Tales from Perach by Shira Glassman

Author:Shira Glassman [Glassman, Shira]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-09-20T17:00:00+00:00

Tales from Outer Lands

by Shira Glassman

In memory of Shippo the Lizard, 2004-2014

Rivka in Port Saltspray

With grateful thanks to Nicole, Dr. Caroti, Leigh Alanna, and my mother for their assistance.

The dark man with the earring shook his head. “I don’t care how big of a sword you’re carrying; I’m not letting horses on my ship.” He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against one of the posts on the dock. Behind him, seagulls swooped through the air in both directions over his vessel as it lay anchored in the water.

Rivka, who went by Riv and was posing as a man, mostly so that conversations like this weren’t even worse than they already were, blurted out, “But what if--?”

“Look, what’s the big deal? Both armies have plenty of money behind them -- whichever side you decide to fight on, they’ll give you a horse. Probably a better one than you’ve got now.” The man was looking her up and down, probably judging her based on her tattered pants and scuffed boots. It had been a thin month. This port town had plenty of police of its own and didn’t need a mercenary -- one of the reasons she was trying to get to Zembluss as soon as possible, to see if their civil war couldn’t solve her money problems.

“No, it won’t,” Rivka barked impatiently. “Mine turns into a dragon.”

“It what?”

“She turns into a dragon.”

“I am not letting a dragon on my ship! What’s wrong with you? The other soldiers would never--”

“What if she flies next to the boat as a dragon and then comes back as a horse from time to time to rest?” Rivka, who didn’t often panic, was beginning to run out of options. “That way you wouldn’t have a horse--”

“Ship.”

“What?”

“It’s not a boat, it’s a ship.”

Rivka sighed and consciously prevented herself from kicking the man in the groin, because it would have solved nothing. “What if she flew next to the ship--”

“Why can’t she just fly you over the sea the whole way?” The man swatted at a nearby seagull who had decided to alight on the railing and beg for snacks.

“I--” Rivka didn’t quite know how to explain the dragon’s mysterious lack of stability. Sometimes her dragon powers just ebbed away without warning. Over the open ocean, that might prove lethal. Unless she also turned out to have surprise dolphin powers. The dragon form had initially been a surprise, so Rivka supposed she might have other hidden forms that hadn’t manifested yet.

“Look, I’m sorry, son,” said the man. “I can see how badly you want this. But I think your best option is to wait for another ship.”

But I need the signing bonus tonight, Rivka didn’t say. The innkeeper is cheating me and has my horse held hostage in his barn until I pay him for charges he invented. And your port town is corrupt, so the police won’t do anything, especially since they see me as competition.

What she did tell him was, in her own language, to shit in the sea.

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