by Mel Odom
“For that, if I had ten thousand gold pieces,” Baylee said, “I could buy a brand new cog just like yours.” He stood up from the chair.
“I’m not just selling the boat ride,” Uziraff said. “That you could get anywhere. You’re also buying the information as to where that pictograph was found.”
“Mayhap,” Baylee said, “I’ll be able to find them both, for considerably less than you offer.” He walked to the door. Tell me, Xuxa, is there any weakening to his resolve?
Uziraff is curious and anxious, the azmyth bat answered.
Then there must be another source that could give us the location of the shipwreck.
Yes.
“Wait,” Uziraff said.
Baylee turned back toward the pirate.
Uziraff spread his hands. “Surely you can offer me a better deal than five hundred gold.”
Baylee waited, staring at the man. “Eight hundred gold, and our passage is included so that we get our meals. You’re leaving me precious little to get back to Waterdeep on.”
“Both of you are going? Then the price is—”
“The price is more than fair,” Cthulad said.
For a moment Uziraff bridled at the harsh bite of the other man’s tone. Then he sat back in the chair and grumbled, “As you wish.”
Xuxa? Baylee asked.
His curiosity is showing most, the azmyth bat answered. Nothing duplicitous.
“How soon can you be ready to leave?” Baylee asked.
“Now it’s a rush job as well?” Uziraff laughed and shook his head. “Really, Baylee, you’re well on your way to being as insufferable as Golsway himself.”
“How soon?”
“Two hours.”
“Fine,” Baylee said. “We’ll meet you at Windchaser.” He headed for the door.
“Don’t try to beat out my price, Baylee Arnvold,” the pirate called. “We have a deal.”
“I’ll be there.”
“And bring my gold with you.”
“He’s not a man to trust.”
Baylee glanced at Cthulad. “Not if we had another choice. But it could be that finding anyone who knows anything of the pictograph here in Caer Callidyrr will be near to impossible. The people in this circle don’t like to give away their information, and they hate to admit they know less than you. Just the act of asking questions will set other hounds loose on us.” He peered toward the docks fronting the mouth of the natural harbor.
Broken rock littered the coastline, some of them in the distance drawing white water. In the winter, the winds whipped over the harbor brutally, shutting down most avenues of trade except for the most desperate. The smell of brine was thick in the cool air.
Baylee led the way through the uneven line of porches fronting the shops around the harbor area. It felt good to be moving, not cloistered away aboard the cargo ship anymore. The encounter with Uziraff had left a bad taste in his mouth.
We are being followed, Xuxa said.
I know, Baylee replied. I picked them up as we left the Fickle Mermaid. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t get too close.
“We have company,” Cthulad said.
Baylee nodded. “They’ll be with us till we show up at Windchaser. Until then, we’ll take a stop here, then find a good lunch. You won’t have such a thing when we’re aboard Windchaser.”
The building was a narrow expanse between a leather-working shop and a jewelry shop. Hand-lettering across the glass read Vlayn’s Potions and Potables.
“What do we need here?” Cthulad said.
“The wreck is under water somewhere,” Baylee said. “We’re going to need a way to get down to it.”
“So you’re going to buy a potion of water breathing?”
“It does seem advisable.”
Cthulad nodded. “Don’t forget to pick up a few healing potions. With Uziraff along, I think we’ll need them.”
Baylee halted inside the door to the apothecary. “Where will you be?”
“I spotted a weapons shop a little further down,” the old ranger said. “While you haggle over the potions, I’ll see if there’s anything there we might need. You still don’t have a sword. I thought I might find a present for you.”
“I don’t usually like to carry a weapon,” Baylee said. “There are ways to deal with problems rather than violence.”
“These are not usual times,” Cthulad said. “And we are dealing with Uziraff and his sense of greed. Just the—the three of us.”
Listen to him, Baylee, Xuxa urged.
“Yes,” Cthulad added. “I am an expert in these matters. Uziraff will not be satisfied until blood has been spilled at this point.”
Baylee nodded.
“What would you prefer?”
“A composite long bow,” Baylee said after a moment. “Tilmentus, the weaponsmith there, makes a good, collapsible bow that stores in a quiver of arrows. Tell him its for me and he’ll know the draw of the arrows and the pull adjustment. Also tell him that I want sheaf arrows, three dozen in a side-by-side back quiver, with a half dozen of those already set up as incendiaries. A bag of caltrops. A spring-bladed parrying dagger. A good combat knife. And a long sword. And a brace of throwing knives.”
Cthulad raised his eyebrows slightly. “Is there anything else?”
Baylee regarded him. “Only if you think there is anything I’ve forgotten.”
“No, that should be quite sufficient. I’ll return as quickly as I can.”
“Our splitting up is going to worry the people tailing us somewhat, so try to stay in sight.”
Cthulad tossed him a quick salute and walked toward the weapon shop.
Baylee entered the shop. It was dark and mysterious, smelling of arcane flowers and herbs. Most people who entered it would have been intimidated by the four skeleton displays hanging from hooks on the walls. They would have felt even more menaced if they knew Vlayn could have called them forth to defend him if he needed it.
“Baylee!” the heavyset apothecary called out from behind the counter. “It has seemed like forever since I have seen you last, my friend.”
“And it’s felt twice as long,” Baylee responded. Then he settled in to haggle over the potions. Vlayn was a friendly merchant, but he always drove a hard bargain.
“You are Junior Civilar Cordyan Tsald?”
Cordyan studied the old sailor who stood before her. He was a shriveled brown nut of a man, his iron-gray hair in disarray. She had barely arrived at Caer Callidyrr when she’d been accosted. Her hand rested on her sword hilt. Her men had only begun disembarking. “Who are you, and how is it you know my name?”
“I am Floon, Junior Civilar, merely a day laborer hoping to earn an honest day’s wages. I was charged with awaiting your arrival and getting a message to you.” The old sailor seemed uncomfortable as members of the watch surrounded him.
“Who charged you with such a task?”
“An old man. A warrior by the look of him. One who’s been in a number of battles. He said to tell you Civva Cthulad, but I don’t know for sure that he gave me a true name.”
Cordyan swapped looks with Calebaan. She looked back at the old sailor. “What was the message?”
“That the person you’re looking for is aboard Windchaser.”
“A ship?”
“Aye, lady, and a bad one at that. She’s under the command of Uziraff Fireblade. And a worse pirate there’s never been.”
“Where might I find this ship?” Cordyan asked. She felt some constriction at the back of her throat. Why had Baylee turned to someone like Uziraff Fireblade?
“Windchaser’s already left,” the sailor answered.
“Where?”
“Sailing north,” the man answered. “I talked to some of her crew before she left as the old warrior suggested, helping them load the supplies for a few silver pieces. They talked of going to Mintarn.”
“What’s in Mintarn?”
“Lady, I could not say.”
“Th
ank you.” Cordyan reached into her purse for a few coins.
Floon held up his hands. “I could not. The old warrior, he more than adequately paid me for my time.”
“You would know Windchaser, though, wouldn’t you?”
The man nodded.
“And you’re familiar with the sea in this area, and Mintarn?”
“Aye, lady.”
“Then perhaps I could hire you to guide us. Our captain is not overly familiar with these waters.”
The man smiled and nodded. “It’s been many a day since I was out for a real sail, lady. I’d appreciate the opportunity to be of service.”
“Then you’re hired, Floon.” Cordyan turned to her sergeant. “Hammal.”
The sergeant turned to face her.
“Get the supplies loaded quickly. We need to cast off again at once.”
The man gave her a crisp salute. Then he turned and started shouting orders to the other members of the watch.
“How long ago did Windchaser leave?” Cordyan asked.
“She set sail three hours ago, lady.”
“Have we a chance of catching her?”
The man hesitated, then shook his head. “She’s a cog, lady, much like your own. But Uziraff has her set up to sail in these islands. She is as fleet as they come.”
“Then we’ll do the best we can. I’ll have you taken to the captain. Tell him I want you to take a look over the provisions. If there is anything we need to purchase that we don’t have, let him know to buy it.” She called for a nearby guard and sent the old sailor off with the man. She turned to Calebaan, who was regarding the sea with amusement. “Why would Cthulad tip us off as to where they were going and who they were going with?”
“There is the possibility he lied,” Calebaan pointed out.
“Do you think that’s probable? You spent more time with him than I did.”
“No. I said that in jest. With Civva Cthulad’s real name being used, you know the message was given by him. And he is not a man prone to lying to escape trouble.”
“He might, if he thought we were offering him or Baylee any harm, yet did not want to harm us either.”
Calebaan regarded her. “You’ve been given too much time to think. What do your instincts tell you?”
Cordyan took a deep breath and let it out. “Only that Cthulad realized Baylee was getting them in over their heads and he guessed that we might be following.”
“So he’s using what he has available to manage the situation as best as he can.” Calebaan nodded. “Now that sounds more like the man I talked with.”
“Then let us hope this three hour lead Windchaser has doesn’t get us there too late to help them,” Cordyan said.
21
“The pictograph came up in a lizard man’s net,” Uziraff Fireblade yelled over the whip and crack of the sailcloth. “He didn’t understand what he’d found, but he took it to a man I do business with in Mintarn. The lizard man got a couple gold pieces and was very happy. The man I do business with got a hundred gold for his time, and considered himself fortunate. I, on the other hand, got a few thousand from Golsway. And now I’m starting to think I was made a fool of too.”
Baylee stared down into the murky green depths, ignoring Uziraff’s complaints, thinking about the long dive that awaited him. Dusk was already starting to drink down the sun. It would be full dark by the time he dropped into the ocean. But that didn’t matter much, because at the depth he thought he might be diving, it wouldn’t be light anyway. He’d come prepared for that, however.
“You’ve heard of nothing else ever being found in this spot before?” he asked.
“I’ve never heard of anything being found out here.” The pirate captain said. He was backlighted by the lanterns hanging from the masts and rigging above the wide pots of sand placed there in case the lanterns fell. “Have you?”
“No,” Baylee answered honestly.
Xuxa hung from the rigging above Baylee’s head, and Civva Cthulad stood to one side by the railing, alone.
“The one discovery sparked an intense search by someone,” Uziraff said. “Had there been another, I’m sure it would have done the same. That pictograph had been down there for a long time. No one has been looking.”
Baylee silently concurred. “Why are you so sure this is the spot from the lizard man’s description?”
“Because I can see what you can’t.” Uziraff took a tube from inside his jacket and uncapped it. He handled the sheaf of parchment inside tenderly, carefully unrolling it. He displayed it to the two rangers. The parchment was completely blank. “What do you see?”
“Nothing,” Baylee replied. Cthulad agreed.
“But I do,” Uziraff said. “This map possesses great magic. It only has a limited number of uses, so I don’t use it often. I didn’t use it when the lizard man brought me out here, but now that you’re here, following up the trail Golsway gave you before he died, I felt it was well worth the investment. And it was. The ship you’re seeking lies just beneath us, two hundred feet down.”
“I’ve never heard of such a map,” Cthulad said.
Baylee had, though he knew that they were very rare. On the sea, it could automatically map a circle sixty miles across, even though the ship had not been there. And it would include avian creatures over twenty-five feet long, and sea creatures over twenty feet long. On land, that distance was cut to forty miles.
Only the map’s user could activate the magic inherent in the map.
“The ship is down there?” Baylee asked.
“A ship is,” Uziraff agreed. “I can think of no others that would be. From what I have seen in the map, the shipwreck is broken into a number of pieces.”
Baylee’s sudden enthusiasm outweighed even his wariness of the pirate captain. “Then it’s time we found out.” He reached into his bag of holding and found one of the vials he’d gotten from the apothecary.
I must admit, Xuxa said, this is the one part of your plan that disturbs me most. I don’t like the idea of being separated from you. And you will be out of range of my call should you need me.
There’s no help for it. Baylee unstoppered the vial and drank deeply. The liquid burned the back of his throat going down, and filled him with a lightness of being that felt almost euphoric.
“You’ll be careful down there, lad,” Cthulad said quietly.
“I think you’re the one who has the more dangerous part,” Baylee replied.
“A yard of good steel makes a warrior a mighty good neighbor,” the old ranger said. “These baying dogs won’t dare attack me without feeling they have the upper hand. And Xuxa is waiting in the wings, so to speak, to tilt the scales.”
“Get a net over the side,” Uziraff bellowed.
A half-dozen sailors ran to do his bidding, heaving a mass of weighted nets over the side.
Baylee looked at the pirate captain.
“I claim rights of salvage,” Uziraff said. “You paid me to bring you here, not to transport anything back for you.”
“I expected no less from you,” Baylee replied. “All I want is a look.”
Uziraff looked somewhat troubled by the way the ranger took the announcement.
Does he have a clue? Baylee asked Xuxa.
That you are lying to him? the azmyth bat asked. No. From his surface thoughts that I have access to, he clearly believes he has the upper hand.
Then let him continue thinking that. Baylee stepped to the ship’s railing. “But don’t expect me to load it for you.”
“I don’t.” Uziraff took a vial one of his men handed him. He drank it down deeply, then accepted the backpack another gave him. “I’m coming with you. Didn’t you think I wouldn’t have had you followed to the apothecary’s to find out what you’d purchased from him?”
Instead of answering, Baylee threw himself over the side of the cog. The potion filled him with its magic. He drew in a deep breath, taking oxygen from the water around him as easily as his regular breathing. Also
, he found his movements not impeded by the water in any way. The potion counter-acted those effects also.
The potion worked just as Vlayn said it would. Moving rapidly, Baylee swam straight down. As well as the potion worked, it would only last an hour, but with the other part of the magic allowing him normal movement even beneath the water, traveling two hundred feet below the ocean’s surface was a matter of minutes.
Three other splashes sounded in his ears. Normally much of his hearing would have been distorted by the water and the pressure. With the potion active in his system, the sounds were almost normal.
He glanced up, spotting Uziraff and two of his men swimming after him. Evidently they’d drank vials of the potion as well. At two thousand gold pieces a potion, the pirate had evidently invested heavily in the expedition.
The depth took the light away, turning the water darker. Baylee reached into his bag of holding and took out the other article he’d purchased before leaving Caer Callidyrr. The lantern was small, almost on every corner of the city, but at three hundred gold pieces each, not everyone was going to have them.
He opened it, knowing it would be protected by the same magic from the potion as the rest of his gear. The lantern contained magic that filled it with light. He opened the shutter, unleashing a cone of light that shot down through the darkness. He followed it.
A few moments later, so far from the ship above that everything looked black overhead except for the three pirates following him, Baylee spotted the first coral-covered planks of the shipwreck sticking up from the silt of the ocean floor.
Fish moved away from him, curious at first, then afraid. Luckily, none of them were big enough to consider themselves predators.
Baylee turned and landed in the silt on his feet. He held the lantern up high, trying to get his bearings. The bulk of the fishing net thrown Windchaser’s side was behind him.
Uziraff and his companions touched down not far from the ranger’s position. Together, they had enough light to penetrate the gloom and illuminate the first few feet of the large ship that protruded from the ocean floor.
