The Case of the Pisces Moon Murk: The Wolflock Cases, #7

By Rhiannon D. Elton

The Case of the Pisces Moon Murk is the seventh book in the Wolflock Cases teen fantasy mystery series.

Creast Bay is known for its pristine waters, beautiful gemstones, and the mermaids that gather at the Pisces Moon festival. So, why is Wolflock instead met with a murky pond? What, or who, has contaminated the once beautiful bay? As they hunt for the answers, Wolflock and Mothy discover that not all is as it seems. Shady deals, unchecked disease, and a peculiar tour guide lead them closer to a dark truth. Even if Wolflock can solve the case before the festival, he may not be in time to cure the bay and save the mermaids from disaster.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rhiannon D. Elton
• Release date: Mar 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9780648763666

Book preview

The Case of the Pisces Moon Murk © Rhiannon D. Elton 2022

The Wolflock Cases: Book 7

Second edition

ISBN: 978-0-6487636-6-6 (ebook)

First Edition published June 2017

Second Edition published March 2022

All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by Australian Commonwealth copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, at Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

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Cover compiled by Rhiannon D. Elton

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cataloguing-in-Publication information for this title is listed with the National Library of Australia.

Published in Australia by Rhiannon D. Elton and Pelaia Adventures.

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Declaration of Intention

MERRY MEET,

The purpose of the books the author writes is to give representation to as many peoples, creatures, and landscapes as they can. Although written from the perspective of a Caucasian teenage boy, the author hopes to offer a light into the harmony of different cultures and creeds of people. The author’s aim is to promote harmony, understanding and compassion in all areas, while also inspiring readers to stand up against injustice and be critical thinkers in life.

While the author does their best to research, interview and highlight the best parts of people, they are only human and can make mistakes. The author asks you gently educate them by sending them an email in order to discuss anything that may have caused harm to a group of people unintentionally.

The author believes that the cure for ignorance is education, but please approach the topic cordially in order to avoid any knee-jerk cognitive dissonance.

Finally, the viewpoints displayed in the books comes from a particular character and is not necessarily that of the authors. The author seeks to display flaws, growth and human nature on many levels, and hopes that you will analyse the character of the protagonist without adopting any negative behaviour from them.

Merry part, and merry meet again.

A picture containing domestic cat Description automatically generated

Dedicated to Cassie

Your friendship and your strength is ever inspiring to me. Here’s to many more laughs, queen of badassery!

CHAPTER 1

Part of the Crew

IT WAS THE WORST TORTURE he’d ever endured.

Eye in the boat, Mr Felen! Bear a hand!

Wolflock set his jaw as he translated the command in his mind.

Pay attention. Help out. But where?

The blisters on his hands stung.

Unfurl the main sail and keep taut the line!

Open the mainsail and hang on for dear life.

His arms felt like they were going to shatter.

Smartly now, lad!

Hurry up.

The skin on his face felt crunchy from sunburn.

Square the sail!

Bring the sail around using both braces and sheets until the yard is athwartship. Who’d have thought such a cold sun could still make my skin this raw...

His back felt as if he was carrying an iron jacket.

Strike the pennant line!

Let go of the pennant line, lower the pennant, unhitch the pennant, and make the pennant line.

Even his very bones seemed to ache.

Belay that, Mr Felen! Geagle’s got it!

Ignore that command.

He made the mistake of letting his shoulders relax as he drew a breath. Captain Blutro rounded on him the moment he slowed.

Loose the halyard!

Wolflock ran to the position and untied the rope.

Let it run free.

Blutro’s voice was not nearly as pleasant as it had been when he first boarded.

Alright, Mr Felen! Tie the knot right this time!

I’ll tie your knot right, he grumbled, pulling as hard as he could on the line he’d just fastened down. He wouldn’t dare say it too loud anymore.

That’ll do lads! Stay ready ‘til lunch.

Thank goodness...

Wolflock sighed heavily and his whole body nearly collapsed from the immediate relief of being released from his duties. For three days he had been at the beck and call of Captain Blutro, in order to make up for the time they’d lost saving the mermaid Himi. Wolflock had to act as a crew member, and the captain seemed determined to work him to the bone. The crew laughed and said it was character building, but Wolflock resented every second. Having to learn ship terminology on the go was something he could have handled with ease but having to work as if he were a burly Corshman had worn his slender body out in just a few days.

He slumped off to lunch in the dining hall, where Mothy greeted him with bowls of salted vegetable stew and mushrooms. The dried vegetables were rehydrated in the hot water and, as he sipped the broth, his body felt restored. It was more rejuvenating than any magic potion and Wolflock’s tired muscles thanked him for eating the two bowls.

Having fun? Mothy chuckled and passed him some buttered hemp seed bread.

Wolflock glared at him with half-lidded, exhausted eyes.

It’s a blast. A real hoot. Exactly how I wanted to spend my trip through this freezing pond. He couldn’t even muster any theatrical hand waving to exaggerate his point.

Think of it this way, Mothy said through a mouthful of bread dipped in the stew, you’ll always know about boats, and you’ll be fit for the climb up the mountain.

Ahh... yes... the mountain.

It was well known across all Puinteyle that new students at Mystentine University had to trek up the great mountain. It was the highest in the known world, and it required a guide to help avoid any dangers. After a thousand years, the path up to the university had become well walked, and very few people died on the journey anymore. It was more like a symbolic rite of passage nowadays.

Traders and beings living in Mystentine city often journeyed up to sell their wares to the students in the castle. Others came to receive medical treatments or have problems solved. Wolflock remembered his father sending off Huston, their driver, to go to Mystentine University to have a new harness developed that was more comfortable for the horses. They complained that the new, cheaper ones that flooded the Plugh market caused muscle aches and chaffing. Huston had come back with a lovely design that the horses adored, but it hadn’t been beautiful enough, so Wolflock’s father sent it to the artisans studying in the Shellinden Arts and History University to have it decorated.

This process took a lot longer and Wolflock remembered his father grumbling about artists not doing what he’d asked. Huston had enjoyed the journeys back and forth, and Wolflock had thought that he may have given the artisans the wrong information deliberately so he could travel. He had bluntly asked Huston if this was the case, to which Huston vehemently denied, but upon the next return from Shellinden, he returned with the correct and perfect design.

Are you going to sleep, Lockie? You’re not on the lunch shift, are you? Mothy asked gently, laying a hand on Wolflock’s aching arm.

He shook his head.

I’ll not be able to sleep from the pain. I don’t want to miss the port either. We’ll be on an even keel after Irid, so the movement will help me sleep.

I think the captain enjoys having you out there, you know?

Wolflock looked darkly at Mothy. Torturing me, you mean?

Mothy chuckled. Well, that, and that you’re a pretty good worker when you’re forced into it. The crew seem pretty happy too.

Wolflock pondered that echoing line in his mind for a while as he finished his meal and rested his aching bones in silence. The crew were jovial with him and treated him with a playful roughness they only reserved for each other during their downtime. He also couldn’t think of when he’d heard the captain laugh more, even if it was at his expense.

To give himself just a few more moments of rest he ignored the heavy footsteps approaching.

C’mon, mi’lad, Grogen sighed and clapped him on the shoulder. We’ll be pulling into Irid a’fore too long.

All pondering thoughts washed out of him as Wolflock groaned and dragged himself to his feet.

After a few hours of cruel labour later, Wolflock spotted it as he looked up from the new line he rearranged. Land. A split across the Northern horizon opened. At first it looked like an odd bluish cloud, a sliver of mist. Then it took form. A flat plain leading gradually up a hill into the edge of a crescent-shaped bay.

As the image solidified, he could see the deep green pine trees capped with snow gripping the slippery banks of mud and slush. Leafless trees clumped between the pines and surrounded a small town of log houses and grassy roofs. Many of the buildings were on stone stilts, sutured together with wooden walkways as the shifting silt washed in and out of the town’s floor. Wolflock’s piercing blue eyes fixed on the wharf, stretching out like a welcoming hand in the grey waters.

Land ho! Hognut cried from the crow’s nest, causing a great stir as everyone ran forward to see the long-awaited land. It felt as if they had been in hibernation and were finally seeing the first rays of Spring just out ahead.

Out fenders! Blutro commanded from the wheel.

Drop the giant knotted cords to dangle over the side of the ship so the wharf doesn’t scratch the ship. Gods help us if she’s scratched.

His muscles instantly dulled their ache as he threw the giant knots over the ship, just in time to stop it from scratching the fine paintwork. His stomach, being light with elation, eased his pain and foul mood as the land was within reach. He could smell the mud, the wood smoke from pine being burnt. He could hear the chatter of the townsfolk, and he could even hear their boots on the ground.

Out the boardwalk!

He had never heard this command before, but he knew exactly what it meant.

Grogen and Geagle had it under control, though. While the others were tossing lines out for the wharf workers to tie off, Grogen and Geagle carried a long, large plank and rested it off the side of the ship.

The path to freedom!

It nearly glowed with happiness in the glittering sunbeams piercing through the clouds. The company stared at it with a palpable hunger. It had been over a fortnight since they’d touched land.

The ship finally stopped, held taut by the lines mooring it down. Slavidus stepped out in front of the boardwalk.

Attention, everyone! he boomed, holding out his list of passengers. Before we depart for shore leave, I must implore you to be back on board before sunset. We will leave at sunset and no later. If you are not back on board before the sun has disappeared, we will have left you behind. No exceptions. Secondly, we say farewell to Faleen, Bleen, Froderyk, Fuhji, Tanni and Tinni. I’ll let you ashore to say your merry parts and merry meets again.

They shed a few tears as they bundled their belongings. Wolflock didn’t know why Goden and Matroos had volunteered to take everyone’s luggage off the ship or why the other crew had groaned they hadn’t been selected until he saw the crew had to depart the ship last unless they helped the passengers. As an honorary member of the crew, he was also to stay on board until each passenger leaving for land had departed.

Quit yeh groanin’, lad. Grogen tousled his black hair, Cap’in runs tha most polite ship tha’ travels this far. S’bad manners to let the crew off first.

Wolflock still persisted in grumbling until he saw that the first passengers to scurry off the ship. Neither giving nor receiving any farewells, Faleen and Bleen slunk from the ship like the thieves of happiness they were. During their recompense, he had requested the captain station him nearby so he could monitor the changed fortunes they told the affected crew and company. When he wasn’t available, Yifi stood in for him and diligently corrected any offending language the twins used, much to their chagrin.

While working as a crewman on the Silver Ice Hair, Wolflock had found he had far more reason to be social. People would often come and stand by him while he laboured, offering him verbal support and stories that kept his weary muscles from crying too loudly.

When he injured his forearm on his first day of work, Nu and Stra had worked together to collect pepper, turmeric, and oil as a poultice for him, and he could work through the day regardless of the pain. Stra had checked up on him several times, chatting with Nu and learning about her medicines. The bald man was quite sharp and Wolflock felt he was an amicable acquaintance. He’d also leaned heavily on Grogen as a mentor, quickly becoming his ship’s apprentice. For someone he initially thought was quite dull, Wolflock soon realised that for what Grogen lacked in book smarts, he made up for in worldly experience. Each unique passenger with marvellous stories gifted him a song to sing. Each trinket dangling off his person was a token for magnificent