Eric Flint's 1632 & Beyond Issue #3 by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flint's Shards Inc.
Published: 2024-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

Late the next morning Blom awoke from a troubled sleep, his sheets soaked in sweat. The excesses of the night before had little effect on him. He was too experienced a merrymaker to suffer much of a hangover. Even so, he felt off, and he groaned as he lifted his considerable bulk out of bed. After splashing some water on his face, he gazed into the small mirror he kept on his dresser just in time to see a look of horror pass across his usually jovial face.

"Oh, dear God. I think I've done something bad…" he murmured to himself. His mind went back to the events of the night before, going over everything he had said to the gathering. Soon enough he arrived at the utterance that had come back to haunt him.

"Momo," he whispered. "I said her name." Now that he was no longer under the influence of a jolly mood and a large number of tankards of beer, he recalled what Yoriaki had told him about life in Phnom Penh.

"I keep a low profile here, Blom. The Mekong is much more dangerous than the Chao Phraya ever was. There are several gangs of thugs, river pirates that would like nothing better than to skin me alive since I refuse to pay their tolls. I go home a different way every night and never tell anyone about my family."

Blom slapped his forehead in shame.

"Idiot! You told everyone there her name!" He knew all too well how gossip traveled fast along the docks. There was a good chance that every scoundrel who had ever crossed Yoriaki's path was now tracking down his wife's whereabouts, with all roads leading to Nihonmachi.

Moving faster than one might think a bulky fellow like Blom could, he slipped on his clothes and boots, then the belt that carried his cutlass and hand ax, followed by the blunderbuss that rode over his shoulder on a leather strap—all the gear he would use in the event that his ship was ever boarded by pirates. He then paid a visit to his dresser, opened the bottom drawer, then felt around in its furthermost recesses until his fingers fell on a rectangular wooden case, which he carefully extricated—it was quite heavy.

"Ah yes, my pretty souvenir from Grantville. I can only pray your services will not be required." he said to himself, but his gut told him otherwise.

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