A Time of Omens - Katharine Kerr [85]
At last, Salamander flung both hands into the air, shook his head, and followed the captain on board. Just as the ship was pulling away from the jetty, the gray gnome appeared, all grins and bows. Jill picked him up again and held him like a child clutching a doll as she watched the ship sail away, heading south on a rising wind, until it disappeared into the opalescent dawn. In the day’s fresh heat, sweat trickled down her back.
“Well, we can hope, at least, that the Elder Brothers found themselves a better island to settle than this one, but somehow or other, I have my doubts.”
The gnome mugged a mournful face, then disappeared.
The ship had sailed some miles down the coast before Marka realized that something was wrong with Salamander. She was standing in the stern of the boat, watching the wake and chatting with the helmsman, when a grim Keeta made her way back through the piles of trunks and boxes.
“Marka, you’d best tend to that husband of yours. He’s up in front.”
When she hurried forward, Keeta followed, but she hovered a respectful distance away, back by the mast. At the prow, Salamander was leaning onto the wale as if he were a lookout, but she could tell that he was staring off toward nothing and seeing nothing as well.
“Ebañy?”
He neither moved nor seemed to hear. For a moment she felt paralyzed by a sudden mad fear, that no words of hers would ever reach him, that if she tried to touch him her hand would pass right through his arm, that never again would he hear when she tried to speak. As if a waking nightmare had dropped over her like a net, the light turned strange, all blue and cold for the briefest of moments. She could not speak, knowing that he would never hear. She caught her breath in a sob, and he spun round, masking his face in a smile.
“Well, we’re under way nice and early, aren’t we?”
The illusion shattered. Ordinary sunlight danced on the sea and fell warm on her skin and hair. Yet, when he went on smiling, she felt as if he’d slapped her, that he would hide his hurt this way.
“I thought something was wrong.”
“Oh, no, no. Just thinking.”
In her sudden misery she could only study his face and wonder if he still loved her.
“Salamander?” Keeta strode forward. “Where’s Jill?”
“Oh, she’s not coming with us. There’s really nothing she wants in these stinking islands, so she’ll be catching a ship back to Orystinna.”
“Really?” Keeta raised one eyebrow.
“Just that.” Ebañy smiled again, easily and smoothly. “She’s got her work to do, you know, and she could see that she’s not going to find any rare books in these rotting little towns.”
“Well, that’s certainly true enough.” Keeta hesitated, on the edge of asking more. “I always wondered why she came out with us in the first place. But do you think she’ll be all right?”
“My dear woman!” Ebañy laughed aloud. “I’ve never known anyone better able to take care of herself than Jill.”
Keeta nodded, considering, then smiled herself.
“Well, that’s most likely true, too. Just wondering. I’m surprised she didn’t say good-bye, but then, she’s not the kind of woman who likes a long drawn-out parting. You can see that.”
Ebañy kept smiling until she wandered off, picking her way through the deck cargo in search of Delya; then he flung himself round and leaned onto the wale again, staring out as if he were struggling not to cry. Marka could think of nothing to do but lean next to him and wait. Ahead the sea stretched out like a road, green-blue and flecked with brown kelp. Gulls darted and shrieked in the rising sun.
“Ah, well,” Ebañy said at last. “Even old friends must part, sooner or later, I suppose.”
“Are you going to miss Jill?”
He nodded a yes, staring off to sea.
“Well, darling.” Marka felt like sobbing in relief, just from finding something to say. “If the show keeps doing so well, maybe we can go to Deverry someday and see her again. If she’s at this Wmmglaedd place, we’ll know where to find her.”
He turned to look at her, and this time his smile was genuine.