Alan Dean Foster Icerigger 1

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

"No. Wait ... yes. It's about four hundred kilometers due east of Brass
Monkey."
"Correct. Sight-seeing trips are run from the settlement."
"I may be dense, but I don't see the import yet."
"The wind here blows almost continually from the west," said Williams with
carefully controlled excitement. " Maimee-vyn says that on very windy days
great clouds of black smoke and ash descend on the earth. They darken the land
and make the crops bitter. The smoke and ash come always from the same
southwesterly direction. No one from Sofold has ever been there, but
occasionally a trading ship will arrive that has passed near. Its a great
burning mountain. The Trannish name means
`The-Place-'here-The-Earth's-Blood--Burns.' "
"Damn! I see what you mean. Reach the volcano and from there to Brass Monkey
is easy. Southwest and then we're warm again!"
"There could be variations in the smoke pattern," cau-tioned Williams. "But
the wizard was quite
file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20...20Dean%20-%20Icerigger%201%20
-%20Icerigger.txt (70 of 179) [1/16/03 7:07:11 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Alan%20Dean%20Foster/Foster,%20Alan%20Dean%20-%20Icerigger%201%
20-%20Icerigger.txt insistent about it always coming from the same direction.
Most of the time the wind blows due east, so smoke and soot from many
eruptions would pass far south of here."
Page 72
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Ethan was rubbing mental hands together. "At least we have a direction now for
our raft ... if we can get a raft." Suddenly he found himself beside a chair.
September was whispering in his ear.
"For O'Morion's sake, young feller, sit down!" He tugged at Ethan's jacket.
"Sit down! Want 'em all staring at you?"
Ethan sat. Then he became aware of the Boschian scene he'd been drawn into.
They were seated on the outside of a great table shaped like a long letter
"U." Tran of all sizes and descriptions were seated both inside and outside
the arms of the 'cable. The Landgrave, his daughter, and Eer-Meesach were
sitting at the base of the U, on the outside, facing three empty chairs.
"For the Landgrave's ancestors," explained, September.
Hunnar was-seated across the table from them, on the in-side and several seats
down the U. Ethan noticed that their little group was positioned well down the
arm of the table, close to the
Landgrave. A location of some honor, probably. The richness of silks and furs
was dazzling. Ethan saw nei-ther fashion nor couture, only credit signs with
lots of lovely zero's trailing behind like newborn puppies. The attire of
Sofolds nobility offered every color. Gold, deep blue, and scarlet
predominated.
Great metal and polished wooden platters piled high with smoking meat, baskets
of breads and fruits, and cauldrons of pungent soup filled the tables to
overflowing. Light came from huge, thigh-thick candles set on posts around the
table. He took notice of the controlled war that took the place of
plate-passing and reflected wryly that no one would put candles on the table
for risk of total conflagration over a stuffed olive, or whatever those little
green things were.
In addition, light came from baskets of oil burning in wrought-iron cups set
into the walls. And the great fireplace sported a blaze that would have
violated every fire regula-tion a humanx hotel manager could envision.
His own plate was wide and formed of some coppery ma-terial. He also had a
cloth napkin not quite as big as a two-man tent and a knife more suitable for
a cavalry charge than a dinner.
In spite of some lingering hesitancy over the alien cuisine, his mouth was
beginning to water. At least, between his furs and the fire, it wouldn't
freeze.
Next to him, September was gnawing happily on a meat -laden bone with all the
delicacy and comportment of a fam-ished hyena. He nudged Ethan in the ribs,
gently this time.
"Dig in, young feller. By the Dying Dead Red, these people know how to cook."
"Pardon me if I don't share your enthusiasm. It's my tender unbringing and
respectable charge account holding me back." He turned to his other side.
Williams was nibbling absently on something that looked like a cross between a
carrot and a stick of emergency space protein. Next to him, Walther seemed to
be displaying about the same amount of gusto in downing his meal.
Across the table, Hellespont du Kane was doing his best with a pair of knives
to slice some meat from a small bone for both himself and Colette. The meat
stayed off his clothes. Also off his plate.
Ethan looked around, then reached uptabie for something that resembled corned
beef but could just as easily have been the pickled liver of a pregnant
krokim. Nonetheless, it looked inviting and smelled better. A knife came down
and just missed his fingers. It was wielded by a rangy tran several seats up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Archiwum