by Mel Odom
A burst of crimson, blue, green, and yellow feathers burst into the room. Critter flew into the room screaming at the top of his voice, “Cap’n Farok! Cap’n Farok!”
“I’m here, blast ye,” Cap’n Farok replied. “Right here in front of yer eye, I am.”
Dropping to a table, Critter stood with his wings spread out around him for balance. “Oh,” the rhowdor said. “There ye are. By my lights, ye can be hard to find when ye’re not in yer cabin.”
Another impact struck One-Eyed Peggie and heeled her hard over to port. Critter slid across the table, unable to dig his claws into the wood, and flapped his wings in an effort to recover, beating Quarrel and Bulokk till they covered up. He squawked fearfully.
“What is happenin’ to me ship?” Cap’n Farok bellowed.
“We’re under attack, Cap’n,” Critter said.
“By who?”
“The monster, Cap’n. It’s found us again.”
Although the Blood-Soaked Sea was filled with monsters, only one of them actively hunted One-Eyed Peggie.
At Cap’n Farok’s orders, the crew ran up the stairwell, then he hobbled up himself. Wick trailed after, aiding the old sea captain when he could, which wasn’t something Cap’n Farok would often allow anyone to do. But he had a soft spot for Wick.
Another impact shook One-Eyed Peggie, battering them up against the walls. Cap’n Farok lost his footing and would have gone down except for the aid Wick gave him. The old captain took a moment to gather himself, then once more pressed onward.
“Gettin’ old an’ feeble isn’t good, Librarian Lamplighter,” Cap’n Farok said. “No one should have to endure such a hardship.”
“It’s the price we pay for wisdom,” Wick replied, holding onto the old dwarf’s elbow. Personally, Wick looked forward to his elderly years as a Librarian. A First Level Librarian, of course, so much more of his time was his to command.
Water slopped onto the main deck when Wick stepped outside with Cap’n Farok. The storm had made the night darker, though that was alleviated from time to time by the whip-crack of lightning. Thunder exploded overhead, sounding as if it were right on top of them. The ship rode awkwardly in the sea, tipping restively as she was caught in crosswinds and waddled through the troughs. Canvas cracked overhead, and Wick knew the sheets strained at the rigging.
“Where away, Zeddar?” Hallekk cried from the stern castle near the ship’s wheel.
“Off to port now. Two points.” Zeddar was aloft in the crow’s nest. He hung on for dear life, swinging wildly from side to side as the ship plunged over another tall wave.
Wick stared through the darkness, searching for the monster. He’d seen it before, but it was always incredible to witness. From One-Eyed Peggie’s present descent down the other side of the wave, it looked like they were sailing straight to the bottom, that the incoming wave would swamp them and send them to the depths below.
The crew played lanterns over the black sea, searching for the creature.
Bulokk and the Cinder Clouds dwarves came on deck, but Hallekk bawled orders at them to stay out of the way. With only a little show of resentment at being ordered about, Bulokk and his warriors lined the stern cabin, holding their ground as best as they could.
Quarrel stood only a few feet away from Wick and held Alysta in her arms. The cat had her head flattened and kept twitching her ears against the rain.
Then Wick saw the monster as it swam through the sea and came at them at amazing speed. Although One-Eyed Peggie was a large ship, capable of carrying tons of cargo, the monster dwarfed her, being more than twice her size in length. The creature resembled a whale at first glance, but it possessed a horny carapace on its head and back that protected it from attacks from above. Six twenty-foot tentaclelike legs equipped it for grappling with prey. On a few occasions, the creature had managed to grab hold of longboats with hapless pirates and take most or all of them to the bottom of the sea.
“Brace yerselves!” Zeddar cried in warning. “It’s comin’ in again!”
Cap’n Farok grabbed hold of the nearest railing. Wick did the same. He watched in fear-filled fascination as the creature cut through the sea so fast it sprayed a steady stream of water into the air, as if it were slicing through a layer of the ocean and peeling it back.
The huge head was visible for just a moment above the waterline. The jaws were large enough to open wide enough to swallow half a twenty-foot longboat in a single gulp. The hard ridges of bone had proven a number of times that they could crunch through wood. Oval in shape, the creature’s head had whiskery projections that stuck out in all directions. In daylight they were deeply purple, fitting well the wart-covered wattles of purple and black skin that sheathed the onyxcolored head when it withdrew it to safety. The empty eye socket remained a mass of pestilence and had never healed. Wick could only imagine the pain that must have blazed through the creature with its constant immersion in salt water.
Then the creature was once more upon the pirate ship, slamming into it at full speed.
3
“A Lie Will Get You Killed”
The creature struck One-Eyed Peggie with a resounding boom that temporarily deafened Wick as he hung onto the railing. Cap’n Farok shuddered and went down, landing asprawl and hanging onto the railing with one arm while the other held tight to his crutch.
Despite his tight hold, Wick lost his grip and started to slide away. A massive wave of water, created by the creature’s attack, rained down on the deck. For a moment Wick thought he was going to drown, then he realized he was sliding across the deck, heading for the starboard side. Caught at the crest of a wave, One-Eyed Peggie twisted violently so that only swirling black water was on the starboard side.
Wick knew that if he slid through the railing on that side he’d be lost for good. Then something hard looped just under his chin and caught him by the throat. Instinctively, he reached up and caught hold of it, recognizing by touch that it was Cap’n Farok’s crutch.
“Hold tight there, lad!” Cap’n Farok commanded. “I ain’t a-gonna lose ye!”
Scrambling, digging his feet against the deck in an effort to find purchase, Wick looked up in disbelief and saw that the old dwarven captain was holding onto the railing with one hand and managing to keep them both safe. That’s not strength, the little Librarian realized grimly. That’s stubbornness!
A moment later, the pirate ship righted herself. Water swirled across her deck and washed over the side.
Wick pushed himself up and crossed over to Cap’n Farok. He helped the old dwarf to his feet. “Thank you,” Wick said. “I would have been washed over the side.”
“I couldn’t let ye go,” Cap’n Farok said with a grin. “We ain’t written me memoirs yet. I still have a lot of stories to tell ye.” He gave Wick a wink.
“Harpooners!” Hallekk bellowed from the stern castle. “Stand ready!”
Two dozen pirates grabbed long harpoons from the hold and got ready on deck. As he helped Cap’n Farok up onto the stern castle deck, Wick still felt immensely frightened. The day would come, he knew, when the creature or One-Eyed Peggie would destroy one or the other. When that day came, he didn’t know which would lose, but he was afraid the ship was more fragile than the creature’s rock-hard carapace.
Wind whipped across the deck, making the salt spray smack into them more vigorously. Wick squinted against it and stood beside Cap’n Farok and Hallekk.
The ship’s crew stood ranked with their harpoons.
“Give it a taste of sharp steel,” Hallekk growled. “See if it likes it any more than last time it found us.”
Green lightning gathered at One-Eyed Peggie’s prow. Staring through the spray and the rigging, Wick saw Craugh standing there. Green embers whirled dizzyingly around the wizard. In his hand, his gnarled staff glowed lambent emerald.
“Where’s the beastie, Zeddar?” Hallekk demanded.
“Ahead!” Zeddar yelled back down from the crow’s nest. “Dead ahead!”
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Staring forward, Wick spotted the creature once more cutting through the water on a collision course with the pirate ship.
“Hard to port!” Hallekk ordered. “Hard to port!”
Behind them, the helmsman fought the big ship’s wheel, cutting One-Eyed Peggie’s direction to port. Rigging creaked as the sails caught full hold of the wind and yanked at the masts. The crew shifted over to starboard to confront the creature as it shot past.
But the creature altered course as well, resuming its bearing on the ship.
“Brace yerselves!” Zeddar called from above.
Curses ran the length of the ship.
This time the creature came up out of the water. Four of its tentacles reached for One-Eyed Peggie’s prow. Craugh struck in that moment, unleashing a wall of lightning that hammered the creature. The stench of ozone filled the air and Wick went deaf with the sound of the boom!
Incredibly, the creature lifted from the water, almost totally emerging. One-Eyed Peggie sailed within mere feet of it but was never touched as the tentacles wildly waved. Most of the dwarven pirates were too stunned to react, entranced by what they had just witnessed, but a few launched their harpoons. Even fewer struck the creature.
“Is it dead?” Cap’n Farok asked, whipping his head around as they passed the creature.
Drawn by the need to see what had happened, Wick abandoned his position at the railing even though the ship’s deck still jerked and shifted as the helmsman fought to find a proper course for her. At the stern railing, he peered out at the sea. The creature floated limply on the water, but it still moved its tentacles.
“It’s alive!” Zeddar yelled from aloft. “It’s still alive!”
But at least it’s not giving chase anymore. Wick watched as the creature slowly sank beneath the waves. Before it disappeared, though, the pirate ship crested a wave and started down the other side, losing sight of the creature.
Cap’n Farok took control of the ship, issuing orders that calmed the crew while Hallekk went below to assess the damage. Wick went forward to join Craugh, who was staring out to sea. For a time, the little Librarian looked out at the rolling waves, but couldn’t see anything that would interest the wizard so intently.
“What’s wrong?” Wick asked.
At first the wizard didn’t seem inclined to answer. Then he took a deep breath and let it out just as Wick was prepared to walk away. “That creature found us,” Craugh said.
“It constantly searches for this ship,” Wick replied. “That’s always been true.”
Craugh adjusted his slouch hat. His skin held pallor to it that Wick had seldom seen. Then he remembered that the wizard had been weaving spells for hours. Now there’d been a huge expenditure while he’d worked to save the ship. Wick knew from experience with Craugh that the wizard had a large physical debt to repay from using his power.
“It found us through magic,” Craugh said. “Not magic of its own.”
That thought chilled Wick. “You’re saying someone sent it? After us?”
Craugh nodded, but held up a hand to quiet Wick. “The others don’t need to know this. And perhaps I’m wrong.”
Wick doubted that. Craugh was rarely wrong when it came to magical problems.
“Who would send it?” Wick asked. “Who would even know to send it?” Not even the people of Greydawn Moors knew about the monster and the eye. It was a story the crew of One-Eyed Peggie kept quiet because getting dwarven pirates was difficult enough without adding the fact they’d be permanently cursed by a vengeful monster after they signed on.
“I don’t know. But I felt the magic that lured the creature here.”
Wick considered that. “We still don’t know who Gujhar is working for.”
“No, we don’t. That would help. But there’s a simpler reason for this.”
“What?”
Craugh looked at Wick. Fatigue ate into the wizard’s features. His green-eyed gaze didn’t blaze quite so forcefully. “The creature is an animal. It’s not inconceivable that an elven warder charmed it and told it where to go. The magic that was used was simple, but very powerful. Primeval. Like that used by elven warders.”
The thought took Wick’s breath away. “That’s not possible.”
“It’s not?” Craugh grinned mirthlessly. “Not all elven warders use their lore to work with natural animals of the lands, the skies, or the waters. Some of them use their gifts to build relationships with monsters.”
Wick knew that was true. Selmanick Thostos had written several books on the subject of elven warders who learned to tame monsters to further their own goals.
“Who do you think sent the creature?” Wick asked.
“An elven warder,” Craugh answered. “A very powerful elven warder.”
Wick understood then. “You think Sokadir sent the creature after us.”
“Possibly.” Craugh grinned coldly again. “You must admit, after your confrontation with him, that Sokadir isn’t predisposed to someone poking around after him.”
Self-consciously, Wick touched his shirt collar. “No.” He swallowed, finding himself a little dry-throated as he looked out at the sea. “But that doesn’t have to be the answer.”
“Then find me another,” Craugh snapped. “Right now I’m second-guessing myself enough without having someone do it for me.”
“I can try,” Wick said, marshaling his courage. For the last few days, since they’d quit Wharf Rat’s Warren and sailed south, he’d had his present predicament on his mind. “But to do that, we need to return to the Vault of All Known Knowledge.”
“Out of the question,” Craugh responded immediately, shaking his head. “We’ve lost too much time as it is. All we know is that our enemies are headed south and that they’re after Sokadir.”
Craugh had also managed to put a spell on Gujhar’s ship, Wraith, and was presently able to track them.
“Sokadir is in the Forest of Fangs and Shadows,” Wick pointed out. “He’s not going to be easy to find. He’s an elf on his home territory, and he’s powerful.” He thought for a moment and used Craugh’s own thinking against him. “If he’s powerful enough to send that creature after us within minutes—”
“He was just lucky it was in the area,” Craugh snarled. “With the creature’s interest in this ship already, sending it here was no problem.”
“Within minutes?” Wick let his doubt sound in his voice.
“As I said, it was merely good fortune on Sokadir’s part.”
The wind blew around them for a few moments. Wick got the distinct impression that Craugh didn’t try to walk back to belowdecks because he didn’t want anyone to see him fall on his face.
Hallekk came up during that time and informed Cap’n Farok that there were a couple leaks down in the cargo hold, but that they weren’t immediately dangerous. He had crews working to patch them.
“When you turned up in Greydawn Moors those weeks ago,” Wick said, trying to pick his words carefully, “you didn’t show up by accident.”
Craugh didn’t say anything.
“You planned to be there,” Wick said, “and you planned to get me to go looking for the three magical weapons that were at the Battle of Fell’s Keep. A dweller wouldn’t be noticed the way a wizard would. Maybe—” He took a deep breath, remembering how worn and haggard Craugh had looked. “—maybe you’d already been found out searching for them.”
Craugh kept his silence, but his frown was deeper.
Wick went on even though he knew he would have been far better off being paralyzed with fear. “You said that you were concerned because what happened at that battle—that who betrayed whom—was part of what is keeping humans, elves, and dwarves from uniting once more against the growing goblinkin hordes. I believed you.”
Craugh regarded Wick with a glare of green-eyed steel. “Don’t presume to lecture me overmuch, Librarian.”
“You lied to me,” Wick said, but he kept the anger out of his voice.
Alt
hough he maintained his silence, Craugh’s staff suddenly became a beehive of buzzing green embers that circled it.
“Lying appears to be one of your greatest natural talents, Craugh,” Wick said quietly. “I’ve never noticed that in you quite so much before.” He took a deep breath, surprised that he hadn’t already been consigned to an existence as a toad. Or thrown overboard. “You lie to others about anything you wish to, at any given time you choose to.”
“You’re daring far, far too much,” Craugh whispered in a cold, deadly voice.
Shut up! Shut up! Wick screamed at himself inside his head. Stop now and maybe he won’t do anything to you that will leave scars!
But he couldn’t shut up and he knew it. What he had to say was too important. He’d seen how hard Bulokk and Quarrel had tried to get back their ancestors’ weapons, how much they’d been willing to risk. The Old Ones knew he was no hero, he was just a dweller, a Second Level Librarian with grand designs on one day becoming a First Level Librarian.
“You can lie to anybody you want to, Craugh,” Wick said in a quavering voice.
“I could strike you down where you stand,” Craugh threatened. The glowing green embers whirled around him now like fireflies.
The power he was giving off made Wick’s hair stand on end.
“I could blind you,” Craugh went on. “You would never be able to read again, never be able to write.”
There are books for the blind, Wick told himself, shoring up his courage. You already know how to read them. He made himself go on.
“You can lie to anyone you want to,” Wick said again. “I don’t think you can help yourself. It’s not forgivable, but it’s understandable. Knowing you.”
Craugh gestured.
Helplessly, Wick floated up from the ship’s deck. Several of the pirates noticed what was going on. One of them was sent to get Hallekk and Cap’n Farok. The others drew back. Whatever the wizard chose to do, there was no stopping him.
“But don’t lie to yourself, Craugh,” Wick made himself finish. “Don’t you dare lie to yourself or even presume that you can. That would be the most dangerous thing of all. Not just for you, but for all of us. A lie will get you killed. It will get us killed. We need to know more about what happened at the Battle of Fell’s Keep before we go any further. You know that’s true.”
