Ship of destiny by Robin Hobb

Author:Robin Hobb [Hobb, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy Fiction, Fantastic Fiction, General, Fiction, Fantasy, Epic
ISBN: 9780553103236
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 2000-08-01T07:00:00+00:00

"WHAT WILL YOU DO?" WINTROW DARED TO ASK THE SHIP. THE CHILL NIGHT wind blew past them. He stood on the foredeck, arms wrapped around himself against the cold. They were making good time back to Divvytown. If Wintrow could have done so, he would have stilled the wind, slowed the ship, anything to gain time to think.

The sea was not dark. The tips of the waves caught the moonlight and carried it with them. Starlight snagged and rippled on the backs of the serpents that hummocked through the water beside them. Their eyes shone in lambent colors, copper, silver and warm gold, eerie pink and blue, like night-blooming sea flowers. Wintrow felt they were always watching him whenever he came to the foredeck. Perhaps they were. Coinciding with the thought, a head lifted from the water. He could not be sure in the gloom, but he thought that it was the green-gold serpent from the Others' beach. For the space of three breaths, she held her place beside the ship, watching him. Two-legs, I know you, whispered through his mind, but he could not decide if she spoke to him or if he only recalled her voice from the beach.

"What will I do?" the ship taunted him lazily.

She could smash him at will. Wintrow pushed the useless fear aside. "You know what I mean. Althea and Brashen are seeking us. They may be lying in wait for us near Divvytown, or they may simply confront us in the harbor. What will you do, you and your serpents?"

"Ah. About that. Well." The figurehead leaned back toward him. Her dark locks writhed like a nest of snakes. She put a hand to one side of her mouth, as if to share a secret with him. But her whisper was loud, a stage whisper intended for Kennit as he came step-tapping onto the deck. "I will do whatever I please about that." She smiled past him at the pirate. "Good evening, my dear."

"Good evening, and good wind, lovely one," Kennit responded. He leaned over the railing and touched the large hand the ship held up to him in greeting. Then he smiled at Wintrow, his teeth white as a Page 245

serpent's in the moonlight. "Good evening, Wintrow. I trust you are well. When you left my cabin earlier, you looked a bit peaked."

"I am not well," Wintrow replied flatly. He looked at Kennit, and his heart came up in his throat. "I am torn, and I cannot sleep for the fears that roil through me." He turned his gaze back to the ship. "Please, do not be so flippant with me. We are speaking of our family. Althea is my aunt, and your longtime companion. Think, ship! She set the peg in you, and welcomed you as you awoke. Don't you remember that?"

"I well remember that she left me not long after that. And allowed Kyle to turn me into a slaver." Bolt arched one eyebrow at him. "If those were your

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