Lihan Taifun
The ship sailed on for another two days. The weather was pleasant enough – sunny, with enough steady wind to fill the sails but not enough disturb the waves above a ripple. Aztryd returned to nibbling dry bread and sipping watered beer. Nizl continued to fuss because she was still always hungry. The crew continued to whisper worriedly among themselves about where they might, in fact, be.
The afternoon of the second day, a sailor with a long-glass sighted land, and the captain gratefully headed toward it. Aztryd's sight was much more limited, but the very idea of land cheered her immensely. By evening, a wispy fog rolled in, but the ship was already close enough to the land to easily find its way into a well-marked harbor. The sailors all claimed the fog was a good omen, since evening fog was much more common at the shore of the mainland than at a small island. They babbled on, explaining weather patterns, but Aztryd was only thinking of getting solid ground under her now-soggy boots, and perhaps settling her stomach enough to eat a real meal.
The harbor was well-built, and well-marked, but strangely no one was about. The sailors pulled the ship up beside an empty stone wharf. One other large ship lay farther along the harbor, and a few small fishing boats tied up, but there were no people to be seen, no voices heard except the ever-present cry of sea-birds. The sun vanished into the bank of fog.
When the sailors had tied up the ship to their satisfaction, and thrown a plank down to the wharf, Aztryd and some of the other passengers gratefully joined them in going ashore to find out where they were. Evening darkened as the fog rolled through deserted streets. The sailors and other passengers kept close together, their voices growing quieter and more cautious. What, they whispered, had happened to all the people here? Plague? Pirates? Enchantment? In a silent market square, shop doors were open, but dried leaves blew aimlessly into the dusty doorways.
In the center of the square, a fountain still flowed. One sailor tentatively stuck a finger into it, gingerly licked that finger, and declared it to be fresh water. While the sailors returned to ship to fetch their empty water barrels, and the other passengers retreated with them to the security of the ship, Aztryd simply sat on a bench in the square, relishing the feel of solid, unmoving earth.
By the time the sailors had finished filling their barrels, in the dark, by lantern-light, Aztryd had decided what she would do next. The idea of spending another night wobbling and rolling on that ship was intolerable. Surely her plan had succeeded, at least in throwing her pursuers off her track. Now it only remained to continue the rest of the way to Gamilfûn in the Blue Mountains, and she would much prefer to do that on her own two solid feet.
She returned to the moored ship one last time, and thanked the captain. She collected her things – that is, her pack and Nizl – and returned to the silent city, leaving the Humans to shake their heads at the unfathomable ways of Dwarves.
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