‘The fort burned?’ asked Marcus.
‘To the ground,’ Amos confirmed.
‘The garrison?’ asked Martin.
‘I had no choice. I brought them back with me.’
Martin nodded. ‘How many survived?’
Amos sighed. ‘A little fewer than a hundred, I’m sorry to say. Edwin’s getting them off the ship now. He’ll give you a full report when he gets here.’
‘We managed to get some goods out of the wreckage, and there was the little that hadn’t been unloaded, but most of the weapons and stores were destroyed. There was no fortress, and winter’s heading our way, so it seemed prudent to abandon the entire project until next spring.’ Amos ran his hand over his face. ‘From the looks of Crydee, you need every able hand you can find down here, anyway.’
Martin said, ‘That’s the truth.’ He filled Amos in on what they knew about the raid, and as he recounted facts, Amos’s face clouded over.
When he reached a description of the raiders’ boats, provided by one of the fishermen, Amos said, ‘This makes no sense!’
Marcus said, ‘You’re not the first one to say that, Amos.’
Amos said, ‘No, not just the raid. Anyway, go on.’
Martin continued his recounting of the raid, gleaned from reports gathered from eyewitnesses since the Duke returned. It took another half hour to finish the narrative.
Amos stood and attempted to pace around the crowded floor of the inn, his hand rubbing his bearded chin as he thought. At last he said, ‘From what you’ve told me, there must have been closer to a thousand men involved in just this part of the caper.’
‘Caper?’ asked Harry.
‘Job, undertaking, endeavor,’ supplied Nakor with a grin. ‘Criminal idiom.’
‘Oh,’ said the Squire.
‘So?’ asked Marcus.
Amos turned to look at him. ‘That would mean at least six, probably eight Durbin captains working together. That’s not happened since I left.’
‘Really?’ said Martin dryly. Amos’s distant past was known to him; he was once the most feared raider on the Bitter Sea, Captain Trenchard, the Dagger of the Sea. As the years had passed, Amos’s personal history had changed as he told it, so that by now he was fond of saying that he had been a privateer, working for the Governor of Durbin.
‘Yes, really!’ said Amos. ‘The Captains of the Coast are a fractious lot and don’t cooperate in much of anything. The only reason they’re allowed to remain in the city is that they keep Queg at bay, and that’s fine with Kesh, for the Empire doesn’t wish to pay money to provision a fleet there.’ Looking at Martin, he said, ‘And as your brother’s Admiral, I’m a lot more comfortable with a dozen argumentative pirate captains I can personally bully in Durbin than an Imperial Keshian squadron. Politics, my dear Martin, can make almost anything respectable.’
‘So they put aside their usual differences and banded together for one haul?’ said Ghuda.
Amos shook his head. ‘Not likely. A raid on Carse and Crydee? And the new fortification up at Barran as well? I’ll bet there’s not one deepwater ship left in Tulan, either.’ He struck his hand on the bar, which he leaned against. ‘What I would give for a brandy,’ he muttered.
Harry said, ‘Well, I was saving this for Anthony and Nakor to use with the sick,’ as he reached under the bar and produced a small bottle of Keshian brandy. He poured a cup and Amos lifted it.
Smacking his lips, Amos said, ‘Heaven will remember you for this, boy.’ Returning to Martin’s circle, he knelt. ‘Look, this wasn’t any raid out of Durbin.’
‘The slavers –’ protested Marcus.
Amos held up his hand. ‘I don’t care. It’s a false trail, son. Slavers will slip up on a village and hit it, stealing healthy children and fit men and women. They don’t go burning everything in sight. They don’t conduct wholesale warfare, and they don’t go kidnapping the nieces of Kings. Tends to bring too much trouble down upon them.’ He rubbed his chin. ‘If I knew who was in on this, which of the captains …’
‘One of the soldiers says the leader was a tall, fair-skinned man with tattoos all over his face.’
‘With teeth filed to points and blue eyes?’ asked Amos.
Nicholas nodded.
Amos’s eyes widened and he whispered. ‘Render. I thought he was dead.’
Martin leaned forward. ‘Who is this Render?’
Amos spoke softly, a note of astonishment in his tone. ‘A foul son of a demon. He was lost in the western archipelagoes when he was a seaman. He and the rest of his crew were captured by Skashakan Islanders. Render somehow gained their trust and they adopted him into their tribe. He was the only one of his crew to survive. He’s covered from head to toe with clan tattoos and his teeth were filed to points in the ritual that made him one of the clan. To be initiated, he had to eat one of his shipmates. The Skashakan Islanders are cannibals.’
Amos sat. ‘I first met him in Margrave’s Port. He was first mate on Captain Mercy’s ship.’
‘Mercy?’ asked Nicholas with a disbelieving laugh.
‘Most of the Captains of the Coast are known by false names,’ said Amos. ‘I was Trenchard, and Trevor Hull was White-eye; Gilbert de Gracie was Captain Mercy; he’d once been an initiate in the Temple of Dala the Merciful. He obviously didn’t have the calling, but the name stuck.’ Amos turned away, a small frown on his face.
Martin said, ‘What is it, Amos?’
‘Render knew the slave trade, for that was one of Mercy’s pastimes, but he was never a Durbin captain, Martin. He wasn’t even a captain when I knew him; last I heard, he was part of John Avery’s crew, and Avery betrayed Durbin to a Quegan raiding fleet. Render’s a dead man if he ever sets foot in Durbin again.’
One of the soldiers nearby said, ‘Begging your pardon, Admiral, but did you say Quegan?’
Martin turned to the soldier. ‘What is it?’
‘My lord, I didn’t recall until this moment, but there was one other man who looked familiar, though I barely noticed in all the chaos. Remember that Quegan trader who visited a few nights before you left to hunt? He was with some of the raiders.’
‘Vasarius,’ said Nicholas. ‘I didn’t like the way he kept looking at Abigail and Margaret.’
‘And he asked the Swordmaster and Horsemaster a lot of questions about the castle and how we were garrisoned,’ said the soldier.
‘Friendly like, but probably measuring the defenses.’
Amos said, ‘This grows more complicated by the moment. Durbin raiders wouldn’t pull this sort of caper. It’s declaring war. Their reputation is partially due to picking their prey carefully, and avoiding those capable of retaliation. The only reason for a raid of this scale would be to keep anyone from following, because it’s obvious that’s the only thing they fear.’
Martin looked confused. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Your people reported Durbin guild slavers among the raiding party. What if they weren’t real? What if the raiders wanted you to think they were heading for Durbin? They should know you have means to send messages faster than they could return to the Bitter Sea. You could get riders over the mountains and to the Free Cities and have a fast ship take you to Krondor and have the fleet at sea ambush off the Durbin coast by the time they could get down the coast and through the Straits of Darkness this time of the year. No, they’re not heading for Durbin, and they don’t want us following after them.’
Nicholas said, ‘How could we follow? I mean, there’s no trail on the sea.’
Amos grinned. ‘Because I know where they’re going first, Nicky.’
Martin sat up straight at this. ‘Where are they taking my daughter, Amos?’
‘Freeport. Render’s a Sunset Islands man – at least, that’s the last I heard of him – and from what you’ve told me about those boats that they used, that’s about as far as they can travel.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Marcus. ‘What about the boats?’
To Marti
n, Amos said, ‘Remember when I said it didn’t make sense?’
Martin nodded.
Amos said, ‘I was speaking of the boats. They were pinnaces. They’re small, narrow craft with a single mast that can be taken down. No large ship could have come close enough to Crydee to unload such a force and not have been spotted by your lookouts on Longpoint and down at Sailor’s Grief. From what you’ve said, nearly a thousand men struck here, and we had another two hundred on our necks up at Barran. The only place those sorts of boats could have come from without the scum manning them starving to death in transit is the Sunset Islands.’
Marcus said, ‘But the Sunset Islands pirates have been quiet for years.’
Amos nodded. ‘Someone’s stirred them up. That’s the other thing that bothers me.’
‘What?’ said Martin.
‘If every black heart who lived in the Sunset Islands since I was a boy came ashore, and they brought their grannies and their grannies’ cats with them, they couldn’t mount a force of more than five hundred. We’re talking more than twice that, including some trained Tsurani assassins and maybe some genuine Durbin slavers and a Quegan renegade.’
Martin nodded. ‘So where did all those raiders come from, and who sent them?’
‘Could this Render be behind it?’ asked Nicholas.
Amos shook his head. ‘Not unless he’s changed more than I think he has in the last thirty years. No, this caper was put together by someone with bigger ideas than Render’s. And it cost money, too. Getting those Tsurani assassins through the rift from Kelewan … someone was bribed, probably people on both sides. And the Durbin slavers demand guarantees. If every pretty girl and boy taken was sold at the top of the market, they’d probably not break even on what it cost to underwrite this venture.’
Martin said, ‘We need to leave.’
Amos nodded. ‘It will take a few days to ready the ship.’
‘Where are we going?’ asked Nicholas.
Amos said, ‘The Sunset Islands. That’s where we’ll pick up their trail, Nicholas.’
Later that night, Martin asked Harry and Nicholas to come outside with Marcus and Amos. When they were clear of casual listeners, Martin said, ‘Nicholas, I’ve decided that you and Harry will stay here in Crydee. Knight-Lieutenant Edwin will need help, and when a ship gets here from Tulan or Krondor, you can return to your father’s court.’
Martin turned away as if that was the end of it, but Nicholas said, ‘No.’
Martin said, ‘I wasn’t asking you for agreement, Squire.’
Nicholas paused a long moment, holding his uncle’s gaze, then took a deep breath and said, ‘Highness, or Prince Nicholas, Lord Martin.’
Marcus snorted and said, ‘You’ll go where Father sends you –’
Nicholas didn’t shout, but his tone was cold and angry as he said, ‘I will go where I please, Master Marcus.’
Marcus stepped forward as if about to strike Nicholas, when Amos said, ‘Stop this!’ Marcus halted and Amos said, ‘Nicky, what are you thinking of?’
Nicholas looked from face to face, then, fixing his gaze on Martin, said, ‘Uncle, you swore an oath, and so did I. When I was given my office on my fourteenth birthday, I vowed to protect and defend the Kingdom. How could I claim to have upheld that vow if I ran home now?’
Martin said nothing, but Amos said, ‘Nicholas, your father sent you here to learn something about the differences between the frontier and the royal court, not to go chasing slavers across the ocean.’
Nicholas said, ‘My father sent me out here to learn to be a Prince of the Kingdom, Admiral. I am as much a Prince of the Blood Royal as Borric and Erland, and I am bound as much as they are to see to the safety and well-being of our subjects. At my age, Borric and Erland had already been fighting a year on the frontier with Lord Highcastle.’ Looking at Martin, he said, ‘I wasn’t asking your permission to go with you, my lord Duke. I was giving you a command.’
Marcus’s mouth opened and he was about to speak, but Martin’s hand upon his shoulder restrained him. Softly he asked, ‘Are you certain, Nicholas?’
Nicholas looked at Harry. The once fun-loving boy from Ludland was dirty from days of working in the sooty town, and his eyes were dark with fatigue circles, but he nodded once.
‘I am certin, Uncle,’ said Nicholas.
Martin gripped Marcus by the shoulder and quietly said, ‘We are bound by our oath …’ Then he added, ‘Your Highness.’
Marcus’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing as he turned to follow his father. Amos waited until they were gone, then snapped, ‘I thought I’d raised you to be smarter than this, Nicky.’
Nicholas said, ‘Margaret and Abigail are out there somewhere, Amos, and if there is any way to find them, I will.’
Amos shook his head. Glancing around the destroyed town in the moonlight, he sighed in resignation. ‘I love you like my own grandson, Nicky, but given a choice, I’d rather have a little magic than a wet-behind-the-ears Prince giving orders on this voyage.’
Nicholas said, ‘Pug!’
Amos said, ‘What about him?’
Reaching inside his tunic, the boy said, ‘He gave me this in case we needed him.’
Amos said, ‘Well, I can’t think things could be much more needy than they are now.’
Nicholas gripped the talisman in his right and repeated Pug’s name three times. The little metal amulet warmed in Nicholas’s hand, but that was the only sign magic was being employed.
A moment later, Nakor came out of the inn. ‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
‘You felt that?’ asked Harry.
‘Felt what?’
‘The magic’
‘Bah. There is no magic,’ he said with a dismissive wave. ‘I saw Martin and Marcus come into the inn, and they did not look happy.’
Amos said, ‘The correct military term is “pulling rank”. Our young Prince here has decided he’s going with us, no matter what his uncle or I say.’
‘He’s supposed to,’ said Nakor.
‘What?’ asked Harry.
The Isalani shrugged. ‘I don’t know why, but without Nicholas, whatever waits for us out there will prevail.’
‘He is the son of the Lord of the West,’ said a voice from behind.
They all turned to see Pug step out of shadows. He was dressed in a dark brown robe with a hood, which he pulled back to reveal a face etched with concern. ‘I was going to ask why you’ve summoned me.’ He glanced around the charred landscape. ‘But I think that’s obvious.’
Pug and Martin spoke for a long time, out of earshot of the others. Amos had called Martin back out of the inn at Pug’s request. Now he and the others who had witnessed Pug’s arrival waited to see what would happen next.
Harry said, ‘Do you think he can wish them back here?’
Nakor said, ‘He is a very powerful man. But I don’t think wishes have much to do with it. We shall see.’
Pug and Martin returned to where the others were standing and Pug said, ‘I am going to attempt to locate Margaret and her friend.’ He glanced around. ‘I need some space around me. Please stay here.’
He moved away from the inn toward a large open area in front of it that had been earmarked as a new marketplace. Now it was merely a weed-covered lot, with a large rock protruding from the middle. Pug stepped up on the rock and held his hands up over his head.
A faint sensation, like a distant humming, struck Nicholas and he glanced at Harry, who nodded that he also felt it. After a long minute, Anthony came from inside the inn and joined the others. Softly the young magician said, ‘Is that Pug?’
Nakor nodded. ‘He’s looking for the girls. It’s a very good trick if he can do it.’
The sense of vibration increased, until Nicholas felt as if something were crawling over his skin. He resisted the urge to scratch.
Anthony said, ‘What’s that?’
Nicholas squinted toward where the magician pointed and he saw a faint red light in the dista
nce, about a handspan above Pug’s head. It seemed to be growing brighter.
After a moment Nakor shouted, ‘Get down!’
When Anthony hesitated, Nakor pulled on his sleeve, forcing him down, and then he was likewise yanking on Nicholas’s arm. ‘Get on the ground! Cover your eyes! Don’t look! Now!’
They did as he asked, and Nicholas looked up to see the red light approaching at terrifying speed.
Nicholas felt Nakor’s hand upon his head, forcing his face into the soil. ‘Don’t look! Cover your face!’
Suddenly, in the darkness, Nicholas felt heat. A searing sensation struck his head and shoulders, as if he lay before a suddenly opened furnace or oven. The impact of the heat sucked the breath from his lungs. He almost opened his eyes, save for Nakor repeating his warning.
Then the heat passed. ‘Look!’ Nakor shouted.
Pug stood transfixed, surrounded by a sizzling nimbus of red energies, white sparkles of lightning seeming to explode along the surface as tiny flecks of silver danced inside. Nakor was on his feet and running toward him.
The others were only a few steps behind. When Nakor was an arm’s length from Pug he halted and held out his arms in warning for the others not to get too close.
Pug was immobilized inside the red energies, a statue with his arms upraised. Nakor walked completely around the strange envelope of red light and shook his head.
Amos said, ‘What is this?’
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