"Peter David - Sir Apropos 03 - Tong Lashing" - читать интересную книгу автора (David Peter)

Once at the pub, and after having tied the horse off at a hitching post, Sharee and I went in two
different directions, asking around, seeing what we could find. Fortunately, I was, and am, a reasonably
good judge of character. I was certain that at least two of the men I spoke to were actually of a most
villainous nature, who would have been quite pleased to take us as passengers and, during the night,
relieve us of our valuables and our lives before tossing us over the side to a watery grave.

What I wound up doing was seeking out people who seemed as if they were having trouble walking.
Sure enough, I found a small group of folks who looked a bit shaky on their feet for exactly the reason I
expected they would be: They'd been at sea and had just recently come off a ship. Their general
deportment, plus their decidedly non-nautical suitcases, told me they were travelers rather than crewmen.
If one wanted to be sure that a ship would see you safely to your destination, my reasoning was to seek
out recommendations from people who had already made it from whatever port of call they'd just been
to, to here.

Inquiring of the new arrivals, I learned that they'd been brought over on a ship commanded by one
Captain Stout. A worthy and hardy-sounding name, I had to admit. As it so happened, I found the good
captain tossing back some mead in a corner of the bar. Large, gruff, and affable, he struck me as a solid
seaman, and his disposition certainly matched the glowing reports I'd received from his recent
passengers.

I had no place in particular I was planning to go, which as it turned out dovetailed with Captain
Stout's agenda. He had a cargo he was transporting to an is land continent called Azure. Azure was, by
all accounts, a decent enough place, albeit a bit colder than I was used to. But I believed I could get
accustomed to it, and besides, it wasn't as if we'd be staying there permanently. If we liked it, we could;
but if not, we could always find somewhere else.

It was at that moment that I abruptly realized I was thinking of Sharee and I as a "we." I had to
remind myself that Mordant was part of the mix, but on some level I was starting to regard Sharee and I
as a pair. The thought was staggering to me, and yet as the first waves of shock subsided, I slowly
realized that it was not an unpleasant notion. I began to wonder if she felt the same way, and decided that
she very likely did. After all, I reasoned, I had to be getting the notion fromsomewhere. And where else
could it reasonably have been from, if not from hints or subtle suggestions from Sharee herself. And they
would have to have been subtle, because she was a magic user, and that's simply how magic users
tended to do things.

A loud throat-clearing noise from Captain Stout jolted me back to reality and I realized that I'd drifted
off into a daydream about Sharee and me. How truly embarrassed I felt. "What say ye, lad?" demanded
Captain Stout. "Any interest in heading to the Azure Island? Quite lovely this time of year, I understand.
And we'll have a few other passengers aboard, so you'll have some company other than just my crew."

"It sounds fine to me," I said. "Let me check with my friend and I'll be right back with you. She's just
around the other side of the pub."

"She. A lady friend." Captain Stout didn't seem especially thrilled. "Ladies on sailing vessels aren't
always a good mix, me lad. Sailing ships are crewed by rough, battle-hardened seamen. Do you know
what you get when you put women together with seamen?"

"Pregnancies?"
 "You get bad luck," he continued as if I hadn't spoken, which was probably a good thing. "Now, I'm
an open-minded man, and I'll bring your little lady along if I must. But just keep her away from my crew.