And north to the pole again
Over the world of waters
Seventeen seas I?ve strayed
Now to the north I?m sailing back
Back to the trawling trade!? ?And there?s more mortise-and-tenon work in the hull framing than I like. Bolts hold better with a sheering strain,? Kalk went on, after a pause that made Rudi think the elderly Norrheimer might have dozed. ?Easier to replace.?
Abdou al-Naari had his right arm out of the sling, though it would be a while before it regained full strength. He touched brow and lips and heart, and bowed to Kalk as one craftsman to another. ?You make good ship here,? he said; his English had improved perceptibly in his brief time as a prisoner.?But we Kaolack men, first in Emir?s country make more than big-big-big canoe after Change. We know skill of hands. I help build this ship, draw plans, see all make. Pick trees for her, too.?
The master of Kalksthorpe glared at him, then nodded unwillingly. ?She?s yare,? he said.?Good work is good work.? ?What is word, yare?? Abdou asked.
More barrels and bales swung on board. There was plenty of room. They?d sent ashore the cargo picked up as the Moors cruised north along the coast, carefully selected metals, alloy steel, copper and brass and aluminum, lenses and telescopes and binoculars and microscopes, glassware, fine pre-Change cloth preserved as if new in sealed packages, wrought gold and silver and jewels, ball bearings, surgical instruments, springs and gears and light machine tools, circular saw blades and medicines and chemicals. ?Yare is… eager. Ready. Fit,? the old man said.
Wealth couldn?t bring the dead back, but the gold and gear would mean the Kalksthorpe folk wouldn?t have to risk any voyages of their own southward in the coming year or two. That would save lives in itself. ?I glad you like ship,? Abdou said quietly, and with obvious pride.?She good, fast, ride storm like bird. Yare, like you say.?
Kalk gave him a hard smile from under tufted white brows.?So by Njordh, we?ll get good use out of her, now that she?s ours, blaumann .?
Abdou winced; he?d seemed to grow an inch when he trod his ship?s deck again. The song grew louder as the work gang approached, mounting the forward gangplank and feeding their burden down into the hold: ?Back to the midnight landings
Back to the fish-dock smell
Back to the frozen winds
As hard as the teeth of Hell!
Back to the strangest game
That ever a man has played
Follow the stormy rollers, back
Back to the trawling trade!?
Kalk looked around nodded once more, then headed down the gangplank himself, his staff going thunk… thunk…, a hollow sound on the boards.
And I do think he?s envious of us, Rudi thought. He sniffed the air, with its scents of pine and pitch and salt. Not that I blame him! I?ve done deeds of some weight, but this will be the strangest of all my farings.
Rudi and Mathilda followed. The seidhkona and a small group of her townsfolk waited on the dock. The rest had said their farewells, and the day?s work didn?t wait with repair and rebuilding added to the usual labors. Thorlind looked at Rudi: ?You haven?t taken all my vengeance yet, Artos King.? ?I will, lady,? he said soberly, with a slight bow.?It?s not a peaceful voyage I?m sailing on. Earth must be fed-and the sea, too, is always hungry. If I come back hale, you?ll know the tale of it.?
As if to comment on that, the last of the chanty came from the hold: ?And it?s home with the harvest wind
And back to the Greyflood tides
Run to the starboard rail
And leap to the water?s side-?
Heidhveig raised a hand in blessing; Rudi bowed in acknowledgment, and they went back on the waiting ship. The others waited for them; most on the main deck, which was a few feet down from the low poop that held the wheel, binnacle and compass. Rudi took his stance by the wheel, watching carefully. Two of Abdou?s corsairs held it; that was skilled work. The Norrheimer skipper acting as harbor pilot was ready there too, arms crossed on his chest and dark hair flowing free in the cold breeze.
Other Moors stood ready on the deck, each with three of Rudi?s folk close by, ready to help and under orders to learn all that they could. The pirate bosun looked up to his commander.
Abdou spoke, in his own language and then English: ?Cast off!?
Townsfolk unlooped the hawsers from the bollards on the pier and the sailors pulled them back on deck, coiling them neatly. A Kalksthorpe boat was already secured to a towing hitch forward; the upright oars swung down, ten on a side, and dug into the blue-gray water. A deep chant echoed to time the stroke: ?Tyr hold us!
Ye Tyr, ye Odhinn Tyr hold us!
Ye Tyr, ye Odhinn-?
The pilot pointed silently as way came on the ship with a jerk that made some stagger. The two helmsmen spun the wheel to keep the ship in the tugboat?s wake; the underwater obstacles were intended to keep hostile ships out, but they?d do just as well to rip the bottom out of a ship that was leaving. Beyond the last of them the movement of the Bouel-Mogdad changed, longer and harder as her bow turned into the swells. The little galley came alongside after it cast off the towrope, and Rudi shook hands with the pilot; it was Thorleif Heidhveigsson, he who?d captured her on Rudi?s urging, and he grinned at the younger man. ?Now we?ll have to rearrange some of them,? he said.
He nodded overside to where one of the outsize spearheads was just below the surface. ?Cold work,? Rudi said.?But a warm greeting for rovers. I?ll see you again, Thorleif, and the Lord and Lady willing it won?t be long.? ?Don?t count any man lucky until he?s dead,? Thorleif said, and touched the silver Hammer that lay beneath his jacket.?Thor ward you with his might, Rudi Mackenzie.? ?And yourself, my friend. Merry met, and merry part, and merry meet again!?
The wind was out of the west; it contributed to the hard pitch and roll as the waves took the ship under the quarter. Abdou looked at the sky with its high lines of mare?s-tail cloud, at the compass, and then ordered in two languages: ?Make sail all! Up, up!?
His bosun shoved teams into position; Ingolf followed him, watching closely. A high screech brought both ready, and then they heaved, hauling the lines in hand-over-hand. Pulleys squealed. The long gaff-sails slid up the masts and then swung out as the booms turned. A thuttering like snapping branches and then the canvas snapped taut, swelling out into a series of curves and triangles, and the ship heeled to port until the dark planks sloped like the roof of a house. A fore-and-aft ship like this was economical of men, and the sails could be managed from the deck for the most part.
The bowsprit dug in, then broke free in a burst of crystal spray that shot back along the deck to sting Rudi?s cheeks with an icy salt benediction. The motion turned to a long lunging swoop, and waves of white curled back from the sharp prow. Gray and white and blue, Mother Sea stretched ahead of them, the manes of her snowy horses running to the very horizon. A whale spouted in the middle distance, twin plumes rising from the water before its slate-colored length slid back below, and the flukes slapped foam into the air. ?Glad to be back at sea, Abdou al-Naari?? he asked.
The Moor looked at him; he was bundled in wool and felt until only his face showed. He snorted: ?In Dakar my lord the Emir have… has powerful machine, his hakims make. Wind turns, much thump. Pistons. Makes ice come. Put in drink juice on hot day. Ice is very good there.?
Rudi felt his legs flex and turn to take the rocking motion of the deck; it was easier than a trick like standing in the saddle of a galloping horse. Mathilda smiled at him a little shakily, her face pale, but she faced into the breeze and breathed deeply and grew steadier. Edain smiled as well-and then rushed for the leeward rail. Asgerd followed him and waited politely until the first racking heaves were over, then offered him a cup of water from one of the butts. When he?d spat and cleared his mouth, she asked sweetly: ?Feeling better, master bowman? Hunger weakens a man, they say. What you need is food.? ?Please-errrrk-? ?Why not have some fried fat salt pork, nearly fresh? Or cod cooked in cream with onions-?