Brotherband 2: The Invaders by John Flanagan

Author:John Flanagan
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 0399256202
Publisher: PHILOMEL
Published: 2012-05-01T05:00:00+00:00

chapter twenty - two

Lydia maintained her silence for most of the trip north to Shelter Bay.

She stood alone behind the ship’s figurehead, staring out at the water as it rushed past, never flinching at the continual sheets of spray that flew up from the bow.

“She’ll be drenched,” Stig said as he stood by Hal on the steering platform. “I’ll fetch her a blanket.” He started to move away but Hal stopped him.

“Leave her be,” Hal said quietly.

Stig hesitated. He wanted to talk to her. But Hal shook his head and Stig finally decided his skirl was right.

Unlike their smooth run down the coast, it wasn’t an easy night. The wind veered into the northwest and varied in intensity, so that the crew were at work continually, tacking and adjusting the sails. Lydia, seeing she would be in the way if she remained in the bow, moved to a spot on the port rowing benches, near the stern. She watched as the Heron went from one tack to another, noticing how much closer to the wind she could sail than the square-rigged ships that were the norm in this part of the world. But, after a few changes in tack, she lost interest and resumed staring out to sea.

After four hours, the wind decided to settle on one direction and strength, and the boys took the opportunity to rest on the rowing benches. Several of them went to sleep immediately. Hal smiled to himself. They were seasoned sailors now, he thought, ready to snatch a few minutes’ sleep whenever the opportunity arose. He turned the tiller over to Stig and looked around for a spot to rest. Lydia was sitting in his usual place. Shrugging, he stepped down and sat beside her.

She glanced up and nodded.

“Sorry about your grandfather,” he said awkwardly. He’d cautioned Stig against bothering her earlier. He sensed that she wasn’t in any mood for Stig’s inevitably unsubtle attempts to win her favor. But he felt pity for her, alone among strangers, and grieving for the loss of her grandfather.

She gave him a wan smile.

“Thanks,” she said. “He was a good man. But he should never have tried to fight them. He was too old.”

Hal considered this for a few moments. “Maybe he wouldn’t have been happy to simply let them walk all over him. Maybe he knew he was too old to fight them, but wasn’t willing to simply stand aside and let them have their way.”

“Probably. That’d be just like him,” she said. There was a note of subdued pride and amusement in her voice as she thought of the old man. Then she glanced up at the big, triangular sail, swelling in a hard curve on the port tack. “This is an unusual ship.”

He smiled, unable to resist the temptation to brag. “I designed and built her,” he said. “She’s my pride and joy.”

Lydia looked at him with new respect. The sight of such a young ship’s captain had initially surprised her. Now she began to understand how he had reached that position at such an early age.

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