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he could. What he wanted to do probablywasn t what he needed to do.
He gripped the brass rail with both hands and gritted his teeth. I ll tell the
captain to run for deep water, hesaid.
* * *
The captain shrugged.  We can avoid theresupply in Goft; I have no problem
with that. We can turn out ofthe Thousand Dancers early if you wish, and run
farther from thecoast. If you truly wish to take the girl and her friends to
Brelstinstead of Glaswherry Hala, I can do that, too. We can resupplyfarther
on and we ll be fine. But we can t turn southnow. You see the horizon?
Ry looked to the south, where the captain was pointing. A dullgreenish haze
blurred the line between water and sky toinvisibility.  Yes.
 That s a storm brewing. The mercury is falling in theglass  we ll outrun it
easily enough if we keep headingwest for now, but I ll not sail us straight
into it.
Ry let out a slow breath. He might be Family, but the captainwas a captain 
in his ship he was powerful as a paraglese,subject to the orders of no man,
and answerable only to his god,Tonn. If he would not take them through the
deep water by choice,Ry could not compel him by force, threat, or cajolery.
And he wasn t fool enough to try.
 Well enough. Then just keep us as far from Goft andCalimekka as you can, and
keep us on the shortest path to Brelstthat you can manage.
The captain tipped his head and stroked one side of his beaded,braided
mustache thoughtfully.
 Any particular thing you wishto avoid?
 Only that I don t want to find out in person why theomens are bad.
 That s a good enough reason for me.
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Ry had to leave it at that, and hope it would be enough.
Chapter
17
F
or two days the storm lashed them, amad and screaming thing that kept them
anchored to the lee side ofone of the tiny islands of the Thousand Dancers.
When it passed,though, it passed completely, leaving the sky clear as crystal,
thebreezes cool and clean, and the sailing smooth.
Kait stood on thestarboard deck of the
Wind Treasure, watching islandsslipping by.
Ry joined her, and because she couldn t think of a goodexcuse to leave, and
because there were plenty of other people onthe deck, she stayed where she
was. He said,  This is thebeginning of the Thousand Dancers. The chain runs
all the way in toGoft, but the captain says we ll turn out of it and bear
southlong before then. You see the tall island with smoke spilling fromthe
top?
Kait nodded.
 That s Falea. She was supposed to be the daughter ofone of the local
goddesses, back before
Ibera claimed theseislands. Thrown to earth and sentenced to burn from the
inside outforever in punishment for some sin or other. Seducing the lover
ofanother goddess, I think. He shrugged.
Kait stared out at the water, without warning as sick as if shewere trapped on
a storm-tossed ship.
 How much longer until weturn out of the islands?
Ry didn t seem to notice her distress.  Captain saidif the wind keeps up like
this and he runs the sails the way he isright now, he could reach Merrabrack
by late tomorrow. That sthe best place to head south.
Late tomorrow. Kait hadn t realized they were so close toGoft. To Calimekka.
To the danger that had been plaguing herdreams.
By tomorrow, they would reach the turning point, they wouldbegin to increase
the distance between themselves and the facelessdanger that waited in
Calimekka, and the sick feeling in herstomach would leave. Perhaps she would
be able to sleep nightsagain without being haunted by the hunter who watched
Ry throughher eyes.
She sighed and leaned against the ship s rail and staredout at the islands.
She turned forward, to catch the wind full inher face and to look at where
they were heading. It was then thatshe saw the airibles.
They were two round white circles on the western horizon. Ifthey d been
running north-south, she would have seen them astwo long ellipsoids. Since she
saw them as circles, they raneast-
west, their course parallel to that of the
WindTreasure
.
Her heart skipped a beat and her breath caught in her throat.Airibles.
Airibles were Galweigh devices, massive lighter-than-airairships built from
designs patiently and laboriously culled fromthe records of the Ancients. She
had flown in them, had flown themherself, had known many of the Family pilots,
had been friends withone of them. She thought wistfully of Aouel, now
certainlydead.
And what of the other pilots she had known? What of theFamily s fleet?
The circles of the airible envelopes were getting bigger, whichmeant they were
heading east.
Toward her.
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She bit her lip, staring at the oncoming airibles. When GalweighHouse fell,
what had become of the airible fleet? Had the Sabirsclaimed it, or had the
corollary branches of the Galweigh
Familymanaged to keep it within their possession? Were those aboard thetwo
great airships friends? Enemies?
The airibles rarely ran to the east of the Iberan coast. Kaitdid not know of
any instances where they flew through the ThousandDancers  the easiest way to
reach the colonies in Manarkaswas to fly due north across the Dalvian Sea, and
no one but amadman would try to take one across the
Bregian Ocean to theGalweigh colony in South Novtierra. They weren t yet
reliableenough.
So what were these two doing, coming to the end of the ThousandDancers, beyond
the edge of the civilized world?
Kait s nerves jangled at the sight of them, and fearcrawled beneath her skin.
 Ry . . . , she said,  do you seethose? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]