Time Salvager (Time Salvager #1)(68)
The tarp fell off and Salih felt the sting of burning rays on his sunburned back. He shook his fist at the gods and pleaded, “Horus, damn your infernal heat. I can’t take it much longer.”
There was a yellow flash, brighter than the light of Horus. Salih shied away in terror as a silhouette of a man appeared floating in the air, casting a long shadow over him. With the sun to the back of the figure, Salih couldn’t quite make out who he was. The very fact that he was floating could only mean one thing, though.
“My humble apologies, mighty Horus.” He threw himself onto the deck of his ship. “I meant no insult. Please save me from—”
“Quiet,” the dark figure said, drifting down to the deck. As his body moved out from the sun’s path, Salih realized that the god looked like any other man, except for his strange garb. He must be divine, though, or at least noble, for his skin was so pale, it was as if he had never stood in daylight before. Of course! How could the sun god’s own rays darken him?
Salih stayed prostrated as the figure made a circle around the deck. He checked the broken mast and then knelt down in front of Salih. “Where is your cargo, merchant?”
“Down below, great Horus,” Salih said. “Please, it is yours. Just deliver me to safety.”
The figure made a chuckling noise, which Salih found strange. Did gods have a sense of humor? He stood up and walked to the starboard side of the ship and looked out toward the horizon.
“Come here, merchant,” he said.
Salih obeyed and crawled on all fours toward the figure.
“Oh, stand up, for abyss’s sake,” the figure said.
Salih dutifully obeyed and stood, though he made sure to keep his head bowed and his eyes on the ground. He had once heard the story of man who stared at the face of the sun god and had his eyes seared off. Salih was already in enough trouble, being stranded out to sea. The last thing he needed was to go blind from—
“Do you see those clouds on the horizon?” The figure pointed at the dark rumblings in the distance.
“Yes, great god. It is the same storm that destroyed my ship and drowned my crew. Mighty Yam must have been displeased with my offerings before I set—”
The figured turned and faced him. “In two days’ time, the storm will engulf you again. This time, it will not be as merciful. It will break your ship and you will drown.”
Salih’s face turned white. “Please save me, great god. I have a family, a sister, an elderly mother.”
“I can do nothing for you, merchant, except offer you a quick death. I’m sorry.”
The dark figure rose up into the air, and then Salih’s deck buckled and cracked with a thunderous bang as if lightning had come down from the sky. The cargo stowed in the hold broke through the deck and orbited around the floating man. He made a strange gesture, and then all of Salih’s cargo disappeared.
Salih watched in horror as ocean water rushed through the gaping hole in his ship. It was sinking!
“You have helped many people today, merchant. I hope your next life remembers that.” The god gave him a tilt of the head, a small sign of respect that Salih found strange coming from a deity.
“Great god,” he cried, reaching his arms out toward the figure. “Save me!”
The last thing Salih saw were the ends of his ship as they folded up and over him, finally blotting out the angry sun that had plagued him for so many days. Then everything went black.
*
The instant James pulled his haul from the trading ship out of his netherstore, the party began. The savages—no, the Elfreth, he reminded himself that Elise didn’t like it when he referred to these people as savages—gathered around excitedly as he stacked bags of barley and meats and fish on one of the tables. James wasn’t sure what they were more fascinated by: the fact that he was pulling things out of midair or that he had just brought enough food to last them weeks. He realized a few minutes later that they could care less about this magic trick of his with the netherstore as they mobbed the foodstuffs.
An elderly tribeswoman, her hair tied neatly in a bun, wearing a leather piece on her chest that could only be called an apron, came and inspected one the sacks. A knife materialized in her hand and she slit a small corner off the top. She sniffed the contents inside and her face lit up into giant smile. She waved the kitchen staff closer. The smile fell a bit when her eyes rested on James, but he was rewarded with a slight nod. Then she began to delegate.
More and more of the Elfreth came to see what was going on. Word soon spread all the way up to the Farming Tower roofs, and soon, the entire tribe left their daily work early and a spontaneous celebration exploded in the field.
Elise came a few minutes later with Sammuia, the boy with the hurt leg, leading her by the hand. The boy seemed to follow her wherever she went. She eyed the stockpile, a small smile spreading across her face.
“Did you rob a grocery store?”
“A floating one,” he answered. “Originally meant for the fishes. I thought I’d put it to better use.”
“Did everything go all right? You were gone for a few days.” She paused. “I was worried.”
James nodded. The actual job only took a few hours. However, he had gone to the jump site two days early and stayed a day in the region after he returned to reconnoiter ChronoCom’s activity when a patrol came to investigate the jump. He was relieved and deeply moved to discover that he could still trust Smitt. If Smitt had wanted to betray him, monitors would have been swarming the general vicinity. Knowing that Smitt was still his friend lifted a great weight off James’s shoulder.