Her War by Thomas J Baker

Author:Thomas J Baker [Baker, Thomas J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781718093515
Published: 2020-01-25T22:00:00+00:00

THE GAP SEA

He never thought it could be true.

The ocean was just as Alalä had told him: a field of water that stretched out as far as the eye could see. The Stormrend was a serpentine ship, slender and graceful as it rolled across the gulping black waters of the Gap Sea. The cog moved silently as it pushed through the water, its pristine white sails like angel wings softly dancing in the porcelain moonlight. The wind through the masts was murmuring like the voice of a ghost and the horizon was altogether dark with shadows as they moved through the night. Orr tightened his fingers against the rail as the ship rolled over a large wave, but the water barely crashed as its keel cut through the tide like a white knife. When the Stormrend had settled and was gliding once again, the ship’s enigmatic captain appeared beside him.

‘The people of Yamuntai used to call this ship the Silent Song,’ he said, grinning. Eyvindr Tosmi was a tall man in a forest-green cloak with a border of gold satin roses. ‘It was the pride of the Green Guard’s navy. None who crossed swords with the Aplanean would know the ship was upon their port till they saw the ghostly white sheen of its sails in the harbour and wizards fired bolts of lightning from its forepeak down there.’ The aged captain pointed to the Stormrend’s figurehead - a copper face of a roaring god that was staring across the empty sea. ‘The ancient god of our people – the giant Hanuja, skyholder.’

‘Who were the Green Guard?’ Orr asked in a quiet voice, in awe at the captain’s story.

Eyvindr pierced his hard tawny brown eyes on the horizon till creases appeared at his temples. ‘Loyal soldiers to the King of Aplans, my lordling. We were his protectors and ever faithful blades. Nine years I served in the Guard and the Stormrend was my reward. Sometimes I think those days were the happiest times of my long life. I still see the red leaves of the niffos trees floating past the Gharizad Temple’s in the mists of my sleep. It was said that monument’s four bronze pillars were built from the same column of metal that Hanuja used to separate the earth from the sky.’

Orraidhín brushed the spray of the sea out of his tired eyes. ‘Why leave?’

The captain harrumphed and eyed Orr with a sideways glance. ‘Pardon?’

‘If you served the king for so many years, in a land of such beauty, why would you leave to come to this place of darkness and uncertainty?’

Orr’s mind floated back to Aldendale and the way the branches of the Heart-Tree would sigh with the gentle mountain breeze. He imagined Alalä standing in the endless meadow surrounded by falling cherry blossoms. Then he realised he missed her laugh that was like golden sunlight most of all.

‘For reasons I dare not speak of,’ Eyvindr said with a dark glance. ‘If we survive the land of

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