Teres

Chapter Thirty-Seven (Part I) | Table of Contents | Chapter Thirty-Seven (Part III)

SCSF: A good day, everyone, and welcome back to BattleAxe! Last time, we reached Jervois Landing and we heard about Timozel inexplicably beginning to turn evil. For the reader post:

 

On chapter 21, in conversation with Maegwin, I note that the lack of sex supposedly being a dealbreaker for Champions seems like a jab at religious devotion.

Maria Monk Redux: 72

On part I of this chapter, Wolfgoddess notes that the mule should not have such trouble getting through the snow, even with Faraday on its back.

Did Not Do the Research: 67

 

I also note that, when Jack bids the others his leave, we have “Then” as a sentence on its own, which I doubt Douglass meant to do.

PPP: 380

With that, let me resume! As I said last time, I am planning to do things a little differently now, and so I will cover the rest of this chapter in one go. I will also cover the rather boring (I find) part first, and then the less boring part, lest I lose my motivation altogether.

We open on everyone going down to the ferry. By the time they reach it, the ferryman is about to go home for the day, but sees Faraday, Yr, and Timozel approaching. He does not like that, as he wanted to go home early before the weather deteriorates further. …Given that Jack could disappear in the snow quite quickly just now, how far away can they really be? Sure, the ferryman is supposed to be unreasonable, but I get the distinct impression that Douglass forgot about the visibility.

Did Not Do the Research: 68

He almost thinks to push off in any case, but then see Timozel’s sword, and tells his “three assistants” to wait, since it would be better not to “anger one of Borneheld’s captains”. That is a sound rule to follow, but it still sounds like Borneheld’s captains are especially quick to anger, presumably because they serve Borneheld. I also wonder just why this ferryman needs three assistants? This is not a particularly hard place to cross, and the raft does not seem that large, either, so I am not sure of this is correct.

Petty Ain’t the Word for You: 64

So Timozel comes closer, and the ferryman sees he is actually an Axe-Wielder, so he makes the Sign of the Plough, and offers Timozel passage while talking about how he is surely “keen to reach [his] rooms this night”. When he sees Faraday and Yr, the ferryman immediately thinks that they are both “very beautiful”, but he likes the “blonde wench” just a little better. If Douglass had not put lots of emphasis on the looks of the protagonists, and if she had made an effort to keep misogyny out of this book, I might take this. As it is, it seems more than a little hypocritical of Douglass. Over to Yr, she “dip[s] her eyes coquettishly” at the ferryman, thinking that it never hurts to “turn a man’s mind from money to lust”, and she has no idea how Timozel will pay the ferryman when they reach the other side (I am sure he would be able to get something done, being an Axe-Wielder). It turns out that the ferryman wants to get “his gold” right now, though.

So he grovels at Timozel’s side, calling him “[m]y lord” and smiling, which gives us a note about his “stained teeth”. He says that for him and “the two lovely ladies”, it is only “four marks”. To get across. Then he puts on a sad look and says he is sorry the price is that high, but it just costs that much to “hire decent help to work this ferry in such bad weather”, and he is sure that Timozel will understand.

Well, the ferryman is actually trying to do something bad, and he is somewhat subtle about it, so credit for that. That said, talking about his “stained teeth” does not help convince me that he is untrustworthy, Douglass; it rather comes across as pettiness yet again.

Petty Ain’t the Word for You: 65

He is also being sexist, and I do dislike him for that, but it is rather rich to make us dislike him for calling them “lovely ladies” when it is supposed to be fine when Jack does it! If Douglass were trying to show her double standards, this would be a good way to do it.

Looking further… “four gold marks” does sound expensive, so that is fine. For the name, there have been gold marks, though it seems to have been a specifically German currency. Also, I see that this will never come up again; there are “marks” in Beyond the Hanging Wall, but there is no indication if they are gold. Given this, I think some more thought should have been put into this currency.

Gold-Star Worldbuilding: 91

Then… why does he actually have three assistants? I could buy one assistant given the weather, though I think changing places would be better for that, but three seems quite unnecessary, and means he needs to have twice as much money. Then again, he might just keep the greater part of it to himself, but that just makes me wonder why his assistants wouldn’t go for something more lucrative, not to mention that this means more people who might talk about him. It just does not make much sense to do things this way.

Ill Logic: 219

Finally, why does he think doing this with an Axe-Wielder is a good idea? There is a good chance that Timozel might talk about this in Jervois Landing and get him in trouble, after all.

 

Ill Logic: 220

Douglass really did not think this through, I am sure. Well, Timozel smiles, which reassures the ferryman, but then he grabs him by the throat and “half lift[s] him off his feet”! Timozel says that the ferryman must not have recognised Lady Faraday, betrothed to Borneheld, who is on her way to her wedding. He asks if the ferryman would want him to tell to Borneheld himself that he was “churlish enough to demand payment from her” as she hurried to her lord, and the ferryman’s, as he adds to “drive the point home”. During this, his “pleasant smile never waver[s]”.

That… well, Timozel ostensibly does it for Faraday, and I do like that he does not like that they have to pay at all, instead of that the ferryman tried to rip them off; it fits with how he is supposed to be. I am not so sure about his threat; yes, Borneheld might just get angry at that, but he has a war to be fighting, and the ferryman knows that very well indeed. And that is not to mention that he’s living right at the edge of Ichtar; if he wants to, he could switch out Borneheld for Isend right now, so the threat falls quite flat.

That aside, this feels quite weird from Timozel. I would expect this from a “badass” character, and Timozel has not been shown to care for that at all. In the same vein, I also wonder why Timozel does not put his authority as an Axe-Wielder in play, since the ferryman recognised that, or why he does not bring up that he is a Champion. Yes, Douglass probably did this to make him look more menacing, and it does work… but if she wants to write about Timozel turning to evil bit by bit, then it needs to be about Timozel doing that, which should be informed by who he is.

PPP: 381

I finally note that he only talks about Borneheld, not about Axis, so it seems he is shifting his loyalties. I can see it—via Faraday he has more ties to Borneheld than he now has to Axis, after all—but I wonder if it is supposed to be another sign that Timozel is turning evil (probably so).

Well, the ferryman’s reaction is to think about how he has “never seen a less pretentious escort” for who Timozel is claiming to be Borneheld’s betrothed (so much for everyone recognising her, it seems), and that Yr is dressed in “country worsted”. Then he decides to “put on a brave aspect” in front of his assistants, and tells Timozel that his wife dresses better than “that girl”, and he hardly thinks she is “the Duke’s betrothed”.

PPP: 382 (improper capitalisation)

…While I can certainly sympathise with this attempt, doing it when Timozel is holding him by the throat strikes me as rather unwise and counterproductive, especially if it involves insults, like here. At this, Faraday sensibly goes to show the ferryman her ring, but before she can do anything, Timozel gets angry and grabs the ferryman so tightly he “[gives] a strangled sound”. The three assistants, who we are told are “all young lads”, are kept back by a single glare from him. That went about as well as could have been expected, though I am glad to see that Timozel’s actions do line up with what we know of him again, and that we are seeing some seriously misguided devotion, too! It still is ridiculous that he was apparently corrupted by Gorgrael in the span of some weeks, but it does fit with that, and I will take it.

Timozel then whispers “so threateningly the ferryman [thinks] he [is] dead” that he thought he heard the ferryman say he did not believe him, and that he “may even have insulted the lady by comparing her to [his] wife”, and he does not like that! …Why does he care about the ferryman not believing him before he gets to the insult to Faraday?

Ill Logic: 221

Faraday now looks at Timozel “in amazement”, as do I somewhat. Even if I accept that his dream of Gorgrael has begun to turn him evil, this seems like something that should be quite a bit further along in the trilogy. I would first expect some small things to show that Timozel is not doing well, like picking a fight with this ferryman, and then this would be the point where he loses control for the first time, which I would put somewhere at the end of this book. The problem is that there has been not much leading up to this; the most we got was Timozel being distrustful about the way Jack treated Faraday, which was before Gorgrael sent his dream; after that… we have nothing, and two weeks later, he is suddenly threatening people with death when they insult Faraday. A significant chunk is missing here!

PPP: 392 (+10)

At this, the ferryman “squeaks in fear” and says that he misunderstood and Timozel can have a free passage, after which Timozel drops him. The man cowers on the deck for a moment, then crawls away on “his hands and knees” and tells his assistants to pole. …This is not something I would want to see just for someone trying to rip off our protagonists, so credit to Douglass for reinforcing just how bad Timozel was acting just now (I have a suspicion that is only because he is supposed to turn bad, though). As the ferry pulls away, Faraday calls Timozel out on how “much force” he used; Timozel turns to look at her and she steps back. Then his expression softens, but his voice stays hard as he says that no one insults her before him and gets away with it, and the ferryman is lucky to still live. Maybe it is time to take this more seriously, then? We now get this:

“If this is what you do to win us passage across the Nordra, then I dread to think what you will do to win us a bed for the night,” Yr grumbled.

Well, she does have reason to; if he threatens to kill people in Jervois Landing, it would most probably cause considerably more trouble than it did with the ferryman, which they can hardly afford. Sure, Faraday might be recognised by some of Borneheld’s troops, if they attract their attention, but it is hardly worth the trouble, I would think. So maybe, Yr, you should do something to prevent this from happening?

Ill Logic: 222

Come to that, I notice that she did nothing just now to stop Timozel. Faraday did not do very much either (since Douglass apparently wanted the scene to play out in full), but she tried to show the ferryman her ring, at least, and she called Timozel out on his behaviour, too.

Morals for Thee But Not for Me: 118

Finally, this paragraph could certainly be funny, but it is not after Timozel threatened to kill someone! (And if Yr is meant to be unaware of the gravity of the situation, I am not seeing any indication of that.)

Tone Soap: 43

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We open on Douglass telling us that “bed and a promise of transport” will be arranged more easily than any of them thought. That is good to hear; I would love for the story to get somewhere soon! So, the ferryman docks at Jervois Landing’s main street and makes Timozel, Yr, and Faraday disembark as quickly as possible. As Timozel walks past, he mouths a curse, but makes sure to keep out of sight as he does so. At least he has some sense about him?

Even though it is dark, the main street is quite busy, and we learn that Faraday has only arrived “just in time”, as the “last major contingent” bound for Gorkenfort has arrived that morning, and is scheduled to leave in two days. So… if Faraday and co. had had worse weather on the way to Fernbrake Lake, they might well have missed that altogether and have arrived at Gorkenfort long after Axis. They have been quite lucky to have made it, then, and it only makes me think even less of Jack and Yr’s plan. Yes, they might not have known exactly when the troops left, but Yr, at least, would have had an idea…

Well, she and Faraday now stick close to Timozel to avoid “lewd suggestions” that the “rough soldiers” throw their way. Timozel gets angry at the “insults”, but has the sense to realise that he cannot “attack the entire street of soldiers passing by”. Then he stops a local, who he sees is a merchant by his fine clothes, and he asks him for an inn they can stay the night. The man laughs, says there is no room to be found “for gold or threat” tonight, and asks if Timozel cannot say that Jervois Landing is “crawling with troops”. He then grins at Faraday and Yr and says they might be able to find themselves a warm place, “if they’re prepared to work a little for it”, but he is afraid Timozel will have to sleep out on the streets.

Thoughts:

- I rather doubt the merchant’s last assertion. Given that Faraday and Yr can apparently get themselves a warm night via sex work, and given that a whole new contingent of troops came in this morning, I am sure that Timozel would be able to find similar employment, too. This does make sense coming from the merchant, as gayness, from what I have seen, is looked down on in this society, but in a place which is far from home for most soldiers, I think it will be stopping less of them than it otherwise might.

- I also note that having a character we are obviously supposed to dislike voice this sentiment somewhat undermines the anti-gay messages we got with Gorgrael and such, which I quite like.

- Speaking of dislike, I do dislike this merchant quite a bit, especially the way he addresses Faraday and Yr, which is as much that he tells them to do sex work for a warm night’s sleep as that he does not even address them when talking about them. That aside, his reply to Timozel also grates quite a bit with me; as far as I know, Timozel has not been here before, so for all he knows, there is a place for them to stay, even if Jervois Landing is so busy with soldiers. Mocking him for not knowing that there is not is not something I like at all. All in all, Douglass did get what she wanted out of this character, which I do appreciate.

Well, Faraday immediately grabs Timozel by the arm and tells him that the merchant “does not realise who [they] are”, and then asks him not to lose his temper here. Good on her for proactively defusing the situation! Timozel does not like this at all, but decides to obey and waves the man away. Good on him for deciding that a direct request from Faraday supersedes his general duty and for not getting angry; that would most probably have caused more trouble than it is worth. …And here I would like to stop for the moment (and, indeed, for this time), and circle back to the beginning, now that I have covered the rather boring part on a detail level.

So, this section actually opens on Timozel, Faraday, and Yr just after Jack has left. Timozel leads the way, and Faraday and Yr hold on to the mule’s packs to keep from being “separated in the snowstorm”. …When did we get a snowstorm? Yes, it snowed quite heavily just now, and there was wind, but that hardly makes a snowstorm, and we do need to know about it if the weather changed. That is not to mention that the next segment does not show the effects of a snowstorm at all.

PPP: 393

Faraday and Yr are both crying in the privacy the snow and their “hooded cloaks” give them. With Yr, it is because most of the Sentinels have been apart for some “two thousand years”, and they only feel whole when they are together, so it is quite painful for her. I really wish we had had something like this earlier; this is rather important characterisation to have for the Sentinels, after all! It does explain much of why Jack and Yr do not seem very attuned to each other, though; after such a long time, they would have been practically strangers.

Faraday, for her part, feels “the loss of a valued companion”, of someone she has “come to lean on for support” in the last few weeks. I can certainly see that, no matter how bad he was to her. She says that after Fernbrake Lake, she let go of her “vague mistrust” toward him, since the Prophecy manipulates “them all” (just what anyone would want, is it not?), and Jack is “as much a victim as she”. That is the impression he gave, but, going by later books, that is not quite what happened; Jack knew the Prophecy of the Destroyer (or most of it, at least) when he agreed to become a Sentinel, and he joined of his own free will. He probably did not understand exactly what it demanded of him, but he is much less of a victim than Faraday is. Even if he were, though, that would have no bearing on how trustworthy he is; all the demands the Prophecy has made of him might leave him rather willing to shift his troubles to Faraday, for example. Combined with his rather bad behaviour so far, I find it rather hard to see this as Faraday finally accepting that Jack is Much Like Her and letting go of her “irrational” mistrust. He just sucks for her, victim or not, and she has every right to dislike that!

She goes on to say that she has lost her mother (so there are some references to that, just not by name) and “the man she loved”, and for a while Jack began to “fill both roles”. Hopefully accidental incest implications aside… does she really care that much about Axis? I got the idea she had a worse time with Merlion’s death than with being unable to see Axis, at least after they started their present journey. Further, how does he exactly fill Axis’s role for her? I do not think we have seen Faraday actually be attracted to him, nor is he all that much like Axis… so I really doubt this. Him standing in for Merlion, on the other hand, confirms what I thought about his role to Faraday… which makes the way he treats her all the worse, of course.

PPP: 394 (unsupported characterisation)

Faraday then says she will “miss him terribly” in the coming months, and how can she “cope with Borneheld” without Jack there? Maybe Yr could help with that? She is as much a Sentinel as Jack, and she will be in a somewhat similar situation to Faraday; combined with her not being as authoritarian as Jack, I get the feeling that she will be of more value for coping than him. Sure, given her views, I doubt it would have a good effect on Faraday, but she would still be more likely to be there for her.

So Faraday grits her teeth, and asks the Mother to aid her, at which she feels “a small twinge of reassurance deep inside her”. She vows to use the sacred bowl if they have a room tonight. That is a nice exchange, I find. Then we cut to a description of the Nordra, which is “wide but slow” where it bends southward. Rivers generally slow as they widen, so why is this posed as a contradiction?

PPP: 395

We learn that “traders and locals” use the ferry to go from Ichtar to Skarabost (and presumably there’s traffic the other way, too), and some stay to use the “river boats” to and from Carlon. Good to know! Then we go into the ferryman’s head, and into the segment I already covered. Let me see if I can get some more out of it the second time. So, he wants to go back to home, but then sees three people on “the path cut deep in the Nordra’s bank”. …I have no idea what that is supposed to be. My first thought was that the bank is quite high here, and so an open tunnel has been cut through it to the river, but that seems like it would be all too much bother for little gain. Because of that, I think this means that the path has been cut horizontally into the bank… though I would still like to know just why.

So the ferryman complains about this, and talks about the storm “thicken[ing]” (I guess that can be used to talk about a snowstorm? It still feels off). He considers pushing off, but does dare to with one of Borneheld’s captains (because Borneheld, and everyone he associates with, are eeevil). Timozel reaches the ferry, the ferryman recognises him as an Axe-Wielder, and, because he is “a religious man”, he makes the Sign of the Plough for him. Given how the ferryman will be treated, that sounds quite a bit like “he was superstitious” to me, especially given that he is mentioned to be religious when that is (still) the default.

Maria Monk Redux: 73

That said… when we see people use the Sign of the Plough, it is nearly always to invoke Artor, not something to greet people with, so I would say the ferryman is being rather superstitious, just not because he thinks a soldier from the religious organisation has religious significance.

The ferryman offers them passage, then thinks about how beautiful Faraday and Yr are. Yr then plays up her sexiness, since she does not know how they will pay the ferryman, and the ferryman tries to get the gold marks from Timozel, which I still find a rather bad plan. I do know that the assistants are “young lads” (presumably to justify why they did not attack Timozel); that does give an advantage, since they are more likely to follow the ferryman’s lead… but it also means that he probably does multiple of them, since they are likely not to be as strong as he is, not to mention that they would be less willing to put up with standing in the snow and wind for long. So… that makes it unfortunately even worse.

Ill Logic: 223

I also note that no one seems to notice that he overcharged them at all; Timozel just gets angry that the ferryman dared to charge them in the first place.

PPP: 395

So then we have the scene of Timozel assaulting the ferryman. On its own, it is not bad, but it hardly fits Timozel, as I have already explained. Looking at it now, though… why does Timozel not use his authority as an Axe-Wielder to make the ferryman do what he wants? Or why not promise payment on the other side, and then just leave? I doubt Timozel would consider it all that much of an “insult” to be expected to pay, after all. Also, Timozel’s threat to tell it to Borneheld only works if the ferryman believes Faraday is actually Borneheld’s betrothed, which he has done nothing to prove, so I have no idea how he expects that to work.

Then the ferryman tries to “put on a brave face” (not that that will help much if Timozel does try to kill him), Timozel hurts him even more until he gives in, and then sets him free.

Ill Logic: 226 (for all of this)

So the ferryman tells his assistants to pole (and calls them “witless idiots”, which I am sure they will appreciate), and Faraday asks if “that much force” was necessary. …Why would any amount of force have been necessary? This, and the whole previous scene for that matter, would work much better if the ferryman were actually dangerous in some way, not just trying to rip them off, and I get the distinct feeling Douglass ripped this off from such a scene in another work.

PPP: 396

In any case, I still think this should be considerably more concerning than it is to Faraday and Yr; Timozel has never done anything like this before, after all!

So they disembark in Jervois Landing, we are told about the new contingent coming in… and then we have the soldiers throwing “lewd suggestions” at Faraday and Yr. Timozel gets angry at that, but does nothing, since he can hardly attack the whole street of soldiers. Hmmm, I get what Douglass is getting at with both this scene and the one with the merchant: she wants to have Faraday and Yr get some sexist moments, without Timozel getting in the way, and she wants to show that Timozel has problems maintaining his anger. I do have some problems with that. First off, I find Faraday and Yr are getting quite enough sexism already, and, if we are going to get it, I would wish for something more than “rough soldiers throw lewd comments” or “slimy men are slimy”. Second, I do not quite like the way in which Timozel is handled here; it comes across like Timozel is unreasonable in getting angry about this sexism, and it means that Douglass is ignoring that he is an Axe-Wielder and that he could easily the merchant off, at least. And third… we already know that Timozel is now prone to uncontrolled anger, so we do not need to see it three times in quick succession. Let us get on with actually finding transport, please!

So Timozel tries to do just that, and gets the sucky merchant instead. He notably gets angry when the merchant calls him “[y]oung man”, which hardly seems like something he would get angry over, and he does not know yet that the merchant means to be insulting, so… that is weird. The merchant has his speech, and Faraday then reacts more appropriately and tells him not to get angry “here”. Would she not mind if he did it elsewhere, then? I can certainly get behind that, and I do like seeing it from Faraday!

Timozel then accedes to Faraday’s request (which I still quite approve of), and then says that he “[does] not know what [they] can do”. …You could ask around for the commander of these soldiers, and then try to get his attention (in which I think showing Faraday’s ring will be helpful). Once you have that, chances are good that the commander would recognise Faraday, or else the ring, and he would have heard of Borneheld getting engaged. Then the commander should be easy to convince to bring Faraday to Gorkenfort, and then the whole problem is solved. So, of course, Timozel manages to put nothing of that together, and they need a deus ex machina to bail them out.

All that, though, will have to wait until next time, as I am finally done with this! Until next time, then!