“Once we reach the island, we will not have much time to waste,” King Herrick said to Kull and Heidel. “We must prepare to take the longboats to the smaller island. Gather our men. We shall leave immediately.”
Captain Tobin pushed forward and faced the captain. “I am afraid that will not be possible. Unfortunately, the very boats you purchased were destroyed in the fire.”
King Herrick narrowed his eyes. “Is that so?”
“Yes, it is quite unfortunate. As it is, we’ve only eight boats left, and we will need all of them for our own passage through the island’s waterways. It will be impossible for you to travel anywhere but this island. However,” he said, standing tall, “you should thank me for keeping you alive in these treacherous waters. I have sailed the Rheic Sea many times, and never have I seen such abhorrent weather.”
The king balled his fists. “Thank you?”
I faced the captain as I realized what he’d done. His fairy skull necklace shone with an ashen gray luster in the sunlight.
“Captain Tobin,” I said, “did you burn those boats?”
“What? Of course I didn’t! Why would you say such a thing?”
“Yes,” said King Herrick, “you feign innocence, but we see through your lies. You burned your own boats to prevent us from traveling the isles. Why?”
“That is a preposterous statement. I would never burn my own boats!”
Kull spoke up. “Yet you were determined to keep us away from the smaller islands. It seems logical to think that by burning the boats, you have prevented us from doing so.”
Firro wandered through the crowd, keeping his eyes on the captain. His burn scars looked odd in the sunlight, although I couldn’t decide why.
“Why have you brought us here?” the king demanded. “Why are you so determined to keep us away from the smaller islands?”
“Enough!” the captain said. “You claim that I have burned my own boats, yet you have no proof of this. Either you follow me to the larger island, or you stay on the ship, but I will not waste another moment arguing with you.”
He tromped toward the longboats with Firro in tow, and I finally determined why the crewman’s scars looked odd.
“Captain, wait!” I called.
He turned, facing me. Firro also turned toward me, and I focused on his scars. The top layer of his skin had sloughed off, leaving ridges and bumps behind, shiny and pink in the sunlight, which was why I probably hadn’t noticed the altered state of his scar tissue before. I realized what I’d been overlooking.
“Your crewman has fresh burns on his skin,” I said. “How did he get them?”
Firro shrank behind the captain.
“Burns?” Captain Tobin asked.
“Yes. Judging by their appearance, it looks as if they were made only a day or two ago, the time the fire would have been set.”
“He most likely got them while putting the fire out. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to execute the tedious chore of unloading my boat.”
“No,” I called after him. “Firro didn’t appear on deck until after the fire—right after you arrived on deck—so he couldn’t have gotten burned then.”
Captain Tobin shot his crewman a questioning glance. “Firro, is this true?”
“I… eh…” He looked up at the captain with pleading eyes, as if there were some kind of unspoken communication between the two. “Well, sir… Captain…”
“Firro, did you start the fire?”
“Yes, but…”
“Very well, then. The mystery is solved. Firro, you shall spend the entire voyage home locked in the brig—that will teach you to start fires on my vessel. This is very troubling, indeed. Yes, very troubling. I should never have employed your services to begin with. Now, shall we move along?”
King Herrick blocked the captain’s path. “You are fooling no one, Captain. You are a worse liar than you are a sea captain.”
Captain Tobin’s face burned with rage. “You indignant, foolhardy—how dare you speak to me in such a manner!” He struck the king across the face.
The enraged roar of Wult voices ensued, ending with Captain Tobin pinned to the ground and an angry swarm of Wults surrounding him. I didn’t envy the captain, although what had prompted him to strike the Wult king was a mystery to me. I could think of only one reason why the captain had lost his temper in such a manner, and it didn’t bode well for him.
King Herrick dragged the captain to his feet, and a gaggle of armed Wults followed. The crewmen had also unsheathed their weapons in defense of the captain, but none of them made a move on the Wults.
“Release me!” Captain Tobin yelled as King Herrick shoved him against the railing.
“Not until you reveal the truth. Why did you burn the boats? Why are you keeping us away from the island?”
“I never burned them—”
“You lie! Tell the truth, or else I will feed your gutted entrails to the sea monsters.”
The captain paled, his eyes darting from one Wult to another, when Firro came forward. Sweat beaded the small man’s brow, and I couldn’t mistake the look of absolute fear in his eyes.
“It was I,” he said. “I acted under the captain’s orders. He gave me that potion and instructed me to start the fire. It was not the first time. It is why I carry these scars on my skin—they are a sign of my duty to the captain. He wished to keep you from the smaller islands because that is where he finds his Earth treasures. There is no other reason. Please, release him! He has done you no harm.”
“Firro, be silent,” the captain called.
“I will not. I cannot let you lose your life over such a trivial matter. The smaller island is home to the convergence. We do not know much about it, but it is a portal where the two worlds meet, and it is where we discover our treasures to sell. It has been a great secret for many years. If we were to reveal it, we would no longer have a monopoly on the
