Crossroads 04 - The Dragon Isles (19 page)

 
          
“We
don’t find the treasure without him,” Mik whispered to Ula.

 
          
She
nodded. “If you insist,” she said. “We can pick him up later—after we’ve
escaped Kell’s clutches.”

 
          
Ula
turned back to Lord Kell and smiled. “As you say, Lord Kell, there’s no point
in fighting over a kender.”

 
          
Trip
jumped up and kicked Ula in the shin. “Hey!” he said. “I was rooting for you!”

 
          
Mik
stepped forward and grabbed Trip by the shoulder as the kender reached for his
daggers. “Belay that!” Mik whispered. “Hold your weapons! I’ll explain later.”

 
          
The
captain reassured the kender with a look, and Trip stopped struggling.

 
          
Ula
rubbed her leg and laughed. “He’s given me better than the lady of the ship,”
she said with a wry smile. “You keep him, Kell. He’s more trouble than he’s
worth.”

 
          
Mik
kept his hand firmly on Trip’s shoulder. “I won’t have you mistreating him,” he
said to Kell.

 
          
“Even
kender are treated fairly by the Order of Brass,” Kell replied haughtily.

 
          
“I’ll
take that on your honor,” Mik said. “We’ve had a long and difficult journey.
We’re all tired and hungry. Any help you could give in that regard would be
welcome.”

 
          
Kell
turned to a deck hand and said. “Bring them food and drink.”

 
          
“I
could use a clean bandage for my leg,” Trip said. “Please.”

 
          
“Have
our healer tend the kender’s leg when she has a spare moment,” Kell added. “As
to accommodations, you may sleep on the deck with the rest of the crew. We
will, however, provide blankets.” He nodded at the deck hand,
who
had stood awaiting the end of Kell’s orders.

 
          
The
hand nodded in reply and left to fetch provisions for Mik and the rest.

 
          
Lord
Kell went to the ship’s rear platform and gave their new heading to the
helmsman. The ship’s drum- chanter set the beat and began the rhythmic singing
that Mik and his friends had first heard when Kell’s galley emerged from the
fog.

 
          
Kell
took up his seat in the triarch’s chair at the boat’s stem. He made a tent of
his fingers and glowered at Mik, Ula, and the rest.

 
          
The
deck hand soon returned with five skins of water, a small flask of weak wine,
some dried meat and bread, and a few light blankets. Shimmer declined to eat
anything, though he drank some of the water.

 
          
Mik,
Trip, Ula, and Karista ate as though they had not eaten for days. They savored
each drop and morsel, and soon began feel themselves once more.

 
          
Solemnly,
Mik offered a toast to their d$ad comrades. Even Ula joined in as they passed
the wine and everyone told a brief story of Bok, Marlian, or some other lost
crewmate.

 
          
Mik
raised the wine flask again. “To the death of the dragon
who
caused all this!” he said.

 
          
Trip,
Ula, and Karista murmured their assent and drank.

 
          
“I’ll
share that toast,” Shimmer said. Mik handed him the skin and the bronze knight
said, “To the end of Tempest and those who follow her!” He drank,
then
handed the flask back to Mik.

 
          
Morning
slipped into afternoon under the steady rhythm of the oars. The crew tirelessly
pulled the mighty trireme through the placid ocean. Mik and his friends spent
much of their time leaning on the gunwales watching the scenery.

 
          
The
sea around the Dragon Isles shone brilliant blue. The clear water allowed the
travelers to peer into the depths below. Mik marveled at the varieties of
colorful fish and strange sea plants. Turbidus dolphins and gray- striped
porpoises, sleek “sea tigers,” gamboled in the trireme’s wake.

 
          
Small
green atolls surrounded the larger islands, like schools of fish attending to
monstrous turtles. The isles had a pristine quality, as if human beings had
never actually lived here—though, occasionally, Mik saw small fishing boats
plying the shorelines. Two kinds of waterfronts predominated: white sand, or
forbidding rocks. Many game animals roamed the shores, but only a few people.

 
          
The
clear morning sky gave way to puffy clouds, darkening toward a storm in the
west. Blue and purple sea birds filled the air near the shores, diving for fish
or hunting for prey along the beaches. Sometimes an albatross, a pelican, or
some other sea-fishing bird would fly over the trireme.

 
          
Less
frequently, they spotted the glint of sunshine off metallic wings high above
the isles. Mostly the dragons were far away, and seemed to be tending their own
business. Several times, though, a large brass dragon swooped near the galley.

 
          
“Tanalish,”
Shimmer said.

 
          
“Keeping
an eye on us for Thrakdar and the Order,” Ula added. She tightened her grip on
her spear. “They’re probably wondering why we’re not headed for Berann.”

 
          
“Let
them wonder,” Shimmer replied. His face remained hidden behind his bronze
helmet, but they all got the impression he was smiling.

 
          
Mik
leaned on the rail and sighed. “I wish that Poul were here to see this,” he
said. “He would have liked the dragons.”

 
          
“Aye,”
Trip replied. Karista merely nodded.

 
          
Just
before nightfall, the healer came and sterilized Trip’s wound with alcohol. She
put a few stitches in,
then
wound an new bandage
around the kender’s leg. She chanted a spell for quick healing, but no one
seemed to believe this would do any good.

 
          
Lord
Kell stayed away from the group. Mostly he kept to the triarch’s chair, though
he went below regularly to check on his sister. From the vague murmurings of
the crew, Mik gathered that Misa wasn’t doing very well. All of Kell’s crew
avoided Ula.

 
          
As
the sun sank behind the clouds in the west, they passed into the vast channel
between Berann and
Jaen-
tarth. Berann, the western isle, housed the headquarters of the Order
of Brass. The galley’s crew gazed at it longingly when they weren’t working
their shifts at the oars.

 
          
To
the east lay Jaentarth, whose cloud-capped peaks were home to many silver
dragons.
Lush jungles tumbled down to the isle’s rocky
shores. As the trireme swung northeast, skirting Jaentarth’s western cliffs,
Ula stood in the bow and gazed east. A thin line of concern between her slender
eyebrows marred her perfect face.

 
          
“I
get the impression,” Mik said quietly to Shimmer, “that she’s
not
looking forward to going home.”

 
          
The
bronze knight didn’t reply.

 
          
Night
passed under a tapestry of stars. Mik and the others slept on the deck near the
bow. The blankets given them were thin, but the night was warm. At dawn, the
former captain found himself wedged between Ula and Karista. He gently
extricated himself, rose, and went to the rail.

 
          
The
morning wasn’t
so
bright or clear as it had been the
previous day. Thunder clouds still threatened in the west. However, by rowing
through the night, the ship had stayed well ahead of the stormfront.

 
          
Mik
admired the discipline of Kell’s crew. They pulled at the oars tirelessly,
working in shifts, never stopping. When not rowing or servicing the ship, the
brass warriors frequently fished with lines or tridents.

           
Sometimes they even stripped off
their armor and swam in the stern wash for a while—as Ula had done on
Kingfisher
, what now seemed so long ago.
Kell's warriors always held a rope line when
swimming,
otherwise the trireme's relentless pace would have quickly left them behind.

 
          
Mist
surrounded the galley during the early morning
horn's
.
Mik wondered if this was some kind of natural effect, peculiar to the area of
the ocean and the boat’s brass-coated construction, or if it was magic.
Certainly the boat covered great distances in a very short time. Whether this
was due to enchantment or to the dedication and training of the crew,
Kingfisher's
former captain could not
fathom.

 
          
Lord
Kell treated his “guests” cordially that
day,
all save
for Ula, whose gaze he avoided. Whispers among the galley's crew told the
fugitives that Lady Kell's health remained in dire straits. Both Kell and the
crew blamed Ula for this. “Unnecessarily brutal,” the crew whispered, but only
when they thought the sea elf wasn't listening. Mik suspected that the warriors
applied different standards to “outsiders” than they did to the Order of Brass.

 
          
The
dragon overflights continued during the second day.
Most of
the time the brass dragon watching them was Tanal- ish, Kell’s dragon escort.
Once, though, Shimmer identified their “guardian” as Thrakdar—sponsor of the
Order.

 
          
“Probably
wondering what's taking Kell so long,” Mik commented.

 
          
“I'm
sure he wants his pet warriors back,” Ula said slyly. She glanced toward Kell,
sitting in the triarch's chair.

 
          
A
quick-moving squall blew through that night. It tossed the galley about and
smashed lightning into the sea far too close to the brass-scaled ship. Lord
Kell watched the storm carefully, and the crew on deck worked without their
usual brass armor.

 
          
The
soaking annoyed Mik and his friends. Shimmer and Ula appeared not to notice or,
at least, not to care.

 
          
“I
expect they’re used to being drenched, living underwater,” Trip said.

 
          
Mik,
Trip, and Karista huddled close together for warmth under their thin blankets
that night.

 
          
A
spectacular golden sunrise quickly dried them the next morning. They rowed for
several more hours, until Lord Kell finally had the crew back oars, bringing
the trireme to a halt.

 
          
“This
isn’t Darthalla,” Ula said, scanning the ocean to the east.

 
          
“Darthalla
would take us too far off our course,” Kell replied. “My sister is failing, and
needs better attention than we can give her aboard ship. I will loan you a
ship’s boat, and you and your companions may continue on your own. Darthalla is
not far, and you should be able to row there by day’s end.”

 
          
“That
wasn’t our agreement,” Ula said.

 
          
“It
will serve for honor’s sake,” Kell said. “My sister’s welfare is of more
concern to me, at this moment, than you are.”

 
          
“Will
you be going to Jaentarth, then?” Shimmer asked.

 
          
“Our
course beyond this point is not your concern.”

 
          
“Send
Trip with us, then,” Mik said. “We’ll make sure that he gets to Alarl, if
that’s your custom.”

 
          
Lord
Kell gazed carefully at Mik’s bearded face,
then
shook
his head. “I do not think that will serve,” he said. “I will take him to Perch
on Alarl, as soon as my sister is tended to.” He turned to Ula once more. “If
you like, I will send rowers with you, to ferry you to Darthalla.”