"Lawrence Watt-Evans - Ethshar 10 - The Vondish Ambassador" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

The Vondish Ambassador
by Lawrence Watt-Evans

Chapter One


A stiff east wind was blowing, bearing the scent of salt and decay from
the beaches beyond the city wall. Such a breeze was chilly and uncomfortable,
but it could bring ships into port quickly, cutting travel time, and that
might mean happy merchants looking for laborers to unload their cargo.
Captains and owners pleased by a quick passage tended to pay well, so Emmis of
Shiphaven trotted up New Canal Street with an eye on the sea, watching for any
inbound vessel, rather than following his usual morning routine of a stroll up
Twixt Street to Shiphaven Market. If that unseasonable wind dropped, leaving
ships becalmed in the bay, any hope of being overpaid by cheerful merchants
would drop with it.
The richest cargoes were usually landed at either the Spice Wharves or
the Tea Wharves, across the canal in Spicetown, but the Spicetown dockworkers
had their own little bands and brotherhoods, and Emmis was not particularly
welcome there. The Shipping Docks and Long Wharf in Shiphaven were more
informal, if only because the work wasn't as steady; nobody there would mind
an extra pair of hands.
He reached the mouth of the canal and walked out on the seawall, peering
out through the tangle of masts and yards at the Spicetown docks, trying to
see whether any ships were running before that lovely wind. He shaded his eyes
and gradually swiveled his head to the left.
There! A ship with red and gold sails, hauled over on the port tack, a
long multicolored banner streaming from the mizzen. She looked to be
southern-rigged, which meant she was from somewhere beyond the river-mouth at
Londa in the Small Kingdoms, and she was clearly heading toward Shiphaven,
from the look of it steering for either Pier Two or Pier Three.
Emmis turned and trotted west along the seawall to Pier One, where he
cut over to the street; he kept a careful eye out to sea, watching the ship's
approach.
Pier Two, he decided. Even with the strong wind, then, he didn't need to
hurry; he would be there before the ship came in. He slowed his pace to an
easy amble.
The ship was starting to reduce sail now, slowing for her final
approach. Emmis watched with mild interest, seeing how well the crew handled
their duties тАУ that might tell him something about how he might get the most
money from them for the least work.
They did well enough; the mainsail was furled quickly enough, without
any corners flapping free. The jibsails came down smoothly, then the topsails,
until only the topgallants were still drawing.
When the vessel finally neared the dock, out past the elbow in Pier Two,
Emmis was seated comfortably on a bollard, waiting. Rather to his surprise, no
one else had appeared on Pier Two; presumably the other Shiphaven laborers had
all either already found work elsewhere, or decided to stay inside, out of the
wind.
Emmis stood as the ship came gliding slowly in, and raised a hand. A