answer in the form of a tiny arrow shaft, protruding from the torn socket.
'Juraviel? ' the woman whispered hopefully, turning, her eyes going up to the boughs.
Chapter 15
It was a lump of rock in the middle of nowhere, bound on one side by the Gulf of Corona and on the other by the ferocious and cold water of the great Mirianic Ocean. A hundred people called this island, Dancard, home, mostly soldiers serving the Coastpoint Guards at Pireth Dancard, the twin-towered fortress rising above the surf.
They were hardy folk here, making their living harvesting the great strands of kelp and fishing. They suffered storms and giant sharks, and had repelled a sizable powrie attack in the demon war. But even when they talked of that heroic battle, the folk of Dancard did so with a stoic attitude, without excitement. Hardy and dour, pragmatic and accepting their lot in life, the folk of Dancard-soldier and civilian alike-depended upon themselves and each other, and were not very trusting of visitors. But neither were they hostile, and they had taken in the Saudi]acintha for repairs and had helped resupply the ship, though Captain Al'u'met had not even asked for that much.
Brother Dellman was glad to be leaving, though, as the ship glided out of the one harbor along the island's treacherous coast. The Saudi]acintha had been out of Palmaris for more than a month, and had expected to be in Pireth Vanguard by this time, but bad luck and some broken rigging had forced the ship to limp into an unplanned stop in Dancard.
'A stern group of men and women,' remarked Captain Al'u'met, a tall and straight man with the dark skin and woolly hair indicative of his Behrenese heritage. Al'u'met was indeed a rarity in Honce-the-Bear, particularly this far north. While there was a sizeable Behrenese quarter in the dock area of Palmaris, few of the dark-skinned southerners were ever able to find any employment beyond simple manual work, if they were fortunate enough to find any work at all; and no Behrenese, outside the region near Entel, the very southernmost city of Honce-the- Bear, had risen anywhere near as high a level as captain of a sailing ship. There was nothing typical about Al'u'met. He was Abellican, not a follower of the yatols of his homeland, and was among the most impressive men Brother Holan Dellman had ever met, a man who commanded respect upon mere sight.
'They have to be to survive, I suppose,' Brother Dellman replied.
'Good folk,' Al'u'met added with a nod, then he turned from the taffrail and headed forward, the young monk right behind.
'How long before we see land? ' Dellman asked.
'You can see it right now if you look behind us,' Al'u'met said with a chuckle, but the humor was lost on poor Dellman and on several of the other crewmen who had heard the remark, for they were all weary of staring out at empty ocean. Captain Al'u'met cleared his throat and explained, 'Two weeks if the wind stays steady, but once land is in sight, we'll not have far left to run, for our course is straight to Pireth Vanguard now.'
Brother Dellman leaned on the rail and stared ahead. 'So be it,' he said, reminding himself silently of the solemn duty Abbot Braumin had put upon him. He would be the abbot's principal adviser this fall, when the votes would be cast for the new father abbot. He was to take a measure of Abbot Agronguerre, and his judgment upon the man alone could well determine the course of the Abellican Church.
With that in mind, Brother Holan Dellman offered no complaints-to Al'u'met or to anyone else.
And so it went, day after day, until, just under a week later, the crewman in the crow's nest called out, 'A sail! Due north.'
Brother Dellman looked up from his deck cleaning. He saw Al'u'met stride by, heading for the prow, and so he followed in the dark man's wake.
'The same one? ' he asked, for the Saudi Jacintha had been trailing a ship for a couple of days before she put into Pireth Dancard. It had been barely a speck on the horizon at first, though the swift Saudi]acintha had closed the distance considerably, enough for the lookout to get a decent view of the small vessel, an older ship with a single mast and a bank of oars. As the SaudiJacintha had neared, those oars had set to work, keeping their distance.
'Not many sail this part of the gulf,' Al'u'met answered, 'at this season or any other.' He looked up at the crow's nest. 'What do you make of it?' he called.
'Single square sail,' the crewman answered.
'Same as before?'
'Under no flag that I can see,' the man confirmed.
Al'u'met looked at Dellman. 'I suspect it is the same ship,' he said. 'Though why an old square-rigged reme would be out so far from the coast, I cannot begin to guess.'
Dellman looked up at the Saudi Jacmtha's sails, full of wind, and figured they'd have their answers soon enough. *** 'Yach, a chaser!' came the cry from the lookout on that square-masted reme.
Dalump Keedump kicked a bucket across the deck and stormed to the taffrail, cursing at every step.
'Yer friend Duke Kalas,' another powrie, Dokie Ruggs, grumbled, storming to the rail beside the powrie leader. 'Set us out 'ere to die, 'e did!'
'We're not knowin' that!' the powrie leader screamed. 'Could be a trader or one bringin' supplies to that castle we passed, and now, mighten be goin' to another up north.'
'Yach, but ye're hopin', and not believin' yer own words,' Dokie Ruggs answered, and several others nearby nodded in agreement. 'It be Kalas, I say. Sent us out here in this leaky tub and sent that one out behind to put us to the bottom, 'e did!'
'She was flyin' a flag o' Palmaris,' another remarked.
'Half the stinkin' boats o' the human lands fly the flag o' Palmaris,' Dalump argued.
'It be Kalas,' insisted Dokie. 'She'd o' had us afore, if she hadn't blown her rigging, and now she'll catch us for sure. And us without a way to even fight back!'
Dalump Keedump leaned heavily on the rail to consider his optionsand those seemed very few to the powrie leader at that time. He wasn't certain that Dokie Ruggs and the others had it right, for he trusted Duke Kalas, somewhat. He and his fellows had performed well for the man, and with their help, Kalas had secured his position in Palmaris. But there was simply no reason for Kalas to have gone to the trouble of giving Dalump and his fellows a ship, then chasing them all the way across the Gulf of Corona to sink them. Kalas could have let them all die in the dungeons of Chasewind Manor, without anyone knowing about it.
No, Dalump Keedump wasn't convinced that his frightened kindred were right, but still, whatever this ship might be, it represented danger. What might she do, even if she was just a trader, if she found a barely seaworthy old bucket like this one thick with powries? And powries unable to defend themselves! Every human sailor had reason to hate powries.
Dalump looked over his shoulder at the empty water before his creaking old ship, then looked back to the southern horizon, though the sail of the pursuing ship wasn't visible from the deck yet. The powrie leader knew that he'd have to send his fellows to the oars again, and soon, bending their backs to compensate for the meager power the little square sail was providing.
That notion gave Dalump some hope, though, for none in all the world could row as strong and as long as a powrie, and he had a crew whose lives depended upon it. *** The Saudi Jacintha closed very slowly over the next few days, close enough to see that the other boat's oars were hard at work. On the morning of the fifth day, the lookout informed Al'u'met that the reme had turned more to the east, and the captain, curious as to why this boat was so intent on staying ahead of his ship, which flew no war flags, ordered his crew to follow. Soon after, the square-masted reme turned back to the north.
'They are trying to avoid us, obviously,' Al'u'met informed Brother Dellman.
'And to no harm,' the monk replied, trying to stay focused on his critical mission here, though he, too, was more than a little curious about the strange reme.
Al'u'met considered the man's reply for a few moments, then nodded. 'If she turns again, we'll not pursue,' he said, 'though I am not fond of allowing such a ship to sail the gulf without some explanation.'
