02 The Invaders
| The Invaders | |
| Brotherband Chronicles [2] | |
| John Flanagan | |
| PHILOMEL (2012) | |
| Rating: | ★★★★☆ |
| Tags: | Fantasy Fantasyttt |
The adventure continues in the Ranger's Apprentice companion trilogy!
Hal and the Herons have done the impossible. This group of outsiders has beaten out the strongest, most skilled young warriors in all of Skandia to win the Brotherband competition. But their celebration comes to an abrupt end when the Skandians' most sacred artifact, the Andomal, is stolen--and the Herons are to blame.
To find redemption they must track down the thief Zavac and recover the Andomal. But that means traversing stormy seas, surviving a bitter winter, and battling a group of deadly pirates willing to protect their prize at all costs. Even Brotherband training and the help of Skandia's greatest warrior may not be enough to ensure that Hal and his friends return home with the Andomal--or their lives.
John Flanagan lives in Manly, Australia.
CHRONICLES
BOOKS 2
THE
INVADERS
PHILOMEL BOOKS
A division of Penguin Young Readers Group. Published by The Penguin Group.
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.). Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England. Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd). Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd). Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India. Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd). Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa. Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England.
Copyright © 2012 by John Flanagan. Illustration copyright © 2011 by David Elliot. Published in Australia by Random House Australia Children’s Books in 2012. First American edition published in 2012 by Philomel Books. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014. Philomel Books, Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Published simultaneously in Canada. Printed in the United States of America.
Edited by Michael Green. Design by Amy Wu. Text set in 13-point Centaur MT.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN: 978-1-101-57227-6
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
ALWAYS LEARNING
PEARSON
COMPANION TO THE BESTSELLING
BROTHERBAND
CHRONICLES
JOHN FLANAGAN
PHILOMEL BOOKS - An Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
ALSO BY JOHN FLANAGAN
The Ranger’s Apprentice Epic
Book 1: The Ruins of Gorlan
Book 2: The Burning Bridge
Book 3: The Icebound Land
Book 4: The Battle for Skandia
Book 5: The Sorcerer of the North
Book 6: The Siege of Macindaw
Book 7: Erak’s Ransom
Book 8: The Kings of Clonmel
Book 9: Halt’s Peril
Book 10: The Emperor of Nihon-Ja
The Lost Stories
Brotherband Chronicles
Book 1: The Outcasts
To my brother Pete, who made the
best wooden swords ever!
B
ecause this book involves sailing ships, I thought it might be useful to explain a few of the nautical terms found in the story.
Be reassured that I haven’t gone overboard (to keep up the nautical allusion) with technical details in the book, and even if you’re not familiar with sailing, I’m sure you’ll understand what’s going on. But a certain amount of sailing terminology is necessary for the story to feel realistic.
So, here we go, in no particular order:
Bow:
The front of the ship, also called the prow.
Stern:
The rear of the ship.
Port and starboard:
The left and the right side of the ship, as you’re facing the bow. In fact, I’m probably incorrect in using the term
port
. The early term for port was
larboard
, but I thought we’d all get confused if I used that.
Starboard
is a corruption of “steering board” (or steering side). The steering oar was always placed on the right-hand side of the ship at the stern.
Consequently, when a ship came into port it would moor with the left side against the jetty, to avoid damage to the steering oar.
One theory says the word derived from the ship’s being in port—left side to the jetty. I suspect, however, that it might have come from the fact that the entry port, by which crew and passengers boarded, was also always on the left side.
How do you remember which side is which? Easy.
Port
and
left
both have four letters.
Forward:
Toward the bow.
Aft:
Toward the stern.
Fore-and-aft rig:
A sail plan in which the sail is in line with the hull of the ship.
Hull:
The body of the ship.
Keel:
The spine of the ship.
Steering oar:
The blade used to control the ship’s direction, mounted on the starboard side of the ship, at the stern.
Tiller:
The handle for the steering oar.
Yardarm, or yard:
A spar (wooden pole) that is hoisted up the mast, carrying the sail.
Masthead:
The top of the mast.
Bulwark:
The part of the ship’s side above the deck.
Belaying pins:
Wooden pins used to fasten rope.
Oarlock, or rowlock:
Pegs set on either side of an oar to keep it in place while rowing.
Telltale:
A pennant that indicates the wind’s direction.
Tacking:
To tack is to change direction from one side to the other, passing through the eye of the wind.
If the wind is from the north and you want to sail northeast, you would perform one tack so that you are heading northeast, and you would continue to sail on that tack for as long as you need.
However, if the wind is from the north and you want to sail due north, you would have to do so in a series of short tacks, going back and forth on a zigzag course, crossing through the wind each time, and slowly making ground to the north. This is a process known as
beating
into the wind.
Wearing:
When a ship tacks, it turns
into
the wind to change direction. When it wears, it turns
away
from the wind, traveling in a much larger arc, with the wind in the sail, driving the ship around throughout the maneuver. Wearing was a safer way of changing direction for wolfships than beating into the wind.
Reach, or reaching:
When the wind is from the side of the ship, the ship is sailing on a reach, or reaching.
Running:
When the wind is from the stern, the ship is running. (So would you if the wind was strong enough at your back.)
Reef:
To gather in part of the sail and bundle it against the yardarm to reduce the sail area. This is done in high winds to protect the sail and the mast.
Trim:
To adjust the sail to the most efficient angle.
Halyard:
A rope used to haul the yard up the mast. (Haul-yard, get it?)
Stay:
A heavy rope that supports the mast. The
backstay
and the
forestay
are heavy ropes running from the top of the mast to the stern and the bow (it’s pretty obvious which is which).
Sheets and shrouds:
Many people think these are sails, which is a logical assumption. But in fact, they’re ropes. Shrouds are thick ropes that run from the top of the mast to the side of the ship, supporting the mast. Sheets are the ropes used to control, or trim, the sail—to haul it in and out according to the wind strength and direction. In an emergency, the order might be given to “let fly the sheets!” The sheets would be released, letting the sail loose and bringing the ship to a halt. (If
you
were to let fly the sheets, you’d probably fall out of bed.)
Way:
The motion of the ship. If a ship is under way, it is moving according to its course. If it is making leeway, the ship is moving downwind so it loses ground or goes off course.
Back water:
To row a reverse stroke.