Read Online The Bird of the River by Kage Baker - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Kage Baker
Tags: Fiction, General, Fantasy fiction, Fantasy, Epic, Orphans, Fantasy Fiction; American, Teenagers, Assassins, Pirates, Barges
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"And--and I'm not scared to go look at the heads. Let's go look at the heads!"
"Nobody's going anywhere until we get landing clearance," shouted Mr. Riveter. He waved his arms. "Seven hells! Both of you sit your butts down on that deck and stay there until I tell you you can get up! All of you kids! Line up on deck and sit down and stay there and the first one I catch fighting I'll drown with these two hands, do you understand?"
Grumbling, the children assembled and sat. Mr. Riveter stared around wild-eyed, looking as though he'd punch someone's face himself, until Captain Glass came slowly up the companionway. The captain surveyed the row of children without comment. He looked over the side at the scum of ash floating on the water, and sighed.
"Shall I organize a shore party, sir?" Mr. Riveter saluted. Captain Glass nodded.
"Get landing clearance. Find out what happened. Offer them the lumber from the snags. See if they can sell us any provisions. And, here--" He opened his wallet and passed a pair of gold pieces to Mr. Riveter. "Get me wine if they have it."
"This far up the river they're more likely to have whiskey, sir."
"Then get me as much whiskey as that'll buy. Double the watch and keep them armed."
"Yes, sir."
The captain turned and went below again, just as a door in the river gate opened and the landing master emerged. He was pale, with a bandaged head.
" Bird's master!" he called.
"Yes, sir." Mr. Riveter ran to the rail.
"Any trouble downriver?"
"None, sir. Permission to anchor and come ashore?"
The landing master eyed the logs stacked on the Bird's deck. "Granted. You have the liberty of the town."
"What happened?"
"Shellback," said the landing master, and spat. "He's got an army now! You never saw so many murdering bastards in your life. And half of them were demons. They just kept coming out of the trees. The only thing that drove them off was the fire."
"Demons! You don't think he's made friends with--you know--" Mr. Riveter jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the black mountain. The landing master gestured to ward off evil.
"Gods defend us, who knows?" His voice was hopeless.
THE HEADS WERE TOO FAR up on the gate to see much detail, and the women on the ramparts wouldn't let them come for a closer look. Eliss could tell that three of the heads were, indeed, the heads of demons, with protruding tusks, and their matted hair looked more like fur. Alder went very pale, staring up at them, but he did stare. Wolkin went pale too and after they had turned around to walk back across town he suddenly ran into an alleyway and threw up.
"Puke in your own street, why don't you?" shouted a man from a ladder, where he was pulling down burned thatching. Wolkin, emerging hastily from the alley, drew breath to say something rude, but Alder grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away.
"Let's not make anybody angrier," he said. "People have enough to be angry about."
Eliss nodded somberly. She saw, now, why Synpelene had built such a high wall around itself, and why the bandits had tried to take it anyway. It was a town of goldsmiths. Signs hung at ground level before each house, saying things like A. Cutwire, Assayer or Smith & Sons' Filigree Specialists or Steelbrace's Fine Jewelery Designs--Step In, Prospective Buyer! However welcoming the signs were, each house was like a miniature fortress, with narrow slits for windows and iron doors. Most of them were shut up tight today. Armed guards wearing different house liveries were on duty before them, leaning against the iron doors or pacing back and forth.
The town's inn, on the other hand, was a smoking ruin now. Though its windows had been barred with wrought iron, its front door had been wrenched away and was nowhere in sight. Three walls remained but the fourth was a tumbled mass of bricks in the courtyard of the house next door. The inn's sign hung drunkenly from a bracket, still informing the world that The House of the Golden Portal
"Nobody's going anywhere until we get landing clearance," shouted Mr. Riveter. He waved his arms. "Seven hells! Both of you sit your butts down on that deck and stay there until I tell you you can get up! All of you kids! Line up on deck and sit down and stay there and the first one I catch fighting I'll drown with these two hands, do you understand?"
Grumbling, the children assembled and sat. Mr. Riveter stared around wild-eyed, looking as though he'd punch someone's face himself, until Captain Glass came slowly up the companionway. The captain surveyed the row of children without comment. He looked over the side at the scum of ash floating on the water, and sighed.
"Shall I organize a shore party, sir?" Mr. Riveter saluted. Captain Glass nodded.
"Get landing clearance. Find out what happened. Offer them the lumber from the snags. See if they can sell us any provisions. And, here--" He opened his wallet and passed a pair of gold pieces to Mr. Riveter. "Get me wine if they have it."
"This far up the river they're more likely to have whiskey, sir."
"Then get me as much whiskey as that'll buy. Double the watch and keep them armed."
"Yes, sir."
The captain turned and went below again, just as a door in the river gate opened and the landing master emerged. He was pale, with a bandaged head.
" Bird's master!" he called.
"Yes, sir." Mr. Riveter ran to the rail.
"Any trouble downriver?"
"None, sir. Permission to anchor and come ashore?"
The landing master eyed the logs stacked on the Bird's deck. "Granted. You have the liberty of the town."
"What happened?"
"Shellback," said the landing master, and spat. "He's got an army now! You never saw so many murdering bastards in your life. And half of them were demons. They just kept coming out of the trees. The only thing that drove them off was the fire."
"Demons! You don't think he's made friends with--you know--" Mr. Riveter jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the black mountain. The landing master gestured to ward off evil.
"Gods defend us, who knows?" His voice was hopeless.
THE HEADS WERE TOO FAR up on the gate to see much detail, and the women on the ramparts wouldn't let them come for a closer look. Eliss could tell that three of the heads were, indeed, the heads of demons, with protruding tusks, and their matted hair looked more like fur. Alder went very pale, staring up at them, but he did stare. Wolkin went pale too and after they had turned around to walk back across town he suddenly ran into an alleyway and threw up.
"Puke in your own street, why don't you?" shouted a man from a ladder, where he was pulling down burned thatching. Wolkin, emerging hastily from the alley, drew breath to say something rude, but Alder grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away.
"Let's not make anybody angrier," he said. "People have enough to be angry about."
Eliss nodded somberly. She saw, now, why Synpelene had built such a high wall around itself, and why the bandits had tried to take it anyway. It was a town of goldsmiths. Signs hung at ground level before each house, saying things like A. Cutwire, Assayer or Smith & Sons' Filigree Specialists or Steelbrace's Fine Jewelery Designs--Step In, Prospective Buyer! However welcoming the signs were, each house was like a miniature fortress, with narrow slits for windows and iron doors. Most of them were shut up tight today. Armed guards wearing different house liveries were on duty before them, leaning against the iron doors or pacing back and forth.
The town's inn, on the other hand, was a smoking ruin now. Though its windows had been barred with wrought iron, its front door had been wrenched away and was nowhere in sight. Three walls remained but the fourth was a tumbled mass of bricks in the courtyard of the house next door. The inn's sign hung drunkenly from a bracket, still informing the world that The House of the Golden Portal
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