Liveship Traders 2 - Mad Ship by Robin Hobb

Author:Robin Hobb
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Retail
ISBN: 9780553900262
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2003-12-30T08:00:00+00:00

THE CROSSPATCH WAS AS PRIME a catch as anything he’d ever taken. A rare elation filled Kennit as he was hoisted onto her deck. Etta was waiting for him, to hand him his crutch. There was a double spice to this victory. Not only was it his first substantial catch since he had been healed, but Wintrow was here to witness it. He could almost feel the wonder in the boy at his heels. Well, let him gawk about at the spit-and-polish little vessel, and rethink his measure of Captain Kennit. Did young Wintrow think he was some one-legged rascal, fit only to catch stinking slaveships? Let him look about at this, and know Kennit for one of the best freebooters that had ever sailed the Inside Passage.

His satisfaction expressed itself as magnanimity toward the crew and Sorcor in particular. When the red-handed rogue hastened up to report to him, Kennit shocked him with a hearty clap on the shoulder and a “Well done! As nice a bit of piracy as I’ve ever seen! Any hostages?”

Sorcor grinned, elated at such praise. “Just ship’s officers, Captain. It was like you said it would be; the others were as much fighters as sailors. None of them wanted to lay down weapons and take up with us. Gave them a chance twice, I did. Told them, yield, we’ll let you sign articles with us. But they wouldn’t. Damn shame, too. There was some fine fighters aboard, but the only ones left are the ones who came here with me.” Sorcor grinned at his own joke.

“The ship’s officers, Sorcor?”

“Confined below. Their mate took a couple bad knocks to the head before he’d go down, but he’ll be fine. There’s a pretty tally of other loot, too. The slaves are okay. Some are a bit rattled at the sudden change, but they’ll come round.”

“Losses?” Kennit stumped along briskly.

Sorcor’s grin faded. “Heavier than we expected, sir. These were fighters, and they went down blades in hands. We lost Clifto, Marl and Burry. Kemper’s short an eye. A few of the others took minor damage. Opal got his face laid open to his teeth. He’s wild with the pain; I sent him back to the Marietta already. He was screaming something awful.”

“Opal.” Kennit considered a moment. “Have him sent over to Vivacia. Wintrow will do what he can with him in a bit. Lad has a knack for healing. I notice you’ve made no mention of yourself, Sorcor.”

The big pirate grinned and made a deprecatory gesture at his bloodied left sleeve. “Two swords to his one and he still managed to cut me. I’m ashamed of myself.”

“Nevertheless, we’ll have it seen to. Where’s Etta? Etta! See to Sorcor’s arm, there’s a good lass. Wintrow, you’ll come with me. Let’s take a quick look at what we’ve won today.”

It was not a quick look. Kennit deliberately led the boy through every hold. He showed him tapestries and rugs rolled and wrapped in canvas for the journey. He showed

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.