The Sedric fellow looked absolutely panic-stricken now. 'Alise, please reconsider!' he begged her.

'Cast off and let's get underway!' Leftrin told Hennessey.

As the crew scrambled to the mate's commands, Grigsby the ship's cat decided to make an appearance. He sauntered up to the woman, sniffed the hem of her dress boldly, and then abruptly stood up on his hind legs and rested his orange paws on her skirts. 'Mrow?' he suggested.

'Get down!' Sedric snapped at the cat.

But Leftrin was unreasonably pleased when the woman crouched down to accept the cat's introduction. Her skirts folded onto the deck around her like a blossom collapsing. She put a hand out to Grigsby, who sniffed it and then bumped his striped head against it. 'Oh, he's so sweet!' she exclaimed.

'And so are his fleas,' the man muttered in quiet dismay.

But the woman only laughed softly, a quiet chuckle that reminded Leftrin of river water purring past the bow of his ship.

Night had fallen. The dismal meal eaten on a battered wooden table from tin plates was thankfully over. Sedric sat on the edge of a narrow bunk in the deckhouse and pondered his fate. He was miserable. Miserable but determined.

The deckhouse was exactly as it was named, a low structure built on the deck to house the men. It had three chambers, if one wanted to dignify them with such a word. One was the captain's stateroom, where Alise was now ensconced. The next was the galley, with a woodstove and a cramped table with benches to either side of it. And the third room was this, the crew's quarters. A curtain across the end of it granted some privacy to Swarge and his sturdy wife Bellin in the larger bunk they shared there. That was a small mercy, he thought.

He'd avoided his bunk as long as he could, remaining out on the deck with Alise to watch yet more forested bank slip by. The barge moved smoothly and made surprisingly fast time going up the river against the current. The crew who pushed it along made their labour seem effortless. Big Eider and Skelly,  Bellin  and  Hennesey  used the stout poles that propelled the barge up the river while Swarge commanded the tiller. The barge moved up the river steadily, avoiding shoals and snags as if bewitched. It was an impressive display of seamanship, and Alise was duly awed by it. While Sedric could appreciate their skill, he tired of watching and commenting on it long before she did. He left her to her enthusiastic conversation with the barge's grubby captain and wandered aft, searching in vain for a quiet place to rest. He ended up perched on one of his own trunks, shaded somewhat by the wardrobe lashed down next to it. The crew offered no promise of intelligent conversation. One of the deckhands, Eider, was the size of a wardrobe. There was a woman, Bellin, almost as muscled as her husband Swarge. Hennesey the mate had no time to chat with passengers, for which Sedric was grateful. Skelly shocked him by both her youth and her gender; what sort of a ship expected a young girl to do the full work of a deckhand? After one visit to the smelly deckhouse, he'd given up all thought of taking an afternoon nap to make the endless journey pass more swiftly. As well to nap in a kennel.

But now it was night, and insects swarmed. They'd driven him inside and weariness had forced him to his bunk. Around him in the thick darkness, the crew slept. Swarge and his wife had retired to their curtained alcove. Skelly and the cat shared a bed, the girl curled around the orange monster. Skelly was the captain's niece; the poor girl was his most likely heir and thus had to learn the trade from the deck up. Hennesey the mate sprawled and overflowed his bunk, one muscular arm draped over the side with his hand braced on the deck. The atmosphere seemed thick with the crew's sweat and the moist snores and occasional grunts they gave off as they shifted in their beds.

There had been four unoccupied bunks for him to choose from; evidently Leftrin had once had a much larger crew on his ship. He'd chosen a lower bunk, and Skelly had not been too prickly about removing all the clutter from it so he could use it. She'd even tossed two blankets onto it for him. The bunks were narrow and cramped. He sat on the edge of his and tried not to think of fleas or lice or larger vermin. The neatly folded blanket on it had looked clean enough but he'd only seen it by lamplight. Through the sounds of the sleeping crew, he could hear the purling of the water outside. The river, so grey and wet and acid, seemed closer and more threatening than it had when he was on the tall and stately liveship. The barge sat lower and closer to the water. The ripe green smell of the water and the surrounding jungly forest penetrated the room.

When night fell and darkness flowed like a second river over the water, the crew had poled the barge to the river shallows and then tied it to the trees there. The ropes they had used were thick and heavy, and surely the knots were secure. But the river wanted the barge, and it sucked at it greedily, making the vessel sway gently and tug creakily against the ropes that bound it. Now and then the barge gave an awkward lurch, as if it had dug in its heels and refused to be dragged out into the current. He wondered what would happen if the knots gave way. There was, he reminded himself, a man on watch; Big Eider would stay up half the night, keeping an eye on things before rousing Hennesey to take his turn. And the captain himself had been up on the deck, still smoking his pipe, when Sedric had finally decided that he would have to give in and sleep in the noisome deckhouse. He had briefly entertained the notion of sleeping out on the open deck; the night was mild enough. But then the stinging gnats had begun to hover and hum, and he had hastened to come inside.

He took off his boots and set them by the edge of the bunk. He folded his jacket and set it reluctantly across the foot of his bed. Then, still clothed, he lay back on top of the thin mattress and blanket. The pillow seemed little more than a larger lump on the bed. It smelled strongly of whoever had last slept in this bunk. He sat up, retrieved his jacket and put it under his head. 'Only for two days,' he whispered to himself. He could stand this for two days, couldn't he? Then the barge would dock in Cassarick, they'd disembark and Alise would, he was confident, find a way to be allowed to study her dragons. And he'd be there, cloaked with her credentials and awaiting his opportunities. They'd stay no longer than six days, ample time as he had already pointed out to her. And then they'd return to Trehaug, board the Paragon, and head back to Bingtown. And his new future.

Home. He missed it badly. Clean sheets and large airy rooms and well-cooked food and freshly-laundered clothes. Was that so much to ask of life? Just that things be clean and pleasant? That one's table-mates didn't chew with open mouths, or allow cats to hook bits of meat off the platter? T just like things to be nice,' he said plaintively to the darkness. And then winced at the memory the words conjured.

He recalled it so clearly. He'd squared his shoulders, swallowed hard and stood his ground. T don't want to go.'

'It will make a man of you!' his father had insisted. 'And it's a big opportunity for you, Sedric. It's a chance not just to prove yourself, but to prove yourself to a man who can advance you in Bingtown. I've pulled a few strings to get you this opportunity; half the lads in Bingtown would be willing to jump through hoops to get it. Trader Marley has an opening for a deckhand on his new ship. You won't be alone; there will be other lads of your age living aboard and learning how to work the decks. The friends you'll make there will be friends you keep for life! Work hard, bring yourself to the captain's attention, and it could lead to bigger things for you. Trader Marley's a wealthy man, in daughters as well as ships and money. If he comes to look favourably on you, well, there's no telling what future it might bring you.'