By Blood Betrayed (The Kingsblood Chronicles)

by Houpt, David

  “Aye, that it is,” replied the captain. “You did right, agreeing to it. What’s the cost to be?”

  Lian explained the deal, and Cedrick shouted for the quartermaster, whose head appeared in the entryway to the hold. “Bring Alan here some copper and brass so he can pay the lizards. They’re returning ammunition for us.”

  The quartermaster acknowledged and ducked back into the hold. “Yardin down there will make sure you get the coins. We’ve got about forty bolts for each weapon belowdecks, but we’ll need forty-three the way our luck’s been running.” Cedrick was obviously pleased that his new engineer had some initiative.

  “Your luck, Captain?” asked Lian, who was interested in learning more about his new companions.

  Cedrick nodded. “You a superstitious man, engineer?” he asked. When Lian shrugged noncommittally, he continued, “Well, since about the middle of last year, Searcher’s been running into one problem after another. First, it was grubs in the flour. A minor thing, and easily put right when we made port. We ate more fish and less bread, and it was fine.

  “Then, we lost half a dozen men to flux, which isn’t unusual, except we had a good healer on board who should have been able to cure it. Shortly before that, though, the healer himself was killed in a tavern brawl turned nasty on Pirate’s Landing, a town I never want to visit again, I’ll tell you.

  “A couple of weeks ago, we ran into some kind of monster made of seaweed, and before Reidar was able to drive it away with his spells, it sheared the foremast off and cleared the deck of most of my crew. Arden’s company had time to lash themselves down when they made it up on deck, and he didn’t lose as many men,” Cedrick said, shaking his head.

  “No one of these things is too terrible, Alan of Staikal, save the last,” he said. “But together, they form one long chain of ill fortune. We’ve asked witches in several ports to look us over, and remove any curses, but none of them found anything which would account for it. You believe in a run of bad luck?”

  Lian nodded. “Yes, sir. I also believe in good fortune, and it’s because Ashira’s been smiling on Snog and me that we’re here aboard the Searcher. I hope our run continues, and perhaps reverses your fortunes.”

  Cedrick nodded agreement. “I hope so, too, young man. We could use a little good luck. We’re about to raise the mast, and I’d like your help with it.”

  “Aye, sir, but I have no experience in shipbuilding.”

  “Then it’s a good time to learn. I expect all of my officers, including the engineer, to be able to assist with repairs. I also expect you to study every aspect of ship operation that you can master. There may come a time when the crew needs leadership and you’re all that’s able.”

  “I’ll do my best, Captain,” Lian said, thinking to Gem, Arden neglected to mention this was an officer’s post, but it makes sense. Good fortune on our part.

  “One more thing, Alan,” Cedrick continued. “Since you have a talent at mathematics, I want you to spend two hours a day with either myself or Mr. Ylen, learning the basics of navigation. It’s a complicated business, and the order itself would be grounds to be expelled from the Pilot’s Guild, but Ylen is leaving us when we reach Seagate, and I want someone else aboard that can handle the charts.”

  Lian raised both eyebrows in surprise. The Pilot’s Guild was, in general, highly protective of the knowledge that allowed them to navigate the ships which plied the oceans of Tieran. Cedrick’s offer to train him probably meant that he had already been stripped of his membership status. “Won’t the Guild bring sanctions against you for using a non-Guilded navigator?” he asked.

  “No, lad. Searcher isn’t a member of any of the merchant houses, nor do we compete directly with any of the other guilds, except for the Mercenaries Guild. Arden isn’t a member of that organization, by the way.

  “We’re more along the lines of a privateer, and I’ll guarantee you that there isn’t a pirate ship on the Eastern Sea that uses Guilded navigators or anything else, for that matter. Arden’s group is more an adventuring company than a mercenary band, just because of sheer numbers. He usually accepts commando work when we get entangled in a war, and he’s kept us out of the nastier conflicts, so far.”

  “Again, sir, I’ll do my best,” Lian said. “Please accept my thanks for the opportunity.”

  Cedrick grunted. “Well, if you excel at your job, Arden will most likely appropriate you for his company, but I’ve grown used to that. Just remember that at sea, I am master of the Searcher, and Arden merely decides where we go.” If the captain harbored resentment toward the owner of the ship because of the way he handled matters, he hid it from Lian.

  The rest of the day was spent raising the splintered stump that remained of the old mast out of the socket which held it and maneuvering the new mast into place. Lian’s responsibility was to keep a set of lines from becoming fouled, which was no simple task due to the number of ropes and booms which adorned the mast. Every hand aboard Searcher, including Arden and his men, lent their arms and backs to the effort. And every hand followed Captain Cedrick’s orders without question or complaint, including Arden himself.

  It’s easier to raise a barn, Lian thought, an activity he’d participated in many times before. He imagined that it would be easier to accomplish the feat they were attempting with the booms and cranes which could be found at a true shipyard.

  Once the huge mast was raised and set into its socket, Reidar produced a large kettle of foul-smelling glue and poured it in carefully where the mast and the deck joined. This done, the sorcerer sang a song over the mast. The song roamed throughout the sorcerer’s vocal range, and each note had a bell-like quality. The pealing notes resonated across the ship, striking sympathetic chords from every piece of metal on deck. At the song’s completion, he touched the deck where the glue had been set, and the sealant seemed to disappear. In addition, Lian could no longer see any seam where the deck ended and the mast began. It was a potent joining magic, and he had no doubt that it was permanent.

  Reidar examined his work with approval, then went below to apply his spell to the lower deck and the mast foot where the base of the mast sat. The sorcerer gestured for Lian to accompany him. When they reached the lower deck, Lian was surprised at the number of rats that were wandering around the hold.

  Reidar asked Lian to hold the kettle for him. It remained scalding hot, so Lian wore heavy gauntlets. Lian asked, “Are there always this many rats aboard?”

  Reidar looked around at the rodents. There were nearly a dozen nearby, in the part of the hold where they were working by lantern-light. He shrugged. “I guess they’re just bold, or maybe they recognize the scent on you from the boggle. Rats like goblins, you know,” he said.

  “I know,” Lian said, shaking his head. “But Snog was never a rat-rider, and he’s been away from the warrens long enough that the smell of rats should be gone by now.”

  Reidar shrugged unconcernedly, then picked up the lantern and stood to sing his joining song. “Always rats on a ship, Alan. You keep ‘em out of the grain when you can, and pray they don’t get into the rum,” he said with a grin. “Since Talus was killed, we’ve had to be extra careful about disease and such, but I’ve got some skill with herbical cures.”

  “Talus?” The name was Southron, but for all Lian knew it could be a common name among the Island Kingdoms as well.

  “Talus was from Firegate,” Reidar explained, naming the capital of the northernmost province of the Southron Empire. “He was our healer. He and some of the lads from our company were pulling our sailors out of a tavern brawl in Pirate’s Landing. He stopped to work on one pirate who’d been laced open with a broken bottle, and some other bastard stabbed him in the back while he was down on the ground. I think the pirate thought Talus was going through his pockets or something, but I never got the whole story.

  “By the time Arden and I got there, half the tavern was on fire and there were so many dead it was hard to walk through the rest of the place. Ta
lus was well-loved aboard the Searcher, by Cedrick’s men as well as our group. The Black Lords, who rule Pirate’s Landing, informed us that Searcher was proscribed from landing there ever again, and that ships of their allegiance had been given license to fire upon us because we’d violated the edict against open conflict.” Reidar had an amused look on his face from the memory.

  “So you have to look out for Pirate Landing ships?” Lian said.

  Reidar laughed. “Yes, you could say that. Arden took such exception that he fired on the Black Lords’ keep, and by the time we made the horizon, there was smoke trailing to the opposite horizon. Some of the Landing vessels headed out after us, but they simply couldn’t keep up with Searcher.”

  “Fired on the keep?” Lian asked. “With the ballistae?” He didn’t see how the weapons could have damaged a fortified keep, however poorly maintained.

  “Searcher has secrets I am not at liberty to reveal, Alan,” Reidar said, motioning Lian to remain quiet. He sang his joining song, and once again Lian could see no trace that the deck and the mast were ever separate. Nodding in satisfaction, he headed toward the hatch leading to the bilge space.

  “It’s a little ripe down there, lad, and the air’s fouled as often as not. If you start to black out, get back up here as fast as you can, understand?” the sorcerer asked. “Don’t fight for breath: just get out.”

  Lian nodded. The two men wrestled the hatch open, revealing a constantly shifting floor under the flickering light of the lantern. Lian, whose eyes didn’t rely on the uncertain light of the flame, discerned the reason clearly. The bilge was filled with rats, thousands of them. Quickly deciding that it was acceptable for the crew of Searcher to know he could see in the dark, he said, “Gods, look at the rats! There must be thousands of them!”

  Reidar said, “Huh?” and raised the lantern while turning up the flame.

  “Go get Cedrick and Arden, Alan,” Reidar ordered, disgust evident in his features. “I’ll stay here and see if there’s any enchantment on the damned things.

  “And don’t worry, I’m not going down there just yet.”

  By the time Lian returned with the two captains, Reidar had cast several spells and was hovering upside-down, his head just inside the bilge. “Reidar?” Arden asked, and the sorcerer floated up and then righted himself.

  “Every rat in Mola must be aboard, Arden,” Reidar said. “I can only surmise that something down there died and smelled like rat heaven, because there’s no magic on the beasts at all. They’re reluctant to leave, however, even if I promise them food.”

  “You tried talking to them?” Cedrick asked.

  “Not in words, Captain, but yes,” Reidar said. “My guess is that once we start to put out, the majority of them will go back ashore. Once that big catch of fish guts has had time to rot, it’ll probably draw them like flies to carrion.”

  “Except that because of the money we paid the lizards,” Lian said, “there won’t be any fish guts or any other scraps, for that matter. They paid the Molans for all the meat they could get, and they weren’t picky about what parts they were given, either.”

  Arden smiled a thin smile. “So our luck is holding, and what seems like a break transforms once again to misfortune.” Lian decided that he was referring to the retrieval of the ballista bolts.

  “I don’t agree, sir,” Lian said. “The Molans would have let the lizards have the leavings regardless, simply to keep the beaches clear. The lizards would have just had to pay in shells and pearls and the like.”

  Cedrick said, “I think the lad is right, Arden. The rats themselves might be our luck rearing its ugly head again, but the lack of remains on the beach isn’t.”

  Arden sighed, “I hope so, Cedrick, I truly do. Reidar, you’d better fumigate the bilge with one of your poison spells tonight when we’re done with the mast. For now, we’ll keep the rats off of you while you finish up down there.”

  “Aye, sir,” Reidar said, “but there’s no need for your assistance. The wee beasts will leave me alone while the communication spell is in force. I can’t hurt them, and they can’t hurt me, you know.” Such spells were common, and much more simple to perform than actual translation magics.

  Arden nodded. “We’ll still wait for you to finish. Alan, go fetch your companion Snog and the twins, and see what they think about this.”

  “I can tell you that, sir,” Lian replied as he began the climb out of the hold. “They’ll consider it extra rations aboard.”

  The three other men chuckled at the idea, and Cedrick said, “You’re probably right.”

  The two goblin warriors were not twins, but it turned out that they were indeed brothers. Their names were Kar and Sar, and Lian found them trying to convince Snog that he should play knucklebones with them. Ignoring the conflict between the three goblins, which had progressed to the point of drawn knives, Lian said, “Good that you’re together. The captains want you all below.” By turning his back on their situation, he made it clear that Snog would be handling his own affairs.

  Snog had asked him to do this, since the only way to gain status with the bigger goblins was to prove that he was more vicious than they were. When a concerned Lian had asked if he could handle that, Snog had merely grinned.

  The two larger goblins were, as Lian expected, glad to see the rats. Snog dropped down into the bilge without comment, and emerged a moment later with several rats climbing on him. “They’re no’ meanin’ ye any harm, Captain-sir,” Snog said. “I’m gatherin’ that somethin’ in the wood scared ‘em aboard yer ship. They say that this be a safe place fer ‘em.”

  Kar and Sar simultaneously took an unconscious step back from the scout, whose communion with the rats demonstrated magical—possibly shamanic—power. Reidar said, “That agrees with what I learned from them. I’ll go out on a limb here and speculate that most of the bloody things will drown or starve, and that we’ll have to reprovision in Seagate because they’ll get into the foodstuffs. We were planning to do that, anyhow.”

  Snog nodded. “The other lads n’ me will thin their ranks down some, too, milords. Rat stew’s one of me dam’s specialties.” He added a phrase in Govlikel which Gem translated as, “You boys haven’t lived until you’ve had my stew.” Since he didn’t threaten them with his unknown powers, and by offering to cook for them, he indicated that he wasn’t interested in ruling them. But because he had the powers, Lian knew that the superstitious goblins would leave him be.

  “I think that will work, but you three keep an eye on the rats, and let me know if they exhibit any more unusual behavior, beyond coming aboard in the first place,” Cedrick said. “It’ll be more difficult for Reidar to wipe them out once we’ve put out to sea, so be sure. We raise anchor tomorrow, if we can raise the sails without incident.” Having said that, he stamped his good foot down onto the boards twice in a sailor’s version of knocking on wood.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  “The first great empire to rise after the fall of the elves was that of the Pelorians. From what is now the Southron Empire, Peloria reached out its hand to command nearly half of the former elven lands. Pelorian axes felled much of the great Sylan Forest, before the remaining elves managed to hold them at bay. The Pelorians were a dark people, sworn to evil gods, and the ruins of their cities can be found throughout the continent.

  “So great was their effect on the world that we still measure our calendar from the founding of the Pelorian Empire, fifteen hundred years ago.”

  -- Introduction to “The Pelorian Empire, Volume I of XXII” by the Sage Kommath

  Gil and Kalra offered to buy the pony, intending the animal to be a gift for their elder daughter’s child. Kalra explained that their daughter’s family lived among the Argeshi and that the pony would be an enviable gift. Lian, who knew a little of the ways of the gypsy clans, asked, “Isn’t your daughter considered gadje?” He used the term that gypsies used to describe outsiders. The word also meant unclean and taboo.

  Kalra sm
iled and said, “No, Alan. Gil’s half-blood Argeshi, you see, and Kay was adopted into the clan as a full gypsy when Rodaj married her. They had the clan’s permission, even their blessing, actually. They must permit outsider marriages from time to time, or the bloodlines become fouled. I think the practice was initiated by one of the Companions, or possibly the Old King himself, but I don’t really know.” She made a mild sign against evil when she mentioned the vampires.

  “Because Kay is our daughter, Gil and I are usually welcome in their encampments, and this gift will help cement that bond,” the mayor’s wife explained. Lian could envision many advantages to befriending the wandering clans, not the least of which was immunity to thievery. Not all gypsies were thieves, of course, but there were a large number of them who were skilled at cutting purses and robbing houses.

  Lian’s basic nature was one of generosity, and he would have given Nightmare to Kalra gladly. But he no longer had the Dunshor treasury backing him up, and so he haggled like a fishwife with Kalra, finally settling on a price of thirty-three shillings and sixpence for the pony and the tack. It was less than Nightmare was worth, particularly since he was well trained and combat-steady, but it was a good price nonetheless. Lian was certain that Nan would have squeezed more out of Kalra, but he didn’t particularly want to take advantage of her.

  Two hours before Searcher sailed, he and Snog led Beliu to dockside. Even though he’d ridden the horse for over an hour before bringing him down, the skittish bay shied away from the huge ship. Searcher rocked gently in the waves breaking against the dock and sand, and each motion threatened to panic the gelding. Lian, however, had learned horsemanship from the finest teachers in the kingdom, and managed to calm him without much trouble. He breathed gently into Beliu’s nostril while they stood waiting for Nan to appear.

  The barbarian approached, holding her head and avoiding the sunlight wherever possible. She had obviously indulged in the ales, if not stronger drink, of the Lonely Gull during her last night ashore. “Just remember to speak softly,” she whispered as she inspected the horse. She cocked her head to the side to look at the bay, but quickly decided that was a mistake.