Tangle in the Dark - Kassidor

calamari chowder with plenty of potatoes and what appearedto be leeks, and a clean piece of rag. It was the guy whopatted her ass who brought it. When she thanked him thistime, he put his hand on the side of her face and gazed intoher eyes. He had green eyes and curly dark hair, a thin beardand firm, compact muscles. She found it wasn’t hard to smileat him this time. “Too bad we can’t sit at a little cafe and eachhave a bowl of this,” she said, “it smells pretty good.” Whilehe looked spellbound by her unintelligible speech, shecontinued with, “What’s the music like around here?” Thistime he gave her a sheepish smile and went back thru the doorand bolted it once again.In spite of everything, she got a good night's sleep andwas ready the next morning for whatever this game woulddish out. She was fed gruel for breakfast, but at least it hadsome bits of dates and fig in it. Then she was lead to a littleboat with a single square sail on a single mast. They didn’t tieher this time, the sergeant just held her arm, firmly but notpainfully, and pushed or pulled her where they wanted her togo, trying to sound polite the whole time. The boat was sosmall that a dozen of them could have been carried on thedeck of one of the sailing rafts on the rivers of Alan's world. Itwasn't even as big as a life boat on an ancient steamship.The swarthy man in a loincloth who seemed to be captainand crew of this bathtub must have been told that she knewnone of their language. He tried to speak to her in sign386