Mad Ship

Once he was where he could stand on his own, Ke

"Sir," agreed Sorcor. Then he hung his head as if studying the sand between his big boots. "Sir, I'm taking Alyssum."

"If you must," Ke

Sorcor was nodding gravely. "Just as I saw it myself, sir."

Ke

He cast a wary eye at the folk that still huddled in clusters, staring at them. None looked prone to attack, but one never knew. As he glanced at them, one stepped out boldly to stand before the rest. "You're leaving us here, like this?" He was incredulous.

"How else would I leave you?" Ke

Again, Wintrow surprised him. "You've made it very apparent he's not welcome here. Why should he waste his time on you?" The boy sounded sincerely disdainful.

"It wasn't us that jumped him!" the man cried out, affronted. "It was them other troublemakers, and they're all dead now. Why should we be punished for what they done?"

"It also wasn't you that jumped in to save him," Wintrow snapped back. "That shows you have learned nothing. Nothing! You still believe that the evil that befalls another is nothing to you. Let another man be taken slave, let another town be raided, let someone else be slaughtered on the beach right in front of you. It won't matter to you until it's your own throat being slit, and we haven't time to wait for that. Other towns are glad to listen to what he says, glad to profit from his leadership. Divvytown is dead. It was never on a chart, and it never will be. Because the people in it were already dead."

The boy's voice had a power to it. The very people he was reviling drew closer, moving as if drawn in like fish on lines. Some scowled, some looked shamed. Some still wore the dazed look of people whose bodies have survived some widespread disaster while their minds fled. They came toward the boy. Even stranger, the men of the crew parted, to let Wintrow stand before his audience unblocked. When the boy fell silent, the quiet that followed his words echoed his accusation.

"Other towns?" someone finally asked from the crowd.

"Other towns," Wintrow confirmed. "Towns like Askew. They took the ship that Ke

"That won't work for us," a woman objected. "We can't stay here! The raiders know where our town is. They'll be back. You must take us with you. You must! Our only hope is to flee. What else are we to do?"

"What else?" Wintrow mused. He stood up on his tiptoes. He looked about the squalid harbor as if mentally comparing it to something. "There!" He pointed to a low bluff. "That is the spot where you could start. You rebuild, but you begin with a tower there. It need not be very tall to command a view of the lagoon. With a man keeping watch there… nay, even a child on watch there could have warned you all in time to flee or fight. You would have survived the last raid."

"You're suggesting we rebuild Divvytown?" a man asked skeptically. His hand described an arc to indicate the remnants of the buildings. "With what?"

"Oh, I see. You have better prospects elsewhere?" Wintrow asked him dryly.

When the man made no reply, he went on. "Rebuild it with what you do have. Some of the lumber is salvageable. Cut trees now and put them to dry for more lumber later. Raise the ships in the harbor. If they will not sail again, put their planks to use elsewhere." Wintrow shook his head as if he could not fathom their stupidity. "Must it all be laid out for you? Make your stand here. Was this not your home? Why are you allowing them to drive you from it? Rebuild, but this time, do it right, with forethought for defense, for trade, for clean water. The docks should never have been built here! They should run out from there. You gave the best ground to the warehouses. Put your homes and businesses there, and build the warehouses on pilings over there, where a ship can come right up to the door. It was all in Ke

Few things appeal so much to the heart of a man as a fresh start. Ke

Wintrow raised his voice like a prophet proclaiming. "Ke

Ke

Even stranger events followed as the miracle unfolded. A man stepped forward, declaring, "I'm going to stay here. I'm going to rebuild. When I got away from my master in Jamaillia City and fled here, I thought I was a free man. But now I see I wasn't. The boy's right. I won't be free until I stop ru

One of the freed slaves came to stand beside him. "I'm here. I have nowhere else, nothing to my name. I start again here." One of his fellows came mutely to join him. Slowly the whole crowd edged closer.

Ke