He was a rough-looking fellow, with a bushy black beard, greasy black hair that hung limply around his shoulders, and a craggy face that was covered with scars. A black eyepatch covered one eye, and he was missing three fingers on his left hand. This, along with the ornate cutlass sheathed on his hip, indicated that he was a veteran of plenty of swordfights.
“You picked the wrong target to rob, motherfucker,” I said. “Instead of a free purse of gold, you’re going to get a free disemboweling unless you can persuade me not to in the next two seconds.”
“Wait!” he spluttered, his single working eyeball focused on Grave Oath’s tip. “I’m no mugger! I’m a ship’s captain. You, you be needin’ a ship, isn’t that right?”
I eased the pressure on his throat. “That’s right. But I’ve had no pleasant experience with captains in this port town. Who are you? What tells me you won’t hand me over to the Church of Light?”
“My name is Captain Argryl,” he rasped. “And my ships are not in this ‘ere harbor. If they were, me and my whole crew would be hangin’ from the gibbets at the crossroads outside town.”
“Pirates,” I said with a smile. “I should have skipped these merchant cowards and sought you guys out right away. You are, after all, experts in smuggling contraband across the seas.”
“Aye, aye! We take any cargo, living or otherwise, and we smuggle it anywhere.”
“Most of my cargo is in the ‘otherwise’ category,” I said. “But I’m sure you’ll have no problem with that.”
I released Captain Argryl from my grip, and he spent a few moments clutching this throat and coughing. When he wiped the spittle from his cracked lips with the back of his tanned hand, his mouth curved up into a greedy grin.
“I saw you offering some very weighty lookin’ bags o’ gold to other captains,” he said. “I’ll be up-front and tell you now, friend, that my ships don’t come cheap.”
My smile widened. “My name is Vance Chauzec, Captain Argryl, and if your ships were cheap, I wouldn’t want them. Where can I find them? And how many do you have?”
“Three big ships.” He rubbed his hands together as his eye eagerly searched my body for the purses of gold. “Same size as the biggest merchant ships in this harbor, they are.”
“I’m sure we can come to an agreement that we will both find favorable,” I said. “Where do we meet you, if your ships aren’t in the harbor?”
“We’re moored in a secret cove. Five miles due north of here. Meet me there with your passengers and contraband just after the sun has set. It’s best that we do our business and set sail in darkness. Take the road heading north out of town, and when you see an abandoned farmhouse around three miles out, go straight past it, west. Stay due west through a small forest, and you’ll eventually come to some cliffs. Down below ‘em is the cove.”
“If you’re setting me up for a robbery or ambush, it’ll go very badly for you, Captain.”
“It’s no setup, sir, I assure you. I wouldn’t want to cross swords wi’ the likes of you, not after the move you just pulled on me.”
“Wise choice.” I sheathed Grave Oath. “I’ll see you on the cliffs just after dusk.”
“Aye, I’ll see you then,” the greasy captain said before he slipped off into the shadows.
I headed back to the tavern to tell the others the good news, but I didn’t want to celebrate just yet. I didn’t trust Captain Argryl half as far as I could throw him, and while it seemed that his ships were the only way we’d be getting off Prand, I suspected that there would be more to it than simply handing over a bunch of gold. I was prepared to do whatever it took, though, to get my party and my army to Yeng.
We left Lough Harbor later the following afternoon, and I was glad to leave the port behind. I remained wary about this meeting with Captain Argryl and half expected it to be some sort of ambush. If it was, the captain would quickly find out he had bitten off more than he could chew.
As Argryl had said, there was an abandoned farmhouse a couple miles out of town. Past that, we made our way through a small forest as the last rays of the day’s sun faded from orange to red. By the time we reached the cliffs overlooking the small cove, the sun had just descended. Three large ships with were moored at the cove, bearing what looked like Church of Light flags.
“We’ve been fooled,” Isu said.
“No,” Elyse said. “I doubt the Church of Light would have any reason to be in this cove.”
“You be right, lassie,” a voice called out.
Captain Argryl appeared from behind a group of boulders, a dozen men behind him. The men looked just as rough and ready to fight as Argryl and to a man, they were scarred, brutish-looking fellows. All wore cutlasses and hatchets on their hips, with some carrying pistol crossbows too.
“We use the church’s flags when in Prand,” Captain Argryl continued. “You didn’ expect our ships to be black with skulls and crossbones, did ye?”
“Captain,” I said, “those three ships are all for sale?”
“Aye. For the right price.” His eyes roamed over my women.
Well, it seemed he needed a little convincing that they were off-limits.
My undead army was half a mile behind us, and I sent an order for them to increase their speed to double march. As the zombies and skeletons started to pour out of the woods in disciplined, tight-packed columns, the pirates’ eyes widened with surprise, and most of them cussed and gasped.
“I’ve ‘eard rumors about some maniac going around calling ‘imself the God of Death,” Captain Argryl remarked. “I thought they were just wild tales spun by wine-sots and madmen.
