by Mel Odom
“There!” Ornne screamed. “In the stern, Cap’n! The wizard’s in the stern!”
Wiping the stinging brine from his eyes, Juhg stared at the goblin ship’s stern. As he watched, the wizard trudged up the stairs leading to the stern castle. The goblin bowmen separated around the wizened figure in arcane robes.
“Archers,” Captain Attikus ordered instantly, “take aim!”
“Aye, Cap’n,” the archers responded.
The goblins continued to unleash uneven volleys of arrows. Three more sailors went down, one of them transfixed through the throat. The sight of the mortally wounded man pushed the fear inside Juhg to a fever pitch.
Another arrow struck Captain Attikus in the shoulder, driving him back a step.
For a moment, Juhg thought the arrow had pierced the man’s heart.
Gathering himself, though obviously in pain, Captain Attikus reached for the arrow and snapped off the fletched end. Blood soaked his blouse, but his gaze rested unerringly on the goblin ship. He was a hunter in that moment, and the only thing that mattered was the ship he pursued as prey. “Steady, lads. Just hold steady.” His voice betrayed no hint of fear or pain.
Windchaser steadily climbed out of the latest trough. With Blowfly dead in the water, Windchaser was in danger of pulling past the goblin ship on the port side.
“Steady,” Captain Attikus urged. “Just hold steady and true, lads, and I’ll see you through this.”
Juhg watched, helplessly hypnotized by the action about to take place. Every archer in the Windchaser group stood tense as a bowstring, the fletchings pulled back nearly to their ears now.
Then Windchaser was over the wave, descending on the goblin ship like a fisherhawk diving for a fat prize just below the ocean’s surface. She was still ten feet above Blowfly’s decks when Captain Attikus gave the order.
“Fire!”
Almost as one man, the archers loosed their shafts. Deadly and true, the arrows feathered the goblins and drove them back and down.
The wizard flung up a hand and something blurred in the air before him. Arrows stopped in mid-flight less than two feet away from him, then clattered to the stern deck. The wind tore at his hair and beard, but he stood irresolute.
“Archers,” Captain Attikus yelled. “Fire at will!”
The archers already had their second shafts nocked and were picking out targets.
“Boarding crews,” the captain bellowed, “prepare grappling hooks. I don’t mean to miss that ship and let her have at our backside.”
A dozen crewmen stepped forward with iron grappling hooks at the ends of chains. Regular grappling lines were made of hemp and could be thrown farther, but Captain Attikus preferred chain because even a sharp axe couldn’t sever the heavy links on a first blow. Usually, even an axe drove the links deeply into the wooden railing.
The human archers fired again and again, spending their arrows with a miser’s care but as quickly as they could pull the bowstring. The shafts fell with telling accuracy among the goblinkin. Squalling and cursing with utter ferocity and crudity, the goblins gave ground and fell back.
“Stand and fight, you blasted creatures!” the wizard snarled as he stood on the stern deck with imperious dignity. “I am Ertonomous Dron, and I will have your loyalty or I will have you dead!”
The goblin crew halted the mad scurry from the stern, but the creatures didn’t appear willing to once more take up the fight.
“By the Dark Lord,” the wizard thundered. “You’ll not ignore my wishes.” He lifted a skinny arm and pointed his wand at the nearest goblin.
A pulse of almost invisible movement roiled over the hapless goblin and stripped away its clothing and flesh in a flash of eldritch blue fire, leaving only a gory skeleton standing in the boots it had been wearing. With the next heave of the waves, the skeleton came apart and loose bones clattered across the deck.
More properly motivated now, the goblins once more took up the battle, surging forward to try to be the first at the railing.
The display also somewhat weakened the resolve of Windchaser’s crew and gave hesitation to the archers. Juhg saw that effect in the slack-jawed look of amazement on the men’s faces. No one—human, elf, dwarf, or goblin—wanted to get crossways with a wizard. Nearly everyone luckless enough to get in one’s path or earn his ire didn’t live to tell the story.
Or else they spend the rest of their life as a toad, Juhg thought. The wizard Craugh, who was a personal friend of the Grandmagister’s, was reputed to have increased the populations of toads in several places where he was made unhappy or found villains working to thwart his designs.
“Grapplers,” Captain Attikus commanded. “Heave the lines!”
Immediately, the sailors holding the grappling hooks hurled them at the other ship.
Wide-eyed, Juhg watched the hooks sail over the goblin ship’s railing. The heavy hooks fell onto the deck, all save for one, which ended up over a goblin’s shoulder. Tines scraped fresh white scars across the wooden deck as the sailors hauled the chains back. The hook that had fallen on the goblin buried itself in the creature’s flesh, leaving it squalling and crying as it was spitted like a specimen in a butterfly collector’s case.
“Free those lines,” Ertonomous Dron shouted. “Keep those people back from this ship.” The wizard paced behind the pack of howling goblins.
“’Yards,” Captain Attikus called. “Away with you!”
Instantly, the dozen sailors who had been up in Windchaser’s rigging after furling the sails stepped forward and revealed themselves. Ornne bailed out from the crow’s-nest, running confidently across the topmost ’yards to join the rigging crew.
The rigging crew perched at the ends of the ’yards like ungainly birds, waited for the pitch and yaw of the two ships to favor them, then launched themselves across twenty feet of open water and landed in the rigging of the goblin ship, catching fresh holds with uncommon skill.
Goblin archers wheeled to deal with the first wave of the invasion that was to come. As the goblins did, the creatures became targets for Windchaser’s archers. Arrows slammed into the goblinkin creatures and knocked them down.
The grappling crews aboard Windchaser secured the other ends of the chains that bound them to the goblin ship. The two vessels rubbed hulls with thunderous poundings that Juhg would have sworn meant they were both coming apart at the seams.
One of the grapples pulled free, tearing through a weakened section of railing that snapped like kindling. The goblin pinned by the grappling hook fought to escape but couldn’t. Even so, when the goblin went slack in death, the grappling hook found no solid purchase and yanked the creature’s corpse over the side. Still, ten grappling hooks held, binding Blowfly’s fate to Windchaser’s own.
“Boarders,” Captain Attikus roared, “away!”
In quick order that showed practice and cunning, the sailors hoisted themselves up and threw themselves from Windchaser’s railing onto the goblin ship’s deck. Swords flashed between the two crews, and the blades suddenly turned crimson.
High above the deck, the sailors in the goblin ship’s rigging worked with sharp knives, slashing through the ropes and dropping the huge sheets of canvas onto the deck and crew. Even if the boarding attempt failed, Blowfly would be in no shape to try to evade Windchaser without effecting serious repairs. Quite possibly, the goblin crew wasn’t even trained to restring the rigging and would end up at the sea’s cold mercy.
At the back of the boarding party, the frown and frustration on his face clearly showing that he didn’t like where he was, Raisho dropped his bow and quiver, then raked his cutlass from his sash. He turned to Juhg.
“C’mon, then, bookworm!” Raisho grinned. “Don’t you want to be a hero?”
No, Juhg thought. Most heroes were dead heroes, and they never truly met easy ends. He’d learned that from all the history chronicles he’d read. The books from Hralbomm’s Wing that Grandmagister Lamplighter treasured so much guaranteed a much happi
er end for heroes.
Juhg put his fear aside, concentrating on the idea of the book in goblin hands. He crossed the heaving deck, made even more treacherous by Blowfly’s drag, and stood behind Raisho. There was no time to wait, because as soon as Juhg arrived, the boarding party’s wave of movement had reached Raisho.
Without hesitation, Raisho jumped lithely to the railing and held on to a ratline. He yelled in warning, then threw himself onto the other ship.
Juhg climbed to the top of the twisting railing more warily, not at all sure if he could leap the distance to Blowfly. He rocked with Windchaser’s motion, finding his balance despite the ship’s heaving because he was a dweller and possessed incredible balance.
Raisho landed on the deck and fell into a swordsman’s crouch immediately. The cutlass flashed in his right hand and he used a long knife in his left to parry. A trio of goblinkin confronted him as he surged forward to make room. Shifting quickly, Raisho disemboweled one goblin and continued spinning to the left. He parried a heavy slash aimed at its stomach with the dagger, driving the goblin’s cutlass to the deck, where it tore out a chunk of wood. Then Raisho struck again, lopping the head from the third goblin. Still moving, he lifted his right foot and drove it into the face of the second goblin before the creature could free its cutlass from Raisho’s dagger.
In an eye blink, a space was clear on Blowfly’s deck. Blood stained the wood, reminding Juhg of the cost that had been paid so far and yet remained to be paid still.
“Juhg!” Raisho barked, looking back over his shoulder.
8
Death in the Water
Galvanized into action because he knew his friend would stand there and be a target, Juhg took two lightning-fast steps across the nearest grappling chain, felt the links beneath his bare feet, and hurled himself onto the deck.
As surefooted as he’d been crossing the chain, though, he wasn’t nearly as graceful meeting Blowfly’s shifting deck. It came up as he was going down, tripping him neatly and sending him sprawling.
Not, Juhg thought ruefully, exactly a hero’s arrival. But his embarrassment was short-lived. When he rolled over, he discovered he’d gone several feet past the area Raisho had cleared. On his back now, he stared up at a goblin that grinned down at him.
“Come all this way to up an’ die, did ye, halfer?” the goblin taunted. It took a two-handed grip on its cutlass and swung.
Juhg tried to move, but the bloody deck beneath him didn’t allow him to get his footing. His hands slid out from under him and he sprawled again.
Then a cutlass intercepted the goblin’s blade, sliding under it with a shriek of metal. Still, Juhg knew the blade was going to get him after all and split his skull because the cutlass couldn’t halt the power of the downward swing. But the cutlass continued forward, catching the goblin’s blade on the hilt, then the curved point dug into the deck on the other side of Juhg.
Staring up at the blade that had halted only inches from his head (because the defending cutlass had used the deck as a fulcrum to turn the blow), Juhg couldn’t believe he was still alive. The goblin couldn’t believe it either. An angry grimace melted the triumphant smile the foul creature had worn prior to the defense.
The goblin pulled its blade back and turned to face Raisho. Before the goblin could get set, Raisho spun and kicked his opponent in the face. Propelled by the blow, the goblin flew backward and toppled over the ship’s railing. It squalled for an instant, then Windchaser and Blowfly came together in another thunderous boom as the hulls met.
Lying on his back, his attention focused on the railing area where the goblin had gone over, Juhg thought, Squished. Now, that’s a horrible way to die.
Raisho grabbed him by his blouse and yanked him to his feet. He thrust his face into Juhg’s and spoke loudly. “Are ye all right, Juhg?”
Juhg nodded and tried to speak twice before he could make any sound come out. “Yes.”
“Good.” Raisho released him. “Then see that ye stay that way. I’d not have the good Cap’n Attikus vexed at me ’cause I’d gone off an’ let ye get skewered.”
Juhg didn’t want that either.
Beyond them, the fight continued. Windchaser’s crew slowly made headway against the goblins. The sailors weren’t pretty in their swordplay as Raisho was. They were fierce fighting men, but not true swordsmen. Mainly, they hacked and slashed their way across the deck with brute force and some canny skills, working together and presenting a solid front. Goblins fell and gave ground before them.
High above the deck, the sabotage crew started clambering down. They cut ratlines and rigging free, swinging down to join the fray. With surprise, Juhg noted that Herby and Gust were among them. The young thief and the monk threw sections of rigging down over the goblin group, entangling them and causing no end of problems.
Navin stepped back from the boarding party and glanced up at the stern castle, where the wizard stood surrounded by a dozen goblins. “The wizard!” he shouted. “Get the wizard!”
A group of sailors split off from the main boarding party and hurried up the stairs. The goblins raced to intercept them. In a moment, the sailors’ running advance was slowed to a crawl of inches.
Raisho growled and stamped his foot.
Juhg knew his friend longed to be part of the action.
Angry and frustrated, Raisho turned to Juhg. “The book. Will the wizard have the book?”
Steel on steel clanged around them and distracted Juhg terribly. He gazed up at the wizard, aware that the man stared at him.
It’s my imagination, Juhg told himself. That’s what it has to be. This ship is so filled with enemy sailors, the wizard wouldn’t notice me at all.
But the wizard did. More than that, the wizard stretched out his arm and mouthed words as he pointed his wand.
“Raisho!” Juhg knew the young sailor hadn’t seen the threatening move because he was engaged with a goblin that had fought through the main line. Juhg threw himself at Raisho’s back and bore his friend down.
The goblin battling Raisho grinned maniacally as it assumed it had the upper hand. Raisho struggled to get his blade lifted for a defense, and for a moment Juhg thought he’d gotten the young sailor killed in spite of his efforts.
Just as the goblin swung, a green lightning bolt sizzled through the air where Juhg and Raisho had stood. Caught by the lightning bolt, the goblin exploded into splotchy gray-green chunks of burned meat and broken bone. Gore covered Juhg’s face, letting him know how near a thing the encounter had been.
Raisho moved instantly, pushing himself once more to his feet. He caught Juhg’s collar with his dagger hand and yanked the dweller to his big feet.
“That wizard must have recognized what a fierce fighter I am,” Raisho growled, peering up at the stern castle.
Juhg didn’t bother to mention that the wizard had directed the lightning bolt at him and Raisho happened to be in the way. Why would a wizard target me? Juhg wondered. Then Raisho pushed him into motion and rescued him from another goblin’s cutlass.
Raisho fought quickly, outmatching the goblin in a few short, clanging strokes. When the goblin fell back, its head split open by a wicked cutlass blow, Raisho turned to Juhg.
“Do ye think the wizard has the book, then?” Raisho demanded.
The book. Somehow in the heat of the battle, Juhg had forgotten the reason he was there.
On the stern castle, the small group of sailors fought past the last of the goblin defenders. They raced toward the wizard, who stood his ground fearlessly. When they were almost upon him, the wizard mouthed more words, then swept his arm toward the sailors.
Arcane power blurred the air between them. The sailors fell back, great cuts opening across their bodies as if the same sword blow had hit each of them. They turned from a pack of fighting men into a group of dead and dying.
Juhg recognized all of them and felt their loss. Tears sprang to his eyes as he realized that he would no longer listen to those men’s stories or
songs, nor have the chance to regale them with his own.
Raisho cursed and started toward the stern castle.
Catching his friend’s arm, Juhg said, “The wizard won’t have the book.”
Torn, obviously angry and hurting over the loss of so many of his friends, Raisho glared at Juhg. “Ye don’t know that.”
“I believe it to be true,” Juhg said. “The book is under the wizard’s care, Raisho. It doesn’t belong to him. Otherwise he would have had it on his person that night in the harbor.”
Raisho took a fresh grip on his sword and looked determined to scale the stern castle himself. “He killed them, Juhg! He killed them all!”
The dead sailors’ bodies sprawled across the stern deck. Unseeing eyes stared from their pain-wracked faces.
“I know,” Juhg said. “I’m sorry. But you can’t do anything for them.”
“I can avenge them.”
Juhg stepped in front of his friend, aware that they were targets on the deck. Navin and the rest of the boarding party held back the goblin crew, pressing the creatures toward the ship’s prow as they fought through the tangle of fallen sails.
“Avenge them by taking the prize,” Juhg said, locking eyes with his friend. “That’s what they died for.” He glanced back at the stern castle, afraid that at any moment the wizard would blast them to bits with another lightning bolt.
Ertonomous Dron, however, appeared weakened. Though he alone stood alive on the stern deck, he leaned back against the railing and seemed to struggle to stay on his feet on the heaving deck. Blowfly continued to strain against the binding chains that held her fast to Windchaser. Juhg had no doubt that the ride aboard Windchaser was no easy thing either.
“The wizard has spellcast himself to weakness,” Raisho argued.
“Or he’s playing possum,” Juhg pointed out.
