The Book of Wonders Read online

  The sound of retching and the sight of a silver head bowed over the side of the boat dragged Zardi from her memories. Poor Rhidan. For a second she considered leaving her perch on the boat’s railing and going over to him, but she stopped herself. Rhidan had made it clear, several times, that if he was going to be sick, it would be on his own. She really didn’t feel like getting her head bitten off again.

  They had been sailing for well over two days now, and Captain Assam said that they’d be in Sabra in six more.

  Zardi hugged herself. Just thinking the word Sabra made her light-headed. Sabra, the harbor town, marked the juncture where the Tigress River met the ocean—the sea she’d imagined but never seen. She frowned as she suddenly recalled how Rhidan refused to even entertain the possibility that Sinbad might have already left Sabra, let alone discuss how they’d find the captain in a port ten times busier than Taraket. But find him we must, she thought. Because once we’ve docked there will be only eighty-one days until the Hunt. Zardi just hoped that Rhidan was right and that Sinbad would have some idea of how to find the Varish warriors and that they would be strong enough to defeat a man who was constantly guarded and had the command of a whole army.

  “All right there, Zee?” Captain Assam asked, waddling up to her, his significant girth undulating in harmony with the movement of the small boat.

  “Good, thanks.” Zardi smiled into the captain’s wrinkled face. Her new name had quickly become familiar, but a part of her still couldn’t believe she was actually managing to pass herself off as a boy.

  “You’re doing a lot better than your friend.” Assam chuckled as he looked over at Rhidan, who was still hanging over the railing making rather hideous gagging noises. “You know, once he gets on a bigger ship the seasickness will go. He won’t feel the movement of the water as much.”

  “I hope so,” said Zardi. “Otherwise, our careers as deckhands might be over before they even begin.” Her cheeks burned as she told the lie. She and Rhidan had not told Captain Assam or his two crewmen, Rakin and Hakeem, who they really were. To them, Zee and Rhidan were just two friends heading to Sabra, looking for a permanent job on a ship.

  Assam looked out at the river, his graying hair ruffled by the breeze. “Not everyone is cut out for a life on water, Zee. Some say it is no better than being a worm on a splinter of wood, but for me there’s nothing I love more.” He patted the rail of the boat affectionately. “She’s called the Triumph because owning her, all twelve arm spans of her, is the biggest triumph of my life.”

  Zardi nodded. Over the last couple of days she’d really become quite fond of the captain. He could talk for hours about sailing and the sea. She loved listening to his amazing tales of enormous ocean-dwelling beasts and mysterious islands.

  She smiled to herself. Two days ago, when she’d first stepped onto the boat with Rhidan, the captain hadn’t been quite so friendly, but once Zardi had willingly offered to scrub the deck he had become more friendly. Now, Assam readily showed her how to steer with the tiller.

  “We’ll be approaching the marsh soon.” Assam pointed up ahead. “If you like, I’ll let you steer all by yourself.”

  “Really—” The pitch of her voice made her break off. It was way too high. Over the last three days she’d mastered her boy’s voice well enough but somehow always forgot to use it when she was excited. She gave a little cough to cover the awkwardness. “Will it be difficult?” she finally managed to ask in a much lower octave.

  “It can be tricky,” the captain replied. “You don’t want to get too near to the bank or the rudder will get caught up in reeds, but at the same time you need to keep a lookout for pirates. The marshes are their favorite hunting ground. They know boats aren’t going anywhere fast.”

  They walked down the deck and Zardi took up the tiller. The captain’s last words niggled at her. More than once Assam had mentioned that pirates operated on the Tigress River, but she wondered if he might be exaggerating just a tiny bit. The river could be eerily quiet at points, but whenever they did come into contact with other sailors, they’d been friendly and as keen to exchange stories as goods.

  Up ahead, Zardi could see that the river was becoming murky. As the boat plunged into the brackish marsh water, it instantly slowed, almost as if they were sailing through rice pudding.

  “I feel abysmal,” Rhidan groaned as he staggered over to join Zardi and the captain at the tiller.

  “At least you’re not throwing up anymore,” she replied, swatting a fly from her face.

  “That’s because there is nothing left to throw up,” her friend grumbled. “Besides, people on the riverbank kept on waving at me. I felt like a real idiot.”

  “Those are the marsh people,” the captain explained. “They know these waters like the backs of their hands. They’re an extremely private race—you should be honored that they waved at you.”

  Rhidan dropped his shoulders wearily. “Right now, I’d be honored if I could stand upright for longer than ten seconds without feeling nauseous.”

  “Why don’t you sit down and watch some of my expert steering,” Zardi suggested teasingly. “You might learn something.”

  Captain Assam chuckled. “That’s the spirit, my boy.

  Show your friend what you can do.”

  Rhidan’s dimples appeared. “Yes, my boy.” Zardi noticed that he dragged out the last word mischievously. “Let’s see what you’re capable of.”

  She took Rhidan at his word and began navigating the Triumph through the marsh. Her hands trembled on the tiller, but she made sure that her face remained composed and her voice steady as she instructed Assam’s crew to let the sail out a little.

  “Sure thing, Zee,” the crewman named Rakin hollered, loosening the rigging, while Hakeem scaled the main mast and dealt with the sail at the top. It was a good call, and the wind caught the triangular sail perfectly and propelled them swiftly downstream, cutting through the soupy water.

  Captain Assam’s face was filled with admiration. “You’ve the makings of a fine sailor, Zee. Well done.”

  Zardi grinned and ran her hands over the hard wood of the tiller. She couldn’t believe she was really steering a boat. Her life had changed so much in just three days.

  “Captain,” Hakeem shouted, still atop the mast. “There’s a boat in trouble.” He pointed upriver. “They’re flagging us down.”

  Zardi looked along the length of their vessel and saw the outline of a small boat, no more than six arm spans, by the riverbank. As they got closer it became clear that the boat had been caught by the reeds. A distraught-looking young man stood on the deck, gesturing frantically at them.

  “Oh dear,” Rhidan commented. “Somehow, I don’t think that this guy is as good at sailing as you, Zee.”

  “What should I do, Captain?” Zardi asked, looking at Assam. She was surprised to see deep worry lines scoring the old man’s brow.

  “We’re not stopping,” the captain replied. “I will not become an easy target for pirates.”

  Zardi bit down on the words of disagreement that rapidly formed in her mouth. If she was serious about passing herself off as a sailor she’d better get used to not arguing with the captain.

  She continued on course. However, as they drew level with the stranded boat and she saw the desperation on the young man’s face, Zubeyda’s frightened eyes, glittering with tears, floated in Zardi’s mind. They couldn’t just sail past.

  “Please, Captain,” she implored, turning to Assam. “Can’t we help him?”

  The captain scowled at her, but after a moment’s more thought, nodded tersely. “Hakeem,” he barked, looking up at the crewman on the mast. “Trim back the sail and get down here. Zee, take us in toward the boat, not too close, we don’t want to get trapped by the reeds as well. Rakin, drop the anchor on my count, and Rhidan, go and fetch some rope from the cargo hatch. We’re going to pull that boat onto the river.”

  Rhidan, who still looked a bit green, agreed readily, and the rest of
the crew set about their tasks. Zardi steered the Triumph in toward the bank, carefully skirting the olive-colored reeds that reached upward from the riverbed. Once she’d brought them as close to the bank as she dared, Assam went to the port side of the boat and instructed Rakin to drop anchor.

  Zardi peered over at the banked boat and its passenger. The stranded boatman’s face was deeply tanned and was all sharp angles, but he was much younger than she’d thought initially, maybe thirteen or fourteen.

  “What do you suppose he’s doing on that boat alone?” Rhidan asked, padding over to Zardi with the heavy rope slung over his shoulder. “Even I can see it’s too big for him to handle by himself.”

  Zardi frowned. It was almost as if Rhidan had plucked the words straight out of her brain. “Perhaps the rest of his crew have gone to get help,” she reasoned, even as a feeling of unease began to creep through her. What if this is some kind of trap?

  “Rhidan, the rope,” Captain Assam bellowed, making her jump.

  “All right, I’m coming,” Rhidan called back. “Would a ‘please’ hurt?” he muttered under his breath.

  “You too, Zee,” Assam beckoned. “The tiller will be fine unmanned for a moment.”

  Zardi and Rhidan joined Assam and his crew at the boat’s railing and looked out at the smaller boat that was now only a few arm spans away.

  “Thank you so much for stopping,” the boy shouted. “I can’t tell you how many boats didn’t.”

  “Are you alone?” Assam asked.

  The boy shook his head. “My brother’s gone off to ask the marsh people to help get us out of these reeds. He hasn’t come back—” He broke off, a worried look on his face.

  At once, Zardi knew this was not a trap. The note of fear in the boy’s voice was too real. He needed their help.

  Assam must have felt the same because he took the rope from Rhidan and tossed one end of it over to the boy. “What’s your name?” the captain asked.

  “Nadeem,” the boy replied.

  “Nadeem, listen to me closely. Tie that rope tightly around your figurehead,” Assam instructed. “We’re going to pull you out.”

  Zardi watched as the boy tied the rope around the bird-shaped figurehead of his boat. There was something about the carved bird of prey that nudged some recent memory, but she couldn’t quite grasp it.

  Assam grabbed the other end of the rope and Zardi and the rest of the crew followed the captain’s lead and fell in line behind him.

  “All right, on my count,” Assam shouted. “ONE, TWO, THREE!” The five of them heaved as one. Zardi braced herself for the point of tension, the point where they’d surely meet resistance as the boat freed itself from the reeds that imprisoned it, but there was none. Instead, the smaller boat shot forward, its figurehead smashing into the hull of the Triumph and wedging there. Assam’s boat rapidly began to take on water; the fractured boards that surrounded the carved wings of the figurehead became teeth in a gaping mouth.

  The captain said a word that Zardi had never heard before and then dropped to his knees and desperately began bailing water out of the bottom of the boat with his hands. Rhidan, Hakeem, and Rakin joined the captain, but Zardi was frozen. The little boat was not stuck, she realized. It was never stuck.

  Her gaze met Nadeem’s. There was no regret in his dark eyes. Instead, they burned ember-bright with excitement. His mouth curled into a satisfied smile, and Zardi knew that the worst was still to come.

  Looking past him, she saw several figures in black drop from the trees that lined the bank. They wore daggers at their waists, and their faces were covered by thick strips of black material so only their eyes were visible. The men dove into the river and slithered like black eels through the water toward Nadeem’s boat.

  “Captain!” Zardi yelled, not caring this time that the pitch of her voice was all wrong. “We’re under attack!”

  Assam’s head shot up, and his eyes narrowed as he spotted the first of the figures in black to climb up onto Nadeem’s boat and stalk toward the boy.

  The man was tall and powerfully built, and Zardi wondered if she’d been wrong about Nadeem and whether this man would harm him. She was about to cry out a warning when she saw the two of them shake hands. Nadeem then pointed at the boat and bowed with a flourish. The tall man ruffled the boy’s hair and murmured something, while Nadeem beamed with pride. There could be no doubt now—this had been a planned ambush.

  “PIRATES!” Assam threw the rope over the side. “We have to push ourselves off this figurehead. NOW!”

  Zardi launched herself at the carved wooden bird that had taken roost in the Triumph’s hull, barging it with her shoulder. The figurehead’s cruel face mocked her attempts, and she was relieved when Rakin and the captain joined her and rammed the full weight of their bodies against it. To her side, she could hear Rhidan and Hakeem continuing to bail water from the bottom of the boat.

  Her shoulder ached fiercely as she continued to push at the figurehead, but it refused to budge. The wooden wings of the bird of prey had hooked onto the inside of the Triumph and would not release their grip. Looking over, Zardi saw the rest of the pirates climb up onto Nadeem’s boat, and then, as one unit, stride across the deck toward them, using the smaller boat as a bridge to Assam’s vessel. With the bird of prey still holding them hostage, there was nowhere the riverboat could go.

  Zardi whirled from the wooden figurehead toward the cargo hatch to grab her bow and arrows. She was too late. The attackers swarmed the boat like locusts, and two men blocked her way, daggers drawn. Yet more pirates had swum around the back of the Triumph and now climbed onboard. The two men advanced on Zardi, pushing her into the center of the boat where Assam, Rhidan, Hakeem, and Rakin also now stood. They were surrounded.

  “Who is the captain of this boat?” The tall man who had ruffled Nadeem’s hair asked commandingly.

  “I am,” Captain Assam spat out, eyeballing the other man defiantly. “And I demand that you get off it.”

  The man in black wagged a finger. “That’s the wrong answer, my friend. I am the captain of this boat until I deem otherwise.”

  “You? A captain?” Assam’s voice dripped with disdain. “A captain holds his head high and leads his men. You hide your face and steal from those who work for a living. You are no better than a hyena stealing from a mighty lion.”

  The pirate narrowed his eyes and then nodded his head once. Two of his men grabbed Assam and dragged him over to their leader. The tall man then put his hand to his dagger and with deliberate slowness drew it from his belt.

  “Don’t!” Zardi cried, trying to break through the ring of pirates. “Please, don’t hurt him.”

  “Be quiet,” the pirate leader roared, turning to her with a glare that could cleave iron. “Say another word and I will remove your tongue. Is that clear?” The viciousness of his words snatched the breath from Zardi’s throat.

  “The same goes for the rest of you.” The pirate’s gaze raked over Hakeem, Rakin, and finally Rhidan. Zardi frowned when she saw the pirate flinch as he looked at her friend. He turned his head swiftly, but not before Zardi saw an angry kind of fear in his eyes. The crescent-shaped scar just by the pirate’s left eye was jerking crazily. She gasped. She’d seen that crescent scar before. She’d heard this man’s voice before.

  It was Sinbad the sailor.

  8

  Captured

  Zee, stay back, boy,” Assam called out. “I don’t need you to fight my battles. This man is nothing but a jumped-up thief.”

  Sinbad turned back to Assam and held the blade under the captain’s nose. “You’re mistaking me for a man who will tolerate argument.” He spoke softly. “I will not. There are fifteen men on this boat, and I will call for more if need be. I want to know what you have on this ship, and I want to know now.”

  Captain Assam looked sullenly at Sinbad and pursed his lips together firmly. With a growl, Sinbad lowered the blade toward the captain’s neck.

  “The cargo hatch,�
� Hakeem yelled. “All we carry is in the cargo hatch. Some bolts of silk and some sacks of grain, that’s all we’ve got.”

  Assam scowled at Hakeem but still didn’t say a word.

  “I wouldn’t look so annoyed if I were you,” Sinbad told the captain while his men headed for the hatch. “Your crewman just saved your life.” The pirate nodded, and the two men holding the captain dragged him over to where Zardi stood with Rhidan and the rest of the Triumph’s crew.

  Zardi was pleased that the captain had escaped the taste of the pirate leader’s steel, but her mind could not stay still. Sinbad was here, on the Triumph! That was why the figurehead of Nadeem’s boat had seemed so familiar. It was a falcon, the namesake of Sinbad’s ship. She knew that every ship carried at least one spare lifeboat—Nadeem’s boat must be one of the Falcon’s. She glanced over at Rhidan. His face was strained, but no trace of hope or excitement shaded his expression. Sinbad clearly recognized Rhidan, but her friend didn’t have a clue that the man they were searching for was standing right in front of them.

  The pirates were busily throwing the bolts of silk up on the deck and soon emptied the hold of all its contents, including Zardi’s bow and arrows.

  “It hardly seems worth it,” she heard Rhidan mutter under his breath. “All this effort for some scraps of silk and a few sacks of grain.”

  Sinbad stiffened. “Your boat was the only one foolhardy enough to stop,” he snapped, still refusing to look at Rhidan directly. “Those annoying marsh people kept on warning boats that we were waiting for them.”

  Rhidan’s eyes widened. “So that’s what all the waving was about.” He looked over at Assam guiltily. “I’m sorry, Captain, I didn’t pay them any attention”—his voice became small—“on account of all the throwing up…”

  Zardi shook her head in disbelief. Rhidan had ignored the warnings, and she’d persuaded Captain Assam to stop. Together, they’d caused his boat to be captured. Her eyes fell on the quiver full of arrows and her bow.