Joel Rosenberg Paladins II Knight Moves

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.The Izmiri coast loomed not only ahead of them, but all about them, as thoughthreatening to come together and crush the ship.Marinarice lay at the northend of the sheltered harbor, and protected from both the sea and the windsand with what Randolph thought of as a pitifully small garrison at Adakoy fromPage 187ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlpirate raids, more or less.Most likely, it was the combination of not much ofvalue to steal and the difficulty in raiding that had kept Marinarice safefrom pirate raids for the past years, although even Guild ships made it apoint to pay and pay well for the services of the local fishermen whosupplemented their catch with reports of ship movements.Easy enough to catcha merchantman in the narrow passage out and into the Med proper.But, thenagain, it was prime hunting ground for the Blue Fleet's pirate patrols, aswell, and it would have been comforting for Lieutenant Randolph to think thatthat was the cause of it.He hadn't intended to find himself on the same trader as Smith, but it hadhappened nonetheless.He really hadn't had any other choice, when he had followed Smith and hisparty to Kyrnia; there were no other Guild ships bound for Marinarice, andretracing his steps to Limmasol, and hoping to find a faster ship, leavingpromptly, with the same destination, would have been far too optimistic.TheLord might be on the side of the righteous, after all, but He rarely saw tothe details.It had been a risk, of course, but a necessary one.Smith had left hismen and the girl in Kyrnia, and while he seemed to give the deck passengers anoccasional cursory look, it was the other stateroom passengers that seemed todraw most of his attention.Of course, in one sense, they might as well have been on differentships Smith had one of the staterooms below, while Randolph had taken deckpassage, and had but a chalked rectangle on the raised poop deck to call hishome for the journey; the foredecks were forbidden to deck passengers exceptfor just after sunset and just before sunrise, when they were permitted totake what little exercise was possible, while separated from theirhigher-paying betters.Smith stalked over to the quarterdeck, and mounted it without so much as aby-your-leave, something that grated on Alphonse Randolph had the man nomanners at all? but didn't seem to bother the captain, despite him having togive constant attention to the wheel for the approach.Randolph didn't think much of the captain.Guild sailors were supposedlyexperts at their craft, but Captain Hans his surname was Lubeck, of course,from his clan, but the crew of the ship were all Lubecks, and he was known asUncle Hans to all of the crew, and Captain Hans to the passengers should nothave tolerated a passenger on his quarterdeck, not on a tricky approach in anarrow channel, and never mind the discourtesy.For once, the wind was this sailor's friend it carried their conversation tohim."I would guess it would be another hour before we dock, Captain?" Smithasked.His German was excellent, if perhaps overly classical.Page 188ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"That would be hard to say, Herr Ibn Mahmoud," the captain said.Well, atleast his eyes never left the waters while he talked to Smith, his voice ladenwith that preposterously gutteral Guild accent."But quite possibly.Thenagain, I'm tempted to take one of the inner berths things are a little toocrowded dockside for my taste.Less time until we drop sail, of course, butmore until we can get you properly to land.Not much more." He glanced overhis shoulder at the sails.He was flying far too few topsails for Randolph's taste, but he certainlyknew his own ship better than Randolph did.A fat-bellied merchant wasn't alight and spry warship, after all, and Randolph didn't know this channel.Still, you'd think that a man who made his living in these waters would knowthe channel, and know it well enough to maneuver his way through it withsomething better than a slow, wallowing lumber."I want to be on my way as quickly as possible," Smith said."Waiting for aboat to take me ashore ""You may go ashore on the first boat, if you care to "" is something I'd prefer to avoid," Smith said, reaching into his pouch andproducing a coin.The captain barely glanced down, and shrugged, then returned his attention tothe water, making a quarter-wheel turn to port [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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