“Now that really is bad news. We’ve got nothing left we can use to bargain with the Turquoise Queen.”
“If we really are in her territory.”
“We are. I’ve checked.” Eicewald brought out his pearl-guide. “We’re in one of the islands of the archipelago that makes up her realm.” He pointed to the Eternal Mist in the distance. “I’m sure of that.”
They helped the surviving crew members to get over their injuries. Lasgol realized that his forehead was covered in sweat, and saw that Viggo and Gerd were sweating too. He saw too that the sun was shining intensely. This was not the sun of his own country of Norghana. Then he looked down at his white skin and saw that where it was exposed to the sun, it was turning very red. He also realized that it was very hot.
Gerd was wiping perspiration off his forehead. “I can’t stop sweating,” he said.
Viggo pinched his nose and made a face. “Actually, you’re a bit smelly.”
“You’re not smelly, don’t pay any attention to him,” Nilsa said. She was sniffing the big guy as if she were Ona.
“It’s very hot here,” said Astrid. She was tying her Ranger scarf around her head, pirate-style.
“Why are you putting that on your head?” Viggo asked.
“This sun’s very strong, and we’re not used to it. It’ll burn our skin and affect our heads. We need to protect ourselves.”
“Very good idea,” Ingrid agreed. “Use your scarves and clothes to cover your skin, before we all roast completely.”
“And make sure it’s light cover,” Astrid pointed out. “We can’t wear our hooded cloaks here, we’d roast.”
“Are you going to be able to repair the ship?” Eicewald asked Olsen, who was inspecting the holes in the hull with a couple of men.
“The port hole can be repaired. The starboard one, we’re on top of it, so it’s going to be a lot more difficult.”
“But can it be done?”
“With help, perhaps. By ourselves, I doubt it.”
“We need the ship to get back,” Eicewald said.
“We’ve saved the mast and the sail. The Ice Gods have blessed us by their grace. The ship can be saved. But making the return journey on it is another matter altogether. I’ll see what can be done. We need to look for help as soon as we can.”
Eicewald nodded. “I’ll try, but I don’t know whether we’re going to find help in this place. It’s quite possible that there won’t be any.”
“Well then, we’re going to have problems getting back. Anyway, I’ll do whatever’s in my hands. We’ll start with the repairs as soon as we get the food safe.”
“Thank you, Captain. I’ll try to get help,” the Mage said, though he did not sound very confident.
Suddenly Viggo pointed his thumb at the beach. “Ahem … I think we have visitors.”
They followed his gesture and realized that a dozen or so people were staring at the ship.
“And they’re very interesting …” Astrid said, half-closing her eyes to stare.
“A pretty weird bunch, I’d say,” Viggo commented.
Lasgol was watching them, wide-eyed. They were like nobody he had ever seen before, of a different race: neither very tall nor very strong, more or less average in size, and slender. Over their chests and backs they wore what looked like the shells of giant turtles as armor. They carried tridents as weapons and round shields which looked like giant seashells. But this was not the strangest thing: what made their jaws drop was their skin, which was a very pale turquoise, and their eyes and hair, which were intense green.
“Fascinating, as Egil would say,” Gerd commented.
“They’re really weird!” Nilsa said. “Look at their skin, what a really lovely color.”
“And you can see their hair a league away,” Ingrid added. “Is it just me, or is it seaweed hanging from their heads instead of hair?”
“I had that impression too,” Gerd agreed. “That hair really is strange.”
“Well, they don’t exactly look very advanced,” Viggo commented. “They go around under turtle shells, and are those shields giant seashells? The trident isn’t steel. I don’t know what it’s made of, but I’d swear it’s not metal. I get the impression that they don’t know about iron. Or bronze, or copper …”
“Yeah … it looks that way …” muttered Lasgol, who still found it hard to believe his own eyes.
“I thought this business about a Turquoise Queen was more like a nickname,” said Gerd, “not that her people were literally turquoise.”
“It looks like that,” Ingrid said. “They look tribal, though we’d better not be too confident till we know more about them. They might be dangerous.”
“They don’t look dangerous to me,” Viggo said.
“Don’t be a smartass and keep your eyes open. We don’t know what we’re up against.”
“Yeah, we’d better not trust them,” Nilsa agreed. “Although they are really unusual.”
“I think we’re looking at an unknown race,” Astrid said. “Or at least one that’s unknown in the north and west of Tremia.”
“I don’t think they know about them in the south either,” Ingrid said. “I have the feeling that they live on these islands and they’ve never been out of here.”
“They’re looking at us, but they’re not doing anything,” Nilsa wondered. “Doesn’t that seem odd?”
“They’re probably as surprised to see us as we are to see them,” said Astrid.
Ona growled. She did not like the new arrivals.
Easy, girl. Lasgol transmitted. We don’t know whether they’re hostile.
Not magic, Camu warned.
It’s better if they’re not. The situation’s already odd enough as it is. They look like warriors, or a watch patrol. As we still don’t know how they’re going to react, we’d better be prepared.
I prepared. Ona too.
The panther growled,
Good. Don’t do anything until we know what their intentions are. Let’s
