Farland, David - Serpent Catch 03 - Blade Kin by Farland David

Author:Farland, David [Farland, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Genetic Engineering
Publisher: WordFire Press
Published: 2014-04-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17: A Serpent in the Bay

The following day, Tull went to see Phylomon off at dawn. The blue man was preparing to leave Smilodon Bay without fanfare.

Phylomon seemed preoccupied. He spoke to Tull, wished him well, but there was no warmth in the man’s eyes, only probing looks in order to assuage his distrust.

He’s weighing me, Tull thought, just as Chaa is weighing me, trying to decide whether I am worthy of their time, of their training.

That was a question that even Tull had no answers to. He couldn’t be sure of his own future. If Adjonai spared me, if the Dark God of Terror approves of me, then what did he see in me?

The question weighed upon Tull, so that he did not even trust himself any longer.

He bade the Starfarer well, bid him goodbye with few words.

Tull spent the morning playing with Wayan. He envied the child, so innocent and easy to please. Tull gave Wayan pig-a-back rides around the floor, then threw him down and tickled him, then taught him how to count to five. Tull put the boy down for an afternoon nap, and after a while Tull looked into the back room. Wayan was lying in bed the covers pulled tight against his chin, obviously frightened.

“What are you afraid of?” Fava asked.

“Bad dreams,” Wayan answered.

“Then you’re in luck,” Tull said. “When I built this house, I made sure that no bad dreams could get in.”

“I know,” Wayan said. “The ghosts keep scaring them all away.” Tull laughed, and lay down beside Wayan.

When the boy finally fell asleep, Tull went to his workbench in the back room and, using tools he’d stolen from Craal, took apart a small golden watch shaped like a daisy, then reassembled it for perhaps the seventh time.

It seemed to him that his studies were bearing fruit. He not only knew how to put it together and take it apart, but he had considered every single gear and spring, and this time he felt that he understood the device. He knew how it worked, what it could and could not do.

But he could not say the same about himself.

Tull kept getting up, walking around. He went and found Fava in the kitchen, washing some dishes. He spoke to her of planting a larger garden, digging up the soil outside, and of other inconsequential things.

“The worm of fear gnaws you,” Fava said. “That is why you cannot stop moving.”

“I suppose,” Tull admitted, and he leaned close to Fava, then took her hand.

She knew something of what he had summoned from the Land of Shapes. “My father does not trust you,” she said at last. “Phylomon doesn’t trust you, either. They think that you are a danger. If you think we should,” she suggested, “we can sail to Hotland.”

“No,” Tull said. “We can’t hide in Hotland. It’s not a place to raise a child like Wayan, or for you to bear your own children. The Creators would come there someday. And even if

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