The boat slowly andlaboriously wound its way to the centre of the bay and headedtowards the river entrance, then slowed to a stop. Everyone satlooking nervously at the sea. Suddenly, the greenish water off thebow foamed and boiled off the back of a gigantic sea creature,rising from the water only fifty paces from the boat. Zephira frozein awe and fear. She had only heard of creatures like these fromthe tales of drunken sailors. It was a gigantic turtle or, moreprecisely, a dragon turtle, one of the most dangerous creatures inthe sea.
‘We are all dead,’ shethought.
The turtle roared in adeep resonant voice ‘Have you brought tribute?’
‘Yes, mighty one,’yelled the captain of the boat. ‘We have your favourite food,squid!’
‘My favourite food isnewmans, but squid might do as a snack. Give it to me now and begone, or I might change my mind,’ said the turtle.
The captain ordered thetwo young boys to throw the baskets of squid over the sides and hehurriedly paddled off towards the river, leaving the dragon to itslunch.
‘Why didn’t you warn meabout that?’ Zephira asked Belloe angrily.
‘You never asked me,’he replied with a smug smile. ‘He’s the town’s mascot. Doesn’t eattoo many locals either, as long as we keep him well fed.’ All themales on the boat, including Chantalot, laughed loudly at the angrylook on her face.
Zephira thought, ‘I’llremember this, Chantalot.’
When the boat was atthe centre of the mouth of the river, the captain ordered the sailto be unfurled, even though there didn’t appear to be any breeze.Gastan, the magic user, stumbled up to the seat anchored securelyon the deck, sat down in the chair, closed his umbrella and pulledout a small golden bellows hanging from a chain about his neck. Hepointed the bellows at the sail, mumbled a word or two, and startedpumping the miniature bellows. A strong gust of wind sprang up,filling the sail, and the craft took off and was soon skimmingacross the water at a gut wrenching pace. They were on theirway.
Chapter 27 The LittlePeople
Zephira sat near thebow, with Goth more near the geometric centre of the boat, to helpdistribute his weight more safely. She watched, fascinated, by thevariety of birds in the air and on the water, as the boat, with afull sail of magic wind, sped up the river almost silently. Thejungle was alive with creatures of every type. She had spent somuch time in bleak environments in recent years that she hadforgotten what wild nature was like. It both thrilled and scaredher.
She was annoyed athaving to rely on this group of barbarians that she had hired, butneeded their local knowledge. Chantalot wasn’t much help. He sangbawdy songs while they joined in the chorus. Perhaps he was tryingto calm their apprehensions about taking Goth along. He had theuncanny ability to be able to read people’s feelings and manipulatethem to serve his purposes.
Her fanciful daydreamswere interrupted as Belloe joined her in the bow. ‘I thought that Iwould fill yer in on what will happen during the next couple ofdays,’ he said. ‘The boat be making good progress, we should be atthe Barra village around sunset. We’ll stay there till morning andcontinue on to our camp tomorrow. We should be there sometime inthe late afternoon.’
‘The head of thevillage elders be a kindly little fellow, and for certain supplieswill lend us several of their kind who will act as guides, as wellas carry our supplies and track down yer magic animals and plants.With luck we should be able to find most of the items yer wantedwithin a week or so.’
‘What sort of illegalgoods are you going to bribe the natives with?’ asked Zephira.
‘Yer in frontiercountry,’ said Belloe. ‘In Mudrun, nothing’s illegal, but somethings are restricted and in short supply. There be many poisonsand useful drugs in the jungle. In some worlds they be illegal, buthere they be just another item for trade and profit here.
‘In Mudrun, there belittle iron. Hence all goods made of iron are in short supply. Yermay have noticed that most of the weapons are poor quality. Thelittle people can’t get enough iron weapons. Axes, knives, jungleswords and spear points are all in great demand and good fortrading. Yer can buy a women slave for an axe out here. I’d becareful showing yer fancy daggers, men have been killed for farless than that.’
After a while Zephirasat daydreaming. She had become bored watching the river and wascontent to sit there with the breeze blowing through her hair,letting her mind wander over the past few days. Suddenly the soundof the water spraying from the bow lessened, as the boat slowed anddrifted almost to a stop. She turned to see the two young nativeboys placing small bits of firewood and some charcoal in a largestone bowl.
‘What’s happening?’ sheasked, of no one in particular.
‘Gastan, the wizardneeds a break,’ replied Belloe. ‘He has to concentrate to keep thewind going at the right strength and direction and he be gettingtired. We’ll pull over near the bank in the shade and have a cup oftea and some food. You might need to put on some insect repellentas they will be pretty bad.’
Pretty bad was anunderstatement. Horrendous was more appropriate, thought Zephira,as she slapped on copious amounts of the sweet smelling liquid onher bare body parts, trying to keep the cloud of several types ofbiting insects at bay. Even The Orc wasn’t too happy about them,and he looked to have a pretty tough hide. She was just starting tosip the hot sweet tea from her wooden mug when the first onestruck.
It was like a crossbetween a large mosquito and a bat, but as big as a house cat. Itlanded on the back of one of the native boys plunged its giantbloodsucker into him and he let out a scream that nearly gaveeveryone a heart attack on the spot. Belloe was the quickest torespond. He pulled out a dagger, charged over to the boy andslashed at the creature.
‘Watch out everyonethere’s bloody vampire spawn here,’ he yelled.
The next moment thecreatures were everywhere,
