Read Gary Gygax - Dangerous Journeys 3 - Death in Delhi for Free Online Page A

falcon's wings to the flight of the missile, more or less. I think it will carry the arrow a league, but let's not try anything so ambitious. When the pursuer is about a mile distant, just send your shaft to strike the sails."
    When they were on the deck on the high stern, Rachelle's composite bow of horn and sinew ready, Vogalishi scoffed. "No one can hit a target at such a distance! Besides, what will a single arrow do, anyway? Never should I have believed—"
    "Silence!" Inhetep commanded. Whether it was due to the wizard-priest's heka or tone of voice, the blustering captain snapped his mouth shut. "Let fly," he said aside to Rachelle. "Aim as if at a target a hundred paces distant."
    Even she was surprised when the long arrow sprang from the taut string and went arcing into the sky to be lost from sight in the blink of an eye. Rachelle glanced aside to see the magister concentrating, eyes closed, counting under his breath. When he reached five, he stopped and spoke aloud the word for fire, looking at the sails of the enemy ship as he did so. She followed his gaze.
    "The alchemical additive to the casting creates a shower of burning sparks, Rachelle," he said under his breath, not taking his eyes from the distant craft.
    For a few seconds there was nothing unusual to see. Then there was faint smoke, pale gleam-ings, and disappearing canvas. There must have been confusion and panic aboard the pursuing vessel. The ship suddenly veered, sails fell, and it lost way. More smoke billowed from her. As the Blue Cloud gradually left the wallowing enemy vessel in her wake, it seemed that there was no longer any fire to contend with. She only had to replace a few lost sails. So much for that matter. At least it appeared that their captain wasn't absolutely villainous; he had claimed he had had to depart ahead of schedule because of a pursuer, and that ship following supported his claim. The man was now trying to embrace them as comrades. Rachelle stepped near Setne.
    "Never will I doubt you again, mighty ones," Vogalishi told the two with a beaming countenance. Inhetep explained it was merely a new archery technique combined with the alchemical produce of the famous Mesta-f, whom they both knew and respected. That didn't stop the sailor. "Tonight we will feast in my cabin, and we shall get drunk." They did eat and drink, although both Setne and Rachelle avoided inebriation. The ship's master was too pleased to mind that, even ignoring Rachelle's breaking his first mate's finger when he tried to fondle her in drunken lechery. Perhaps Vogalishi was happy his lieutenant had tried first, thus saving the captain a painful lesson.
    Indeed, Captain Vogalishi had much to be happy about. His vessel made safe passage in fewer days than he could believe from /Egypt all the way to its destination in Sindraj, thanks to his strange passengers. Better still, the two had paid him twice the value of such a journey when he should have paid them that sum! His larcenous heart filled with joy, the smuggler captain bid them adieu with no little regret that he didn't dare to try to impress them so as to assure that all of his trips were so easily made.
    = 4 =
    BOMBAY
    As in Mersa Gawasis, the Blue Cloud stayed clear of the jetties, anchoring among a welter of nondescript craft in the harbor of the crowded city of Bombay. Captain Vogalishi brought in the ship with astonishing skill, finding his anchorage just as the first light of dawn began to reveal the shapes of the mass of buildings to the east. As if conjured by a jinni, there appeared around the newly arrived ship a swarm of little rowboats. Vogalishi's crew began to empty the holds of the Blue Cloud, the captain and his lieutenants issuing frantic orders in hushed voices so as to assure that each wheriy and skiff got the right goods. The confusion was total, and in that chaos, Inhetep and his companion slipped away. Just as one particular boat with only six small casks was about to shove off from the