"Steer!" he snarled.
Terrified, she took hold of the wheel. Yomafin ran forward with the knife in his hand.
Someone clambered over the gunwale down near the bow. Yomafin surged up the deck and sprang on the intruder with an oath.
The two engaged for the briefest moment, and then Yomafin went flying outboard, arcing away from the ship's side to fall below with a heavy splash. Fortunately he fell on the side of the ship hidden from the Red Tops, who right then were studying the Sea Wasp with suspicion as she suddenly unfurled a sail and began to move out into the channel.
Yomafin had barely surfaced, spluttering, when Simona glimpsed another figure dive overboard, knife into the water with hardly a splash, and swim with strong strokes to Yomafin's side. There was a muffled cry, the sound of a blow and then the figure had turned back and was towing Yomafin toward the ship.
Simona swung the wheel hard back the other way, fighting the resistance with all her strength. Sea Wasp responded after a short hesitation, her stern swinging back, cutting the distance to be swum. Simona knew that the water was dangerously cold.
Another splash caught her eye, and a moment later she saw a second swimmer surface beside Yomafin. The two worked together to heave Yomafin's body toward Sea Wasp's side.
Other figures had appeared on the deck all around her. A very large mot dropped in front of her. His face was marred hideously by some violence in the past. Then she realized with a shock that it was a brilby, except it wasn't quite, and she simply stared in confusion. She hadn't seen a brilby since she'd left the Land, and she'd never seen a kob close up.
Now, beside the kob, stood a man, very gaunt in the face. He wore clothes of quality, but torn and dirty. There was something vaguely familiar about him as well, but she could not place it. Perhaps it was the beard.
"Greetings, Mistress Simona," said this fellow. "I am Janbur of the Gsekk."
She put a hand to her mouth in shock.
"Janbur of the Prime?" No wonder. She had seen him many times at Gsekk clan gatherings.
"The same. But now a fugitive."
The "brilby" had left them to join two other mots throwing lines down to those in the water.
"Good gracious," said Simona with the instinctive manners of her class. "I am of the Gsekk as well. My mother was of the Shalba."
"I know, as soon as Thru Gillo told me about you, I knew who you were."
Simona felt a shiver. He meant no insult, she was sure, but she also knew that to him she was the infamous "red mark girl" that eleven men had viewed but none had bid for.
"All that is behind us now. I am simply Simona."
"Yes," he smiled. "And I, Janbur."
Simona saw friendliness in this man's eyes.
"Thank you," she said.
He nodded and turned away. Purdah still exerted its power, and Janbur was struggling with his feelings about a woman like Simona unveiled, wearing trousers, out in the open air.
Ter-Saab and the others had hauled Yomafin onto the deck and laid him out as wet and flat-looking as the fish he dealt from his slab.
The brilby immediately straddled Yomafin and began pumping vigorously on his chest. After a few hard compressions the fish dealer gave an explosive gasp and then began coughing.
Thru Gillo came over the gunwale, followed closely by the other mot. Both crouched down beside the coughing form of Yomafin, curled up, shivering, wet and cold.
"Better find him some blankets. He took chill from the water."
Thru left Yomafin to recover and stepped over to crouch beside Mentu, still lying against the wall of the stern-castle in a daze. After a moment's study he came up the steps to embrace Simona by the wheel. Janbur had taken over the wheel, though, for now all that had to be done was to hold to the course Simona had taken.
"I knew it was you who was steering." He spoke in the tongue of the Land.
"I knew it was you out there swimming," she replied just as if they were alone.
Janbur shivered when she spoke the alien tongue so smoothly. He tried not to think about the sight of a noblewoman embracing a mot like that. Abandoning purdah was one thing, but this hinted at abomination!
"Many men would have left Yomafin to drown."
"I am not a man. And if he had been seen by the Red Tops, it could have caused great difficulties anyway."
For a moment Thru reached up to her face.
"He did this?"
She tried to smile. "I'm all right. Nothing broken, I think."
Janbur coughed. The tenderness in the mot's voice disturbed him. Janbur had learned a little of the tongue of the Land, but not enough to converse like this!
Simona ignored the man.
"And you found your friends!"
"Those that survived, anyway."
Someone was up on the foremast letting down the mainsail.
Sea Wasp had come around into the main channel now and was gathering speed.
Ahead, no more than a mile distant, the estuary opened out into the bay. Behind them the city rumbled to the drums.
Somewhere back there some Red Tops were making inquiries about Sea Wasp, but too late, for she was out of the harbor under sail with a good offshore breeze and a running tide.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
In the end, after some argument, they put Yomafin and his family ashore on the northern tip of Cape Shebba.
The boat scraped onto the sand. Yomafin, his children, and wife got out and splashed up to the beach. A path lead up the ocher cliffs beyond. A dry wind blew off the land. The woman's veils fluttered about her head as she struggled up the sand. Yomafin made no move to help her.
"Yomafin, I am sorry that it has come to this."
"You destroyed my life, friend Mentu."
"But we let you live."
Their eyes met for a moment, then Yomafin looked away to where Sea Wasp rode at anchor.
"And now? You will sail away with the abomination on either side of you?"
"The lady gave you gold, Yomafin. She did not ask for your life. Many would have simply thrown you over the side after what you did."
Yomafin knew this, but his anger still ruled him.
"Abomination, Mentu, you cannot go against nature."
Mentu made no reply, then said, "Where will you go?"
"To Gzia Gi. I have friends there. They will help me. Perhaps I will become a dealer in fine arts. I have always liked that trade."
"A step up from fish anyway."
"Yes. Good-bye, Mentu. I am sorry we fought."
Mentu put a hand up to the bandage tied around his head.
"Good luck, Yomafin. Try not to let the hate corrupt your heart."
"Mentu, you should come with me. You do not belong on that ship of hell with the abomination and its queen."
"We should leave," said Janbur, still in the boat.
"Yes."
Mentu pushed the boat back, and Janbur worked the oars. Mentu sprang in, and they worked it back through the surf to open water.
"Do you think they will be able to hide?"
"Yes," said Mentu. "Yomafin has many friends. And the lady gave him gold enough to see him start a new life."
"She is merciful indeed."
Mentu nodded. "She has learned some of their wisdom."
Both men looked off to the Sea Wasp, now just a hundred yards distant.
"You and I, we have much to learn from them, I think."
After a moment, Mentu chuckled.
"We will have plenty of time to do that."
Table of Contents
MAP OF THE SOUTHERN LANDS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
The Shasht War Page 43