“Fine, Captain. See you soon.”
“I hope so.”
Eicewald went down himself to the canoes, with the team following him. The savages on the beach let them pass to the edge of the water, which was such a clear blue that you could see the white sandy bottom. Four canoes approached, with several turquoise savages sitting side by side, rowing with short wooden oars. When the canoes reached the shore, they indicated with signs that they should board. Eicewald took the first canoe, Astrid and Lasgol the second, and Lasgol gestured to Ona to sit between them. The turquoise savages were not very happy about carrying the panther, but when they saw that she obeyed Lasgol, they finally allowed her to get on board. Nilsa and Gerd took the third canoe, and Ingrid and Viggo the last.
Camu, go with Viggo. Let him know you’re with him, but don’t attract attention.
I warn.
Lasgol saw Viggo reach the canoe. At that moment, Camu licked his hand.
“What –” he began, but fell silent. He turned to Lasgol, who nodded.
Viggo gave a snort. He nodded back to Lasgol, then as Ingrid climbed into the canoe, whispered something into her ear. Unobtrusively, they left a wide space between them.
The savages pushed the canoes into the water, climbed into them and began to row with their flat oars toward the other boats. Lasgol and Astrid exchanged glances. They were on their way to see the Queen, accompanied by a hundred turquoise savages, and the mission seemed have taken a wrong turn. A very wrong turn.
Chapter 25
The canoes made their way across a transparent turquoise-blue sea which allowed them to see the sea-bed of white sand inshore and the colorful coral reefs further out to sea. Lasgol was unable to take his eyes off the paradise around them: the still waters, the exotic beaches with their fine white sand and the tropical vegetation had him enchanted. He had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. With each stroke of the oars, they seem to be going deeper into an environment which had been created by gods who had themselves emerged from the waters, led by their desire to shape an environment of sea and land as warm and colorful as it was fathomlessly beautiful.
Astrid gestured around her. “This place is amazingly lovely,” she whispered.
“I couldn’t have imagined anywhere like this in my wildest dreams,” Lasgol admitted. “It’s amazing. I’m absolutely under its spell.”
“Our snowy land with its mountains and valleys and the freezing cold that covers it the whole year long is very beautiful, but I have to admit that this place, since it’s the complete opposite, might even be more beautiful …”
“I’m not going to argue, even though I love Norghana and her snowy landscapes.”
“It might be just because of the novelty, and it’ll fade away as soon as we get more used to these surroundings.”
Lasgol smiled faintly. “I don’t know why, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case.”
Ona, crouching in front of Lasgol, was absorbed in watching the schools of intensely colorful fish swimming under the canoes. Lasgol stroked her, trying to keep her calm. A strange bird with a long yellow bill and green feathers flew past the canoe, and at once she followed it with her gaze and stiffened. The environment might be new and surprising for them, but it was even more so for his two inseparable companions.
Take it easy, enjoy the landscape and don’t move in the canoes, Lasgol transmitted to both of them. He glanced toward the canoe where Ingrid and Viggo were traveling to make sure Camu was doing nothing to reveal himself. If he was found out, they would find themselves in deep trouble. Those turquoise savages did not seem the understanding type: far from it.
We calm, Camu summarized. Lot of transparent water, fish and beaches. Lot of heat.
Bear with the heat as best you can. I don’t think it’ll be long before we get to wherever they’re taking us, and there’ll be some shade. Don’t get distracted by the fish or the exotic birds.
Not distract.
Oh yeah, that’d be the first time …
They passed several small islands and circled around two bigger ones. The savages steered their canoes close to the islands, so that they were able to appreciate their exotic, tropical beauty. On several of the islands turquoise savages were fishing or catching birds. Some came down to the beach and rocks to greet the canoes as they went by. Lasgol realized that all these islands were inhabited, which meant that the turquoise people was scattered all over the archipelago. On nearly all the beaches they glimpsed those unusual canoes, very similar to the ones they were on themselves. Some seemed built for fishing, others for moving cargo, judging by the way they had been strengthened with long wide planks to support heavy loads.
What they discovered on the next island left them all open-mouthed. In front of one of the white sand beaches they saw twenty or so huts, except that these were built on the water. They rose from sea-level and seemed to be floating on the quiet turquoise water.
“They can’t be floating!” Astrid exclaimed.
“It’s not possible,” Lasgol reasoned. “The sea would wash them away,”
“Look, there’s a long boardwalk between them and the beach.”
Now they were closer, Lasgol could see them better: round huts with pointed roofs made of wood, fern and ropes. They did not float, but were held to the bottom by supporting pillars, in the same way as quays were built in Norghana.
Astrid pointed to a spot not far from the strange huts. “There are people in the water.”
“What are they doing?” Lasgol asked in puzzlement. He could see them quite well thanks to the transparency
