Pirate's Prophecy, page 23
“And were you able to discover how he’s triggered?”
“He said he remembered a loud sound, like a drum being struck, and Bushatra didn’t want to use powerful magic on him for fear of triggering him. It may be that magic sets him off.”
“Damn!” Torius gritted his teeth until his head pounded. “So we can’t use him, we can’t let the Chelish get hold of him, and you’ve decided that we can’t kill him.”
Vreva’s voice turned cold. “Yes. It’s my decision, not yours. Trellis tasked me with—”
“Trellis tasked you with neutralizing the weapon!”
“‘Neutralize the weapon’ is an awfully impersonal way of saying ‘murder the boy,’ Torius. I know we can’t let the Chelish take him back, but I’m not going to kill him unless its absolutely necessary.”
Torius didn’t know what else to say. Never in his life would he have thought that murdering an innocent boy would be the right thing to do, but if worst came to worst that seemed to be their only option. One life or thousands …
Overhead, a spar creaked ominously, followed by the distinctive sound of ripping canvas.
“Gozreh’s guts!” Torius looked aloft, wondering how they’d managed to rip a sail in only moderate winds. “Who’s manning the—”
“Captain!” Lacy Jane cried. “It’s the devil!”
A sinuous blue shape undulated through the rigging. It grabbed the main topsail in two tentacle hands and wrenched. The sail tore from luff to leech, tattered canvas flapping uselessly in the wind. Anguillithek was back, and it was ravaging his ship.
“Oh, dear Calistria!” Vreva cried.
Heads swiveled, trying to catch sight of any hellish reinforcements, but the drowning devil seemed to be alone.
Torius was already shouting orders. “Archers! Shoot that thing down!” He turned to Vreva. “It’s alone!”
“I must have been right!”
Torius felt a thread of hope. So far, the devil seemed to be only attacking the topsails, not his crew, but every torn sail slowed them. He had to stop it somehow before it broke something they couldn’t fix, and arrows didn’t seem to be doing the job.
“Vreva, get Celeste! I need her spells! Stay with that kid!”
“Right!” Vreva dashed off.
“Look out below!”
Torius ducked reflexively and looked up. The devil had slammed into the main topmast with all its weight, and the wooden trestletrees that held it in place splintered under the onslaught. The main topmast toppled toward the quarterdeck like a felled tree.
“Down!” Torius tackled Windy Kate as the topmast smashed down. Splinters flew from both forward and aft rails, and tangled rigging fell atop them like a net. Torius lurched to his feet and hauled Windy up. The spar had missed them and the ship’s wheel by less than a foot, but the fallen lines fouled the steering. “Man the helm, Windy! You there, cut this mess free!”
Sailors attacked the tangled ropes with their cutlasses, freeing the wheel in moments. Windy hauled them back on course. Aloft, Anguillithek continued to run amok, breaking and tearing anything it could reach. The devil flew to the foremast and started prying at the topmast shrouds with its massive hands. Motion caught Torius’s eye, and he saw Lacy Jane climbing up to the railing of the crow’s nest. She launched herself up to drive her dagger hilt-deep into its shoulder. As the devil roared in rage and surprise, she drew her cutlass and brought the blade down on the back of it head, shearing off one of the devil’s curved horns.
“Lacy!” Torius looked around frantically for a way to attack the devil, but there was nothing at hand. Horrified, he watched as Anguillithek reached one tentacled hand to rip Lacy Jane from its back, then pulled her toward its open maw.
* * *
Listening to Torius pound up to the quarterdeck, hoping that things weren’t as dire as Grogul had implied, Celeste slithered to the guest cabin. She entered as quietly as she could, nudging the door closed behind her with a gentle press of magic. The lamp was turned down, but she had no trouble seeing Vreva and Yami huddled together on the narrow bunk. The sorcerer slept with one arm protectively around the boy. Vreva had never struck Celeste as motherly, but something about Yami must have penetrated the spy’s armor. Celeste looked more closely at Yami’s strange features and wondered if his curse had any relation to his physical oddity.
Celeste nudged Vreva with another simple spell, and the woman’s eyes flicked open. At her feet, a lump of shadow moved, and Mathias’s eyes blinked open. Vreva lifted her head from the pillow and opened her mouth to speak.
“Shhh. I need to speak with you, but you needn’t wake him.” The naga kept her voice to a bare whisper, confident that the water rushing past the hull and the creak of wood would mask the sound.
Vreva nodded and eased out of the bunk with the grace of a cat burglar. Or a courtesan—Vreva had spent years spying in the guise of the best-known and highest-priced courtesan in Okeno, and undoubtedly had much practice slipping out of bed without waking her partner.
Vreva made a quiet mewling sound, and Mathias lay back down next to Yami. She then gestured to the far corner of the room, and they moved away from the sleeping boy. “What is it?”
“It’s dawn, and Fury’s Crown is on our tail, only a few miles back.”
Vreva’s face paled in the dim light. “Oh no.”
“Oh yes. Torius is worried.” Celeste nodded toward the bunk. “He said Yami’s not to be left alone, even for a moment. We can’t let them capture him.”
“I know.” As Vreva looked at the boy, her eyes softened, though her nervousness remained evident in the taut muscles of her neck and face. “He’s innocent, Celeste.”
“I know he’s innocent, but he’s also a death sentence for thousands more innocents in Augustana. If the Chelish recover him, those thousands are doomed.”
“I need to speak to Torius. Can you stay with Yami for a few minutes?”
“Yes, but…” Celeste’s gaze slid uneasily toward the bunk. “What do I do if he wakes up?”
“Talk to him. He’s just a boy.” Vreva slipped out of the room with barely a sound.
Celeste slithered to the side of the bed and relaxed on her coils. She considered their situation. Before their attack the night before, she had questioned the stars about their course of action: Should they attack Robust? The song of the heavens had resonated in her bones, an overwhelming sense of rightness. She wrinkled her brow as she wondered about the accuracy of that prophecy. They had Yami now, but Anguillithek had escaped. Would that doom them? As long as the boy lived, they were in danger.
Celeste watched the pulse throbbing in Yami’s throat. She could kill him with one strike, solve all their problems with one dose of her venom. But no, that wasn’t true—regardless of whether Yami lived or died, the Chelish would never let them get away. Besides, she couldn’t betray Vreva’s trust like that.
Overhead, Grogul shouted out orders for sail changes. The ship lurched, and Celeste felt the change as they began to pitch more. They’d altered course and were beating into the wind. The ship shuddered as her bow pounded into a wave, and Yami woke with a start.
“What’s wrong? Vreva?” He blinked his odd blue eyes and drew a startled breath at the sight of Celeste.
“It’s all right, Yami. Vreva had to go up on deck for a moment. She’ll be right back. I’m just watching over you for a while.”
“Oh.” He sat up and shifted until his back was against the hull, his eyes still on her. Mathias meowed, and rubbed against the boy until Yami began to stroke him absently. The action seemed to calm him.
They stared at each other for a moment while Celeste wondered what to say. Finally, she decided to stick with the basics. “Do you want anything? Food or drink?” She turned up the lamp with her magic, and his large pupilless eyes blinked in surprise.
“How did you do that?”
“Simple magic.” She lifted one of her books and floated it around to demonstrate. “Nagas don’t have hands, but we have other talents.”
“I’ve, um, never met a naga before.”
“Now you have.” She tried for a disarming tone. “I’ve never met anyone like you before, either. Were your parents like you? Your eyes and skin?”
“No.” He looked away, his mouth set in a hard frown. “No, I’m different. They didn’t know why, but I am. A lot of the other kids didn’t like me. They hurt me.”
“People are like that when you’re different. I know.” Celeste didn’t need magic to hear the pain in the boy’s voice. He must have had a difficult childhood, and now this. “They do it because they’re afraid. Frightened people are dangerous. Some try to use you for their own ends, and some try to enslave you.”
“I know.” He looked at her and rubbed his nose with a sniff. “Vreva told me what Cheliax was planning to do with me.”
“I’ve had people try to use me, too, Yami.”
“And what did you do?”
Celeste smiled and bared her fangs. “I fought back.”
“But I don’t know—”
The ship lurched again, and a shout rang out overhead. When Celeste heard Torius bellow for archers, she knew it was serious. She twitched her tail in irritation. She needed to go see what was happening, but dared not leave the boy alone.
“What is it?” Panic edged Yami’s voice.
Celeste could offer little comfort. “I don’t know, but I’m here to protect you. Don’t worry.”
He huddled on the bed. “Don’t let them take me, Celeste. I don’t want … I don’t want what happened before to happen again! I can’t let it!”
Celeste’s curiosity got the better of her. What exactly could this boy do? “What happened before, Yami? Do you remember?”
“No, I … Just pain, and then a sound, and everyone dying. I don’t remember, but I know it was my fault!”
“Pain? You were hurt before—”
Vreva burst into the room. “It’s Anguillithek! He’s ripping up the sails! Torius needs you!”
“This time I kill that fishy fiend!” Celeste raced out the door. The crash of something falling to the quarterdeck greeted her arrival on deck. She ducked under the shower of splinters, and looked back over the shattered rail. “Torius!”
He rose from the wreckage, alive and uninjured, but a spar lay the full length of the quarterdeck, having missed him by mere feet. She followed his gaze aloft, and caught her breath.
The devil flew high above, tearing at the sails and rigging, its long, sinuous body unmarred by their previous battle. Somehow, it was completely healed. At least it’s alone. She slithered to the windward rail for a better angle, and started to cast her lightning spell to blast the devil. Before she could finish the incantation, Lacy Jane leapt up from the crow’s nest, onto the fiend’s back.
“Damn!” Celeste choked back her spell. If she cast it now, she’d likely kill Lacy.
“Hold fire!” Thillion ordered, evidently coming to the same conclusion. Archers lined the windward rail, bows and crossbows ready, all eyes trained on their embattled shipmate.
Lacy slashed, and one blue horn fell to the deck. Anguillithek reached back to tear its assailant free, holding her at arm’s length for a moment as it opened its tooth-lined mouth.
Now! Lightning shot aloft, scorching a furrow through the drowning devil’s scales. Anguillithek roared, arching and writhing in pain, and Lacy fell from its grasp.
“Fire!” Thillion ordered, and the archers let fly. A storm of arrows and bolts shot through the air.
As the shafts riddled the devil’s hide, Celeste heard a splash beyond the leeward rail. At least Lacy had hit the water, not the deck. A cry and another splash followed, but Celeste dared not take her eyes from her quarry. Anguillithek ignored the hail of arrows, tearing at the foretopmast mountings with its powerful tentacled hands, flinging its heavy body against the spar to knock it loose. Celeste cast another bolt of lightning aloft, careful to avoid catching the sails on fire. The devil howled, but continued its onslaught. Finally, the bracings gave way, and the foretopmast toppled to leeward.
Sailors cried out and ducked as the spar hit the water trailing half a dozen lines. The deck erupted into activity around her as Stargazers fought the tangled cordage, cutting free the damaged rigging. Celeste kept her eyes aloft, but by the time she was prepared to cast another spell, Anguillithek was gone.
“Damn that devil back to Hell!” Celeste writhed in rage, scanning for any sign that Anguillithek had simply teleported to attack them from another angle, but the sky remained clear. “By the stars, I hate that fiend!”
“I think you’ve got company, Miss Celeste.” Thillion slipped an arrow back into his quiver. “But we marked him well for the trouble he caused, and he didn’t bring in a more powerful fiend to help, which bodes well.”
“I suppose—”
“Heave, Stargazers!”
Grogul’s bellow brought her attention to the rail, where the bosun and a team of sailors hauled a sputtering Lacy Jane and a grinning Kalli onto the deck. The gillman had a rope tied around her waist. Evidently, she had gone overboard after the fallen lookout—quite a daring rescue considering that they were sailing along at ten knots. The half-orc clapped Lacy hard on the back, expelling a surprising volume of water. Lacy coughed and spat, but seemed hale enough, despite the red wheals from the devil’s tentacles that crisscrossed her face and arms.
“Damn quick rescue, Kalli!” Grogul praised.
“Can’t let a good lookout go by the board so easy.” The gillman grabbed Lacy’s arm and hauled her forward. “Come on, then. Dry clothes and a tot’ll put you to rights!”
“Grogul!” Torius’s shout from the quarterdeck drew every eye. “Get this topmast swayed back up. Thillion, I want archers posted all around the deck and in the crow’s nest. If that devil pops in again, I want it to look like a pincushion. Celeste, damn fine shooting with your spells. Can you stay on deck to keep lookout while we get this all sorted out?”
“Yes.” She slithered up to the quarterdeck and looked astern. Fury’s Crown sailed no more than three miles behind.
“The frigate’s falling off to leeward,” Torius pointed out. “But I don’t know if we can get this damage fixed quick enough to get away, especially if that devil comes back.”
“They’ll never let us get away. If we start to pull away, you can bet that it’ll be back to slow us down again.”
“Well, I’m not about to just let them catch us!”
But Celeste was thinking beyond simple escape. “Anguillithek didn’t bring in another devil. Why not?”
“I don’t think it can.” Torius edged out of the way as sailors swarmed the quarterdeck and began attacking the fallen rigging. “Vreva thinks this whole plot was covert. Abrogail can’t commit imperial resources to an illegal act without political fallout, and destroying Augustana is about as illegal as it gets. Admiral Ronnel swoops in to render aid after the destruction, and they’ve won without a war. If Andoran does fight back, we’re the aggressors. But if Abrogail sends official aid beforehand, the plot becomes public.”
“That’s good for us, I guess.”
They watched as sailors rigged blocks and lines to haul the main topmast back into place. Dukkol, who often served as the ship’s carpenter, and Snick were already hauling spare lumber from the hold and taking measurements for the new topmast trestletrees. Grogul and several others climbed aloft to rig the lines that would raise the spar. The procedure was tricky even at anchor; under sail in these conditions, it would be perilous, but they had no option. They needed all sails aloft to outrun Fury’s Crown. Unfortunately, the foretopmast was gone, and they had no replacement.
Celeste floated Torius’s telescope to her eye and watched the frigate pounding into the seas behind them. The view sparked an idea in Celeste’s mind. “Torius!”
“What?” He didn’t look away from the spar going aloft.
“Why do you think that Anguillithek just attacked our sails to slow us down? It could just as easily have sunk us from below if it wanted to.”
“They want Yami.”
“Of course, but it might be more than that. Once they have Yami, they’ve got to get him into Augustana Harbor to … do whatever he does. But they can’t sail that in.” She jerked her head toward the pursuing frigate. “They’d never get a navy ship past the Augustana fleet. They need a merchant vessel. With Robust destroyed, they want to take Stargazer intact so they can use her in their plan!”
“Over my dead body!” Torius bit his lip in thought. “If the devil’s going to keep slowing us down so we can’t outrun them, we need a plan. If they don’t want to damage the ship too badly, that might give us an edge.”
“We can certainly fight back,” Celeste said. “Snick’s got some surprises up her sleeves, I’m sure, and Vreva can set their sails afire.”
“All of that’s good, but we have to remember that they won’t let us escape with Yami. I wish we could use his weapon or curse or whatever it is against them.”
“Oh!” Celeste remembered her truncated discussion with Yami then. “I think I might know what triggers him.”
“Really?” Torius looked stunned. “What is it?”
“I think it might be injury. He told me he remembered pain, then everyone dying, so I think he was hurt before it happened.”
“But he still doesn’t remember what happens.”
“No.”
Torius gritted his teeth. “We don’t dare use it. We don’t know if it’ll destroy us, too.”
“At least they can’t sink us, right?”
“They might not want to, but they can always postpone their plan and get another ship to use. There’s no substitute for their weapon. They want the boy. We’ve got to kill that devil. Then we can sail for Augustana and hope for help from the Gray Corsairs.”
“Agreed,” Celeste said. “And I think I know how we can get them close enough to kill that blue bastard.”
“How’s that?” Torius looked at her with furrowed brow.
“Offer them exactly what they want.”
