"You are new at this, aren't you?" The man grinned again. "When you bring reports from our ...mutual friend, you'll deliver them to a prearranged drop location. In return, you'll receive a larger package for delivery back to our friend. I've already arranged for a chest to be delivered to your ship. There are instructions in there."
"That's it?"
"That's it, Captain." The fellow straightened his cloak. "The key to the chest is in the pouch, too, along with a ...little birdie. The instructions—"
"Are in here. I get it." Torius tucked the scroll tube into his jacket pocket.
"Yes, I can see that you do." He smiled and nodded to Grogul. "It's been very nice meeting you. Keep being careful." The man walked away without a backward glance.
"What the hell was that about?" Grogul's eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"That ...was the other half of the deal." Torius met his bosun's scrutiny with an even stare. "The half I couldn't tell anyone about until I knew that I was actually going through with it."
"This cloak-and-dagger crap makes me nervous, Captain."
"Me too." Torius didn't like keeping secrets from his people, but he'd made a promise. Now, however, Grogul knew something more was going on. There was no point in keeping those close to him in the dark. "I'll fill you in tonight. I need to tell Thillion and Snick what's going on, too, and there's no sense in telling it twice."
"All this has to do with Vreva, doesn't it?"
"Yes, but this isn't the place to discuss it." Torius tossed him the rattling pouch. "Put that someplace safe and be patient, my friend. You'll get your answers tonight."
"Aye, Captain." Grogul tucked the pouch in his pants and shrugged. "I can wait."
∗ ∗ ∗
"All packed up, Miss Celeste." Dukkol clambered up to the driver's seat. "Dog Roller's ready to go."
"Good." Celeste squinted into the afternoon sun as she eyed their caravan. Leaving seemed to be the only way to head off Astrus's advances without violence.
That morning, she had told Dukkol of her plans to leave, but had ordered him to delay getting ready until midday, when everyone was usually in their tents to escape the sweltering heat. They'd broken camp and packed in less time than she thought possible, but it had still taken too long for her comfort. Their activity had not gone unnoticed. Quizzik, the Pathfinder, had been the first to notice their preparations, and had taken a break to say farewell. When she noticed one of Astrus's followers watching them pack, Celeste's tail had twitched nervously.
"Mount up, Stargazers!" She slithered into the back of the wagon as the pirates elicited grunts of protest from their recalcitrant camels.
As the wagon lurched into motion, Celeste coiled on her nest of pillows and blankets. She hadn't slept all day, her mind racing as she pondered her encounter with Astrus. Once, when Torius had awoken from a dream spell cast by Vreva, he had claimed that he couldn't always control his body's responses. At the time she hadn't believed him, and had been jealous of the courtesan's seductive ways, but recalling her physical response to the naga's scent, she now understood what he meant. Exhausted, she gratefully rested her head on a pillow. Before she could close her eyes, however, Dukkol's shout brought her up short.
"Hey! Whaddaya think yer doin'?" The wagon jolted to a stop. "Let go of that!"
"What's going on?" Peering out, Celeste's worst fears were realized.
Two of Astrus's followers grasped the bridles of the lead mules, and more blocked the way. Dukkol lashed the reins, but they held the team immobile. Others fanned out to surround the caravan. All were armed with crossbows, swords, or clubs, Astrus behind. Though he wore his illusory human form, it flickered in Celeste's sight, barely a blur over his long, gleaming coils.
She slithered out onto the wagon's seat. "What in the name of the cosmos do you think you're doing, Astrus?"
"I might ask you the same question, Celeste. You promised that we would talk this evening, and here I find you running away. That's not very considerate."
"No, I promised to give you an answer this evening. This is my answer. I'm leaving."
"You throw my offer in my face without even the courtesy of an explanation?"
"Discourtesy was not my intent." She could hear the anger at the insult to his pride. She wasn't about to back down, much less feel sorry for him, but she would try to avoid a fight. "But this is my answer. I can't accept your offer, however ...seductive it might be. I have other obligations."
"Obligations? To humans? To that pompous captain of yours?"
The Stargazers mumbled dangerously, but Celeste snapped, "Belay that!" Their weapons were already drawn, and she didn't want this encounter to descend into violence. "Insulting the man I love is hardly the way to earn my favor, Astrus. Now, please, tell your people to stand down. My answer is final. My friends and I are leaving."
"Your friends ..." Sarcasm poisoned his words and his eyes blazed with rage.
Celeste prayed he wasn't about to do something stupid. "Don't, Astrus. You can't win."
"Can't I?" He laughed low as he eyed their mismatched forces. "I think you overestimate your chances."
Celeste's frustration grew. Why can't he let this go? Let me go? "You can't win and get what you want, Astrus. Not through violence."
"What I want is companionship, Celeste." His voice cracked with pain and loneliness, but it didn't change a thing.
"What you want, I can't provide. Leave it at that, and let us go."
"Oh, but you can provide one thing I want. You may refuse a mutually beneficial arrangement, but your cooperation isn't required for you to provide me with what I truly need."
Celeste didn't like the sound of that. Beside her, she heard the click of Dukkol cocking his crossbow. "And what is that?"
"You can provide me with heirs, Celeste."
It took a moment for that inconceivable notion to register, but when it did, it hit her with the force of a rogue wave at sea. Visions assaulted her: chains, slavery, rape ...and being forced to bear Astrus's offspring.
Before she could recover, the naga called out to his followers, "Kill their mounts!"
The cultists raised their weapons, but Celeste had seen these people during the battle with Zelegan's forces. They were mere slaves to their master's venom, camel drovers and camp workers for the most part. None had the honed battle instincts of seasoned pirates.
Dukkol's crossbow cracked as one of the guards raised a short sword to slash the lead mule's throat. The bolt took the man in the shoulder and spun him around, the sword tumbling from his hand. The other guard ducked behind his mule. Crossbows fired on both sides. Four of Astrus's followers fell with bolts in their chests, and a camel went down, bawling in pain. Its rider, Lacy Jane, leapt free of her toppling mount and rolled to her feet, spitting sand and curses.
Celeste's magic surged forth in a bolt of crackling lightning, and thunder shattered the air. Astrus's people ducked for cover, but the spell was not directed at them. Rather, it lanced over their heads to blast Astrus's tent. Charred wood and burning canvas flew, and flames leapt up as the fire began to spread.
"Put that out!" Astrus ordered, and a number of his people hurried to comply. Celeste noticed that the naga's illusion had failed, grimly pleased to think that she had rattled his concentration.
Wreathing herself in electrical energy, Celeste held her next spell at the ready. "Enough!" The Stargazers immediately held up, and Astrus's followers paused, staring at her in open fear. She faced the Observatory. "Call off your people, Astrus, or I swear by all the stars above, I'll blast the Observatory to ruins!"
"You wouldn't!"
"Won't I?" In fact, Celeste didn't know if her spell could damage the ancient shrine, but the panic in Astrus's voice told her that he didn't know either.
"You're a lunar naga, Celeste! You would not destroy the one means we have to explore the cosmos!"
Celeste glared at him and rose on her coils, flaring her body and baring her fangs in challenge. "You threaten to
enslave me, to force me to bear your offspring, and you think I'll balk at destroying the one thing I know you most care for? I've been a slave, chained in the dark, prevented from seeing the stars for so long that I wanted to die rather than continue that existence! I'll fight to the death before I become a slave again! If you think for an instant that I'll submit to you, your arrogance is surpassed only by your stupidity!"
Astrus blinked, understanding dawning in his eyes at her revelation. He glared back at her, unused to such insults, but daunted by her vehemence.
Celeste took a moment to assess her people. Four of their camels were injured, and Lacy Jane stood over her dying dromedary with her crossbow leveled at the nearest of Astrus's followers. The rest of the Stargazers had used the brief hiatus to reload. They stared down their quavering opposition, ready to fight to the death at her command. She turned back to Astrus.
"Cut your losses, Astrus. Let us go."
His tail twitched, but the anger in his eyes didn't fade. "Go then, and may the desert claim you!" Astrus slithered back, and his people moved out of the way.
"Lacy, throw your gear in the wagon and climb atop." Celeste didn't want take the time now to shift gear to one of the spare camels.
"Aye, Miss Celeste!" Lacy Jane cut the pack and saddle straps and flung it all into the wagon, then clambered up to the top of the carriage box itself, crossbow in hand.
"You will not be welcome back at the Observatory, Celeste. Do not return."
"You are neither its master nor mine! I'll go where I please." Celeste nudged Dukkol and said, "Move out."
The caravan lurched into motion, the injured camels complaining loudly with each step. Only when they were well out of crossbow range did Celeste breathe easier and order a short stop to tend to the animals' injuries. While the crew cut the bolts out and dressed the wounds, she had Lacy Jane keep a sharp eye out from atop the wagon. Her shout of warning brought them up from their work in a heartbeat, weapons at the ready.
"Just one." Lacy pointed toward the distant camp. A lone man trotted through the scrub toward them. "I don't think he's even armed."
"Back to work. I'll take care of this." Expecting a messenger with some parting taunt, Celeste slithered forward to meet him. To her surprise, however, she recognized the approaching man. "Eutep! What are you doing out here?"
Eutep came up short, panting, his eyes wide. "I ran away!" He glanced over his shoulder. "I don't want anything to do with that bastard. I thought ...maybe I could travel with you to Katapesh. I don't have any money, but I can work."
Celeste looked him over. He was fit enough, but rather thinner than she remembered, and his hands shook. He'd be a shivering wreck by morning, and of no use to them. Dead weight ...extra baggage that will consume valuable supplies. But Celeste could see the hope of freedom in his eyes, and she wouldn't abandon anyone to a life of slavery.
"Take the spare camel, and get a water skin from the wagon." She turned to her crew. "Dukkol! Eutep here is joining us. Set him up with gear."
"Thank you, Miss Celeste!" Eutep lunged forward and dropped to his knees. "Thank you! I'll never forget this!"
"Get up!" She wouldn't doom the man to slavery, but she wasn't about to coddle him either. "You'll pull your own weight, Eutep. If you do your job, you won't owe me anything when we get to Katapesh."
Dukkol thrust a cutlass and crossbow into the man's hands. "We might even make a decent pirate out of you, lad!"
"Pirate?" Eutep rose and brushed off sand. "But I'm not a ..." He swallowed his comment and nodded. "I'll do my best."
"Good answer! Put that on!" Dukkol pointed to the sword belt. "I hope to Besmara's sweet tits you know how to use a blade!"
Confident that Dukkol would show Eutep the ropes, Celeste went back to overseeing the work. It was nearly dark by the time they started out again. The first few stars already flickered in the eastern sky. Celeste took a quick bearing, and they struck out toward Katapesh, the ocean ...and Torius.
∗ ∗ ∗
"You sent for me, Captain?" Snick stepped into Torius's cabin. Her smile broadened when she saw Thillion and Grogul seated at the chart table, a bottle of spiced rum and one of wine between them. "Hey, a party!"
"Have a seat, Snick." Torius closed and locked the door. "It's not a party, but pour yourself a drink. I've got something to tell the three of you."
"Trouble?" She slid in beside Thillion and poured herself a measure of rum.
"Not at all. It's just something I've been keeping close to the vest until now." Torius went to the skylight and closed it, dogging the hatch tight, then closed the stern windows as well. He didn't want the night watch to overhear this. When he turned back to the table, Snick was eyeing him sidelong.
"Not trouble? Then why lock up so tight? Afraid we're going to escape?"
Torius ignored the questions and poured himself some rum. "How are the repairs going?"
"Done, as far as I'm concerned. We can do the brightwork underway." She looked at him, then at Thillion and Grogul. "What's up, sir?"
Torius sipped his rum and let the smooth liquor burn away the lump in his throat. He didn't like keeping secrets from his people, but now that it was time, he wasn't quite sure how to broach the subject. Just do it, I guess. "We got our letter of marque today, and got paid. We're officially working for the Andorens. Unofficially we're ..." What? Spies? "...also working for another faction. This faction likes to keep their operations secret. You three and Celeste will be the only Stargazers who know everything, and I have to ask you to tell no one else."
"This has something to do with Vreva Jhafae, doesn't it?" Thillion arched one eyebrow as he sipped his wine.
"It does. As it turns out, she's not your typical courtesan." He cleared his throat and said, "She's a spy for Andoran."
"I thought as much." Thillion swirled his wineglass, examining the amber liquid in the light.
"Well, she had to be up to something!" Snick grinned maliciously. "I mean, we visit her, then run off to meet up with some Gray Corsairs ...So, she's an honest-to-goodness spy, huh?"
Grogul just growled, downed his rum, and reached for the bottle.
"Yes, and she asked if I'd be her intermediary. The letter of marque is genuine, but it's only a cover for our real job, which is to bring supplies to her in Okeno, and carry her reports back here. The only way this will work is if the slavers continue to think we're merchants, and the Andorens think we're working as their covert privateers. If either of those two covers is blown, we're sunk. This is our first payment." Torius withdrew the pouch he'd received from the Twilight Talon operative and upended it. A black eagle pin, a brass key, and a mound of grape-sized sapphires tumbled onto the table.
Snick whistled low and picked up one of the sapphires. Grogul's eyes narrowed as if he suspected some trick behind the lure of such riches. Thillion, on the other hand, barely glanced at the gems, instead reaching out to pluck the black hawk pin from the table. His wide eyes blinked once, then fixed Torius with a disbelieving stare.
"The Twilight Talons?"
Torius opened his mouth to speak, but Snick cut him off.
"You kidding? I thought they were just a bunch of stories to scare slavers! You know, ‘Watch what you say, the Twilight Talons are listening.'"
"They're real enough," Grogul assured her with a scowl. "We met one today. Sly bastard near about put a knife in my liver."
"Even the Andorens think they're nothing but a rumor, and the Talons want to keep it that way." Torius drained his glass and fixed his trusted friends with an even stare. He took the black pin from Thillion. The instructions in the scroll case had been explicit on exactly what the pin was for, and how to employ its subtle magic. His left forearm itched. "I promised to keep their secret, and now it's my secret, too."
Torius rolled up his sleeve and jammed the pin's needle into the flesh of his scarred forearm. The tiny metal eagle flared with a brief glow, then melted into his skin. Where it vanished, a stark black eagle tattoo now sho
wed. The three of them stared at it for a moment before Torius whispered a single word, a word he would never say by mistake. He'd not spoken in more than thirty years, since the day his father left him and his mother alone in Katapesh: his father's name. The tattoo faded away to nothing, the link between it and that word established.
"Now I'm one of them. I'm telling you three because it would be impossible to do what we need to do without you knowing, and I trust you with my life. One wrong word and the slavers'll have us all dangling from a yardarm as they torch Stargazer beneath us."
"Which, once again, is no riskier than what we're already doing." Thillion faced their incredulous looks with a shrug. "Pardon me, but I don't see the distinction between being executed for piracy, privateering, or espionage."
"Difference is, if you're a spy, they ask a lot of pointed questions before they kill you." Snick drew a tiny dagger from her sleeve and twirled it in her palm. "And they use a lot of pointed implements to ask their pointed questions."
"There is that." Thillion cleared his throat and sipped his wine.
Torius had hoped the conversation wouldn't run this way, but he wouldn't lie to them. He reached for the rum bottle and refilled his glass. "As a matter of fact, Vreva's last intermediary was recently captured, interrogated ...and executed. The Pactmasters have hired an inquisitor. We don't know exactly how much she got out of him, but Vreva's cover seems to be intact."
"A real inquisitor? Like one of those religious zealot inquisitors?" Snick swallowed and put her knife away, her humor quashed.
"Yes, but Vreva has her under control. She's pushing the investigation away from the truth." Torius sipped and took a deep breath. "The point is, though we stand to earn a tidy sum outside of our privateering profits, I'm not doing this for the money. I've got enough socked away to last a long time." He gestured to the tidy pile of riches. "I'll distribute my share of the privateering profits among the regular crew, and split this extra pay with you three ...and Celeste, of course."
Silence reigned for a long moment, and Torius gauged his three companions. Snick he had no worries about. He recognized the glint of mischief and avarice in her eyes and knew she'd be up for anything. As for Thillion ...Torius had thought the elf might balk at the slaughter of the slavers on the captured galley, but he hadn't. Grogul was the big question. Torius didn't like the scowl on the bosun's face.
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