The Druid Queen - Douglas Niles [65]
"As sure as the sunrise," Knaff agreed. "Best to hold steady on a nice, easy course."
Not sharing the young prince's urgency, the old helmsman didn't see any particular problem with their change of course. In fact, he felt that his captain could use a little calming down on that point, and Knaff was the only member of the crew who would dare make even a gentle insinuation along those lines. Even as he reflected, the thickest of the clouds blew past the sun, and bursts of illumination began to break through. Where it struck the water, the sea turned from ominous gray to a dark but powerfully beautiful azure.
"I like the change in the weather, myself!" Tavish announced, coming to the stern to join the two men. "Though you did a nice job of riding it out," she added.
"Those are the squalls that give the Sea of Moonshae its character," Knaff joked. The bard was forced to smile. Weeks earlier, before the rescue of King Kendrick, the old helmsman had been appalled at the thought of a female sailing on his ship. Now he welcomed her with easy grace and humor.
"It had quite enough character for me," she replied. "And personally I think that sunlight does a lot to improve the look of the waves."
"Aye-sparkle like diamonds, they do," Knaff said, resting his elbows on the transom with a sigh. Tavish leaned against the stern beside him, and the two of them watched the wake trail across the rolling blue waters of the strait.
"Well, someone's got to pilot this ship!" grumbled Brandon, annoyed that the two found it so easy to relax.
The prince cursed softly, then stalked through the hull, irritated that Knaff could be so calming when the prince didn't want to be calmed. He didn't want his tension soothed, and he wasn't even certain that his anger was caused by the diversion in their voyage. When he thought about it, he didn't want to be in Gnarhelm now, either.
No. Instead, he wanted to be with Alicia Kendrick.
"Smoke, Captain-off the starboard bow!"
The cry came from a lookout perched near the longship's sweeping figurehead as the Princess of Moonshae rushed along the shore of Gwynneth. With one arm wrapped around the proud and beautiful image carved from dark hardwood, the sailor at the bow shielded his eyes against the bright morning sun and then pointed to shore.
They all saw it then: a thin black plume rising a dozen or more miles away. As they watched, the column seemed to thicken, as if more and more tinder was added to the blaze.
"It's coming from the shore, inside a small bay," the lookout amplified.
"Codscove!" Brandon immediately guessed. There were only a few towns along these remote coasts, and though he had never been there, as a good captain he had learned of every possible haven and landfall in the Moonshae Islands.
"Take her into the bay," he commanded without a moment's hesitation. He was propelled mainly by curiosity, but the volume of smoke in the air indicated that they might have come upon a scene of real trouble.
"Hop to those oars, you laggards!" barked Knaff, wheeling on the rudder to send the ship running in toward the shoreline. The sail still bulged from the wind, but the experienced helmsman knew that the crew would likely have to row once they entered the sheltered bay.
Soon the Princess of Moonshae swept between the out-flung peninsulas that bracketed Codsbay and protected the cozy town along the shore-protected it, at least, from the ravages of impersonal nature.
Now that community was anything but cozy, however, and it was obviously in need of more practical protection. Brandon saw numerous buildings ablaze and struggling figures on the wide commons in the center of the town. Riders dashed back and forth, and hulking attackers loomed beyond. They swiftly drew closer, and more details became apparent. The attackers were large and green-colored, with wiry limbs and beaklike noses, readily identifiable even from half a mile at sea.
"Trolls!" shouted the lookout, for the benefit of his less keen-eyed crewmates.
Once again the men looked to their captain for orders, and again Brandon didn't