The Two of Swords: Part 15 Read Online Free Page A

Nothing about not telling us where we’re going, in fact quite the opposite.” He put the orders back in the document case and took out one of the charts. “Of course, I can’t read these things,” he said. “But I imagine someone on this boat can, beside yourself. I’ll bet you anything you like, wherever the hell we are, it’s not the shortest route from Beal Defoir to Callinica Bay. Also,” he went on, as the captain turned his head to avoid looking at him, “I think this thing can go much, much faster, and that makes me wonder why it isn’t. You wouldn’t be dawdling so someone can catch us up, would you?”
    The captain didn’t say anything. Genseric held out his hand; the sergeant who’d done the search handed him a small rosewood box. “One last thing,” Genseric said. “Are these yours?”
    No reply. Genseric opened the box and looked at the pack of cards; beautiful work, scrimshaw on thinly sawn whalebone. “Card-playing and other forms of gambling are strictly forbidden on board all navy ships,” he said. “Play a lot, do you?”
    The captain gave him a look of genuine terror. “It’s just a pack of cards,” he said.
    “Of course it is,” Genseric said. He extended his hand over the side and dropped the box into the sea. “Careless of me,” he said. “Now I haven’t got any evidence against you.” He leaned forward, bringing his mouth close to the captain’s ear; at the same time, he caught hold of the captain’s thumb and levered it back until he felt significant resistance. “Don’t feel bad about it,” he said quietly, “you did your best. Now, unless you want to go and fetch your cards, how soon before those Lodge ships catch us up?”
    For a moment he thought the captain wouldn’t speak. Then: “Tomorrow, first light.”
    “That’s fine,” Genseric said. “Now, what I want you to do is increase speed; not too much, just enough to make it so they don’t catch up till, let’s say, a couple of hours after noon tomorrow. I’m sure you can manage that, and if you can’t, Sergeant Laxa here will cut your head off. All right?”
    The ship’s first officer could read a chart just fine. He told them they were two days from Zatacan, on the Blemyan coast. He plotted them a course for the nearest Western port; three days with a good wind, five if they were unlucky. He was pleased and terrified to find that he was now in effective command, and promised to do exactly as he’d been told. He personally vouched for the loyalty of his helmsman, who could read a chart and lay in a course as well as anyone in the fleet.
    “You’ll have a job, though,” he said. “The catboat’s fast, but so are those sloops following us. You sure you don’t want to stay and see if we can’t make a fight of it?”
    Genseric pulled a sad face. “Personally, I think we could,” he said. “I don’t think Lodge people can fight worth a damn, from what I saw back at Beal. But I can’t risk it. We’ll do it my way.”
    The catboat had to be hauled up on to its derricks and lowered into the sea, with its crew on board. It swung wildly on the way down, nearly spilling Orderic into the sea; he grabbed for the side and got the helmsman instead, and they collapsed in a heap in the bottom of the boat. Fortunately it was too dark to see the look on her face.
    Needless to say, they couldn’t risk a lamp or a lantern. The sky was overcast; good from the point of view of getting away without the sloops seeing them, disastrous for navigation. The helmsman had brought a small piece of stone, mounted on a small piece of wood, and a shallow bowl; fill the bowl with water and float the wood in it, and the stone, being magic, would always point north. When Orderic had been told that that was how they’d be finding their way, in the dark, in the infinite sea, he’d had a panic attack and Genseric had seriously considered leaving him behind.
    “Of course,” the helmsman had said, “if it’s a dark night I