Читать «THE SEA DEVIL S EYE (зксм-3)» онлайн - страница 89

Jherek raised the cutlass to defend himself, but-looking into the angry and frightened faces of the men before him-his resolve left him. He knew there was no way he could fight them. They weren't pirates or slavers, nor any black-hearted rogues that he could recognize. They were simply men afraid of what was before them. A warrior didn't fight such men over anything less than honor or to save a life. Jherek couldn't fight them just to save his own life, not when he was the cause of their fear.

The young sailor dropped his cutlass and stood before the crew unarmed. The anger inside him kept his fear away. He waited. He wouldn't run.

"Run him through!" a crewman near the back yelled. "See if his blood's red or if you can read his befouled heritage in his own tripe, by the gods!"

One of the men lashed out with a cruel skinning knife. Jherek turned just enough to avoid the blow.

"Enough!" Tarnar roared. "This is my ship. As long as it remains my ship, nothing will happen aboard her that I don't sanction. That's the way it has always been, and that's how it shall be until I'm not fit to command her." He glared at the men assembled before him. "Is that understood?"

"Aye, Cap'n." The response was quick and came from the mouth of every man. All the oaths were grudgingly gixren.

"Then get back to work," the captain ordered. "Every mother's son of you."

The crew turned and walked away, grumbling.

Tarnar turned, his eyes wide as he studied Jherek. "By the gods, boy, what is it about you that you'd stare them in the teeth and not raise a hand against them?''

"They didn't deserve my wrath," Jherek answered. "They have no control over my being here."

"The}' would have killed you if I let them."

"Aye."

Tarnar shook his head in disbelief. "What is that thing doing here?" He pointed at the sea wyrm keeping pace with Steadfast.

"I don't know, Captain." Jherek turned to the railing and stared out at the sea wyrm. It disappeared beneath the waves. "I've seen it before. Back on Azure Dagger."

"Then it has followed you here," concluded Tarnar.

Jherek made no response to that, but his mind reeled with the implications of the dragon's presence.

"Boy, if something powerful enough to stop the winds and control the waters wanted you dead, it would have drank down the ship and you with it," the captain said. "You're still alive, so I have to ask why."

"I don't know," Jherek said with grim determination, "but whatever it is, it will regret it."

Tarnar shook his head. "A prudent man wouldn't presume to put himself above the gods."

"I'm beyond prudence," Jherek declared. "I will demand an accounting. My life has never been an easy one, and this force-this god if you wish to see it that way-has seen to that. It can kill me, strip the flesh from my bones, but I will not kneel before some heartless thing. I will have my battle, and I will acquit myself with honor."

*****

Sabyna paused at the edge of the narrow, rutted street and watched a wagon pass.