The Second Book of Lankhmar

Stardock rescued them from Hellfire on her invisible fish of air. Fingers saw more than I did. She'll tell you."
           The Ilthmar cabin-girl said, "Aboard Weasel the sailors all assured me that the strangest sorts of vessels dock at Rime Isle, including the cloud galleons of the Queendom of the Air. And I did see Captain Fafhrd swimming strongly atop the fog toward a cloud that could have been such a vessel."
           "Arilia is a fable, child," Groniger assured her gently. "Sailors tell all sorts of lies. Actually Rime Isle's the least fantastic place in all of Nehwon."
           "But Uncle Fafhrd did mount up the sky," Gale reaffirmed stubbornly. "I don't know how. Maybe Princess Hirriwi taught him to fly and he never told us about it. He's awfully modest. But he did it. We both saw him."
           "All right, all right," Cif told her. "I think you'd best just tell us the whole story from the beginning."
           Afreyt said, "But first you need a cup of wine to calm you down and also warm you. You've been long out on a chilly morning that may go down in legend." She opened her hamper, took out a jug of fortified sweet wine and two small silver mugs, filled them halfway, and made both children drink them down. This led to serving wine to all the others.
           Gale said, "Fingers should start it. At the beginning I was asleep."
           Fingers told them, "Captain Fafhrd came back from the diggings just after the rest of you all went off. He drank some gahvey and brandy and began to pace up and down, frowning and rubbing his wrist against his forehead as if he were trying to think out some problem. He got very nervous and fey. Finally he took up a jug, hung a lamp on his hook, and went off after you. I waked Gale and told her I thought he needed watching."
           "That's right," Gale took over. "So we jumped out of bed and ran to the fire and got dressed."
           "That explains it," Afreyt interjected.
           "What?" Pshawri asked.
           "Why Udall kept watching Fafhrd so long. Go on, dear."
           Gale continued, "It was easy to follow Uncle Fafhrd because of his lamp. The darkness was fading anyway, the stars going out. At first we didn't try to catch up with him or let him know we were behind him."
           "You were afraid he'd send you back," Cif guessed.
           "That's right. At first he seemed to be following you, but where you turned south he kept straight on east. It was getting quite light now, but the sun was still in hiding. Every so often he'd stop and look ahead at the fog and the rooftops and the wind-chime arch sticking up out of it and lift his head to scan the sky above it — that's when I saw the little fleet of clouds — and raise his hand before his face to invoke the gods and ask their help."
           "That was the hand that had the jug in it?" Afreyt asked.
           "It must have been," the girl replied, "for I don't recall the lamp going up and down.
           "And then Uncle Fafhrd began to run in the strangest slow way, he seemed to float and almost stop between each step. Of course, we started to run too. We were all into the fog by now, which seemed to slow him and support him at the same time, so his steps were longer.
           "The fog got over our heads and hid him from us. We got to the Moon Arch and Fingers started to climb it before I could tell her that was frowned on. She got above the fog and called down..."
           Gale stretched a hand toward Fingers, who continued, "Truly, gentles, I saw Captain Fafhrd swimming strongly through the top of the fog, up its long white slope, while a good distance beyond him, the goal of his mighty self-sailing, there was — I know the eyes can be fooled and my mind was full of the sailors' tales, nevertheless, my word as a novice witch — there was a dense cloud that looked very much like a white ship with a high stern-castle. Sunlight flashed from its silver brightwork.
           "Then that same sun got into my eyes and I stopped seeing anything clearly. I'd called some of it down to Gale and I climbed down and told her the rest."
           Gale took up again. "We ran through Salthaven to the eastern headland. The fog was breaking up and burning off, but we couldn't see anything clearly. When we got there, the Maelstrom was seething and mists rising from it. But overhead it was clear and I could see Uncle Fafhrd, very high