‘I’ll not pretend to be a slave to her!’ Anja complained.
‘Then keep your mouth shut,’ Albine said. ‘Ulrich is right.’
‘They’re coming here,’ Lex said, ‘really coming to us.’ His face was pale as he obviously tried to forget the beast below. ‘To save us? Surely not to kill us?’
Dana grunted. ‘Perhaps they saw the shark and want to see a show. Perhaps they will fetch seats and bloodied bits of sheep, which they will toss around us in the water, and then they will make wagers on who gets it first.’
‘Or they do what the first ship did. Some kind of a sick ritual in Aldheim?’ Lex said.
‘They won’t!’ Ulrich yelled. ‘Just let it hurry!’ Cherry was now helping Dana to hold me up. She was very strong. My calves were getting tired while treading the water, and Dana was exhausted. We all stared at the approaching vessel. I agreed with Ulrich
Elven ships ride low in water. They are sleek and beautiful, and seem to be part of the waves, designed for speed and piloted by the best sailors. The ship that careened for us was called the “Arch of Tanar”, so written in fanciful letters of gold and black on its prow. There were small ballistae and catapults dotting the forward and afterdecks and sailors were scrambling up and down masts as officers screamed orders. ‘Let’s hope we’re not prisoners again,’ Lex said.
‘I agree,’ Albine said darkly.
‘I don’t wish to bow down to anyone, ever again,’ Anja agreed.
Dana pointed a finger at Anja. ‘Just play along, and don’t risk us all.’
‘I’ll play for my team for now, Dana,’ she whispered with spite.
‘You don’t have a team,’ Dana answered with venom. ‘Your team died.’
Anja stared at Dana with such rage she could not speak. I also resented what Dana had said. We had all liked the brothers.
‘Let us try to make friends,’ I spoke softly as I saw the ship slow down and ride the waves not far from us. It was black and red, sleek; there were three masts, and the afterdeck was on top of windowed cabins. Like it had been with the last ship, there stood a tall elf. His hair was dark and long and so very thick, and he stared at us like an eagle staring down at its prey. His eyes glowed brightly, and a pair of short swords hung from his wide belt. He pointed down at us and gave orders to his crew, and the ship veered slightly towards us, despite the complaints of a pair of elven females pointing towards the first ship that was already far away. Were they chasing it?
What was obviously the captain slapped his hand on the railing, and the two women went quiet, though clearly reluctantly. ‘Elves,’ Dana wondered. ‘Don’t seem too different from us.’ She had not seen the Red Rooster; one of Euryale’s prisoners. That elf in Gray Downs had been mad, and his crew as crazy from imprisonment.
‘They are not,’ I said. ‘They just live far longer and rule everything, and nearly all the nobles can Embrace the Glory. Please, none call magic Seeing the Shades. That is Euryale’s way, not the elven words for it. And they hate Euryale. She is not known as the Devourer by the elves for nothing.’
‘Any sign of the shark?’ Lex said with a trembling voice that was alternating between hope and terror. ‘Can someone look under the surface?’
‘Why would we? Don’t want to,’ Ulrich said as we all finally huddled in a group. ‘Scared enough as it is. Wish the bright-eyed, salt-faced dogs got us already.’
They were coming. The sails were furled to a minimum, the ship teetered on the waves as the thing turned towards us, and then it bobbled crazily as if upset for losing its speed. Nets were thrown out on the sides, and I saw a small boat being manhandled on the deck. The elf captain was leaning on the railing in wonder, staring down at us. He was tall and ravishingly handsome, confident and seemingly powerful.
‘Swim,’ Dana said. ‘Swim for it.’
We did.
The thought of the shark was haunting us. We wanted dry feet, and that ship was it. The ship fixed its course again. It turned angrily in the wind; the wooden hull was creaking and complaining, the last sails masterfully adjusted. Faces could be seen staring down at us, fingers pointing, and a rope ladder was thrown down in addition to the nets. I looked around as we swam. ‘It’s so cold,’ Albine complained. ‘You’ll have to climb on your own, Lex. My fingers are not functioning.’
‘I’ll climb and help you,’ he said. ‘Never been this miserable. Not even in the Twisted Tower full of maniacs.’
‘It’s warmer here than in Euryale’s embrace,’ I spat. ‘I should know.’
I looked around one last time.
Thak. The big lummox. I craned my neck as I gazed around the sea. I had liked him, despite the constant risk of being consumed by the creature. There was no sight of him, and I cursed for the ship was very close. I thrust my face under the water, looked around, and did not see him. But the huge, gray shark passed by, its agitated movements suggesting feeding time was nigh, and I nearly cried out underwater. I came up, staring around, terrified to the bone. It was still under there, probably deciding which leg was the juiciest. The rope ladder and the nets had now rolled all the way to the water, and they were dragging behind the ship that had practically stopped. ‘Get up,’ I said calmly, ‘quickly now.’ I had gritted teeth under my mask, and I was sure my heart would burst from the terror.
‘I hope they can speak our language,’ Lex said, splashing for the ship, eyeing the faces greeting us. They seemed like human men and women, not unlike us, except most were barbarically armored in chain, and many were battle-scarred. ‘Pray hard, Tears.’
‘Cosia’s spell gave us the common language of the world. Just go quickly,’ I told them as I tried to push them for the ship. Dana was pulling me; Anja was there already, fighting the urge to be the first one up. Albine and Ulrich were pulling at Lex, and Cherry had just looked below the surface. She came up and jumped to the ladder, her eyes round with fear. ‘Go, go,’ I said and prayed very hard as they all made their way to the rope and the nets and began cumbersomely climbing up to the deck. There, gnarly hands received and pulled them over, and then it was just Cherry in the water with Dana and me. She was struggling mightily to get her leg on a rope, hoping to push up, but her foot kept slipping. I grasped the rope and pushed her. Lex was just going to go over but stopped to look down and clambered down with a curse to grasp at Cherry’s hand. I pushed and then pulled as she was stuck, and then the shark tugged at my foot and let go. I cried with fear, and that fear gave me renewed strength, and I practically threw Cherry up toward Lex. His eyes were huge with terror as he stared down. ‘You OK? Still got your legs?’
‘I don’t know, please go up,’ I chattered. ‘I pissed myself. Again.’
‘You have some balls, girl,’ he said. ‘Dana, get here!’
‘It ate all the balls I had,’ I told him with manic intensity, my voice rising hysterically. ‘I need to get up now.’
Dana huffed. ‘Come, sister.’ She pulled me up with great difficulty, and we swung in the net for a while. Then it was tugged up, and we hung on. Powerful arms grabbed and pulled us over the side of the ship. A ballista was there, its deadly bow made of metal, and we were pushed past it. They did not hold onto us, but they did nudge us towards the middle of the ship. A burly man with thick, auburn hair was holding Anja’s hand up, staring at the Bone Fetter.
Damn her. Didn’t I say to hide them?
He spoke ‘What are you, I wonder? Why were you sputtering in the beast-infested waters? Huh? Answer me!’ He took a long look at me, and the armor I wore. His eyes went to what had been Bilac the Gorgon’s short sword. He held up his other hand. ‘These are not friendly waters, neither below nor above the waterline, but you need no swords on this ship. Give it up.’
‘No,’ I said and pulled the blade.
A tall, chain-covered woman tittered, and so did a young sailor with large, silvery ear hoops.
The auburn-haired man shrugged while eyeing the blade with interest. ‘You will. And what are these things? I asked alre
ady. I don’t mind asking again, but I’d like some answers.’ He let go of Anja’s hand and pointed at the fiery glyphs. I considered him and cursed, for it seemed we were in trouble once more. The man looked like a pirate might. He had loose, iron strip enforced pantaloons and a dirty vest; his belt was wide and cracked, and a thick scimitar hung from it. There was barbaric leather armor over his chest, and his throat had a scar one might get from hanging. I gathered myself as they all turned to look at me, whispering about the silvery armor.
‘That is none of your concern, and I expected a guest would receive a more polite welcome,’ I said with as much authority as I could summon.
Apparently, it was not much.
‘Guest? The pig-sticking sword. Give it over, please,’ said a thin man with few teeth, and the crew chuckled. ‘Best obey the first officer. He looks soft as wool but takes not an ounce of shit from sodden sea scum like you. It’s not proper for … guests … to be armed in his lordship’s own vessel. Perhaps you should peel out of that armor. It does look dangerous. And expensive.’ He leered. ‘Might make us a goodly amount of coin when sold.’
I blushed as the crew stared at me. I held the sword tight. ‘I’m grateful to your lord for picking us up. But I’ll keep the man-bleeding blade. And the armor. Thank you.’
‘You will not give it up? No?’ said the large leader-like man, and there was a dangerous rumble echoing from his chest. He was fingering his scimitar. ‘Let me ask, why?’
I straightened my back. ‘Who do you think you are talking to?’
‘Why …’ the man began and looked suspicious. ‘I do not know. What am I wasting my time with? Are you a human or an elf? If you are the latter, you are no less a prisoner, mind you, though you will get fewer bruises while a … guest here.’
I thought quickly, and then I remembered the name the Gorgon Cosia had given to two men she later murdered. It had been impressive enough. ‘I am a noble, na marith, a noble of the north,’ I said, straightening my back. ‘I am Kalas Rimith, of the Tenth House. I demand you take us to the shore.’
They froze. They looked around. The man grunted and cleared his throat. ‘Begging your pardon, but is that not one of the Houses of Freyr’s Tooth?’
‘It is,’ I said haughtily.
‘And is it not so,’ the tall woman said from the side, ‘that they have sworn allegiance to House Bardagoon, the first house and Almheir, the Regent?’
‘It is, you dogs,’ I said and looked at my friends, who were trembling with cold and fatigue. ‘Tell your master I wish to be taken to—’
‘Alas,’ said the brutish sailor, ‘that House Safiroon ship you just fell off? They too are allied to the Regent. We were chasing it.’ He bowed as if uneasy about giving such bad news to a high elf. ‘You have mistaken us for allies, no? Why would we release a hostage?’
‘Because I would be grateful.’ They all chuckled at that.
‘Perhaps you wish to take the ladder back down, then?’ the auburn-haired man laughed, and so did the others. ‘Land is that way.’ He pointed towards an unseen coast.
I tapped the sword on my armored chest and that quieted them. ‘I can quite easily turn this ship into a chunk of ice with meaty fillings, if you so wish.’
That got their attention. There were two dozen of them, and they all aimed their weapons at us. The Tears faced outwards. The sailor was about to say something, perhaps something fatal and irreversible, but then a voice called out. ‘She is right. It is rude to demand a guest for her bread cutter when they are hungry and miserable. She is a noble, my friends. Respect for our prisoner! Besides, the sword is the least of her arsenal of trouble, no? Stand down.’ Everyone turned to look at the afterdeck. The hair of the elf was flapping in the wind. It was long, dark, and wild, and his crooked smile was both warm and curious. ‘Let me be more polite than Bulathon here. Welcome aboard the Arch of Tanar! You and your … people.’ His eyes were staring at the glowing, elaborate sigils under the skin of each one of us, save for mine, thanks to the armor. ‘Might I ask what you were doing on the Safiroon ship?’ He raised his hand to forestall my answer. ‘And just to defend my men, I have to point out that even if Bulathon here is brusque and has a to-the-point kind of a personality that often annoys people who find themselves at his mercy, he is technically right. We were chasing yon ship. It happens here in the sea, and while the Regent holds nominal peace over much of the land, seas are not so peaceful.’ His eyes turned to the far ship, now just a spec. ‘How did they manage to lose you?’
Two females moved to flank him. They looked down at us. One was a pretty cherry blonde and quite short, the other tall and dark as the male with a pale, cruel face. I shrugged. ‘I leaned over to look at your progress. Sneezed and fell in.’
‘Sneezed and fell in?’ he said and smiled. ‘How unfortunate a sneeze! They didn’t notice? They noticed us rather quickly. Alas, I don’t have my maa’dark, my few mages to fog things up or to give wind, but I sailed in from the light of Mar.’ He nodded at the star that was shining golden in the sky behind us. ‘They spotted us quite expertly. And you say they just totally missed an armored elf sneezing, falling in and then screaming for help?’
‘I told you to ignore the ship,’ the dark-haired female said disrespectfully. ‘But you had to try to make some profit from the trip. What are we doing here talking with vermin? Lock her up. Sell her later.’
The captain ignored the female and nodded towards the far ship. ‘They caught sight of us before we caught a proper whiff of them, and they raced away. But they did leave us a clumsy northerner to trade. That is a fancy armor.’ One of the sisters scowled at that, the shorter one, but kept her silence.
Perhaps they did not know the armor. ‘Trade?’ I snarled. ‘You would sell me? Like loot?’
‘Come now,’ said the dark-haired female with a thin smile. ‘Yes. Like we would trade a barrel of mutton, we will sell you. House Glamir is rich. And we welcome the gold. And favors. We shall ask for both, though this was not our mission.’ She gave the elf a furious glance.
The elf smiled coldly. He obviously owned the ship and apparently loathed her. ‘And here she was just telling me I should have let your ship go. Pick up a stray in magnificent armor, mention gold, and she probably thinks it was her idea.’ I could not help but smile at that, but they did not see it, of course. The dark elfess scowled at the captain. Sister and brother?
‘I’m the least liked member of the family,’ I said slowly. ‘They would probably ignore your request. But perhaps you could get some advice in return. My father likes to give advice. Might tell you to start farming rather than robbing? You pick very poor hostages.’
The male laughed hugely. ‘Ah! We have much in common. But perhaps they will pay us to keep you, then? My sisters here, Hannea,’ he winked at the bothered looking short one, ‘and Tiria,’ he put a hand on the dark one’s shoulder before she pushed him away, ‘are the ones Father loves, and the latter much more than the former. I am just a sailor, really. I could not farm if my life depended on it. I only know how to eat, drink, and rob. I command my thousand cutthroats and keep my castle clean and try to uphold the laws in the fine fief my mother gave me, but this deck is my true place. That my father employs me for transporting my more important relatives is something I must endure, but I do not say no to profit while doing it. You are the profit.’
‘What house are you from?’ I asked him, dreading the answer.
He snapped his fingers as if berating himself for being a fool. ‘Bring our flags up.’
Bulathon snapped his fingers in mimicry of his captain. Two flags were pulled to the foremast. One had a silver lizard on black, and the other a red arrow on white. ‘The first one is the House flag. The latter is mine. Why, this is a House Coinar ship. And we are headed south. For the Gold Hall, the house of Danar Coinar, head of the Fourth House of Aldheim.’
I stayed silent. The news was terrible. Human life, according to Cosia, was worthless there.
The women smiled a
s if they knew what I was thinking. ‘Your slaves. What are those things in their arms?’ asked Hannea. ‘They look to be made of Glory.’ Their word for the Shades. I should use it as well as I did not want to let them know we had escaped from the creature all of them knew as the Devourer.
‘They are Glory made,’ I said slowly. ‘Decorations.’
‘Really?’ Tiria stated softly, her bright eyes narrowed. ‘Fiery red. Not very imaginative. One would think elves have a better taste. Or did you design them after their simple taste? You northerners are so fond of your pet humans.’
‘Yes, I am,’ I hissed.
‘Calm!’ the male laughed. ‘Would you let your slaves—’
‘They are not slaves,’ I said. ‘Your sister is right. I am fond of the smelly things.’ I heard Anja scuffle her feet and prayed she would keep her mouth shut. I went on. ‘They are my servants. I pay them. They obey me. I’d not lose their service. I am not a ma tarith. I am a na tarith, and while you can wipe your ass on your crew,’ I said and looked at Bulathon, who did not look offended at the idea, ‘I take care of mine.’ I remembered the discussion in Trad again, and how the humans had called the southern and northern nobles. ‘They serve me, but they are not animals. I will have them all back.’
He bowed shallowly. ‘Take her … servants down and the na tarith to my cabin. I shall interrogate her there. Alone.’ The two females looked shocked at that, but the male ignored them. ‘I, Ompar Coinar, tell you to do this and to obey. Stop being tedious. I have things to do soon.’
I shook my head and looked at my friends. There was something in the elf that inspired trust. And I doubted a cell could keep the Tears locked down. Anja could open it, if a spell could not. Dana nodded near imperceptibly, but someone saw. Tiria lifted an eyebrow at that. The dangerous trio walked down, and Ompar opened a double door to a cabin and bowed. ‘I’d like you to leave the sword in my capable hands, though.’ I took a deep breath and walked for him, hesitating before handing him the blade. He received it with a charming smile and guided me over to the cabin. I heard my friends being guided away, and resisted the temptation to look that way as the doors closed.
Eye of Hel: Stories of the Nine Worlds (Ten Tears Chronicles - a dark fantasy action adventure Book 2) Page 3
