Free Book 1 - The Tyranny of the Night by Glen Cook Page B

Friesland shore. That would
be particularly useful."
    Red Hammer nodded. "We can do that. So we just need to agree on a price. And to
unload our catch." The stench of fish filled the air.
    "We'll help you unload," Shagot promised. "So let's talk cost."
    Initially, Red Hammer asked if what they wanted was worth thirty-five gold
pieces.
    Shagot laughed. "No. How stupid do we look? We don't have that kind of money,
anyway. We look like kings? You won't find one piece of gold between us. You
lunatic. Be happy that we'll give you five Santerin silver pennies."
    The bargaining did not last long. Shagot was in a hurry. The fishermen were
impatient to unload their cargo.
    The tide was turning.
    Svavar worried aloud as he stumbled along under a heavy sack of fish, some of
which still wiggled. "We're getting too good a deal, Grim. They'll try to rob
us."
    "There's six of us. They may be big and dumb but they aren't that dumb. What do you want to bet they've got some illegal cargo that
we'll help protect in order to get where we're going?"
    Shagot understood such thinking. He had done things like that himself when he
was not off with Erief.
    "They have them a devilish look in their eyes, Grim."
    "And I don't blame them. This is as lucky a day as poor people ever get."
    Svavar went right on worrying about treachery and betrayal. Red Hammer might
sell them to Gludnir.
    Whenever Shagot met the eye of Red or Smith they seemed amused. As though they
knew his worries and found them entertaining.
    Shagot was sure he had the angles covered. These men were just fishermen and
smugglers with no reason to turn treacherous.
    It had been a hard go for Shagot, lately. Weariness hung on his bones like
tattered cloth. He told the Thorkalssons, "Don't wake me up unless the ship is
going under and the water is up to my nuts."
    He found a place out of the way, on deck. He wanted nothing to do with the hold.
The stink of fish was bad enough where he was.
    The fog was closing in again.
    He thought he dreamed.
    He was sound asleep but saw his surroundings as though he was wide awake. The
fog grew weaker. The sea became calmer. The people of the sea came up to frolic
round the boat Beautiful maidens from the deep, indistinguishable from human
girls except for their beauty, sang to the fishermen. Walker seemed to bless
them. He seemed to get younger as the boat moved out to sea, too.
    The sea itself changed. The water darkened. A growing chop came running in on
the bow. The people of the sea stopped following.
    Soon the fisherman was battering its way into the teeth of a rising storm. Its
crew remained unperturbed, even after waves started leaping over the bow,
hurling white spume. Then it was green water, pounding the foredeck with the
fists of giants.
    Indifferent, the crew forged on.
    The three were no longer amiable or chatty. They worked ship—when they did
anything at all—with very little talk. Shagot could not understand how they
managed to cope.
    Fierce lightning began dueling inside the storm. Several bolts stabbed the sea
near the fishing craft. A bolt hit Red Hammer.
    Shagot understood, then, that these mad fishermen had sailed them all to their
deaths.
    His eyes recovered from the glare. He saw the lunatic redhead standing with his
arms upraised, his roaring laughter competing with the thunder. He welcomed the
caress of the storm.
    Shagot finally realized that he was not at the mercy of insane fishermen at all.
He became more frightened than ever he had been, even in the deeps of the night,
far from any friendly shore.
    Walker sensed his shift of being the instant the fear took hold. He turned away
from the storm and looked Shagot directly in the eye.
    Shagot almost cried for his mother.
    Walker was old but not nearly as old as before. He had become someone of
strength and substance. But what pierced Shagot with terror was the fact that
Walker had only one eye.
    Shagot scarcely had a chance to whimper before