[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
changed his mind. "No, I didn't& There's many taverns'd take them as pot girls
or cooks if they had the skill. The Indian could ship as harpooner on any
vessel leaving harbor. There's jobs in some shops for& Oh, so many that it
makes my head spin."
"Why don't you just spin off and bring us some food?" J.B. suggested, as calm
as ever. As menacing as ever.
The supper was baked fish, what Rodriguez called "star-gazers' pie." It had a
thick golden crust with the heads of a dozen mackerels protruding through the
top, eyes open, staring ceilingward. With it came some fried greens and large
potatoes roasted in their skins, with butter oozing over the platters.
They washed it down with bumpers of ale, perhaps the very same they'd seen
being rolled in iron-hooped kegs along the quayside.
The piano was being played by a blind man whose forehead was furrowed by a
huge scar. He picked at the keys with a soft touch, singing slow ballads of
lost love and vanquished honor.
As Rodriguez came across at the end of the meal to oversee the removal of the
greasy dishes and dirty glasses, Ryan caught him by the sleeve of his linen
smock.
"What is it, Mr. Cawdor? The meal not to thy liking?"
"Tell us about Captain Quadde and the
Salvation
. What's so terrible?"
The innkeeper tried for a laugh that got lost somewhere between his throat and
his mouth, coming out like a strangled yelp. "Terrible?" he squawked. "Why
rock the boat asking that sort of question? Won't do thee good, outlander."
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Ja...20Deathlands%20007%20-%20Dectra
%20Chain.html (112 of 276) [12/30/2004 2:00:51 PM]
d12
"Quadde and the
Salvation
," Ryan repeated, tightening his grip.
"Not good to blab 'bout it. Don't want to finish keelhauled or having my
backbone laid bare by the cat. Let thee find someone else to tell thee about
Quadde. Not me."
Ryan looked around the Rising Flukes, seeing that his conversation with
Rodriguez had hushed every voice in the place. Every face was turned to him.
"Well!" he shouted. "Any of you chicken-shit bastards tell an outlander about
the fireblasted mystery of the
Salvation and her captain?"
Faces were averted, eyes downcast.
"Let it lie, mister," the landlord whispered. "There's a couple of men of her
crew here."
Ryan stood up, feeling the familiar rise of anger, the crimson mist that
flowed down over his brain when the rage took him. For most of his adult years
Page 60
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
he'd been able to control it. Most of the time. But now it was swelling again.
"Rodriguez says some of you are off the
Salvation
. So, what's so fucking frightening about her?"
"Outlander?"
"At last." Ryan turned to face the man who'd spoken. He was sitting in front
of a half-finished plate of mutton stew at the long table nearest to the
silent piano. "I'm second mate on the
Salvation
. Been that for five years now."
He was a little taller than average height, with a smaller beard than was
usual about the ville. Several scars lined his weather-beaten face, one of
them pulling down the corner of his left eye. The middle finger was missing
from his left hand.
He wore the jumper and breeches that most of the sailors favored. There was a
dirk in his belt with a hilt that looked as if it had been carved from a piece
of bone or ivory.
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Ja...20Deathlands%20007%20-%20Dectra
%20Chain.html (113 of 276) [12/30/2004 2:00:51 PM]
d12
"Then you can tell me why everyone shits themselves at the mention of your
ship and your captain."
"Best keep thy prow out of waters that don't concern thee."
Ryan spit on the floor, shrugging off Krysty's warning hand, knowing with a
surge of strange excitement that he wasn't going to be cautious. Not this
time. This time he was going to see the quarrel through. Even if it meant
pushing it all the way himself.
"You scared to tell?"
The man stood at that, pushing away the table, hands resting on his hips in a
gesture that was provocative and also kept his right hand near the knife hilt.
"Scared, outlander? Jonas Clegg fears neither man nor beast. There isn't the
man born of woman or the whale broaching from the deepest waters that scares
Jonas
Clegg."
"I say you're a liar. I say you're a liar, Clegg, and a white-gutted coward!"
The mate smiled at that, gesturing to the three men with him to step away. The
rest of the customers of the Rising Flukes also got up from their tables,
backing off to ring the walls. Rodriguez shrugged his shoulders and retreated
behind the bar.
"Come on, lover," Krysty urged quietly.
Ryan glanced at her and she took a sudden, indrawn breath. She knew Ryan was a
killer. That was his trade. But rarely had she seen his face glowing with the
thrill of an imminent fight.
"Got to be, lover," he replied softly. "Had enough of this place. Polite on
the surface and something stinking rotten underneath. Time to get that out
here in the open."
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Ja...20Deathlands%20007%20-%20Dectra
%20Chain.html (114 of 276) [12/30/2004 2:00:51 PM]
d12
"Careful, Ryan."
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]