Town Meeting

            Harrick was on his second mug of hot cocoa. The winter winds had picked up, and the bay was iced, so the Carving Boats were out in force, breaking a path for the ships to come in.

            Port O’James was protected by a huge system of breakers, but the stillness of the water sometimes allowed ice to form. Even in the middle of summer there was still a bit of snow around here. In winter, snow and ice were the rule rather than the exception.

            Chief Tanner had sent Harrick to the meeting while Sweeney brought the representatives of the Thunderbird Transport Company to survey the Ostrich. The company had sprung for an airship, so it only took them three days to arrive from the office in Port Sang. Thankfully, Port O’James had a protocol for situations like these – a relic of the days when the dead woke up more often.

            Sure, there was the Bone King over in Ganlea, but he was two oceans away, and had always been more of an isolationist. In the past, though, Port O’James had to deal with the dead almost as much as they did the snow. That had all ended a hundred years ago, so he could understand why the people were making such a fuss.

            The town hall was a large room with an uncomfortably low ceiling. Several plastic chairs had been placed in rows for those who wanted to have their say. Technically, the event on the Ostrich was still a secret, but this wasn’t a big town, and rumors spread quickly.

            Mayor Harlaw banged his gavel on the table. Harlaw had bristly, iron-grey hair, and a thick dockworker’s accent. “All right, all right, settle down. Please, sit down. Captain Richards, sit down.”

            The crowd settled down and the mayor cleared his throat. “Ok. A lot of you have been hearing some rumors about the ship moored out on pier 37. It is important that we set the record straight, so we can begin to prepare for any measures we might decide to take here today. Please allow me to introduce to you Detective Inspector Max Harrick, who will be providing a statement from the Enforcement Department. Detective Inspector?”

            Harrick nodded and pulled his microphone forward. He cleared his throat. “Thank you, Mayor Harlaw. At 12:32 on the morning of the 13^th, communications were lost with the Ostrich, a freighter owned by the Arizradna-run Thunderbird Transport Company. At around 4:45, the Ostrich landed at pier 37 using an automated navigational system. After repeated attempts at communication with the ship’s crew, dockworkers boarded to find that the crew was missing. At this point, enforcement was contacted, and I arrived at the scene with Detective Ana Sweeney. After searching the ship, we discovered only one remaining crew member, a Captain Yeeves, who had been deceased for several hours. We do not yet know the cause of death, but it appears to have been of a violent nature. Upon further investigation, Detective Sweeney and I discovered within the ship’s hold… human remains of… an animate nature.”

            One of the townspeople yelled out. “What the hell is that supposed to mean.”

            Harrick looked up and paused to search for appropriate words. “The remains were… they had…”

            “They were undead?” yelled another person.

            “Yes.”

            The room erupted. To Harrick it seemed that he was the only one not trying to shout over the crowd. Mayor Harlaw banged his gavel, and continued for a full minute before the room began to settle down.

            “Quiet! Shut up!” yelled the mayor. Finally there was relative quiet. “Please, continue, Detective Inspector.”

            Harrick nodded. “The remains were kept in isolation for two hours, after which a unit from the Fire Department was brought in to destroy the bodies. All fifty-three corpses were incinerated within the Ostrich’s hold, and what remained of them has been disposed of according to established hazardous material procedures. We have nothing to fear from these… things anymore.”

            “Yes, but what happens when more of them come?” shouted one of the townspeople, a woman who appeared to be in her late forties, still bundled up in a thick coat and fur hat.

            “We have had no indication that this is anything other than an isolated incident.”

            “Yeah, and what about what happened to Altonin? What if this is related?”

            Harrick leaned over to the mayor. “Altonin?”

            “Town a couple tracks north. Whole place burned to the ground about six years ago.”

            Harrick addressed the woman in the hat. “I’m not sure I understand, miss...”

            She stood. “Captain Jane Bergen, of the Fossegrimen. I think we’ve all heard about Altonin. They say when they found it burnt to the ground, there were dead possessors among the humans. Six years might seem like a long time, but it’s not – not to them. Altonin was attacked, and now the Ostrich.”

            Captain Richards stood up. He was a lean, muscular man with dark hair. His was the Nøkken, though he owned several other ships. “Shut up, Jane. They said it was an isolated incident. Don’t you all remember last month when she said there were Agents of the House operating out of pier 19?”

            “Are you calling me a liar, Richards?”

            “No, I’m saying you have an overactive imagination.”

            “They found draugar in the hold of this ship. I didn’t imagine that, did I?”

            They both turned to Harrick. He took another sip of his cocoa. “Well, I will concede that this is not exactly an everyday occurrence. Hell, I was scared shitless when I saw those things in the hold of the ship. We don’t know what’s really going on. The dead have been there, deep in the woods. I don’t think any of us thought they were gone for good. But they’ve never come this far, even back then. Still haven’t, at least by land.”

            “But if they killed everyone in Altonin…” began Captain Bergen.

            “We can’t jump to conclusions until we get the facts,” said the mayor. “Rest assured, it is not my intention, nor the Enforcement Department’s, that we simply ignore this incident and move on as if nothing happened. We will begin a full investigation. I am already coordinating with Colonial Defense to establish a perimeter around Port O’James. This town is not going anywhere. We will be prepared for whatever comes. I will only ask that everyone please try to be patient, but also be vigilant. Check your holds, keep watch on your ships, especially at night.”

            After the meeting ended, and the crowd filtered out, Mayor Harlaw pulled Harrick aside. “Max, we’ve got to talk.” Harlaw led him into a small office away from the building’s entrance. “Sit down.”

            He did, bending his bad leg slowly. “What is it?”

            Harlaw took a breath. “This morning they found another ship.”

            “Another ship?”

            “Down in Port Sang. This one was Narcian. Whole crew was dead. Looked like poison. Hold was full of draugar, a couple possessors and a stitch. They weren’t so lucky. Two officers were killed putting down the stitch.”

            “Bloody hell.”

            “The crew was poisoned, Max. And one of the lifeboats was missing.”

            Harrick rubbed his eyes. "I guess that makes this more complicated."