Alodar watched the man finally reach the level of the poop deck and then point himself in the direction of the deckhouse. He took one slow step and then another. Just like the gait of the rat on which he had demonstrated the charm, Alodar thought. So totally entrapped that every motion had to be directed by the enchanter.
'Grengor,' Alodar cried, suddenly breaking out of his slow reverie. 'What duty did you say that Feston's men performed today?'
'Why, let me see.' Grengor said. 'The oarsmen yesterday and again on the morrow. It must be the sorcerer then that they watch today.'
'Then follow me quickly,' Alodar yelled, springing across the deck and then immediately stumbling as the roll of the ship caught him in midstride. 'To the helmsman! I fear he needs our aid.'
Alodar and Grengor raced to the ladder as the figure ahead of them entered the small enclosure on the deck above. With a strong pull on the railing, Alodar jumped up onto the deck, just in time to see the axehead plunge into the unprotected chest of the helmsman. A feeble cry of surprise and pain was swept away by the wind. The assailant flailed his blade again at the bloody form as it fell.
Alodar and Grengor burst into the house with swords drawn. With near simultaneous thrusts, they jabbed their blades forward and felt the parting of flesh and jarring contact with bone, Alodar drew his sword out with a wrench and stepped back in anticipation of a swinging axe-blade in reply. The figure paid them no attention. With a face undistorted by apprehension or pain, he swung his next blow at the wheel, oblivious of the blood gushing from the two fresh wounds in his sides.
The wheel exploded from its post in a shower of splinters and careened across the deck. Grengor thrust out again, his sword biting deeply into an arm as it swung past, but the guardsman took no notice. Alodar watched in amazement as the axe rose high overhead and crashed it down on the post, splitting it asunder.
'Enchantment, master Alodar,' Grengor called out. 'Somehow the sorcerer from the south has made him a slave. I can dispatch him in a few strokes more, but I fear his damage is done. Get quickly below and alarm the rowers to bend their oars. Without the helm, we cannot long stay pointed into the wind. And the patch that was placed over the hole ripped by the wargalley may not last long if we are wallowing in the troughs.'
Alodar grasped what Grengor was saying. Without another word, he ran from the deckhouse to the ladder leading to midship. Another wave toppled over the bow and raced down the deck. As the water coursed by, he felt a slight lurch and then saw the runoff at his feet reverse direction and head for the port side. With a backstraining pull, he flung the hatch cover aside and bolted downward to the first deck. He ran for midship where the passageway opened wide on either side to the benches of the rowers. As he sprinted along, he could feel a noticeable tilt to port as the ship responded to each wave.
Up ahead, before he reached the benches, he heard the sound of a disturbance and saw several heads pop from cabins along the way. He pulled himself up as he passed the last cabin, ready to shout the alarm. But the sound died in his throat as he saw the reason for the commotion. Two more guards with Feston's arm bands were hacking at the oars along the benches, ignoring the blows raining down to stop them.
Another wave rolled under the ship, and Alodar grabbed for support as the deck tipped dizzily to the side. Through a port, he saw the choppy horizon shoot past skyward and then slowly return as the barge almost righted itself.
Reversing direction, he sprinted the length of the ship. On a dead run, he barreled by the two guardsmen who stood with halberds at parade over a single entrance that led to cabins far aft. The men hesitated at Alodar's approach, not immediately dropping their weapons to block the way.
Alodar thundered past their indecision, yelling over his shoulder about an oversight as he passed. One turned to follow, then shrugged his shoulders and resumed his stance. Racing down the narrow passageway, Alodar pushed aside a curtain and exploded into a great cabin at the very stern of the ship. Only a few supporting posts interfered with a volume open from beam to beam, windowed on three sides with huge sheets of isinglass painted opaque by the bounding spray.
Vendora shrieked at Alodar's sudden entrance. Aeriel rose to her feet, eyes wide in surprise at the intrusion, Kelric sat numbly cross-legged before the two and responded not at all. 'A full moon of pardons, my fair lady,' Alodar gasped, 'but I fear the ship is in great danger. We must sound a general alarm before it is too late.'
'What is the peril, Alodar?' Aeriel asked as she picked up her cloak. 'What besides the storm presents risk for the royal barge?'
'I am not a man of the sea,' Alodar replied, 'but we have lost our steerage and with the weakened hull we may founder.'
'Then there is no time,' Aeriel decided. 'We must board the other vessels, those that can.'
'The longboats are far smaller than the barge,' Alodar said. 'They could be easily swamped in the high waves. Our safety would be greater if we could get the great ship about.'
'Then which is it?' Aeriel said. 'If the hull does not hold, there may be little time to change our minds.'
Alodar quickly thought of the enchanted guardsmen and the struggle amidst the oars. 'If I were to decide, my choice would be for the longboats despite their meager size. But by no means can we provide for everyone aboard.'
'Then we shall begin with the queen,' Aeriel said waving her hand to the door.
Alodar nodded, grasped Vendora by the waist and began to push her down the corridor. Aeriel tugged Kelric to his feet and spun him to follow. The two guards turned questioning glances to the queen as she came to their station, but she waved them to silence as she passed.
The ship lurched violently as they reached the companionway to the main deck. Cabin doors along the corridor burst open in surprise. Vendora cried out as she reached for the railing and tumbled from her footing instead.
'What happens with the fair lady?' Feston shouted as he peered out of his doorway in the direction of the queen. Receiving no answer, he reached back inside his cabin and buckled on his sword to follow.
'Lord Feston races after the queen,' a voice shouted from another of the open doorways. In an instant Basil and Duncan also scrambled forth.
Alodar pulled Vendora to her feet. As the ship righted, he pushed her up the ladder banging shins and ankles in his haste. They climbed but four rungs when the barge rolled again, this time heeling far over. Alodar grasped the rails with both hands and held Vendora against his chest as she fell backwards. Behind him he could hear Aeriel's frantic struggle with Kelric as their feet slid from under them and they grasped wildly for balance. Alodar gathered up his strength and, with one thrust, shoved the queen to the hatchway. Holding her firmly with one arm, he shouldered the hatch aside with the other and stepped into the fury of the quickening storm.
Grengor and the others of his band were there at the opening, extending arms to aid. He shoved Vendora forward and turned to pull Aeriel and Kelric up onto the deck. The wind now came at his side, stinging his cheek with the spray. The barge was wallowing in the troughs.
'The longboats,' Alodar shouted. 'We must get the fair lady safely over the side.' He led Vendora across the heaving deck and the party streamed after. They climbed the ladders to the stern and ran to where the two boats were battened besides the wreckage of the deckhouse. Quickly, the canvas covering was ripped away. Alodar thrust Vendora and then Aeriel into one of the hulls as the barge lunged dizzily when another wave rolled underneath. Feston and the others exploded from the hatchway as Alodar's men cranked at the hoists and swung the boat over the side.
With great leaping strides, Feston bounded across the deck and up the ladder. He plunged into the marines, shouldering several aside, and jumped aboard next to the queen. 'Followers of lord Feston,' he bellowed above the wind, 'assemble unto me and aid the fair lady.'
The men scrambling on deck looked about hesitantly for a moment; then they shouted with alarm as they saw the activity at the stern. The boat began to lower, and they sloshed through the water, climbed up the ladders to the poop, and ran to the rail. A knot of men collected against the bulwark and, pushed from behind, Basil and Duncan tumbled aboard into the midst of Alodar's small crew. The barge listed heavily and several more sprang to the rail and jumped into the descending boat.
'Too many,' Alodar shouted. 'We will sink as surely as the barge. Cast off, cast off before more hurl aboard.' Grengor and another of his men began to pay out rope more quickly and the sloop plunged away from the rolling deck.
'Followers of my banner,' Feston shouted, 'seize the second boat and after us.'
'To my banner,' Basil yelled as loud. 'Prevent the others from taking what we must have, and then after me.'
