Corsair botm-2

by Richard Baker

  “She’s threading a fine channel, m’lord,” Andurth warned.

  “Follow her in,” Geran ordered. “If there’s enough water beneath the keel for Kraken Queen, there’s enough water for us.”

  “Aye, m’lord,” the sailing master replied. He scowled but said nothing more, moving to stand beside the helmsman. Seadrake plunged between the towering stone columns, only a couple of hundred yards behind Kraken Queen now. In the pale light of the rising moon, Geran could see dark figures on the enemy ship’s quarterdeck-likely Kamoth, Sergen, and the Black Moon ship’s officers. He allowed himself a grim smile. They were almost through the Talons, and on the other side there was nothing but open sea, with no place for the pirate to hide and no way for them to delay the inevitable.

  He was just about to order his archers and arbalesters to test the range when Kraken Queen began to lift out of the water. “What in the world?” Andurth muttered beside him. Other cries of alarm and consternation echoed from the soldiers assembled on deck. As the moonlight fell on the pirate ship, a silvery radiance seemed to grow around its black hull and scarlet sails. Luminous fins or sails shimmered into existence from the hull like the gossamer wings of an enormous dragonfly. Moment by moment the pirate galley rode higher in the water, until it barely skimmed the wavetops. And then, astonishingly, it climbed skyward, soaring into the air. It banked gently to the port side, looking for all the world like it was heeling over in a strong breeze, and Geran saw the dripping rudder shift in empty air. The corsair ship came around, passing Seadrake a few hundred yards to the south and high enough to sail over the highest of the Talons, and steadied with her bowsprit pointed toward the moon in the southeastern sky.

  “Now that I did not expect,” Hamil murmured in astonishment. “I suppose we know how Kraken Queen appeared and disappeared.”

  Geran stared at the airborne ship, watching it soar faster and faster as it climbed away from the sea. Far beneath its black hull the moonlight danced in a silvery road across the dark sea. He and the rest of the crewmen on the quarterdeck were so amazed that the bow lookout had to shout three times to get their attention. “Rock dead on the bow! Turn the ship! Turn the ship!”

  Andurth wrenched his eyes from the spectacle of the receding pirate ship and looked forward again. With a startled oath, the sailing master leaped for the helm and spun the wheel to the right. Seadrake heeled sharply, and as her bow crossed into the wind her sails flapped loudly. But the ship missed the jagged fang of stone Kraken Queen had almost led her onto. The hull grated for one awful instant on submerged rock, but it was just deep enough and far enough to the port side for Seadrake to bounce away rather than rip herself open. The impact was still enough to knock crewmen off their feet and bring a cascade of loose stays and tackle from the rigging. Then Andurth turned the helm the other way, using the last of the ship’s momentum to recapture the wind as the deadly rock passed down the port side.

  “The black-hearted bastard did that on purpose,” the dwarf muttered. “He tried t’ lead us right into the thick o’ it and hid that rock with his own hull until the last moment.”

  The swordmage breathed a sigh of relief and clapped a hand on the dwarf’s shoulder. “Well done, Master Andurth. That could have been disastrous.” He stared at Kraken Queen, still climbing into the night sky. “Steer us clear of the Talons and then bring us around to the southeast. That seems to be the way Kraken Queen is headed.”

  “How exactly do you propose to follow her?” Hamil asked. “At the rate she’s going, I don’t think we’ll keep her in sight for much longer.”

  “I don’t know,” Geran answered. Mirya and Selsha were aboard that ship. No matter what happened, no matter where Kamoth fled, he meant to follow them. He refused to abandon them to whatever fate Sergen and his father had in mind for them. “I’ll find a way. I have to.”

  EIGHTEEN

  10 Marpenoth, the Year of the Ageless One (1479 DR)

  The cessation of the ship’s sounds woke Mirya sometime after sunset. She’d had two days to learn the noises of the ship: the steady rushing of the hull through the water, the creaking of timbers and spars, the ruffling of the sails in the wind, the footsteps and voices of the crew. Now those sounds had changed or simply ended, rousing her from her sleep. She could still hear the crewmen as they moved about the ship, but something was very different. The pirate vessel no longer rocked with the swells, and the sound of the wind had died away. The cabin in which she and Selsha were locked canted noticeably from forward to aft, as if the ship were aground on some sandbank or shoal.

  She sat up, peering at the gloomy cabin. A fresh tray of food and a new waterflask had been set on the floor near the cabin door. Moving carefully to avoid waking Selsha, Mirya swung her feet out of the cramped bunk and stood up. She could feel the ship rocking side to side and the deck under her quivered. We’re still moving, she realized. But that made no sense. The deck remained inclined as if the ship were climbing over a wave, but it never seemed to reach the top and began to sink downward again. And it had grown cold too, startlingly cold. Her breath steamed in the air, and she shivered. Fortunately the drawers beneath the bunk held several spare blankets; she took one to wrap around her shoulders and another to cover Selsha.

  “Where are we?” she murmured to herself and went to the cabin’s single small porthole to look. It was a thick piece of poor glass, green and bubble-pocked, and dirty on the outside as well. Through it she could tell night from day and perhaps discern the vaguest impression of coastline outside, but now all she could make out was darkness with what seemed to be a surprisingly bright moon low on the horizon. If she hadn’t lost track of the time, it was the second night since they’d left Hulburg and perhaps the third or fourth night since the wizard in the brown robes and his gigantic servant had broken into her house and carried her and Selsha away.

  “Why didn’t I go to the harmach right away?” she murmured, berating herself once again. As soon as she’d heard Lastannor plotting with the Cyricist and speaking of an attack on the city, she should have done exactly that. But she’d been badly shaken by the discovery that Hulburg’s Master Mage, a member of the Harmach’s Council itself, was dealing with vicious Moonsea pirates and violent Hulburgan gangs. She’d lingered too long, listening on as she tried to decide what to do with what she’d learned. Then, after she’d been discovered and had made her escape from the inn, she’d found the streets of the Tailings filled with Cinderfists, all too clearly searching for her. She’d decided to head home to change out of the dingy hand-me-down garb the Three Crowns servants wore, hoping that a change of clothing might throw the Cyricist’s servants off her scent. But after she’d picked her way back to her house, dodging down dark alleyways and creeping through empty buildings, she hadn’t dared to set out again until she was certain she could reach Griffonwatch without meeting any of her pursuers.

  It had seemed wiser to wait for morning to venture into the streets again, when the streets would be full of honest folk going about their business … but Hulburg’s enemies hadn’t given her the few hours she’d hoped she had. “What a fool you’ve been, Mirya Erstenwold,” she told herself angrily. She’d discovered the seriousness of her error when that … creature of Lastannor’s had wrenched her door off the hinges and seized her in its huge, clammy hands. Then the wizard had fixed his eyes on hers and had whispered a sibilant spell, the last thing she remembered before waking with Selsha in this tiny cabin a day-or was it two days? — ago.

  Lastannor means to silence me by sending me away from Hulburg, Mirya thought unhappily. Like as not, Selsha and I are to be sold into slavery in some distant land. She supposed she should be grateful that the mage of House Marstel hadn’t settled on a more immediate and permanent method for silencing her, but then again, there hadn’t been any reason to take Selsha too. That was the one thing for which she absolutely could not forgive herself in this entire fiasco; through her own foolishness she’d managed to endanger her daughter’s life as well
as her own.

  Selsha stirred in her sleep. She sat up and whimpered when she realized Mirya was no longer in the bed. “Mama?” she cried.

  “Ssshh, I’m right here, my darling,” Mirya said. She sat down on the edge of the bed and put her arm around the girl’s shoulders. “I’m here.”

  “I dreamed of the big gray man again,” Selsha said. “He was chasing me. I couldn’t get away from him.”

  “I know, Selsha. He’s one I’ve seen in my dreams too.”

  “The ship stopped moving.”

  “I’m not so sure of that. I think we’re still moving, but in a different way. How, I can’t imagine.”

  Selsha nodded. She could feel the deck’s gentle motion too. “Where do you think they’re taking us?” she asked.

  “I’ve no idea.” That mystery puzzled Mirya sorely. If she was right in her reckoning of the time, they could be anyplace in the Moonsea. They might even be passing down the River Lis to the Sea of Fallen Stars. But the coldness and clarity of the air felt more like the mountains to her. Perhaps they’d sailed into some secret passage leading under the mountains to Vaasa, or had used some sort of magic to leave the familiar waters of the Moonsea.

  “Do you think Geran will come find us?”

  Mirya draped her blanket around Selsha’s shoulders, sharing its warmth. “Oh, darling, I know he will,” she said. “When Geran Hulmaster finds that we’re not in Hulburg, he’ll set out to find us, wherever we end up.” She meant it to comfort her daughter, but she realized that she was comforting herself as well. Geran would return to Hulburg sooner or later, and he’d discover their absence. Whatever it was that bound the two of them together-friendship, the memory of innocent love, perhaps the hope of what might come someday-she trusted in it. He’d follow to the four corners of the world if he believed she and Selsha were in danger.

  Of course, that didn’t mean that she intended to wait for a rescue. She remembered a thing or two about sailing from long ago. Given a chance, she might be able to steal a boat and find her own way back to Hulburg. It would be difficult and dangerous, but surely taking her chances on the open sea would be better than going along with whatever her captors had planned for her. With that in mind, she began to search the cabin for anything that might be useful in an escape attempt. For the better part of an hour, she scoured the cabin and its sparse furnishings. Eventually she did find an old, well-worn copper coin stuck between the deckplanks. Finding little else that she could use, she turned her attention to using the coin’s slim edge to loosen the screws holding the door’s deadbolt in place. But the confident stride of approaching bootsteps interrupted her. Hurriedly she stood back up, slipped the coin under the mattress, and brushed off her hands.

  The lock turned, and into the room stepped a man dressed in a long red coat with gold embroidery at the cuffs. He was a lean, fit, middle-aged man of average height, with a gray-streaked beard of black to frame his wide jaw, and a sword hanging at his belt. Mirya glimpsed a couple of big, poorly dressed sailors behind the man in the coat. “Well, now, I see you’re up and about,” he said. “How do you find your accommodations, Mistress Erstenwold?”

  “I’ve little liking for cages, no matter how they’re furnished.” Mirya folded her arms and studied the fellow. She’d seen him before, she was sure of it, but it seemed like it might have been a long time ago. “Are you the captain?” she asked.

  “Not much for chit chat, are you? No matter. I’m a direct fellow myself. I am the captain, as you’ve guessed. Kamoth Kastelmar’s my name, and you’re aboard my ship, Kraken Queen.”

  Mirya’s eyes widened. “The Kamoth who once was wed to the harmach’s sister?”

  “I’m surprised you remember me! You’d have been a young girl when I lived in Griffonwatch, not too much older than your daughter there.” The corsair lord grinned broadly. “I suppose I’m not entirely forgotten in Hulburg.”

  That was true enough, Mirya thought. There were few adults in Hulburg unfamiliar with Kamoth’s story. Fifteen years ago, he’d come out of Hillsfar to woo and win the harmach’s younger sister, widowed for several years. But almost as soon as he’d settled into the Hulmaster family home, he’d been caught out in some dark plot against the harmach and was driven into exile. From time to time Hulburgans gathered around a warm fire might wonder aloud what had ever become of Kamoth. It seemed Mirya had stumbled upon the answer.

  “You’re a pirate now?” she managed to ask.

  “So I’m called, but I prefer corsair. It has a better sound to it.”

  “What do you mean to do with Selsha and me?”

  “Sell you, of course. After all, you’re a fine-looking woman.” Kamoth allowed himself a hungry grin. His good humor didn’t reach his eyes, which remained as cold and dark as the eyes of a serpent. “Of course, you’d fetch a better price if you were five years younger, but I suppose you’ll do.”

  “If it’s gold you’re after, there’s no need to sell my daughter and me into slavery,” Mirya said evenly. “I’m not rich, but I’ve some means and property. My daughter and I ought to fetch a fair ransom, more than we’d earn you in a slave market. You’d do better by the deal, and so would we.”

  The captain raised an eyebrow. “Ah, so you think to bargain with me? Well, now, I must say I admire your backbone, Mistress Erstenwold. Not many women in your situation could look me in the eye and make such an offer. Were it up to me, I might take you up on it. But I’m afraid it’s not entirely in my hands. You were sent aboard Kraken Queen to keep you out of trouble, and my allies in Hulburg expect me to take you a long, long way from home before I set you ashore again.”

  “Whatever they’re paying you, I’ll arrange to pay more.”

  “A reckless offer, Mistress Erstenwold, since you’ve no idea what they might have offered me,” Kamoth said. He shook his head. “As it so happens, we’re bound for a port where your means and property are useless to me. Your value as a slave, however, travels with you.”

  Mirya pressed her lips together to keep from snapping in frustration. She willed herself to calm and then said, “Then I don’t suppose I understand what it is you want from me.”

  “Why, I am simply seeing to the comforts of my guests-and taking stock of the value of my property,” Kamoth answered. He let his eyes travel down Mirya’s body and then back up again. Then he set his hand on her shoulder. For a moment Mirya feared he meant to strip her on the spot, but he simply turned her to one side, continuing his appraisal of her. “Thirty years or so?” he said in a low voice. “Hmm, a few years younger would be better. But you’re not a bad-looking woman at all, Mistress Erstenwold. Why, I must say I might have designs upon you myself. Yes, I might.”

  Something in the way the pirate captain studied her body and spoke sent a shiver of pure terror through Mirya. It was simply unendurable-cold and almost reptilian. She was property at best, perhaps some manner of plaything, and his show of courtesy was intended for his own amusement, not her comfort. He stared silently at her with a bemused smile on his face, his attention drifting in his own thoughts, and then he shook himself. “We’ll have to see about that later, I think. No reason to hurry! We’re almost at the Black Isle, and I’ve some things to do.”

  He leaned to one side to look at Selsha, who crouched in the narrow bunk staring back at him, the blanket clutched to her chest. He winked once at the girl-it was all Mirya could do to keep from screaming-and then turned away and let himself out again without another look at either of the Erstenwolds. Mirya heard the key turn in the lock and rapid footsteps receding down the passage outside the door.

  “Dear Lady,” Mirya breathed. Then she allowed herself to slump against the wall, hugging her arms to her torso to hold in her fear. Suddenly she was not at all sure that either she or Selsha would survive their captivity long enough for Geran to find them.

  “What’s to become of us, Mama?” Selsha asked in a thin voice.

  “I don’t know, my darling. But I think he means to keep us a
s his prisoners for a little longer.” She mustered a confident smile for Selsha and sat down beside her. “As long as we’re together, I’ll look after you.”

  Selsha nodded. Then she sat up and looked around. “I think we’re going down now.”

  Down? Mirya wondered. Sure enough, her sense of balance was telling her that the ship’s motion had changed again. The cant of the deck was different, and she thought she felt the air growing warmer. “Where in the world are they taking us?” she murmured.

  She went to the porthole again and tried to make out something, anything, of their surroundings, but it was dark outside now. Even if the glass had been clear and clean, she suspected she wouldn’t have seen much. Frowning in puzzlement, Mirya picked up the tray by the door and went back to the bunk to sit by Selsha. They ate together. Selsha said that she was not hungry, but Mirya insisted that she eat something; there was no telling where they were bound at this point, and who knew when they might see their next meal?

  After an hour or more of sharply descending, the ship finally bumped and slid against some sort of pier or wharf. Mirya could hear the taut mooring hawsers creaking as they arrested the ship’s motion, and the footsteps of the crewmen as they hurried back and forth across the deck. For a long time nothing else happened, and she began to wonder if the tiny cabin was to be their prison cell as well. But then she heard several heavy footsteps approaching outside her door again, and the jangle of keys on an iron ring.

  The lock turned, and several of the pirate crewmen stepped into the room. They were dirty, dangerous-looking men in frayed breeches and worn-out tunics, and they leered at her shamelessly. “Come along, you,” one of the men said. “Make any trouble for us, and you’ll regret it.”

  “Mama!” Selsha screeched.

  “Be calm, Selsha!” Mirya answered as steadily as she could.

  She remained docile as two of the pirates stepped forward to seize her by the arms. “Now you’re a pretty thing,” one of the pirates said. He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. His breath stank. “What’s your name, love?”