Practice is the best teacher.
—Publilius Syrus
As they rode down the shallow slope toward Ehvenor, the freshwater sea called the Cirric lay below them and ahead of them, rippling off across the horizon. Off in the distance, Karl could see the rainbow sails of a wide-beamed sloop, tacking in toward the harbor.
Ten, perhaps twelve, small ships huddled around Ehvenor's docks, as seamen bustled like ants to load and unload their cargo. Just harborside of the breakwater, three large ships lay at anchor, attended by half a dozen small launches that swarmed around them like pilotfish around a shark.
The low stone buildings of Ehvenor cupped the harbor, flat and ugly. The streets were narrow, crooked, and strewn with refuse; the town of Ehvenor looked like one large slum.
There was only one exception: A cylindrical building, seemingly three or four stories high, stood in the center of town like a rose on a pile of dung. It shone whitely.
Karl rubbed his eyes. It was hard to make out the details of that building; the edges and details fuzzed in his eyes, as though he couldn't focus on it.
"Ahira?"
The dwarf shook his head. "It doesn't seem to suit my eyes, either."
"You think that's the Faerie holding, or embassy, or whatever they call it?"
The dwarf snorted; the snort was immediately echoed by his pony. "Not likely to be anything else; I doubt the locals build out of mist and light."
Karl nodded. "I'd like to know how they do that."
"Ever hear of magic?" Ahira fell silent.
After a reflexive check to see that the others, riding behind him, were doing fine, Karl patted at Carrot's neck. "I wonder how you're going to take to being on a ship."
Did horses get seasick?
And how about the others? Chak, Tennetty, and Rahff had never been on a boat before. Fialt wouldn't be a problem; he was a Salke, and apparently everyone in Salket spent a good deal of time at sea. Ahira wouldn't be a problem, fortunately. A vomiting dwarf wouldn't be any fun to be around. And Aeia was a Mel; according to Chak, everyone in Melawei was practically conceived at sea.
Well, at worst, we're going to have four upchuckers among us. Probably including me.
Karl rubbed at his belly. Maybe this time will be different. God, please let this time be different. His only other time at sea had been on the Ganness' Pride. The trip from Lundeyll to Pandathaway on the Pride was not one of Karl's fondest memories; he had spent the first few minutes throwing up his breakfast, the next couple of hours vomiting up food he didn't even remember swallowing, and most of the rest of the trip with the dry heaves.
Ahira chuckled.
"What is it?" Karl looked down at the dwarf. "You think seasickness is funny?"
The dwarf shook his head. "No. I wasn't thinking about seasickness at all."
"Oh. So it's my nervousness about going on a boat again that's funny?"
Ahira scowled. "Your nervousness? Karl, you don't know what nervousness about being on a boat is."
That was strange. Ahira hadn't shown a trace of nausea while they'd been aboard the Ganness' Pride. "Iron-guts Ahira, that's what we'll have to call you. You hid your seasickness well."
"No, I wasn't seasick. There are other problems than seasickness," the dwarf said, scowling. "Think it through, Karl."
"Well?"
"How much do you weigh?"
"Huh?" What did that have to do with anything?
"A simple question, actually. How much do you weigh?"
"Mmm, about two-twenty or so, on This Side. Back home, about—"
"How much do I weigh?"
"About the same, I'd guess." A dwarf was built differently than a human. Ahira's body wasn't just shorter and disproportionately wider than Karl's; his muscles and bones were more dense.
More dense. "Oh. I hadn't thought about that." A human's body was, overall, less dense than water. But the dwarf . . . "If you fell overboard, you'd sink like a stone, chainmail vest or no."
"Exactly. I could easily drown in five, six feet of water. A bit more serious than a spot of projectile vomiting, no?"
"But what was so funny about that?"
Ahira smiled. "You were the one thinking about boats. I was thinking about towns."
"Well?"
"Think about it. What was the first town we ever dealt with on This Side?"
"Lundeyll. We just barely got out of there with our lives." Not all of them had gotten out alive. Jason Parker had died in Lundeyll, spending the last few moments of his life kicking on the end of a spear. Someday, if I can find the time, I think I'll look up Lordling Lund and feed him his fingers, one joint at a time.
"Exactly. We left Lundeyll just about ten seconds ahead of the posse. The next town was Pandathaway. We got out of there a couple days before Ohlmin left, chasing us. We didn't spend any time worth talking about in a town until you and Walter went into Metreyll. And look at the time frame there: From the time you killed Lord Mehlên's armsmen until Metreyll found out must have been . . . at least a week, maybe a tenday." The dwarf held out a stubby finger. "One: ten seconds." Another finger. "Two: three days." A third finger. "Three: a full week." Ahira shot a glance at Karl. "Now, think about Bieme, and Furnael. For once, we left a town without anybody after us, even though the Baron wasn't pleased about your turning down that job. I was a bit nervous about that for a couple of weeks, but now that we're almost in Ehvenor, it's clear that he's not coming after us."
"So?" Karl didn't see the point of it all.
"So, it seems to me it's sort of a progression; looks like we're learning to get along better and better with the locals. If this keeps up, eventually we might even make friends somewhere, be invited to stay. If this keeps up . . ."
"Well?"
"Well, yonder—I'm starting to like saying yonder—lies Ehvenor. All we have to do there, all we want to do there, is book passage to Melawei."
"Do you always have to belabor the obvious before you ask me a favor?" Karl couldn't help returning Ahira's smile. "Try just asking."
"Fair enough: While we're in Ehvenor, try to avoid sticking any locals through the gizzard."
Karl shuddered. You're talking as though I like bloodshed. He opened his mouth to protest, then closed it. Keep it light, just keep it light. "That's asking a lot. What'll you do for me?"
Ahira thought about it for a minute. "Ever hear of positive and negative reinforcement?"
"Of course. Used to be a psych major."
"Good. Let's use both. Negative reinforcement: If you get us into trouble here, I'll bash you with my axe."
"And the positive reinforcement?"
"If we do get out of Ehvenor without any bloodshed, I'll give you a lollipop. Fair enough?"
"Fair enough." Karl chuckled a moment, then sobered.
Even though it was hidden by the banter, Ahira was serious.
And he had a point. If they ran into slavers in Ehvenor, the city wasn't the place to take them on. The locals wouldn't like it; Karl had no illusions about his group's ability to take on a slaver team and a large detachment of local armsmen.
Though the group was shaping up nicely, come to think of it.
Tennetty was getting better and better with a sword. She didn't have the upper-body strength to parry more than a few solid thrusts without tiring, but she did have an almost instinctive feel for the weak points in an opponent's defenses.
Rahff was coming along well, although he didn't seem to have Tennetty's natural bent for swordplay. The boy had to work at it. But he did work hard. A good kid, although the way Rahff hung on Karl's every word was quickly getting old.
Fialt's swordsmanship was still lousy, but his hand-to-hand skills had come a long way, and he had developed a nice feel for both manriki-gusari and staff.
Chak was a good man. Not a fancy swordsman, but a reliable one. With Chak on watch, Karl could sleep peacefully; with Chak bringing up the rear of the group, Karl could concentrate on what lay ahead, with only an occasioned glance behind. Chak was . . . solid, that was it.
Even little Aeia's bowmanship was coming along. She wasn't as good as Ahira had told Furnael, of course. But not too bad, either. Aeia and a cocked crossbow could be a nice hole card in a fight.
Wait a minute. "Ahira?"
"Yes?"
"I've got one question, though. If you don't mind."
"Well?"
"Where are you going to get the lollipop?"