Luck in the Shadows

sore and both hands were soon cracked from the salt and cold, he worked with a good will at any task he was assigned: sanding decks, hauling slops, and helping in the scullery. Whenever he could find a free moment, he went below to tend to Seregil.
    Despite Alec's diligent care, however, his companion was clearly failing. The infection was spreading across Seregil's thin chest, and hectic fever spots bloomed over his cheekbones, giving his face its only color. A sickly odor clung about him.
    Sedrish, the ship's cook and surgeon, gave Alec what help he could, but none of his remedies seemed to have any effect.
    "At least you can still get something into him," Sedrish observed, watching Alec patiently coax a sip of broth between Seregil's cracked lips. "There's hope so long as he'll drink."
    Alec was working his way through a tangled pile of rope their third day out when the captain happened by.
    The weather was holding fair and Talrien appeared to be in a high good humor.
    "It's too bad you're leaving us at Rhнminee. I believe we could make a pretty passable sailor of you," he remarked, bracing easily against the rail. "Most inlanders spend their first voyage heaving their guts over the side."
    "No problems that way," Alec replied, brightening up a bit. "Just some trouble finding what Biny calls my 'sea legs.»
    "I noticed. That first day when the swells were heavy you rolled around like a keg in the bilge. When you set foot on land again, it'll be just as bad for a bit. That's why sailors always head straight for the taverns,
    you know. You sit and drink long enough, and pretty soon you feel like you're back on the rolling deep. Makes us feel more at home."
    Just then a cry came down from the masthead. "Land sighted, Captain!"
    "We've made good time," Talrien said, shading his eyes as he looked across the water. "See that dark line on the horizon? That's the isthmus. By tomorrow morning you'll see one of the great wonders of the world."
    Alec woke feeling queasy the next morning. The motion of the ship felt different, and he couldn't hear waves against the hull.
    "Hey, Aren," called Biny, sticking his head down the hatchway. "Come above if you want to see something."
    On deck, Alec found they were riding at anchor in a narrow harbor. A crowd had gathered at the rail.
    "What do you think of that?" Biny asked proudly.
    A thin mist steamed up from the surface of the sea. The first rose-gold light of dawn shone through it, bathing the scene before them in a layer of pale, shifting fire.
    Sheltering cliffs soared up out of the mists on either side of the harbor. At its head lay Cirna, a jumbled collection of square, white-plastered buildings that clung like swallow's nests to the steep slopes above the jetties.
    Catching sight of him, Talrien waved an arm.
    "That's one of the oldest cities in Skala. Ships were putting in here before Ero was built. You can see the mouth of the Canal over there, to the left."
    Looking across the water, Alec saw that a huge channel had been cut through the cliffs at the head of the bay. Flanking the mouth of it were enormous pillars carved in relief. Each reached five hundred feet or more from the waterline to the top of the cliff and was surmounted by an elaborate capital. At this early hour, flames and black smoke still issued from the huge oil flares that topped them.
    "How would you make anything that big?"
    Alec exclaimed, trying to grasp the scale of what he was seeing.
    "Magic, of course," scoffed Biny.
    "And hard work," Talrien added. "Queen Tamir the Second built it when she founded Rhнminee. They say it took a hundred wizards and a thousand workmen two years to build the Canal. Of course, that was back in the old days, when there were enough magicians about to be spared for such labor. It's five miles from end to end, but less than three hundred feet wide. And those beacons, atop the pillars there? You can see them for miles. We steered in by them last night." Turning, he waved a hand at the gathered crew. "Come on, you lot! We've got work to do."
    The Grampus carried cargo for Cirna, and they put in alongside one of the docks that jutted out from the shore. Alec saw to it that Seregil was moved to an out-of-the-way nook in the hold, then went above to watch the bustling activity on shore. At closer range he could see that the tops of the great pillars were not alike. The one on the left was carved in the form of a fish emerging from a wave. Even from across the harbor he could