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Is it Home?

Seasickness strikes the best. That's what he had heard people say. Obviously he was not among the best. Yes, he felt the rocking of the waves, but everything around him was far too exciting to allow any nausea to surface.

Thanks to Ida's exotic language skills, Areus was passenger on a true Keftian war ship. It was quite big and the crowd onboard just unbelievable. Fourty eight scantily clad rowers sat on small wooden benches all along both sides of the rail. Sweat running down their muscular bodies, they forcefully pulled their oars through the water, kept in time by someone beating a monotonous rhythm on a huge drum. Obviously they were not just rowers but fighters: each one had stored a helmet and other gear under his bench.

Amidships, lower than the ship's deck, twelve very small but stout light brown ponys were tied fast. They belonged to the female soldiers. Eight more soldiers had been left behind together with their mounts, so normally twenty of these animals were cramped together in this space. The female soldiers themselves occupied a narrow room next to the horses - higher than the animals, but still slightly below deck level. The women only occasionally and in some elaborate system participated in their male rowers' labor. Most of the time they talked to each other, but Areus didn't understand a word, not only because of the constant drumming and the noise from the wooden ship and the water, but also because they used a strange dialect.

In the ship's very center stood a huge mast; connected to it, on deck level, there was a thick bundle of something reaching across the ship left to right; everybody who was trying to pass the length of the ship was forced to cumbersomely climb over or beneath it. From the top of the mast a breathtaking tangle of ropes was dangling in all directions, some loose, some tight, some connected to the body of the ship, others to some winches or other objects. People had to tiptoe like storks around all these ropes.

The ship's bow was made of an endlessly long and thin painted rod pointing forward into the sky. At the stern a helmsman held a huge steering rudder connected to the ship with a complicated mechanism. Also at the stern was a small artfully decorated cabin which accommodated the guests of the journey: Areus and his companion Ida. Or, more precisely: Ida and her companion Areus, because primarily Ida was the Keftians' guest.

Though the sun of spring was shining gently this early afternoon, Areus shuddered. It was windy and much cooler than ashore. Having gained some distance from land, the ship changed course. Suddenly the drum fell silent, some of the rowers abandoned their oars, jumped up and pulled like crazy on some of the many ropes. The long bundle athwartships started to move. It raised up, and then a big square light brownish sail unfolded. The ship started heeling and shaking dangerously. More ropes were pulled, others loosened and soon the ship regained its stability. The wind swelled the sail and soon the rowers sat back idly, while the ship gained speed.

For several hours they kept course parallel to the shore and from the distance at one point it seemed to Areus as if he recognized the shape of his home valley, but he wasn't sure. Some time later again the silhouette looked to him like the mountains of his childhood, but after a while he gave up: too unfamiliar the perspective and never had he been this far from land before.

None of the crew seemed to take notice of the two landlubbers on board. After hours of silence, Areus adressed Ida casually: "I wonder where they take us. We are going parallel to the coast now for almost five hours. To reach Keft they should steer directly away from the coast." - Ida looked at him and said: "What game are you playing? I am not your wife. Nor your slave. You released me, remember?" - "I know, I know. I keep my word. But can't you pretend at least vis-à-vis the Keftians, until we reach their island? It is so important to me to get there. Didn't I save you from the burning hut? I beg you to keep quiet until we reach their island." - Ida said nothing and he took her silence for approval.

Next Section : Heading for Purple Snail Island