The Eye of Zuebrihn by Patrick McClafferty

Author:Patrick McClafferty [McClafferty, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780986424564
Publisher: PD McClafferty
Published: 2020-03-22T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

KIANG SAI-BO

Duras Evvos stood gawking, and Gareth couldn’t blame him. The city and docks before them glowed with the unflickering brilliance of electric lights.

He heard a sniff at his side, and turning, saw Chiu wipe at her eyes. “S’ beautiful,” she whispered. “More beautiful than I remembered.”

“It is beautiful.”

On his other side Mairi stood squeezing his hand. “Is this a fairy city?” she asked in a very small voice.

Gareth chuckled. “No, little one. This is simply an invention by men.”

She looked up at him, her brown eyes luminous. “Could I learn to invent things like that?”

“Maybe.” Gareth replied gently. “But you’ll have to go to school for a long time.”

“I went to school once, a long time ago,” she announced proudly, and then her face fell. “Father took my mother and me on a business trip with him. There was a fire while we were in Seka, and he and mother were killed. That was a year ago.” Her chin quivered, but she didn’t cry.

“Where did you come from, you and your parents?”

She screwed her face up in thought. “The name is Oreo or Oseo…something or other. That’s all I remember.”

“Oseothan.” He replied gently. “It’s the lights of Puasheehchester, in the realm of Oseothan you see before us.”

Smells drifted to him as the Spray glided toward the long wooden wharf; smells of the sea and tar, dead fish and manure. Weaving in out of those were the smells of pies and pastries, perfume of the few women that he could see, and pipe tobacco. Even at this time of evening, barkers stood on the wide cobblestone street, hawking their wares. A pair of blue uniformed policemen strolled past the wharf as the sailors jumped off the still moving boat and tied it off. Hands behind their backs and stepping in unison, the police could easily have been mistaken for English Bobbies in nineteenth century London.

Gareth moved to the captain’s side, as the man directed the ship to be made ready for the night. “Is Puasheehchester as you remember?”

Evvos barked a command at a young seaman, directing him in the proper flaking of a cable. Afterward he turned to Gareth. “Never been to Puasheehchester meeself. I heard it was nice, but this is grand.” He gazed down the long street at the illuminated building fronts, and bustling activity. “Will ye be leaving tonight?”

Gareth thought a moment, and then shook his head. “I think we’ll have dinner in a local inn, sleep in the ship and travel in the morning.”

Evvos nodded. “What about yer little stowaway? Will ye be takin her too?”

Gareth chuckled. “Are you so anxious to get rid of her then?”

The captain looked at the deck. “Well, in the past few days she’s made herself useful. She be there when ye need her, and when ye don’t she’s not underfoot.” He looked Gareth straight in the eye. “She can stay if she wishes, and if you wish.”

Gareth smiled. “I’ll ask her. I found out that she’s from Oseothan, so I may make a few inquiries.

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