The Merchant of Dreams by Anne Lyle - Sample Chapters

to colourlessness by the mistral. As they drew nearer, pieces of flotsam dashed themselves against the bow, as if clamouring to board a sound vessel. A scrap of dull red sailcloth tangled in rigging confirmed Mal’s suspicion. This was the skrayling ship from his dream.

“I don’t see any bodies,” Coby said after a while.

“No, thank the Lord.” He made the sign of the cross, then addressed their captain in French. “Set us ashore here.”

“Is that wise?” the Moor replied in the same language, his native accent heavy. “Just the two of you?”

“Would you rather come with us, and be mistaken for a corsair raiding party?”

Captain Youssef waved to two of his men to lower the jolly-boat. Mal glanced at his companion.

Dressed in masculine attire, she easily passed for a boy of fifteen or so, and a hard life had given her a toughness beyond that of most young women. Still, he worried every time he took her into peril.

As if guessing his thoughts, she grinned at him and patted the knife at her belt.

“If any are left alive, we’ll find them,” she said.

“Ambassador Kiiren would never forgive us if we did not.”

They poked amongst the wreckage on the beach, but found no one either dead or alive, nor any sign of the ship’s cargo.

“You think the islanders already picked it clean?”

Coby asked, straightening up and brushing sand