With an audible twang, the forward momentum of the Darvellian ship-now fastened to the riverbank by a living anchor-was yanked suddenly and violently sideways. Twenty or more soldiers waiting their turn to board were thrown by the change of momentum and toppled into the water. The oarsmen in the guts of the ship, still none the wiser, kept rowing, propelling the vessel along its presumed course. The bulk continued forward, but with the prow tethered, the ship only pivoted on its axis. It ...