The Wanderers of the Water-Realm (58 page)

“Lady,” he answered. “We are now only ten darkenings away from Deva, the Imperial capital. What you are now seeing, are the estates of the great families, who, for centuries have served in the court of the First Tribune.”

He pointed towards one of the great fields to where a gang of about fifty men were harvesting some type of leaf vegetable.

“Those are a few of the slaves of the Legate Gius Quintillius and it is said that his estate provides much of the wealth that he squanders upon pleasure-girls in the dens of the capital.”

Once again, he gesticulated towards the group of labouring slaves. “You can be sure those poor creatures don’t lead easy lives!”

The young wisewoman nodded and then she remembered something about the ancient Roman Empire that she had learned in the course of her limited education in Elfencot.

“Tell me Poldaar. Does the Rom have arenas where men and animals are killed for the amusement of the populace?”

The overseer paused for a moment before answering.

“Not any more, lady, such spectacles were staged here many long centuries ago, but it is said that the Dark Priests objected to such a pointless waste of human life and forced the First Tribune of the day to declare the practice illegal.”

Poldaar’s voice fell to a whisper.

“But it is widely rumoured that some members of the nobility still carry out this bloodthirsty practice in the deepest secrecy!”

The overseer turned his back upon the young witch. “Your brother was correct in keeping to the river.” He said finally. “Keeping clear of the Imperialists is far the best policy.”

The following evening, the narrowboat anchored safely off-shore and Darryl ordered his two fellow wanderers, together with Poldaar and the navigator, to assemble in the vessels tiny cabin.

“In eight darkinings from now,” He began. “We shall reach the outskirts of Deva, the capital of the Kaa-Rom Empire. The passage is not without hazard, for Poldaar tells me the river is crowded with shipping at this point, and that Imperial cutters skim about like a swarm of water fleas, and trading vessels are often detained for months at a time without any reason being given. We do not wish to suffer any such inconvenience and our friend has devised a way of avoiding this, he will now speak!” The overseer stood up and almost banged his head upon the low roof of the cabin.

“There are two maintenance depots in the vicinity of Deva.” He said. “One lies on the western bank of the river and close to the northern outskirts of the city, whilst the other is again situated on the western shore, about half a day’s sailing beyond the southern-most environs of the capital.”

He paused.

“My plan is to anchor overnight at the northern depot, then cast of at first light and run past the city, keeping well to the centre of the river to avoid any prying government cutters. As darkness draws near, we can either put into a quiet wharf for the night or hope that the Imperial officials overlook us, or take the risk of running onwards to the nearby southern depot providing the night is reasonably clear and boat traffic on the river is fairly light. That is my best suggestion!” He said, before regaining his seat.

Darryl ran his eyes over the little gathering.

“I have considered Poldaar’s plan and it seems to give us our best chance of getting clear of this dammed city without trouble, but if anyone here has a better suggestion, then let’s hear it?”

The cabin remained silent.

“Very well!” The boatmaster said with an air of finality. “The overseer’s plan is accepted, now let’s all get some sleep whilst we have the chance.”

Precisely eight darkenings later, just as Poldaar had predicted, the ‘Bonny Barbara’ docked at the Dark Priest’s maintenance depot lying on the northern outskirts of the Imperial capital. Darkness was already falling fast and Darryl ordered the crew to eat a hearty meal and to gain as much rest as possible within the warmth of their sleeping robes, for the overseer had told him the narrowboat must cast off a good hour before dawn, thus enabling it to take up station near the centre of the river before the fast flowing current carried his vessel abreast of the city proper. The crew immediately did as they where bidden, but the extremely anxious boatmaster moved about his craft for a while longer, checking upon the serviceability of the rudder and the other gear so vital upon the morrow. Finally, exhaustion overcame him and he was also forced to seek the comfort of his bunk.

One of the depot guards awoke the ‘Bonny Barbara’s’crew at the prescribed hour and the narrowboat was soon nosing its way out into the dark waters of the Life River.

Darryl stood at the tiller with the sailing master at his side both ready to respond instantly to the directions that Poldaar yelled back at them, from his perch high in the bows of the vessel.

The red Water-Realm dawn found the ‘Bonny Barbara’ close to the centre of the river and being carried along by the current at an extremely fast rate. The light strengthened and as the travellers gazed over the water, they were instantly struck by the sight meeting their eyes.

Well clear of a jumble of suburban dwellings, stood the outer defensive walls of the City of Deva.True, they were not as high as the mighty cyclopean walls of Calar, yet they followed the line of the Life River for as far as the eye could see and there was little doubt that the long snaking rampart protected a huge city with a teeming populace. Beyond the walls, the travellers could make out rank upon rank of houses, palaces and temples that seemed to continue forever into the far distance. The narrowboat’s crew, however, had little time to admire the view, for this portion of the river was alive with a veritable swarm of shipping and they had to keep a sharp lookout in order to avoid running down some luckless trading boat.

Government cutters scurried about like sheep dogs marshalling their charges on the planet Earth and they did not appear to have any interest in the narrowboat, all save a single large galley with an eye painted upon its prow. The craft advanced until it lay only a stone’s throw away from the narrowboat’s stern and Darryl immediately drew a leather bag filled with copper discs from beneath his jerkin and he was preparing throw the bribe onto the deck of the following vessel, when Poldaar grasped his wrist.

“Yonder vessel belongs to one of the military cohorts policing the streets of the capital and it would be extremely dangerous to try bribing any of their officers. The witch and I have already considered the possibility of this situation arising and it would be advantageous if you were to summon her without further delay.”

Darryl turned and was about to call out his sisters name, when the young wisewoman joined him in the stern and every member of the crew gasped in awe at the witch’s appearance.

Her red hair was combed out into long tresses that fell down her back in a crimson cascade, whilst the clean classical lines of her face had been carefully accentuated by the skilful application of a make-up brush. In addition, the intricately patterned ritual shift of a priestess of the healing God ‘Dumtek’ clung to her like a second skin showing off her lithe figure to perfection.

“State the nature of your business,” shouted an armoured and helmeted figure in the bows of the police galley.

“We are a transport craft chartered to the service of the Dark Priests!”

Poldaar called in reply. “We carry materials for their maintenance depots and are also charged with delivering this healer to the house of a member of the nobility who dwells close to the Southern Sea. And whose son and heir is dangerously sick!”

“Your vessel is of strange design,” the armoured policeman shouted back. “And at least two of your number appear to be white-skinned northlander’s. It is therefore my duty to conduct your craft to the police dockyard for further examination!”

Myra took a single step forward and simultaneously transmitted a wave of sympathetic mental energy in the direction of the armoured figure in the bows.

“Look at me well, officer of the guard!” She called, in a loud but carefully controlled voice. “Do I resemble a bloodthirsty river pirate, or am I a healer going about her business? I fervently entreat you to allow me to continue with my mission of mercy, or do you wish to be answerable to the First Tribune if I am too late to save the poor young nobleman’s life?”

The official stood still for a moment in thought and then he shouted out an order to the galley’s helmsman, moments later, the craft sheered away in the direction to the city, much to the relief of all aboard the ‘Bonny Barbara.’

For the remainder of the morning the current continued to carry the narrowboat past the enormous Imperial city. However, by mid-afternoon, the craft had left the capital’s long defensive walls astern and dusk found the narrowboat clear of the southern suburbs and navigating through open countryside.

Darryl had spent most of the day at the tiller, and, as the light of the five suns began to fade, he handed the helm over to the giant boat hand and joined Wilakin and the dour overseer in the bows of the narrowboat.

“What shall it be?” The sailing master enquired. “Shall we select a quiet wharf or some other secluded spot to spend the night, or do we continue to advance throughout the hours of darkness?”

“A hard decision to make,” Poldaar remarked as he carefully scanned the river. “But the traffic on this portion of the waterway appears to be very sparse and few vessels of any size seem to be heading in a southerly direction. My advice is to steer towards the western shore, to where the current is the slackest and push on throughout the night until we reach the next maintenance depot.”

Darryl also looked out across the river and he noted that a pair of small timber carriers appeared to be the only other craft currently heading south.

“Very well!” He declared. “We shall do as you say overseer, but we shall keep torches burning in the bows to aid our vision and every single member of the crew will stand watch throughout this night. There will be plenty of time for us to rest once we reach the shelter of the priest’s maintenance depot. Now let us get those torches in position for darkness will soon be upon us and we don’t want to be running blind!”

Night found the narrowboat being carried along by the flowing waters of the Life River, with every member of the crew peering unceasingly into the darkness aided by the flickering beams of light cast by the torches set high in the bows.

Darryl stood at the tiller with his twin sister constantly at his side and both of them waited in anticipation for the dark hours to pass and for the red light of the Water-Realm dawn to once again illuminate the river.

Sometime, in the middle hours, the boatmaster felt the young witch’s hand tighten upon his arm. “My inner-eye warns me that danger lies ahead.” She whispered. “We had best find shelter!”

But Darryl replied with a grim laugh.

“Would that we could, lass, but we have no hope of finding a safe anchorage in this pitch darkness, all we can do is to continue as we are and hope that fortune favours us.”

It was Wilakin, standing in the bows, who had the first inkling of the impending disaster and he shouted desperately for the helm to be put hard over at the very second he spotted the dark hull of a towing galley entering the pool of light cast by the flickering torches. The vessel ahead of them was crossing close to their bows with a light passenger barge in tow and there was absolutely no means by which the crew of the ‘Bonny Barbara’ could prevent their craft from ramming the second vessel.