Emilie & the Hollow World - By Martha Wells Page 0,59
close to the Hollow World already.”
Rani snorted with wry amusement. “That sounds typical. Now...” She stretched out the light fabric of the sail, fixing it to the lower reed. “If we can get this to work the way it's supposed to, we can make better time.”
With Emilie to hold things and help tie the light seaweed-braided ropes, Rani got the sail rigged. It caught the breeze and they began to move, skimming lightly over the water.
They sailed through the night, sometimes having to stop and use the paddles to get the boat through a narrow island channel, or through stands of tall reeds. Emilie knew she was lucky the boat was light and easy to paddle, and that there seemed to be no strong current to fight. The wind was light but steady, full of the scent of the sea, and the jasmine-like fragrance of the reeds. When Emilie's stomach started to growl again, Rani passed out more food from her bag, including some pieces of dried fish that tasted salty-sweet. It wasn't entirely pleasant, but it gave Emilie the energy to carry on.
For a while, at least. They had been passing through an empty stretch of water for some time, with no islands or obstructions that required them to use the paddles. Emilie caught herself slumping forward. The second time, her forehead banged her knees before she woke up. Behind her, Rani said, “Sleep, before you fall out of the boat.”
Groggy, Emilie rubbed her eyes. “What about you?”
Rani chuckled. “After too many days as Lord Ivers' prisoner, with nothing to do but sit or sleep, I could go on forever.”
Emilie was sure even Rani couldn't go on forever, but she appreciated the chance to sleep. She shifted around in the bow, easing down to the bottom of the boat, and put her head down on the seat. She was asleep instantly.
It took them a day and a night of sailing, just Emilie and Rani, out on the sea. When daylight returned, they stopped at a small island with a spring, so Rani could refill the clay water jug in the bottom of the boat. Rani gave Emilie a small knife she had managed to find along the dock, and Emilie used it to cut some dried reeds. Once they were underway again, she wove sunhats for them both.
The hats made the glare off the water bearable, though at least the wind was cool and the sun down here in the Hollow World didn't seem as bright or as hot as the one above the surface. Emilie would never have thought that weaving sunhats, a skill gained during long summer afternoons at her aunt's sedate garden parties, would come in this handy.
They passed islands with strange spiny trees, which rustled with all sorts of animal life, and long-legged bright blue water birds standing amid the reeds in the shallows. They saw crumbling towers and halls and other remnants of the old Sealands Empire. And sometimes there were waterspouts in the distance, which Rani said might be caused by some sort of large sea life.
At one point, after they had to use the paddles to guide the boat through a maze of sandbars, Rani said thoughtfully, “You know, I think this thing is even better than I thought.”
Emilie twisted around to see her examining the compass. She lifted her hat to wipe the sweat off her forehead. “Why?”
“I noticed it was taking us on a route through the islands that was too quick to be luck. Then it led us on the best path through these sandbars; if I had used my own judgment, we'd have run aground and had to go all the way around the other end of the island to get here.” Rani slipped the thong around her neck again. “I think it shows the way, the best turns and twists, to get to Dr. Marlende, and not just the direction toward him.”
It made sense. “It's the aether,” Emilie said. “Aether's in everything: air, land, water. I bet that's a bit like an aether-navigator, only it's using the aether currents to find Dr. Marlende.”
Rani lifted her brows. “You study this stuff too?”
“No, not really. I just read about it; in the Lord Rohiro novels.”
“Now which one is Lord Rohiro?”
So Emilie told her about Lord Rohiro's adventures, which occupied the next few hours.
Emilie learned a lot about Rani’s past adventures, too. They had been traveling for a long time, and had been crew together on Rani's mother's ship before