“All together, Fore. . PULL!” Urulani called, and this time the Sondau men responded with their full strength, all pulling back on their oars at once. The ship fairly leaped forward now, her sleek prow cutting smoothly through the night waters of the bay.
Drakis and Mala leaned against the aft gunwales near where Urulani stood at the tiller. His arm was around her as they watched the village-and so much more-burn.
Neither of them spoke. Mala shuddered under Drakis’ protecting arm but could not bring herself to look away. A single tear carved a furrow down Drakis’ soot-darkened cheek.
“There’s someone else on the beach,” Jugar said quietly to Drakis as he pointed. “And not a passenger, I’ll wager.”
Drakis looked up and saw a single robed figure silhouetted against the fires run down to the edge of the beach and stop. He could not be certain, but there was something familiar in his stance, as though they had met somewhere before, but it was far too dark and too far for him to be certain.
One thing Drakis was certain about was that the figure was one of the Iblisi. . and that they, too, were hunting him because of this nonsense about a legend. They had murdered a city of the Hak’kaarin and, had they been able, would have murdered all the Sondau as well. They had taken from him the one place he had ever hoped for happiness.
“Shorten the sweeps!” Urulani shouted from the helm. The twenty Sondau men at the oars complied at once, pulling the oars halfway inboard on both sides. The Cydron slid out between the harbor pillars, the last of the Sondau ships to leave. Within moments, the twisting passage obscured their view of the beach and snuffed out Drakis’ hope once more.
“We’ve the wide Thetis Sea before us,” Urulani said to Drakis. “The ships of Nothree will go west along the Forgotten Coast and gather at an anchorage about ten leagues to the west of here. But I’ll tell you, Master Legend-man, I’ve got a provisioned ship and a good crew, little stomach for you and what you brought down on my people, and the deep desire to hurt something. What do you suppose I should do?”
Drakis looked up at her. “I know exactly what you should do. How far will this ship travel?”
“As far as I take her,” Urulani replied.
“Beyond Nordesia? Beyond the Straits of Erebus?”
Jugar looked up in surprise.
“Why?” Urulani asked.
“Because beyond the Straits is the land of this prophecy,” Drakis replied.
“So now you are this legendary hero?” Urulani scoffed.
“Please!” he sneered. “Of course not-not that anyone will believe me. We’re going to go there-beyond the northern ocean into the lands of these myths. We’re going to see this place for ourselves, and I’m going to prove once and for all that I am not this legend that everyone wants to believe that I am.”
“What are you saying, boy,” Jugar asked.
“You’d like to prove that I’m a fraud,” Drakis continued talking to Urulani. “And I want you to prove it. . because until you do, people are going to keep dying for a dream that doesn’t exist.”
Urulani thought for a moment.
“Well?” Drakis asked.
Urulani smiled. “Prove you a fraud? That would be worth the trip.”
“For both of us,” Drakis replied.