Pirate's Promise

by Chris A. Jackson

  "Gozreh's guts!" Torius glanced aloft. The chain shot had made a mess of Stargazer's rigging. Topmen struggled to cut away the wreckage, but the ship's sailing ability had been seriously hampered. Torius saw their few options play out in his mind in two heartbeats: they couldn't run fast enough to escape, and turning away would only expose their vulnerable stern. He had saved one life at the risk of his entire ship.

  "Orders, Captain?" Windy stood at the wheel, bloody but hale, and he couldn't regret his decision.

  "Two points to starboard, Windy. We can't present our stern, but if we can widen the gap, they won't be able to reach us with grapples. Fenric! Get me more sail aloft! If we get a chance to run, we're going to take it! Celeste, blast their deck! Snick, give them a volley of your new bolts!"

  Stargazers threw themselves into their tasks. Lightning raked the galley's mid-deck, setting their ravaged bulwarks ablaze. Torius felt the jolt of Snick's ballistae firing, and watched the bolts soar high. Once over the galley's deck, the thin lines that trailed behind the bolts snapped taut, shattering the warheads. Screams shivered the air as acid rained down, melting flesh from bone.

  The galley completed its ponderous turn, the two ships now side by side. Despite the destruction, slavers still crowded the galley's deck, yelling and cursing as they threw their dead overboard. The Scourge's sweeps receded into their ports, and the gleaming points of ballista bolts nosed out.

  "Cover!" Torius bellowed, dragging Windy behind the bulwarks.

  But instead of raking the deck, the bolts thudded into Stargazer's hull. The thick lines trailing into the Scourge's firing ports came taut with another horrible jerk."

  The two ships were being drawn together, and with dozens of archers pinning his crew behind their shields, he had no way to cut the lines. We've got to board them first!

  "All hands to board! Now, Snick! Stick 'em to the deck!"

  Stargazer's topmen dropped from the rigging like spiders on silken threads. The crew formed up around Celeste, their shields aloft against the rain of arrows and bolts from Bloody Scourge.

  The ships were only twenty feet apart when Snick's babies fired over the galley's rail. This time, the detonations spewed sticky resin over the slavers.

  That should let us strike the first blow, at least.

  Torius glanced forward. The forecastle was empty. He hoped that meant that Vreva had already cast her invisibility spell, and not simply fallen overboard. Snick clambered out of the hold to Celeste's side, and the naga cast a spell to make the gnome vanish. The rest of the crew crouched, ready to spend their lives at their captain's command. Torius jumped down to join them, tucking in next to Celeste.

  The two ships crashed together with a bone-shaking jolt of splintering wood. With a silent prayer to Gozreh, Torius jumped to the rail, drew his cutlass, and shouted out over the din of grinding wood, screeching metal, and screaming sailors.

  "Stargazers! With me!" With Celeste and his loyal crew at his side, Torius Vin leapt into a maelstrom of steel and blood.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  As she slithered over the joined rails, Celeste hurled lightning through the mass of slavers, cutting a swath that the Stargazers filled with steel. Blades hacked mercilessly at the mired slavers, widening the gap, giving the pirates a foothold. Even with all their spells and tricks, they were still badly outnumbered.

  "Forward!"

  Torius and Celeste formed the van of the charge, flanked by Windy Kate, Dukkol, Fenric, and a thoroughly terrified Eutep. Celeste had tried to dissuade Eutep from accompanying the front lines, but he insisted on remaining by her side. Now he cried out an imaginative curse and slashed away.

  We'll make a pirate of him yet!

  Beside her, Torius slashed and parried in a blur, cutlass and dagger scribing whirling arcs of blood. Celeste cast spell after spell, blasting slavers with motes of magical energy and spears of fire, resorting to her fangs when danger threatened too close. Inch by bloody inch they advanced. Dead slavers littered the deck, but the Stargazers had losses of their own. Blood ran in rivulets across the planks.

  A burly slaver bowled over an injured comrade to slash with a heavy two-handed sword, and Dukkol went down with a hand clasped to his eye. The slaver raised his sword to finish the dwarf, but Eutep lunged forward to fend off the thrust. He slashed wildly, but couldn't hope to win past the longer weapon with his cutlass. As the slaver raised his sword again, however, an arrow lodged in his neck, felling him on the spot. Celeste recognized the green fletching. Thillion.

  A guttural growl drew her attention, and Celeste turned to see the hulking trollhound barreling through the throng to leap at her. With a wild scream, Eutep intercepted its attack. His cutlass scored a deep cut across the beast's muzzle, but it twisted its thick neck to snap at Eutep's sword arm. Its horrible teeth clamped shut, stripping flesh from bone.

  Eutep's scream rose on the air.

  Celeste spat out a spell, sending tongues of searing flame to blacken the creature's scabrous hide. The trollhound ignored the wound, its vise-like jaws snapping onto Eutep's throat. It shook him like a rag doll, and her stalwart defender died with a strangled gurgle.

  "No!" Enraged, Celeste raked the trollhound with a barrage of magical energy. Even though the spell gouged its thick hide, the beast shook off the impacts like drops of rain. It flung Eutep's body into the fray and charged.

  Celeste met the charge with a strike. They collided in a tearing impact, her fangs plunging deep into its shoulder as those horrible jaws clamped onto her scales. She would have screamed as the creature's mass bore her down, but her mouth was full of trollhound. She flexed, trying to pump every bit of venom she could into it.

  "Celeste!"

  Her eye caught a streak of silver as Torius hacked into the beast's neck. Bone cracked under the blow, and vile green blood fountained over her. She released her grip and writhed her coils, trying to shake the maimed creature off, but still its jaws gripped her.

  "Die, you filthy ..." Torius struck again, severing the trollhound's head from its body. Finally, its jaws loosed their hold, and Torius kicked it viciously away.

  A slaver lunged at him from behind. Celeste conjured a spear of flame to burn him down, but not before he plunged his blade into the captain's side. Torius cursed, dropped his dagger, and clenched his hand over the bleeding wound.

  "Potion!" She floated a vial out of her harness, and he snatched it, downing the contents in a hasty gulp. She gulped one down herself, and they turned back to back, gasping for breath.

  "This isn't working!" Torius bellowed, parrying and slashing as another slaver pressed forward.

  That's an understatement, Celeste thought. All Hell was breaking loose around them.

  Despite the loss of a hand, Windy Kate fought on grimly at her captain's side, her bleeding stump tied off with a makeshift tourniquet. Arrows still flew from Stargazer's main top, but too few. Even with the ballista crews reinforcing their numbers, the Stargazers could not regain the advantage. Many lay wounded or dead, and even though Celeste had bought every healing potion she could find in Katapesh, there were not enough to go around.

  "We're in trouble!" Torius drew another dagger from his boot even as he parried wildly with his cutlass.

  "We've got to buy Snick time!" Celeste buried her fangs in another slaver's neck. His cutlass raked her, but her venom had its way, and he slumped to the deck. Casting a glance at the quarterdeck, she spied the inquisitor. Celeste would have sent a spear of flame at the woman, but then realized that Capoli just stood there, her eyes scanning the mayhem. "Capoli's not fighting! It's working!"

  "It won't matter if we don't get some help!" Torius parried and slashed, trying to guard two flanks at once as Windy hauled Dukkol up and pressed a potion into his hand.

  "Snick will come through!" As if to dash her hopes, a guttural roar sounded from one of the galley's hatches. "By the stars, what now?" Celeste shuddered with visions of some foul beast being released from below.

  Th
e roar sounded again, and the main hatch grating shattered upward in a shower of splinters. A decapitated slaver flew overhead, hitting the mainmast before landing amid his shipmates. Both the slavers and the Stargazers stood in shock for a heartbeat.

  Another bellow sounded from below.

  "TORIUS!"

  Celeste exchanged a glance with her captain, and saw the uncertain hope on his face.

  "It can't be!" Torius lunged forward, Celeste at his heels. As one, the Stargazers surged, taking advantage of the distraction. As if new life had been breathed into them, the pirates pushed the slavers back. Suddenly, Thillion and the other marksmen were among them, the elf's rapier flicking out like a razor-edged tongue. The gillmen were there, too, dripping wet and wielding steel. And over the din of battle, another bellow shook the deck beneath their feet.

  "TORIUS!"

  "Grogul!" Torius leapt forward, heedless of the blades opposing him. "Grogul! We're here!"

  Celeste blasted a slaver before he could bury an axe in her lover's back, and slithered after him. Beyond their foes, the broken hatch grating burst upward. Galley slaves surged up in a wave of ravening sweat and muscle. They wielded broken oars, chains, and a few stolen weapons—but most of all, they wielded rage. Grogul charged at the van, a double length of chain swinging from his fists.

  The slaves crashed into their captors like a tidal wave, pounding through the enemy by sheer force. The Stargazers cried out, pressing hard from the opposite side. If they could just link up, they might have a chance.

  The surprise attack, coupled with the renewed vigor of the pirates, proved too much for the slavers. The Scourges split into two groups, backing away forward and aft. In the gap that opened between, Grogul slammed into Torius, nearly bowling his captain over.

  "Gozreh's guts, I thought you were dead!" Torius howled in triumph, pounding his bosun on the back until he realized that the half-orc's body was streaked with whip marks.

  "I thought you were dead!" Grogul pushed his captain to arm's length and grinned. "HA! But by Besmara's sweet tits, you're alive!"

  "Let's try to stay that way!" Celeste interjected, though her eyes blurred with tears. She slammed her tail into a slaver who sought to attack the two distracted comrades. "We're a little busy for a reunion!"

  "Right!" Torius flicked a fallen boarding axe up with his toe and handed it over to Grogul. "Let's get to it! Double lines, fore and aft! Stargazers! With me!"

  Galley slaves continued to pour from the main hatch, snatching up the weapons of the fallen.

  "May the stars bless Snick," Celeste murmured. The tide of the battle had turned.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Inquisitor's Wrath

  Vreva hurried down Stargazer's deck, secure in her invisibility and sparing only a glance for the pirates surging aboard Bloody Scourge. Her next task required stealth. She took the steps to the quarterdeck two at a time, avoiding the pools of blood. The last thing she wanted was to leave footprints. She climbed onto the rail, then leapt the narrow gap between the ships with the grace of a dancer and climbed over the galley's higher bulwarks.

  Zarina stood at the quarterdeck rail, facing forward, her attention fixed upon the battle.

  Looking for me.

  Vreva crept forward, crossbow in hand. The rest of the quarterdeck was empty. Nekhtal and his officers were undoubtedly knee-deep in the battle, and Torius's problem. Zarina was hers.

  Sweet Calistria, grant me revenge.

  The din of battle masked any noise that Vreva might have made as she prowled forward, crossbow at the ready. She had to get close to ensure that the envenomed bolt struck true. The neck. It's got to be the neck. One shot, and Vreva's vengeance for Saffron's death, for all her pain and anguish, would be fulfilled. She raised her weapon and aimed at the smooth skin above her collar ...

  She recalled the vein that pulsed there, its soft texture beneath her lips, and the nerve that sent thrills of ecstasy down Zarina's spine when nibbled just so.

  Stop it! You've got to do this! There was no other way to escape the inquisitor's relentless pursuit, to spare her friends. Kill her and be done with it!

  Vreva steadied her finger on the trigger. Another careful step ...and her crossbow suddenly became visible before her. Her spell had failed. With a silent curse, she remembered how Zarina had banished their cloaking magic during their escape from Bloody Scourge. But the inquisitor's eyes remained fixed on the battle.

  So kill her before she turns around! Kill her and take your revenge! Vreva blinked away tears, and tried to focus her blurry vision. It's the smoke ...She blinked again and pictured the bolt piercing the skin, the poison ending her lover's life ...

  My lover ...Love ...Her finger quivered on the trigger. Do I? Can I? After all Zarina had done, how could she still feel anything for the woman but hatred?

  Vreva heard Celeste's voice as clearly as if the naga whispered in her ear. Love and hate are two edges of the same sword. Her vision blurred again. Her crossbow wavered, and then lowered.

  "I can't."

  Vreva hadn't realized she'd spoken aloud until Zarina whirled. The inquisitor's eyes flicked to the slack weapon in Vreva's hand, then up to her face. Her mouth opened, then gaped in a wordless cry, her eyes shifting focus.

  Agony tore a scream from Vreva's lips. Her crossbow clattered to the deck, and her legs buckled. As she fell to her knees, she stared down in horror at the bloodied steel protruding from her stomach. Then a hand gripped her hair and wrenched her head back.

  Captain Nekhtal grinned down at her. "You're not the only one who can use magic to make herself unseen, little spy! But I think I ruined your pretty dress." He twisted the blade and wrenched it free. The serrated edge grated against her spine, ripping another scream from her throat.

  Vreva clutched the terrible wound, felt her warm life's blood spurting between her fingers. Nekhtal flung her down on her back. A crimson pool spread around her as the half-orc sneered. "Time to die."

  Vreva's bloody hand clawed for her fallen crossbow, but his boot smashed down on her wrist.

  "No, little spy." Nekhtal lowered the tip of his sword to her breast and pressed slowly. "Now I send you to your whore goddess."

  "No!"

  A crossbow bolt struck Nekhtal in the throat. He staggered back, and Vreva heard a click-crack. Another bolt took him in the chest. A bellow escaped his gaping mouth. Raising his bloody sword, he stepped past Vreva, but another bolt struck him, this one low in his gut, the barbed head protruding from his back. He staggered another step. Click-crack! Another bolt stopped his advance, and the bloody scimitar fell from his hand. Click-crack! His head snapped back, the final bolt buried deep in his eye.

  The captain of Bloody Scourge toppled back into the spreading pool of Vreva's blood. Beyond him stood Zarina Capoli, her ornate repeating crossbow empty in her hands, her face contorted into a mask of anguish.

  "Vreva!" The crossbow fell to the deck as Zarina stumbled forward. She fell to her knees in the pool of blood. "I'm sorry!" she cried, tears streaking her cheeks. "Abadar's key, I am so sorry! Please, you can't die!" Snatching up the golden key from her belt, she pressed it to the wound.

  Vreva clenched Zarina's trembling hands, the blood slick between their fingers. "No, my love. Don't." Already the pain was easing, the edges of her vision hazing into darkness. Only Zarina face was clear, with her beautiful golden eyes. The madness was gone. Only love and grief remained. Vreva tried to smile, to let her know that it was all right. Some loves were simply not meant to be. "I love you, Zarina. I never meant to hurt you. Let me go to Calistria."

  "No! I won't!" The key of Abadar glowed, and warmth spread out from it into the wound, overcoming the numbness. The darkness receded from Vreva's sight, and the blood ceased to pulse from between her fingers. Zarina bent until her face was Vreva's entire world, warm tears falling on her cheeks. "I can't let you go! I didn't want this. Abadar didn't want this!" She flung a bloody hand toward the battle raging behind her. "This isn't j
ustice! This isn't law! It's chaos! This is not Abadar's will!"

  Vreva's gaze flicked beyond her lover, and her eyes widened. Nekhtal's officers charged up the steps to the quarterdeck, their faces flushed with rage. Behind them came more slavers, screaming for blood.

  "Traitor!" they cried. "Kill her!" They had seen the inquisitor shoot down their captain, and they wanted revenge.

  Vreva clutched her lover's hand and pushed her away. "Behind you!"

  Zarina surged to her feet and whirled about, snatching the mace from her hip. Her holy icon flared with light, and the inquisitor vanished. An instant later, she rematerialized directly in front of the charging slavers, well away from where Vreva lay helpless. The leader, caught off guard, still had his weapon poised over his head when the inquisitor's mace smashed his face into a shattered mass of broken bone.

  The rest of the slavers charged, but Zarina met the tide of steel with a cry to her god and a flash of golden light. Blades slashed the inquisitor's tabard to tatters, but none managed to penetrate her glowing chainmail, its divine light turning away their blows.

  "Abadar!" Zarina cried. Abadar's key suddenly blazed upon her weapon, and the mace's spiked head burst into flames. The inquisitor disappeared and reappeared again, this time behind the slavers. She lashed out, and her target flew aside in a flaming arc. Before his body even hit the deck, she smashed through another's weapon. Fear shone in their eyes now, as once again she vanished and reappeared to attack their flank.

  She's drawing them away to save me! Vreva realized. But slavers continued to pound up the stairs from the main deck. They would overwhelm Zarina with sheer numbers.

  "Zarina!" Vreva struggled to stand, but her legs were numb. She watched in helpless anguish as the slavers charged toward her lover. Not helpless! She drew on her magic and sent a tiny glowing spark streaking toward the stairs crowded with slavers.

  An inferno engulfed the slavers, the stair, and a good portion of the quarterdeck and mid-deck beyond. The tarred shrouds disintegrated in the heat, and the mizzenmast damaged by Celeste's lightning toppled forward onto the mid-deck, crushing sailors, as flaming canvas fell in a deadly pall.