Pathfinder Tales--City of the Fallen Sky by Tim Pratt

Author:Tim Pratt
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780765387110
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

Chapter Fifteen

The Journey on the Sphinx

A slender, bald, obsequious man in voluminous white pantaloons and no shirt at all met them in the inn’s common room the following morning. He was Chuma’s associate, and his duty, he said, was to make sure they were appropriately outfitted and provisioned for their journey. They spent the morning among market stalls, where Chuma’s wealth bought them linen and cotton clothes in the loose-flowing, cool native style, and where Alaeron had to be torn away from a few stalls selling rare artifacts and even the occasional newly unearthed scroll, some still sealed in their copper tubes and unseen by human eyes in centuries. He couldn’t afford those anyway, but he spent a few coins on alchemical supplies and some insect and animal parts he thought might make ingredients for the extract of flight he’d been mulling over. Finally they were led to a dock abutting the broad, shimmering canal.

“That’s a boat?” Skiver said. “Looks like a lord’s country house!”

Alaeron wouldn’t have gone quite that far, but Chuma the Scorpion’s pleasure barge was the most opulent floating vessel he’d ever seen, that much was certain: constructed of fine wood, fittings polished to a high gleam, embellished with ornaments of gold (or at least golden paint). There were two huge, blue, long-lashed eyes drawn on the prow. Chuma’s shirtless servant was, it turned out, also the barge’s captain, and he led them aboard and pointed out the amenities with obvious pride, including three private staterooms, each small but well-appointed. Skiver and Jaya both agreed Alaeron should have the one with a foldout desk.

“This boat has stairs,” Skiver said. “I’ve never even lived in a house with stairs.” He scampered up the narrow staircase to the upper observation deck, while Jaya and Alaeron stowed their bags and then met at the prow, where four cushioned chairs were fastened to the deck. A red, tasseled awning provided shade from the sun. They sank down in their seats, Jaya groaning with pleasure, and looked at the afternoon sun glittering on the water. Without any noise, commotion, or noticeable signal, the barge began to float smoothly down the canal, toward the River Sphinx.

“Let’s never leave here,” Jaya said, leaning back and closing her eyes. “Let’s just commandeer the ship and float up and down the river forever.”

“It’s a tempting thought,” Alaeron said.

“Why does pleasure have to be so fleeting, but discomfort is ever in abundance?” she said. “You’d think the gods would have arranged it otherwise.”

“I doubt the gods worry much about our comfort. But we should enjoy it while it lasts. Before we get to the, ah, Screaming Jungle.” Might as well practice craftiness. You never knew who might be listening.

She opened one eye, looked at him, and smiled. “Now you’re learning.” More loudly, she said, “Ah, the Mwangi Expanse. How I’ve missed it. Nothing makes you feel more alive than the constant terror of death. Though sinking into these cushions is a close second.”

They floated along the canals

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