number of years. Always failed. But if I ever get it right, I could be a rich man and retire.”
“You’re already rich,” Iados said. “And you’ll never retire because you like pedaling your little potions.”
“Not so little.” Vahgren pointed to the sapphire liquid in the glass vials. “Without me, you couldn’t venture to the bottom of the Sea of Fallen Stars.”
“It wouldn’t be as easy.”
“Bah. You couldn’t get there any other way.” Vahgren waved the thought away as he might a bothersome fly. “I’m more interested in this new love. That can be the most dangerous of magic.”
“Could I please just have the potions?” Shang-Li asked.
“Of course.” Vahgren bent to tally the figures.
Shang-Li turned to vent his ire on Iados over the whole conversation about Amree, but the tiefling had turned and wandered off.
‹S› ‹§›S
Despite Amree’s displeasure, Swallow set sail from Westgate while storm clouds darkened the sky and hid the moon. The canvas sails stood full-bellied in the wind and hardly stood out against the black sky because they were so stained.
Shang-Li stood in the prow and felt Swallow rise from the ocean slightly as she gathered speed and crashed through the outgoing tide. A little farther forward, Amree hung onto one of the ratlines and eyed the sails. The glow of the lanterns hung as running lights poured molten gold over her face.
“She is quite beautiful, isn’t she?” Thava asked.
Glaring up at the dragonborn paladin, Shang-Li said, “You have managed to incite Iados.”
“About what?” Thava’s voice was all innocence. Shang-Li crossed his arms and refused to answer.
“Oh,” Thava said, “that.” She smiled, and anyone that didn’t know her would have been terrified by the expression. “It’s not my fault you’re attracted to her.”
As Shang-Li watched, Amree moved lithely along the ratlines and called out orders to the crew. At her commands, they adjusted the sails. Within a short time, Swallow ran more smoothly as she headed out into the open sea. Her gait steadied and she gained more speed.
“Shang-Li,” Iados bellowed from the stern. The tiefling waved for attention.
Quickly, thankful to escape Thava’s well-intentioned attention, Shang-Li abandoned the prow, crossed the midships, and climbed the sterncastle.
Iados pointed to their wake, which gleamed whitely in the darkness and stood in rows like a freshly-turned field. Shang-Li stared into the darkness. In the far distance, the lights of Westgate and Tidetown gleamed whenever Swallow rode the crest of a wave. At first Shang-Li saw nothing that could have raised Iados’s interest.
Then he spotted the small flurry of weak flames glimmering against the dark water. They were roped or contained at equal distances.
“A ship?” Shang-Li asked.
Iados nodded. “I believe so.”
Shang-Li took a deep breath of the salt air and turned the possibilities over in his mind. None of them were pleasant.
“You think it’s following us?” Shang-Li asked.
Iados shrugged. “It’s possible that there was another ship that wanted to get an early jump on the tide. But this is much too soon for fishermen, and cargo captains like to make the night last as long as they can.”
“For the moment, let’s keep this among ourselves.”
“The captain and the ship’s mage need to know.”
“I’ll tell them.” He studied the ship. “Who would follow us out of Westgate?”
“There’s only one group I know that could do that on such short notice,” Iados said. “The Nine Golden Swords might want revenge on you or the ship’s mage, or perhaps both. Or for plunder. Lots of reasons to get out of Westgate so quickly.”
“They might not know what we’re after.”
“No, but you’ve got a ship as well as a cargo of supplies. And they know you often seek out lost treasures. Either might be enough.” Iados smiled cruelly. “All of that together makes us an attractive target.”
Shang-Li silently agreed.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Four days out of Westgate, the mysterious ship showed up again. The wind had favored them and Swallow had taken advantage of it. Despite the provisions, she’d been lightly loaded and skimmed across the ocean surface. After the second day, Shang-Li had grown confident they’d outdistanced the other ship.
Now, it was back.
“Are you sure it’s the same ship?” his father asked.
“Yes.” Shang-Li peered through a telescoping spyglass. “She’s the same design, a cog.”
“There are many such ships. Telling one from another must be very hard.”
“Not if you have a trained eye, Master Kwan,” Amree called down from above. She sat on a yard beside Moonwhisper and fed the owl bits of meat from her hand.
The fact that she’d crawled there without Shang-Li’s knowledge irritated him almost as much as Moonwhisper eating from her hand like a docile pet. Traitor, he thought at the owl.
Moonwhisper ignored him and greedily accepted another morsel from the ship’s mage. The owl even stretched his great wings in appreciation.
“You can tell by the way she handles and the way the crew responds to he r,” Amree continued. “Probably in the same fashion you can identify an author’s work from the use of words and quill stroke. That’s the same ship that followed us out of Westgate.”
Kwan Yung preened at that. “Exactly.”
“I’m sure not everyone can be taught that skill.”
Shang-Li felt his father’s gaze on him but didn’t bother to acknowledge it. The ship’s mage had quickly learned to manipulate the relationship between father and son.
“You can try,” his father said with a hint of dejection and disappointment, “but some students remain uneducated nonetheless.”
“You have to love what you do.”
“And remain focused on what you desire to learn without letting yourself get distracted.” “Exactly.”
“Have you eaten this morning, Ship’s Mage Amree?” “As a matter of fact, I haven’t, and I find myself famished.”
“Perhaps we could continue this appreciation of expertise over a meal.” “Happily.”
From the corner of his eye, Shang-Li saw Amree swing lithely and flip away from the yard and the lines. She landed on the deck with a slight thump only a few feet from Shang-Li.
“Keep an eye on that ship,” she said as she passed him. “If it starts getting any closer, let me know.”
Shang-Li growled an affirmative and watched her walk away with his father. Then he turned his attention back to the ship.
Shang-Li peered at the other ship through the spyglass. There was no doubt that the mystery ship had decided to aim directly for them. All her sails hung from the masts and caused her to resemble a great cloud skimming low over the ocean’s surface. She was close enough that he could spot ship’s crew eagerly hanging onto the railing. They held cutlasses and other weapons knotted in their scarred fists. Many of them pounded the hilts of their weapons against the ship’s side, but the noise didn’t yet reach Swallow.
“Can she outrun us?” Iados asked.
Captain Chiang nodded. “She’s doing a fair job of it now. We’re full into the wind and letting Swallow have her head. But that ship is built for running. Look at that spread of canvas.”
Shang-Li had to admit that the captain was right. The other ship seemed to have more sails grabbing the wind than Swallow possessed.