The Coral Kingdom (The Druidhome Trilogy) by Douglas Niles

Author:Douglas Niles [Niles, Douglas]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780786961856
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Published: 2011-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

11

Goddesswind

“A week out from Corwell and they find us!” stormed Brandon, pacing back and forth in the Princess of Moonshae’s forehull.

In the stern, Robyn still stood like a statue, facing the sail, the canvas sheet billowed taut as ever, propelling the longship through the waters at a churning pace. Far behind now but still clinging to the long white trail of the vessel’s wake came the two broad rafts and their clamoring passengers.

“Terrible luck, I know, but at least—” Alicia started to speak.

“Luck? There’s no luck about it!” Brandon snapped, whirling toward her and interrupting. “They found us, somehow—here, eight hundred miles from the Moonshaes, in the middle of the Trackless Sea!”

Alicia glowered at him, but her anger was rooted in embarrassment. He was right, of course.

“There are ways a skilled sorcerer could locate us wherever we were,” pointed out Keane.

“Did you see any sign of magic in that attack?” shot back the Prince of Gnarhelm.

“No.”

“It’s not like the sea creatures to use magic.” Brandon’s tone modulated somewhat, as if he suddenly remembered that he was surrounded by friends, not enemies. “And if they don’t use it to attack, I can’t imagine they’ve got wizards sitting around spying on us.”

“What do you suspect, then?” demanded Alicia.

“I don’t know,” the captain admitted with a shrug. He looked around, at the casks and crates and seabags that lined the center of the longship’s hull. “It’s possible they might have placed something on board, some object that draws them like a beacon. I don’t know how big it would be or even what it would look like, but it’s all that I can think of at the moment.”

They spent the next six hours tearing the Princess of Moonshae’s contents apart while the rafts drifted farther to the rear, never quite disappearing over the horizon. Every crate, every container of any kind was opened and examined. Crew members sifted flour from barrel to barrel and drained each water cask into another through a fine screen mesh. As to the search of individual crewmen, of course, every man was left to his own possessions—all the northmen and the Ffolk accompanying the expedition had been selected with loyalty as the top consideration.

All this time Robyn stood in rapt concentration, and the wind summoned by the goddess propelled the longship forward. The druid queen resisted any attempts to support her, shrugging off the few hands that came close. Her eyes were open, staring at the sail but focused on something much farther away.

“Nothing,” Alicia concluded disgustedly after the search of the longship’s bow was completed. She and Brigit had coordinated that scrutiny, and now the pair leaned on the rail, watching the gray-green water slip past a few feet below.

“I heard the captain talking,” the elfwoman noted. “He said that if we can make it to nightfall, we should be able to slip away from them—and your mother can rest, as long as there’s any breeze at all.”

“I hope so,” replied the princess, with a look at the sun.

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