the great blue dragon Cobalt had done with Barnacle Bones’s ship.
Someday this dragon would know no fear. Hyden wondered what that would feel like. To be the greatest creature in the land was beyond his fathoming.
After awhile the dragon trumpeted a shrill warning and veered away back to the south. Hyden watched its aura fade into the wind, and finally caught his breath. Talon fluttered down onto the lip of the crow’s nest and cawed his satisfaction to Hyden. The bird also perceived more when they shared their vision. As he climbed back down to the deck, Hyden wondered just what it was that Talon sensed through their bond.
Phen and Brady stood near the mermaid bowsprit figurehead grinning at him as he approached. Word of the dragon flying alongside the ship had reached them and they dared not miss such a sight.
“Did you speak to it?” Phen asked excitedly. “Like you did with Claret?”
“Aye,” Hyden nodded. “I told it if it got hungry we would throw a young mage overboard for its supper.”
Phen’s expression went blank for a moment then he slugged Hyden in the arm. “Really, did you speak with it?” he asked again.
“It was young and wary of us,” Hyden answered. “It was only curious, I think, but no Phen, I was too mesmerized by its grace to find words.”
“Aye,” Phen understood that feeling completely.
From somewhere toward the middle of the ship a loud bell clanged twice.
“That’ll be our supper,” Brady said flatly. “Hard biscuits and even harder meat.”
Three nights later the cry of “Land Ahoy!” woke them with a start.
The lighthouse of Salazar was on the distant horizon, and the welcome idea of being on land again caused Oarly to make his way up to the ship’s rail. The dwarf was standing on tiptoe peering into the night for a glimpse of the great magical fire that burned to guide ships in to Salazar’s port. Without the added height of the crow’s nest, it was impossible to see, though, so Oarly begged a pint from the Deck Master and grumbled his way back down below to drink it. The others couldn’t have slept if they wanted to. They stood at the rail feeling the warm ocean breeze and speculated on what Salazar might be like.
When dawn broke they were rewarded with a grand sight. The greenish beacon of the fire had topped the horizon and guided them through the early hours. It was an odd feeling having land to their left now.
The tower stood over four hundred feet tall. Its base was as big around as four or five of Xwarda’s great towers, and it gently tapered as it rose.
“It’s huge,” observed Phen.
It was made of grayish-white granite blocks that sparkled in the sunlight, as if the tower were coated with frost. At its top, a green-tinged blaze fought the bright light of day in order to be seen. The tower jutted up from an uninviting rocky shoreline that was infested with screeching sea birds. Strange looking fanged creatures lazed about the rocks bellowing their irritation at the birds. The ship didn’t pass too close, for fear of the unseen reefs hidden under the water. Talon shot out toward the swarming army of birds with excited vigor, only to pause and hover about halfway across the expanse of emerald sea. A great winged shadow leapt from the shore. A long, sharp- beaked sea dactyl, with a wingspan of maybe fifteen paces flew out toward them, calling out a warning cry. “Cooo Cawww! Cooo Cawww! Stay Away!” Hyden heard its intent. Talon quickly found the ship’s rail near Phen and hid the embarrassment of his fear by preening himself as if nothing had happened.
Soon the rocky shoreline grew greener and softer, eventually turning into a beach of silvery sparkling sand. They passed several fishing vessels and a pair of cargo ships that seemed to be undergoing modifications while at anchor. The land beyond the beach was a rolling green that was speckled with lush patches of forest. Herds of great brown furred beasts roamed aimlessly with their heads down in the grass. A few modest homes, built of stone, with red tiled roofs could be seen here and there. As they sailed further around the northeastern face of the crudely triangular shaped island, the evidence of people grew more frequent. The size and height of the homes and stonewalled keeps grew as they went. Many of the roofs here were tarnished copper. When the shoreline broke so that they were sailing due west, the group was awe-struck by what revealed itself before them.
Ships, hundreds of them, both big and small, and a few that were enormous, littered the bay. Some of them flew the black sword banner of Highwander like the Seawander. Others flew the rising sun of Seaward, or the red and yellow checked shield of Valleya. Many of the ships flew an unfamiliar black banner with a wicked looking yellow lightning star emblazoned on it, and even more ships were anchored there under the Dakaneese trident.
The island lay to their left, but ahead they could see a long stretch of built up land that extended north for a great distance. It curved back toward them, off to the right, wrapping the bay on three sides. The mass of buildings, dock-houses, and towers was easily three times the size of Xwarda. The sheer immensity of the place left them all speechless. Phen tried counting all the towers he could see rising above the warehouses and packed together homes, but lost interest when he reached a hundred and could tell that he wasn’t even halfway through them.
“I never knew it was like this,” said Brady. “My father came here once and said that the city of Lazar was bigger than two Castlemonts, but I thought he was just teasing me. It seems it’s thrice that size, if not bigger.”
After ordering the sails to be rolled, and giving the water mage the helm, Captain Trant joined them at the rail. Babel the blue monkey was perched on his shoulder fiddling with the Captain’s hair intently.
“It’s a hell of a place,” the Captain said. “They make everything a shipper needs here on this island, from boxes and crates, to water-tight barrels, or wooden packing drums. They build the greatest ships that sail the seas,” he chuckled sourly. “With the great forge fires of your people temporarily extinguished, Brady, the price of metal work is higher than the clouds.”
“My Wilder Mountains are full of iron,” Brady said proudly. “We will rise again. King Jarrek will make it so.”
“The guilds of ship builders here will be thankful for it,” said Trant. “Every nail, clamp, davit bracket, and fitting on the ships you see is made of Wildermont steel, even the bands on the barrels crowding the decks.”
“Does Salazar openly do business, dark business, with Dakahn?” asked Hyden. An idea had formed in his head out of nowhere. It was a powerful idea, one that might go far toward King Jarrek’s cause.
“The trade? Slaves?” Trant asked.
Hyden nodded.
“Not that I know of,” mused Trant. “Maybe in an oblique sort of way they do. The Dakaneese, like all of the kingdoms of the realm, buy their ships from Salazar. Dakaneese pirates steal a lot of them from the trade routes and re-fit them for resale at O’Dakahn. Dakahn is less dependent on Salazar’s work than others.”
“Do you know anyone with authority in the ship-building guilds?” Hyden asked.
“Of course, of course. I think if you’d like to meet some of them while we are here I can arrange it. They would love to meet the man who stole the Dragon Queen’s dragon.”
Hyden’s mind was churning with possibilities.
“When will we get to see if your pirate friend can read my book?” Phen asked excitedly.
“Sooner than you think, lad.” Trant laughed at the boy’s eagerness. “If Sir Hyden Hawk will allow it, you may accompany me to the office of the harbor master as soon as we’re secured. The Rulers of Salazar are wise men. The harbor master here is an old sea dog. He was a grand scoundrel in his day. What better way to keep your harbor safe from pirates, than to have a pirate running the harbor?”
The wink Trant gave them, and the look on his face, left a lot unsaid. After the Captain returned to the bridge, Phen turned to Hyden with a whisper. “Do you think Captain Trant was a pirate too?”
“It takes a pirate to know a pirate,” Hyden answered. He gestured at the floating city of ships, and the mass of hustle and bustle going on all across the bay. “I imagine that a lot of those people are pirates.”
A few minutes later the Captain ordered the anchor to be dropped. He came back down to the rail then. “Get your things, Phen,” he said. “Leave the book with Sir Hyden Hawk, but bring the copy you’ve been working on.” Trant snarled roguishly. “If it turns out to be some great valuable bit of information, we don’t want the old bastard to steal the original from us, do we?”
Phen giggled and felt an eerie sensation in his gut. Nearly three weeks of anticipation while on the ship had him giddy with expectancy. He couldn’t wait to find out what the ancient book said. He was glad, though, that he, Hyden, and the others had agreed to keep the secrets of the Serpent’s Eye to themselves. The crew of the
