The Beginning by Robert Asprin & Selena Rosen & Mel White

Author:Robert Asprin & Selena Rosen & Mel White [Asprin, Robert & Rosen, Selena & White, Mel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781434442857
Publisher: Wildside Press
Published: 2013-10-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

By morning there was about four inches of snow on the ground, and the river had a thin sheet of ice on it. It was bitter cold. They had slept in the kitchen because even with the steam heat the other rooms weren’t comfortable enough to stay in for long, much less sleep in.

Mallory let Duncan sleep. The last couple of days he’d worn himself out, and he was after all only a human. Mallory stoked the furnace and got the fire blazing again. Then he wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and went up to the bathroom to see if he could catch some fish for breakfast.

As luck would have it the fish were biting, and he caught a couple right off. He started to head downstairs with them when he saw the pump that went to the shower tank. He remembered the ice covering the river and had an idea. He pumped till the tank was full then grabbed the fish and went downstairs. The rest of the boat was cold enough he was happy to be back in the nice, warm kitchen, but at least he hadn’t had to chop a hole in the ice to fish.

Mallory tried the faucet on the kitchen sink and after a couple of bangs and clangs water ran out. At first it was rusty, but then it ran clear. Well, as clear as river water ever was. He filled a pot and put it on to boil.

The human was right. The boat was full of surprises. They really hadn’t had a chance to check it out in any detail. They’d been way too consumed with such minor things as trying to survive.

The information Fred had given him was sketchy at best. The demon didn’t know much since he’d spent most of his time when the boat was actually running scaring all hell out of whatever creatures were trying to use it.

Mallory sighed. He was sure they’d have learn all there was to know about the boat in the coming months. He stuffed a rag in the drain hole, filled the sink part way, and set the fish in it the water.

He wasn’t looking forward to a long, cold winter confined to the boat but couldn’t think of any way around it.

On the blanket on the pile of leaves in the corner Duncan started to stir. He made a face and groaned as if he’d awakened to find every muscle in his body knotted up.

Mallory just shrugged, mostly unconcerned with the human’s comfort. He grabbed one of the rags he’d found and started to clean the cabinets using the water in the sink with the fish in it.

The cabinets were pretty dirty but the fish didn’t seem to notice when he put the rag in to clean it off and then wrung it out again.

Duncan got up, stretched, and started to go outside to relieve himself. He came back to the kitchen and said in a voice full of surprise, “The ground is white.

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