How Firm A Foundation – Snippet 12
.IV.
HMS Destiny, 54,
Off Scrabble Shoal,
Grand Duchy of Silkiah
“Pull, you lazy bastards!” Stywyrt Mahlyk, Sir Dunkyn Yairley’s personal coxswain, shouted as the thirty-foot longboat porpoised its way through the confused waves and spray like a seasick kraken. Hector Aplyn-Ahrmahk, crouching in the bow and hanging on for dear life while Destiny‘s starboard sheet anchor weighted down the longboat’s stern and accentuated the boat’s . . . lively movement, thought Mahlyk sounded appallingly cheerful under the circumstances.
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Out Of The Waters — Snippet 40
“I believe many of Carce’s older families have objects from the time when the city was rising to greatness,” Saxa said. His tone was more cautious than Varus would have expected. His father probably didn’t know what was going on, but at least he was beginning to realize that there was cause for concern. “I’m not surprised that the Sempronii Tardi do. We of the Family Alphenus do also.”
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Four Days On The Danube – Snippet 13
Chapter 7
Hearing the door open, General von Lintelo turned to see who was entering the chamber in Ingolstadt’s Rathaus that he’d seized for his headquarters. To his surprise, the officer coming in was Colonel Caspar von Schnetter. He hadn’t expected him back so soon.
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Out Of The Waters — Snippet 39
He smiled, but Alphena saw momentary wistfulness in her brother’s expression.
Alphena didn’t know anything about rhetoric, but she understood dueling better than anyone else present. As servants placed a tray with deviled eggs and olives on the little table in the U of the diners, she said, “I noticed the attendants with you during the performance, Lord Tardus. If I noticed correctly, they’re with you tonight as well. I wonder where you found them?”
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How Firm A Foundation – Snippet 11
The canvas disappeared, drawing up like great curtains for the waiting topmen to fist it in and gasket it to the yards. Yairley felt Destiny‘s motion change as she lost the driving force of the huge square sails and continued ahead under jib and spanker alone. She became heavier, less responsive under the weight of the pounding seas as she lost speed through the water.
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Four Days On The Danube – Snippet 12
****
Bonnie Weaver wasn’t thinking of the man next to her at all. Her concentration was on the man tending the burner that was filling the airship’s envelope.
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Out Of The Waters — Snippet 38
“As for why you and I will be present,” Hedia said, feeling herself relax as her staff transformed Alphena from hoyden to young lady, “well, perhaps we needn’t be, but this isn’t a situation that I want to be blasé about. Nobody has ever imagined that I give a hoot about any government official–”
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How Firm A Foundation – Snippet 10
“Aye, Sir.” Lathyk nodded soberly. The good news was that Scrabble Sound ran almost a hundred and twenty miles south to north, which gave them that much sea room before they ran into the eastern face of Ahna’s Point or into Scrabble Shoal, itself. The bad news was that from their current position they couldn’t possibly clear Sand Shoal at the western edge of Scrabble Pass, the mouth of the sound. . . and even if they had, it would only have been to allow the wind to drive them into Silkiah Bay instead of Scrabble Sound.
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Four Days On The Danube – Snippet 11
Chapter 6
Once he realized who was coming — that had been a tense few seconds, until he recognized the women — Stefano was immensely relieved. Before they’d even arrived at the airship, he’d already begun deploying the envelope.
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Four Days On The Danube – Snippet 10
That would have been true even in summertime. In midwinter, hauling big guns across the countryside would be extraordinarily taxing on men and animals alike. As it was, they were lucky there’d been no large snowfalls for the past few weeks. A moderate snowfall had struck Thuringia and Franconia a few days ago, but it hadn’t come this far south. The roads would be icy but still manageable for lighter field guns.
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