Wellspring of Chaos Read Online Free

and a hard-faced woman as well muscled as the men. “Take the cask up and set it just aft of the mainmast for now.”
    “Yes, ser.”
    Kharl watched as the three eased the cask out of the wagon and carried it across the pier, past the timber being loaded, and up the gangway. Hagen watched as well, until the cask was on board the Seastag , before turning to the cooper. “You charge a bit more than the Austrans, but no one makes a better hogshead.” Hagen laughed and handed Kharl the three silvers, then added a pair of coppers. “Thank you, ser.” Kharl inclined his head. Behind them the teamster finished turning the wagon on the wide pier and headed back toward the city proper. He gave the slightest of waves to Kharl.
    In return, Kharl nodded to the teamster.
    “I’ll be thanking you, cooper,” said Hagen. “That I will. Next trip, it might be sand barrels.”
    “Sand barrels?”
    “Been reports of raiders out of Lydiar, and the Black Brethren have those rockets. A chaos-wizard’s teamed up with pirates out of a place called Renklaar. Water doesn’t always stop those chaos-flames. We’re fortunate only one pirate’s got a wizard.”
    “How long before you come back this way?” asked Kharl.
    “I’m only making a short voyage this time. Maybe half the ports in Candar before we return to Valmurl. Then, after an eightday there, we’ll be headed here on the long trip of the winter.” He laughed. “We’ll end up in Hamor, where it’s warm.”
    The cooper nodded. “You thinking of oak for the sand barrels?”
    “The only thing for a vessel. The only thing.” The graying Hagen tipped his battered cap to Kharl. “Be seeing you next trip, cooper.”
    “I look forward to it, ser.”
    Hagen nodded and turned.
    Kharl walked past the timber, careful to avoid the empty sling coming down. Halfway back along the pier from the Seastag , he stopped as he noted—and recognized—the low vessel moored at the outboard end of the second pier, a ship entirely of shimmering black, without masts and with but one gun in a single forward turret. Two guards in the black of Recluce marines stood at the foot of the gangway.
    The cooper studied the warship for a moment, then shook his head as he continued back along the pier for the kay-long walk back to the cooperage. He just hoped that no one had come by in his absence, but he wouldn’t have dared to send Arthal with the hogshead.
    “Youth…” he muttered under his breath. “Not what they used to be. Paid attention to my da. They’d just as soon spit.”
    He squared his shoulders and stretched out his stride. He could have paid the teamster for a return ride, but he had better uses for his coppers.
     
     
    IV
     
    From the angle of the light slanting through the front windows of the cooperage, Kharl could tell it was getting on to late afternoon. He checked the brass spigot he’d set into the first barrel. He’d augured the hole almost perfectly, so that he only needed the slightest bit of cordage between the wood and the brass flange and pipe. The second one was almost as good. He could start sealing the inside of the barrels in the morning. He didn’t like doing barrels that required sealing, but Yualt had insisted on only the lightest of toasting and sealant afterward, saying that even the tightest grained oak would absorb some aspect of the contents and thus change them. Since Kharl was neither alchemist nor apothecary, and since the alchemist had refused to tell Kharl what he was putting in the fancy barrel, there wasn’t much the cooper could say—especially since Yualt was paying a premium that Kharl needed.
    He checked the first barrel before him a last time, running his fingers slowly over the inside of the finely finished staves, nodding in satisfaction, before carrying it over to the finishing bench against the south rear wall. Then he returned to the turning bench and did the same with the second. The heads for both barrels were also laid out— single