The Coral Kingdom - Douglas Niles [63]
Brandon's crew of sixty handpicked northmen included his old mentor, Knaff the Elder, at the helm, and the gigantic Wultha. The group was the minimum needed to man the large longship, but that was all they had room for, since they had brought so many additional passengers on board as well.
Besides Alicia and Robyn, Hanrald, Keane, Tavish, Brigit, and twelve Corwellian longbowmen formed the ship's complement. The latter wielded bows that could shoot twice as far as any northman's bow, and their presence greatly enhanced the ship's defensive punch.
Yet even with nearly eighty voyagers aboard, the Princess of Moonshae seemed uncrowded. The vessel's smooth hull rested in the water, completely at home, rocking only slightly as men took their stations at rowing benches, mast, and helm. Ready hands pushed the bow away from the dock, and a few strokes of the oars brought the elegant prow with its graceful female figurehead around to the gap in the harbor breakwater. The wind remained light, yet it propelled the sleek vessel at an easy glide onto the placid waters of Corwell Firth, where they headed west under full sail, trailing a sharp, clean wake.
For all that afternoon and the first night, the coastlines of the firth slowly separated to the port and starboard. At dawn, the bracketing shores remained visible, but only as faint lines of green and brown along the distant horizon. By midmorning, the firth had widened such that they couldn't see land to either side, though it would be another day before they actually left the protection of Gwynneth's enclosing peninsulas and truly set a course upon the Trackless Sea.
"What heading will you sail, once we pass Moray?" inquired Brigit, as she, Robyn, and Alicia were joined by the captain in the vessel's prow.
"West by north," he said without hesitation. "We'll pass to the north of the Gullrocks and then swing to the west. That's where I've always pictured the elvenhome, anyway. If you know better, tell me now!"
The sister knight shook her head. "Actually, none of us Llewyrr-even Erashanoor!-are terribly clear on exactly where the island lies on an actual map of the Realms. We've always used the Fey-Alamtine rather than mundane transportation to reach the island."
"As to where it is," Robyn announced, "I think I can help us there. The goddess will certainly help me identify the presence of a large land mass before us if we can get anywhere in the vicinity."
"Well, all I can do is sail toward water that every sensible sailor avoids-avoids because that's where Evermeet is supposed to lie!" Brandon announced with forced heartiness.
A feeling of menace remained with Alicia, a dark sense of foreboding that had lingered since before the start of the voyage. It seemed incongruous now as she looked at the smooth water, sparkling in the light of a beaming sun.
Yet the feeling wouldn't go away.
* * * * *
Luge lay awake, trembling, disturbed by some terrifying knowledge within him, knowledge that he didn't grasp or understand, yet somehow knew. The stocky crewman, who had spent the last night of his shore leave in the company of the man called Malawar, had no memory of that encounter.
Now Luge continued to suffer his hangover, thirty-six hours after that portentous evening. He didn't recall the specifics of his own stark terror, but he knew that dark hole in his memory was the cause of his current unease.
In the morning, he had recalled nothing of the experience save for a lingering sense that his sleep had not been pleasant. The discovery of his friend's body had pounded his brain with shock, and since then he had passed through his duties in a haze. Roloff had been a lifelong companion, and his death-which Luge couldn't even remember!-tore at the sailor's conscience like a festering wound.
Nevertheless, it was that experience, a potent spell cast by the mysterious stranger, that now compelled him to stir.