The Tree of Water Read Online Free PDF Page A

dock and walked down to the end.
    All along the decking were gray and white stripes and blots that matched the ones on Asa’s tarp. The fisherman was gingerly removing it from his head, a look of disgust on his face.
    â€œOh, man,” Char whispered. “Have you ever seen so much seagull poop?”
    Ven shook his head.
    â€œWe are so sorry,” he said to Asa as the old man tossed the tarp into the dinghy. “We owe you our lives.”
    The fisherman turned back to them, his hand shading his blue eyes from the sun.
    â€œYou also owe me most of a day’s catch and a filleting knife.”
    From the water below the dock, a girl’s arm emerged. There was a slight webbing between the fingers of the hand, which was gripping a small silver knife.
    Ven bent down over the edge and took it, then gave it to Asa. The merrow’s hand disappeared into the waves.
    The fisherman stared at the knife in amazement.
    â€œHow’d you do that?”
    Ven shrugged.
    â€œI always try to pay my debts,” he said. “I will come back and work for you, if you’ll have me, so that I can replace the day’s catch as well.”
    â€œMe too,” added Char.
    Asa wiped the knife on his trousers, glanced over the side of the dock, then turned back to Ven.
    â€œNever mind the catch. I suppose in place of the lives you owe me, I would take a story,” he said. “I don’t know what you boys are up to, but anyone who’s angered the Queen of Thieves that much must have a whale of a tale to tell.”
    â€œIt’s getting to be pretty interesting,” Ven admitted. “But I’m not sure it’s going to turn out very well.”
    â€œI’d like to hear it nonetheless,” said the fisherman. “But not today. I’m way behind in my work now, and you are going to miss the outgoing tide if you wait much longer. If you want to get to a wreck, or wherever else you’re off to in the sea, you’d best be on your way. The ocean is dark and frightening enough in daylight. You don’t want to be caught out there after the sun goes down—it will make every nightmare you ever had seem like the pleasantest of dreams, believe me.”
    â€œWhen we return I will come and tell you the tale,” Ven promised.
    Asa laughed.
    â€œA man of adventure should learn the difference between when and if , lad,” he said merrily. “But I do admire your spunk. Do you still want those gills?”
    â€œNo, thanks all the same,” Ven said hurriedly. “I think we can make do without them today.”
    Asa laughed again.
    â€œA wise choice. Well, come and tell me your tale sometime, Ven. But make sure you come early—a fisherman does a whole day’s work before the sun even comes up. Morning’s my busy time—I can’t afford to be buried in seagull filth every day.”
    â€œSorry about that.”
    â€œAnd stay clear of Felonia—I’m looking forward to hearing what you did to gain her anger, and whether you survive it or not.”
    â€œSo am I,” said Ven. “Thank you again, and sorry for the mess.”
    The fisherman waved a dismissive hand at him and went back to trimming what was left of his catch.
    â€œGood luck, boys,” he said. “May the waves be kind to you.”
    â€œAnd you as well,” Ven said. It had been a long time since he had heard the expression, but it was one that had been said to him many times before, by the sailors on the Serelinda , and back in the harbor town of Vaarn, where he was born. It made him feel homesick. “Goodbye.”
    They hurried down the dock and back onto the beach, scanning the shallow water for a sign of the merrow.
    They could not have felt the gaze of the spyglass that was watching them now from atop the wall of the Gated City far to the north of the dock.

 
    5
    Thrum, Drift, and Sunshadow
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    By the time we made it back to the abandoned dock