Taroniah at Work by Peter Rhodan

Author:Peter Rhodan [Rhodan, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sword & Sorcery, Epic Fantasy
Published: 2024-06-06T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Help Wanted

Three days later, one of the workmen at the ironworks pointed out that their ship was coming up the river, the early warning meaning they could get a head start on loading the wagon and heading to the dock with the first load of leaf springs. She thought it was probably too soon to hear back from the stonemasons, but she went along with the wagon anyway, just in case. They arrived at about the same time the ship was tying up. They immediately began unloading the leaf springs onto the dock so there was room on the wagon bed for the pig iron blooms to be unloaded directly from the ship to the wagon bed.

Taroniah studied the passengers in case one of them was Garnas, but the old stonemason didn't appear to be on the ship this time around. It appeared that there were several other passengers disembarking from the ship, which was surprising, as the small port usually only saw one, or at the most, two people disembark whenever a ship arrived. Then she realized that she was looking at a family group of mother, father, and two very young children with one other man who seemed to be separate from the family group. Taroniah was standing near the gangplank waiting to see if the Captain had any mail for her and noticed that the two children looked almost identical.

"Twins?" she asked before she could stop herself.

The father nodded while the mother smiled, nodding as well.

"Yes. One of each and the two are almost impossible to tell apart at this stage. We keep hoping they'll become more identifiable as they get older, but it hasn't happened so far."

"How old are they?"

"They've just had their second birthdays."

The father, meanwhile, was looking around anxiously.

"I thought there would be a carriage or a wagon here at the dock we could hire for our luggage," he said to Taroniah, assuming her to be a local.

Taroniah looked around as normally there would have been. Just then, she saw Thorman coming with his carriage.

"Here comes Thorman now. He must've been on another job."

The father nodded and waved at Thorman, who brought his wagon over and was soon engaged to carry the man's family and their luggage when it was unloaded from the ship to the man's mother's house. Taroniah, meanwhile, had turned back to the ship where Jarn, the Captain, indicated that he had nothing for her this trip.

"The new ship is coming along nicely, Taroniah. I expect it will be launched by the time I return to Marsea, and then it will only be a few weeks for the masts and rigging to be set up, and it will be ready to enter service," he yelled down to her.

"Are you still intending to swap to sailing her?" Taroniah asked politely.

"Aye. She has a fine-looking hull, I can tell you," he replied with a grin.

Then, he had to turn away to organize something to do with the unloading of the cargo, and

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