Sorcerer's Moon (61 page)

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

The master of the brig Gannet rose from the table and bowed to the three privileged passengers who had been invited to share wine and sweet biscuits with him in his cabin after the evening mess. For a Tarnian he was rather short in stature, leathery-faced and bald as a goose-egg; but his manner was supremely confident and the deep-set blue eyes beneath his silver brows sparkled with good humor.

'Countess Orvada, Lady Nyla, Sir Orrion, I've enjoyed our conversation greatly. But now I must join the helmsman. We're approaching the mouth of the bay, where the sailing is tricky because of the wind in our teeth, the strong ebbing tide, and the many shoals and rocks that obstruct the waters. We shall have to back and fill our way through the winding channel. Don't be dismayed when the ship drifts broadside! . . . Might I suggest that you all take some fresh air on deck before retiring? It's not at all cold outside. There should be a magnificent sunset and a fine view from the bow.'

'I'd like my shawl anyhow, sir.' The countess nodded at Orrion. She wore a fine blue silk gown, while Nyla was garbed in fawn camlet.

'I'll fetch it, my lady.' He and the captain left together.

Orvada poured more red wine into her pewter cup and drank it down too quickly. Her eyes were hollow and her plump face, normally rosy and cheerful, was pallid and had acquired new creases about the mouth. When she reached for the decanter once again, Nyla gently slid the wine out of reach.

'Too much will upset your stomach and make your head ache, Mother.'

The countess pouted. 'You're afraid I'll get tiddly and embarrass you in front of your prince!'

'That, too,' Nyla admitted with a smile. 'And if you're prostrate with misery, who will nurse me if I should become . . . seasick myself? There are no other women on the ship.'

'You're never seasick, you saucy wench, no more than I, and at least you have your sweetheart's presence to comfort you. Now let me have another drop of wine. It will blunt my sadness and help me to sleep tonight.'

'Mother -'

'Don't fuss, daughter. I can't help feeling wretched about parting from your father, but from now on I promise to show a braver face. Stop treating me like an irksome child and think of the wine as a physick. If there was a shaman aboard, I might seek another remedy for my low spirits. But there isn't, and I am in great need of a surcease from my pain.'

Wordessly, Nyla poured a small quantity of wine into the cup as Orrion returned with the shawl.

'The western sky has turned the most amazing color!' he announced. 'Never have I seen the like - lines of narrow black clouds silhouetted against a blaze of flame, as though heaven itself were a raging inferno viewed through the charred siding of some enormous wall in the sky. Come and see! We're sailing right into the setting sun.'

Countess Orvada finished her wine, put the cup down with an unsteady hand, and stood up so that the young man
could drape the soft wool about her shoulders. 'Let me take your good arm, sir. The stairway up to the deck is steep.'

Nyla rolled her eyes in chagrin. 'Mother!'

'One of the sailors is also missing a hand,' the countess said, unperturbed. 'He has fitted his stump with a very useful hook. Perhaps, Sir Orrion, you might consider getting one of those yourself.'

He laughed. 'I'll think about it.'

The three of them climbed the companionway steps and moved about cautiously on the deck to avoid scurrying sailors. The air was balmy, with a breeze from the Western Ocean, and the waters had only a light chop. A seaman at the forward rail was taking soundings and calling them out to the captain, who stood at the helmsman's shoulder. Other crew members clambered in the rigging performing various tasks. Only the topsails were set, and the brig followed a strange meandering course through an amazing seascape of black-shadowed rocks and smoldering scarlet water. As the captain had warned them, Gannet often drifted broadside as though she were out of control; but it was only an illusion caused by the backing and filling against the headwind. The ship remained in the middle of the channel, progressing slowly westward as the ebb tide took her.

The view from the bow was as remarkable as the captain had promised. The baymouth itself was unexpectedly broad, but rocks and exposed sand-flats were everywhere, littering the glowing waters so densely, especially to the south, that it seemed impossible that any large vessel could slip safely amongst them. Some masses of weathered stone barely broke the surface while others towered high, veritable islands with sheer drops on the seaward side and little beaches to landward.

Despite the mildness of the air, Countess Orvada shivered as she clung to the rail. 'No wonder the pirates dwelling in

Terminal Bay feel safe to flaunt the Sovereign's justice! Only a sailor intimately familiar with these waters would dare to brave these dreadful rocks and shoals. I think they must have named this bay Terminal because it's the last place any sensible person would want to go.'

The leadsman cried, 'By the mark, six fathoms.'

'Is that very deep?' Nyla asked Orrion.

'Nay,' he replied in a low voice as he peered over the rail, shading his eyes, 'only about twelve ells. But quite sufficient to float our brig. Don't worry, love. The captain knows what he's doing. And thank God for it, because the color of the water seems to indicate that this channel grows more and more narrow, the closer we come to its end.'

Ahead on their right loomed a notable formation resembling a tall crooked pillar, that stood half a league or so from the bay's precipitous northern shore. The captain had called it Rogue's Pricket and told them it marked not only the channel mouth but also the boundary between the bay shallows and the deep waters of the open sea. Gannet continued to drift toward it broadside.

There was a sudden dazzling flash and a concussion like a thunderclap. The Rogue's Pricket was partially enveloped in a shimmering veil of dust.

The women screamed and clung to Orrion in terror. As they watched with mouths wide open, the big pillar of rock shuddered and broke apart with an atrocious noise. The massive fragments fell, sending plumes of spray sky-high.

'Hold fast, hold fast, all hands!' one of the seamen screamed from the rigging. 'There's a bloody gallopin' wave coming right at us!'

Orrion pulled Nyla and her mother to the deck behind the bowsprit. 'Hang onto me and brace yourselves. The ship will roll on her side when it hits.'

Others were shouting and the boatswain's pipe squealed.

Then the wave was upon them. Gannet heeled violently on her ear until the deck was tilted almost vertically. A monstrous welter of water crashed over Orrion and the women. They tumbled together as helplessly as dolls. He felt the force of the deluge lift and fling him painfully against the bulwarks. With his left arm, he gripped Nyla's waist and clutched her belt with all his might. Water engulfed them both. He tried to hold his breath, kicking out with his legs when there was no longer any solidity beneath them. She was struggling, trying to break free while bubbles of precious air streamed from her mouth, but he kept hold of her as the water darkened. They were sinking to the bottom of the channel. No matter how strongly he kicked, they sank. He saw other forms moving in the roiled water, casks and other loose gear washed overboard from the ship drifting downward. Overhead was a great black shadow that had to be Gannet -

A stupendous burst of emerald fire flared at the surface.

The water turned to a raging maelstrom. He and Nyla cartwheeled. Something struck his head and he felt air stream from his mouth along with his howl of despair. Nyla's body had gone limp, but he still clung tightly to her.

Until I die, he vowed, I'll hold you fast.

And then his world went dark and silent.

* * *

Orrion vomited seawater, took a whooping breath, and felt a painful weight compress his back. Again and again it crushed him until he cried out in agony. He heard a voice say, 'Let be, let be, child! He's breathing again. Help me turn him over.'

He opened his eyes and saw a beloved face all streaked with tears. Her hair was undone and hanging in damp ringlets, but she smiled as she bent low to kiss him.

'Love?' he croaked, trying to sit up.

'Lie still, messire,' Countess Orvada commanded.

She knelt on coarse sand beside her daughter. They were on the beach of what appeared to be a small islet, surrounded by rocks that were partially awash and encrusted with seaweed and marine creatures. The sky was deep blue with mauve clouds, and a few stars were beginning to appear.

'What?' he asked. 'How?'

'Mother saved both of us,' Nyla said happily. 'She can swim! Isn't it a wonder? I never knew a woman could do such a thing.'

'A lot you don't know,' the countess muttered. She rummaged in Orrion's sodden wallet, which she had detached from his belt. 'Great Zeth, messire! What a lot of useless rubbish you carry. At least there's a table-knife here. But don't you have a tinderbox?'

'I'm sorry, my lady. I have yet to learn how to strike fire one-handed.'

'Well, we must try rubbing sticks or some such thing. I think I remember how to make a fire-drill. We can use one of the laces from my corset. Nyla, go search for some fine dry stuff that'll serve as tinder. There are a few pitiful plants growing here and there. Gather some driftwood as well. Without a fire we have no hope of attracting rescuers. And before long it will be cold.'

'I'll see to it, Mother. Don't let Orry come after me. He must rest awhile.' She went off among the shore rocks and was lost to sight.

Orrion pulled himself up to a sitting position and took stock of himself. No bones seemed to be broken, although his head and back ached abominably and every breath was a rasp of pain. He still wore all his clothes and his sturdy boots. For the first time, he noticed that the countess had lost the right sleeve of her flimsy silken gown and most of her overskirt and petticoat. Her feet were clad only in torn scarlet stockings.

'My lady, how were you able to save us?' he asked, averting his eyes from her bedraggled form. He began to unbutton his wool jerkin, intending to give it to her.

'I was tossed overboard along with you two,' Orvada said calmly, 'and taken down into the depths. I saw you both sink together like stones, dribbling air. I went down more slowly, since I'm fat, and I kept my breath. Then came the damned green flash and a surge of current that slammed me to the bottom of the channel. I thought I was finished. But no! I kicked off my shoes and got rid of what clothes I could and started to push off for the surface. Then I saw the pair of you twined together and drowned. You'd managed to wrap Nyla's belt around your wrist so tightly you were impossible to separate. So I towed you both up, made it to the side of the channel, and dragged you into the shallows. This little barren island was not far away. I revived Nyla first. After all, sir, she is my daughter! Then both of us worked on you. You seemed dead to me, but she wouldn't give up pushing on your ribs. Finally you breathed - and that's that.' She grinned in satisfaction.

'But the ship -' he started to say.

The countess's face sobered. 'It was still light when I got you out of the water. Sir Orrion, you must believe me when I tell you that not a single trace of the Gannet was to be seen anywhere! Nor have I noticed any broken pieces of her drifting about, only a few things that might have been cast overboard by the wave, just as we were.'

He was aghast. 'There were no other survivors? None at all? I'm sure I saw other bodies sinking in the water.'

'As did I,' she replied. 'When we came ashore I called out, but no one answered. If anybody else found safety, they're too far away to hear.' She picked up a stick and snapped it in half to ascertain its dryness. 'Do you have any idea what might have destroyed the Rogue's Pricket and the ship?'

'No, my lady. If lightning struck the rock pillar, it came from a sky with the wrong kind of clouds. As for the green flash, which I perceived while underwater, I know not what to make of that.'

But an uneasy thought came to him even as he spoke: he'd seen strangely colored light once before - or something closely resembling it - at the time his right arm was smitten by the demons. Was it possible that Sky Realm sorcery had destroyed the brig? . . .

Nyla reappeared, emptyhanded but smiling. 'On the landward side of the island is a sort of sandy nook above the tide-line where we can be out of the wind. I gathered wood and found some dry seed-heads that might do for tinder. Orrion, Mother and I will help you to walk.'

‘I can do it on my own,' he said, hauling himself to his feet. But he staggered and would have fallen if the women had not borne him up. A few minutes later they were ensconced in the sheltered area.

Countess Orvada accepted Orrion's jerkin and went out of sight to remove her corset. She returned with a strong linen lace, which she cut with Orrion's table-knife and tied to the ends of a green stick, fashioning a small bow.

'Can such a thing really make fire?' Nyla wondered.

The countess settled down near the heap of driftwood. She used the knife to gouge a shallow depression in a slab of dry pine, then whittled fine curls of wood and heaped them around the little hole, along with the seed heads. 'I've seen fire-drills used by the shepherds near my childhood home of Craketop Manor.' She selected a sturdy stick less than a foot long and sharpened one end to a point, then twisted it neatly into the bowstring. 'One sets the pointed stick-end into the hole, presses down firmly on the other end of the stick with a cupped stone, then saws back and forth with the bow - thus - causing the stick to spin as a drill would.'

'And friction makes heat within the hole,' Orrion said, 'which should ignite the tinder.'

'Correct.' The bow-and-stick contraption slipped out from under the weighting stone and fell apart. Orvada uttered a colorful curse. 'There's a trick to it. I'll get it right if you two stop watching. Go somewhere else.'

'We'll look for signs of life on the mainland,' Nyla said, drawing Orrion down to the water's edge. They began scanning the north shore, which was not too far away, but saw no lights. It was now almost full dark.