Realms of War

5

With blinding speed, Rytagir drew his long sword and slapped Rasche's spear aside. The blow knocked the sea elf off-balance and spun him around in the water.

Obviously embarrassed, Rasche whirled and twisted in the water to come back around almost immediately. His fingers and toes splayed to allow the webbing between them to better grasp the water as he hurled himself back at his chosen opponent.

'Rasche,' the woman spoke in an authoritative tone. 'Stand down.'

Immediately, Rasche broke off his attack. Cruel invective in his native tongue filled the sea.

Rytagir didn't sheathe his sword. He held ready the spells that he knew. They weren't much, but they would have to serve. He knew he couldn't swim to the surface before the elves overtook him.

'Deep Sashelas preserve us from males and their warring ways,' the woman said. She glared at Rasche and Rytagir alike. 'Surely between the two of you there are more brains than a prawn has. If not, then this is not to be done today.'

After a moment, Rytagir let out a tense breath and put his long sword away. He took his gaze from Rasche and looked at the woman.

'If I offended you, Lady, please know that I had no intention of doing so.'

'I know that. It's just that these men have been entrusted to take care of me.' She shot Rasche a quick glare. 'They're acting on my father's orders. Much to my annoyance.' Her silver eyes cut back to Rytagir. 'I'm called Irdinmai.'

The name meant nothing to Rytagir. But he could tell by her tone of voice that it meant something somewhere. He nodded. 'Thank you, Lady. Then, with your leave, we'll inspect the ship.'

'Of course. The sooner we deal with this, the better.'

Rytagir walked through the water, deliberately setting himself apart from the alu Tel'Quessir who swam ahead of him. It was bad luck that he'd crossed paths with the sea elves. Captain Zahban wasn't going to be happy about the situation either. Rytagir fully expected to have the same argument with the ship's captain as he'd had with the sea elf woman. For the moment he chose to delay that confrontation.

At the entrance to the forward hold, Rytagir reached into his shoulder bag and took out a foot-long length of lucent coral. He unwrapped the heavy cloth that kept the pale blue light trapped inside.

With the coral, he could see several feet, but his vision was still blunted by the depth of the water. He fisted the coral and stepped through the cargo hold.

Many barrels floated against the opposite side of the hull. Most of those, according to the manifest, had been precious oils intended for use in perfumes and cooking. They were lighter than the water and floated as a result. Nearly all of the metal parts on the ship-and there were few-had rusted away. What remained wasn't worth salvaging.

The timbers, however, were a different matter. Most of them, if not all, had been preserved in the cold water. Also, most of the wood was precious. Peilam hadn't stinted on the construction of his vessel.

'What are you thinking?' Irdinmai asked.

'The salvage profits would be raised a lot if we could get the ship back to the surface.' Rytagir rubbed a hand on the smooth wood.

Irdinmai shook her head. 'I won't have this place destroyed. Or moved. It has become part of the sea now.'

'These timbers are quite expensive,' Rytagir pointed out. 'If we were to salvage them, the profits from this shipwreck-'

'If we were to salvage these timbers,' the maid said, 'then the creatures that have chosen to live and spawn here would lose their safe homes. The sea is cruel. Only the smartest and the quickest survive. This has been a home to these creatures for many generations. We're not going to move it.'

Rytagir nodded. He knew Captain Zahban wouldn't care for the decision, but there was no choice. Not unless they wanted to fight the sea elves.

One of the elves called out in an excited voice, 'Lady Irdinmai, please come see this.'

6

Irdinmai pushed herself up from the ship's side and swam back toward the stern. Rytagir trailed in her wake.

Only a short distance farther on, he reached the mid shy;ships. Cargo had to be carefully planned and balanced by the quartermaster so it would ride comfortably during a voyage. It stood to reason that the gold would have been placed amidships.

Thick yellow bars of gold had spilled across the other side of the hull. The pale blue light of the lucent coral brought the dull shine to life.

Perhaps there wasn't enough of it to build a house, not even a small one, but there was enough to make them all wealthy for a short while.

Irdinmai looked at Rytagir. 'When we begin taking this gold to the surface,' she asked, 'will we be able to trust that captain and crew?'

'Yes,' Rytagir answered.

The sea elf maid regarded him coolly. 'The alu Tel'Quessir know greed, not like the Lolth-loving Sser'tel'quessir, but we know it. We also know it is far stronger in surface dwellers.'

'That captain and those men will stand firm by the bargain they have with me.' Rytagir met her direct gaze full measure.

Irdinmai was silent for a moment. 'And you'll be held accountable for them.'

'I thought ye'd drownt,' Zahban grumbled when Rytagir heaved himself aboard Azure Kestrel. 'Either that or taken up residence with some sea hag what would have ye.'

'Shame on ye to even say such a thing,' Dorlon admonished. He was lean and gray, far from his youth but a good man to have as quartermaster. 'If ye haven't a care, ye'll call down all manner of bad things up on our heads.'

Zahban laughed at the other man. 'Ye're turning into an old woman, ye are.'

Dorlon cursed the captain good-naturedly.

As he stood on the deck, Rytagir studied the dark sky. He had to squint through the sheets of rain that swamped the ship's deck. Night was still hours away, but it was hard to tell given the storm. It was almost as dark as night already.

'Well,' Zahban asked, 'do we be rich men or poor men?'

Rytagir couldn't help grinning. He liked being right in his projects. 'She was down there, captain. And so was the gold.'

The crew cheered enthusiastically.

'The bad news is that we're going to be sharing the salvage. The good news is that getting it up from the sea floor is going to be a lot easier than I thought.'

'What do ye mean by-?' Zahban clamped his big mouth shut as Irdinmai caught hold of the ship's side and hauled herself aboard.

'So this is yer bad news?' Zahban asked.

Irdinmai glanced at him with sharp disdain. She favored Rytagir with the same. 'I've never been referred to in that manner.'