Passage to Dawn

'The information?' Deudermont asked.

Dunkin started, as if surprised. 'Ah, yes,' he stuttered. 'We have a map, but it's not too detailed. And we cannot be sure, of course, for the island you seek might be no more than legend, and then, of course, there would be no correct map.'

His humor was not appreciated, he soon realized, and so he calmed himself and cleared his throat.

'You have my gold,' Deudermont said after yet another long pause.

'His tyrancy wishes a different payment,' Dunkin replied. 'More than the gold.'

Deudermont's eyes narrowed dangerously. He put his pipe in his mouth deliberately and took a long, long draw.

'Nothing so difficult,' Dunking was quick to assure. 'And my lord offers more than a simple map. You'll need a wizard or a priest to create a hold large enough to carry ample supplies.'

'That would be us,' Harkle put in, draping an arm over Robillard's shoulders as he spoke, then quickly withdrawing it upon seeing the grumpy wizard's threatening scowl.

'Ah, yes, but no need, no need,' Dunkin blurted. 'For his tyrancy has a most wonderful chest, a magical hold, it is, and he will give it to you on loan, along with the map, for the pouch of gold, which was not so much, and one other little favor.'

'Speak it,' demanded Deudermont, growing weary of the cryptic game.

'Him,' said Dunkin, pointing to Drizzt.

Only Drizzt's quick reaction, lifting a blocking arm, kept Catti-brie from leaping forward and punching the man.

'Him?' Deudermont asked incredulously.

'Just to meet with the drow,' Dunkin quickly explained, realizing that he was treading on dangerous ground here. The water was cold about Mintarn and the man had no desire for a long swim back to shore.

'A curiosity piece?' Catti-brie snapped, pushing against Drizzt's blocking arm. 'I'll give ye something for yer stupid tyrant!'

'No, no,' Dunkin tried to explain. He never would have gotten the words out of his mouth, would have been tossed overboard for simply making the seemingly absurd request, had not Drizzt intervened, a calming voice that revealed no offense taken.

'Explain your lord's desire,' the drow said quietly.

'Your reputation is considerable, good drow,' Dunkin stammered. 'Many pirates limping into Mintarn speak of your exploits. Why, the main reason that the Sea Sprite has not been. .' He stopped and glanced nervously at Deudermont.

'Has not been attacked in Mintarn Harbor,' Deudermont finished for him.

'They wouldn't dare come out and face you,' Dunkin dared to finish, looking back to Drizzt. 'My lord, too, is a warrior of no small reputation.'

'Damn,' Catti-brie muttered, guessing what was to come, and Drizzt, too, could see where this speech was leading.

'Just a contest,' Dunkin finished. 'A private fight.'

'For no better reason than to prove who is the better,' Drizzt replied distastefully.

'For the map,' Dunkin reminded him. 'And the chest, no small reward.' After a moment's thought, he added, 'You will have those whether you win or lose.'

Drizzt looked at Catti-brie, then to Deudermont, then to all the crew, who were making no effort anymore to disguise the fact that they were listening intently to every word.

'Let us be done with it,' the drow said.

Catti-brie grabbed him by the arm, and when he turned to face her, he realized that she did not approve.

'I cannot ask you to do such a thing,' Deudermont said.

Drizzt looked at him directly, and with a smile. 'Perhaps my own curiosity over who is the better fighter is no less than Tarnheel's,' he said, looking back to Catti-brie, who knew him and knew his motivations better than that.

'Is it any different than your own fight with Berkthgar over Aegis-fang before the dark elves came to Mithril Hall?' Drizzt asked simply.

True enough, Catti-brie had to admit. Before the drow war, Berkthgar had threatened to break the alliance with Bruenor unless the dwarf turned Aegis-fang over to him, something Bruenor would never do. Catti-brie had gone to Settlestone and had ended the debate by defeating Berkthgar in the challenge of single combat. In light of that memory, and the drow's duty now, she let go of Drizzt's arm.

'I will return presently,' Drizzt promised, following Dunkin to the rail, and then into the small boat.

Deudermont, Catti-brie, and most of the other crewmen, watched them row away, and Catti-brie noticed the sour expression on the captain's face, as though Deudermont was somewhat disappointed, something the perceptive young woman understood completely.

'He's not wanting to fight,' she assured the captain.

'He is driven by curiosity?' Deudermont asked.

'By loyalty,' Catti-brie answered. 'And nothing more. Drizzt is bound by friendship to ye and to the crew, and if a simple contest against the man will make for an easier sail, then he's up to the fight. But there's no curiosity in Drizzt. No stupid pride. He's not for caring who's the better at swordplay.'

Deudermont nodded and his expression brightened. The young woman's words confirmed his belief in his friend.

The minutes turned into an hour, then into two, and the conversation on the Sea Sprite gradually shifted away from Drizzt's confrontation to their own situation. Two ships, square- riggers both, had sailed out of Mintarn. Neither had gone out into the open sea, but rather, had turned into the wind just beyond the harbor, tacking and turning so that they remained relatively still.

'Why don't they just drop their anchors?' Waillan asked a crewman who was standing near him on the poop deck, just behind the Sea Sprite's deadly ballista.

Catti-brie and Deudermont, near the center of the ship, overheard the remark and looked to each other. Both knew why.

A third ship put up her lower sails and began to drift out in the general direction of the Sea Sprite.

'I'm not liking this,' Catti-brie remarked.

'We may have been set up,' Deudermont replied. 'Perhaps Dunkin informed our sailor friends here that the Sea Sprite would be without a certain dark elf crewman for a while.'

'I'm for the nest,' Catti-brie said. She slung Taulmaril over her shoulder and started up the mainmast.

Robillard and Harkle came back on deck then, apparently aware of the potentially dangerous situation. They nodded to Deudermont and moved astern, beside Waillan and his ballista crew.

Then they waited, all of them. Deudermont watched the creeping movements of the three ships carefully, and then a fourth pushed off from Mintarn's long docks. Possibly they were being encircled, the captain knew, but also he knew that the Sea Sprite could put up anchor and be out to sea in mere minutes, especially with Robillard's magic aiding the run. And all the while, between the ballista and the archers, particularly Catti-brie and that devastating bow of hers, the Sea Sprite could more than match any barrage they offered.

Deudermont's primary concern at that moment was not for his ship, but for Drizzt. What fate might befall the drow if they had to leave him behind?

That notion disappeared, but a new fear materialized when Catti-brie, spyglass in hand, yelled down that Drizzt was on his way back. Deudermont and many others followed the woman's point and could just make out the tiny rowboat in front and to starboard of the third ship drifting out of the harbor.

'Robillard!' Deudermont yelled.

The wizard nodded and peered intently to spot the craft. He began casting a spell immediately, but even as the first words left his mouth, a catapult on the third pirate ship let fly, dropping a bail of pitch into the water right beside the rowboat, nearly capsizing her.

'Up sails!' Deudermont cried. 'Weigh anchor!'