Doom's Break Read Online Free Page B

griping, Mergas, you know that?"
    Another door opened and closed.
    The one addressed as Mergas gave a sigh and stepped into the cockpit and looked around.
    Nothing struck him as being out of place at first, but then he spotted a line left tied to the side-rail cleat. Mergas stepped forward, intent on tidying up that line.
    Thru fell back, hiding behind the pin rail until Mergas passed. Then he rose and struck the man on the back of the head with a wooden bucket. Mergas fell to the deck and did not move.
    The man was heavy, much heavier than Jevvi Panst. Thru got a shoulder under the weight and, staggering a little, dragged the body forward and laid it down near the chum pot.
    Then he hurried back to try the doors of the cabins.
    A rumble of voices arose in the cabin on the left side as he stepped into the dark passage. He froze for a moment, ears straining. But the rumble merely presaged a coarse bellow of laughter.
    "Holds liquor by its ears!" roared a voice, and the laughter redoubled.
    On the right were two doors, a small one, which obviously led to a closet of some kind, and a full-size one leading to a cabin.
    He tried them both. The smaller one opened easily and revealed tools and bottles set inside container rails. Furled sailcloth was stacked in bolts at the back. The larger door was locked. After quick examination, Thru saw that it was stoutly made and would resist his efforts to kick it in. Long before he could rescue Simona, the other men would take him prisoner, too.
    He backed down the passage to the cockpit and took a look over the side. The ports on that side were shuttered and fastened from within. There was no easy way to get inside that cabin.
    At the bow he took another look at the nearby land. Forest came down right to the edge, with trees forcing their way out over the rocks. The nearest was no more than fifty feet away.
    That gave him an idea. Thru lifted the big coil of rope at the bow and tossed it down to Juf. Then he wound a line around the chum pot and carefully lowered it over the side. Juf received the smelly pot of fish guts with both big eyebrows lofted in curiosity.
    After recovering his bow, Thru climbed over the side. When he was down, Juf pushed the boat out from the ship and then began to row, with care but with power, to take them back out of the cove and around the point.
    "You will leave me on the far side of the point, then go back to the Sea Wasp . They must raise the anchor and bring her down here."
    "What will you do?"
    "They have locked Simona in a cabin. To free her we have to distract these pirates and then board them."
    Juf, still puzzled, looked to the pot of chum. Thru turned to him with a grim smile.
    "I'm going to make things interesting for them. Which is why you must press on as hard as you can. Tell Mentu to make haste. It won't take long, I think, to get things stirring."
    Clutching the heavy chum pot, Thru clambered out of the front of the rowboat and splashed ashore. He set it down carefully and went back for the big coil of rope.
    "Every minute is precious, Juf."
    But Juf needed no reminding. He drove the oars into the water and propelled the boat back out into the sea.
    Thru watched Juf go, then shouldered the rope, took up the smelly clay pot, and ran up the rocky point to the trees. There had been no cry of outrage from the ship yet, but it couldn't be too long before the pirates found they'd been boarded by stealth and robbed of the meat they'd planned to roast the next day.
    Thru had much to do in that time.
    He left the pot on the beach, took one last look at the fishing vessel sitting at anchor just fifty feet away, and went up into the tangled forest. He found a stout enough tree just ten feet or so up from the sand. With several low branches it was easy to climb. He took one end of the rope up with him and tied it around the trunk some twelve feet up. He dropped down quickly, then pulled the rope behind him out through the lower bushes and down to the