Read Doom's Break for Free Online

swatted at his neck.
    Thru and Janbur went back to the cabin. Breaking down the door, they cut Simona free of the post to which she'd been tied. She was unhurt but for a few cuts and bruises.
    They helped her to her feet and she embraced Thru, thanking him for saving her from a dreadful fate. As they held each other, a frown formed on Janbur's brow.
    "So, dear Simona," said Thru, "can you walk? Are you hurt?"
    "I can walk. Thank you, Thru, you came back for me..."
    "Of course. We all did."
    He helped her into the passage, past the frowning Janbur.
    Suddenly the opposite door opened and Mergas emerged, having finally woken up with a splitting headache. He gave a shriek at the sight of them and swung blindly at Thru, clipping him on the ear. A moment later, Mergas's knife was out, and he drove in at them, growling.
    Taken by surprise, Thru reeled from the blow. Simona gave a scream and fell against the pirate. His knife cut her along her side as she went down, but his thrust at Thru's belly went wide. Mergas stumbled over Simona and lost his balance. Thru shoved him backward, and he fell over in the passageway.
    Thru landed on top of him immediately, caught the knife hand, and delivered a hard blow to the man's chin. Mergas went limp once more. Thru took his knife, then turned back to Simona.
    Janbur was helping her up. There was a line of scarlet along her side.
    "How deep?" asked Thru.
    "I don't know," she said. "Not too badly, I think." Her hand came away from her side dripping blood, and she fainted into Janbur's arms. Janbur carried her to the ship's side and, with help from Juf and Mentu, lowered her down into the boat.
    Ter-Saab kept his position at the head of the ladder with an arrow drawn. The pirates dared not try to get past him.
    Thru came out of the stern cabin carrying a lantern blazing high. "You will live," he told the men, "but you will suffer, and you will rue your evil actions here."
    With that he smashed the lantern against the mast. The burning oil flowed out and onto the lowered sail.
    The men screamed as one when they saw the bright flames flicker along the sail and catch.
    Pern Glazen broke another lamp on top of the sterncastle and then dove overboard. Thru and Ter-Saab were the last to leave, jumping over the side together as the flames took hold. They swam for the boat, which Juf had taken out about fifty feet.
    Behind them, the pirates fought frantically to put out the fires, which blazed high in the tropical darkness.
    As they rowed for the point, with Ter-Saab hanging on in the back, they heard the men cursing them horribly. The rescuers said nothing, but exchanged grim smiles.
    Back aboard the Sea Wasp , Janbur and Mentu examined Simona's wound. It was a slashing cut, a quarter inch deep down her rib cage and along her hip.
    "It will need to be salted," said Mentu, "to keep it from infection. And we must sew it up. That will hurt horribly."
    Simona bit her lip. "I am not a weak woman of purdah anymore. I will not cry out and beg you to stop."
    A closer examination of Jevvi's injuries left them far less sanguine, however. Jevvi's labored breathing brought up bubbles of blood. He remained unconscious, and there were terrible swellings on his skull.
    They raised the sail once more, catching the last of the offshore breeze. As they drew past the point, they looked back into the cove and saw the pirate vessel ablaze from bow to stern. The men had swum to shore and were standing in a glum line in the shallows.
    Once they were out in the open sea, Mentu turned the Sea Wasp north. For the rest of the following day, they sailed across the Maruka channel. A day later, they had left the Marukas behind and were launched upon the huge northern ocean.
    It was plain by then that Jevvi would not recover.
    That evening, Thru found Mentu and Janbur sitting together in the bow while the sun sank in the west. "Why did they hurt Jevvi so much?" Thru asked.
    Both men sighed and looked out to the horizon. "Why?"