they turned into monsters when they got into that town. What they did…'
Geth's mouth went dry. A queasy nausea returned to his stomach. 'You're talking about Narath.'
Vennet looked at him with haunted eyes. 'You've heard of it.' He gave a bitter chuckle. 'Of course you have. Who hasn't?'
'Aye,' said Geth. He drew a rough breath. 'I wouldn't mention that story to Singe.'
'Because it was Aundairians who did it?' Vennet grimaced. 'I know how he feels. Believe me, I don't talk about it often either. For a long time, it was like a stain on my soul.' He took another long drink from the bottle, then offered it to Geth again.
This time the shifter shook his head. Vennet nodded and shoved a cork back into the bottle's neck. 'Enough for tonight,' he agreed. He clapped a hand across Geth's shoulder. 'Maybe when we reach Zarash'ak, though? There's a tavern I know-'
The sound of running feet on the deck saved Geth from having to decline the half-elf's offer. Both men turned at the same time as one of Vennet's crew slid to a stop in front of them. 'Captain! Trouble in the aft hold!'
Vennet's eyes flashed angrily. 'Natrac's gang again?' The crewman nodded and Vennet cursed, then looked to Geth. 'I wouldn't normally ask a passenger to step into a fight, but some of Natrac's clients are brutes. A veteran of the Blademarks would be a good person to have at my back.'
The prospect of a good fight stirred Geth's spirit. 'I'm with you,' he said.
'Good man.' Vennet stuffed the bottle into a pocket and strode toward the stern of the ship, sparing a hard glare for the crewman. 'Natrac's in my cabin. Tell him to get his backside aft!'
The crewman saluted and dashed off.
Lightning on Water 's crew were gathered around the top of the ladder-like steps leading down to the aft hold-they leaped back at Vennet's approach. The sounds of a roaring brawl thundered up from below. One of the crew called out to Vennet. 'They've been arguing for a while, captain, but the fighting only just broke out.'
The sudden splintering of wood punctuated her report. 'Kol Korran's wager, if they damage my ship, I'll take the price out of Natrac's gray hide!' spat Vennet. He pointed at two burly sailors who stood by with thick wooden pins. 'You and you. After us.'
He thundered down the steps into the hold with sure-footed ease. Geth sprang after him, ready for anything.
At least he thought he was ready for anything. At the bottom of the stairs, he froze and bared his teeth. A snarl tore itself out of his throat.
The dim, magical light that lit the hold shone on a dozen bodies, most struggling, a few stretched out senseless on the floor. In the center of the chaos-fighting in a whirlwind of fists, feet, knees, and elbows-was Ashi!
CHAPTER 8
Dandra bit her lip to hold back her laughter as Natrac spun out the punchline of a long and embarrassingly self-deprecating anecdote. He probably wouldn't have noticed if she had smiled, though. All of his attention was on Singe. The wizard sat near the head of the captain's table, to the right of Vennet's empty chair. His face was a stern mask of disapproval. He had to be working even harder than her, Dandra knew, to keep a straight face against Natrac's frantic attempts to ingratiate himself.
In truth, Singe had told her their first night on Lighting on Water, Natrac had been right all along. House Deneith had no interest in such a small, isolated operation as Natrac's. Still, he hadn't been able to resist winding up the blustering half-orc. The ship's other passengers had picked up on the joke as well. Even thin, hunched Pandon kept his face buried in a goblet to hide his grin as Natrac's anecdote lurched to an end. The cabin was silent. Dandra was certain she saw a drop of sweat run down the half-orc's face as he waited for a reaction from Singe.
In the back of her mind, Tetkashtai gave a silent sniff of disapproval. Childish. Dandra ignored her. Singe straightened and she could see a grave and measured response growing in his eyes.
It never reached his lips. The door of the cabin swung open and a panting crewman burst through to point at Natrac. 'Captain says get yourself a ft!'
Natrac's gray skin grew even paler and for a moment he seemed frozen between responding to the captain and toadying to Singe. The urgency in the crewman's face was obvious, though.
'Go!' Singe shouted at Natrac. 'Go!'
The half-orc leaped from his seat and raced out of the cabin. Vennet's crewman went with him. The silence around the captain's table was real.
Dandra stood up. 'We should see what it is.'
Singe nodded and rose as well.
They reached the hatch of the aft hold hard on Natrac's heels. Dandra could hear the sounds of fighting below. A brawl had broken out. The crew of Lightning on Water were clustered around the hatch. Vennet, Geth, and two big crewmen were disappearing down into the hold.
Only a heartbeat later, a terrible snarl ripped up from below.
'Geth!' Dandra exclaimed.
'Twelve moons,' cursed Singe. 'That can't be good!'
He pushed through the clustered crew, shoved past Natrac, and darted down the steps into the hold. Dandra followed close behind him. Down below, the two big crewmen were laying into Natrac's brawling clients. Vennet had waded into the fight as well, pulling the combatants apart with a ferocious ease that belied his slight frame, cursing blasphemously the whole time.
Geth, however, was bounding straight to the heart of the free-for-all. The tall woman who fought there whirled at his approach. Anger washed over a face flushed from combat and Ashi gave the screaming battle cry of the Bonetree hunters.
Light of il-Yannah! wailed Tetkashtai. Where did she come from?
Dandra watched Geth shift as he charged-his hair bristling and growing thicker, his body becoming subtly tougher, even the features of his face turning coarser and more beastlike. As he closed with Ashi, the hunter snapped a leg around in a fast kick that smashed into his side. Geth shrugged it off.
He responded with hammering punches of his own. Ashi stumbled backward under the flurry, barely able to block the shifter's fists. When she managed to react with punches and kicks herself, Geth swung his right arm to defend himself with blocks that just as often turned into heavy blows. Dandra could see why Geth's weapon of choice was the massive great-gauntlet-it was a extension of his own natural fighting style. Spinning and darting around Ashi, he took all of the punishment that she served out and returned it in equal measure.
But the Bonetree hunter had the advantage of height and the beams in the ceiling of the hold ran only a couple of feet above her head. Ashi caught Geth with a solid, double-fisted blow that seemed to rattle even the tough shifter, then as he shook off the strike, jumped up and wrapped her hands around the top of one beam. Hanging from it, she snapped her body forward, putting her entire weight behind a stomping kick with both feet square to Geth's chest. The shifter made a wheezing noise and flailed back away from her.
Ashi dropped to the ground in a crouch. Across the hold, her eyes met Dandra's. The kalashtar froze. Geth was down. The burly sailors had their hands full keeping back Natrac's struggling brawlers. Singe stood in front of her protectively, but he was unarmed-and his fiery spells were as useless on a wooden ship as most of her own powers. Most, though not all. She reached desperately for the vayhatana she had used to move the stone in the Bull Hole. If she was fast, she could use it hold Ashi back. Tetkashtai, I need your help!
The only response from the presence was another wail of despair.
To one side of the hold, though, Vennet turned from bashing a man's head against a barrel. Dandra saw his eyes narrow as he took in the hunter's menacing stance. He shoved the man he had been struggling with away and turned to face Ashi. Even as her crouch turned into an outstretched leap for Dandra, concentration flickered across the half-elf's features. The dragonmark that patterned the back of his neck shimmered.
The roaring of a gale filled the hold. Dandra felt it only as a strong breeze, but in a path in front of Vennet, loose objects and abandoned clothing flapped and tumbled, blown up into the air. The worst of the windstorm,
