Black Shields by John Maddox Roberts

Author:John Maddox Roberts [Roberts, John Maddox]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction; American
ISBN: 9780812506297
Publisher: Tom Doherty
Published: 1991-06-15T06:00:00+00:00

mounted army of his steppe warriors. I

THE BLACK SHIELDS 193

think Father should have waited until King Hael arrived, and then marched with the combined Nevan-Grasslands army to Floria, leaving the naval operation to one of the admirals, thus hitting Gasam from land and sea at once. He says he wants to stop Gasam bringing warriors from the Islands, but I think he is just too impatient to avenge his humiliation." She could never have spoken these words to someone who might have repeated them.

"Did I ever tell you that Hael was once my lover?" The girl shook her head. "That was long before you came into the household. He was splendid, the handsomest youth I ever saw. But, still, he was just a boy." She gazed into the cup regretfully. "He was of the same race as Gasam, but comparing the two would be like"—she looked about for a simile—"like comparing Moonglow to War Dragon. Of course, Gasam must have been little more than a boy then as well. Hael certainly seems to have made something of himself. When I last saw him, he owned one cabo and a spear and he was joining a caravan as a guard. Now he is a king. He must be a very interesting man, by now, perhaps as interesting as Gasam."

For two days the fleet sailed northward and westward along the coast in fine weather. The breezes held fair and little rowing was required, just enough to keep the rowers in good practice.

Storms came every evening, but they did not bring dangerous winds. The rains meant that the water barrels were always full and there was plenty left over for bathing and washing down the ships. This was taken as a good sign for the voyage, as a lengthy cruise with ra-194 John Maddox Roberts

tioned water could turn heavily manned warships into foul-smelling, pestilential, floating slums.

On the third day they reached Point Despair, a frowning crag of rock thrust into the sea like the fist of an angry god. There, at a signal from the flagship, the fleet dropped anchor.

It was not yet late, and the day was fair. Puzzled at this development, Shazad had Moon-glow rowed alongside War Dragon. King Pashir came to the rail of the huge galley and smiled down at his daughter.

"What do we do here, Father?" she asked, looking upward and shading her eyes with one hand.

"We wait," he said. He would say no more.

For the rest of that day and all of the next, the fleet lay at anchor. Bored, Shazad wanted to swim in the clear, blue water, but she was uncharacteristically reluctant to do so under so many ogling male eyes. Somehow, she felt that it would not be in keeping with her new dignity. So, she waited like everyone else and conversed one-sidedly with her slave.

"Isn't it just like a man?" she asked rhetorically. "He wants to show me that he still has his secrets, that there is much in which I have no say and no power.

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