“There’s one deep-water ship, Amos. The Wind of Dawn is still in port.”
Amos’s mouth dropped open. “The Wmd of Dawn?” he cried in disbelief “Beside the fact she’s little better than a lugger herself, she’s laid up for the winter. I heard her captain crying over her broken keelson when the muddleheaded fool came limping into harbor a month ago. She needs to be hauled out, have the keel inspected and the keelson replaced. Without repair her keel’s too weak to take the pounding she’ll get from the winter storms. You might as well stick your head in a rain barrel, begging Your Highness’s pardon. You’d still drown, but you’d save a lot of other people a great deal of trouble.”
Fannon looked incensed at the seaman’s remarks, but Tully, Martin, Roland, and Arutha only looked amused. “When I sent Martin out,” said Arutha, “I considered the possibility I might need a ship for Krondor. I ordered her repaired two weeks ago. There’s a swarm of shipwrights aboard her now.” He fixed Amos with a questioning look. “Of course I’ve been told it won’t be as good a job as if they’d hauled her out, but it will serve.”
“Aye, for potting up and down the coast in the light winds of spring, perhaps. But you’re talking about winter storms, and you’re talking about running the Straits of Darkness.”
Arutha said, “Well, she will have to do I’m leaving in a few days’ time. Someone must convince Erland we need aid, and I have to be the one.”
Amos refused to let the subject drop “And has Oscar Danteen agreed to captain his ship through the straits for you?”
Arutha said, “I’ve not told him our destination as yet.” Amos shook his head. “As I thought. That man’s got the heart of a shark, which is to say none, and the courage of a jellyfish, which is also to say none. Soon as you give the order, he’ll cut your throat, drop you over the side, winter with the pirates of the Sunset Islands, then head straight for the Free Cities come spring. He’ll then have some Natalese scribe pen a most grieving and flowery message to your father, describing your valor just before you were lost overboard in high seas while fighting pirates. Then he’ll spend a year drinking up the gold you gave him for passage.”
Arutha said, “But I purchased his ship. I’m ship’s master now.” Amos said, “Owner or not, Prince or not, aboard ship there is but one master, the captain. He is King and High Priest, and no man tells him what to do, save when a harbor pilot’s aboard, and then only with respect. No, Highness, you’ll not survive this journey with Oscar Danteen on the quarterdeck.”
Faint lines of mirth began to crinkle at the corners of Arutha’s eyes “Have you another suggestion, Captain?”
Amos sighed as he sank back into his chair. “I’ve been hooked, I might as well be gutted and cleaned. Send word to Danteen to clear out the captain’s cabin and discharge the crew. I’ll see to getting a replacement crew for that band of cutthroats, though there’s mostly drunkards and boys left in port this time of year. And for the love of the gods, don’t mention to anyone where we’re bound. If so much as one of those drink-besotted scoundrels learns you mean to risk the Straits of Darkness this late in the season, you’ll have to turn out the garrison to comb the woods for deserters.”
Arutha said, “Very well. I’ll leave all preparations to you. We depart as soon as you judge the ship ready.” He said to Longbow, “I’ll want you to come as well, Huntmaster.”
Longbow looked a little surprised. “Me, Highness?”
“I’ll want an eyewitness for Lord Dulanic and the Prince.”
Martin frowned, but after a moment said, “I’ve never been to Krondor, Highness.” He smiled his crooked smile. “I may never have the chance again.”
Amos Trask’s voice cut through the shriek of the wind. Gusts from the sea carried his words to a confused-looking lad aloft “No, you warped-brained landlubber, don’t pull the sheets so damn tight. They’ll be humming like a lute string. They don’t pull the ship, the mast does. The lines help when the wind changes quarter.” He watched as the boy adjusted the sheets. “Yes, that’s it; no, that’s too loose.” He swore loudly. “Now; there you have it!”
He looked disgusted as Arutha came up the gangway. “Fishing boys who want to be sailors. And drunkards. And a few of Danteen’s rogues I had to rehire. This is some crew, Highness.”
“Will they serve?”
“They bloody well better, or they’ll answer to me.” He watched with a critical eye as the sailors crawled over the spars aloft, checking every knot and splice, every line and sheet. “We need thirty good men. I can count on eight. The rest? I mean to put into Carse as well as Tulan on the way down. Maybe then we can replace the boys and less dependable men with experienced seamen.”