Raven's Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet

Author:Jeffrey Overstreet [Overstreet, Jeffrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-307-45852-0
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2009-08-13T04:00:00+00:00

From one of the benches along the side of the long rowboat, Tabor Jan eyed the rower. “For a fellow who defends a house by the sea, you sure seem afraid of the water.”

Bel Amica’s Captain Ryllion kept his gaze fixed on the dark waves. Across his knees lay an unsheathed trailknife, a massive broad-bladed tool typically used to blaze paths through thick brush. The fact that it was Ryllion rowing them—alone—was clearly meant to intimidate and aggravate Abascar’s people.

Leaning over the sides, the ten companions Tabor Jan had selected to accompany him to the rock seemed entranced by the water around them and Bel Amica’s glittering mountain above.

Tabor Jan hated the water’s unsteadiness almost as much as he hated heights. He wanted level ground, a clear direction. His discomfort took the shape of aggression. And since the rower of this boat was the man he’d most like to throttle, he had to fight to remain seated.

Ryllion was younger than he’d expected but enormous, with features that seemed oddly distorted. And those hands. Was he wearing gloves that exaggerated their size?

“I’d recommend that you quiet down.” Ryllion steered them alongside the base of Bel Amica’s rock, past one docking cave after another. “Or you’ll be the first I throw overboard if it comes for us.”

“If what comes for us?”

Ryllion glanced at the others. “Your leader here, he’s nervous. Is this what Abascar folk are made of?”

“He’s the only one on this boat I’ll be calling captain,” snapped Jes-hawk. “He’s the king’s protector.”

At that, Ryllion laughed, and a glimpse of his teeth—fangs, to be sure—shocked Tabor Jan. “The king’s protector? Where were you when your king disappeared?”

“Do you see our people bickering or fighting?” Tabor Jan asked quietly. “No. We are waiting. Waiting in good faith for Cal-raven to return from his mission.”

“If he ever commands you again, I’ll eat my boot.” Ryllion looked past Tabor Jan. “What about you—the swordswoman with the lovely blue eyes? Are you as confident of Cal-raven’s wisdom?”

Tabor Jan glanced back in alarm. Brevolo did not lift her gaze, but her clenched jaw made it clear that she was wrestling with possible answers.

“I smell disappointment.” Ryllion smiled as if he had just discovered a valuable secret. “We’ll have words later, swordswoman, when you can confess without offending your kinsmen. I may have some use for you.”

With a swift stroke of the oars and a frightful force, Ryllion turned the boat so suddenly that the passengers were thrown against the side. “I’m amused by your fighting spirit,” he said as the darkness of the harbor cave engulfed them. “But you’d better watch your words around my master.”

“Your master?”

A bright green glowstone on the end of a staff illuminated the giant waiting for them on a ledge inside the cave. The ghastly, skull-like face staring out from beneath the fanlike headdress grinned fiercely down at Tabor Jan. It was Pretor Xa, the Seer who had led the beastman siege on Barnashum. Tabor Jan looked down, hoping his own appearance had changed enough that the Seer would not recognize him from their recent encounter.

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