Sea Kings of Mars by Leigh Brackett

Author:Leigh Brackett [Brackett, Leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction; American, Masterwork, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780575076891
Google: T-j_GwAACAAJ
Amazon: 0575076895
Publisher: Gollancz
Published: 2005-07-13T14:00:00+00:00

16: Voice of the Serpent

Carse stood on the afterdeck with Boghaz. It was mid-morning. The calm still held and now the longships were close enough to be seen from the deck.

Boghaz said, "At this rate they'll overhaul us by nightfall."

"Yes." Carse was worried. Undermanned as she was the galley could not hope to outdistance the Khonds under oars alone. And the last thing Carse wanted was to be forced into the position of fighting Ironbeard's men. He knew he couldn't do it.

"They'll break their hearts to catch us," he said. "And these are only the van. The whole of the Sea Kings' fleet will be coming on behind them."

Boghaz looked at the following ships. "Do you think we'll ever reach Sark?"

"Not unless we raise a fair wind," Carse said grimly, "and even then not by much of margin. Do you know any prayers?"

"I was well instructed in my youth," answered Boghaz piously.

"Then pray!"

But all that long hot day there was no more than a breath of air to ripple the galley's sails. The men wearied at the sweeps. They had not much heart for the business at best, being trapped between two evils with a demon for captain, and they had only so much strength.

The longships doggedly, steadily, grew closer.

In the late afternoon, when the setting sun made a magnifying glass of the lower air the lookout reported other ships far back in the distance. Many ships-the armada of the Sea Kings.

Carse looked up into the empty sky, bitter of heart.

The breeze began to strengthen. As the sails filled the rowers roused themselves and pulled with renewed vigor. Presently Carse ordered the sweeps in. The wind blew strongly. The galley picked up speed and the longships could no more than hold their own.

Carse knew the galley's speed. She was a fast sailor and with her greater spread of canvas might hope to keep well ahead of the pursuers if the wind held.

If the wind held . . .

The next few days were enough to drive a man mad. Carse drove the men in the pit without mercy and each time the sweeps had to be run out the beat grew slower as they reached the point of exhaustion.

By the narrowest margin Carse kept the galley ahead. Once, when it seemed they were surely caught, a sudden storm saved them by scattering the lighter ships, but they came on again. And now a man could see the horizon dotted with a host of sails where the armada irresistibly advanced.

The immediate pursuers grew from four to five, and then to seven. Carse remembered the old adage that a stern chase is a long one but it seemed that this one could not go on much longer.

There came another time of flat hot calm. The rowers drooped and sweated at the oars, driven only by their fear of the Khonds and try as they would there was no bite in the stroke.

Carse stood by the after rail, watching his face lined and grim. The game was up.

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