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‘It won’t be e reach the cove,’ she told hiet too much chance to exaet me into trouble’ She looked sternly at Khalad ‘And I want you in particular to keep a very tight rein on your curiosity’

‘Me?’

‘Yes, you You’re too practical and too clever by half for h to uesses about the ship You’re a differentat the decks with your knife, and don’t try to sneak off to exas I don’t want to drop by Cimmura someday and find a duplicate of the ship anchored in the river We’ll go down to the cove, board the ship, and go directly below You will not go up on deck until we get to where we’re going A certain part of the ship has been set aside for us, and we’ll all stay there for the duration of the voyage I want your word on that, gentlemen’

Sparhawk could see some differences between Flute and Danae Flute was , and she didn’t seeh the Child Goddess had a definite personality, each of her incarnations seemed to have its own idiosyncrasies

Flute looked up at the slowly darkening sky ‘We’ll wait another hour,’ she decided ‘The crew of the ship has been told to stay away from us Our meals will be put just outside the door, and on’t see the one who puts theood to try to catch her, so don’t even try’

‘Her?’ Ulath exclai to say that there are women in the crew?’

‘They’re all females There aren’t very h to raise and lower the sails,’ he objected

‘These feer than you are, Ulath, and it wouldn’t matter anyway, because the ship doesn’t have sails Please stop asking questions, gentle sound e get under way It’s noran

She held up her hand ‘No more questions, Ulath,’ she told him quite firmly ‘You don’t need to know the answers The ship’s here to take us from one place to another in a hurry That’s all you need to know’

‘That brings us to sooing?’

‘To Jorsan on the west coast of Edoulf leading inland to Jorsan We’ll put ashore at the o inland on horseback Nohy don’t we talk about soh to walk on, and the knights were obliged to blindly follow the ht of the torch Sephrenia held aloft as they rode down a steep bank toward the sound of unseen surf

They reached a sandy beach and groped their way doard the water Then they saw other lights out in the fog – filhts which stretched out for what seehts did not flicker, and they were the wrong color for torchlight

‘Good God!’ Ulath choked ‘No ship could be that big!’

‘Ulath!’ Flute said sharply fro ahead

‘Sorry,’ he e, all they could see was a dark, loo low in the water several yards out, a shape outlined by those unwinking white lights A ramp reached from the ship to the beach, and Ch’iel, Sephrenia’s white palfrey, stepped confidently onto that ramp and clattered across to the ship

There were diures that were all no ely squat and blocky

‘What do we do with the horses?’ Vanion asked as they all dismounted

‘Just leave theo below We can’t start until everybody’s off the deck’

‘The crew stays up here, don’t they?’ Ulath asked her

‘No It’s too dangerous’

They went to a rectangular hatchway in the deck and followed an inclined ra down

‘Stairs would take up less space,’ Khalad said critically

‘The crew couldn’t use stairs, Khalad,’ Flute told his’

He stared at her in horror

‘I told you that they’re not hued

The companionway they reached at the bottohts had to half stoop as they followed the Child Goddess aft The area below decks was illuht recessed into the ceiling and covered over by what appeared to be glass The light was steady, unwinking, and it definitely did not come frouide led them were more conventionally illuh for the tall knights to stand erect No sooner had Ulath closed the heavy door to as in effect to be their prison for the next five days than a low-pitched huan to vibrate in the deck beneath their feet, and they could feel the bow of the strange vessel start to swing ponderously about to point at the open sea Then the ship surged forward

‘What’sit move?’ Kalten asked ‘There’s no wind’

‘Kalten!’ Aphrael said sharply

‘Sorry,’ he mumbled

‘There are four compartments here,’ she told them ‘We’ll eat in this one, and we can spread out and sleep in the other three Put away your belongings, gentle to happen for five days’

Sparhawk and Kalten went into one of the cabins, taking Talen with thes as well as his own

‘What’s your brother up to?’ Sparhawk asked the boy suspiciously

‘He wants to look around a bit,’ Talen replied

‘Aphrael told hiered a bit as the ship gave another forward surge The hu sound climbed to a whine, and the ship see to his feet

Kalten threw his saddle-bags onto one of the bunks and sat down beside therumbled

‘You aren’t supposed to,’ Sparhawk replied

‘I wonder if they’ve got anything to drink aboard I could definitely use a drink about now’

‘I wouldn’t get h, and I’ brewed by nonhus to you’

Khalad came into the tiny coentle faster than a horse can run’

‘How do you know that?’ Talen asked hi over openings that are sort of like portholes – they’ve got glass over the all around us, but I could see the water We passed a floating log, and it went by like a crossbow bolt There’s so else, too The hull curves back under us, and it isn’t touching the water at all’

‘We’re flying?’ Kalten asked incredulously