His two crewmates frantically worked the cocking winch as Grund fetched another dart.
"Can I help?" Tanys asked.
Grund laughed harshly. "Do as you will, lass. We're fucked anyway. We might as well take as many with us as we can!"
A pirate swung down from above on a length of line, screaming like the devil he pretended to be. He landed in a heap on the deck, struggling to hold his entrails in, as Tanys casually flicked his blood from her blade.
"Hah! Good job, girly!" Grund shouted, "Just don't let 'em take you alive! These bastards are a pitiless lot."
Suddenly, one of Grund's mates slumped dead across the freshly loaded arbalest, a wicked axe buried in the back of his head. Grund cursed and booted him clear, turning the weapon on the masked pirate who had thrown the axe.
The pirate saw the crossbow leveled at his chest and turned to leap over the side, but Grund anticipated his move and sent a heavy dart crunching into the center of his back. The pirate flipped over the railing to die in the black water below.
A weird cry sounded over the din of battle, and, as one, the pirates turned and fled. Tanys raced after them, stopping at the rail when she saw the pirates' ship, if it could be called that.
The ghast pirates swarmed up the sides of a great leather-backed sea beast, lying half submerged in the churning black water. Across its back, the ghasts had affixed a sort of high-walled houda. Multiple wooden decks, protected by walls of garishly painted shields bustled with devil-masked sailors. The whole was eerily lit with the green glow of witchfire lamps. Tanys caught a glimpse of blue silk as the Zhadeen girl disappeared through a hatchway into the interior of the strange whale-borne vessel.
One of the pirates leaned over the side of the howdah to lash a long heavy whip across the sea beast's back. The creature groaned and thrashed its great flippers, throwing up a spray of seawater that glimmered in the pale moonlight. The whip master lashed out again, and the beast began to pull away from the Gannet’s hull, carrying its strange burden with it.
At once Tanys heard a splashing sound that was not caused by the paddling of the sea beast. The crash of waves on rocks grew louder by the second.
"Reef!" Grund shouted.
Tanys saw then the vast shadow of the island looming above them and dangerously close. She stepped away from the railing and looked around for her friends.
"Ghodn! To me!" she shouted.
The big cat looked up from his half-eaten pirate, and bounded, bloody-faced, toward her across the deck. Berra and Tyll leapt down from the castle deck, looking to her for guidance.
"Jorva? Naietta?" Tanys called out, but saw no sign of her oldest companion or the mute girl he loved.
Tanys raced below decks, calling the dwarf's name again and again with no response. She passed the broken door of the Zhadeen girl's room on the way to Jorva's cabin. Something caught her eye as she stepped past.
The door had been smashed inward with brutal force, but most of it remained intact. At eye level upon the door had been drawn a large "X" in red paste. She was certain there had been no such mark when she had passed by earlier in the evening in the company of the young navigator.
"Miss Tanys!" Morrel's voice called out. The navigator was coming up the hall toward her. He staggered drunkenly, bouncing from wall to wall, his blonde hair a tangled mess, red with blood.
"Morrel! What happened?" Tanys said, rushing to support him.
"Someone hit me," he said.
"Pirates," Tanys said.
"No..." he said, "I think it was that Zhadeen bastard."
"What?"
"I saw him in the hall on the way back from your cabin," Morrel said, "I think I surprised him. He asked me to look at something on his cabin door. The next thing I know, I'm coming to in the storeroom, and here I am now. Where is he now?"
"With his new friends, I'll wager," Tanys said, draping the navigator's arm over her shoulder to help him walk.
"Friends?"
"I'll explain later," she said, "Have you seen Jorva?"
"I haven't seen shit," Morrel moaned, gingerly probing his scalp with his free hand and wincing.
"We need to find..."
A violent impact hurled Tanys and Morrel to the floor. The sound of splintering timbers rent the air. Distant cries of alarm echoed down the hallway from above.
Tanys managed to drag Morrel to his feet before a second impact slammed them once again to the deck. A frighteningly deep groan arose from the belly of the ship, and the hallway tilted crazily beneath them. Tanys's feet scrabbled for purchase on the floor and walls as the two of them began to slide further down the hallway into the darkness.
Tanys caught the edge of an open doorway with her fingertips and grabbed the back of Morrel's shirt with her other hand. She grunted with effort as the weight of the young navigator threatened to break her tenuous grip on the doorframe. A booming, gurgling noise rushed from the darkness below, and Tanys felt the icy touch of seawater on her bare feet.
An instant later, the dark water swirled up around her legs then lifted her back up toward the light above.
"We have to…" Morrel gasped, cut off by a mouthful of saltwater.
The dull roar of rushing water filled her ears as she went under. The Gannet’s timbers shrieked as the ship tilted again, breaking on the reef. The dark, submerged hallway turned around her as the dying ship heeled over, the dim light of the hatchway disappearing beneath the waves.
Tanys panicked, clawing toward the hatchway, half swimming, half pulling herself along the ceiling beams. She felt Morrel beside her, frantically striving to escape the drowning hulk.
Tanys brought her feet against a support beam and pushed hard, propelling herself upward. The air burst from her lungs as her head impacted hard against another beam, blinding her with a flash of false light.
Tanys drifted sideways, her fingers pressed against the hot, painful wound just above her hairline. Her lungs burned and spasmed, threatening to inhale the icy water. Her eyes stung as her vision slowly cleared, and she could make out the dim outline of Morrel's shadow against the fading light above. It seemed he was being swept away, down a long, dark tunnel.
She was going to drown.
Tanys tried again to pull herself toward the light, but now the water had her, pulling her back down into the belly of the wreck. Her hands slipped over rough wood, finding no purchase.
Then the light disappeared altogether, and Tanys knew she was going to die.
Thoughts of primal terror suddenly filled her brain, but they were not her own thoughts. She felt a sensation of powerful muscles, clawing through the water, tingling in her slack limbs. Then something grabbed her by the hair.
Tanys winced at the mighty tug, but her black mane held fast in Ghodn's jaws. She wrapped her arms around the tiger as he pulled her upward, holding her breath with her last ounce of will.
Ghodn's roar filled her ears as they broke the surface. Tanys sucked in the sweetest air she had ever tasted and screamed it out again.
"Over here!" Berra's voice shouted, and Ghodn swam towards the sound, towing Tanys by the hair.
Strong hands hauled Tanys from the water, rolling her over into the bottom of the Gannet’s longboat. Above her hunched a pair of wet, naked gladiatrices, Grund the sailor, and one of the men that had helped him load the arbalest. A bullseye lantern swung crazily on a hook above the tiller.
"Where's Morrel?" Tanys gasped.
"There!" Tyll called out, pointing into the night.
They pulled the half-drowned navigator aboard and plopped him down like a fish next to Tanys. He wheezed and coughed for several moments before finally managing to gasp, "Fuck me!"
"Later," Tanys sighed, slapping him on the thigh.
"Ghodn?" Tanys asked, struggling to sit up in the violently rocking boat.
"Swimming beside us," Berra said, "He saved your life."
"I know, we have to get him in the boat before he tires out."
"Are y' daft?" Grund shou
ted, "That cat'll swamp us, we try to bring it aboard!"
"How well do you swim?" Tyll asked with a dangerous grin.
"The tiger comes with us," Berra said.
"Bugger me," Grund muttered, "I shoulda stayed on the farm."
After a few desperate moments of heaving muscles and frantic bailing, the longboat was filled to capacity with the addition of a monstrous, dripping mountain tiger. Grund and the other sailor cowered at the tiller as Ghodn bared his teeth and rumbled at them.
"Settle down," Tanys said, stroking his thick wet fur as she leaned against him, "we need them to get us to the island."
"The island?" Grund nearly gagged, "I'd rather row all the way to the mainland!"
Tanys looked out over the sinking wreck of the Gannet and saw no more survivors. "I don't think Jorva was in the ship when it went down, and he certainly wasn't in the fight on deck. If Jorva missed a fight, he had a good reason. I think the ghasts took him."
"Ghasts?" Morrel asked.
"I've met these people before," Tanys said, "In the north we call them ghasts. They are cruel raiders and masters of sorcery. They made the blades I carry… blades that can cut through metal."
"Then your friend's dead, or as good as,” Grund said, "There ain't nothin' you can do for him."
"I've killed ghasts before," Tanys said, looking toward the black shadow of the island.
"Well, you can kill me too, 'cause I ain't takin' you anywhere near that island!"
"All right," Tyll said, getting to her feet, "how would you like to die?"
Grund's eyes went wide at the sight of the massively muscled woman moving toward him with deadly intent. "Wait!" he cried, "Just wait! I'll do it!"
Tyll grinned and sat back down.
"Grund," Tanys said, "get me to that island. After that, you're free to take your chances however you see fit."
"Aye, Cap'n!" he mumbled as he lifted an oar and pushed them clear of the sinking wreck of the Gannet.
Chapter 2
The longboat drove onto the sandy shore of a secluded cove in the dim light of morning. Ghodn leapt from the boat, happily splashing his big paws in the surf as he bounded away from the boat. Tanys understood his enthusiasm, even without the mental bond they shared. She rolled up her pants legs and dropped over the side into the deep, cool sand. The others soon joined her, dragging the boat ashore between them.
Grund watched the high cliffs surrounding the cove with a wary eye. He reached into the boat and pulled out a stack of empty waterskins. "Look for a stream and grab what y' can, boys. Let's get out of here before the devils find us."
Morrel and the helmsman took the skins and made their way toward the cliffs. Tanys fell in beside the navigator as he walked.
"What are you going to do?" she asked once they were beyond earshot of the old sailor.
"I don't know," Morrel answered. His eyes looked haunted and fearful, and his hair was still a mess, crusted with salt and traces of blood. Tanys knew she probably looked about the same.
"You think that little boat can make it to the mainland?" she asked.
"Maybe," he said, "navigating is easy enough. Even Grund could sail it by dead reckoning. It's the current I'm worried about. A longboat's like a child's toy in a bathtub compared to a real ship. I don't know…"
"You could throw in with us," Tanys said, "I don't intend to stay on this island once I get my friends back."
"What's your plan?" he asked, "You told me they ride whales in these parts. You know how to sail a fish?"
"I imagine I'll find someone who does and stick a knife to his balls, if it comes to that."
"After you've killed everyone else on the island?" Morrel asked.
"Yeah, that's my plan," she grinned.
He walked silently beside her for a while until they reached the base of the cliff. "I like you," he said, "but I think I might live longer if I follow Grund."
"Fair enough," she said. She looked up to see Ghodn on a ledge above her, and she climbed up after him.
The sure-footed tiger jumped from rock to rock, guiding her up the safest path up the cliff. Tanys emerged through a rocky cleft at the top to see a barren, wind-swept heath that rolled away toward the forested highlands. She saw no sign of habitation or even wildlife.
Ghodn gave a worried growl and looked up at her.
"Smell anything?" she asked.
Ghodn sniffed, and Tanys tasted the scent of dry grass and burrowing creatures but little else.
"Where now?" Berra asked, climbing up beside her. Tyll followed close behind. The two sisters had fashioned loincloths and belts from some scraps of sail, but otherwise went barefoot and bare-chested. Tanys noted they had managed to save their shortswords, now tucked into their canvas belts, but their shields doubtless lay somewhere out on the reef.
Tanys pointed across the scrubland toward the forest. "Ghasts prefer to live underground," she said, "We might find the entrance to their delve hidden in the woods."
"Hmn," Berra said, "a place to start, I guess."
Ghodn whined, and a new thought forced itself into Tanys mind, one she already shared with the big cat. Thirst.
They found a trickling stream that worked its way down to the cliffs from the highlands, and they knelt to drink.
Tanys spotted Morrel who had only just made it to the top of the cliff, and the helmsman with him. She waved them over.
"We're headed inland," she said, "Last chance for glory."
"I wish you luck," Morrel said, stooped beside a slowly filling a waterskin, "I wish you'd come with us. I'd rather spend a few days at sea with you than with Mister Grund."
Tanys smiled. "I've got business on this island."
"Well," he said, "if you ever do get ahold of one of those whales, pick us up on your way home."
"I'll do that," she said and reached down to offer her hand.
Morrel looked at her hand for a moment and then took it and kissed it. "Not quite as far as I was hoping to get, but I'm a desperate man."
Tanys laughed. "If we live to see each other again, we can pick up where we left off."
"Now I have something to look forward to," he said with a grin.
"Good luck," Berra said, drying her lips with the back of her hand. She stood and wiped the drips from her jiggling breasts.
Morrel stared, jaw wide. "…and thank you, dear lady, for the… memories," he said, "I'm certain I shall think of you often in the nights ahead."
Berra furrowed her brow as Tyll and the helmsman stifled their laughter.
Tanys shook her head. "We'd better be on our way then. I hope we meet again."
"Me too," Morrel said.
****
Tanys soon began to wish she'd had to forethought to grab her boots before they went to the bottom of the sea. Even the perpetually naked warrior sisters soon began to look at the leathery-pawed cat with envy. The dry grass and broken stones of the high heath ground punishingly against their bare feet.
Ghodn growled disapprovingly when Tanys began to wonder what it might be like to ride a tiger.
"I wasn't serious," she muttered, but Ghodn silenced her with a warning rumble.
The three humans dropped into the grass beside the crouching tiger, silent and ready.
The angry squeal of a boar sounded in the distance. Tanys's side ached with the memory of the thrashback that had once nearly killed her. Her lips, however, grew wet, as Ghodn's hunger overwhelmed her thoughts and joined the need in her own rumbling belly.
She was about to give the tiger leave to hunt when another squeal, more desperate this time, split the air.
Berra and Tyll looked to Tanys. She shook her head and mouthed the word wait.
The boar cried out in panic, and they heard the sound of a great struggle amidst the dry grass. Ghodn half raised, a long strand of drool dangling from his fangs, but Tanys reached out to grab a handful of gray fur and tug him into submission.
Presently, the fields grew quiet once again. The sounds of struggle c
eased.
Tanys forced them to wait, crouching in the grass for a long while before she allowed Ghodn, slowly, to guide them in the direction of the boar.
As they drew near, they spotted a large area of flattened grass. Weapons at the ready, they approached.
Ghodn whined, catching the scent of fresh blood. He bounded forward into the trampled clearing, despite Tanys's warning. She followed after him.
They found the tiger, licking at a patch of blood on the grass. Nothing else remained to mark the site of the struggle but the broken stalks of highland grass and the frantic hoof prints in the soil beneath.
"It got away," Tyll said, "from whatever was chasing it."
"No," Tanys said, kneeling to examine the tracks, "It fell here... and was dragged away... that way." She lifted a finger toward the forest, only a quarter mile away.
"What killed it?" Berra asked.
Tanys shook her head. "Whatever did this," she said, "it left no tracks."
****
The deep shadows of the ancient forest sent a chill through Tanys's skin. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickled with the sensation that the very trees were watching her. The sisters as well looked ill at ease. Berra remarked that they hadn't seen so many trees since being carried away into slavery as children.
Ghodn paid no heed to their misgivings. The big cat stalked through the woods, pouncing now and then on one of the multitude of large rodents that dwelled among the tangled roots. He gobbled down three or four before Tanys could convince him to bring a few back for the girls' dinner.
"Here's a good spot," Tanys said, pointing to a sunlit mound where a great tree had recently fallen, leaving a gap in the canopy high above. It would be hours yet before nightfall, but their limbs already trembled with hunger and fatigue.
The three warriors set to clearing away much of the underbrush and fashioning beds of young pine boughs. Tyll busied herself digging out a small fire pit with her sword. When she finished, she looked at Tanys expectantly.
"What?" Tanys asked.
"Fire," Tyll said, "Build us one."
"How do you expect me to do that?" Tanys asked.
Tyll shrugged. "You're a barbarian," she said, "aren't you supposed to know those things?"
The Isle of Torment Page 2
