Ship of Dreams Read Online Free PDF

Hero. “If we can hang on a few minutes more, though, I reckon we’ll come out of this in one piece.”
    “Oh?” yelled Eldin as the three circling gaunts turned inward and came at them in a concerted rush. “And how did you come to that conclusion?”
    “It’s daylight,” cried Hero, slashing at one of the three and causing it to swerve and collide with the mast, which snapped off at its base and was carried off, sail and all. “Gaunts aren’t supposed to like daylight.”
    “You’d better tell them that!” Eldin roared as one of the brutes hit the port strakes such a blow that they shattered inward and showered the pair with splinters of wood.
    The boat was obviously done for now. Only the keel held it together where it lay low in the stern and listing badly to port. “This is madness,” Hero shouted, gazing wildly and uselessly about. “How the hell do we bail her out?”
    “Forget it,” Eldin yelled his answer. “Here they come
again—and it seems we’ve no choice but to go down with out ship!”
    They braced themselves for what must be the final assault as the gaunts came at the boat from below. One after the other the hideous creatures hurled themselves at the keel and the bottom strakes, and the boat shuddered and bucked with each fresh strike. It was surely all over now.
    Then—
    Blinding rays of light stabbed with startling suddenness out of the east, soundlessly seeking out the attacking gaunts where they now flapped and fluttered in a frenzy of terror. The great gaunt and its rider, barely avoiding these raking beams from their as yet unknown source, now veered sharply away across the sky to enter a cloudbank where it lay like so much cotton wool to the west.
    The other gaunts immediately followed suit, but as they went one of them was caught by twin beams of brilliant white fire. There was a rasping, rending sound then, and a moment later all that remained of the stricken creature was several tatters of black rubbery stuff, exploding outward and spinning dizzily downward into oblivion.
    In a matter of seconds the sky was empty of enemies, and the men in the foundering boat shielded their eyes against the sun which now emerged fully from the clouds to the east. Hero blinked, screwed up his eyes and blinked again, then gasped as he saw a fully-rigged man-o’-war riding the cloud-crests. Sailing directly out of the sun, its decks were lined with the bright mirrors of numerous ray-projectors.
    “A warship!” cried Hero. “But what a vessel—a ship of the clouds!”
    “A light in the sky,” rumbled Eldin, not nearly so elated.
    “Hey!” yelled Hero, standing up and waving a strip of sail-cloth at faces which peered down from the railed deck. “By all that’s good, take us aboard, lads. Quickly now, or we’ll surely go down with our brave little boat …”
    “Either way, we’re sunk,” growled Eldin under his breath as the ship gracefully drew alongside.
    This time Hero heard him. “Sunk?” he repeated. “Man, we’re saved!” But seeing his companion’s worried frown, he asked: “How do you mean, sunk?”
    “This is one of Kuranes’ ships,” Eldin explained, “kept in good fighting trim since the Bad Days. He has a great armada of them. Don’t ask me what it’s doing out here—and I suppose we’re lucky to be pulled of this damned hulk anyway—but one thing’s certain: we’re bound for Serannian.”
    “And that’s bad, eh?” said Hero, grabbing at a rope ladder where it came snaking down from the ship’s rail. “Is it worse than falling a couple of miles out of the sky in a cockleshell boat? What’s so bad about Serannian?”
    “Nothing,” grunted Eldin. “It’s a beautiful place—except Kuranes is there. He spends his time between Celephais and Serannian, remember?”
    Climbing the ladder, Hero said: “So?”
    Close behind him Eldin gave an impatient snort. “He’s constantly in touch with Celephais,” he explained. “They use pigeons. Old Leewas