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"Lord Deathmoon is most thoughtful." She took a lump of the ice and rubbed it
on her face and neck, relishing the feel of a cold trickle that ran down
between her breasts.
"My lord desires only that this historic meeting be as pleasant as possible
for our distinguished guest." At his gesture, slaves took up fans and a
cooling breeze swept over Larissa.
Sipping her wine and nibbling idly at her food, Larissa watched as sailing
preparations were completed. The last of her belongings were stored in the
shallow hold and the slaves filed aboard and sat at their benches, where an
overseer fastened them by their ankle rings to a rod that ran the length of
each bench.
The Shasinn came aboard and lounged on the deck, happy with this interruption
of their long march. Larissa noticed that the ship had no mast or sail, and
commented upon the fact.
"This is a rowed vessel," Blackriver said. "When there are plenty of slaves
and the distances are not great, why depend upon the wind? This vessel is
useful along the coast
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THE STEEL KINGS
221
and for a day's travel offshore, and can be rowed the entire length of the
great river."
"Slave power is a wonderful thing," Larissa agreed, admiring the sheen of
sunlight on the tanned skins of the rowers. They seemed to represent a score
of races, some of which she had never seen before. "We have conquered so many
lands, the glut of slaves is enormous. When you dispossess the old ruling
classes you end up with many slaves and few owners."
"We have found uses for great masses of them," Black-river said. "Plantations
are wonderful places to put huge numbers of them to work. Perhaps before you
return you may wish to take a tour of some coastal plantations. It may give
you some ideas for disposing of your surplus slaves."
"That might be pleasant, if time permits." She did not bother to tell him how
Gasam disliked farming. He would consider slaves better employed for spear
practice.
At last, all preparations were complete and the ship cast off from the pier.
The Thezan escort saluted, and Larissa inclined her head in response. A
whistle shrilled and the oars backed water, moving the vessel away from the
pier. At a more complicated series of trills, the oars on one side were pushed
while those on the others were pulled, rotating the ship on its axis, until
the bow was pointed out to sea. Then a naked brown man who stood beneath the
aft castle began pounding a drum monotonously. In time to the beats of the
drum, the oars began to rise and lower rhythmically, and the heavy-laden ship
began to move out to sea.
Once they were past the sheltered waters the ship began the familiar, rolling
motion. Larissa knew that it was good the voyage would be short. Most of her
guard had not been at sea since coming over from the islands as children and
they were sure to be sick after a few hours of this.
An hour out from land a lookout shouted something. Lord Blackriver strode to
the fore castle to see. Then he came back to Larissa to report.
"Two strange ships coming toward us under sail," he said.
222 John Maddox Roberts
"They may be pirates. You are not to worry. They'll run when we show them our
teeth."
"I fear nothing in the midst of my Shasinn," she said.
"Even so, Your Majesty, you may wish to go below. If they have bows, they may
be able to get a few arrows as far as our deck before we drive them away.''
"Nonsense. I have been present at more battles than any veteran of your army.
I have never hidden myself from a foe."
Blackriver smiled. "I see that your reputation as a warrior queen is well
merited. Very well, but you must have some men standing by you with shields."
"My guards are skilled at such work," she assured him.
"Then, I must go to supervise preparations." When he was gone she spoke to her
guards in the island dialect.
"Stay sitting where you are. There won't be any real battle. I don't want
those ships to see that there are Shasinn aboard, so don't show yourselves or
your black shields. Two of you borrow shields from the sailors and come here
to protect me from arrows. I want to see what is about to happen."
Disappointed that there would be no real fighting, her men complied. Two of
them came back to stand beside her, carrying long shields painted in bright
patterns. She rose from her couch and saw the two ships under sail, closing
fast from the south. They were low, rakish craft, their slanting, triangular
sails giving them a speed advantage over the rowed ship, which could achieve
high speed only in spurts.
On board her host vessel there was some sort of activity going on at the fore.
A hatch cover had been removed, and a group of soldiers and sailors were
winching something weighty up to deck level. Gradually, an odd object came
into sight.
It was a squat tube, at least eight feet long, made of the same white ceramic
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as the firetubes carried by the soldiers. Unlike those, this one was strapped
with bands of thick bronze at intervals of a foot, and there was a bronze cap
at one end. The strange thing was hoisted to the starboard side
THE STEEL KINGS
223
and laid into a massive wooden frame and pegged solidly hi place. The front
end of the thing was open and a team of soldiers busily crammed things into
the open end, ramming them back with a long, padded pole.
Larissa had seen the firetubes demonstrated before, and she knew that she was
seeing some sort of super-firetube being readied for action. Could such a
thing destroy a ship? The others were closing in fast. She knew that she could
make them run just by showing herself and having her guard stand. These were
Gasam's pirates, after all. But she was curious to see how the ship would be
fought, and she did not want to answer any questions about why these pirates
were reluctant to attack her and the Shasinn.
There were no preliminaries. As soon as the pirate vessels were within range,
their arrows began to arc toward the Mezpan ship. The first ones fell short,
then they began to strike the sides.
"Fire!" Blackriver shouted. There was a multiple crash as a group of the
Mezpan soldiers discharged their weapons as one. They stepped back from the
rail and a new line took their places and fired likewise. The Shasinn whooped
and grinned and covered their ears against the splitting clamor of the
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