Planet of Adventure Omnibus (29 page)

Inquiring as
to accommodations, Reith learned that all first class staterooms were booked as
far as Tusa Tula, and all but one of the ‘tween-decks cabins. There was,
however, unlimited deckclass accommodation, which according to the supercargo
was not uncomfortable except during the equatorial rains. He admitted these to
be frequent.

“Not
satisfactory,” said Reith. “At the minimum we would want four second-class
cabins.”

“Unfortunately
I can’t oblige you unless cancellations come in, which is always possible.”

“Very well; I
am Adam Reith. You may reach me at the Grand Continental Hotel.”

The
supercargo stared at him in surprise. “‘Adam Reith’? You and your group are
already on the passenger list.”

“I’m afraid
not,” said Reith. “We only arrived in Coad this morning.”

“But only an
hour ago, perhaps less, a pair of Yao came aboard, a cavalier and a noblewoman.
They took accommodation in the name of ‘Adam Reith’; the grand suite in the
after-house-that is to say, two staterooms with a private saloon-and deck
passage for three. I requested a deposit; they stated that Adam Reith would
come aboard to pay the passage fee, which is two thousand three hundred sequins.
Are you Adam Reith?”

“I am Adam
Reith, but I plan to pay no two thousand three hundred sequins. So far as I am
concerned, cancel the booking.”

“What sort of
tomfoolery is this?” demanded the supercargo. “I have no inclination for such
frivolity.”

“I have even
less desire to cross the Draschade Ocean in the rain,” said Reith. “If you want
recourse, seek out the Yao.”

“A pointless
exercise,” growled the supercargo. “Well then, so be it. If you will be happy
with something less than luxury, try aboard the
Vargaz
: the cog yonder.
She’s departing in a day or so for Cath, and no doubt can find room for you.”

“Thank you
for your help.” Reith and his companions walked down the dock to the
Vargaz
:
a short high-pooped round-hulled ship with a long bowsprit, sharply aslant. The
two masts supported a pair of lateen yards with sails hanging limp while
crewmen sewed on patches of new canvas.

Reith
inspected the cog dubiously, then shrugged and went aboard. In the shadow of
the after-house two men sat at a table littered with papers, ink-sticks, seals,
ribbons and a jug of wine. The most imposing of these was a burly man, naked
from the waist up, save for a heavy growth of coarse black hair on his chest.
His skin was brown, his features small and hard in a round immobile face. The
other man was thin, almost frail, wearing a loose gown of white and a yellow
vest the color of his skin. A long mustache drooped sadly beside his mouth; he
wore a scimitar at his waist. Ostensibly a pair of sinister ruffians, thought
Reith. “Yes, sir, what do you wish?” asked the burly man.

“Transportation
to Cath in as much comfort as possible,” said Reith.

“Little
enough to ask.” The man heaved himself to his feet. “I will show you what is
available.”

Reith
eventually paid a deposit on two small cabins for Anacho and Ylin-Ylan, a
larger stateroom which he would share with Traz. The quarters were neither
airy, spacious nor over-clean, but Reith thought that they might have been
worse.

“When do you
sail?” he asked the burly man.

“Tomorrow
noon on the flood. By preference, be aboard by midmorning; I run a punctual
ship.”

The three
returned through the crooked streets of Coad to the hotel. Neither the Flower
nor Dordolio were on the premises. Late in the afternoon they returned in a
palanquin, followed by three porters laden with bundles. Dordolio alighted,
helped Ylin-Ylan forth; they entered the hotel followed by the porters and the
chief bearer of the palanquin.

Ylin-Ylan
wore a graceful gown of dark green silk, with a dark blue bodice. A charming
little cap of crystal-frosted net constrained her hair. Seeing Reith she
hesitated, turned to Dordolio and spoke a few words. Dordolio pulled at his
extraordinary gold mustache, sauntered to where Reith sat with Anacho and Traz.

“All is well,”
said Dordolio. “I have taken passage for all aboard the
Yazilissa
, a
ship of excellent reputation.”

“I fear you
have incurred an unnecessary expense,” said Reith politely. “I have made other
arrangements.”

Dordolio
stood back, nonplussed. “But you should have consulted me!”

“I can’t
imagine why,” said Reith.

“On what ship
do you sail?” demanded Dordolio.

“The cog
Vargaz
.”

“The
Vargaz
?
Bah! A floating pigpen. I would not wish to sail on the
Vargaz
.”

“You do not
need to do so, if you are sailing on the
Yazilissa
.”

Dordolio
tugged at his mustache. “The Blue Jade Princess likewise prefers to travel
aboard the
Yazilissa
, the best accommodation available.”

“You are a
bountiful man,” said Reith, “to take luxurious passage for so large a group.”

“In point of
fact, I did only what I could,” admitted Dordolio. “Since you are in charge of
the group’s funds the supercargo will render an account to you.”

“By no means,”
said Reith. “I remind you that I have already taken passage aboard the
Vargaz
.”

Dordolio
hissed petulantly through his teeth. “This is an insufferable situation.”

The porters
and the palanquin carrier drew near, and bowed before Reith. “Permit us to
tender our accounts.”

Reith raised
his eyebrows. Was there no limit to Dordolio’s insouciance? “Of course, why
should you not? Naturally to those who commanded your services.” He rose to his
feet. He went to Ylin-Ylan’s room, knocked on the rattan door. There was the
sound of movement within; she looked forth through a peep lens. The upper panel
of the door slid back a trifle.

Reith asked, “May
I come in?”

“But I’m
dressing.”

“This has
made no difference before.”

The door
opened; Ylin-Ylan stood somewhat sullenly aside. Reith entered. Bundles were
everywhere, some opened to reveal garments and leathers, gauze slippers, embroidered
bodices, filigree headwear. Reith looked around in astonishment. “Your friend
is extravagantly generous.”

The Flower
started to speak, then bit her lips. “These few things are necessities for the
voyage home. I do not care to arrive at Vervodei like a scullery maid.” She
spoke with a haughtiness Reith had never before heard. “They are to be reckoned
as traveling expenses. Please keep an account and my father will settle affairs
to your satisfaction.”

“You put me
in a hard position,” said Reith, “where inevitably I lose my dignity. If I pay,
I’m a lout and a fool; if I don’t, I’m a heartless pinchpenny. It seems that
you might have handled the situation more tactfully.”

“The question
of tact did not arise,” said the Flower. “I desired the articles. I ordered
them to be brought here.”

Reith
grimaced. “I won’t argue the subject. I came to tell you this: I have engaged
passage to Cath aboard the cog
Vargaz
, which leaves tomorrow. It is a
plain simple ship; you will need plain simple garments.”

The Flower stared
at him in puzzlement. “But the Noble Gold and Carnelian took passage aboard the
Yazilissa
!”

“If he
chooses to travel aboard the
Yazilissa
, he of course may do so, if he
can settle for his passage. I have just notified him that I will pay neither
for his palanquin rides, nor his passage to Cath, nor “-Reith gestured toward
the parcels-”for the finery which he evidently urged you to select.”

Ylin-Ylan
flushed angrily. “I had never expected to find you niggardly.”

“The
alternative is worse. Dordolio-”

“That is his
friend name,” said Ylin-Ylan in an undertone. “Best that you use his field
name, or the formal address: Noble Gold and Carnelian.”

“Whatever the
situation, the cog
Vargaz
sails tomorrow. You may be aboard or remain in
Coad as you choose.”

Reith
returned to the foyer. The porters and palanquin carrier had departed. Dordolio
stood on the front veranda. The jeweled ornaments which had buckled his
breeches at the knees were no longer to be seen.

THE COG
VARGAZ
,
broad of beam, with high narrow prow, a cutaway midships, a lofty stern-castle,
wallowed comfortably at its mooring against the dock. Like all else of Tschai,
the cog’s aspects were exaggerated, with every quality dramatized. The curve of
the hull was florid, the bowsprit prodded at the sky, the sails were raffishly
patched.

The Flower of
Cath silently accompanied Reith, Traz and Anacho the Dirdirman aboard the
Vargaz
,
with a porter bringing her luggage on a hand-truck.

Half an hour
later Dordolio appeared on the dock. He appraised the
Vargaz
a moment or
two, then strolled up the gangplank. He spoke briefly with the captain, tossed
a purse upon the table. The captain frowned up sidewise from under bushy black
eyebrows, thinking his own thoughts. He opened the purse, counted the sequins
and found an insufficiency, which he pointed out. Dordolio wearily reached into
his pouch, found the required sum, and the captain jerked his thumb toward the
sterncastle.

Dordolio
pulled at his mustache, raised his eyes toward the sky. He went to the
gangplank, signaled a pair of porters who conveyed aboard his luggage. Then,
with a formal bow toward the Flower of Cath, he went to stand at the far rail,
looking moodily off across the Dwan Zher.

Five other
passengers came aboard: a small fat merchant in a somber gray caftan and tall
cylindrical hat; a man of the Isle of Cloud, with his spouse and two daughters:
fresh fragile girls with pale skins and orange hair.

An hour
before noon the
Vargaz
hoisted sails, cast off lines, and sheered away
from the dock. The roofs of Coad became dark brown prisms laid along the
hillside. The crew trimmed sails, coiled down lines, then unshipped a clumsy
blast-cannon, which they dragged up to the foredeck.

Reith asked
Anacho, “Who do they fear? Pirates?”

“A precaution.
So long as a cannon is seen, pirates keep their distance. We have nothing to
fear; they are seldom seen on the Draschade. A greater hazard is the
victualing. The captain appears a man accustomed to good living, an optimistic
sign.”

The cog moved
easily through the hazy afternoon. The Dawn Zher was calm and showed a pearly
luster. The coastline faded away to the north; there were no ships to be seen.
Sunset came: a wan display of dove-brown and umber, and with it a cool breeze
which sent the water chuckling around the bluff bow.

The evening
meal was simple but palatable: slices of dry spiced meat, a salad of raw
vegetables, insect paste, pickles, soft white wine from a green glass demijohn.
The passengers ate in wary silence; on Tschai strangers were objects of
instinctive suspicion. The captain had no such inhibitions. He ate and drank
with gusto and regaled the company with witticisms, reminiscences of previous
voyages, jocular guesses regarding each passenger’s purpose in making the
voyage: a performance which gradually thawed the atmosphere. Ylin-Ylan ate
little. She appraised the two orange-haired girls and became gloomily aware of
their appealing fragility. Dordolio sat somewhat apart, paying little heed to
the captain’s conversation, but from time to time looking sidewise toward the
two girls and preening his mustache. After the meal he conducted Ylin-Ylan
forward to the bow where they watched phosphorescent sea-eels streaking away
from the oncoming bow. The others sat on benches along the high quarterdeck,
conducting guarded conversations while pink Az and blue Braz rose, one
immediately behind the other, to send a pair of trails across the water.

One by one
the passengers drifted off to their cabins, and presently the ship was left to
the helmsman and the lookout.

Days drifted
past: cool mornings with a pearly smoke clinging to the sea; noons with Carina
4269 burning at the zenith; ale-colored afternoons; quiet nights.

The
Vargaz
touched briefly at two small ports along the coast of Horasin: villages submerged
in the foliage of giant gray-green trees. The
Vargaz
discharged hides
and metal implements, took aboard bales of nuts, lumps of jellied fruit, butts
of a beautiful rose and black timber.

Departing
Horasin the
Vargaz
veered out into the Draschade Ocean, steering dead
east along the equator both to take advantage of the counter-current and to
avoid unfavorable weather patterns to north and south.

Winds were
fickle; the
Vargaz
wallowed lazily across almost imperceptible swells.

The
passengers amused themselves in their various ways. The orange-haired girls
Heizari and Edwe played quoits, and teased Traz until he also joined the game.

Reith
introduced the group to shuffleboard, which was taken up with enthusiasm. Palo
Barba, the father of the girls, declared himself an instructor of
swordsmanship; he and Dordolio fenced an hour or so each day, Dordolio stripped
to the waist, a black ribbon confining his hair. Dordolio performed with
foot-stamping bravura and staccato exclamations. Palo Barba fenced less
flamboyantly, but with great emphasis upon traditional postures. Reith
occasionally watched the two at their bouts, and on one occasion accepted Palo
Barba’s invitation to fence. Reith found the foils somewhat long and
over-flexible, but conducted himself without discredit. He noticed Dordolio
making critical observations to Ylin-Ylan, and later Traz, who had overhead,
informed him that Dordolio had pronounced his technique naive and eccentric.