CHAPTER 6
A week later, Penrys strolled with Najud around the deck of the riverboat. They nodded casually to the other passengers and crewmen as they passed each other, familiar with their faces and sometimes their names after five days together on board.
Neither Najud or Munraz had ever seen a powered riverboat before, so they had thoroughly explored the workings, especially Munraz who had dozens of questions about how the devices worked that spun a bladed steel wheel underwater to give the boat its propulsion to travel upstream.
Penrys had explained. “They need wizards to keep those power-stones charged, so they can’t use them all the time. That’s what the sail is for, when the winds are right. And coming downstream, they let the current do most of the work, using just enough power fo
