Looking at the leather shoe, Jherek took small satisfaction from the knowledge that the fight that had cost him his berth aboard Breezerunner hadn't left Aysel unmarked.
'Is Sabyna all right?' Jherek asked. He tried not to think about Sabyna being alone topside with Vurgrom and his pirates, or what could have happened to her.
'Aye,' Tynnel replied. 'So far. She's a mage, though still fairly new to her craft, but enough of one that none of Vur-grom's curs has tried to touch her.' The captain's hawk's face tightened, and white spots of anger showed in his cheeks. 'She could probably have gotten away from them if not for us. Vurgrom told her if she left, our lives would be forfeit. Likewise, if we try to escape, she'll suffer.'
'We're not at sea,' Jherek said. He assembled the information he had, working through the pieces as Malorrie had always trained him to.
'No,' Tynnel agreed. 'We're on the River Chionthar, heading east.'
'Why?'
A pirate walked by the iron-barred hold above, never even glancing down into the cargo area. All of Breezerunner's crew watched the man, and no few curses and epithets were muttered.
A sour look darkened Tynnel's face and he asked, 'You've never heard of Vurgrom the pirate, self-styled Vurgrom the Mighty?'
Jherek shook his head. From his exposure while on his father's ship, he'd learned names and stories of most of the pirates of the Nelanther Isles. Vurgrom was new to him, as was any reason why a Nelanther pirate would head inland across Faerun.
'If you get a chance to talk to the arrogant son of a bitch,' Tynnel said, 'he'll tell you all about himself. As he tells it, he's the Pirate Lord of Immurk's Hold in the Sea of Fallen Stars. He's planning on taking Breezerunner as far east as she'll go.'
'That's not possible,' Jherek said. 'The River Chionthar doesn't run all the way to the Sea of Fallen Stars. It branches out at the Reaching Woods, going on north and south and ending in the Sunset Mountains and the Giant's Plain, respectively. Both are still leagues from the Dragonmere and the Sea of Fallen Stars.'
Tynnel eyed the young sailor with renewed curiosity. 'You seem to be well aware of the lay of the land here. Most of the men aboard Breezerunner couldn't have told you anything more than that the River Chionthar was where Baldur's Gate was.'
'I've never been there,' Jherek said. 'I had a harsh schoolmaster who had a love of cartography. He taught me how to find my way around by the heavens at night, and the places those star readings could take me.'
'An education is a wonderful thing,' Tynnel said. 'If you've had one, I have to wonder why you've settled for the life of a sailor.'
'Settled?' Jherek echoed. 'Captain Tynnel, living out on the sea is all I've ever aspired to do.'
'She's as harsh and demanding a mistress as ever was,' Hullyn said, interrupting the tension that had come up between Tynnel and Jherek, 'ain't she, Cap'n?'
Tynnel remained quiet for a moment, eyeing Jherek suspiciously. 'Quite right, Hullyn.'
The pounding inside Jherek's head was unrelenting. He cradled his head in his hands and wished the pain would subside while Hullyn continued ministering to him. A momentary lightness touched his senses. He waited it out, then took a deep breath, feeling some of the pain seem to leave when he exhaled through his mouth, controlling the pain the way Malorrie had taught him.
'Steady, lad,' the big man said gruffly. 'Now that you're awake and the bleeding seems to have stopped, let's see about getting you cleaned up.'
Breezerunner suddenly came about, throwing everyone off-balance as she crested the river flow.
'She's against the wind,' Jherek said. 'He's tacking her from shore to shore to get any distance from her sails.'
Tynnel nodded. 'Aye, and she's fighting the magery Vur-grom's forcing on her.'
'What magery?' Jherek asked.
'Using Sabyna to keep us in check was only one of the reasons Vurgrom kept her. He took us so we couldn't report to the watch in Baldur's Gate and maybe stir up some kind of pursuit. He knew he couldn't kill us outright because she'd have fought him, but Vurgrom's using her to power Breezerunner.'
'Some damned demon device,' Hullyn growled as he made the sign of Tymora over his chest.
'A chair,' Tynnel stated. 'I don't know where Vurgrom got it, but I saw it being set up before they put me in the hold. Sabyna and Vurgrom's own ship's mage take turns using it. The chair pushes Breezerunner far faster than any normal wind would. That's the strangeness you feel about the ship's movements. When we come to a sharp bend in the river, you can feel her shuddering through the turn, chopping across the water, but she doesn't slow down. Whatever course and destination Vurgrom's got laid out, we're going to get there damned fast.'
Jherek thought desperately while Hullyn continued cleaning his head. 'How far have we come?'
'We're two days from Baldur's Gate, boy,' Tynnel stated gruffly. 'You've been unconscious that whole time. It's anyone's guess as to how far we've come. I don't know this territory.'
Jherek couldn't believe it. In two days time with the speed he felt the ship was moving at, they would be miles from Baldur's Gate even having to sail against the current. As he recalled, the shores along the River Chionthar inland were virtually empty of ports or towns. The countryside was infested with ore and goblin hordes who'd staked out territorial claims.
'Bastard could have died,' Aysel said, glaring at Jherek. 'Maybe should have.' The big man sneered, shifting gingerly around his injured foot. 'Always sensed something about you that reminded me of a bad copper that keeps turning up.'
'Stow that bilge,' Tynnel commanded sternly. 'Whatever problems the two of you have with each other, they're not allowed on my ship.'
'Begging the cap'n's pardon,' Aysel said, 'but things ain't quite the way they were aboard old Breezerunner. I'm thinking part of that is because of this snot-nosed pup here.'
Tynnel glanced at the man with his burning gaze. 'If I want any lip from you, Aysel, 111 let you know.'
The man looked like he was going to say something further, then apparently thought better of it.
'That goes for both of you,' Tynnel finished. 'Whatever problems existed back at Athkatla stay at Athkatla.'
Jherek nodded tightly, his thoughts centering on Khlinat and the old bard who'd appeared so mysteriously. He'd left them waiting back in Baldur's Gate. He wondered how the dwarf was.
'That's odd,' Hullyn said, peering closely at the back of Jherek's head. 'I looked at the split you took back here earlier and I could have sworn you'd needed some healer's stitches, but as I get it cleaned up now I see it's not bleeding anymore and seems to have closed up more than I'd have expected. You're a fast healer, lad.'
Taking another breath, Jherek realized he did feel better. He attributed it to Hullyn's ministrations, then turned his attention to Tynnel. 'So, what are they going to do with us?' Jherek asked.
Tynnel shook his head. 'I don't know.'
Sitting up straighter, Jherek went through his clothes, wondering if there was something he could use. Unfortunately, Vurgrom's pirates seemed to have been quite thorough. He'd been robbed, of course. They'd even found the fishing knife he kept tucked inside his boot.
Frantically, he searched his clothing again, having remembered the pearl disk the Lathander priest had given him.
'What's wrong?' Hullyn asked.
'There was a disk,' Jherek said. 'I had a pearl disk with a carving on it.' Thinking about the priest's words, of how an important destiny was tied to the disk, made him grow even more afraid. He tried to remember if he'd lost it somehow during the fight on the dock.
'Aye,' Hullyn said. 'Them pirates went through your clothing out in the hold when they brought you down. They robbed us all, but I remember seeing that piece you describe. Vurgrom spied it himself as one of his men tried to be off with it without notice.'
'Vurgrom has it?'
Hullyn nodded. 'Was it worth much? Something that belonged in your family?'
Jherek wondered what destiny cost, what price could be placed on it. Some, like his, were cheap, but the one tied to that pearl disk he was certain was a great one.
He'd lost it when it wasn't even his to hold. Despair settled over him, made even worse when he scanned the
