by Mel Odom
Then the giant creature loosed a howl of pain. In the next moment, it coiled in on itself as if in agony, whipping back and forth like a snake that had been run over by a wagon wheel.
Mesmerized by what he was seeing, Juhg walked forward, stopping at the railing, then running back toward the stern as the bearded hoar-worm stopped pacing One-Eyed Peggie and fell by the wayside. Juhg halted behind the helmsman, unable to go any farther.
“The monster’s sinkin’,” Hallekk said as he stood beside Juhg. “Craugh killed it.”
In the distance, the bearded hoar-worm began slowly drifting under the sea.
“But it’s taking Craugh down with it,” Juhg said as he saw the coils of the monster sinking beneath the ocean surface. Grief filled him. Although the wizard had always treated Juhg as if he were a child with straw for brains, Craugh had been a part of Juhg’s life almost as much as the Grandmagister.
“He’s done fer,” Hallekk said, patting Juhg sympathetically on the shoulder.
“No. He may still yet live.” Juhg ran for one of the longboats hanging from davits on One-Eyed Peggie’s starboard side.
“Ye can’t hope to put a longboat out in that water,” Hallekk protested. “Not an’ stay afloat.”
“I’ve got to try.” Juhg reached for the rope that held the longboat tied up.
“Wait,” one of the pirates cried. “The monster ain’t dead yet! Craugh didn’t get it killed!”
Impossibly, Juhg watched as the bearded hoar-worm surfaced, then struck out for One-Eyed Peggie, overtaking her in short order. The creature came up on the starboard side, away from the tangle of rigging and sails the broken mainmast had caused. The dwarven pirates trotted alongside, watching the creature and cursing it to the best of their abilities, which were quite extensive and improved by the fear the monster had put into them.
Despite the fact that the monster moved beside them, Juhg noticed the dead way its eyes simply stared.
A moment later, the creature’s mouth opened and smoke boiled out of it, bringing the stench of rot and burned meat. When the smoke cleared, Craugh stood in the bearded hoar-worm’s open mouth. Seawater lapped up over the broken fangs and swirled around the wizard’s boots.
Craugh looked haggard and worn. Smoke clung to his hair and clothing. He held his staff and gazed up at the crew.
“Well,” Craugh demanded in a disgusted tone, “am I going to have to crawl up the side of the ship to get back aboard?”
A mighty cheer went up from the pirates. Despite the losses of their comrades in arms, the wizard’s survival cheered the pirates’ hearts. Also, the dead monster floating beside the ship spoke volumes about their increased chances of getting out of their current situation alive if the wizard was with them.
Hallekk gave the orders and a net was quickly put over One-Eyed Peggie’ s side.
Craugh grabbed hold of the net and waited a moment. “Hallekk,” he called up.
“Aye,” Hallekk responded.
“You’ll need to tie this carcass to the ship.”
“Whatever for?”
“So we can bring it along with us for a while.”
“An’ why should we want to do that?”
“Because I need to harvest some of the things Methoss has eaten over the years.” Craugh started up the net, moving slowly, like a man near exhaustion. “I’ll want its heart, too.”
Juhg helped Craugh onto the ship. He felt how shaky the old wizard was although Craugh gave no indication of it as he peered at the destruction made by the fallen mast.
“It’s made a proper mess of your ship,” Craugh commented.
“Aye.” Hallekk scratched his beard. “We’re gonna be some‘at shorthanded now, an’ definitely gonna fall behind them goblinkin ships.”
“We’ll do the best that we may,” Craugh told him. “As for reinforcements and supplies, there is that ship of reinforcements I asked for.”
Seventeen days ago, Craugh had pulled a dove out of his hat, tied a message to its leg requesting additional supplies and men, and put it into the air to fly to Greydawn Moors. There had been no answer. When Juhg had asked the wizard how he expected another ship to find them even though they didn’t know where they were, Craugh had pointed out that the other ship would know where they would be.
During the few minutes he’d gotten to talk to the Grandmagister aboard the goblinkin ship right after the battle for Greydawn Moors had begun, the Grandmagister had told Juhg that he’d left something for him in Imarish, also known as the City of Canals. So far, the goblinkin ships were heading for Imarish as well.
The fact had filled Juhg with some trepidation. Despite the fact that he believed the Grandmagister could do anything, Juhg couldn’t help feeling that Aldhran Khempus—the man who had captured the Grandmagister in Greydawn Moors—might have tortured the information out of Edgewick Lamplighter.
And if Aldhran had, was One-Eyed Peggie sailing into a trap? The possibility was unsettling. Then Juhg realized that Craugh was talking to him.
“Yes?” Juhg replied, looking up at the wizard.
“I said that you and I have a task to accomplish once Hallekk and his men have the bearded hoar-worm tied up alongside.”
“What task?” Juhg felt instantly rebellious.
“We’re going to cut the heart out of that monster.”
Juhg gawped. He couldn’t help it. “Not me.”
“Yes, you,” Craugh thundered. “By the Old Ones, I find this rebellious nature you’ve suddenly sprouted to be totally insufferable.”
“I am not going to do that,” Juhg said. He couldn’t put up with the wizard ordering him around any more.
The crew drew back from Juhg, obviously afraid that they might get turned into toads by the fallout of the spell Craugh was undoubtedly going to blast the object of his irritation with.
Craugh glared at Juhg.
Juhg stubbornly held his ground. At least, he liked to think that he was stubbornly holding his ground. The truth was that after his outburst, after realizing what was likely to happen, he was frozen to that very spot.
Green sparks leapt from the crooked end of Craugh’s staff.
“Uh,” Hallekk said quietly. “Mayhap I can get one of the crew to do that, Craugh. It’s a mite dirty work. Not fit fer a proper Librarian at all, much less a First Level Librarian like Juhg. I mean, there’s gonna be blood involved. I could get Cook to have a go at it, because he’s used to bleedin’ things an’—”
“Captain Hallekk,” Craugh interrupted.
Hallekk blinked and took a half step back. “Aye.”
“I want this ship fixed. You’ll need everyone of your crew to do that.”
After a brief pause, Hallekk said, “Aye.”
“You do want to rescue the Grandmagister, don’t you?” Craugh asked.
“Aye.” There was no hesitation at all.
“Then see to those repairs.”
“Aye.” Hallekk turned and yelled orders at the crew.
Juhg stood there, alone as anything, as the dwarven pirates jumped to do their assignments. They weren’t abandoning Juhg, after all, they were tending to the rescue of the Grandmagister.
“What about you?” Craugh demanded.
Juhg swallowed hard and hoped that he wouldn’t stammer. “Me?”
“Yes you. Do you want to rescue the Grandmagister?”
Juhg licked his lips. He’d been asked trick questions before. Was this a trick question? “Yes.”
“Then get a knife. A really sharp knife.” Craugh turned away from him and went to the railing where Hallekk had crew throwing out ropes to bind the bearded hoar-worm’s body to One-Eyed Peggie.
Juhg stood there on the rolling ship’s deck. He’d wanted to ask how getting a knife would help save the Grandmagister, but he knew that Craugh had said all he would say on the matter. He also felt certain the wizard was speaking the truth. Getting the knife would—somehow—help save the Grandmagister.
After a moment, he took a brea
th, only then realizing he’d stopped breathing. Then he blinked. After that, he went to get the knife.
Walking barefoot across the belly of the dead monster wasn’t the most unpleasant thing Juhg had ever done. Certainly carrying around the severed leg of a fellow dweller who had died from overwork and beatings down in the goblinkin gem mines had been horrible. The slaves had to bring up the leg to prove that the dweller had died rather than escaped, and dragging a corpse around all day hadn’t been possible. They’d had to stay down in the mines till they filled their carts.
There were other worse things, but Juhg knew he’d have to think for a long time to come up with them.
In death, the bearded hoar-worm’s flesh was loose, and walking across its belly was like walking through a swamp.
The storm had abated. The fog remained, but the lashing waves had gone wherever it was they’d been headed when they’d overtaken the pirate ship. The sea was like that, always moving, always restless.
The monster’s body bobbed in the water, occasionally bumping into One-Eyed Peggie because the ropes that tied the carcass to the ship were short. Gulls landed on the enormous body, tearing at the meat and eating their fill. Dark shapes under the water kept bumping up against the monster like nursing pups, but Juhg knew they were sharks drawn by the creature’s blood. They, too, feasted on the monster.
Juhg felt a little sorry for the bearded hoar-worm. That surprised him, but he supposed it was because he had known it could think. Somehow that made watching it being eaten worse.
“Here.”
Turning, Juhg found Craugh behind him. Surprisingly, the wizard had followed him onto the monster’s body. Juhg had felt certain Craugh would leave him to tend to the ghoulish task on his own.
“You’re sure?” Juhg asked.
Craugh tapped the bottom of his staff against the body. He held an oil lantern in his other hand. “Here,” he repeated. Then he sat down, crossing his legs with his staff across his knees. He put the lantern to one side.
Juhg hunkered down and took a fresh grip on the flensing knife he’d borrowed from Cook. He smoothed the monster’s flesh with his other hand, testing it. His mouth dried and his stomach turned over as he readied himself to carry out his instructions.
“Go ahead!” a raucous voice shouted. “Go ahead an’ stick ’im! Give ‘im a good ’un fer me!”
Looking up, Juhg spotted Critter perched on the ship’s railing. The bird sat lopsidedly due to the fork pegleg.
“Apprentice,” Craugh said in a low voice, “we’re going to lose the light.”
Already, the sun was setting in the westering sky. Pinks, purples, and reds tinted the clouds.
Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Juhg remembered the odd bit but couldn’t remember where he’d gotten it from. The Grandmagister would know, of course. And that turned his thoughts back to the chore Craugh had assigned him.
He no longer felt that Craugh could have done the task himself. The fight with the bearded hoar-worm had all but done him in. Craugh would not have admitted it, Juhg was sure, but it was the truth. The wizard was not sure-footed crossing the monster’s body.
“The creature is well beyond feeling any pain you may think you’re causing,” Craugh said.
“I know.” Juhg thrust the knife into the dead flesh and started cutting. He found out at once that he hadn’t cut deeply enough and the task would be more arduous than he’d believed. Still, the knife was sharp and he was determined. After all, this was supposed to help save the Grandmagister. He didn’t know if he hoped to help or prove the wizard wrong. Craugh couldn’t be right all the time.
Gradually, just as dusk had started to swell in the eastern sky, Juhg sliced through the skin and into the stomach beyond. When that happened, a little more energy seemed to spark in Craugh, but the wizard appeared a trifle more apprehensive as well.
At Craugh’s urging, Juhg sliced into the stomach. The stench was horrible.
“Make the hole larger,” Craugh said, leaning forward and peering inside. “We’re going to have to enter.”
“Enter?” The thought horrified Juhg.
“Of course,” Craugh snapped. “This is a sizeable monster, after all. The stomach is a cavern inside this thing.”
“You never said anything about entering the corpse.”
“I’m saying it now. Cut.”
Having no choice, Juhg enlarged the hole.
When he had the hole big enough, Craugh lit the lantern, then his pipe. He handed the lantern to Juhg. “Go, apprentice.”
Staring at the large wound he’d created, Juhg asked, “This will help the Grandmagister?”
“Didn’t I say that it would?”
Juhg took a handkerchief from his pocket and tied it around his face, hoping that it would block some of the noxious stench. After adjusting the lantern wick to glow more brightly, he clambered down inside the dead body.
The footing was treacherous and slippery. Gore covered him, fouling him at once. Inside the belly of the beast, he lifted the lantern high and gazed around. Fluid several inches deep ran over his toes.
Craugh crawled down after him.
“These are stomach fluids,” Juhg said. “Won’t they hurt me?”
“No. I’ve already tended to that.” Craugh puffed on his pipe and the scent of the pipeweed seemed to overcome the stomach stink. He gazed in all directions.
Juhg waited, totally amazed. The inside of the bearded hoar-worm was larger than One-Eyed Peggie’s belowdecks. Then he remembered the creature’s body was long, and there would be a lot of room.
Craugh drew a symbol in the air that caught fire and burned with a green flame. He blew smoke at the symbol and it floated forward.
“Come on,” Craugh said. “That marks our way.”
Without a word, Juhg held forth the lantern and started after the glowing symbol. He tramped through stomach fluid and then piles of ancient armor he recognized from books at the Vault of All Known Knowledge. Many of the civilizations that had constructed the armor had disappeared even before Lord Kharrion had called the goblinkin tribes together.
Questions ran rampant through Juhg’s mind. How long had the bearded hoar-worm lived? How had it known Craugh? What had it meant when it had accused Craugh of having a darkness within him? When had it—not it, Juhg amended, Methoss—when had Methoss and its comrades offered Craugh a spot among them?
They walked for at least fifty yards. The darkness inside the monster’s stomach was complete except for the lantern and the hole Juhg had cut into it. The hole was dimming as the sun went down. For a moment, Juhg worried that they might not be able to find the way out.
Then the glowing symbol stopped.
“There,” Craugh breathed in a smoky whisper. His eyes narrowed and he moved his staff in front of him.
Staring into the darkness, Juhg crept forward. The lantern light invaded the innards of the beast, chasing the darkness back.
A multifaceted blood-red gem the size of a horse’s head sat in the stomach amid a pile of human bones. Some of the bones spilled over the gem, arm bones and leg bones, like they were clinging to the gem.
“Well,” Craugh said, “she’s fed lately.” He didn’t look happy.
Drawn by the sight of the gem’s elegant beauty, Juhg knelt down, scarcely paying attention to the fluids and the skeletons and partially decomposing bodies. He brushed away an arm bone. Then he realized what Craugh had said.
“She?” Juhg repeated. “Don’t you mean that he has fed lately?”
“No,” Craugh said. “I mean that she has.”
Before Juhg could ask the question that immediately came to mind, the gem dawned with an inner light of its own. Crimson bathed the immediate area, stronger than the lantern light.
Something stirred within the depths of the gem. It whirled and flipped, like a cloud turning in on itself.
“No, apprentice,” Craugh said. “You’re too close.”
Juhg barely registered the words, then a wom
an’s face formed inside the gem. She was graced with elven beauty, her ears pointed and her nose slightly upturned. Her eyes warred with the crimson light, but they were purest amethyst. Her skin was dark, the color of old pecan. Her smile revealed fangs that spoke at once of a predator.
“Hello, Craugh,” she said. Then she laughed and reached through the gem walls to grab Juhg around the head.
3
A Secret Past
Juhg dropped the lantern and tried to escape the woman’s clutches. Her strength proved too much and he couldn’t. Her laughter echoed the length of the monster’s belly and came back over them.
She cackled with glee as Juhg’s struggles helped pull her free of the gem. She was almost as tall as Craugh. Obsidian black armor covered her and she wore an obsidian black blade at her side. She had seven fingers on each hand, and they were much longer than anything human, dwarven, elven, or dweller. Her long fingernails were razor sharp. Short red hair was plastered tightly against her head.
Most surprising of all, she had a tail. It looked like a lizard’s. Juhg saw the appendage first when it whipped forward and closed around his neck, choking off whatever attempt he might have made at speaking.
“Ladamae,” Craugh said in an even voice. He didn’t move a muscle. “Don’t kill him.”
The woman took her hands from Juhg’s head. Her tail held him off the ground easily. She drew her obsidian blade as she turned her full attention to the wizard.
“Don’t kill him?” she repeated. “You killed Methoss.”
“Methoss would not listen to me,” Craugh said. “He chose to ignore my warning.”
“He had been sent after that ship,” Ladamae said. “He did not know that you were aboard.”
“And if he had known that I was aboard?”
The woman grinned and waved the obsidian blade. “He would still have tried to killed you. You know how Methoss was, Craugh. He was always jealous of you.” She smiled, but to Juhg the expression was like watching a cat unsheathe her claws.
Craugh said nothing.
Dangling from the woman’s tail, Juhg struggled to breathe. Her tail around his throat was incredibly tight.
