CHAPTER 17Although my hopes that the mercenary’s ship would already have sailed were doomed to disappointment, it did look as if all were quiet aboard her. Two sailors talked desultorily on the deck under gently swinging lanterns, while the black dragon banner, matching the ship’s splendid head, fluttered peacefully in the breeze. I could ignore it with every appearance of serenity as my father and I dismounted in the midst of our own men, and Constantine welcomed us on to his own vessel.
It was dusk by then, the eerie light of the comet just beginning to be visible for the third night in a row. It had never been so difficult to concentrate on my chosen art. My eyes kept flitting around the harbour, absorbing the light and the movement, the sources of the occasional shouting and altercati
