Page 69 (1/2)

Karsa shipped the oars and twisted round in his seat A large, three- down on the dark over the e, ran a dark, straight line The Teblor collected his sword then slowly stood

‘That’s the strangest coast I’ve ever seen,’ Torvald muttered ‘Would that we’d reached it without the coht wall, before which lies so ship ‘It is like those that had been beset by the raiders’

‘So it is, only so’

They could see figures now, crowding the high forecastle Tall, though not as tall as Karsa, and much leaner

‘Not human,’ Torvald muttered ‘Karsa, I do not think they will be friendly Just a feeling, mind you Still…’

‘I have seen one of them before,’ the Teblor replied ‘Half spilled out from the belly of the catfish’

‘That beach is rolling with the waves, Karsa It’s flotsae of an entire world As I suspected, this sea doesn’t belong here’

‘Yet there are ships’

‘Aye,here, either’

Karsa shrugged his indifference to that observation ‘Have you a weapon, Torvald Nom?’

‘A harpoon… and a mallet You will not try to talk first?’

Karsa said nothing The twin banks of oars had lifted from the water and now hovered e ship slid towards the as the ship slowed, then came to a stop

The dory thumped as it made contact with the hull on the port side, just beyond the prow

A rope ladder snaked down, but Karsa, his sword slung over a shoulder, was already clie of handholds He reached the forecastle rail and swung hihtened