The Ghostfaces

Also by John Flanagan

BROTHERBAND CHRONICLES

Book 1: The Outcasts

Book 2: The Invaders

Book 3: The Hunters

Book 4: Slaves of Socorro

Book 5: Scorpion Mountain

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

Book 11: The Lost Stories

Book 12: The Royal Ranger

RANGER'S APPRENTICE: THE EARLY YEARS

The Tournament at Gorlan

P
HILOMEL
B
OOKS

an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014

Copyright © 2016 by John Flanagan. First published in Australia by Random House Australia in 2016.

Map copyright © by Mathematics and Anna Warren.

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

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eBook ISBN 9780698174597

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

U.S. edition edited by Michael Green.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

A Few Sailing Terms Explained

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.

Stem:
The upright timber piece at the bow, joining the two sides together.

Fore
foot:
The lowest point of the bow, where the keel and the stem of the ship meet.

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.

Sea
anchor:
A method of slowing a ship's downwind drift, often by use of a canvas
drogue
—a long, conical tube of canvas closed at one end and held open at the other—or two spars lashed together in a cross. The sea anchor is streamed from the bow and the resultant drag slows the ship's movement through the water.

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.

Scuppers:
Drain holes in the bulwarks set at deck level to allow water that comes on board to drain away.

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.

Thwart:
A seat.

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.)

Hawser:
Heavy rope used to moor a ship.

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.

Lee:
The downwind side of a ship, opposite to the direction of the wind.

Lee
shore:
A shoreline downwind of the ship, with the wind blowing the ship toward the shore—a dangerous situation for a sailing ship.

Back
water:
To row a reverse stroke.

So, now that you know all you need to know about sailing terms, welcome aboard the world of the Brotherband Chronicles!

John Flanagan