Mornis nodded. 'Mayhap, but if you ever find yourself around Breezerunner again and in need of a berth, come see me. If the Cap'n won't take you on, I'll help you find a ship.'
Jherek smiled and took the man's arm in a strong grip. 'Till we meet again.'
'Aye,' Mornis said. 'And may Selune always favor you with her good graces.'
Jherek took a final look around. Most of the ship's crew were aboard Breezerunner already working on the broken rigging and ripped sails. A few others stood in the river filling water barrels. It had been a hard, full day's work getting the ship off the sandbar and secure in the water again. Jherek's hands still burned from the work he'd done with shovels and picks, both freeing the ship and burying her dead. His legs were dotted with the red welts left by leeches.
He noticed Sabyna striding purposefully toward him down the riverbank, the early morning sun shining from her hair. Tynnel walked at her side, his jaw working fiercely.
The ship's captain turned his hard gaze on Jherek. 'Talk her out of it.'
The young sailor looked at them both. 'Talk her out of what?'
'I'm coming with you,' Sabyna said calmly.
Jherek glanced at her, noticing she'd changed clothes. She had no pack, but he knew she had a bag of holding she kept the raggamoffyn in. 'Lady, you can't come with me.'
Sabyna's eyebrows shot up. 'I can't? So now you're going to try to tell me what to do?'
Hastily, sensing the rough waters he was venturing into, Jherek changed tacks. 'No, lady, I wouldn't dare to presume to do that, but coming with me isn't a good idea.'
'Neither is going after Vurgrom and his pirate crew by yourself.'
'I have no choice.' Jherek looked deep into her eyes, feeling like everything was suddenly beyond his control.
'Everyone has a choice,' she told him. 'You've made yours and I'm making mine.'
Tynnel glared at Jherek. 'This is your fault.'
Sabyna wheeled on him, blood dark in her face. 'No. None of this is his fault. He got caught up in this whole situation because he was talking to me in Baldur's Gate, taking care to walk me back to Breezerunner. I'll not see him suffer for his kindness and care.'
'So you'll suffer for yours?' Tynnel asked.
'This isn't kindness. This is a debt.'
'No,' Jherek said in a stern voice. 'There'll be no debts between us, lady. Especially not something like this.'
'Stay out of this,' Sabyna told him, then turned her attention back to Tynnel. 'You left him in Athkatla and didn't tell me the real reason. You lied to me. If I'd had a voice in the matter, I'd have cut Aysel loose instead.'
'It wasn't your choice to make,' Tynnel said coldly. 'I'm master of that ship.'
'And you still are,' Sabyna agreed, 'but you're no master of me. Not then. Not now. Not ever.'
Tynnel lifted his head and glared at her more severely.
Sabyna glared back at him hotly. 'I signed on with you because I felt I could make a difference on Breezerunner.'
'Begging your pardon,' Mornis interrupted hesitantly, 'but you do make a difference on her.'
'Stay out of this, Mornis,' Sabyna ordered sharply.
The big man took a step back. 'Yes, ma'am.'
'I felt that I owed you something for taking me on,' Sabyna told Tynnel, 'because there were other ship's mages better trained than me. But no matter what, you owed me the truth, Captain. Somewhere in there, you obviously forgot that.'
'You're not going,' Tynnel said.
Sabyna drew herself up. 'You can't stop me.'
'Yes,' Tynnel said, reaching out suddenly to grab Sabyna by the arm, 'I can, and I will if I have to. I'm not going to let you squander your life so foolishly.'
Sabyna struggled to get free but the captain's grip was too tight. Pain tightened her eyes.
Before he was aware of moving, Jherek stepped forward and seized Tynnel's thumb, breaking the grip the captain had on the woman's arm. Continuing to pull on the man's arm, the young sailor pressed it back against Tynnel's chest, shoving him back and making space between him and Sabyna. Jherek stepped into the space between.
Out of control, Tynnel swung a fist up.
Jherek didn't try to defend himself, and he didn't duck because it would have put Sabyna at risk. The blow caught him on the chin, snapping his head around. Dazed, he dropped to one knee for just an instant, but pushed himself back up immediately. He stood a little uncertainly, but he felt Sabyna at his back, trying to get around him. He put out an arm and didn't let her get past. He faced Tynnel. It went against ship's contract and conduct for a captain to strike a crewman without just cause, but Jherek knew he wasn't part of Breezerunner's crew.
Tynnel stepped back and drew his sword. 'Pick up a sword, boy!' He brandished his blade.
'I won't fight you,' Jherek said calmly, not believing things had spun so wildly out of control.
'Then you're an even bigger fool than I thought. I'll cut you down where you stand!'
'No,' a calm, stern voice filled with thunder interrupted. 'If you try to touch that boy again, Captain, you'll deal with me. And by Lathander's sacred covenant, you'll not find me an easy man to deal with.'
The speaker sat on a horse just beyond the treeline that surrounded the riverbank where they stood. The horse was a large, handsome animal covered in copper-colored barding. The man was in his middle years. A bronzed face, framed by a short-cropped black beard, peered through the visor opening of his helm, and his plate armor held the same copper color as his horse's barding. A scarlet cloak flared out behind him, flowing out over the horse's rump. A shield bearing a scarlet hawk in mid-flight hung over his left arm.
'Who are you?' Tynnel demanded, turning to face the man.
'You can address me as Sir Glawinn, a paladin in the service of Lathander, the Morninglord,' the man said proudly. 'Now step away from that boy and that young woman or I'll run you down where you stand.' He kicked his heels into the horse's sides, urging it forward.
Reluctantly, Tynnel gave ground.
XIX
10 Kythorn, the Year of the Gauntlet
Jherek stood in the cool shade of an elm tree and looked back at the sparkling blue River Chionthar snaking through the hilly terrain. Breezerunner had vanished from sight hours ago and he found he missed the ship.
He was dressed in his leather armor, which stank badly. He hadn't been able to care for it while in Breezerunner's brig and it hadn't quite dried out from its earlier drenching. While they'd walked the remaining hours of the day, the wet leather had chafed him. He worked at the sore spots, trying to find some degree of comfort.
'You'd be better served taking those things off, young warrior,' Glawinn said. 'They'll take longer to dry with you wearing them, and we've a long way to go tomorrow. If you press on too much like today and ignore that chafing it's giving you, you're going to get blisters and sores.'
'I don't know that I'd be much more comfortable out here without armor,' Jherek said, turning toward the paladin.
Glawinn had shed his helm and upper armor, hanging it from a rack one of his two packhorses carried. He'd fed and cared for the pack animals first only so he could devote more attention to the great war-horse he rode. While the big animal crunched noisily in the feedbag over its head, the knight painstakingly scrubbed the horse down with a currycomb. Without his armor and next to the horse, the man looked smaller than Jherek would have expected a paladin to look.
'It's a wise man who plans for tomorrow while taking care of today,' Glawinn said.
'Meaning you think I should take the armor off?'
