“So you came after the map; I suppose the treasure you took was merely an afterthought.” Still Zdnek did not speak.
“Hang him,” said Chevell.
“No, no!” blurted Zdnek. “Oui, it was the main prize.”
“Who sent you for it?”
“I don’t know. We were merely to get the map and deliver it to Caralos.” Chevell groaned, and Celeste raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
As men began transferring treasure from the corsair to the king’s ship, Chevell said, “Is he still on Brados?”
“Oui,” said Zdnek.
Chevell sighed. Then he glanced at Celeste and turned to Armond and said, “Pledge the pirates in the name of Skuld and Verdandi and Urd. Warn them as did the princess that to break any pledge made in the name of the Three Sisters is to court disaster beyond belief.
Then set them free to sail on their own back to Port Mizon to face the king’s justice.”
“What of Captain Zdnek, my lord?” asked Armond.
Chevell looked down at the cowering man. “Hang him from the corsair’s main boom as an example to those who would break the king’s peace.” Snarling, Zdnek snatched a kris from one of his voluminous sleeves and lunged up and toward Chevell, but he did not live to strike a blow, for Celeste’s arrow took the pirate through the throat.
No matter that Zdnek was dead, they hanged his corpse regardless.
12
Uncertainties
Long did they search, but no map did they find, and so they transferred treasure and stolen goods from the pirate ship to the
“What be our course, My Lord Captain?” asked the helmsman.
“A point sunwise of sunup, Gervaise. That’s where we last saw the third corsair.”
“Aye, aye, My Lord Captain,” replied the helmsman, taking a sight on the sun.
Chevell turned to the bosun. “Pipe the sails about to get us free of this raider, and then catch the best of the wind.”
“Aye, aye, My Lord Captain,” said the bosun, and he set whistle to lips and signaled the crew; the men swung ONCE UPON A SPRING MORN / 101
the yards about, and the
Eyeing the wind pennants and the set of the sails, Chevell nodded his approval, and soon the vessel was running full.
Now Chevell turned to Lieutenant Armond. “The chirurgeon is tending the wounded, but I would have you see to the dead. Canvas and ballast: we’ll bury them at sea.”
As Armond moved forward to fetch the sailmaker, Chevell now stepped to where Roel and Celeste stood at the taffrail and gazed aft at the corsair ship just then getting under way.
“I wonder,” said Celeste, “if the pirates will merely flee or sail back to Port Mizon to face the king’s justice.”
“Were it knights instead of corsairs,” said Roel, “they would be honor bound to do so.”
Chevell said, “They pledged in the names of the Three Sisters, and if they value their lives, they will keep their word, for the Fates have ways of punishing those who break their vows.”
“Oh, look,” said Ensign Laval, a blond-headed youth of twenty summers or so, “they’ve cut away the corpse of their captain.”
In the distance the body fell and plunged into the waters, even as the dhow turned sunwise and picked up speed.
“Oi, now, wait a moment,” said the helmsman, shading his eyes against the low-hanging sun, “that’s not the course to take them to Port Mizon.”
“Maybe they’re tacking,” said Celeste.
“Nay, m’lady,” said Ensign Laval. “The wind’s in our forelarboard quarter, and if they were going to Mizon, the breeze would be off their starboard aft, and they’d just ride it all the way to port. Nay, they’re heading else- wise.”
“Ah, me,” said Celeste, shaking her head, “this in spite of their oath to the Three Sisters.”
“There are those who know not the power of pledges and hold no belief in oaths, Princess,” said Chevell, “and these rovers seem to be among them.” They watched moments more, and it appeared the pirates were jettisoning cargo. “What are they doing now?” asked Celeste.
Chevell sighed. “Throwing their dead overboard.”
“Captain,” asked the ensign, “won’t that put blood in the waters, attract things up from the deep?”
“Aye, lad. That’s why we sew our own in canvas, along with a ballast stone. It would not do to have sharks and things worse following the ship and waiting for a meal.”
“Oh, Mithras!” cried the lookout from the crow’s nest. “My Lord Captain, dead ahead, something dreadful comes.” Chevell stepped to the starboard side rail and leaned outward and peered ahead. He frowned and moved forward and again leaned outward. Then he ran to the bow and but an instant later cried, “All hands, ready weapons!” Celeste whipped her bow from her back and set an arrow to string. Roel took up his shield and drew Coeur d’Acier. They both moved forward and leaned out over the side rail to see what-
“Oh, my!” exclaimed Celeste. “What is it?” A great heave in the water raced toward the
“I know not,” said Roel.
But then, even as men took up bows and arrows, cutlasses and cudgels, the lookout cried, “A serpent, Captain. I can see it now. ’Tis a terrible serpent of the sea.” Onward hurtled the great billow, the monster driving the wave before it in its rush through the water.
Ensign Laval stepped to Celeste and in a voice tight with stress said, “We’re in for the fight of our lives, m’lady. Best you go below, for I think arrows will only anger it.”
Her heart hammering in dread, Celeste replied, “Nay, Ensign, I’ll not cower while others fight.” Roel turned to her. “If we do not survive, Celeste, know this: I love you.”
Before she could reply the ship rose up as the leading edge of the billow reached them. “Hold fast!” shouted Chevell.
With her bow and its nocked arrow in her left hand, Celeste grabbed on to the side rail with her right, as up rode the ship and up, heeling over to the larboard side, rigging creaking under the strain. And the boiling wave passed alongside, part of it flowing under the
Her heart yet pounding with residual fright, Celeste resheathed her arrow and slung her bow across her back. Then she turned to Roel and slipped past his shield and sword and embraced him and in a delayed reply said, “I
