Tale:
“Bad Business”
The bark Skylark
once again lied at anchor; this time it was drawn up alongside a pier
in the harbor of the religious settlement known as Sรคis.
Horace stood on the main deck, saying farewell to the disembarking
passengers—clerics of Gaea, whom the Larks had transported back
from their pilgrimage. Max and Urield stood with Horace, sharing
gregarious farewells. For his part, Max made a deep bow to the
halfling woman who'd drawn his eye.
After all had gone ashore, Horace was about to give orders to set
sail; he was interrupted by Lucinda, who emerged from the
companionway that led aft to the main cabin. “Captain,” she
announced, “our patient has regained consciousness.”
“Belay,” Horace called. “Hold here and wait for further
orders!” Then, turning on his heel, he followed her aft. In the
main cabin he found Konrad sitting on a chair from the captain's
table, which he'd drawn up alongside the narrow bed built against the
aft wall. As Horace watched, the dwarf sprinkled water with a ladle
from a steaming pot onto the bedclothes in which the lizard-woman was
wrapped.
She gave a contented sigh. “Again, I thank you,” she said in
sibilant Common.
“It is
nothing.” Konrad shook his head. “But, Narraw, can you tell me
why you came seeking us?”
Her expression of
comfort dissolved into a worried frown. “They... they took our
children,” she hissed.
“Your
children?” That question came from Lucinda.
“Yes. Our
eggs.”
Horace's brow furrowed. “Do you know why?”
“They needed a way to make us work for them, to make us dive in
the water and explore a...” She struggled to find the correct word.
“A wreck.”
“A wreck?” Each of the adventurers asked that question
simultaneously.
“Yes. I did not understand all that they said, but it sounded like
it was... important to them.”
Max and Uriel smiled identical wolfish grins; Konrad stroked his
beard, and Horace twirled the end of his moustache.
It was Lucinda
who spoke. “If we help you recover your eggs, then would you help
us recover whatever is in that wreck?”
The lizard-woman
nodded. “Yes.”
“It's settled,
then,” Horace declared. “All hands to stations; make ready to
sail.”
*
* *
Because
the river provided plenty of propulsion, they set only the topsails
to aid in steering the Skylark.
While they made a brisk pace downstream, Horace left a veteran hand
in charge of the whipstaff so that he and his officers could
reconvene with Narraw in the main cabin.
“So,” Horace began, “we encountered Martelli.”
“And gave him and his men a good thrashing,” Uriel added with a
grin.
“Indeed,” Horace continued. He turned back to the lizard-woman,
and gave her a quick description of the fallen foe. “Is he the
one?”
“Yes,” she hissed.
“You said they forced you and your people to dive on a wrecked
ship. Did they have a place where they took the things that you
recovered from it?”
She nodded.
“Can you lead us there?”
“Yes.”
“Very good. Let's go up on deck, then, and see what we can see.”
*
* *
An
hour later found the Skylark
once again trailing behind its longboat. This time, though, it was
moving under minimal sails instead of being towed. Konrad was
stationed in the bow of the boat, watching and reporting, and Horace
stood by the helm. Lucinda, Uriel and Max crewed the longboat, and
Narraw accompanied them. They waited while the lizard-woman scanned
the passing shoreline, looking for telltale signs of the hideout.
After
what seemed like hours, she raised a hand and then pointed at a dense
cluster of reeds. Max signaled back to Konrad, who relayed the
message to Horace.
“Strike
sails,” the human whispered, “and drop anchor.” The crewed
moved quietly to execute his orders.
Back
in the longboat, Uriel was preparing for action. He stripped off his
leather armor and any clothing beyond a loincloth and a belt. Into
that item he slipped the halfling-sized shortsword that Max offered
him, which in the half-orc's big hand looked more like a longknife.
Then he turned to Narraw and gestured toward the water. “After
you.”
In
one lithe motion she dove into the water, making hardly a splash.
Uriel was nearly as graceful following her. For a time they were
gone, and then they came back up to the surface.
“This
is the place,” Uriel explained. “Max, we need your help.”
The
halfling stripped out of his armor, too, and then stepped up onto the
boat's gunwhale and dove; he added a backflip to it.
Lucinda,
watched that display and then followed their progress toward the
shore as best she could; then her eye was caught by a flicker of
bright color descending from the sky. The newcomer settle down onto
the gunwhale next to her; it was Polly, her familiar.
She
looked the bird in the eyes for a moment, and it nodded. Turning back
toward her departed comrades, the half-elf considered for a moment
and then decided. Taking up the boat's oars, she began rowing back
toward the Skylark.
*
* *
Before
long Lucinda was back aboard the bark, having been hauled up on the
carpenter's swing while a sailor took her place in the boat. After
asking Konrad to keep a lookout for the others, she approached
Horace.
“Captain,”
she announced, “I have good news and bad news.”
“What
is it?” he asked.
“The
good news is that most or all of the pirates are currently away from
their hideout.
Horace
considered that information. “What's the bad news?”
She
gave a rueful smile. “It seems that they've attacked and overrun a
Northern Empire galley, and they did it not far from here.”
“What
are the odds that they'll return to their hideout?”
“I
think it pretty likely.”
“Then
spread the word: double the watch and arm the crew, bows and blades.”
*
* *
For
a time Narraw swam through the water, her powerful tail propelling
her like an oar. Max did his best to keep up with her, while Uriel
brought up the rear. Both the half-orc and halfling were force to
surface from time to time in order to take a fresh breath, and thus
it was that she came swimming back to them, indicating with gestures
that they should follow her.
She
led them to a pace where a narrow tunnel, concealed by the reeds, led
up under the shoreline. Urield and Max both recognized that it would
be completely hidden at high tide, but partially expose at low ebb.
Kicking back to the surface, the two adventurers took deep breaths
before diving again and, with Max in the lead, swimming into it.
The
tunnel, narrow and sandy, sloped upward, rising after some fifty feet
above the waterline. Max and Uriel pushed themselves into the air
pocket, and then the halfling began to crawl further forward. After a
time the tunnel opened up into a broader cavern, one with stone walls
and a sandy floor. It was nearly empty, except floor a hole in the
floor, on the other side of the chamber, that led downward and had a
ladder sticking out of it. Max scrutinized it and then started toward
the ladder—but not in a straight line; instead he kept one hand
against the wall to his left. Reaching the hole, he listened for a
moment before jumping downward.
The
lower level was dimly lit by a few everburning torches
set in crude sconces along the walls. They illuminated a chamber that
was furnished with hammocks tied to support posts, along with a
rough, broad table surrounded by chairs. Against the wall opposite
the ladder rested a number of chests, each bound in iron and secured
with a heavy padlock. Most notable, however, were the sharpened
stakes that jutted up from the ground, ones that were placed directly
beneath a false canvas floor in the middle of the upper level.
While
Uriel considered that, Narraw dropped to the sand against one wall
and began sniffing at it. Both of the others could see numerous
small, circular indentations in that area.
“They
were here,” she declared. “The eggs were here.”
Uriel
nodded. “But where are they now?”
“Maybe
they moved them onto a ship,” Max suggested.
“If
they did, then how will we ever find them?” Narraw asked.
“Don't
worry.” Uriel tried to sound confident. “We can ask the others.
They'll think of something.”
“Do
you think so?”
“I
do.”
The
lizard-woman nodded. With a final glance at the small impressions,
she turned and headed for the exit. Before long they were treading
water in front of the shoreline, looking for the longboat that wasn't
there.
“Wait
a minute,” Max cautioned, nodding in the direction of the Skylark.
They could see that a galley had pulled alongside it, and sailors
were already streaming from it onto the smaller bark.
“That's
a vessel of the Northern Empire,” Uriel noted, holding a hand over
his eyes. “Finally, a little help when you need it.”
“No,”
Max cautioned. “Something's not right.”
*
* *
Back
aboard the Skylark,
Horace was overseeing his crew's preparations to receive visitors.
The newcomer, a galley named the Luminous,
had been secured with grappling lines, and its crew was now laying
boarding planks across the gap between the vessels. He moved to stand
nearby them, waiting for the traditional request for permission to
come aboard.
Instead
he saw musket-bearing soldiers come tramping across, with their
weapons held at the ready.
“What
is the meaning of this?” Horace demanded.
His
answer came from an officer who followed the soldiers. “Order your
crew to stand down,” the officer declared. “You and your crew are
under arrest.”
