(eng) Michael Scott Rohan - Spiral 02 by The Gates of Noon
Author:The Gates of Noon [Noon, The Gates of]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00
160
Too right! And, well, that may be the bloody problem. For one thing, most of them are Muslim, but Batangâs old-fashioned -about six hundred years that way.
Heâs still a Hindu.â
âBig, big problem!â nodded Batang. âCould be cousin, could be friend. Could be all-round pirate sonuvabitch. Could be both. Out east of sunrise, could be old Boegies from evil time. If they follow us, maybe by chance. Maybe not.1
âBut those are tiny craft compared to this,â I protested. âCouldnât you just outrun them or outfight them if you had to?â
âMaybe carry big crews, many guns.â
I nodded, shivering with a double dose of adrenalin. âAnd you canât send them a stay-away shot or two, can you? Not without finding outââ
A dull thud resounded down the breeze. âMaybe we just did.â
But something burst in the air, with a loud popping crackle, and it was off to starboard. âFirecracker!â barked Batang.
âAn SOS?â said te Kiore, surprised.
âDeck hoi? yelled the lookout. âDistress call, to starboard! Pinisi, no sail?
(
We could almost see it ourselves, without telescopes, when we knew where, a white dot tossing against an empty, greying sky.
âThe others must be headed out to help it!â cried Jacquie.
âLooks like it!â admitted te Kiore.
âBut weâre nearer â couldnât we get there sooner?â
âYeah, with steam up. Just what I was wondering - skipper?*
The captain sucked his teeth impatiently. âApe? You get wizard, you ask!â
The Ape lumbered up to my side, groaning and grumbling about his broken sleep.
When 1 told him about the prahus he stared blearily into the dimming darkness and sniffed the breeze. âThere is something about them - but they too are voyagers east of the sunrise, that is to expect. No strong magicsâmore I cannot say.â
Batang pondered, but only for a moment. He snatched up a speaking tube, and set hand to the telegraph. âSteam up\ We go look, okay. Careful!â
As the paddlewheels chugged into life again Walan slowly turned the wheel, and overhead the yards creaked in the chilly dawn breeze as they were swung around. Jacquie and I stood close together, silent mostly, tangled in a web of inner feelings and wider worries, watching the disabled prahu as it grew more 161
distinct. It looked in trouble, all right, one mast askew, listing heavily even in that gentle swell, wallowing as if ballast was shifting or water coming in. The light was growing, and I remembered with sudden vividness that strange fleeting transition, that leap between ships when infinity seemed to open beneath my feet, and then was only sea.
My unease grew, until at last I brushed a hand against Jacquieâs shoulder, asking her to wait, and disappeared below. There were two reasons for that. 1
wanted my sword; but that was only one. At least here the guest cabins had private indoor heads, in the same slightly tarnished luxury as the rest. On the way back, the sword bobbing comfortingly along my leg, I met te Kiore, buckling the polished sword-club at his side. We exchanged slightly shamefaced grins, like two party guests looking for the back way out.
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