The sea devil's eye ttfts-3

by Mel Odom

  Iakhovas stood beside the malenti, an imposing figure amid the sahuagin warriors he'd brought with him. The sahuagin lay in the shallow waters to prevent their scales from drying out. Though he had barely talked to her in fully two months, concerned with all the battles and alliances he'd made, Iakhovas had commanded her presence for the day.

  Attention, little malenti, Iakhovas spoke into her mind. You arc about to see the first culmination of my labors here in the Inner Sea.

  Laaqueel turned her gaze to him.

  Iakhovas smiled. He looked human at the moment, though she knew the sahuagin perceived him as one of their own.

  Your astonishment astounds me, little malenti. Surely you didn't think I came here to conquer this place and never return to the outer seas.

  The crew in Maelstrom's longboat rowed into the beach with consternation showing on their faces. They'd been waiting since early morning, the malenti priestess gathered from Iakhovas's comments, after arriving in the night. When they gained the beach, the crew bailed out and pulled the longboat up onto the sand.

  Vurgrom stepped from the boat and approached Iakhovas. The pirate tried to act courageous, as if he wasn't standing in the midst of a hundred sahuagin warriors, but his nervous gaze and white-knuckled hand on the haft of his battle-axe gave his uneasiness away.

  "Lord Iakhovas," the burly pirate rumbled in greeting.

  "Captain Vurgrom," Iakhovas acknowledged. "Are you prepared to finish your part in this bit of business?"

  "More than ready," Vurgrom replied. "Carrying that disk around without knowing what it does is getting to be worrisome."

  "I know what it is," Iakhovas stated, but offered no explanation. "You have the map?"

  Vurgrom patted his shirt over his heart. "Aye."

  "March inland," Iakhovas ordered. "Follow the markings on the map and be in position three days from now."

  Vurgrom hesitated, then asked, "What then?"

  Iakhovas glared at him. "Wait."

  The big pirate's face purpled, and for a moment Laaqueel thought he might actually speak out angrily. The malenti priestess thought that would have been interesting to see. Evidently Iakhovas needed the man or he would have done whatever needed doing himself.

  In the end, Vurgrom lacked the nerve to stand up to Iakhovas. "As you say," the pirate said, "Lord Iakhovas."

  "What of the kegs I asked you to prepare?" Iakhovas demanded.

  "All of my ships have been outfitted with them, lord."

  For a tenday and more, Iakhovas had commanded sahuagin groups to hole up in caves with air pockets so they could make the poison their people used. Laaqueel was versed in it as a priestess. Usually the sahuagin used the poisons on their weapons, coating them every few days as they had need. Iakhovas had come up with a new design.

  Once the lethal poison had been rendered in powder form, it had been packed in thin glass shells, then placed in weighted wooden kegs that would sink to the ocean floor.

  By design, the thin glass shells collapsed under the pressure of the depths at three hundred to four hundred feet. The poison quickly diluted into the water, killing anything that breathed it. The effect might only last a few minutes, though, before currents would sweep it away.

  Iakhovas had told the malenti priestess he planned to use the kegs to completely destroy Myth Nantar once their initial attack was finished. Laaqueel had seen the effects of the poison kegs and feared them. Once the poison was released into the water, there was no way to escape it.

  With no further word, Iakhovas strode into the water and disappeared under the incoming waves. The only sound was the lapping of the waves against the shoreline.

  Laaqueel followed woodenly, aware of the pirates' leering stares at her nudity. None of them dared offer any comment. Underwater, she swam quickly and fell into pace a little behind Iakhovas. He swam effortlessly, totally at home in the sea. The sahuagin warriors flanked them. Scouts immediately flared out to watch for the mermen guards that swam through the area.

  The malenti priestess scoured the ocean floor. She knew from Iakhovas's statements that the sea elf caravan from Sylkiir should be in the area as well.

  They are further to the north, little malenti, Iakhovas told her. They believe their mission has met with success. They won't know any different until it is much too late.

  What will happen then?

  His tone, even in her mind, was mocking. I succeed, of course, and they'll find that their precious legends have ultimately betrayed them.

  High in Azure Dagger's rigging, Sabyna studied Vurgrom and his pirates through her spyglass. The last of the sahuagin had disappeared into the sea some minutes ago, but the pirates didn't rush back to their vessel.

  "Blessed Tymora," Azla said quietly at Sabyna's side, "those damned sea devils must not have swam under us. I thought we were lucky the first time they showed up and we weren't seen."

  Arthoris had woven an invisibility spell that covered Azure Dagger, but there were drawbacks to the maneuver. Even though they couldn't be seen, the ship still made its usual noises, and those carried across the ocean. If they'd been too close to Maelstrom the crew would have heard the sounds and recognized them. They'd quietly dropped anchor during the night when Maelstrom was nearly a thousand yards away.

  When they'd seen the sahuagin surface along the shoreline, they hadn't dared hope their good fortune would last. If one sahuagin warrior swam under Azure Dagger the ship would be sensed in the water or possibly seen against the sky.

  Another drawback was that the ship's crew couldn't see each other or the ship. Despite being unseen, it was also a lot like being blind except that Sabyna could see the ocean and the island. Movement was done cautiously and only as necessary. Unaccustomed to moving about in the rigging, Glawinn remained below.

  The longboat was rowed back to Maelstrom while Vurgrom and five pirates remained ashore. Sabyna wasn't close enough to see the pirate captain's expression, but she judged from the way he kicked rocks and gestured at his men that he wasn't happy. It was in direct contrast to the timid way he'd acted around Iakhovas.

  Sabyna watched as provisions were lowered over Maelstroms side in a cargo net.

  "Shore expedition," Azla said. "Maybe we're going to finally do something other than wallow around."

  "Aye," Sabyna agreed.

  In the months they'd followed Vurgrom and Maelstrom, they'd never had a proper opportunity to overtake the ship and board her. Even with the new crew that the voyages had given Azla time to whip into shape, Vurgrom's pirates outnumbered them two to one.

  In frustration, Azla had limited herself to spying on the captain, hoping for a lucky break. During part of those times, Vurgrom had sailed with other ships under his command.

  They'd become separated from Maelstrom three times during those months. Once they'd rescued a crew that had been attacked by sahuagin and barely escaped with their lives and lost a tenday getting the sailors to a safe port. Another time one of the freak storms that ravaged the coastal lands upon occasion had spun them into its clutches, then left them in a lull that lasted four days. Then, while in Ilighon, the island port city in the Vilhon Reach, they'd nearly gotten Vurgrom in an ambush while he conducted a trade for unknown items. They lost him again, but each time the enchanted astrolabe had brought them back to Vurgrom.

  All of it had added up to the certainty that Vurgrom had an assignment in the area that he hadn't yet finished. Now, perhaps the time had come. Though they'd seen the pirate captain with sahuagin one other time, they'd never seen him act so contrite.

  "That sahuagin he talked to must have been Iakhovas," Azla said.

  "That was no sahuagin," Sabyna said. "Vurgrom talked to a man. Very tall, with a beard and dark hair."

  "I saw no men there other than Vurgrom and his pirates. You must mean the elf woman."

  "No," Sabyna said deliberately. "I saw what I saw."

  "They say the Taker is very powerful," Azla replied after a moment. "Perhaps one of the guises we saw
was only an illusion."

  "Perhaps both were."

  During their travels, they'd added to the lore they'd heard about the Taker. They'd also learned about the war going on under the waves they sailed upon. Several times they'd sailed through small islands of dead morkoth, ixitx-achitl, mermen, sahuagin, and koalinth being savaged by birds, crabs, and fish.

  "We've seen enough," Azla declared. "If we're to keep up with them, we need to get to shore ourselves."

  "Go on," Sabyna said. "I'll follow you down after you reach the deck."

  She waited, clinging to the rigging as Azure Dagger heeled over repeatedly at the end of her tether. When slack returned to the rigging, she knew Azla had reached the deck. The ship's mage clambered down easily but paid more attention than normal to her efforts.

  Once on the deck, she went forward, one arm before her and walking slowly so she wouldn't run into an unwary crewman. She ascended the steps leading to the forecastle and called, "Glawinn?"

  "Here, lady."

  Judging where the paladin was from the sound of his voice, Sabyna went over to the railing. "You've seen?"

  "Yes. Captain Azla and I were just discussing when we should attempt moving the ship. Or whether we should just try swimming for the shore."

  "We have the small boat," Azla said from nearby, "but there is the risk that well be seen once we leave the spell Arthoris has around the ship."

  "We should wait," Sabyna said. "Vurgrom is moving a lot of supplies. He isn't planning on living off the land. I think hell be easy enough to find."

  "Then we wait till after dark and pick up his trail?" Azla asked.

  "Yes," Glawinn said. "He won't get so far ahead of us that we can't catch him soon enough. If he's stocking supplies, what he is going to do isn't going to happen too soon."

  "Ill see to our own supplies," Azla stated. "We're going in stripped down. I want to be able to move quickly if the need arises."

  "Agreed," Glawinn said.

  Sabyna listened to the half-elfs footsteps recede from the railing.

  "Lady?" the paladin asked.

  "Aye."

  "You're quiet."

  "I'm thinking."

  "About the young warrior?"

  Sabyna hesitated. Upon occasion she and the paladin had talked of Jherek, but those talks had never brought much in the way of satisfaction. She couldn't help thinking that he might be dead and she'd never know, but the feeling Glawinn had told her would come if that were so never did.

  "Do you still feel him close to you?" Glawinn asked.

  "Not now, but earlier this morning. I could have sworn I heard him say my name on the wind again. It was foolishness, brought on by too much anxiety and too little sleep."

  "And, mayhap, love?"

  She hesitated. I don't know anymore, Glawinn. The way I feel has changed."

  "Don't you still miss him?"

  "Aye, but not like I did.'7

  That's a good thing, though, lady. There's only so much pain a heart can bear."

  "I don't know. Not missing him so much scares me."

  "Why?"

  She smiled at herself, then realized Glawinn couldn't see the expression. "When I was younger, just coming into my teens, I fell in love with one of the sailors on a ship my father worked on. He was seven or eight years older than I was, and he was so beautiful. I wanted him so badly to love me-to just notice me-but I was Ship's Mage Truesail's daughter, and the crew knew to leave me alone. My father was very protective then."

  "So this love went unrequited?"

  "Not entirely. I followed him around like a guppy staying with its school. He couldn't ignore me, but he didn't say anything. My mother noticed. She talked to my father. My mother is the only one who has the ability to convince my father to change his mind. She persuaded him to let me eat eveningfeast with the sailor."

  "Did the sailor live up to your expectations, lady?"

  Sabyna laughed at the memory, but there was a bit of sadness in the effort as well. '"No. It was horrible. We sat there at that little table across from each other and had absolutely nothing to talk about." She laughed again. "Well, I had nothing to talk about. All he did was talk about the things he'd done, the women he'd seen, and how he'd be captain of a Waterdhavian Watch warship someday.

  "That was an infatuation, Glawinn. How am I to know this isn't?"

  "I know love when I see it, lady."

  She suddenly wished she could see the warrior's face. "How do you know it's love?" she asked.

  "Close your eyes, lady, and imagine his face in your mind."

  Sabyna pictured Jherek in her mind, as she'd first seen him aboard Breezerunner, then again as he'd fought for her when Vurgrom kidnapped them in Baldur's Gate. All the memories she had of him, of the way his chest had felt beneath her fingers, the way his lips had felt and tasted against hers, tumbled through her mind.

  She seemed to see him again. His light brown hair twisted in the wind and a green-blue sea spread out behind him. White sailcloth fluttered overhead. There was a cut on his face, running vertically over his right cheekbone, half-healed and slightly red from inflammation.

  Jherek?

  Aye, lady. His lips moved, as though he spoke, but she couldn't understand any of his words.

  Sabyna's heart swelled within her breast and ached so fiercely she thought she'd die. Then the connection blurred for a moment.

  Come to me! she called.

  He spoke again, smiling through the sadness in his pale gray eyes. She couldn't hear him this time either, but she read his lips. As you wish.

  Opening her eyes, Sabyna remained somewhat confused. She couldn't see her own hands in front of her body due to the invisibility spell.

  "Lady?" Glawinn asked.

  "I'm all right."

  "I called for you but you didn't answer."

  "It was like I could talk to him, Glawinn," Sabyna said. "He felt closer than he'd been those times before."

  "Maybe he is."

  "I don't know whether to wish that was so or not."

  "Why?"

  "I hate not knowing if he's all right," Sabyna answered honestly, "and I don't like missing him-but we're so uncomfortable around each other."

  "I know."

  "I just don't see that changing."

  "It won't," Glawinn said after a short time. "Not until the young warrior himself changes. But tell me, lady, when you imagined him, how did it feel?"

  Sabyna thought about her answer. There were so many things she could say. "I like thinking about him."

  "Then accept that as it is for now, lady."

  "It's not that easy."

  "No."

  Sudden irritation at the paladin dawned in Sabyna, and her mind seized on something he'd said. "How did you know about my brother? I never mentioned it to you."

  "Jherek told me," Glawinn said.

  "Why?"

  The silence drew out between them and Sabyna wished she could see the man's face.

  "I would rather the young warrior tell you that."

  "Is that part of the secret he won't tell me?" she asked. "How could it be?"

  "Lady, as I said-"

  "He's not here for me to ask him myself."

  Sabyna grew more frustrated. If not for Arthoris's invisibility spell she could pin the paladin down with her gaze.

  "The things I was told were told to me in confidence."

  "Glawinn, I will have the truth. From you or from him, I will know what you both hide. I'm too deeply involved in this not to know." Sabyna made her voice harder. "Tell me, Glawinn. What is it about my brothers death that so concerns Jherek?"

  XXI

  3 Marpenoth, the Year of the Gauntlet

  Myth Nantar.

  Even the name evoked magic and a sense of incredible history.

  From the moment he saw the sea elven city in the shallows of the Lesser Hmur Plateau, Pacys was at a loss for words. Thankfully, music came to his fingers. Still a quarter mile from the City of Destinies, the bard sto
pped swimming and settled on the foothills of Mount Halaath.

  "This a pretty thing, isn't it?" Khlinat, who swam to the bard's side, asked.

  "Yes," Pacys whispered.

  Around them, the sea elf caravan came to a stop along the foothills. From the behavior of most of the warriors, it was the first time they'd seen the city as well.

  The pale blue glow of the ancient mythal illuminated Myth Nantar against the dark black of the sea. The City of Destinies sat on a tableland that rose up from the ocean floor above the Lower Hmur Plateau, three hundred and seventy feet below the surface.

  During the centuries of its isolation, coral had invaded Myth Nantar. Thick clumps of aqua-colored cryscoral grew in crystalline plate formations and clung to the exteriors of the ancient buildings. Pale blue ice coral dominated the upper reaches of the city, strung together in knobby clusters that reminded Pacys of spiderwebs draped over the upper reaches of the mythal. Bright patches of glowcoral had set up colonies throughout the city, creating shadows that twisted and turned in the currents.

  "By Marthammor Duin, the Finder of Trails," Khlinat whispered solemnly, "never had I dreamed I would ever see such a sight as this!"

  Pacys drank in all the sights, letting his fingers pluck notes from the saceddar. The music he wrung from the instrument was bittersweet memories mixed with the sharp euphoria of hope and dreams yet unfulfilled. Tears came to the old bard's eyes as the song possessed him.

  Elven city, pale and cold,

  Shaped by hands strong and bold,

  Vessel and shaper of destiny,

  Care-taker and leader of unity,

  Lost Myth Nantar lay wrapped in her own shroud,

  Broken but unbent, humbled yet proud.

  Promise of life had not deserted her,

  As proven by those who sought succor.

  The words and the notes flowed around Mount Halaath, and there were none among the sea elves who weren't touched by the emotion stirred by the old bard's song. After a short time for reflection and prayer from the clerics among them, who asked for guiding and blessing from Deep Sashelas, Reefglamor gave the order to swim to Myth Nantar.