Free The Glass Word by Kai Meyer Page B

into a scrap heap without equal and look on while your crew ruins it a little more day by day.”
    Calvino’s face was still hovering a few inches away from hers, as if frozen in space. “The greatest treasure of all you say?” Now his voice sounded softer and more controlled than before.
    â€œCertainly—as long as you don’t care that it’s rotted like an old piece of plank on the shore of some island or other.”
    â€œHmm,” said Calvino. “You think I’m … untidy?”
    â€œI think,” Eft said in a friendly voice, “you are the biggest slob between here and the Arctic Circle, and that in every respect. All the more difficult for me to point out to you your obvious
mistakes!”
    Oh my, oh my, oh my,
Serafin thought.
    Dario sucked in his breath audibly. “Now she’s gone completely crazy,” he whispered to his friend.
    Captain Calvino stared, wide-eyed, at Eft. Histhumbs nervously polished the pommel of his saber, while his thoughts doubtless circled around murder and manslaughter; around fishwife filet; around a paper-weight made of the jaws of a mermaid.
    â€œCaptain?” Eft tilted her head and smiled.
    â€œWhat?” The word rose growling out of his throat like sulfur vapor from a volcano crater.
    â€œI haven’t by any chance offended you, have I?”
    Two sailors whispered to each other, and before the two knew it, Calvino was beside them and barking at them with such a gigantic explosion of epithets that even Serafin and Dario, both former street boys from the alleys of Venice, blushed to the tips of their ears.
    â€œSomeone should write this down,” Dario said out of the side of his mouth.
    Calvino started, and his eyes fell on the boys. For a moment it looked as though he was going to let loose his fury on them, too, but then he swallowed his vituperations and turned again to Eft. Dario let go of his breath.
    The outburst of rage had calmed the captain a little, and he could now look Eft in the face again without stabbing her with his eyes at the same time. “You are … impertinent.”
    Eft was obviously suppressing a grin, which was probably a good thing, for that is not a beautiful sight in a mermaid. “This boat is an unparalleled disgrace, Captain. It stinks, it’s dirty, and it’s neglected. And if I were you—and thanks be to the Lords of the Deep I’m not—I’d makesure that my men brought it into line in a hurry. Every pipe, every picture, every carpet. And then I’d lean back for a moment and enjoy the idea of being one of the richest men in the world.”
    Serafin watched the words seep into Captain Calvino’s consciousness and spread their entire import. One of the richest men in the world. Serafin wondered if Eft knew what she was talking about. On the other hand, you’d have had to be a fool not to recognize what value this submarine had. In times like these it was priceless—if also, and Calvino might overlook that in his greed,
literally
beyond price, for there was no one left who could have bought it.
    But presumably the captain would not have sold his boat for any price in the world anyhow. Much more, it was the knowledge of the value of his vessel, the sudden recognition of his wealth, that roused his enthusiasm. He’d been aboard for too long, and as so often happens when one has something around day after day, he’d forgotten how valuable it was.
    He looked at Eft for a few seconds longer, then whirled on his heel and snarled a series of orders to his subordinates, who immediately began to relay the captain’s wishes to the crew through a speaking tube that reached to the farthest corner of the submarine.
    Clean up, the command was. Clean and dust. Remove rust and polish. And then, Calvino ordered, the art treasures that had collected in one of the lower cargo areas over thecourse of the years should be distributed to the walls and