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.But no one walked in Forge.The harbor was empty of vessels, no smoke rose from any chimneys.The normal inhabitants had abandoned it not long after that fateful raid, and evidently the Forged ones had as well, once there were no more sources of food or comfort there.The town had never really rebuilt itself after the raid, and a long season of winter storms and tides had nearly completed what the Red-Ships had begun.Only the harbor looked almost normal, save for the empty slips.The seawalls still curved out into the bay like protective hands cupping the docks.But there was nothing left to protect.I threaded my way through the desolation that was Forge.My skin prickled as I crept past sagging doors on splintered frames in half burned buildings.It was a relief to get away from the moldy smell of the empty cottages and to stand on the wharves overlooking the water.The road went right down to the docks and curved along the cove.A shoulder of roughly worked stone had once protected the road from the greedy sea, but a winter of tides and storms without the intervention of man was breaking it down.Stones were working loose, and the sea's driftwood battering rams, abandoned now by the tide, cluttered the beach below.Once carts of iron ingots had been hauled down this road, to waiting vessels.I walked along the seawall and saw that what had appeared so permanent from the hill above would withstand perhaps one or two more winter seasons without maintenance before the sea reclaimed it.Overhead, stars shone intermittently through scudding clouds.The evasive moon cloaked and revealed herself as well, occasionally granting me glimpses of the harbor.The shushing of the waves was like the breathing of a drugged giant.It was a night from a dream, and when I looked out over the water, the ghost of a Red-Ship cut across the moonpath as it put into Forge harbor.Her hull was long and sleek, her masts bare of canvas as she came slipping into the harbor.The red of her hull and prow was shiny as fresh spilled blood, as if she cut through runnels of blood instead of salt water.In the dead town behind me, no one raised a shout of warning.I stood like a fool, limned on the seawall, shivering at the apparition, until the creak of oars and the silver dripping of water off an oar's edge made the Red-Ship real.I flung myself flat to the causeway, then slithered off the smooth road surface into the boulders and driftwood cluttered along the seawall.I could not breathe for terror.All my blood was in my head, pounding, and no air was in my lungs.I had to set my head down between my arms and close my eyes to regain control of myself.By then the small sounds even a stealthy vessel must make came faint but distinct across the water to me.A man cleared his throat, an oar rattled in its lock, something heavy thudded to the deck.I waited for a shout or command to betray that I had been seen.But there was nothing.I lifted my head cautiously, peering through the whitened roots of a driftwood log.All was still save the ship coming closer and closer as the rowers brought her into harbor.Her oars rose and fell in near-silent unison.Soon I could hear them talking in a language like ours, but so harshly spoken I could barely get the meaning of the words.A man sprang over the side with a line and floundered ashore.He made the ship fast no more than two ship lengths away from where I lay hidden among the boulders and logs.Two others sprang out, knives in hands, and scrambled up the seawall.They ran along the road in opposite directions, to take up positions as sentries.One was on the road almost directly above me.I made myself small and still.I held on to Smithy in my mind the way a child grips a beloved toy as protection against nightmares.I had to get home to him, therefore I must not be discovered.The knowledge that I must do the first somehow made the second seem more possible.Men scrabbled hastily from the ship.Everything about them bespoke familiarity.I could not fathom why they had put in here until I saw them unloading empty water casks.The casks were sent hollowly rolling down the causeway, and I remembered the well I had passed.The part of my mind that belonged to Chade noted how well they knew Forge, to put in almost exactly opposite that well.This was not the first time this ship had stopped here for water.“Poison the well before you leave,” he suggested.But I had no supplies for anything like that, and no courage to do anything except remain hidden.Others had emerged from the ship and were stretching their legs.I overheard an argument between a woman and a man.He wished permission to light a fire with some of the driftwood, to roast some meat.She forbade it, saying they had not come far enough, and that a fire would be too visible.So they had raided recently, to have fresh meat, and not too far from here.She gave permission for something else that I did not quite understand, until I saw them unload two full kegs.Another man came ashore with a whole ham on his shoulder, which he dropped with a meaty slap onto one of the upright kegs.He drew a knife and began to carve off chunks of it while another man broached the other keg.They would not be leaving anytime soon.And if they did light a fire, or stay until dawn, my log's shadow would be no hiding place at all.I had to get out of there.Through nests of sandfleas and squiggling piles of seaweed, under and between logs and stones, I dragged my belly through sand and pebbled gravel.I swear that every root snag caught at me, and every shifted slab of stone blocked my way.The tide had changed.The waves broke noisily against the rocks, and the flying spray rode the wind.I was soon soaked.I tried to time my movement with the sound of the breaking waves, to hide my small sounds in theirs.The rocks were toothed with barnacles, and sand packed the gouges they made in my hands and knees.My staff became an incredible burden, but I would not abandon my only weapon.Long after I could no longer see or hear the raiders, I dared not stand, but crept and huddled still from stone to log.At last I ventured up onto the road and crawled across it.Once in the shadow of a sagging warehouse, I stood, hugging the wall, and peered about me.All was silent.I dared to step out two steps onto the road, but even there, I could see nothing of the ship or the sentries.Perhaps that meant they could not see me either [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]