The Library of Anukdun (Legend of the White Sword Book 5) by P.D. Kalnay

Author:P.D. Kalnay [Kalnay, P.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Misprint Press Publishing
Published: 2017-06-17T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18 – Lightening the Load

The plotting of a course through the endless little islands—without getting turned around—would have been challenging minus the compass. We just needed to keep the needle pointing leftward and avoid hitting things. The ease and simplicity of finding our way led to a general laziness, and we were all guilty of it. For a few days we wove through the archipelago and made camp when the sun set. Each night the drumming continued and grew louder. By the fourth night those drums surrounded us, but none sounded too close, and the source remained a mystery.

Day ten in the Reaches provided the answer.

***

Ivy manned the tiller, and I stood watch in the prow, alert for rocks. In between the islands we’d found few obstacles to navigation and ample depth for our boat, which made things even easier. Falan napped under the mast.

Watching the water was monotonous, and occasionally, I glanced around searching for more interesting sights. We travelled along the middle of a channel less than fifty feet wide. Bluish stone cliffs rose higher than the mast on either side, limiting the view forward, and cutting our sky down to a narrow strip. I idly wondered if I could make the jump from island to island with the help of my wings, and I hoped we weren’t heading into a dead end that would necessitate backtracking.

It hadn’t happened yet.

The pump pushed us steadily forward and Ivy kept us in the middle of the gradually narrowing channel. When we got to a point that was only twice as wide as the boat, I started to worry. We’d have to row backwards a good way to have room to turn the boat.

“Jack, I sense something up ahead,” Ivy said.

She spoke no louder than was necessary for her voice to travel the length of the boat. Her words stirred Falan from his nap.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“It’s getting really narrow,” I said at the same time Ivy said, “There is substantial life, ahead of us.”

“What kind of life?” I asked.

“I can’t tell. I’m limited away from the land.”

Ivy slowed the pump to three symbols.

“Is that a bridge?” Falan pointed up above the channel.

I followed his finger to a crude rope bridge spanning the top of the channel ahead. As we got closer, I got a better look. The bridge was a primitive tangle of rough rope and short lengths of unsawn timbers. The bridge looked neither safe nor old. Before I could suggest going back, the channel made a tight left-hand turn. I stood at the front, so I saw the village first.

The channel opened rapidly as two bays cut into the islands on either side, forming a wide, salty lake. It was lined with huts and crude wooden docks. Posts were driven into the seabed along the shoreline, and small, irregular patches of garden filled the spaces between low dome-shaped huts. The doorways of the huts were no taller than my waist. At a glance it looked as if the place might hold a few thousand diminutive residents.

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