"David Eddings - The Dreamers 01 - The Elder gods" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

splashing and giggling as they frolicked about. ‘This is the strangest
place,’ Sorgan muttered, half to himself. ‘The next thing we know, we
might come across purple sharks or bright green whales. Rouse the crew,
Ham-Hand. The weather looks good, so let’s get under way.’
‘Aye, Cap’n,’ Ham-Hand replied.


The Seagull continued south, but she was no longer alone. The pink
dolphins accompanied her, racing along ahead of her bow and chattering
to the crew on both the starboard and port side. ‘It’s almost like we got an
escort, ain’t it, Cap’n?’ Ox suggested. Then he squinted speculatively at
the creatures playfully leaping out of the water on all sides. ‘I wonder
what dolphin meat tastes like,’ he said.
‘No!’ Sorgan said sharply. ‘Our luck’s running good, Ox. Don’t
tamper with anything. You might bring down a squall or even a water-
spout, and it’s a long swim back to Maag.’
‘Those things splashing around out there don’t have anything to do
with the weather, Cap’n,’ Ox scoffed.
 ‘Maybe not, but I’m not about to take any chances. Don’t fool around
with things, Ox. Just leave them exactly the way they are.’
And so the Seagull proceeded south at a goodly rate with dolphins
leaping along in front of her bow as rosy dawn tinted the eastern sky.
‘There’s a fire on the beach, Cap’n,’ Tree-Top called down from the
top-mast.
‘Keep your eyes peeled,’ Hook-Beak called up to him. ‘There’ll be two
more farther on south. After we pass the third one, we’ll need to keep a
sharp eye out. There’ll be an inlet that leads into a fair-sized bay. That’s
the place we’re looking for.’
‘Aye, Cap’n,’ Tree-Top called back.


The Seagull passed the third bonfire in the early afternoon of the third
day after Sorgan’s meeting with Longbow, and Hook-Beak ordered the
crew to keep a sharp eye off to port.
They rounded a headland, and just beyond there was what appeared to
be a narrow channel stretching back between two rocky promontories.
‘I’ll take her, Ox,’ Sorgan said, laying one hand on the tiller. ‘Get the
oarsmen in place and drop the sail. Let’s not run her aground this close to
the rich lady’s home village.’
‘Aye, Cap’n,’ Ox agreed.
Hook-Beak considered his options as he steered the Seagull through
the channel and into the sizeable bay lying beyond. He was fairly sure
that Longbow hadn’t been trying to deceive him, but it might be better to
take things a little slow and steady here. He didn’t know these people,
and they didn’t know him. He glanced at the sky. It was mid-afternoon
now, and it’d probably take some time to locate the village and row up
the bay to wherever it was. That could possibly bring them to this Lattash
place at sundown or even later. It might be safer to drop anchor a ways
out from shore and wait until morning. That way they’d arrive in broad
daylight, and everybody could see what everybody else was doing.