Dragons of Summer Tide (The Dragons of Hwandor) (35 page)

The captain nodded and said. “I’m sure the boy would like that a lot, especially since his master died. He has two different kinds of harp in there so there will one for each of them. One thing though; he will stay mostly in the cabin during the day. Something in the fever made it so that he doesn’t tan from the sun like the rest of us; he burns easy and likes to stay in the shade or the dark.”

Talyat nodded a slight bow to the Captain and started toward the cabin.

Shira said. “One of the little dragons is like that and likes the shade and the dark also. It is one of the ones that still look like a puppy most of the time.” She looked around the deck but didn’t see the dragonet anywhere. Then they heard the harp music stop and the sound of a giggle coming from inside the cabin. “I think that the ‘puppy’ has already found some shade.”

“Uncle,” called the child’s voice from inside the cabin. “You didn’t say there was a puppy.”

The Captain gave a worried glance toward the cabin to which Myalnar responded. “The child will be quite safe with the dragonet.”

Captain Tarian called out to the boy in the cabin. “Yes there are puppies and there is another harper who is going to come in and talk to you.”

“A harper?” Asked the boy as he appeared in the doorway of the cabin with an eager look on his face. Talyat reached the cabin and introduced himself to the boy and soon the two of them were inside the cabin and two distinct harp sounds could be heard blending.

The Captain looked at the son who had finished pulling benches out and simply glanced up and then back toward the opening. Dalnt sighed and dropped back down to the deck and began pulling poles up from below. Veer started to help the sailor and the two of them went about setting up the canopy over the deck just behind the cabin.

Soon the canopy was up and the benches had been arranged under it so that everyone would be able to sit in the shade. Shortly after that Talyat and the child Devron were both sitting in the shade of the canopy, each astride a bench with a small harp, playing and discussing harp techniques.

By this time the smaller boat coming up from behind was easily in sight for everyone and the young sailor at the rudder oar called to his father. “Da” As the older sailor looked back to see what his son wanted the younger man just nodded his head back toward the approaching faster boat. The smaller boat was steadily gaining on the larger boat and was pulling toward the side of the river out of the central channel in order to pass the slower boat. The captain looked at the approaching boat with some consternation.

Cyerant noticed the looks on the faces of the two river sailors and asked. “Is something amiss with that boat captain?”

“A few things actually.” Answered Tarian. “First things is that it should be moving faster than it is. With that many men at the oars it should have already caught us – unless the men are new to rowing and have not quite got the gist of it. The second thing is that they don’t know the river. They will be passing us just as we go into a right hand bend up ahead. But they have pulled out to the left and are going to pass us on the port side which means they are taking the longest arc through the bend and the current will try to push them to the far bank. If they knew the river they would pass us on the starboard side which is shorter and the current will push them right back into the centre of the river. That’s why my son has been steering us toward the right so we can slide through with the current instead get pushed to the bank. As it stands now, them in that boat are going to have to fight the river to get around that bend.”

Myalnar said. “I think that they bear watching but only as if they are acting perfectly naturally so they don’t know that we are watching.”

Cyerant and the Captain both nodded thoughtfully. “That, they do,” said Captain Tarian.

As the smaller boat pulled along even with the Gardenia both boats entered the bend and the smaller boat seemed to slow as it started to be pulled toward the outside of the bend and nearer to the east bank. By the time the Gardenia was pulling out of the bend and being gently pushed back into the centre of the river the smaller boat had actually fallen behind.

The Captain spoke quietly to the companions. “That was a study in how to do everything wrong. It’s a custom that when you are passing a slower boat you call out to them which side you are passing them on. They didn’t call out any sort of greeting or warning. The man in the back at the tiller is sitting down, no experienced helmsman sits – he wants to be able to see as far down river as he can so he stands. Those men are tired now because they just fought the river all the way around instead of letting her push them around like we did. We just rode the current around and they have oars and the current so they should be long passed us by now.”

“And they row like monkeys.” Dalnt added.

The Captain nodded to his son and agreed. “Yes, they row like monkeys. I’d say that no man in that boat has ever ridden water.”

The next time as the smaller boat tried and succeeded in passing the larger boat the boats were closer together and the dragons seemed to become upset. The dragons had been having an after meal nap scattered across the deck in the sun. But as the passing boat got a little closer than it should the dragons all came wake and started to watch the boat warily. Drace got up and walked over to the rail of the boat and began to give a low quiet growl rumbling in his chest. Green Eyes began to fly around up above the mast shrieking and hissing.

“They feel the ropes in that boat.” Shira said.

“With my long bow, I can get ‘em all.” Veer said.

“No, we wait,” Cyerant said. “I want to know more about what the have planned first.”

Myalnar looked appraisingly at the young baron and nodded.

Myalnar walked over to where Talyat and Devron sat and listened for a few minutes and then asked. “How is the harping progressing?”

Talyat looked up and said. “Very well, Devron learns very quickly and already has several variations on that tune that we heard earlier.”

“Talyat knows so much about harp,” the boy said excitedly.

“Yes, that Talyat does,” Myalnar agreed.

Talyat spoke with a hint of excitement in his voice. “Devron has a harp like the harps that our people make. It is strung with wire and gives the same sound that we use. But there is another harp that the humans have designed which has a thinner sounding board and which is strung with dried gut. It gives a softer and rounder tone. We have nothing like it back in the Valleys. I would not have thought that they would have developed something like this.”

Myalnar looked at Talyat for a moment. “It sounds as if there are a few surprises to be found among the humans.”

“Indeed. I was even surprised to find that they tune to the same note of the same birdsong that we use. This means that if they have some of the same tunes and if their harps match ours for tuning then they have had the harp for at least a thousand years.” Talyat was speaking excitedly when he realized the subtlety of what Myalnar had said and he paused for a moment and nodded and in a softer more thoughtful tone said. “Indeed”

Shira, having overheard the discussion asked. “Talyat why would one tune to the song of a bird?”

Talyat brightened a bit and carried on with the subject. “You see, for over a thousand years all elven and, it would appear, human harps have used the same fundamental tuning. This means that a tune played on a harp of a thousand years ago sounds the same as it does being played on a harp of today. It also means that no matter where you travel, your harp will always have that same basic tuning. This is accomplished by knowing which birds to listen to. Certain birds will sing exactly the same song as all other birds of that variety. So no matter when and where you are you can set your tuning to those birds and it will be the same as all other harps everywhere.”

As Talyat was explaining this the child harper was quietly playing. The music of the harp seemed to have a calming effect on the dragons who had now returned to napping scattered in various places on the deck. Even Green Eyes who was sitting up on the mast seemed almost peaceful as she listened to the notes coming from the strings.

Jolss was lying on his stomach on one of the benches in the shade of the canopy reading one of his magic books. Prin was curled up napping on the boy’s back. The Gardenia was drifting along on the current being directed from the rear by one of the twins Dalnt, who was using the rudder oar. The mid-morning felt peaceful as the boat speed along with the current.

“Captain,” called an elven voice from the back of the boat. “Perhaps you should see this.”

Captain Tarian quickly walked toward the back of the boat and in moments was standing at the railing next to Pelinar. Soon Tarian and Pelinar were joined by Cyerant and Myalnar.

Pelinar spoke. “Coming out of that last bend in the river, just now. There are three boats like the one which passed us earlier. At first they were gaining on us but they are now just holding their distance and pacing us. They remain far enough back that human eyes can barely see. But that kind of boat should be faster than us and so should be gaining and overtaking us as the last one did.”

“What else can you see about them?” Asked Captain Tarian.

“As you said, they row like monkeys.” The elf responded.

Myalnar spoke. “I think that we should leave Pelinar to observe and that we three should move away from the back of the boat so that perhaps they will not realize that we have noticed them. They are quite some distance away and may not be able to see us clearly with human eyes.”

Myalnar, Cyerant and Captain Tarian moved to a bench under the canopy to speak.

Myalnar spoke. “We will need to keep our eyes open and our wits about us. They will try to take us at some point.”

“I imagine that they will try soon,” Captain Tarian said. “There will only be more and more river traffic as we go farther south.”

“Shira,” Cyerant called. “We need to know what that boat that passed us is doing and what the three boats behind us are doing.”

Shira looked out over the stern of the boat and could see boats holding back in the distance. As she did this Cyool was already in the air with her wings beating a steady rhythm against the air and driving the young dragon into a steep climb as she quickly gained altitude.”

Cyerant said. “Remember that they have that tea which allows them to see through the magic of the dragons.”

Green Eyes leaped from her perch on the mast and with a loud shriek threw herself into flight behind the larger dragon. Soon the two dragons were flying so high that Green Eyes was no longer seen and Cyool had become a speck that could not be distinguished from a high flying bird.

Shira waited as Cyool flew in a large circle back over the boats that were following. “The three boats behind us are just drifting along in the current. They all have a dozen men at the oars and another man standing near the back.”

Cyool then pulled out of the slow circle and headed toward the south along the river ahead of the Gardenia. Soon the dragon had spotted the boat that had passed them earlier that morning. For a moment Shira could see through the dragon’s eyes. “They have stopped up ahead around the next bend and their boat is at the shore on the right side of the river. The men are just sitting in it like they are waiting for something. Just beyond where they have stopped the river narrows some.”

“Ah, they want to try us before the river speeds up,” said Captain Tarian. If we can get into the faster water it will make their job a bit harder. But the river only stays narrow for about an hour then it spreads back out and slows down again. We will be rounding that bend in about half an hour.”

Cyerant turned to his little brother and said. “Daralce, I want you to wait near the cabin. You can throw one of your spells but then I want you to go inside the cabin to recover. And make sure that you do not overtax yourself.”

“I have better control now,” said Jolss. I know what is safe for me now.” With this the young mage moved over toward the cabin to wait.

“Devron,” Captain Tarian said. “I want you to go inside the cabin and wait there until we tell you that it is safe.

Captain Tarian moved to the back of the boat and took the rudder oar in hand himself. The twin sailors set about readying the boat. Cralnar began to take down the canopy and stow the flammable cloth away below decks. Meanwhile Dalnt opened another hatch and took a dozen wooden buckets out from below. Soon the buckets were filled with river water and positioned around the deck so that they would be ready should they be needed to put out any fires. Then a few buckets of coarse, dry sand were pulled out and used to sand the decks so that water or blood could not make the deck too slippery. Then a bill hook was placed near the bow. Lastly, the benches on the deck were pushed against the railings to provide an extra obstacle and make it more difficult to get on board the Gardenia.

Veer, Shira, Cyerant and the three elves all strung their bows and checked their knives and swords to loosen everything and make sure all was in place.

Once the boat was prepared the sailors prepared themselves. The Captain untied a spare oar from the aft railing and placed it on the deck next to his feet.

Dalnt picked up a large oar and began to move it around loosening his shoulders and getting the feel of the tool turned weapon.  He noticed Veer looking at him quizzically and he asked. “What do you think that a boatman fights with?”