Read The Tritonian Ring and Other Pasudian Tales for Free Online Page A

temple of Lyr to sacrifice a lamb to the sea-god. While he did not take his gods too seriously (as they never visited him) he thought it just as well to be on the safe side. Then by questioning all and sundry he located the Dyra. Mateng was ordering the stowing of a cargo of copper ingots, bison-hides, and mammoth-ivory.
     
                  "Waste no time in getting home!" Vakar told the charioteers, who clattered off leading the horse he had ridden. Vakar sauntered up to the edge of the quay and stepped aboard the ship, trying not to show his excitement. Fual and Sret staggered after under their loads of gear and food for the trip.
     
                  Mateng called: "Ruaz! Here's your passenger! He's all paid up, so take good care of him."
     
                  "A prince, eh?" said Captain Ruaz, laughing through his beard. "Well, keep out of the way, your sublime highness, if you don't want an ingot dropped on your toe."
     
                  He bus tl ed about directing his men un ti l, after a long wait, they got the last goods stowed and the hatches closed and cast off. The crew manned four sweeps which they worked standing up, maneuvering the ship out from its qual. They plodded around the annular harbor to the main canal, Vakar craning his neck this way and that to see all he could of Amferé from the water.
     
                  As they entered the canal they picked up speed, for a slight current added its impetus to the force of the oars. Soon they passed through the outer city wall, where a great bronze gate stood ready to swing shut across the channel to keep out hostile ships. Then down the canal half a mile to the sea.
     
                  At the f ir st roll of the Dyra in the oceanic swell, Sret curled up in the scuppers with a groan. "What ails him?" said Vakar.
     
                  "Seasickness, sir," said Fual. "If you don't suffer a touch also you'll be lucky."
     
                  "Like what happened to Zormé in the poem?
     
     
    "With eyeballs aching               and hurting head,
    Sunk in the scuppers                             the hero huddled
    Loathing life                                           and desiring death?
     
     
                  "I'm not so badly off as that yet."
     
                  Fual turned away with a knowing look. After a few minutes of tossing, Vaka r did experience a slight headache and queasiness of stomach, but not wishing to lose face he stood proudly at the ra il as if nothing was wrong. The four sailors hauled in the oars, lowered the steering-paddles until they dipped into the water, and hoisted the single square scarlet-and-white striped sail. The west wind sent the Dyra plunging toward the Hesperides. Vakar now saw the reason for the high stern, as wave after wave loomed up behind and seemed about to swamp them, only to boast them forward and up and slide harmlessly underneath.
     
                  He staggered to the poop where Ruaz held the lever that operated the yoke that connected the two steering-paddles, and asked: "What happens when you wish to sail back from the mainland to Amferé and the wind is against you? Do you row?"
     
                  "You wait and pray to your favorite sea-god. In this sea the wind blows from the west four days out of five, so you must wait for the fifth day. I've sat in port at Sederado a month awaiting a fair wind."
     
                  "That sounds tedious. What if some other sea-captain is praying for the wind to blow in the opposite direction?"
     
                  Ruaz's shoulders and eyebrows went up in a great shrug. Vakar looked past the poop towards Amferé , now fast dropping out of sight behind the bulge of the ocean. He felt a lump rise in his throat and wiped away a tear. Then for a long time