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chains of a slave in the galleys.
 When, asked Tab,  do we sail against the ships of Cos and Tyros?
I laughed.
 Surely now, laughed he,  Cos and Tyros have injured you.
 Yes, said I,  they have, and now we may sail against them!
There were cheers from the men about, who felt that too long had the ships of
Bosk surrendered the seas to those of Cos and Tyros.
 The Bosk, laughed Thurnock,  has been angered.
 It has, said I.
 Then let Cos and Tyros beware! roared Thurnock.
 Yes, said I, turning to the captain,  let them beware.
Captain Tenrik nodded his head, curtly.
 What shall we do now, Captain, asked Clitus, of me.  Return to Port Kar, I
said.  As I recall, I have waiting for me there a galley, heavy class, for my
work in Cos.
 True! said Thurnock.
 An when he have come to Port Kar, what then? asked Tab.
I looked at him evenly.  Then, said I,  paint my ships green.
Green, on Thassa, is the color of pirates. Green hulls, sails, oars, even
ropes. In the bright sun reflecting off the water, green is a color most
difficult to detect on gleaming Thassa. The green ship, in the bright sun, can
be almost invisible.
 It will be done, cried Tab.
There were more cheers from the men about.
Seeing the officer whose sword I had, I laughed and flung the weapon into the
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deck at his feet.  Sir, I said,  your sword.
Then I vaulted over the rail of the Rena onto the deck of the heavy-class
arsenal galley.
I was followed by my men, who loosened the grappling hooks and ropes that
bound our ships to the Rena.
 Now, said I,  to Port Kar!
 To Port Kar! cheered my men.  To Port Kar!
And thus it was that the ships to Bosk, he of Port Kar, came to be painted
green.
Within the month, supplied and outfitted, the ram-ships of Bosk, a light
galley, two of medium class, and one of heavy class, made their first strike
on
Thassa.
By the end of the second month the flag of Bosk, carried by one ship or
another, was known from Ianda to Torvaldsland, and from the delta of the Vosk
to the throne rooms of Cos and Tyros.
My treasures were soon increased considerably, and the number of ships in my
fleet, by captured prizes, was readically augmented, so much so that I
could not begin to wharf them within the lakelike courtyard of my holding.
With gold won by sword at sea I purchased extensive wharfage and several
warehouses on the western edge of Port Kar. Even so I found myself pressed
and, to ease the difficulties of wharfage and mooring right, I sold many a
round ship taken, and some of the inferior long ships. My round ships, as much
as possible, I engaged in commerce, usually acting on the advice of Luma, the
slave girl, my chief accountant; the ram-ships I sent against Cos and Tyros,
usually in twos and threes; I myself commonly commanded a fleet of five
ram-ships, and spent much time searching the seas for larger prey.
But in all this time I had not forgotten the treasure fleet which was due to
sail from Tyros to Cos, bearing precious metals and jewels for her coffers,
and a lovely lady, Vivina, to grace the couch of her Ubar.
I put spies in Tyros and Cos, and in many of the other ports of Thassa. I
think I knew the shipping, the cargos and the schedules of those two islands
Ubarates, and several of their allies, as well or better than many of the
members of their own high councils.
It was, accordingly, no accident that I, Bosk, from the marshes, in the
Fifth Passage Hand of he yeard 10,120 from the founding of the city of Ar,
four months after the unsuccessful coup of Henrius Sevarius in the city of
Port kar, stood admiral on the stern castle of my flagship, the Dorna of
Tharna, in command of my fleet, eighteen ships of my own and twelve consigned
from the arsenal, at a given place at a given time on gleaming Thassa.
 Fleet off the port beam! came the cry from the man in the basket, circling
the masthead above.
I turned to Tab.
 Remove the mast, said I,  from the mast well. Lash it and it s yard to the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]