Chapter 21

The breathless messenger burst into the main hall, the commotion interrupting the proceedings as everyone turned to see what was going on. They knew me well enough to know that essential information warranted an interruption, and the faux pas would be overlooked. “Sire,” he gasped before drawing a deep breath, “the missing ships Feti and Khoi have returned!”

Having delivered the urgent message, he made the obligatory bow. I’m sure there would have been quite a chorus of chuckles about the near faux pas except everyone was already buzzing about the return of the two ships. Quickly, business at hand was forgotten as the room exploded in a hubbub, people wondering where the ships had been for nearly a year, and what had happened to their sister ship, Kongo.

Everyone knew sailing was a dangerous business. Ships were lost periodically to storms, reefs, and pirates, among other things, especially in the North Atlantic and Baltic where winter storms were severe. That was why we shipped very little to the north during the storm season, concentrating instead on the Mediterranean, which itself was not immune to bad storms. In fact, recently, the African coast had become a favored winter destination.

We had been either extremely lucky or very blessed until a year ago. We lost a few ships, but their crews always managed to get to safety or float long enough in the landing boats to be picked up by another ship.

Then, not quite a year ago, three ships bound for trading posts in Africa and loaded with iron tools, farming tools, cooking pots, horses, and weapons simply disappeared. They had stopped at the Purple Islands to pick up coffee beans and sugar cane cuttings, as well as to restock food and water before heading for their destination. They never made it and we had assumed they sank in a bad storm reported in the area at the time, one causing large waves to pound the Purple islands for several days.

With my wives following close behind me, I hurried from the palace. The messenger had obviously repeated the message to guards outside on his way into the palace as cavalrymen who were training nearby hurried over and offered their already-saddled horses. It appeared that the people in town knew something was up because the middle of the usually crowded street to the docks was cleared and lined with people watching intently to see what was going on.

Approaching the ships at a full gallop, I was surprised that nobody except Captain Parker had started getting off the ships. Considering their lengthy absence, and especially knowing that they would be eager to see their families, I had expected them to be halfway home by now. Parker had been in overall command of the three ships when they left. Grinning broadly and bouncing excitedly, he, too, almost forgot protocol as he rushed up to me, managing a last moment near-bow. “Please, come see what we brought back,” he exclaimed giddily, pointing aboard his ship.

It was obviously something major considering the animated and giddy demeanor of the normally staid captain. His crew and archers lined the gunwales of the ship, looking for, and waving excitedly at friends and loved ones who had arrived at the docks, but they were obviously excited about something in addition to finally being home. Aside from their clothing looking worn, they looked none the worse for wear for having been gone so long.

Once aboard, Parker had to slow down for me to keep up, since I wasn’t used to the narrow and steep ladders and steps inside the ship like he was. He pointed and beamed when I got to the cargo hold. It was my turn to gasp seeing well over a score of beautiful young native women who bowed appropriately and separated for me to see the rest of the cargo, which consisted of more gold and silver than I’d ever seen in one place, as well as pearls, emeralds, and what appeared to be odd coffee beans.

Parker motioned, and the real treasure he brought back was suddenly standing in front of me, smiling shyly, and embarrassed, knowing what they would be doing for the first time tonight, and knowing that everyone aboard ship knew it as well. The two brown-skinned young women were gorgeous as were the rest of the young women behind them. Parker explained quickly that the girls were part of the payment he had received for the trade goods. He had saved me the two he was sure I would most appreciate before he and the rest of the men each chose one to take as a wife. His choice was standing nervously just behind him, and he put his arm around her shoulder and introduced his wife Tlalli as well as my two concubines.

My wives, who surely made the descent into the bowels of the ship much more gracefully than I had, could barely restrain themselves until I had gently kissed Ihuicatl and Xochitl, making them blush even more. “We are very pleased to belong to such a powerful and highly respected ruler,” Ihuicatl said. Obviously, they had spent much of the last year and their time aboard ship learning a new language.

“Welcome, ladies. After seeing the two of you, I hardly care what else Captain Parker brought back,” I complimented, hoping to put them at ease. Their blush deepened at the compliment right before my wives descended on us and hurried the two newest additions away to get to know them better.

Once they were gone, I turned to the rest of what Parker had brought back, easily worth well more than three million or four million Pounds, even without the coffee-like beans. Parker nodded to another of the beautiful women, and she hesitantly approached me with a mug of brown liquid. “This is the drink the natives make with the cacao beans, except we added sugar,” he explained, pointing to what I assumed was coffee. “I’m hoping the trees will grow at some of the African trading posts,” he added. I knew right away that the smooth, sweet drink would be a hit and the seeds would be worth lots of money if we could grow them.

I finished the drink and then a second one while Parker told me their magnificent tale of exploration and discovery. As we had surmised, they were caught in the storm, “The fury of which would make God quake,” Parker narrated. “The seas were so high that our ships would lose sight of each other as the swells rose and fell. When we tried to steer to the north or south, we were practically capsized by the towering waves, forcing us to run before the wind--and run we did. Despite having a bare minimum of sail unfurled, the howling winds, which we were afraid would splinter the masts on more than one occasion, pushed us relentlessly southwest for over a week, usually faster than we had ever sailed before. The rain was so hard at times, it was like having one continuous wave breaking over the ship.”

They finally managed to get enough control to steer south-southwest away from the storm when it turned to the northwest. Up to that point, the winds had grown stronger every day. Quickly finding themselves now caught in a warm, dry, gentle wind blowing due west, they had little choice but to continue to the west and pray that the Indian and Arab mathematicians had been correct about the world being round and not flat. After a grueling three weeks, they had finally sighted land and ended up on a beautiful tropical island. The natives were very friendly, trading them enough food and water to replenish their supplies in exchange for a couple of iron tools. They were obviously excited by the tools aboard the ships but only had limited food to trade. Instead, they offered pearls, over two hundred of them. Parker almost died when he saw the pearls. Not knowing how long he would be at sea or how much food they would eventually need to acquire through trade, he was stingy with his trading cargo of iron wares, but the natives were happy with the deal when Parker’s ships left.

Wind and currents continued pushing them west. Shortly after leaving the island, they spotted another coast to the south. The current and winds pushed them along the coast, even when it turned north. They documented as much of what they saw as they could, estimating their position by sheer guesswork. Noting numerous villages along the coast, they continued north until finally stopping for food two weeks later at a village near a beautiful beach and just north of a river. They were disappointed when there were no more discoveries of pearls or other riches.

Finding the village to be friendly with access to a steady supply of food from fishing, hunting, and farming, they got permission to stay for a while. They desperately needed to make repairs to the ships and the horses were in dire need of fresh food and exercise after being cooped up for so long. Several horses had been injured by the pitching seas.

The natives panicked when they saw the horses being herded over the side of the ships and into the water. They had never seen animals so big. The women and children hid in the jungle and the men armed themselves for protection against the strange beasts. By the end of the day though, they had relaxed, seeing that the strange men were in complete control of the even stranger animals.

The men quickly built corrals to hold the horses before carefully beaching and careening the three ships. The archers from one of the ships went with a small group of native hunters to search for game while several of the sailors took the shore boats out to join the village’s fishermen as they collected shellfish and caught the crabs and fish that were plentiful in the warm and relatively shallow waters. That night, the native hunters told the rest of the village wild tales of the strange men using their bows to kill game from so far away they didn’t even have to stalk the animals.

Trading iron tools and cooking implements, they bought a tract of land south of the village on the opposite shore of the river. The strip was ten miles long and extended inland between three and five miles to the large saltwater lagoon, leaving the parcel bounded on three sides by water: the river, the ocean, and the lagoon. Beyond the lagoon lay dense jungle to provide necessary lumber as well as plentiful game. The ocean and lagoon teemed with fish as well as shellfish. A sandbar offshore would protect them from the worst of the heavy winter storm waves.

During the first week, they had plowed and planted several acres with native plants like squash, pumpkins, and corn from seeds they had traded with the natives to get. In addition, they had planted sweet potatoes, jicama, tomatoes, beans, onions, chilis, and several other vegetables from seeds they traded with the natives for. The entire village turned out the first day to watch them use the horses to plow the field. Two men, each with two horses attached to a plow prepared ten times as much ground in one day as their entire village could prepare in the same amount of time. The next day, the sailors owned the land completely around the lagoon for twenty miles south and twenty miles inland or to the river, whichever came first, while the village now owned a plow, two horses, and a plow harness.

Traders from other villages began arriving nearly every day, having heard about the wondrous things the strangers brought from another land aboard their “small villages that float on the ocean.” Aside from the food needed by the sailors, or seeds of indigenous plants to grow or take back to Rouen, most of the things brought to trade were of little interest to the sailors and many potential traders left discouraged because they had wanted to trade for the plows and horses. The sailors were somewhat encouraged, though, as there were a few pearls and an occasional bit of gold or silver.

Not quite three weeks after landing, the men were called to arms when scouts reported an army of roughly two thousand men marching toward their fledgling village. Noting that the sailors misunderstood his intentions, the elegantly dressed leader of the army, a noble named Xixocemoatl, had his men put their weapons down and back off. Xixocemoatl and his entourage had traveled for two days to get there. They had heard reports of strange men arriving in canoes the size of small villages with far superior tools and weapons, and beasts taller than a man that they rode on the backs of. The army was to protect the noble and the trade goods he brought from enemies, not to attack the sailors.

Once things calmed down, he had his bearers lay out the goods he brought to offer in trade for the goods and horses the sailors had. Xixocemoatl explained that he realized he didn’t have nearly enough to trade for their entire cargo but brought a sample of every item they could offer in trade to find out what items would be acceptable, and how much of each item, so that he could go back and get it.

The captain pored over the cornucopia of offered goods including fruits, vegetables, grains, spices, cowry shells and other seashells, polished stone beads, various animal hides, exotic bird feathers, pottery, rope, various types of cloth, and finally jade, copper, silver, gold, emeralds, and pearls.

Xixocemoatl also had lots of cacao beans, the main form of currency among the different tribes, and one the village chief had already used sparingly trying to impress them with the bitter beverage they made from it.

Deciding to trade for gold, silver, jade, emeralds, pearls, and cacao beans (to take to Africa to grow) Captain Parker, a very experienced and savvy trader, showed Xixocemoatl almost everything they had to offer. He kept a little in reserve to trade for more food to get them through until their crops ripened, and to resupply the ships on the way home if necessary. The noble’s eyes widened when he saw everything. He handled and checked each of the tools almost reverently. He was nearly drooling when he saw one of the five hundred steel swords and the same number of crossbows demonstrated, and nearly died from excitement when Parker had four men saddle their horses, then gallop half a mile down the beach and back.

Even the empty water barrels Parker brought out to demonstrate how much gold, silver, jade, pearls, emeralds, and cacao beans he wanted for everything had impressed the noble. Placing a gold nugget, an emerald, and a pearl each atop two firkins, silver nuggets on top of twenty firkins, jade on top of four firkins, and cacao beans on top of five full barrels, Parker indicated his asking price for everything, fully expecting a much lower counteroffer. For what seemed like an eternity to Parker, Xixocemoatl re-inspected the goods, especially the horses, and then surprised Parker by agreeing to the asking price. Parker learned later that the noble had been sure the horses and weapons would give them a much-desired military advantage over the neighboring tribes that were always a threat and would more than pay for themselves in time. He was also worried that if he didn’t buy all the horses and weapons we were selling, one of the other tribes might buy some to counter their advantage.

Xixocemoatl seemed concerned by the amount of jade Parker had asked for, explaining he didn’t think he could get that much quickly. When Parker asked him to offer an alternative, Xixocemoatl offered to replace two of the firkins of jade with six firkins of gold, six of silver, the slaves he had brought with him, and the examples of goods they brought to offer. Not really interested in slaves but not wanting to sour a deal that was already beyond his wildest dreams, Parker quickly agreed.

The celebration that night was monumental, and Xixocemoatl left with his troops the following morning to gather the asking price. Parker gave him a parting gift of a firkin of coffee beans originally meant for a trading post in Africa. Then Parker put the roughly one thousand slaves to work cutting down trees, building shelters, expanding, and planting the fields, making canoes to fish with, and fixing meals for everyone. The slaves were relieved to find out we didn’t practice religious sacrifice of people like the other tribes in the area did. The two most beautiful women were saved for me for when they returned home. The rest of the men each chose a woman based on rank among the troops and then rank and experience among the seamen. There were still over four hundred women for the male slaves to marry.

Xixocemoatl returned four weeks later with the rest of the agreed-upon purchase price. Parker’s men had spent the time in between teaching Xixocemoatl’s men how to ride the ninety horses they sold them and how to use them to pull the plows, as well as showing them how to use the swords and crossbows. When the noble left, he thanked Parker profusely and asked him to bring more of the same next time, especially the horses and weapons.

One ship and a third of the sailors and troops, ten troops and twenty sailors, volunteered to stay to continue building the trading post with their minds on the wealth they might earn in this new, unexplored world with their new, beautiful wives. If the rest of the female slaves Parker had obtained were even half as pretty as the ones he brought back I could understand why the men had been willing to stay.

They had named the post Port Tampico after the abundant otters in the area. Tampico was the local natives’ word for otter. Parker left Lieutenant Ames, the only officer among the soldiers on the ships as well as the only Demon, in charge of the new port.

After ensuring that the beginnings of a wall around the village were in place, and fields were plowed and planted, the two ships left, along with their new wives. They spent another month exploring the coast even further north and then to the east when it curved that direction. The cartographer aboard took copious notes, and made drawings of rivers, promontories, and other landmarks so they could find their way back. They even noted the locations of islands they saw although they didn’t stop, except to resupply with fresh food and water every two weeks.

Then they had suddenly found themselves in a strong current pushing them up the east coast of the new land and then out to sea roughly even with the Dog Islands. They followed the current northeast until they were near the same latitude as Rouen, and then turned directly east.

Parker had recognized the Brittany coast almost from the moment he saw land for the first time in nearly three weeks. After a celebration and prayers of thanks offered for their safe return, they sailed straight to Rouen where they finally arrived more than ten months after disappearing.

The avocados they brought back were almost as good as the sweetened cacao drink. Parker had done an excellent job of finding out as much as possible about the climate, soil, and growing conditions for most of the new seeds he brought back. We did the same thing with the more valuable crops available from India and Asia as we tried to grow them at most of our African trading posts, hoping to find an environment closer to Europe where they would grow and produce.

While eager to introduce his new wife to his first wife, as well as to shower his first wife with gifts, Parker was more excited about returning to the new world they had discovered. He was sure they had seen less than half of the coast of this new world and knew of at least twenty islands of differing sizes and hundreds of coastal villages they hadn’t visited or explored.

Xixocemoatl had told him it had taken his entourage two days to reach the trading post on foot from Panuco, the Huastec capital, which was inland. Another week inland to the north and they would be in Xi’ui territory. One to three weeks south of their capital put them in the lands of the Toltec and Mixtec. To the southwest of the Xi’ui were the Tarascans and to the west were the Guamares and Otomies. South of Tampico, along the coast a few days away were the lands of the Totonac.

Excellent trading roads existed across the entire area between the main cities, and men on horseback would be able to make the trips in much less than half the time it currently took to walk the distance. Our archers were vastly superior to the army of any of the tribes there. Their main forces were infantry armed with diverse types of clubs imbedded with razor-sharp pieces of obsidian, or wooden spears and wooden shields--much like many of the warriors we traded with in Africa. They had a limited number of archers with inferior bows, the best accurate only to about fifty feet with a maximum range of a hundred feet.

When Xixocemoatl saw our archers practicing, he turned pale. Cautiously asking, Parker told him we had enough archers to turn the sky black with arrows and wipe out an entire army before they could get close enough to use their own bows, news that didn’t help Xixocemoatl’s pallor any. Only Parker promising that I would never attack anyone unless they attacked my allies or me helped bring the color back to his face. As the eldest son of the Huastec leader, Xixocemoatl asked to be an ally, pledging to help defend our new village if we were attacked.

Parker hesitated when I asked what he wanted to do now, but finally admitted that he wanted to take a large fleet over, loaded with tools, seeds, livestock, and craftsmen to build up Port Tampico, as well as loaded with trade goods, as many horses, saddles, and swords as we could get together to trade, and several cartographers. He wanted ten archers to defend each ship and an additional five hundred mounted archers to stay in Port Tampico, along with ten cannons to help defend the walled city. Considering that any attack on the town would have to come from the south or risk crossing a river or lagoon while under attack, Parker was sure the Port would be easy to defend, especially against poorly armed infantry.

He chuckled as he wondered what our cannons and grenades would do to the morale of an enemy. Looking again at the vast wealth he had just returned with, I also wondered about the trading potential the new world held. Unless Parker had been extraordinarily lucky on this voyage, the wealth must be immense, not to mention finding more foods or spices he hadn’t seen yet. There might even be uninhabited areas or islands like the ones we found off the coast of Africa that we could colonize.

“Take twenty-five ships and fill them with whatever you think is best. I’ll find volunteers among the archers, but if they see how beautiful the new wives of your crews are, the single men might be more inclined to volunteer to stay there,” I suggested only half-jokingly. “You should plan on training two hundred or so of the slaves as cavalry, offering them their freedom if they serve four years in the military. And you will want to take alfalfa to feed the livestock,” I reminded him.