Many Roads Home Read Online Free PDF Page A

had. Not much use in the dark, though.
    “Safe. As soon as we can see the shore, we’ll head for it.”
    “Did you hear that, Ge…father?”
    Gerd replied in a kind of bubbling gurgle, and Yveni realised with a sickening lurch in his gut that the man had been injured at some point. “Gerd! Father! What’s wrong with him?”
    Hiljn clambered forward across the passengers, holding the lamp aloft as he examined Gerd’s sickly white face, heard his breath coming in painful shallow gasps. “He took a hit between the boat and the ship. Crushed him. Probably stove in his ribs.”
    “Please, help him!”
    “Naught to be done. Support his head, and pray.”
    “But—”
    The exhausted sailor fixed him with a hard glance. “No time for this, boy. There’s more here than your father. Don’t cause a fuss. Comfort him—that’s all you can do. I’m sorry.”
    Gerd . Stricken, Yveni nodded, and Hiljn moved back to his position. The other passengers huddled close, staring at Yveni and the injured man, saying nothing. What could they say, when death sat among them?
    Gerd’s rattling breathing went on and on, until Yveni fell asleep, exhausted by the cold and the exertion. He woke because the boat had begun to jerk. He gripped Gerd’s hand automatically, then opened his eyes. In the predawn glow, the outline of a land mass lay only a kilometre or so ahead of them. The sailors rowed while the other passengers slept, slumped against each other where they sat.
    He turned to Gerd—and found his eyes open, fixed and unseeing. The rattling breathing had stopped, his skin cold not only from the damp or the night air. Gently, Yveni drew his hand down Gerd’s face, and closed his eyes. Gerd, be at peace. He bit his lip, but didn’t dare cry. This wasn’t the time for it.
    He looked up and found one of the sailors staring at him, even as he strained at the oars. Yveni shook his head, and the sailor bowed his slightly in acknowledgment.
    Yveni kept hold of Gerd’s hand all the way to shore. He had some notion of not wanting his friend to be alone on this last journey, though it was as much comfort for himself as anything. He couldn’t see the woman he’d tried to save, or her son. Had she been picked up by another of the boats, or lost? How many had died that night?
    As the lifeboat beached, dawn was breaking. Hope filled the weary faces of the passengers as they saw the sun, and realised they were safe and on dry land. They stumbled out of the boat, falling onto their knees in thankfulness for their salvation. Only Yveni remained, until the sailors came. “Let’s get the two of you out now, boy,” Hiljn said, not unkindly.
    They handled Gerd’s body with dignity, carrying him far above the high-tide mark. “We’ll need to bury him soon,” the other sailor, Pati, said. “When we’ve got things sorted out.”
    Yveni could only agree. He removed Gerd’s belt and pouch, items of use to him and the rest of the survivors. He took off his boots, for shoes were too valuable to bury. The clothes would have to come off, maybe, too, but he couldn’t bear to do that. The most he could stand was to wrestle off Gerd’s jacket and cover his face with it.
    No one was capable of moving, and Hiljn and Pati, like the passengers, flopped on the beach, trying to regain strength in weary, frozen limbs. As the sun came up, it became easier to move. The children recovered first, walking around and asking for food and water, though there was none to be had. Yveni felt too numb and sad to respond to the plaintive questions, and the youngsters, seeing his lack of interest, wandered off to torment the adults.
    He sat, letting the sun ease cramps and sore muscles, but unable to do more than that. They were on a wide beach of golden sand and small reddish pebbles, and behind it, trees and low, bent bushes, some covered with odd fruits and flowers. The abundant birdlife meant water somewhere, the trees meant shelter. Beyond the fringing