Read Blood and Steel (The Cor Chronicles Volume I) Page 5

“Kosaki! My good friend!” Naran beamed.

  Captain Kosaki was a true Tigolean of the northern coast. Though taller than most of his race at six feet, he still only came up to Naran’s chin. He had shiny, jet black hair that he kept in a long ponytail down his back and a tightly trimmed goatee and mustache. The epicanthic folds of his eyes made it appear as if he could barely open them, but Cor knew he saw everything around him. Even in his warmth at Naran, whom he had known long, he seemed to have a wary bearing, and his muscles looked ready to have him leap into action with no notice at all. Kosaki’s ship was a Tigolean runner like Naran’s, though more narrow and longer. It had arrived under the cover of darkness and moored in a newly available position directly in front of Naran’s bow.

  The men conversed at length in a bizarre language, seemingly a mix of Western, Shet and some other tongue, likely Kosaki’s own. Cor attempted to follow it with the small vocabulary he’d learned over the last two months, but found it nearly impossible. After several minutes the two captains seemed to reach an agreement that pleased them both. They embraced and Captain Kosaki nimbly climbed over the bow and leapt the short distance to his own ship. Naran shouted for his officers.

  “Today is fortuitous!” he nearly shouted when they had all formed around him. Naran rarely kept his voice down, and the more excited he was, the louder he became. “My friend Kosaki sails for Katan’Nosh tomorrow. He is here unloading payment for a Loszian lord who will be awaiting him there. It just happens that our next run takes us to the same city! We sail together for safety from pirates.”

  Loszian Empire? We’re sailing to the Loszian Empire? Cor nearly froze to the bone with the thought if it. For two and a half years, he had sailed the coastlines of Tigol with Captain Naran and even back across the Narrow Sea to the West, but never had they business with the dark empire. And now back again in Hichima, Naran sailed directly for Losz. Now fifteen, Cor had worked hard to forget the events that led him to his captain, the events that included strange happenings with strange people, but none as frightening as a Loszian.

  The sea made men of boys, Cor learned, and he was no different. He had grown substantially, now closer to six feet than five and learning the harsh, salty mistress had made his muscles hard and wiry. He was as strong as a man and could perform any task aboard the vessel, and Cor often did so with pride. His skin had never browned like the others, always a steady ashen gray. He was also a fair swordsman.