Better interrogate some prisoners anyway, to make sureч No, there wasnвt time. Given a favoring wind, that ship could outrun any rover without working up a sweat. It might already be too late to overhaul. But if notч Hm. Assault would be no cinch. That lean, pitching hull was a small target for paratroops, and with so much rigging in the way. . . . No, wait, bold men could always find a road. How about grappling to the upper works? If the strain tore the rigging loose, so much the better: a weighted rope would then give a clear slideway to the deck. If the hooks held, though, a storming party could nevertheless go along the lines, into the topmasts. Doubtless the sailors were agile too, but had they ever reefed a rover sail in a Merikan thunderstorm, a mile above the earth?
He could improvise as the battle developed. At the very least, it would be fun to try! And at most, he might be reborn a world conqueror, for such an exploit in this life.
He laughed aloud, joyously. гWeвll do it!д
Tresa rose. гYou will spare the city?д she whispered hoarsely.
гI never promised any such thing,д said Loklann blandly. гOf course, the shipвs cargo will crowd out some of the stuff and peo
plc we might take otherwise. Unless, hm, unless we decide to sail the ship up to Calf orni, loaded, and meet it there with more royers. Yes, why not?д
гYou oathbreaker,д she said, with a heilful of scorn.
гI only promised not to sell you,д said Loklann. His gaze went up and down her. гAnd I wonвt.д
He took a stride forward and gathered her to him. She fought, cursing; once she managed to draw Ruoriвs knife from his belt, but his cuirass stopped the blade.
Finally he rose. She wept at his feet, her breast marked red by her fatherвs chain. He said more quietly, гNo, I will not sell you, Tresa. I will keep you.д
VI
гBlimp ho-o-o-!д
The lookoutвs cry hung lonesome for a minute between wind and broad waters. Down under the mainmast, it seethed with crewmen running to their posts. -
Ruori squinted eastward. The land was a streak under cumulus clouds mountainous and blue-shadowed. It took him a while to find the enemy, in all that sky. At last the sun struck them. He lifted his binoculars. Two painted killer whales lazed his way, slanting down from a mile altitude.
He sighed. гOnly two,д he said.
гThat may be more than enough for us,д said Atel Hamid. Sweat studded his forehead.
Ruori gave his mate a sharp look. гYouвre not afraid of them, are you? I daresay thatвs been one of their biggest assets, superstition.д
гOh, no, captain. I know the principle of buoyancy as well as you do. But those people up there are tough. And theyвre not trying to storm us from a dock this time; theyвre in their element.д
гSo are we.д Ruori clapped the other manвs back. гTake over. Tanaroa knows just whatвs going to happen, but use your own judgment if Iвm spitted.д
гI wish youвd let me go,д protested Atel. гI donвt like being safe down here. Itвs what can happen aloft that worries me.д
гYou wonвt be too safe for your own liking.д Ruori forced a grin. гAnd somebody has to steer this tub home to hand in all those lovely reports to the Geoethnic Research Endeavor.д
He swung down the ladder to the main deck and hurried to the mainmast shrouds. His crew yelled around him, weapons gleamed. The two big box kites quivered taut canvas, lashed to a bollard and waiting. Ruori wished there had been time to make more.
Even as it was, though, he had delayed longer than seemed wise, first heading far out to sea and then tacking slowly back, to make the enemy search for him while he prepared. (Or planned, for that matter. When he dismissed Tresa, his own ideas had been little more than aconviction that he could fight.) Assuming they were lured after him at all, he had risked their losing patience and going back to the land. For an hour, now, he had dawdled under mainsail, genoa, and a couple of flying jibs, hoping the Sky People were lubbers enough not to find that suspiciously little canvas for such good weather.
But here they were, and there was an end to worry and remorse on a certain girlвs behalf. Such emotions were rare in an Islander; and to find himself focusing them thus on a single person, out of all earthвs millions, had been horrible. Ruori swarmed up the ratlines, as if he fled something.
The blimps were still high, passing overhead on an upper-level breeze. Down here was almost a straight south wind. The aircraft, unable to steer really close-hauled, would descend when they were sea-level upwind of him. Even so, estimated a cold part of Ruoriвs brain, the Dolphin could avoid their clumsy rush.
But the Dolphin wasnвt going to.
The rigging was now dotted with armed sailors. Ruori pulled himself up on the mainmast crosstrees and sat down, casually swinging his legs. The ship heeled over in a flaw and he hung above greenish-blue, white-streaked immensity. He balanced, scarcely noticing, and asked Hiti: гAre you all set?д
гAye.д The big harpooner, his body one writhe of tattoos and
muscles, nodded a shaven head. Lashed to the fid where he squatted was the shipвs catapult, cocked and lo~uded with one of the huge irons that could kill a sperm whale at one blow. A couple more lay alongside in their rack. Hitiвs two mates and four deckhands poised behind him, holding the smaller harpoonsч mere six-foot shaftsчthat were launched from a boat by hand. The lines of all trailed down the mast to the bows.
гAye, let Оem come now.д Hiti grinned all over his round face. гNan eat the world, but thisвll be something to make a dance about when we come home!д
гIf we do,д said Ruori. He touched the small boat ax thrust into his loincloth. Like a curtain, the blinding day seemed to veil a picture from home, where combers broke white under the moon, longfires flared on a beach and dancers were merry and palm trees cast shadows for couples who stole away. He wondered how a Meycan caldeвs daughter might like it. . . if her throat had not been cut.
гThereвs a sadness on you, captain,д said Hiti.
гMen are going to die,д said Ruori. -
гWhat of it?д Small kindly eyes studied him. гTheyвll die willing, if they must, for the sake of the song thereвll be made. Youвve another trouble than mere death.д
гLet me be!д
The harpooner looked hurt, but withdrew into silence. Wind streamed and the ocean glittered.
The aircraft steered close. There would be one on each side. Ruori unslung the megaphone at his shoulder. Atel Hamid held the Dolphin steady on a broad reach.
Now Ruori could see a grinning god at the prow of the starboard airship. It would pass just over the topmasts, a little to windward of the rail. . . . Arrows went impulsively toward it from the yardarms, without effect, but no one was excited enough to waste a rifle cartridge. Hiti swiveled his catapult. гWait,д said Ruori. гWeвd better see what they do.д
Helmeted heads appeared over the blimpвs gallery rail. A man stepped upчanother, another, at intervalsчthey whirled triple-
clawed iron grapnels and let go. Ruori saw one strike the foremast, rebound, hit a jib. . . the line to the blimp tautened and sang but did not break, it was of leather. . . the jib ripped, canvas thundered, struck a sailor in the belly and knocked him from his yard
the man recovered enough to straighten out and hit the water in a clean dive, Lesu grant he lived . . . the grapnel bumped along, caught the gaff of the fore-and-aft mainsail, wood groaned
- . . the ship trembled as line after line snapped tight.
She leaned far over, dragged by leverage. Her sails banged. No danger of capsizingчyetчbut a mast could be pulled loose. And now, up over the gallery rail and seizing a rope between hands and knees, the pirates came. Whooping like boys, they slid down to the grapnels and clutched after any rigging that came to hand.
One of them sprang monkey-like onto the mainmast gaff, below the cross trees. A harpoonerвs mate cursed, hurled his weapon, and skewered the invader. гBelay that!д roared Hiti. гWe need those irons!д
Ruori scanned the situation. The leeward blimp was still maneuvering in around its mate, which was being blown to port. He put the megaphone to his mouth and a solar-battery amplifier cried for him: гHear this! Hear this! Burn that second enemy now, before he grapples! Cut the lines to the first one and repel all boarders!д
гShall I fire?д called Hiti. гIвll never have a better target.д
гAye.д
