by Scott Baron
“I mean, let me take you to see him,” the man corrected.
“I said I wasn’t to be disturbed!” the bearded man with deep green hair and an even deeper orange complexion said.
Captain Ragnak was a jigsaw puzzle of scars, the souvenirs of his many years living a life of action. He could have had them healed at any time, but he felt they were badges of courage. Plus, they really added to his pirate image.
“Sorry, Captain. These two were lookin’ to talk about some trade with ya.”
He shifted his annoyed gaze to Hozark and Demelza. “Trade? What sort of trade are you looking for, then?”
Hozark resumed absentmindedly tossing the pouch in his hand. “We’ve got an employer who is looking for some new house slaves. We heard you just made port not long ago and still had a fresh batch.”
“That I do,” he replied. “Ezzil, go bring the merchandise.”
“Aye, Captain,” the man said, hurrying off to fetch the available slaves.
“Have a seat,” Ragnak said.
“Don’t mind if I do. I have to tell you, it’s been a bit of a bust so far. When we landed here with Captain Demarzik, I was told Drommus was the best place for ten systems to find what we needed.”
“You’re with Demarzik?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah, that explains it.”
“Explains what?”
“How you two found your way to this part of the township. All the best traders are here. Good captain, that one.”
“We think so,” Demelza noted.
“But Drommus?”
“Yeah, not our first choice, really. But it’s just such a pain, always steering clear of the damn Council and their goons.”
“Fuck the Council,” Ragnak spat.
“I’ll second that. Fuck the council!” Hozark agreed.
“Fuck ’em all to hell! Arr!”
Hozark paused and took a chance on the man’s mirth. “Did you actually just say ‘arr’?” he asked.
Ragnak laughed, breaking his rough-and-tough façade for a moment. “Ironically,” he replied. “It’s kind of an inside joke around here. Ah, excellent. Here they come.”
A moment later a dozen slaves of all size, gender, race, and color were led in and walked past the newcomers in a procession. None of them were the boy they sought.
“An impressive lot,” Hozark said, pulling a bottle of very, very expensive Sluvak from his deep pocket and nodding to their host. “Glasses?”
Ragnak’s eyes widened slightly at the sight. It was a very rare, and very good alcohol, the likes of which he hadn’t tasted in ages. He snatched up three glasses from the small table beside him, and Hozark poured them each a small taste, a bit more for their host, of course.
“A very nice group of slaves,” he said. “But our employer is looking for something a bit, uh, younger, if you know what I mean.
Ragnak paused, mid-sip. “I do know what you mean,” he said with a conspiratorial look. “But this is all I’ve got at the moment.”
“Ah, that’s a shame.”
There was something behind the pirate’s eyes. The way he shifted a little and paused. He knew something, it was clear as day to the master assassin.
“Well, I appreciate your help anyway,” he said, then pushed the nearly full bottle of Sluvak toward the pirate. “In any case, a gesture of thanks for your hospitality, between friends. And now, we really should get back to Captain Demarzik. She’ll be disappointed to hear we struck out.”
Hozark and Demelza rose to leave.
“You know. Now that I think of it, Captain Darvin might have something that suits your needs. He just came in today, and I heard a little talk of his cargo. Nothing confirmed, though. But maybe worth your time to look.”
Hozark gave him an appreciative nod. “Thanks for the tip, Captain. We’ll check it out. And it was really nice making your acquaintance.”
“Likewise,” the pirate said. “And remember, ‘Arr!’”
“Arr!” Hozark replied with a laugh, then headed out to find this Captain Darvin and see if perhaps he was in possession of their young ward.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Captain Darvin’s ship wasn’t exactly what anyone would call hard to track down. In fact, the massive, battle-scarred craft stood out even among the other rather beat-up pirate ships that regularly frequented the docks of Drommus.
As an Outlander, one would expect his craft to have had to forego some of the cosmetic niceties that so many opted for after a few good scores. But this was excessive even for one of that outcast sect.
But, like Ragnak’s latticework of scars, the patched-up damage to the pirate ship lent an additional menace to its already imposing air.
The location of the ship, however, was just as rough an area as the men who disembarked it. Volcanic instability had lava flows running all around. They were kept back by a steady stream of magic, but, every so often, a drunken pirate met a very fast, and very hot end when they had a misstep.
Only the lowest of the low were made to set down there, but when they’d come to land, the Outlanders were pegged for who they were and were directed to this most treacherous of landing zones.
But they had expected no less. Outlanders weren’t popular anywhere, not even on Drommus.
“You go left. I’ll go right,” Hozark said, splitting off from Demelza without a glance, totally nonchalant in his redirect around the immediate landing area.
If this was indeed their man, things could spill over and turn the whole area into a free-for-all rumble. It was a powder keg waiting to ignite, and if things might go down that path, it was imperative they had backup standing by, ready to step in.
But first, a bit of reconnaissance was in order.
Demelza made initial contact with a rather gregarious band of raiders who were taking a bit of recreation, roasting some utterly unidentifiable animal over an open flame.
Their ship was a small affair, and they seemed to be a newer bunch to the pirate game. As such, they were a bit less wary of a random woman walking up to them and starting a conversation. Older, wiser men would have wondered at her motives.
“Hey, fellas,” she said, the topmost buttons of her tunic opened long before she was anywhere near.
“Uh, hello,” the apparent leader of the little band replied.
“What’s that you’ve got cooking? It smells fantastic.”
It was a lie. To call the cast-off meat they were destroying even further with the magical flame edible would be a stretch, even for a Bundabist. And they had the reputation for eating pretty much anything.
“Just whipping up a little something for the fellas,” the man in charge of their feast replied as he brushed a glaze on the carcass that actually managed to make it smell even worse.
“Wow, you’re a talented cook,” she said. “They only serve us morvin biscuits and Boramus jerky on our ship.”
“Oh yeah?”
“It’s not very pleasant.”
“I can imagine.”
“But our captain said once we finish up our pickup run, we’ll get some shore leave on the next world we stop at. Nice as Drommus is, I’m hoping we won’t be here too long. Just gotta find that slave kid we’re supposed to pick up, and then we’re off to make the drop. And then, shore leave.”
“Slave kid? Well, shit. You’re in luck. I know for a fact Darvin’s got a kid on his ship. Sick bastard’s been trying to sell him off to anyone who’d take him. But he hasn’t had much interest yet. The kid may be young, but most of the fellas prefer girls to boys. At least usually.”
“That sounds like it might be our kid. You know what he looks like? Not some amphibian or something like that, is he?”
“Nope, just a violet-skinned kid. Pretty normal-looking, really.”
“That might be the right one,” Demelza said. “Thanks!”
“Hey, aren’t you gonna stay and join us for a bite?”
“I’ll try to come back as soon as I can. I want to t
hank you personally for all of your help. But first I’ve gotta tell our captain. Drommus is kind of a maze, and he’s probably searching high and low for this kid.”
“Hurry back,” the man called after her.
“You know I will,” she called back with a huge grin.
The grin fell from her face when she was out of sight. “Captain Demarzik, it looks like we’ve found our boy. He’s aboard the vessel belonging to a pirate name Darvin,” Demelza transmitted over the skree Corann had given her. “He’s docked in the third landing zone out from the marketplace. Big, beat-up looking ship.”
“You found him? So soon?” the captain replied. “Great news. I’m having my men head that way now.”
“We will await your arrival,” Demelza sent, then tucked away her skree and headed along to her and Hozark’s rendezvous point.
While she had been casually carousing with the little band of pirates, Hozark had gone on a much different sort of a fact-finding mission. First, the Wampeh had made a quick loop of the area around Darvin’s ship. There were several rowdy groups of pirates congregated at a few of the local establishments, and he wanted to be sure to note which might be part of that ship’s crew.
If fighting broke out, as he was growing increasingly sure it would, they stood a far better chance of success knowing where all of Darvin’s men might be, both on and off the ship.
Hozark had also brought his shimmer cloak with, and once he had surveyed the patrons of the bars, taverns, and houses of ill repute, he slipped into an alleyway and donned his shimmer.
Gaining access to the cargo hold of the ship in question was child’s play, but the main body of the craft was still locked up tight, and the number of pirates right at the door from both the cargo hold and the exterior would make a stealth entry difficult.
They needed a diversion.
Hozark tucked behind a stinking pile of refuse and shed his shimmer cloak, then made his way back out along the pathway to meet up with his Wampeh associate.
“Lalaynia and her people are on the way,” Demelza quietly told him when he arrived. “There’s a boy on board this ship, and he matches Happizano’s description.”
Hozark nodded. “The ship is buttoned up tight. Guards at the entrances. No way to pass unnoted. It seems their persona-non-grata status as Outlanders has made them more than a little paranoid. And with good reason, from what I overheard in the pubs.”
“Oh?”
“Darvin has quite a few enemies on Drommus. And we are going to use that to our advantage.”
To any observing the casual stream of rough-and-tough pirates making their way through the streets, it would seem just like any other day with men and women of action going about their affairs.
But what they didn’t notice was that a great many of those pirates were from Lalaynia’s crew. And as they passed one another, the plan was relayed with crisp efficiency.
“Tell the others. There’s gonna be a fight. Draw in as many of Darvin’s men as you can.”
And so the message was relayed, passed orally and invisibly. In mere minutes, dozens were ready to act. All they were waiting for was the go sign.
“This is going to be fun,” Lalaynia said as she discussed their next moves with the two Wampeh. “Bud’s wrapping up at another landing site, but he said he’ll try to get here as fast as he can.”
“We will have to begin without him. Enough of the crew are off of the ship that this may be our best opportunity to draw out the rest,” Hozark said.
“He’ll be pissed if he misses all the action.”
“I am aware. But the boy takes priority, I am afraid.”
Lalaynia nodded her agreement. “So, you two ready?”
“That we are.”
“Well, okay then. I’ll be seeing you on the other side,” she said. “Of the fight, that is. I don’t believe in life after death, and even if I did, I have no plans of crossing that bridge just yet.”
She shared a single nod with the assassins, then headed off to raise a ruckus the likes of which Drommus hadn’t seen in decades. And if she was successful, it would be a fight that would also make her quite a lot of coin.
“Cap’n,” her right hand said as she strolled over to her crew.
She looked over the men and women she’d fought with for so long and smiled. This was going to be fun.
“All right, my dearies,” she said. “Here we go.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
“Hey, watch where you’re going!”
“Watch out yourself, idiot.”
Moments later, fists were flying, along with more than a few spells for good measure.
That was all it took to set things in motion.
Normally, bystanders would have just watched the two men have at it and that would be that. Maybe they’d place wagers on the outcome, but soon enough the local enforcers would step in and quiet things down.
But Lalaynia had greased the right palms with Ghalian coin for this occasion, and a blind eye was turned. At least for a little while.
What began as a simple squabble quickly turned into more of a brawl. And once each man’s crewmates saw what was happening and joined it, that brawl turned into a rumble.
And that’s about as far as it would have typically gone. But Demelza had riled up the nearby pirates, telling them Darvin’s gang was plotting to steal their food.
It was a ridiculous story, but they had fallen for it. And Lalaynia’s men, clued in to the story, reinforced the lie. More and more pirates from more crews than hers were joining into the fight, and despite his ship being parked right there, Darvin’s men were beginning to lose.
On cue, the doors opened, and more of the Outlander’s men flooded out to join in what had quickly escalated into a riot.
The fighting was spreading, and the multiple outcroppings overhanging the flowing lava were becoming jammed with increasingly angry men. This was getting a bit out of hand compared to the original plan. But these were pirates. What was to be expected, really?
“Leave some for me!” Bud called out as he rushed into the fight.”
“How’d you get here so fast?” Laylania asked.
“Laskar dropped me and Henni off. He’s overhead, looking for a safe place to land.”
“Here? Fat chance,” she said with a laugh as she cast a stun spell, dropping one of Darvin’s men. Paralyzed as he was, he fell over. Right into the lava. “Oops.”
“Damn, Laynia.”
“It wasn’t intentional,” she said with a little grin.
The riot had spread into most of the area now, the good pirates heavily engaging the bad ones.
It was a bit odd to consider one faction of pirates good, but as they were working on behalf of a Ghalian rescue mission, it seemed that their alignment was on the good side, if only for a bit.
“Hey, where’s the girl? You said she was with you.”
“She was. But one of your guys gave her a pair of daggers and she took off running. I’ve been trying to find her.”
“Look no further,” Lalaynia said with an amazed smile, pointing across the nearby lava flow.
Henni was there, a violet-haired blur of aggression, leaping into the air, her hands flying in a windmill of violence as she literally climbed up a man trying to fight her, stabbing the hell out of him all the way up as if her daggers were a pointy ladder.
The poor man didn’t stand a chance. His resistance was futile, and a moment later, he toppled to the ground, a bloody mess.
Henni rolled clear and immediately raced off to have at another one of the Outlander pirates, a thrilled gleam in her eye.
“Interesting friend you have there, Bud,” the pirate captain said. “Quite a surprising little thing, I have to admit.”
“That’s an understatement,” Bud said as he watched the diminutive young woman in action, realizing he really didn’t know her at all. At least, not like he thought.
For their part, the two deadliest combatants on the battlefield by far had not
slain or maimed a single person. In fact, the shimmer-cloaked assassins were doing all they could to avoid so much as bumping into any of the fighting men and women swimming in the sea of chaos.
With great care, they maneuvered to the entrance of Captain Darvin’s ship and waited. It didn’t take long for the door to open and more men to spill out to join the fight. It was the most pirate thing in the world to do, and they did not disappoint.
Hozark and Demelza, however, were ready, and slipped silently inside the ship. One of the rushing men did brush against Hozark in his hurry, but he was so focused on the danger outside that he totally missed the danger inside.
The cloaked assassins were making good time through the large ship, clearing it room by room until they might finally find the boy they sought. The first several sections of the ship were fairly easy to move through.
The men who had been clustered there had exited en masse, leaving them room to maneuver. But then things took a turn for the unexpected.
Hozark quickly shed his shimmer cloak. “Do you hear that?”
“Oh no,” Demelza said, taking off her shimmer as well.
The din of a massive fight was coming from up ahead. From inside the ship.
“They must have breached the cargo bay entrance,” Hozark said. “We will have to move quickly.”
The two raced along the corridor, trying to make as much headway as they could before they encountered the rioting pirates.
They had removed their shimmers, not because they no longer wished to operate without being seen, but because in close-quarter combat, and against this many people, the likelihood of accidental stabbing or worse was a very real threat.
But if they were visible, their allies would avoid them, and their enemies would follow one of the more predictable attack patterns. And those were easily defeated and countered.
“Hozark!” a young voice cried out.
The boy was no more than twenty meters away, being dragged deeper into the pirate ship by none other than Captain Darvin himself. The assassin could have covered the distance in a flash, if not for the dozens of fighting men and women between them.
