Thraxas and the Ice Dragon / Траксас и леденият дракон: Втора глава

Английски оригинал Перевод на български

Chapter Two

#1

The next day arrives, dull, overcast, and windless. I wake up shivering. I brought my magic warm cloak with me, but we've been sharing it. Lisutaris slept in it last night. I stride out onto the deck.

#2

+1

"I've had enough of this," I declare. "I'm as cold as a frozen pixie, not to mention wet as a mermaid's blanket. I'm stuck on a small boat with no beer, a depressed Sorcerer and an angry barbarian woman. I'm sick of it."

#3

I look up at the sky, and offer up a prayer to whichever Gods might be watching in these parts.

#4

"How about taking us back to land?"

#5

Nothing happens. We remain becalmed. I start to feel annoyed, and shake my fist at the sky. "I demand you take this boat back to shore!"

#6

Lisutaris arrives on deck and looks at me questioningly. "What are you doing?"

#7

"I'm demanding that the Gods take us back to land."

#8

"That's going to work," grunts the Sorcerer, and sits down wearily at the side of the boat. "I'll catch us some fish for breakfast."

#9

"I don't want fish. I'm fed up with fish. I want beer and I want to get back ashore."

#10

I start shaking my fist at the sky again. "Saint Quatinius? How about some help? We built statues of you all over Turai. Shouldn't you be doing something in return? I can't keep going on fish much longer. I need meat. And beer. A lot of beer."

#11

We remain becalmed. I feel irritated at Saint Quatinius. As a patron saint he's really not much help. Makri appears from her cabin, shivering.

#12

"Who is Thraxas shouting at?"

#13

"Saint Quatinius."

#14

"Has he gone mad?"

#15

Lisutaris nods. "He seems to have. Too much fish."

#16

"We'd still have some venison left if he'd been able to control himself."

#17

I glare at Makri. When we fled the city, I did have the foresight to bring along a large joint of venison. Properly rationed, it might have lasted for some time. Perhaps unwisely, I ate it all in one night, feeling in need of some proper sustenance.

#18

"So I ate all the venison. A man of my proportions can't keep going on fish. I need meat. And beer."

#19

I shake my fist at the sky again, and complain to Saint Quatinius.

#20

"You couldn't expect Thraxas to go for a week without beer without cracking up," says Makri, sitting down next to Lisutaris to share the warm cloak.

#21

I glare at her. "At least I'm trying to do something."

#22

"Do what? None of us even believe in Saint Quatinius."

#23

I gaze up to the sky. "Please do not abandon me because of this Orcish infidel, great Saint Quatinius. It's not my fault she doesn't believe in you."

#24

"Hey!" yells Makri. "I'm not an Orc. And stop shouting to that imaginary saint."

#25

"Ignore her, Saint Quatinius. Do not punish an honest Turanian citizen because he has the misfortune to be cast adrift with an unbelieving Orc."

#26

Makri storms up and stands in front of me. "Will you stop calling me an Orc!"

#27

Makri has one quarter Orcish blood. It can be a sensitive subject.

#28

"Maybe if you said a prayer as well we might get somewhere."

#29

Makri sneers. "I don't believe in your Western gods."

#30

"Well how about your Orcish ones?"

#31

"I don't believe in them either."

#32

I raise my hands in supplication. "You see what I have to put up with, Saint Quatinius? Send me back to land and I'll donate money to the nearest church."

#33

Makri growls in frustration. She looks up at the grey clouds above. "Saint Quatinius, I'll start believing in you if you just get me ashore so I can escape from this oaf."

#34

At that moment a wind springs up. Lisutaris rises to her feet. "It's coming from the south. If this keeps up it might get us back to land."

#35

"Aha!" says Makri, and looks smug. "Now who's the unbeliever?"

#36

"What do you mean?"

#37

"It was my prayer that brought the wind."

#38

"Stop talking nonsense," I say.

#39

"Nonsense? I didn't see the saints paying any attention to you shaking your fist. Hardly surprising. Then I make a polite request and here we are, on our way." She turns to Lisutaris. "You remember that time I stopped the rain in Turai? Do you think I might have some hidden religious powers?"

#40

I shake my head in disgust, then march to the bow to peer into the distance, hoping for a glimpse of land. There's no telling how far south we've drifted in the past week, but now at least we're heading in the right direction.

#41

"So how much money do you have in mind?" asks Lisutaris.

#42

"Pardon?"

#43

"You promised to donate to the church if Saint Quatinius took us back to land."

#44

"If we make it ashore I'll give it some thought."

#45

Shrouded in mist, we drift northwards for a long time. Such a long time that I start to worry.

#46

"What if we've gone so far west that there isn't any land left? We might just carry on till we– "

#47

I let the sentence hang unfinished. Makri looks at me.

#48

"I keep telling you Thraxas, the world is round. You can't fall off the edge."

#49

"I don't see why you're so sure about that."

#50

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