Malcolm

Happy Monday, everyone!

Now, two weeks ago I shared some sketches and excerpts from Coetir. Last week, it was Cedwig. That means this week we’re looking at some characters you haven’t met yet—characters from my next novel, Dwr: People in the Water!

 You know what that means! Pre-release excerpts!! 


For the first time, making his debut appearance, I’d like you to meet...

Malcolm 

He’s the primary human character in Dwr, and he’s been a lot of fun to work with. This book was written extremely quickly. It actually got stuck in my head partway through writing Coetir, but instead of writing Dwr, I fought it and wrote Cedwig. After that, there was no more fighting to be done.

Since then, Mal has been one of my favorite characters to go back and read time and time again. In this scene, he and Piper, the daughter of the ship’s captain, are taking a dinghy out into the strait between the lake and the ocean, searching for a path on which to take their ship.

I hope you enjoy!

Excerpt #1 from Dwr: People in the Water, by Rani Divine

©Copyright RAD Writing, 2016

Malcolm held out his hand to help Piper down into the small boat. He’d already packed all the necessary items for the night, a blanket in case she grew cold or tired, food and water, an oil lamp, and the supplies they needed to test the depth of the waters.

“You ready for this?” He smiled as her feet landed in the boat.

She’d changed her clothes and was now wearing a pair of trousers and a loose fitting shirt, her hair tied up into a bun on the back of her neck. He was almost surprised to see how at home she seemed in men’s clothing, but at the same time it only made her that much more like Maisie. The two likely would’ve preferred to have been born the opposite gender, if only so their opportunities in life would’ve been more to their liking. He couldn’t say that he blamed them, what with the way this society tended to treat their women. Very few women or girls were allowed to learn anything beyond the trades of their mothers, nor were they allowed to dress as they would’ve liked—or even to see the sun if they weren’t accompanied by their father or guardian. He hoped things would be different in their new home, but he knew how most of these people still felt about women taking on other positions in life. It was a common belief that women’s place was in the home, and that they didn’t have the capacity to handle doing things outside their homes.

It would take more than a move outside the plains to change the way everyone thought. He’d seen the looks on people’s faces when he’d ordered Piper to prepare to come with him. No one had honestly expected that the captain would put his daughter in this position, that he would allow her to go out with a man she’d only known for a matter of months to learn how to test the depth of the water. But all they could do now was show the rest of the crew that Piper could be taught. In a way, it was a test for every last woman aboard the ship. If Piper could be trained in seamanship, then so could the rest.

“I think so,” Pip finally replied, smiling brightly as she steadied herself and sat on one of the benches.

“I’ll signal you when we’re on our way back,” Mal said, looking up to the captain on the ship.

Scott only nodded, his eyes staring after his little girl as Malcolm shoved off from the Helena and fastened his oars into place.

“Think you’re strong enough to row?” he asked as he sat and steadied himself.

“I can try,” she replied, nodding.

He quickly showed her what to do, how to rest her set of paddles into the grooves on the sides of the boat and how best to paddle so as not to wear herself out too quickly. He needed her to be awake for the better part of this trip. The strait wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to traverse, even in as small a boat as this. There were still places where they could be run aground if they weren’t careful.

They rowed in silence for quite some time, through the narrowest sections of the lake, the only place where both shores could be seen at all times. Malcolm continuously watched those shores, watching for anyone who might be spying upon them as they made their way into the treacherous sections of the water. Even though the closest villages were still a ways away, far enough from the water to prevent flooding during the rains, the captain still sensed danger in people who didn’t see right in what they were doing.

For the time being, it was easier on both of them not to speak. Piper, because she’d never done this before and needed to conserve her oxygen, Malcolm because he needed to ensure that they were going in the correct direction and weren’t drawing unwanted attention. Evening was fast on its way, and night life in the plains was never a quiet affair.

“Hold up,” he said when he guessed they were deep enough into the strait to begin testing.

The sun was still high enough that they could see where they were going and what they were doing, but it wouldn’t last forever. There was no way that they would be able to get across the whole of the strait and back again before night fell—all they needed to do was get there and back again before dawn, so they would be able to sail the Helena through before anyone had the chance to stop them. They hadn’t packed much weaponry aboard the ship, believing it wouldn’t be necessary, but it was no secret what the other captains thought of this journey.

Piper lifted her oars up out of the water and set them back into the boat. “We’re here?” she asked.

“Stop number one.” Malcolm nodded as he lifted a cord from the floor. They’d tied a small anchor to one end and marked how high the water needed to come upon the cord. They would drop the anchor down into the water at regular intervals to ensure that the ship would be able to pass through these sections. It was a crude trick, but it was also the only one they had all of the supplies for. The strait wasn’t checked for depth often enough. No one dared to cross it, so there was little point in mapping it.

Silently, Mal dropped the anchor into the water beside the boat, holding tightly to the other end of the cord as it went. All the while, Piper watched him with curious eyes, soaking up every ounce of instruction she could by simply observing. The anchor fell quickly, landing upon the sea floor with no sound at all.

He sighed and looked down at the cord in his hands. The water was too shallow. “We’ll have to try another area,” he said.

“What would happen if we tried to take her through here?” she asked as she readied her oars once again.

Malcolm pulled the anchor up out of the water and placed his hands on the ends of his oars. “The ship would run aground, and we’d have to wait for a heavy rain before we could move her,” he said. “Let’s try the east.” He nodded toward the opposite end of the strait, and Piper settled in to get to work.

It was an interesting thing, watching the way she behaved in this situation. They both knew if anyone came across them they could be in real danger. After all, there was little chance that Piper could be mistaken for a man, and yet she was wearing men’s clothing in public. That wasn’t done in their culture. The only reason Maisie got away with it so often was that she was never out in public. But Piper was completely comfortable in this setting, even in the knowledge that she could be severely punished if they were seen. She wanted to learn about sailing, about life on the water, and this was one of her first real lessons.

“We’ll have Paul teach you how to man the helm once we’re out to sea,” he said, without even thinking.

“Really?” Her eyes lit up at the thought.

“Your father wants you to take command, should anything happen to the two of us.” Mal shrugged, smiling at her response. “You’ll need to know what you’re doing.”

She grinned brightly, but he saw the struggle in her face as she pulled her oars back in time with his, carrying them partway against the current, pulling her own weight in a way that she’d never had to do before.

Within a few minutes, they were in place again and Piper pulled her oars back up out of the water. Mal did the same, this time laying them across the width of the boat so it wouldn’t be as difficult to get them back into the water. He dropped the anchor off the side and watched while the cord slipped down into the water. “Please,” he whispered under his breath as he watched it go.

When the anchor finally hit the bottom, he stared at the cord in silence.

“What is it?” Pip asked, leaning forward in her seat.

Malcolm lifted his eyes to look straight into hers. “She’ll make it through here,” he said, a smile crossing his face. “You can store your oars now,” he added. “We’ll move with the current for a while.”

         Her smile grew ever brighter at the mention of no longer having to paddle. It would take far less effort to get to their next destination than it had to reach either of these. This time, they didn’t have to get away from the ship, and they didn’t have to row partway against the current. Malcolm could manage this part on his own, and Piper could learn how to test the depths of the water, and how to tell when they’d reached the shallowest of sections. After all, her lessons were the secondary goal here.