nodded meaningfully.
“Wait.” The skin on the back of Rhett’s neck prickled. “What’s happening? Toy?”
Sithe broke away from the halfling and turned toward Rhett. He saw, in the way that she shifted her hands on her axe, that she was preparing to charge.
Rhett’s heart pounded and Vindicator glowed brighter.
Was this it? Saer Shadowbane had spoken of a coming betrayal-had the halfling slain them in the hold and now Rhett was the last one left? Vindicator or no, he wouldn’t last a single breath against Sithe. He readied himself nonetheless. If he was to die, he would make Kalen proud.
Then he heard footsteps among the smoke. Sithe’s axe lowered.
“Watching gods jest,” Toytere murmured.
It was Kalen, limping up the steps, an unmoving Myrin in his arms. Both were covered with blood and soot, but Kalen’s eyes gleamed like polished diamonds through the smoke. His gaze was reserved for Toytere.
Kalen fell to one knee as soon as he came out of the hold and Rhett hurried to him. He set Vindicator on the deck and reached out to steady Kalen. “Saer?”
“Take her.” Kalen pushed Myrin into his arms.
Rhett accepted the wizard awkwardly, relieved to see she yet breathed. He concentrated, summoning the paladin’s healing, and let vitality flow into her. “Kalen,” she murmured, and nuzzled closer to his chest.
Unhindered, Kalen retrieved Vindicator from where it lay on the deck. He pointed the blade at Toytere. “We have business,” he said.
“That we do,” the halfling replied. “Now-”
Sithe rushed toward the three of them, her axe alight with black flames. Rhett staggered back, unarmed and with only Myrin to shield him. Kalen raised Vindicator.
Sithe passed right through them, her form wavering like mist. She stepped onto the stairs and brought her axe down into the midst of the rising tide of rats that had followed Kalen. Sithe’s power drove them back with a burst of dark flame.
“Gods!” Rhett fell back, startled, Myrin crushing the breath from his lungs. He wrapped his arms around her, determined to shield her from the rats.
Kalen joined Sithe, Vindicator burning with silver fire in his hands. Even Toytere rushed forward, his blade singing, thrusting through a rat that bore down on Rhett and Myrin. Together, the three warriors slashed at the rats, until the creatures relented and flowed back into the hold.
Silence reigned on the ship. All panted or thanked their respective gods that things hadn’t gone worse. Rhett whispered a short prayer to Torm and Sune-his two patrons-and added thanks to Tymora for good measure. Only Sithe seemed unfazed by the whole ordeal, twisting her axe idly as she peered down into the hold.
The silence was shattered by a grand shout: “That was amazing!”
Myrin seemed to have recovered. She threw her arms around the halfling.
“Uh?” Toytere looked startled-then stunned when she kissed him. “What-
“You saved us!” she said. “Down in the hold, attacking those rats like that! You had no chance, yet you struck anyway.”
“Oh.” Toytere regained his composure. “Well, it
Dumbfounded, Rhett looked at Kalen, who returned the confusion. Rhett thought he understood Kalen’s troubles with Myrin just a little better.
Myrin whispered something in Toytere’s ear and the halfling’s eyes momentarily widened. The wizard released him and he stared after her, confused and perhaps a little afraid. He held one hand up in front of his chest, tracing the air with his fingers as though grasping for a point. Finally, he just smiled.
“Well, a good night, no?” said Toytere. “Almost like that time-ah!”
The halfling waved madly. Rhett saw one of the black rats clinging to his sleeve. The halfling succeeded in dislodging the creature, which flipped through the air to land at Myrin’s feet. With a sharp breath, she shied back as it scrambled at her.
Its valiant charge ended, however, on the point of one of Kalen’s knives. The throw caught the creature in the torso and pinned it to the deck.
Myrin looked across at him gratefully, but Kalen looked away. Aye, definitely a history there-if only Rhett could get either of them to talk about it.
“Did it bite you?” Rhett reached for Toytere’s wrist, meaning to heal him.
“Leave off, boy,” Toytere said. “Hrasting thing didn’t touch me, and even if it did, I wouldn’t let
Kalen looked at him suspiciously, but the halfling ducked his gaze. He crossed to the forecastle rail and started to climb down to his boat.
Sithe made to go, but Myrin stepped in her path. “I thought you should know,” she said. “In the captain’s quarters-a circle of ash …” She trailed off.
“A firesoul,” Sithe said. “I have seen it before.”
Myrin nodded. “I just thought-you’re a genasi, too, and …”
“It matters not,” Sithe replied. “Dust to dust, fire to fire.”
Myrin and Kalen exchanged a look, which Rhett did not quite understand. Sithe turned away and climbed after Toytere.
“What do we do with the ship?” Rhett asked. “And all the rats?”
“Let it burn.” Kalen indicated the fire below, where Myrin’s spell had lit the ship ablaze. “I saw some untapped oil barrels down there. We should go.”
Rhett, who did not relish dying in a fiery explosion, was the first to the skiff. Though he didn’t like rowing, he took up the oars without being asked.
When they were well away and the derelict raged in towering flames, Rhett looked to Myrin. “Are you well, my lady?”
Myrin, who was covered in soot, finally seemed to notice he was there. “What?”
“Are you hurt?” Rhett asked. “Did any of the rats bite you?”
Brow furrowed, Myrin felt around her body, then shook her head. “All whole,” she said. “The only hurt I have came from my own spell and you healed that.”
“Right,” Rhett said. “Saer? Do you need healing?”
Kalen shook his head. Where he sat in the prow, he looked like a burned statue, his leathers crisped by a firestorm. He watched Toytere and Sithe’s skiff receding.
“My lady,” Rhett said. “Where did you learn such powers? I saw the scything flames and heard the blast from below. You must be a talented wizard.”
Myrin opened her mouth to reply, then looked wordlessly away.
“She doesn’t remember,” Kalen said.
“You don’t-” Rhett gazed at her. “My lady?”
Myrin looked to Kalen and spoke as though she hadn’t heard Rhett. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “Those skeletons we found, picked clean like the victims of the plague-those rats might have been the source. Biting, right?”
“Yes,” Kalen said. “And Toytere might carry it.”
“He doesn’t,” Myrin said. “If he’d been bitten, he’d have told us.”
“You know what he did on the ship and yet you still trust him.”
“You have to trust people, Kalen.”
Kalen shook his head.
Rhett didn’t know what was going on-didn’t know what they were talking about. Still, Myrin’s words resonated. “Perhaps she is right, Saer Shadowbane,” he said. “It’s about love.”
They turned to him: Kalen’s expression hard as stone, Myrin looking tired but expectant. “Go on,” she said.
“I … it’s something they say at Sune’s temple, back in Waterdeep,” he said. “That love is the water and light by which we grow, but love is impossible without trust. Thus, you cannot expect a man to become better than he
