[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

muddy brown ribbon where the
Meduana's current had not yet lost itself in the main stream. Propelled only
by Lovi and Gregorius at the oars, the boat lost steering way. Pierrette had
to pull her oar over sharply to make the boat turn at all. A
spear splashed in the water beside her. Another thumped against the sternpost,
but it did not stick. The
Vikings were so close she could see beads of sweat on the brow of the big man
in the prow of their skinny boat.
Ahead was a bend northward, where both currents swirled against a steep,
eroded bank. Pierrette forced the ungainly craft toward it. She felt the boat
tremble as the swift water took it. Gregorius and
Lovi's efforts at the oars hardly seemed to matter; the steering oar lay limp
in the water, but when
Pierrette looked up at the willows along the bank, only an oar's length away,
their branches were rushing past so quickly she had no time to distinguish
leaves or limbs. A quick glance back show that the northmen's boat no longer
gained on them in fact, the rowers had raised their oars. They had avoided the
confluence of the waters, where green met brown, and now they swung completely
around. She heard the Viking helmsman's cries and watched oars splash into the
water, then pull in time with the chant. The distance between the two craft
widened quickly now.
In moments, the Vikings were out of sight as the heavy boat rounded the bend,
moving swiftly, only a scant few fathoms from the south bank. When they were
sure that the pursuit had ended, ibn Saul asked
Pierrette to explain what she had done, and why the Vikings had broken off. "I
steered us to the outside of the approaching bend," she said. "Our pursuers
thought to cut across the inside, overcoming the slower current there with
their superior force of oars, but the combined power of the two streams and
the
river's rush to continue in a straight course despite the shape of the bed
that constrains it gave us the lead.
Perhaps, too, the heavy sediments of the Meduana, all accumulating where the
current was slowest, made their keel drag and their oars foul. Besides, every
mile they chased us downstream, they would have had to row back against the
current, in the heat of the day. Perhaps, also, they realized that our craft
Page 48
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
rides high in the water, even with five aboard, and thus could not be loaded
with rich plunder."
"Next time, I won't question your decisions at the helm," said the scholar.
Chapter 13  The Burning
City
They went ashore before dusk, when a mist on the river shortened visibility
downstream. "Were we to encounter Norsemen, we would not see them until it
were too late to escape as we did today," ibn Saul said. Pierrette did not
remind him of the special conditions the confluence of two streams and the
bend beyond which had made their escape possible.
When Pierrette, as was her custom, went off to her isolated bed, she observed
the last glow of sunset reflected on the water downstream. But no the sun was
long set. What she had observed was . . . fire.
Somewhere, not far, raged a great conflagration. She roused ibn Saul, and when
his eyes had adjusted, far from the campfire's light, he too saw the glow
reflected on the water. "It is a city burning," he said. "It can be nothing
other than an attack by Norsemen and judging by the extent of the flames, they
must be inside the walls, for no buildings but great abbeys and churches would
provide fuel for such a blaze. We are trapped between Norsemen upstream and
down."
Pierrette observed that the fire's reflection was now redder still, and had
there been more than a sliver of moonlight, she would not see it at all. "We
must get aboard our boat now," she said. "By dawn, we'll have no chance but to
take to the woods. Afloat, keeping to the south bank, we may be able to slip
by the Norsemen, whose eyes will be dazzled by the light of the burning city
for some time still."
Lovi and Gregorius muffled their oars' shafts with woolen cloth. Only Yan Oors
took up a pole, because only he could wield one with strength and dexterity
enough to keep it from clunking against the boat's side.
This stretch of the river had many islands, and it was not easy to decide
which channel to take at any divide in the stream. Every one would be narrower
than the full river, and any might, in this season, peter out in reeds or skim
so shallowly over a sandbar that they could not remain afloat. Any might
narrow so much that a watchman ashore might not only see them, but also cast a
spear at them, with deadly result.
Generally choosing the southernmost channels, they drifted downstream, as
silent as a log, huddling low unless required to steer, pole, or row. The red
stain of firelight spread across the water. Now a column of spark-littered [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]