The Warlords of Nin Read Free Page B

town’s fishing boats, most of Malmarby’s citizens were going about their business as though nothing unusual had happened. Many followed them down to the pier, and many more hailed the regal travelers as they passed.
    The boats of Malmarby were broad, boxy things—sturdy enough to withstand the anger of the harshest seas, which they never faced, since the bulky boats served but to ply the sheltered inlet from one end to the other along its length.
    Milan’s boat was more than adequate for their need, though the horses showed some trepidation at being led aboard such a strange-looking vessel.
    With Milan’s son, Rol, at the long stern oar, they waved themselves away from the throng on the pier. Rol’s strong hands worked the oar, and soon they had entered a deeper channel, where a swift current pulled them along. They raised the small sail on its stubby mast and drifted smartly away.
    â€œWhere do you wish to land, my lords?” called Rol from his seat at the tiller.
    â€œAnywhere you think best, as long as it is west of the Wall.” Quentin paused and regarded
the hardy youth, who had strong shoulders and a thick thatch of brown hair. He remembered when the good-natured young man had been a skinny little boy who ran alongside the horses whenever a traveler passed through the village—such as Quentin and Toli had often had occasion to do.
    â€œWhat is it the village fears?” asked Quentin, stepping close to Rol. “What has come to pass since we have last come this way?”
    The young man shrugged a muscled shoulder and continued working the oar. “I do not know. Stories, that is all. It does not take much to frighten such a small village.”
    â€œWhat are these stories you speak of ? Why have they frightened everyone so badly?”
    Toli stepped in to hear what Rol had to say.
    â€œThis spring some people came to us out of the Suthlands, saying they had been set upon by demons and their homes burned.”
    â€œDemons do not burn homes,” remarked Toli.
    Again the tentative shrug. “I do not know if they do or not; that is what the people said.”
    â€œHmmmm . . . that is strange. Did they say what these demons looked like?”
    â€œThey are giants. Fierce. Fire spewed from their mouths, and each one had ten arms with claws for hands.”
    â€œWhere did these demons come from? Did they say?”
    â€œNo one knew. Some said they came from beyond the sea. From beyond Gerfallon. Others said they saw the sign of the Wolf Star on their foreheads. Maybe they came down from the sky.”
    â€œThis is an odd tale,” said Quentin to Toli as they drew aside.
    â€œWhy would anyone burn a village of peasants in the Suthlands?” Toli asked. “There is little enough there, and nothing to be gained by such doings.”
    â€œI cannot guess. The realm is at peace these past ten years. We will tell the king about this; they may have heard something in Askelon.”
    Rol proved an able seaman, and the day’s end found them close to their destination. A faint mist gathered on the water at the shoreline and pushed out into the inlet. Through the gray mist they saw the dark plane of the Great Wall jutting out into the deep water as the shadows lengthened upon the land.
    Rol steered the boat around the Wall’s looming edge and made for the rocky strand. No one spoke as they passed by the imposing shape. The steady slap and dip of Rol’s long oar was the only sound that broke the stillness of the water.
    Quentin watched the mist curling around the base of the Wall and thought it made the Wall appear to be floating on a foundation of billowing clouds, while the deepening sky above seemed to grow hard and solid as stone as it darkened with the twilight. He started when he heard a hollow knock and felt the slight jolt that told him they had touched shore.
    â€œWill you stay with us tonight, Rol? We will camp a little way along the