Erik turned.
‘The fires!’
‘What do you expect us to do?’ the sergeant asked as increasing numbers of people swarmed by him.
Suddenly Calis appeared, forcing his way back to where the two of them stood. Then Nakor and Sho Pi were at his side. ‘We have to go back!’ shouted the little man.
‘What can we do?’ demanded de Loungville.
‘We have to keep the fires burning,’ said Nakor. As if to taunt them, the rain increased in urgency, turning from a light sprinkle to a more insistent tattoo. ‘If we get them hot enough, only the worst storm will put them out.’
Calis nodded. They started moving toward the fires, and Erik looked around for Roo. In the faint hope he could be heard over the din, Erik shouted in the King’s Tongue, ‘Back to the estuary! Back to the fires!’
Whatever else might be taking place in the city, there was a full-scale riot brewing near the waterfront. Soldiers sent to keep order were joining in the general run for the ships. That the harbor mouth was now jammed by the hulks and only shallow-draft boats could manage to slip out seemed to be of no concern to the citizenry of Maharta.
Ships’ crews tried their best to fend off citizens seeking a haven, and several captains raised sail to put some distance between the docks and their craft. A half-dozen horsemen rode furiously down the street, and men and women screamed as they attempted to get out of the way.
Erik shouted, ‘Get the horses!’ and as the lead animal shied at the press of humanity before it, Erik leaped and took a hold on the arm of the rider, catching him off guard. Erik found surprising strength as he yanked the man from his saddle, given how beat-up he felt. With one crushing blow, he knocked the man unconscious, throwing him to the ground. It was probably a death sentence, as the crowd would trample the man, but Erik had no sympathy for someone who would ride down women and children to make good his own escape.
The horse’s eyes were white with fear and its nostrils flared. It tried to back up and felt the horse behind, and without hesitation it kicked out. The flying hooves caught an innocent trader carrying his last half-dozen jars of valuable unguents, sending them flying through the air to smash on the stones as the stout man was knocked almost senseless. Erik spared a moment to grab the man and haul him to his feet with one hand while gripping hard on the horse’s reins with the other. He shouted at the merchant, ‘Stay on your feet, man. If you fall, you die.’
The man nodded, and Erik let him go, having no more time to spend. He mounted and saw that Calis and the others had followed his example, save for Nakor, who was being attacked by the one remaining rider. Erik kicked hard at the flank of his animal, and the frightened gelding leaped forward. Erik’s sure hands guided him through the press to where Nakor struggled to avoid being skewered by a scimitar. Erik took out his own blade and with a single roundhouse blow took the rider out of his saddle.
Nakor sprang to the now-empty saddle and said, ‘Thank you. I grabbed the reins before I thought of how I was to get him to give up his horse.’
Erik urged his animal past Nakor’s and took off up the street after Calis and de Loungville. The two remaining riders seemed content to let them keep the horses as long as they were allowed to keep their own, and did not try to interfere with their passing.
The bulk of the horses parted the swarming mob that would have swept away men on foot. Once they were back on the street leading to the fires, the crowd thinned out. The rain was steady, and as they rounded a corner alongside the estuary, they saw the fires were beginning to abate.
Eric kept as close to the flames as possible, as there he had the least trouble passing the throng running through the street. The horse continued to shy from the flames, but Erik’s firm seat and short reins kept the animal under control.
At the end of the estuary, where the first fire was set, the large ship’s cradle and hull were almost completely intact, save for some scorching, and the once brisk fire was now guttering. Erik saw an abandoned house across the street and rode there. Leaping from the saddle, he swatted the horse on the rump, sending it away.
Running inside the house, Erik found furnishings turned every which way. Looters, perhaps, thought Erik, or a family desperate to clear out their few valuables before the fire reached them. He grabbed a chair and ran across the broad street, to the top of the jetty that overlooked the fire and tossed the wooden chair into the flames below. He made several quick trips across the rainy street and every loose piece of furniture made its way into the fire. As Nakor predicted, once reaching a certain heat, the fire grew, despite the rain, which seemed to be leveling off at a steady drizzle rather than a serious downpour.
In the next house, Erik found more loose flammables and threw them into the growing fire. At last he felt certain the cradle and hull would stay alight, but as he looked down the quayside, his heart sank. His was the only fire burning strongly enough to withstand the rain, and there was only so much one man could do.
He hurried to the next fire, which was almost extinguished, and found a store across the street. The large wooden doors had been forced open, one hanging from a single hinge while the other lay on the street. Erik picked up the one door and carried it to the edge of the street overlooking the shipyard below. He tossed the wooden door as far as he could and it sailed down to land on the edge of the sputtering flames. If anything, it banked the fire even more.
Erik swore as he hurried back to the shop. The front of the store was almost intact; whoever had pried open the doors had taken one look and run off. The store was a chandlery, with nothing of value to a looter. Erik hurried through and in the rear he found yards of sail. More, he found sealing pitch in barrels. He quickly rolled one out through the ruined storefront, and across the street. There he picked up the barrel. He threw it so it landed squarely on the flames. The barrel struck with a satisfying crack and quickly the pitch began to burn. Erik took a step away and then a fountain of flame sprang skyward.
Nakor ran up and said, ‘What did you find? That was a good “whoosh”!’
‘Pitch,’ answered Erik. ‘Inside.’ He turned and the little man followed after. Nakor scurried around, looking at everything he could find. He came away with several smaller kegs and put them aside out front, then hurried inside. A moment later he came out, stooped over, pushing a barrel as Erik was returning from putting a second barrel on the flame.
Erik paused and turned to look at the western sky. The bridge of light was nearing the apex of its arc, the Saaur and mercenaries at the leading edge standing hundreds of feet above the water.
Nakor said, ‘Wish I had a trick, boy. If I could make that thing vanish’ – he snapped his fingers – ‘that would be something, watching them all fall into the river.’
Erik got another barrel and side by side they rolled them down the cobbles, toward the third builder’s yard. ‘Why doesn’t some magician around here think of that?’ he asked, nearly panting from the exertion.
‘Battle magic is difficult,’ said Nakor as he pushed the barrel along. ‘Magician has a trick. Another magician counters the trick. Third magician counters the second. Fourth magician tries to help the second. They’re all standing around trying to best one another and the army comes along and chops them up. Very dangerous and not many magicians willing to try.
‘Surprise is the thing.’ He paused as he reached the ramp leading down to the lower landing where the main building of the shipyard was ablaze, and let the barrel roll away with a guiding kick. ‘That trick there would be very easy to counter, if you gave a powerful magician the time to study it. Lots of Pantathians working together on that bridge. Lots of serpent priests concentrating together. Very difficult. Easy to disrupt. Like unraveling a bag. You pull the right thread at the seam, and it all falls apart.’ Erik looked at him expectantly. Nakor grinned. ‘I don’t know how. But Pug of Stardock or maybe some Tsurani Great Ones could do it.’
Erik closed his eyes a moment, then said, ‘Well, if they’re not going to show up to help, I guess we have to do it ourselves. Come on!’
As they ran back toward the chandler’s, Nakor continued, ‘But if Pug or some other powerful magician was to try, the Emerald Queen has even more magicians ready to burn him to a cinder if he …’ He stopped. ‘I have an idea!’
Erik halted, gasping for breath. ‘What?’
‘You go find the others. Tell them to steal a boat here, in the estuary. Don’t wait. Leave now. Get out of the harbor fast. I’ll take care of the fires!’
Erik said, ‘Nakor, how?’
‘Tell you later. You gave me great idea! Now go! Leave soon!’ The little man hurried back toward the chandler’s, and Erik took a deep breath and turned. He willed his exhausted body into one more run and set off to look for Calis and the others.
At the far end of the estuary, Erik found Calis, de Loungville, and Sho Pi working hard at stoking a fire. Two dead guardsmen nearby told him someone had objected.
The rain increased in tempo and Erik found himself soaked to the skin as he reached Calis. ‘Nakor says to get a boat and leave, now.’
Calis said, ‘There’s too much here left intact.’
‘He said to tell you he’d take care of it. He’s thought up a great trick.’
Instantly Calis dropped a long board he was about to toss on a sputtering bonfire and said, ‘Did you see any boats?’
Erik shook his head. ‘But I wasn’t looking for any.’
They hurried back up the road until they came to the first stone stairway leading down to a lower section of the docks, where some small fires still smoldered. The rain was starting to fall in earnest, a drenching downpour that obscured the mystic arch that now hung more than half the way between the opposite bank and the city.
Peering through the rain, Erik said, ‘There’s something out there.’
He pointed. Calis said, ‘It’s capsized.’
They moved along the edge of the estuary, and more than once thought they had seen something only to find an overturned hull or smashed bow. Then Sho Pi said, ‘There! Moored to a buoy!’
Calis tossed aside his weapons and dove in. Erik took a breath and leaped after him. He followed his Captain by the sound of splashing more than anything else. Each stroke threatened to be his last as fatigue and cold seemed to leech what little strength Erik had left.
But then he came alongside the craft. It was a fishing smack, with a deep center compartment half-filled with brine to keep the fish fresh. The single mast lay along the port gunnel, lashed in place. ‘Any small-boat sailors?’ asked Calis.
Half falling as he pulled himself inside the boat, Erik said, ‘Just what I learned on the Revenge. I’m from the mountains, remember.’
De Loungville peered inside the sail locker. ‘No sails, anyway.’ He reached down along the gunwale of the boat and found two pairs of oars.
Calis sat down and took one pair and fit them in the oarlocks, while de Loungville cut the boat free from the mooring buoy. By the time Calis had taken a third pull, de Loungville had unshipped the second set of oars and was pulling along in time with Calis.
Sho Pi found a rudder and tiller and set them up, while Erik sank deeper into the boat. He was soaked to his skin, battered, and exhausted, but he almost gave thanks for being able to simply sit and not have to move.
‘Anyone see Roo?’ asked Erik. ‘Or Jadow or Natombi?’
De Loungville shook his head. ‘Where’s Biggo?’
‘Dead,’ replied Erik.
Then de Loungville said, ‘Find a bucket. We’re going to be swimming if we keep taking on water.’
Erik looked around and in a bait box found a large wooden bucket. He stood there a moment, then asked, ‘What do I do?’
‘Look for pools of water, fill the bucket, and pour it over the side,’ answered de Loungville. ‘It’s called bailing.’
Erik said. ‘Oh,’ and knelt. The boat had a bilge grate, and he saw water collecting under it. He moved the grate and dipped the bucket, and filled it half full.
Water wasn’t coming in save for the rain, and he didn’t have to work hard to keep the water contained in the bilge. Erik looked ahead.
A shallow flow out the south end of the estuary provided a direct course into the river’s mouth. Calis shouted to Sho Pi, ‘Steer that way. The deeper channel for the big ships leads into the main harbor. This smack might be able to steer between the hulks in the harbor, but I don’t want to chance it.’
Erik said, ‘With the chaos in the harbor, we would be trading one mess for a bigger one.’
De Loungville said, ‘Just keep bailing.’
Pug sat up, as a strange keening filled the air. It was the dead of night at Stardock, and he had been asleep. He pulled on his robe as the door to his sleeping quarters was pushed open. Miranda, wearing a very short and sheer sleeping shift, said, ‘What is that?’
Pug said, ‘An alarm. I’ve established wards throughout Novindus, so I could keep track of what’s going on down there without risking calling too much attention to myself.’ He waved his hand and the sound ceased. ‘The city of Maharta.’
They had come to share a quiet sense of each other over the weeks Miranda had been staying with Pug. She found it amusing that so many of the ‘mysteries’ surrounding him were really nothing more than sleight-of-hand.
When he ‘vanished,’ he was usually nearby, but keeping out of sight. He used a magical gate to leave Stardock and return to Sorcerer’s Isle at will, and usually appeared there at night. Meals were waiting for him, as well as his laundry, much to Miranda’s delight.
Pug regarded the dark eyes that studied him. ‘What do you intend to do?’ she asked. ‘Go there?’
‘No,’ said Pug. ‘There might be a trap. Come along. I’ve got something interesting to show you.’ He led her out of his personal quarters in the tower at the center of the keep of Stardock, and down the stairs.
‘And why don’t you put some clothes on? You’re quite a distraction in that nothing you sleep in.’
Miranda gave him a half-smile as she ducked into her own quarters, grabbed a dress, and slipped it over her head. Stockings, shoes, and the rest she’d worry about later.
She returned to the hall and followed Pug down the stairs. She had sensed over the weeks they had been together that Pug found her attractive, and on several occasions had wondered about him in a more personal way, but neither had broached the topic or acted upon it. She had slept alone in a room close to his every night since following him to Stardock.
A strange sort of trust had built up between them, for while Miranda refused to reveal much about herself, she had a quick mind and fast wit and the same dry sense of humor Pug had developed over the years. He had given her the run of the place, and she had been in most of the rooms, but not all. A few rooms were locked, and when she asked about them, he said there were things he was unwilling to share with anyone, and would change the subject.
He made a motion with his hand as he approached one such door, and it swung open without a touch. She understood the principles involved in the spell, but had sensed nothing of magic when she had investigated the door a month earlier.
Inside the room was a large assortment of scrying devices. A round object lay beneath a blue velvet cover, and as he removed this, she saw a perfect globe of crystal.
‘This was a legacy from my teacher Kulgan, who died many years ago. It was fashioned by Althafain of Carse.’ She nodded in recognition of the name of the legendary artificer of magic items. As he passed his hand over it, the heart of crystal turned opaque, a milk-white cloud forming within the ball. With another pass of his hand, he brought a rosy glow to the cloud within the orb. ‘This device gave him the first hint I had some talent’—his voice fell low as he added—‘a very long time ago.’
‘What can it do?’
‘It’s a sighting device, and the wonderful thing about it is that it is very subtle. Those being watched have to be very alert to sense its use.’ He sat on a stool and motioned for Miranda to sit nearby.
‘The problem, though, is that what makes it subtle makes it very stupid. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, it’s no help at all.
‘Fortunately, I know where I placed each ward.’ He squinted a little, and Miranda felt magic turning and being adjusted as Pug said, ‘Let’s see what is happening in Maharta. It must be midmorning there.’
He focused his will, and the city of Maharta was revealed in the glass, as if viewed from the clouds by the birds. It lay in smoke and cloudy darkness.
‘What tripped your ward?’ asked Miranda.
‘That’s what I’m trying to … Here, I think.’
The point of view in the glass shifted, and across the river he saw a bridge of light, and an army upon it. After viewing it for a moment. Pug closed his eyes.
He opened them again after a moment. ‘One thing about the Pantathians: there’s little about them one might call refined. Unless I attacked them directly, there’s no possible way they could know I was watching.’
‘Is Maharta going to fall?’ asked Miranda.
‘It appears that’s the case,’ answered Pug.
‘Calis?’
Pug said, ‘I’ll try to find him.’
Pug closed his eyes and the scene in the ball shifted, and as he opened them again, the colors swirling in the ball resolved themselves into an image. A small fishing boat, rowed by two men and holding two others, struggled through rough waters. Pug brought the image closer, and they could both see that the first man in the boat was Calis, pulling with his more than human strength against the choppy water.
Miranda sighed. ‘I suppose helping him is out of the question?’
‘Difficult, without letting the Pantathians know where we are. A few I could deal with. Those guarding that bridge …’
‘I know,’ she said.
Pug looked at Miranda. ‘You’re fond of him, aren’t you?’
‘Calis?’ She was silent for a while. ‘In a way. He’s unique and I feel a … connection with him.’
Pug sat back, his face a mask. ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that with anyone.’ Looking back into the ball, he said, ‘We could attempt –’
Suddenly there was a flash of orange light in the ball.
Miranda said, ‘What was that?’
‘What was that?’ shouted de Loungville as orange light exploded at the docks.
They had been making steady headway against the running tide as they crossed the boundary of the estuary and entered the river proper. The winds were picking up and the rain increasing, to the point where Erik was bailing in earnest.
No one had spoken for a while. Despite their efforts to stoke the fires before leaving, the rain had been defeating them. Even the biggest fire was starting to diminish. And whatever Nakor’s idea, it hadn’t been manifested. Then a hum had sounded in the distance, followed a moment later by a bolt of white energy arcing down from the bridge to strike the center of the shipyard.
A huge ball of orange flame climbed into the air, followed by a rising column of black smoke. The sound of the explosion had hurt their ears even at this distance, and a moment later a hot gust of air struck them like a stinging blow.
‘Keep rowing!’ yelled Calis.
Erik bailed, but he looked over his shoulder, past Sho Pi, who also looked back. ‘Look!’ shouted Sho Pi as a tiny dart of blue light rose from the docks and struck at the leading edge of the bridge of light.
Within seconds another massive bolt of energy rained down on the harbor, exploding buildings and sheds into flame. Two previously intact ships resting at anchor, waiting to be hauled out for repair, caught fire as flames touched their sails.
Now half the shipyard was aflame and hot enough, apparently, for the rain to have little impact. Calis and de Loungville pulled hard, and a few minutes later another blue bolt of light rose up and struck the bridge.
The third blast from above was as large as the first two combined, and fully half the waterfront was engulfed in fire. Suddenly de Loungville let out a harsh laugh. ‘Nakor!’ he said.
Even Calis couldn’t hide his astonishment.
Erik said, ‘But he said he didn’t have any magic that would work against the bridge!’
De Loungville said, ‘But they don’t know that!’ He jutted his chin at the bridge, starting its descent toward Maharta. ‘Whatever he’s doing, they think it’s an attack, and they’re doing our work for us! They’re going to burn down half the city trying to fry the little maniac!’
Suddenly Erik started to laugh. He couldn’t help himself. The image of the little man dashing madly from place to place, somehow avoiding the terrible destruction the Pantathians were throwing at him, was comic to consider.
‘It’s an illusion,’ said Sho Pi. ‘The serpent priests are so ready for combat, they don’t trouble to look at what is only an illusion. They act as if it were real.’
Another tiny blue bolt shot skyward and another thundering response answered, and more of the city’s waterfront erupted in flame.
‘Gods,’ said Erik in a half-whisper. ‘How’s he going to get out of that?’
Miranda squinted against the bright image in the ball. ‘What is going on?’
‘Someone has the Pantathians convinced they’re under attack, and they’re spending a great deal of energy trying to destroy whoever it is.’
‘Can we help?’
Pug said, ‘There’s enough going on that I think I can slip something in to make merry hell for this Emerald Queen.’ He closed his eyes and Miranda felt power flowing toward him. He moved his lips slightly, and, like music, the pitch of the energies in the room shifted.
Miranda sat back to watch, and to wait.
Each time the flames grew and Erik was convinced Nakor must finally be dead, another tiny blue bolt would strike the bridge, and another globe of hell-fire would descend on the city. The entire waterfront was now ablaze, from the shipbuilders’ estuary to the main harbor. As they took the river to the ocean, and rode the outgoing tide past the harbor mouth, they could see mighty ships burning at the dockside. Erik tried not to imagine Roo stuck on the docks in the midst of that fire and panic, trapped with no way to escape but to jump into the harbor.
As they steered clear of the rocks, they began to follow along the long breakwater they had used to enter the city. Movement caught Erik’s eye and he said, ‘What’s that over there?’
In the rain he could barely see, but Calis said, ‘Some of our men.’
He told Sho Pi to move closer, but pulled up short of letting the boat get too close to the rocks. Eric looked and saw three of the men who had been lost in the river the night before. One looked seriously injured, and the other two waved frantically.
Calis stood and shouted, ‘You’ve got to swim. We can’t risk coming any closer.’
The men nodded and one slipped into the water. The other helped the injured man in, and the two aided him as he slowly swam to the boat.
One of the men was Jadow, and Erik was glad to see a familiar face. But of his own company, only Sho Pi was left. Roo and Luis were not with these men. Neither was Greylock.
As Calis sat down to start rowing once more, Erik heard something. It was faint and distant but familiar.
‘Wait!’ he said, looking down the breakwater.
In the distance, a tiny figure picked its way along the rocks. As it got closer, Erik felt a weight lift from his shoulders, for Roo was limping along toward them. ‘Hey!’ he shouted, waving his hand above his head.
Erik stood and waved back. ‘We see you!’ he shouted.
Roo came to the closest point he could, then jumped feet first into the water. He thrashed through the water and Erik was over the side before anyone could say anything.
Near exhaustion a moment before, he gained renewed strength from Roo’s plight, and he struck out through the water as if he had all the strength he had ever possessed. Reaching the smaller man, he took him by the shirt and half carried, half dragged him back through the water.
He pushed Roo into the boat, pulled himself up half over the gunwales, and let the others pull him aboard. As he fell into the bottom of the boat, Erik said, ‘What kept you?’
‘Some damn fool turned loose a horse that kicked me. Damn near broke my leg.’ He sat up. ‘I knew there was too much going on near the harbor, so I figured if any of you got out, you’d be coming this way. So here I am.’
‘Smart,’ said de Loungville as he and Calis began to row. ‘Now start bailing.’
‘What’s bailing?’ said Roo.
Erik pointed to the bucket in the bottom of the boat. ‘Take that, fill it there’ – he pointed at the bilge – ‘then dump it over the side.’
‘I’m injured!’ Roo protested.
Looking around the boat, where no man sat without a scar, Erik said, ‘My heart bleeds for you. Bail!’
‘Natombi, Greylock?’ asked Erik.
Roo said, ‘Natombi’s dead. He was hit from behind by a soldier while trying to get past another. I haven’t seen Greylock since we started back from the harbor.’
De Loungville said, ‘Talk all you want, but start bailing!’
Roo muttered under his breath, but he dipped the bucket into the water gathering at the bottom of the boat and lifted it to dump it over the side.
Power manifested in the air and a singing sound caused every man to turn back toward the city. They had rowed for nearly an hour and were well clear of the harbor mouth, far enough away to have backed off the pace, and now they were turning northeast, making along the coast to the City of the Serpent River.
The bridge of light was close to touching down and armies were now upon it from end to end. But this strange keening, loud enough to cause the men in the boat to flinch, ranged over the landscape, and while they could see nothing of those on the bridge, Erik imagined it must be painful for those close to it.
Then the bridge was gone.
‘What?’ said Roo.
A thundering report sounded a moment later, and then a warm wind washed over them, rocking the smack against the roll of the sea. Sho Pi said, ‘Someone made the bridge go away.’
De Loungville laughed. It was a dirty, unpleasant sound.
Erik looked at him and asked, ‘What?’
‘I hope those Saaur on the bridge know how to swim.’
Jadow, his broad grin lighting up his face in the gloom, said, ‘As high as that bridge was, man, I hope they know how to fly.’
Roo winced. ‘Must have been a few thousand of them up there.’
‘The more the better,’ said de Loungville. ‘Now, one of you lads needs to take over for me.’ Suddenly he was falling forward into the boat.
Roo and Sho Pi moved him, while Erik took his place. ‘He was wounded in the arm,’ said Erik.
Sho Pi examined him. ‘And in the side. He’s lost a great deal of blood.’
Jadow took the tiller and Calis said, ‘I mean to row until dawn, then we’ll put in. That should put us ahead of most of those fleeing up the coast, and maybe we can find a place to lay up.’
Sho Pi stood up. ‘Captain!’
‘What?’
Pointing ahead, he said, ‘I think I see a ship.’
Calis stopped rowing and turned to look. Looming up out of the late afternoon darkness, a white sail rose against dark thunderclouds.
‘I hope they’re friendly,’ said Roo.
After a moment, Calis turned, and there was no masking the broad grin on his face. ‘Thank the gods! It’s the Ranger!’
‘Oh, man, I’m going to kiss that Captain,’ said Jadow.
‘Shut up,’ said Roo. ‘We want him to stop, not run away.’
The others laughed. Then Calis said, ‘Start waving anything that will draw their attention.’
The men stood and started waving swords, trying to catch the late afternoon sunlight, as faint as it was, and reflect it from the blade, or wave a shirt.
Then the ship started to turn and make its way toward them. After a seemingly endless time, it came close enough for a man in the bow to shout, ‘Is that you, Lord Calis?’
‘Get some help down here! I’ve got injured men.’
The ship slowed and sailors scrambled down and helped get the injured aboard. The smack was left to drift, and once they were all on deck, the Captain came forward and said, ‘Good to see you again.’
Erik’s eyes widened. ‘Highness,’ he said.
Nicholas, Prince of Krondor, said, ‘Here I’m just “Admiral.”’
‘How did you convince the King to let you come?’ asked Calis.
‘As soon as the Ranger returned with the intelligence you’d sent back, I just told Borric I was going. Erland’s in Krondor with Patrick, acting as his son’s Regent, so we’re both where we want to be. I’ll catch you up on court politics later. Right now let’s get you below and into some dry clothing.’
Calis nodded. ‘We need to get far from here. And there’s much to speak of.’
Nicholas called out, ‘Mr Williams!’
‘Aye, sir?’
‘Turn us around and set as much sail as she’ll carry. We’re making for home!’
‘Aye, aye, sir!’ came the reply.
Erik was certain he heard relief in the first mate’s voice. Sailors led Erik and the others below, and somewhere between then and the next morning, Erik passed out, and was undressed and put into a warm bunk by someone.
Miranda said, ‘You took a chance.’
-Pug smiled. ‘Not much of one, given the circumstances. All I did was irritate them, really. The city was already theirs.’
‘What next?’
‘More waiting,’ said Pug, and for an instant she saw his chafing at the need to do so. ‘When the Queen is ready to make her next move, and she shows us how she is going to dispose of those things in her possession, then we’ll know what we must do next.’
Miranda stretched. ‘I’m thinking we need to travel.’
‘Where?’
‘Somewhere warm and pleasant, with empty beaches. We’ve been locked up over these books for months now, and we’re no closer to finding the key to the puzzle.’
‘There you are wrong, my dear,’ said Pug. ‘I’ve known what the key is for some time. The key is Macros the Black. The problem is where is the bloody lock?’
Miranda stood up and knelt next to him. Putting her arm around his shoulder in a familiar gesture, she said, ‘Why don’t we worry about that some other time. I need a rest. You do as well.’
Pug laughed. ‘I know just the place. Warm beaches, few distractions – if the cannibals don’t notice you – and we can relax.’
‘Good,’ she said, kissing him lightly on the cheek. ‘I’ll go get my things.’
As she left the room. Pug sat back and pondered this strange woman. The light brush of her lips on his cheek was a small gesture, but the touch lingered and he knew it was an open invitation, if a demure one. He had not found time to become involved with any woman since his wife had died, nearly thirty years before. He had known lovers, but they had been companions or distractions. Miranda was possibly something else.
Suddenly he smiled and stood up as he considered that a lonely beach without distractions was the perfect place to begin unraveling her mysteries. The northern great archipelago would be lovely this time of the year, and there were far more deserted islands than populated ones.
As he returned to his own quarters. Pug felt a spring in his step he hadn’t experienced since he was a boy, and suddenly he felt the troubles of the world were far away, at least for a little while.
Erik looked at the whitecaps as the ship sped through the ocean. Roo had caught him up on the gossip: Prince Nicholas had come down from Krondor with the returning Freeport Ranger and had taken personal command of the situation. He had read the reports Calis had sent downriver from his first meeting with Hatonis, and had kept himself abreast of the enemy’s movement. He had kept Trenchard’s Revenge anchored at the City of the Serpent River and had come down the coast against the possibility of Calis and his men having to flee that way.
They had been anchored in the harbor at Maharta for a month when agents in the city got word to him of the coming blockading of the harbor. He had raised anchor and sailed out past a skiff full of city guards and an angry harbormaster, then sailed away from a pursuing cutter. He had stayed out to sea for a week, then returned to find the harbor mouth sealed.
Nicholas had then sailed up the coast for a day, keeping out of sight of the city against the possibility of enemy ships coming up the coast. When he had seen the smoke from the first battle, he had given the order to hug the coastline as closely as safely possible, to determine what was occurring on the land. He had been sailing toward the harbor for a better look when he’d spied the fishing smack carrying the last of Calis’s party.
De Loungville came up on deck, his arm and ribs bandaged, and came to stand next to Erik. ‘How goes it?’
Erik shrugged. ‘Well enough. Everyone’s resting. I’m still sore, but I’ll live.’
De Loungville said, ‘You did well back there.’
‘I did what I could,’ answered Erik. ‘What do we do next?’
‘We?’ said de Loungville. ‘Nothing. We’re going home. It’s back to the City of the Serpent River, give the Clan Chieftains what we know in case Hatonis and Praji don’t get there, then we pick up Trenchard’s Revenge and head back to Krondor.
‘Once we’re there, you’re a free man.’
Erik said nothing for a while until: ‘That’s a strange thought.’
‘What’s a strange thought?’ asked Roo, limping as he came up beside them. He yawned. ‘Never thought I’d live to see the day I’d enjoy waking up on a ship.’
‘I was just saying,’ said Erik, ‘that the idea of being a free man is strange.’
Roo said, ‘I can still feel the noose around my neck. I know it’s not there, but I can feel it.’
Erik nodded.
De Loungville said, ‘I was asking what you two were planning next.’
Erik shrugged, but Roo said, ‘There’s a merchant in Krondor who has an ugly daughter. I plan on marrying her and getting rich.’
De Loungville laughed while Erik smiled and shook his head in disbelief. ‘Helmut Grindle,’ said Erik.
‘That’s the man,’ said Roo. ‘I’ve got a plan that will make me rich in a year, two at the outside.’
‘What’s that?’ said de Loungville.
‘If I tell you, and you tell someone else, then there’s no advantage, is there?’
De Loungville seemed genuinely amused as he said, ‘I guess not.’ He turned to Erik. ‘And what about you?’
Erik said, ‘I don’t know. I’m going back to Ravensburg, to visit my mother. Then I don’t know.’
‘I don’t suppose it would hurt to let you boys know there’s a bonus of gold in this for you.’
Erik smiled and Roo’s eyes lit up.
De Loungville said, ‘Enough for you to start up that smithy.’
Erik said, ‘That seems like a faint dream.’
De Loungville said, ‘Well, it’s a long voyage, and you have a lot of time to think on it. But I have a suggestion.’
‘What?’ asked Erik.
‘This battle’s just one of many, nothing more. We cut them and they’re bleeding, but they’re a long way from dead. Burning down the shipyards gained us a few years. Calis thinks maybe five, perhaps six, then the ships will start being built in earnest. Hatonis and the others will run a war, irregulars striking at the lumber trains as they caravan down the mountains and raiding the barges on the rivers; it’ll slow them down, but sooner or later the ships will be built.
‘We’ve got agents all through the area, and we’ll burn a few of the ships and cause them general grief for a while, but sooner or later …’
‘They will come,’ finished Erik.
‘Across the Endless Sea, right into the Bitter Sea, and to the gates of Krondor.’ He waved back toward Maharta, out of sight but still fresh in their memory. ‘You think on that happening to the Prince’s city.’
‘Not a pretty thought,’ admited Roo.
‘We’ve got a lot of work to do. Calis and I. And I could use a corporal.’
Roo grinned and Erik said, ‘Corporal?’
‘You’ve got a knack, son, even if you’re not mean enough. Hell, Charlie Foster was a nice guy by anyone’s measure before I got my hands on him. A couple of years with me and you’ll be spitting cobbler’s nails and pissing lightning!’
‘Me in the army?’
De Loungville said, ‘Not just any army. Nicholas is going to give Calis a mandate, signed by the King. We’re going to raise up an army the likes of which no man has seen before. We’ll train them and drill them, and when we’re done we’ll have the finest fighting men in history.’
Erik said, ‘I’m not sure.’
‘You think about it. It’s an important job.’
Erik said, ‘I’m a little soured on killing right now, Sergeant.’
De Loungville’s voice dropped and he spoke firmly but softly. ‘That’s why it’s important and that’s why you’re the right man for the job. We’re going to train these men to stay alive.’
He patted Erik once on the shoulder. ‘It’s a long voyage. We’ll have plenty of time to talk. I’m going to take a rest now.’
Erik and Roo watched him leave and Roo said, ‘You’re going to take the job, aren’t you?’
‘Probably,’ said Erik. ‘I don’t know that I want to be a soldier the rest of my life, but I do seem to have the knack, and there’s something about knowing where I belong that appeals to me. Roo. Back home I never felt that way. I was always “the Baron’s bastard,” or “that crazy woman’s son.”’ He lapsed into silence a moment, then said, ‘In Calis’s army I’d just be Corporal Erik.’ He smiled. ‘Besides, I have no ambitions to be rich like you.’
‘Then I’ll get rich enough for the both of us.’
Erik laughed and the two men stood quietly for a while, simply relishing the fact of having survived to be able to plan a future.