I broke my promise. I said that I wouldn't go out and do anything
stupid, but I did. I had planned on signing on to Usires' ship - I had
signed on, but Ariana came and took him away. I didn't want to spend the
entire day waiting for them to come back, so I found something else to do.
"Maybe I'll go and join Ivan's crew," I thought. "Be the man on
the inside... provide us with some valuable insight, perhaps." Maybe it
was the air... I am six inches taller than I was - the air is obviously
thinner up here. I wasn't thinking clearly. I rode for several hours,
finding myself in another port city. The inhabitants were of varied races
- at least I didn't stand out.
That's about the time that Tamaryn found me. She didn't look too
upset that I'd broken my promise. I didn't know that I was being followed
- I guess I was cutting a pretty wide swath. She did convince me to leave
- and let me say right now that we did try. We went down to the port,
confirmed that Da was there, and then we tried to leave. We couldn't -
our path had been barred. We tried Trump, Pattern and Logrus - none of it
worked. We resigned ourselves to bide some time.
And so we did.... until they found us.
I think the guards had something that let them look for Pattern.
We tried to keep moving, but they kept finding me. Soon, we'd attracted a
small crowd.
That's when the pirate movie started.
We ran for a while, then stole a wagon. Tamaryn drove, while I
threw melon crates at our attackers. None of them seemed to like melon.
It's too bad - had I another fruit, I would have shared it with them as
well. As long as they keep falling over, we don't care. Unfortunately,
we ran out of fruit crates after a while. We kept going until the Logrus
tendril picked Tamaryn up - she said to let her go... that that's the only
way I could help her. So I did, and I watched her go. The wagon useless,
I abandoned it, riding the horses to the city gates. As I neared, they
closed the portcullis. I pulled a cart over me for cover, and proceeded
to lift the gate. If I could have seen the eyes of the onlookers, I'm
sure they would have been amazed.
After a while, the arrows from the city guards ceased. I thought
myself wise for taking cover under the cart. Then Da showed up... with
Usires' ax. It's amazing what an adrenaline rush will do for you - I
jumped under the portcullis, and let it fall again, behind me. Looking
back, I could see that it was my father pursuing - luckily it would take
them a couple of minutes to raise the gates. Then I ran. Fast. And I
didn't stop until the Logrus carried me away.
I arrived outside the Shadow... surrounded by my cousins. They
all seemed to know who I was. What's more, they *wanted* to go back in.
So... I went with them. Usires and I found his ax (but no Da), and then
joined everyone else on the docks. Dara had my father and was sailing
away. Usires and I went to the port guns. We took down one of the ships.
Usires was Trumped, and we were pulled through - to a small ship that was
in pursuit. Either Dara let the barriers of the Shadow down, Lyss had
conquered Dara for control of the Shadow, or we'd found the exit. Anyway
- we were able to follow them through Shadow.
Da and Dara were on separate ships. We followed Dara's path - to
my protests - we lost it after a few minutes. We returned to liberate my
father. Taking the ship didn't prove that much of a problem. Bart got Da
out of there through some magics. We contacted Bleys, and he went to
break Dara's control over Da. Shortly afterwards, he and Da appeared on
deck - and Da sent word to the other ships to cease their fighting.
I broke my promise. But, I got my father back. I don't think Mum
will be too upset.
Ahab, on the other hand...
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