Black Horses for the King
Chapter One
“Galwyn’s feeding the fishes again,” the mate called as I emptied the odorous bucket overboard. I ignored him, rinsing the bucket in the strong waves that were following us from Isca Dumnorium.
By now, I was some used to crossing the Narrow Sea, but to have to tend to six grown men who were not, made me as ill as they. And made me, once again, the butt of jokes for my uncle’s crew. It had taken me a while to learn not to rise to the mate’s lures; he’d leave off his taunts sooner. “Have ye no sea blood in ye at all? Ye’re no use in the rigging, little use on deck, and ye can’t even keep b’low decks clean.”
I was hauling the bucket up, had it nearly to the rail, when a particularly hungry wave caught and filled it. The line pulled burningly through my hands. I barely managed to belay it on a pin and thus not lose it entirely. The mate roared with laughter at my unhandiness, encouraging the other men of his watch to join him.
“Galwyn, I’d want proof that y’are indeed Gralior’s nephew if I’d one like ye on any ship of mine ... read full excerpt from: Black Horses for the King ebook
