Demons of the Dancing Gods (26 page)

They talked on through most of the night, the enormity of

the task not escaping them in the least. Finally Ruddygore

handed Joe a small, round portrait of a distinguished-looking

man of middle age with gray hair and a bushy gray mustache.

He had dark, piercing eyes that the artist had caught exactly,

and it was clear to look at him that he was one of those lucky

ones who aged so well they were even more handsome than

they had been in their youth.

"Count Boquillas," the sorcerer told them, explaining the

background. "If you happen across him, or can determine his

whereabouts, then be sure to tell me. He is the mystery player

in this game, in that we don't really know which side he's on

or what his game might be. All we know is that a powerful

and outspoken critic of the Barony has suddenly vanished, and

it would be of great value, not only to find him but to prove

how little the Baron's word is worth, if Boquillas is in fact a

prisoner."

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"So when do we start this death march?" Joe asked.

"I think tomorrow, about sunset," Throckmorton P. Ruddygore

replied.

CHAPTER 10

SAILING DOWN THE RIVER

Piracy need ml be a dishonorable vocation if bound by the Rules.

—Rules, CLIX, Introduction

THE PORT DISTRICT OF SACHALIN WAS BUSY ALMOST ALL THE

time. Although much trade had closed down for the convention,

ships kept to schedules as they had to, and that meant those

depending on those ships must be ready when they arrived.

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DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS JACK L. CHALKER 141

Ruddygore had arranged passage for the trio on a merchantman

carrying what seemed to be thousands of neatly racked

amphoras of whiskey made from the unusually large harvest

surplus in the region. Accommodations were not the most gracious

or comfortable, but the ship's captain, who was also half

owner, was being well paid and neither asked questions nor

even raised an eyebrow at the sight of the unlikely-looking

group.

Lake Zahias was huge, and by midmoming there was no

land in sight as they moved out to the deep center and proceeded

south. The ship was close to three hundred feet long and had

a slightly rounded hull that accentuated any rough water but

allowed it to take full advantage of the wind, which was quite

brisk. Twin masts each held a single, enormous square sail,

bright orange in color and with the ship's identification symbol

inside a round yellow circle in the center of each. Joe had to

admire the way the crew seemed to anticipate every little shift

in wind and water and do just what was necessary to keep the

speed steady and the ship relatively stable. The sight of so

much water reminded him of the ocean, although there was no

smell of salt in the spray and the large number of sea birds

trailing the vessel betrayed land off somewhere within flying

distance.

There were long, empty stretches, but other areas seemed

filled with small fishing boats trawling for fish, shrimp, and

whatever else these waters held; here and there, they passed a

ship like theirs headed the other way and watched the semaphores

on both send greetings and news of conditions to each

other.

One such passing was followed by a sudden flurry of activity

from the crew, each sailor hurriedly falling to one or another

task. Joe, who'd been getting very bored playing a local version

of backgammon with Tiana, grew curious and soon learned

that there was word of a major storm ahead. At the time, it

was sunny and fairly warm with just a few fleecy clouds in the

sky, and both he and Tiana found all this haste hard to justify.

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Within an hour, though, a huge front seemed to move in

on them. Not long after, the wind picked up until it quickly

became a roaring gale, complete with monster waves, thunder,

lightning, and tremendously heavy rain. It soon became impossible

to walk even below, the ship lurching and turning in

what seemed all directions at once, and Joe found himself

wishing for boredom once again.

He and Tiana both became violently ill before too long and

just strapped themselves to their too-small bunks, trying to hit

the chamber pots when they had to.

Marge came in, looking very comfortable and seemingly

unaware that she was being tossed about with the ship. She

spotted them both and regarded them with some pity. "You

should see it up there!" she said excitedly. "Waves just about

swallow half the ship, then up it comes again. It's real exciting

—and the crew is wonderful."

They looked at her with misery and irritation in their eyes,

"You don't feel—anything?" Joe managed.

"A little wet, maybe. I'm sorry for you both, but I guess I

just don't get seasick. Hell, I've never been out on a body of

water this big before and I think it's exciting."

"Well, go enjoy it, then," Tiana groaned. "Return when the

sun shines and the water is like a mirror."

Marge took the hint, but the storm did not abate during the

night or into the next morning. Through it all, except for trimming

sail, the captain kept his ship fairly well on course and

seemed reasonably pleased with the speed he was making. "It

will take more than a little blow like this to make me run for

safe harbor!" he told Marge proudly.

By the next evening the storm had slackened off a bit, but

not enough to allow either of the seasick sufferers below any

sort of recovery. Joe was more miserable, he believed, than

he'd ever been in his whole life and he would have gladly

ended it all if it wouldn't take too much effort. Even his great

sword Irving, strapped to a handhold, seemed to hum a mixed

and discordant series of notes.

Three days out, the storm passed, although the skies remained

overcast and the air was a bit chilled. Joe, feeling weak

and miserable, nonetheless had the need for fresh air; the small

cabin stank of the remnants of two very large people's innards.

He managed to pull himself dizzily up the stairs and onto the

deck. The cool mist struck him, and it felt very, very good;

he luxuriated in it for a few minutes before taking any sort of

a look around. When he did, he was surprised to see land off

to the left, even a few houses and animals. The ship was, in

fact, close in to shore.

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DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS

Marge spotted him before he could look much further and

came over. "Feeling better?" she asked, sounding genuinely

concerned.

He shrugged. "Well, I feel as if I want to live again, but

I'm not sure I'm going to."

"How's Tiana?"

"Worse, I think. What's this over here?"

"We'll be in tonight. Zichis is only a few miles up ahead,

and that's the end of the line."

"Suits me. Land again," he added, almost dreamily.

"Don't get too comfortable. Tomorrow we just go down

and get on another boat, remember."

He groaned. "Don't remind me!"

"Well, at least it's a riverboat."

By the time they berthed, it was well after dark, but both

Joe and Tiana showed renewed strength when the idea of setting

foot once again on dry land was staring them in the face.

Zichis was a lot smaller than Sachalin and far different, too,

in architecture and ambience. This was a working town with

no pretensions to anything political and no thoughts of tourism.

It was here because, just below the town, at the start of the

River of Sorrows, was Zichis Falls, and all commerce heading

in either direction had to portage around it. The ships, of course,

did no such thing, so all cargo had to be transferred to the next

ship in line on the route south. In the meantime, the three were

to stay over at one of a dozen or so guest houses, as they were

called.

These turned out to be large wooden structures with a hundred

or more rooms apiece, all built of the same weathered wood

as were the other buildings in the town. The rooms were not

much larger than those aboard ship, nor any more comfortable,

but they were in solid buildings on solid ground and they neither

rocked nor swayed. Marge explored the town while both Joe

and Tiana recovered enough to get and keep down a heavy

cream seafood chowder at a small restaurant and then to sleep

it off.

The next day remained chill and overcast, but the seasickness

that had totally immobilized the two humans passed as

quickly as it had come upon them, and they both felt cheerful,

if weak, and ate heavy breakfasts while Marge slept.

The system for moving cargo down below the falls to a

river port consisted of an ingenious series of water-filled locks

that lowered the huge crates and racks on large wooden flats

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a hundred feet or so at a time. The falls were large and highly

impressive, although no Niagara, plunging more than eight

hundred feet into a whirling mass below.

People, however, were expected to walk down an apparently

endless series of wooden stairs. They soon learned that, to get

information on their next watercraft, they would have to descend

to what the natives called the Lower Port, despite the

fact that there seemed to be no guest houses or any other

services there.

Joe looked down, sighed, and said, "Well, I need the exercise."

"What of Marge? She is sleeping right now, remember,"

Tiana responded.

"Well, she knows the schedule, and the guest houses make

it their business to see that people make their connections. I

don't think we have to worry. It's several hours until sailing

time."

After a seemingly endless descent, they found themselves

at the Lower Port and quickly located the shipping offices of

the line Ruddygore had told them to use. When they got there,

though, they discovered only bad news.

"The Pacah is delayed at least eighteen hours," the agent

told them, "perhaps more. There have been pirates on Lake

Bragha, and shipping has been delayed while protection is

arranged."

"Pirates? Up here?" Tiana asked, looking puzzled. "I have

never heard of pirates on Bragha before."

"These are bad times, lady." The clerk sighed. "The border

runs right through the lake, remember, and even the ownership

of the falls is in dispute down there. It's impossible to police

anything any more."

"But surely both Marquewood and Zhimbombe patrol the

area!"

He chuckled dryly. "Patrol? How long has it been since you

have been in Zhimbombe?"

"Many years," she admitted. "Why?"

"They invaded us not too many months ago down south,

remember. They're not nice or cooperative people—if all of

'em are people, which I doubt. You goin' there?"

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"Down the river, anyway," Joe put in smoothly. "Actually,

we're headed for the City-States."

"Yeah? Well, you're both big enough to fight it out, I guess.

Me, I wouldn't get any nearer the border than this, let alone

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go through their territory."

Joe gave him a sour smile. "You're implying that they don't

exactly mind the pirates?"

"Hell, who could tell the difference? You watch it, though.

When the Pacah gets here, it's one of ours and a good ship.

You'll be treated well. But from Tochik, you'll be on one of

their ships, and I wouldn't go to sleep on one of them things

if I were you."

Joe looked over at Tiana, but she just shrugged. "We're

staying at the Cochis Guest House. Will we be notified when

the ship comes in?"

"Oh, sure. No problem there."

They left and walked back to the falls. Joe stared at the

huge set of stairs rising up into the mist of the falls and sighed.

"Well, I said I needed the exercise."

Tiana nodded glumly. "I wish I had a spell for levitation

right about now."

They began the long walk up.

It was, in fact, three days before a small group of ships

arrived at the Lower Port, four merchantmen and two roughlooking

craft manned with archers, bowmen, and even fore

and aft catapults.

These were quite different craft from the Lake Zahias

freighters—all shallow draft with large single sails and side

slots for a dozen oarsmen on either side. In point of fact, the

merchantmen were really large rafts with boxy wooden structures

fore and aft like small houses and a pilothouse atop each.

Clearly the helmsman at the rear could not see what was going

on and depended on a crew with an elaborate series of signals

forward for direction. In contrast, the two warships resembled

sleek Viking craft. They reminded Joe of canoes—-the biggest

canoes he'd ever seen—with a single sail in the middle.