a big catch.
“Raise the net.”
The words were money to the captain’s ears and the sound of the little donkey engine labouring heavily in a rare break in the squally weather was an indication of how big the haul was. It was huge and the cascade of fish nearly swept Drew off his feet as he released the knot of the cod end. Peter’s delighted laugh echoed over the slap of the waves on The Stars weary hull timbers, there would be a rich bonus for the crew from this night’s work.
“Which way lad ?” The captain asked him eagerly, one more trawl and they would be loaded to the gunwhales with prime fish and enough time, even at The Stars pace, to make landfall in time for the dawn markets and the best prices.

“That way.” Freder now pointed thirty degrees to starboard.
The captains brow creased as he calculated where that would take them, through the shipping channel, but on a foul night like tonight nobody would be racing along it. He swung the wheel over and leaned out of the wheelhouse once more.
“Drew, engine !”
There was no hesitation in the youth, he knew the order meant they were off chasing another big shoal, he sheathed his knife and quickly made his way below decks to tend the fire and set the throttle to full. The engine clattered and hissed into a frenzy and still the boiler kept its pressure up now that the leaking tubes had been capped off, nothing was going to stop them getting a bumper haul tonight.
The journey after the next shoal was nearly an hour in length and the captain forsook the wheel to help his crew gut the great pile of fish that lay glistening on the aft deck.
“How are you feeling ?” Stannous enquired, it was now approaching midnight and it had been a long day.
“Tired.” Freder admitted.
“How much longer before we drop the net ?”
“Maybe twenty minutes.”
“Can you last it out ?”
“I think so. It would be nice to have a hot drink.”
“I’ll ask of the captain when he returns.”
Freder nodded and leant back against the cold wheelhouse wall and shut his eyes, just for a minute.
“Here.” Stannous said giving him a gentle shake and holding a steaming cup out to him.
“Oh. Uh, thanks.”
“You’ve had fifteen minutes shuteye.” Stannous told him with a grin as Freder took a sip of the hot brown liquid. “I told the captain it would sharpen you up.”
“It has.” Freder smiled and got to his feet. “That way.” He pointed to port ten degrees.
The captain took a swig from his own steaming mug and gave him a grizzled grin as he turned the wheel.
Freder had to hold onto the rail with his free hand as he drank, the sea had gotten rougher while he had slept and the rain was now slashing across the windows in sharp volleys, in the pitch blackness he couldn’t see a thing, but down below where his mindseye was roving it was clearer than day.
“Drop the net.” He called out over the noise of the rain and moments later heard the order bellowed aft.
Once more the slow pavane was played out between the net and the fish and partway through it Stannous excused himself for a catnap, he had had even less sleep than Freder and the nap easily slipped into a sleep. The rain pelted down, Drew and Peter were both below decks warming up in the engine room, there was just Freder and the fish, even the captain had slipped from his drowsy mind. The net was filled and he could barely keep himself from nodding off. Turning to tell the captain to raise the net his mouth opened and his eyes bulged while he pointed wordlessly to starboard.
“Hard to starboard ?” The captain queried but the answer he got was not verbal but a soundless scream in his head that might have been STANNOUS had it not been such an overpowering sensation. Roused from his comfortable sleep Stannous took a moment to orient himself, it couldn’t be the Hand out here on the sea, what then had so frightened Freder ? His aura expanded outwards and to his horror came up against a knife edge of iron bearing down upon them at great speed. He clawed his way up from the cabin on the tossing rain slick deck and rails and yelled out.
“Ship ! Ship to starboard !”
He came crashing through the door into the wheelhouse and bellowed into the captain’s startled face.
“Ship on collison course, cut the net away ! Cut it away !!”
With a full net and the cost of the net itself, the captain was not about to just abandon all that to the sea.
“How close ?” He demanded of Stannous, for he could see nothing of the approaching disaster through the black rain filled air.
“It’s almost on top of us ! Cut the net loose man !!”
Peter and Drew re-appeared from the engine room and their shouts added to the confusion as Stannous cast about to find an axe to cut the stout trawl ropes and the captain again demanded to know how close the ship was. Then came a glimmer of light through the darkness, a navigation light shone redly for a moment and then vanished behind more driving rain.
“Ship !” Peter yelled out pointing into the night and the awful sound of a hard keel parting the water could be heard above the wind and chattering rain.
The captain swung the wheel hard over to port but the wind was against them and the net dragged heavily through the water, The Star sluggishly began to turn aside but the other vessel kept coming straight and they could now make out its prow against the lights of its many portholes, it would cut them in two.

Freder stared at this huge mass of iron with his mindseye, paralysed by the sight of it, knowing that it was coming for him.
The shouting stopped as the four men saw their fate and knew there was nothing they could do to avert it.
In the hiatus a blackness darker than any night blossomed out, rays of painfully intense purple and sheets of mauve flashing into blue pierced the dark mantle. The water before the oncoming ship boiled and thrashed and something appeared, almost like a shadow seen from the corner of the eye and the ship struck it with a thunderous clang of iron. The huge hull reared up and rolled away as though off a reef and scraped its side with a long tortured scream along the near invisible monolith that stood immoveable in the broiling waves. At the last there was a splintering report as one screw and rudder gave way under the intolerable pressure and then it was over as the ship slid away from them into the concealing night with hooting of the siren and distant shouts of fear and consternation. On the Star there was only stunned silence and the steady chug of the exhaust in the chimney against the winds wail in the rigging and the clatter of raindrops on glass and metal. They had been saved, by a miracle they had been saved !
Stannous went to Freder who still stood in shocked immobility and gently gathered him up in his arms.
“Get the net up.” He said quietly over the shoulder. “We don’t want to be here when they return to look for wreckage.”
The captain nodded, he had been fishing in the shipping lane, an offence that could cost him his masters licence.
“Peter, Drew !” He yelled out of the still open door and gesticulated wildly for them to haul the net in.
It took long anxious minutes to wind in the ropes and then swing in the bulging net and dump its prodigious load onto the deck which couldn’t hold it all and many fish slipped back over the side into the water. No-one cared about the loss, they wanted to be far away from this spot and Drew went below to coax as much speed from their worn out engine as he could. The captain set a course for the south Welsh coast and kept the wind at his back to give them as much assistance as possible as they thrashed through the night as though the hordes of Hades were on their stern. Only after a long hour did he slacken off and let Drew help process their last and almost terminal catch.
Stannous had taken Freder below to the cabin and cradled him until he had fallen asleep in his arms, his face still pale from the ordeal.
“By the lords.” Stannous whispered to his sleeping charge. “I could not have believed it had I not witnessed it. The power. Awesome, awesome.”
Some time later the captain came down and sat down opposite him to regard him darkly.
“Will ye be telling me how we cheated old Neptune tonight master ?”
“A miracle captain.” Stannous said simply.
“A miracle, not you’re doin’ then ?”
“Not mine, no.” He shook his head and looked down at Freders sleeping face.
The captains eyes followed the motion and widened.
“Not…”
“A miracle captain, of wind and the waves.” Stannous told him with undeniable authority, he needed no tales of this night spreading.
“Aye master, the winds a powerful force when it’s blowin’ fitful.”
“Where will you land your catch ?” Stannous asked him pragmatically after a moments thoughtful quiet.
“We should be able to make Cartreff by dawn, we’ll get a good price there.”
“Good, good. I’ve got it in mind to catch the packet boat north.”
The captain thought for a moment.
“The Minerva should sail today. I’ve a cousin aboard who could get you passage if ye’ve a mind to work it.” He volunteered.
“I thank you captain. That would be most kind.”
“Unless ye’d stay on the Star, I’d cut ye in for a fifth of the profits.”
Stannous considered what he had just been offered, the deck hands would be lucky to get a tenth share of the profits, it was a truly generous offer.
“Captain, you are a generous man but I have cares and duties to return to. I cannot delay but I thank you for your offer and pray you keep a look out for others of the Brotherhood. They may not have the sight of ...Stanley here, but they could still help you find another good catch.”
“Aye, I’ll keep a weather eye out for them.”

With the cold grey light of the pre-dawn creeping across the eastern sky the Star made safe harbour in Cartreff and the captain went down to rouse Stannous and Freder.
“I’ll cut along to the harbourmaster and then the Minerva.” He told them. “Peter an’ Drew will deal with the catch.”
“Thank you captain.” Stannous said with a bleary smile, his sleep had been haunted by restless nightmares of their encounter with the unknown ship, but they had not been his nightmares.
“What happened last night ?” Freder asked him as he awoke and looked about the little cabin.
“How much do you remember ?”
“The ship coming at us, then it all went, well black.”
“I don’t really know Freder, I’ve never seen the like before, the ship was turned aside from us.”
“Did I do it ?” Freder asked in a pained whisper.
Stannous saw that Freders aura had bloomed again, reacting to his fright, perhaps it would not be helpful to tell him the truth.
“The sea is a strange place my young friend.” Stannous said laying a comforting hand upon his shoulder. “Squalls have been known to capsize even big ships, maybe a sudden squall hit the ship and turned it.”
Freder’s agitated aura subsided at the lie but then suddenly flared again.
“Men coming this way.”
Stannous could feel them too but he ‘looked’ for metal and the three all had plenty about their persons, not the Hand. He cautiously opened the cabin door a little and listened as they hailed the captain.
“Captain Abram ?”
“Aye.”
“Good morning captain, Gareth Morgan harbourmaster, these gentlemen are with the Royal Navy. Commander Smythe and Lieutenant Walker.”
There were murmured greetings all around whilst they all shook hands.
“You were out in the Channel last night captain ?” One of the navymen asked.
“Aye.”
“The HMS Intrepid, our coastal patrol monitor was in collision with a ship last night, she sent a cutter back with the report. We wonder if you saw the incident ?”
“Intrepid ye say ?” The captain growled. “I saw some big ship goin’ down the Channel at speed, reckless it was on a black night like last night. Passed maybe a half mile before us as we were steaming north. The Star can’t make much speed these days, we’d a been in a packet o’ trouble if we’d been closer to the Intrepid. Reckless they was, reckless.”
“Ah. I see. Could you estimate the speed ?”
“Difficult with the rain but twenty knots, not less.”
“The report from the Intrepid claimed a fishing boat was trawling in their path.”
“Well I don’t know about that. If yon monitor hit a fishing boat there’ll not be much left of her will there ?”
“We are still searching for any wreckage.” The harbourmaster put in. “So you saw nothing of the collision ?”
“Never saw yon monitor hit another boat, no.” The captain said truthfully with a shake of his head.
“Thank you for your time captain.”
“Aye, I’ll be along to ye office shortly.”
As the little party left, the captain leaned over the side and spotted Stannous looking up at him.
“Bloody navy, think they owns the sea.” He growled. “Get yeself and the lad a bite master, I’ll be back directly.”
Freder nibbled at the ships biscuit and drank the tea he was given but he was still not feeling recovered from the nights scare and he had no appetite for more. When the captain returned it was with good news, his cousin could get them both worked passage as far as Lilpool as stewards. Then he pulled out a small leather bag and extracted several silver coins from it.
“I reckon as ye earned this.” He said placing them before Stannous.
“We agreed passage no more.” Stannous said with an easy smile.
“A share of the catch though.” The captain protested.
“Captain, you and yours have far greater need of this than we have. The Brotherhood is here to help at need, we ask no more than board and nor will we take more than we agreed.”
The captain sat back as he considered Stannous response then nodded.
“I’ll be spreading the word for yon Brothers.” He said and offered Stannous his left arm, then to Freder.
“Ye’d a made a fine captain lad, I thank ye for ye sight.”
Freder smiled back shyly as he accepted the arm in friendship.
“Come, I’ll take ye to the Minerva.”
Having led them through the quieter parts of the docks to the Minerva and introduced them to his cousin the captain walked away without a backward glance, just as Stannous wanted, nothing to show they were anything special. They left Cartreff at ten and settled into the unhurried routine of a coastal packet as it made its unhurried way up around the Welsh coast exchanging cargo and occasionally passengers at the twelve ports en route. At the end of each day, their duties done Stannous and Freder would play cards and talk. Stannous was ever curious about his young charge and would encourage him to talk about his life both before and after the transition between worlds. He found the transition a baffling event that was well beyond his own experience of the good arm, but he did not attempt to deny its occurrence, for Freder was truly unique. In turn Freder learnt much of the long antagonism that held sway between the Brotherhood and the Righteous Hand and considered himself lucky to have escaped their clutches so quickly. Nearly three weeks later they sailed into Lilpool and were paid off by the ships purser, and whereas they had walked up the gangplank as companions they now walked down it as firm friends. Now they had money in their pockets they took the train south and east to Buckstown, third class for they were still in their tatty clothes, and then found a carter who was heading to Far Dale and the little town of Wellspring that lay just two miles from their destination.
“There it is.” Stannous said pointing ahead, as they walked out of Wellspring up the valley.
Freder stared at the structure that seemed to be growing out of the hillside, its chaotic jumble of roofs and towers looking like they had been thrown together by a careless giant’s child.
“The House.” Stannous said with obvious affection in his voice. “Home.”