The Road To Kalbakar, Wyrms of Pasandir #1

CHAPTER 1 - SHIP'S BOY

'Out of my way, bilge rat!' the first officer snarled as he pushed past me on the sloop's crowded quarterdeck.

I shuffled my feet and mumbled. 'Aye aye, sir.'

Idiot, I thought, irritated. You're a boor, Lieutenant Wylmer; a flat-footed imbecile. I had totally had it with the Tipred sloop, her first lieutenant and the endless days of choking heat on this useless patrol.

Around us the sea was still and the wind dead as a six days old corpse. To starboard, the shimmering line of the Hellesands desert coast seemed glued to the sky and the dullness of it all made me want to scream.

I shifted my weight from one tired foot to another and leaned my back against the railing. Stand still, curse you! I watched Wylmer's enormous bulk pass four feet away and fumed in silence. I'd been on duty since sunrise and after nearly six hours dodging my officer's booted feet, all I wanted was my hammock.

'You're just lazy, boy,' Teodar said in my head.

'I'm not!' I knew he was teasing me, so I sent him a funny picture of me being terribly exhausted.

He snickered. 'Slouch!'

'It's hot,' I complained. Teodar didn't answer. Of course he didn't; voices don't feel the heat. Still, just knowing he was there made me feel better. Teodar's bodiless voice had whispered to me for as long as I could remember. At first I'd thought he was a ghost living inside my skull somewhere. I even asked him once, all serious. He laughed in my face and teased me with ghostly boos in the middle of the night for the next week. It was funny, but he never did tell me what he was, and why he was helping me of all people.

I didn't complain. Teodar was the one who'd practically raised me. He probably wasn't all that much older than me, but he knew everything. He taught me magic, watched over me and kept me company, those early, wandering years in the Borderlands.

I remembered those mountains, the snow, and the company of people who said they were my parents but never proved it by showing a moment's tenderness or even feeding me. Teodar told me how to catch rats and eat them raw. My parents would have let me starve, so I'd say he saved my life.

A trickle of sweat running down my spine called me back to the present and the hot tropical sun. With my dark gray skin, I didn't have to worry much about sunburn, but the perspiration on my neck had dried to a horrible itch. Almost ritually, I scratched at it with the hook I have for a right hand and wished I could scratch at the boredom as well. Here we were, nearly a week out from Dvarghish Harbor, and not a single ship sighted.

The lieutenant shifted his bulk again, and I eyed him warily. It wouldn't be the first time those heavy boots of his mashed my toes.

Suddenly, a flash of sky-blue uniform on the companion-ladder and a hearty laugh froze the lieutenant in mid-step. My exhaustion evaporated as the broomrider set foot on the quarterdeck.

We all stepped aside to make room for our passenger. Kellani of the Kell was a powerful girl with straight, short hair, a hawkish nose and a grin that nailed me to the deck planking as she lifted one reddish-brown hand in a salute.

There haven't been many girls in my life; only the little shrews at the orphanage who were as horrible as the little bullyboys. I had avoided both like the plague.

Then I joined the navy. The Tipred was a mixed crew, but all female sailors were ancient; way past twenty. That made the arrival on board of a tough girl of my own age a Major Event. Especially one who was both nice to look at and one of those awesome broomriders. She was much bigger 'n me, but I'm used to that. I'm disgustingly small for my seventeen years. "Skinny little beast," the nice orphanage keepers used to call me.