The Broken Sphere Read Online Free PDF Page A

foredeck no more than a man’s height from the smaller ship’s hull. Fancy ship-handling, Teldin admitted grudgingly. If I’d. tried that – even with the ultimate helm – I’d probably have holed both hulls.
    As he watched, a figure emerged from a hatch onto the open foredeck. He was tall and slender, Teldin noted, much the same build as the Cloakmaster but perhaps half a handspan taller. Even though the man wore a uniform similar to those worn by the weapon crew, Teldin recognized at once he was looking at an officer.
    The man looked across the six-foot gap at the Cloakmaster, nodded briskly, and made a curt gesture that Teldin took to be a form of salute. “Permission to come aboard.”
    Teldin hesitated only long enough for a quick glance at the ballista – now at absolute point-blank range – before he answered, “Permission granted.”
    These people are good at this, the Cloakmaster told himself. Within heartbeats of his giving his permission, three more gray-clad crew members appeared on the wasp’s foredeck. From below the rail – out of Teldin’s view – they produced a broad wooden plank, which they quickly swung into place between the two ships. The officer stepped lightly onto the plank and, as casually as if he were walking on a town’s street, crossed the gap. He stepped down onto the river trader’s deck and repeated his earlier salute.
    The Cloakmaster inclined his head in a sketchy half bow. “Welcome aboard, …?”
    “Lieutenant Commander Gorase,” the man said briskly. From inside his gray jacket he withdrew a small, hand-sized slate and a sharpened piece of chalk. “Ship’s name?” he asked.
    “Uh, the Ship of Fools.”
    Gorase raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, scrawling a notation on the slate. “Master’s name?”
    Teldin hesitated for a moment. Then, “Aldyn Brewer,” he said, offering the same pseudonym he’d used in Rauthaven.
    “Brewer,” the officer muttered as he made another notation on the slate. Then he glanced up at Teldin from under thick, dark brows. “Brewer?” he repeated, pitching the word as a question.
    The Cloakmaster felt a sudden flash of fear. Were people on the lookout for “Aldyn Brewer”? He felt a cold prickling along his hairline, and his chest was suddenly tight.
    But, no, he told himself firmly, that’s ridiculous. I’m how many months away from Rauthaven? How could anyone be looking for me here, under that name? He felt the officer’s gaze on him, his clear eyes clouding with growing suspicion. “That’s right,” Teldin said quickly, “Aldyn Brewer.”
    Gorase shook his head. “No, I meant ‘are you a brewer?’ It was a small joke.” He looked levelly at Teldin for a long moment, then glanced down to write something else on his slate. When he looked up again, his face was even more carefully expressionless than normal. “Arid what is your trade, sir?” he asked.
    Teldin shrugged. “Traveler.”
    “Not a merchant?”
    “No,” the Cloakmaster replied.
    “No trade goods aboard?”
    “None.”
    Gorase’s chalk screeched against the slate, raising the hackles on the back of Teldin’s neck. “No trade goods,” the officer mumbled. He fixed the Cloakmaster once more with his cool stare. “Then what is your purpose for coming to Crescent, if I may ask?”
    “The Great Archive,” Teldin replied at once, and truthfully.
    The officer nodded slowly. “So you come seeking knowledge,” he said emotionlessly. “ What knowledge, specifically?”
    Again Teldin hesitated. This wasn’t going well, he recognized. If Gorase hadn’t been suspicious of him – for whatever reason – when he first came aboard, there was no doubt he was now. Teldin’s fumbling of the name issue had seen to that. The best way to divert that suspicion was to tell the truth – free and full disclosure.
    But he couldn’t do that, could he? Admitting he was looking for information on the Spelljammer was just too risky.
    “Just some old