Voyage to the Land of Blue Mists

By Peter Bishop

Nobody ever suspected that a secret lay hidden in the picture that Zivilia had inherited from her mother. That it had been painted in the land of Blue Mists, a strange hermit kingdom that lay on the other side of the world, had been long forgotten. Besides, Zivilia knew nothing of the country’s blood-splattered history, or the disruption caused by the League of Ausburg and their traders in the brief period when they were there many years ago.

Thus learning her painting held clues as to where to find a lost relict came as a total surprise to her. People in the know seemed to think that it was buried somewhere in that mysterious island archipelago. There was astonishment that her religious order should decide to commission her to locate and then retrieve it. The task could have easily be given to another deemed to be more suitable.

How then was she to travel there with her flying fox animal companion Fluffy? Had one of the Divines known that she would need one day to make the voyage there? The answer surely must be ‘Yes.’ Why else would she have made friends with the crew of the small trading ship ‘The Dark Sun’ years ago?

Like many things the long journey to solve the mystery and recover the relict wasn’t that straight forward. But then life never is! Is it?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781786290373

Peter Bishop

Peter Bishop is Professor of Urban Design at The Bartlett School of Architecture and the founding partner of Bishop & Williams Ltd. Between 2006 and 2011 he was Director of Design for London, the Mayor’s architecture think-tank and design studio. He is a fellow of University College London and the RIBA, and an adviser to the city of Goyang in Korea and on major regeneration projects in London, Sydney and Riyadh.

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About the Author

Peter Bishop moved to Dublin in Ireland from the UK in the early 1990s. He worked in the food industry before starting a new career in IT after being made redundant in the 2009 Recession. He inherited a love of reading from his parents. From childhood, he has had a passionate interest in History. This helped him immensely in the research of his family tree, a project lasting over 25 years. His wide and deep interests and knowledge of history, economics and technology are reflected in his writing. He has a basic fluency in French.

Dedication

To my parents, who gave me the love of reading.

Copyright Information ©

Peter Bishop 2023

The right of Peter Bishop to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

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

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781788236829 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781788236812 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781786290373 (ePub e-book)

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First Published 2023

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Acknowledgement

To the team at Austin Macauley Publishers who have made this book’s publication possible.

World Map

Prologue

The painting had been in the family for a long, long time. Whoever painted it and how the family had come to own it was long forgotten. The painting was of a mountain with forests on the slopes and a village at the base at dawn. Whether it was a real place or just a figment of the artist’s imagination was also long forgotten. Whatever, the village didn’t have typical Alhambara architecture which suggested later. The family thought of showing it to art experts to get its origin identified but never did. It was as if the painting whispered it was to be kept a secret.

The painting wasn’t large, eleven inches wide and nine inches high. It had a dark hardwood frame and backing board, a bit battered by time but clearly the original. The painting itself was painted using oils on a piece of canvas. It was now extremely aged but had kept its colours well over the years. The artist must have known something current ones didn’t know about making paints. Either the artist forgot or never intended to sign it.

It was a tradition in the family that the painting was always inherited by the eldest daughter. Once, it skipped a generation because the family had only sons. In that case the eldest granddaughter became the recipient. On another occasion, the recipient left it to her eldest niece because she had no daughters. It was never pawned even when the family had fallen on hard times. There was no luck or secret attached to it. It was just a family heirloom with a long tradition. Something about the painting said that it could never be owned, just passed on from one person to another.

The painting seemed impervious to time and fate. It survived wars. It crossed borders. Once it was rescued from a house fire. Wood-boring insects never tried to feast on the frame. It seemed to have a ‘skin’ impermeable to water.

The current recipient inherited it from her mother who died in childbirth. Her father gave it to her when she was twelve. He told her as much as he knew from what his long-dead wife had said to him when they married. The girl put questions about it to her mother’s sister, but the aunt could add little. The current holder became a wanderer through choice rather than circumstances. She took the painting with her on her travels. She always hung it at the place that she temporarily called home; otherwise, she kept it out of sight in her pack.

This is the story of how the painting’s current recipient came to discover its secret and the people behind that secret.

Chapter 1

Discovery

An area manager shall at all times seek to find new trade opportunities.

Mercantile League of Augsburg Book of Rules for Managers.

Harbour Master Goki looked up from his work when Fisherman Kinai entered his office. He was writing up the harbour duties taken the previous day. The seaman bowed respectively. Goki indicated for him to speak.

Honourable Harbour Master, I must report that there is a strange ship heading towards Shichido. I have never seen the like before. It is not one of our traders or warships. Nor is it a Temasekese merchant.

Thank you, Kinai. I will take it from here. Tell the other fishermen to stay well away from it until I know who it is and what it wants.

Kinai acknowledged the order with another bow and left to carry it out.

The harbour master put on his official sash and hat before leaving his office. Whoever it was, he had better look the part. Next, he had the village watch turned out ready. After his inspection of them, he prepared a messenger to be ready at an instant’s notice go to the nearby town of Yamashiro. His superior, the prefect, there would want to know about any strangers. He then headed down to the harbour with his armed escort to make ready for any landing party.

The strange ship had arrived and was anchored off shore. The harbour master immediately saw that the sail patterns were like nothing he had ever seen before. Ships sailing around the Land of The Blue Mists had battens to keep the sails rigid. Those on the stranger were just pieces of cloth hung from wooden beams. The square sails on the middle three masts were familiar to sailors amongst the watchers on the pier but the triangular sails at each end weren’t. The benefits of such a sail eluded them.

The ship was quite narrow for its length with a totally black hull. This gave it a very sinister appearance. Its shape suggested that it was a warship rather than a trader. From the distance, it wasn’t possible to count the number of gun ports on a side because they were closed. There were people on deck but again due to the distance they were indistinguishable. A number on the stern castle were stationary for a period of time. The harbour master guessed they were studying the shore but they must have been too far to make out details. All very bizarre.

Another thing very odd about the ship were the large black wheels painted on the sails. Local and Temasekese ships never had any designs on theirs. Goki wondered what the reason and meaning was behind them.

A small boat was lowered and sailed around the ship before being taken aboard. Its journey covered most of the outer reaches of the bay. A man in the bow was seen to lower a weighted line into the water at various intervals. Why he was doing this mystified the watchers on shore.

The harbour master waited for people from the stranger to land but they never did. After about an hour, they upped anchor and sailed away. Goki wrote a report to the prefect about the stranger with his observations and with a rough sketch and its approximate size. He later heard that people from the ship had been seen to land in a cove and fill water barrels. The working party had been guarded by men carrying firearms with armour designs never seen before in The Land of Blue Mists. It anchored off several towns again without sending anyone ashore. At one town several large fishing boats loaded with soldiers were sent out to intercept it. The stranger easily evaded them when challenged. It also didn’t fire on the attackers.

The prefect at Yamashiro on receiving Goki’s report called a meeting of local dignitaries to discuss the newly arrived strange ship. It was agreed that it must be a scout ship from some previously unknown state rather than a new advanced Temasekese design but for what purpose? A naval ship captain said that he had heard tell of strangers from the south that had such ships in stories told to him by visiting Temasekese merchants. Apparently, these newcomers were more interested in trading than fighting. If that was so, then why they had then sent a ship of fighting design to The Land of Blue Mists? A further question was why if these people were interested in trade had they not landed and made contact with the local government?

It was decided to put the military forces on Kawachi Island on high alert for a time. An old anti-invasion plan against the Temasekese was dusted off and put into operation. The opportunity with additional soldiers available was used to launch attacks against and wipe out a few bandit gangs. Fishing boats were ordered to stay close to port which annoyed some captains because their fishing grounds were well out to sea. After two weeks of nothing, the island was allowed to return to normal.

The strange ship was the ‘Victory’, a Mercantile League of Augsburg Navy frigate.

The League had reached Temasek some forty years earlier. The Imperial Empire was going through one of its weak periods. Various generals were fighting each other to be the one to sit on the Iron Throne. This was disrupting trade with their northern neighbour of Alhambara. The League’s ruling council decided to take advantage by selling arms to all sides. Soon they were controlling seaborne trade throughout the Imperial Sea.

Pirates from Rhodes decided to contest the Mercantile League’s dominance. They had seized the port years previously after the Fire Mountain had suddenly erupted. This plus the earthquakes it had set off and tsunamis caused had ravished the lands to the east. In response, the League had sent Admiral Collie with a large fleet to put down the menace. He had turned the once Imperial city into a League possession. From there, ships had started to explore the area to the north east which they called the Ashland Coast due to the nature of the topography, its previous name being unknown to the League’s cartographers. Soon afterwards, League ships had reached Temasek.

Temasek was a massive united state. Its government was very rigid and ossified. Everyone had their place from the Emperor in his palace to the peasant farmer in his hovel. It was run by a huge bureaucracy. This civil service was open to all who could pass an entrance exam. This required a detailed knowledge of the Book of The One True Faith or a big bag of coin. Advancement to high positions needed more coin or family connections. As a result, the civil service became an efficient tax and fee extraction organisation. This was all legal because there was always a law or decree which said this person had to pay this amount for that reason. It was possible to get a reprieve for a small amount of coin to the right contact. As one might expect there were people who traded in knowing the right contacts.

The arrival of the League was a shock to the system because they weren’t into making gifts like the now absent Imperial traders had been. Officially ignoring the newcomers didn’t work because they took to trading with unauthorised people on the side. In the end, Temasek signed an agreement with the League allowing them to openly trade in several treaty ports. Elsewhere trading was banned. In return, the League agreed to put a large sum into the National Treasury. Little of that arrived due to the various administrative fees levied by Temasekese civil servants responsible to see the outsiders obey the national agreement or local laws. The League didn’t care because it had legal above-board trade.

Gold and silver from the sale of arms to the various Imperial generals was used to pay for luxury items from Temasek. They had little interest in the goods the League had to offer. Temasekese cloth, craftwork and porcelain became all the rage across Alhambara. The League became very rich. The trade soon attracted interlopers trying to break the League’s monopoly. The League reacted with ferocity towards such people. They all had to pass Rhodes to reach Temasek where the League maintained a massive patrolling fleet to catch them. If caught, the ship officers were hung from their mastheads, the crew were sold to the Imperials for galley slaves and the cargoes added to the League’s profits.

The League officials became very efficient at building up a picture of Temasek’s economy in their search for items to purchase. Temasekese were as skilled in deception as the Alhamabarians. In most cases, they didn’t care as long as they were ‘looked after’. The League had established a small intelligence gathering team. These people were helped by a large card database put together at great expense and maintained at the League’s headquarters at Chongqing. Some purchasers started to note that they were being told that the identical item was made in more than one place. On further investigation they also discovered that these items weren’t actually made at that place at all. So where were they being made? The Temasekese certainly weren’t telling when directly questioned on these aberrations.

League seamen had noticed Temasekese ships heading eastwards from the region of sea around Chongqing. League ships blown in a similar direction had seen blue clouds on the horizon. This suggested some kind of land existed there but its exact nature was unknown.

Grant Hayes was the second son of Al Hayes, a long-term serving Mercantile League of Augsburg council member. He had viewed originally being appointed the League’s area manager for Temasek as a form of exile. Once he arrived, he soon realised it was in fact heaven on earth. First was the hedonistic life style that it offered would have resulted League servants being named and shamed publicly back in Alhambara for some vices or execution for others. When he returned, if reported, his actions would only be treated as boys being boys. He avoided drink and taking narcotics like a few. Some had become so addicted that they dare not return home because they would lose access to a supply source to feed their habit. Homosexuals were safe from the harsh punishments that society insisted on inflicting on those so inclined. The butler, often a slave purchased the Temasekese, provided more services that just looking after the house.

Grant had two concubines, one he had ‘acquired’ from the previous area manager, the second was a gift for services rendered to the Chongqing city governor. He viewed them as playthings, a perk of the job, rather than human beings. He was here to make as much money as possible and have fun. He knew he would have to leave them behind when he turned home after being here for eight years. They could never be part of his future that he planned once he returned to Alhambara. He would purchase a significant shareholding in one of the League’s members. He also planned to marry some dull well-connected merchant’s daughter, putting his decadent past behind him.

Grant was soon considering the many reports from over the years suggesting that there was an unknown land to the east. Here was a golden opportunity to put his name into the history books, potentially make even more money and provide a stepping stone to the highest levels of League leadership. However, he lacked the right maritime resources to exploit the opportunity. His position gave him command and authority over a few merchant ships which he could only send between League enclaves in Temasek and Rhodes. He sent a request to the League’s governor at Rhodes for a frigate and a cartography team to supposedly map a part of the coast on behalf of a friendly governor. His lie was accompanied by a large gift of Temasekese porcelain and his eldest concubine to the governor. He had decided she was getting a bit long in the tooth and started to look for a younger model. His superior complied with his junior’s request not realising the duplicity in it.

As soon as the ‘Victory’ commanded by Captain Ransom arrived, it was duly sent to seek out the mysterious land. He was given strict instructions not to land and to avoid contact with the locals at all costs.

Captain Ransom is waiting for you downstairs, sir.

Send him in, Caruthers, Grant ordered his secretary.

The Captain entered his superior’s office and placed his report on the desk in front of Grant. There was no chair for him to sit in whilst his superior briefly flicked through it. When Grant had arrived, there had been a second but much lower chair for visitors in his office but he soon had it removed. A necessary act to remind his inferiors of their place when he required their presence.

Do you think that they are a Temasekese province that the rogues ‘forgot’ to tell us about?

No, sir. The architecture is sufficiently different according to Lieutenant Hills who has travelled extensively in this region. The ships that tried to intercept us were only fishing boats loaded with soldiers and not warships. The Temasekese navy has its own yards for construction purposes so would be unlikely to use converted ships. We mapped some of the coastline. I have the cartographers preparing proper charts for any follow up voyage that Your Excellency may order. The map I have included with my report is just a rough sketch of the closest island to Chongqing. We could see at least three others of various sizes in the distance.

Tell me about their military.

As I said, the only naval ships were converts and we only saw them in one place. This suggests it was a hurried reaction to our appearance. We saw soldiers in one or two other places. I also think our arrival promoted some kind of mobilisation. The forces we did see were most likely local militia. They lacked firearms, armour and horses. There were a few castles, but they were little more than a curtain wall and moat around a central keep. The villages have no defences. The towns have a curtain wall but there were gaps in many places.

Grant nodded.

What do you think are the possibilities for trade?

Difficult to tell at a distance even with our telescopes, sir. The climate is temperate similar to central Alhambara. The terrain is heavily forested. The buildings outside of the towns looked all to be made of wood. Those in towns were also mainly wooden but we did see some evidence of the use of stone and tile. The fields around the villages were small almost certainly worked by hand without the help of animals. We could see no herds. Roads looked to be mere dirt tracks. We saw some horses, but they were the size of ponies. Overall the low level of technology would suggest next to no trade possibilities. However, the Temasekese traders must be buying their goods from places we didn’t see. There were a great many fishing boats and we came across large shoals in our travels.

At this point, the Captain produced a small box which he added to his report and map on the area manager’s desk. Grant opened it. Inside were a few twigs and leaves.

Sir, I know you said not to make contact with the locals, but I had to land a party for water. I carefully chose a remote bay. They made no contact with the locals though they were pretty sure they were being watched. One member had the sense to take samples from nearby trees. I have had a senior carpenter in our dockyard take a look at them. He thinks they would give a better-quality wood than the rubbish we are currently being sold here in Temasek.

Thank you, Captain. You have done great work. Also thank your crew and the cartographers for me. I am going to need to keep your ship here a little longer.

Dismissing the Captain with a wave of his hand, Grant Hayes considered his options. He read the report carefully twice. He looked at the map and the botanical samples. Where there is risk there is reward. There seemed little risk making contact with the potential for substantial reward. He decided to call a meeting of senior League officials to decide his next move after seeking their advice. First, they were sent copies of Captain Ransom’s visit to what became known as The Land of Blue Mists to read. Five days later, they were all assembled in the League’s boardroom in Chongqing.

I am going to lead a delegation to this new country and open it up for trade with the League, he announced.

Do you have the authority? questioned a man new to the region.

There was a hushed silence.

According to Rule 11, you do. The older hand then quoted the section from the League’s ‘Rules for Area Mangers’.

Straight away the others concurred. If there was money to be made, then they want a part of it. The nearest authority was a good few sailing days to the south. Ultimate authority was months away to the west. A report of what had been done, if successful, would be accompanied by a rich cargo. Failure just not reported at all. Lost ships could be attributed to violent storms.

With his comrades on board, Grant Hayes set about planning the expedition. Firstly, he was going to lead it himself. He didn’t believe it would fail. There was no way anyone else was going to get the credit. He set up a small working party to do the legwork.

The fleet would consist of three ships. The ‘Victory’ would provide protection. The ‘Araby Maid’, a small but fast barque, would carry the gold and silver he planned to take with them as gifts and coin for purchasing trade goods. The final ship was ‘The Pride of West’, a large galleon which would go empty to be filled with trade goods. It had been due to go back to Alhambara as part of the Annual Fleet. What cargo was in it was put into other ships or simply dumped into warehouses.

Finding a translator was given careful consideration. Extreme caution was taken to ensure that the Temasekese had no idea what the League was planning. The planners worked on the assumption that some people in the newly discovered islands would speak that language. A number of League officials spoke some Temasekese. It was useful in ordering servants around and handing negotiations with local dignitaries and traders. Grant spoke some himself but decided that he wanted someone on the expedition more competent. It was quickly recognised to be an extremely important position. Martin Synott was finally selected on the basis of expertise and size of ‘gift’.

The working party decided to ‘sell’ shares in the expedition because there was insufficient spare bullion available. What officially existed was needed to purchase trade goods for the Annual Fleet. Unofficially, the League officials had their own stashes from bribes and skimming. An unofficial agreement of partnership was drawn up and favoured members were allowed to participate. These people had sub-agreements with other people to bulk up their own contribution but at less favourable terms. The only League official not to contribute was the new man who had questioned Grant’s authority at the opening meeting. He was also sent to replace the current occupier of the worst of the League’s enclaves in Temasek. Trade was close to unprofitable there. Relationships with the locals extremely difficult. Some occupants died there due to the unhealthy environment.

Once everything was ready, the League fleet set out. Rather than head directly east, they took the precaution of heading south. The Temasekese had to know something was up. Amongst the slaves and servants there had to be a number of spies employed by the Secret Police. The less that they suspected at this late stage the better. Temasek had a large navy so might decide to send a squadron to intercept them.

The League fleet arrived at the port of Yamashiro on Kawachi Island without incident. Captain Ransom had identified this as the best place to make official contact with The Land of Blue Mists’ leadership.

The port authorities there were surprised to see the League ships. They recognised the ‘Victory’ from its earlier visit. The port defences were immediately put on full alert and the surrounding area warned the strangers were back. The watching harbour master couldn’t believe their eyes when a small boat headed in shore. A welcoming party was quickly assembled.

Grant Hayes made sure that he was the first official League person to land on The Lands of Blue Mists. The water party from the first would never have happened as far as the League would be concerned. In halted Temasekese he explained to the delegation who he was and whom he represented. He explained that the Mercantile League of Augsburg wanted to open up trade negotiations with their newly discovered friends. He also presented the head of the delegation with a purse of gold coins. The man couldn’t believe his luck. He had never seen so much gold in one place in his life. His superiors were sure to claim the gift for themselves, but a couple of coins would ‘stick’ to his hand.

A messenger was immediately sent to the regional government at Izumi. At a meeting of local officials, it was decided that it was safest to push any decision upstairs. The League’s fleet was directed to the port of Settsu on nearby Yamoto Island. After a short wait an official delegation from The Land of Blue Mists’ ruler arrived. A short treaty was drawn up and signed by both parties. It allowed the League to open a trading station at Sakai on Kawachi Island for an agreed yearly fee. League merchants were to have the same rights as those from Temasek. The treaty was to last for five years. Grant Hayes was pretty sure that the League’s council back in Alhambara would approve what he had done.

With a signed treaty out of the way efforts were made to fill the two supporting merchant ships as fast as possible. The League was offered and accepted the higher prices than given to the Temasekese. League officials involved also recognised many of the goods as being palmed off to them by the Temasekese as ‘local’ in the past.

With the ships filled with trade goods and a signed treaty in Grant Haye’s pocket, the League expedition headed back to Chongqing. They took a dogleg route back to try