The Deep Gods Read Online Free PDF Page B

as I am your woman.”
    “I told you,” he said. “It wasn’t that.” He stared at the window; the light was growing now. “I thought… about the place I came from. Not about… Sheila. Other things.”
    “Do you wish to go back there?” Ammi said in a low voice.
    “I think it’s probably impossible,” he said. “No. I’m here. This is my world, and you…”
    “You must go to the Morra-ayar,” she said.
    He sighed and sat up. “Maybe,” he said, pulling at his black beard; flakes of salt came away in his fingers. “I’ll go looking for these gods when I’m ready to. And for some part of the earth that’s a little less frozen. Trees, and birds… I’m beginning to miss them, suddenly.”
    “I have seen only the small trees, in the gardens,” the girl said. “And the stumps, where the greater ones were, out there. And there are few birds here.” She sat up, watching him. “Where you lived; was it as they say it was here, in Eloranar, before the ice came?”
    “Some of it was,” he said. But not much of it, he thought. He looked out into the light. “Northward, there’s land of all kinds. People, too, I’d guess. And soon there will be no one left here.’
    “We could go with Gannat and the others,” Ammi said.
    Daniel laughed. “In a tiny shell, with hardly room to turn around? Two more aboard Gannat’s boat would sink it, I think.”
    “There are a few other boats,” she said.
    “Like Gannat’s,” he said. “Well… if I’m going to risk open ocean… and the South Atlantic, at that… I could be better pleased with something more strongly built. Nor depend on dolphins to navigate, or get me out of bad weather. I knew a bit about boats, in my world.” He rubbed a hand across his tangled hair.
    “A large, strong boat?” Ammi said thoughtfully.
    “Large enough,” Daniel said. “There may be a few others who would wish to sail with us.”
    “The young man you saw me speaking with, Banar…” And she laughed. “The one you feared would take me. He said that there were fine boats, four or five of them, still in Tavis.”
    “Where is that?” he asked, turning.
    “Tavis? It was a village, a day’s walk along the coast,” she said. “There was a river, frozen now; and many fishermen. Banar said that he had gone there once and that there were still boats, in a covered place. But he said that he could not pull any of them to the water alone, and that there is much snow in the way.”
    Daniel chewed his lip thoughtfully. “It may be worth having a look, anyway,” he said.
     
    Banar, a round-faced, curly-headed young man, seemed to accept Daniel and Ammi’s new status without a trace of annoyance at his own rejection. From time to time he looked a trifle enviously at Daniel, but he was vastly pleased to hear of the idea concerning the boats.
    “Ah, they’re fine boats!” he told Daniel. “Better than any we had here; big as two of ours, and made of a strong black wood, something that does not rot at all. They were on a platform, so.” He shaped it with his hands, expressively. “And there were sails of cloth, rolled up. They would not even need to be caulked! But there was ice, everywhere,” he concluded, looking worried.
    “Could we walk there in a day?” Daniel asked.
    “I think so,” Banar said. “And my friend Galta, he will help, too.” He called out and a strong-looking youth came, grinning shyly.
    Ammi insisted that she must go, as well, and the four of them made ready with all the furs they could collect, heavy wrappings on their feet, and such tools as Daniel thought might help. They went up along narrow trails that led zigzag through the cliffs; and finally, out onto a ragged plain of snow. A bitter wind blew, and they could see the whitecaps of the whipped ocean, far below. “Brr,” Daniel said, looking seaward. “Do you see that, Ammi? Now, that’s why I’d want the best boat I can find.”
    Banar, ahead of them, laughed over his