The Binding Stone (The Dragon Below, Book 1) (24 page)

"Storm at dawn!" Vennet snapped. "Would you shut up?" He slid closer cautiously, cutlass at the ready. "If either of you moves or makes as much as a sound to cast a spell or--" the cutlass wavered slightly toward Dandra "--do whatever kalashtar do, you'll regret it. Ashi, hide by the rail. When Geth comes back aboard, make sure he dies."

The hunter nodded and darted across the deck, hunching down to stay out of sight. When she reached the rail, she peered over cautiously. She grimaced and snapped the fingers of her free hand softly to attract Vennet's attention. He turned slightly, enough to see her and still keep an eye on his captives. Ashi mimed someone wandering back and forth on the dock below. Vennet's teeth clenched and he cursed softly.

In the instant that the captain's attention wandered, Singe felt the brush of Dandra's mind on his, just as he had when she'd shared her memories on the morning after Bull Hollow. Trying
his best to keep his face neutral, he relaxed and accepted the touch of her thoughts. The voice that rang in his head was taut.
Singe, what are we going to do?

It took a conscious effort not to turn his head and look at the kalashtar as he answered her.
Can you warn Geth the same way we're talking?

Vennet was turning his full attention back to them again.
Be ready to tell Geth to get back fast
, Singe told Dandra. A plan was taking shape in his mind. He formed an image and sent it flickering at her--then swiftly focused back on Vennet as his cutlass flicked close.

"Call Geth!" the half-elf ordered. "Get him up here."

Singe looked him straight in the eye. "How long have you followed the Dragon Below, Vennet?" he said, buying time. If he called, Geth would come bounding up the gangplank. The shifter needed to come up slowly if Dandra was going to have any chance at warning him.

Vennet tensed. "Just call him!"

"Not too long, I think," Singe continued. "You don't seem obviously insane yet."

"You're baiting me," Vennet said. He pushed the cutlass forward until its tip pricked Singe's chest through his shirt. The wizard held back a wince. Vennet looked at him coldly. "You think I'm going to get angry and you're going to distract me? It's not going to work. You want to know how long I've followed the Dragon? Nine years--and that faith is the only thing that
saved
my sanity. I know you'll understand why." His eyes were hard. "You're a veteran of the Last War. You saw the things that men and women who claim to be good and righteous are capable of doing.
That
almost drove me mad. The powers of Khyber don't make those claims. The cult of the Dragon Below draws power from darkness. Two years after the darkest day of my life, I came to the cult and it made sense."

He leaned close, pressing down on his cutlass. A bright spot of red sprang up on Singe's shirt. Over Vennet's shoulder, he could
see Ashi, still watching the dock--and, presumably, Geth down on it. The wizard swallowed and looked back at Vennet. "I saw dark things during the War, too. I got through it."

Vennet gave a thin smile. "Are you trying to convert me, Singe? Bring me back to the light?" His hand, the one holding the crystal band, trembled. "Geth told me there are things about the War you don't like to talk about. Like Narath. Narath bothers you." His lips twisted as Singe stiffened. "Well, I was on one of the ships that sailed against Narath. I had to stand on the docks and watch while our fine Aundairian soldiers ripped Narath apart."

Blood roared in Singe's veins, pounding in his head and burning hot across the skin of his face. Ashi, Dandra, and even Geth vanished from his mind as he met Vennet's gaze. "You weak, pathetic coward," he breathed. "That's your darkest day?
Watching
Narath die?" He seized Vennet's sword hand and shoved the cutlass away from his chest, heedless of the line of pain that the blade's tip traced across his skin. "I was
in
Narath."

It was only Dandra's piercing shout inside his thoughts that broke through the rage that gripped him.
Singe! Geth's coming!

Singe's head shot up. The gangplank was shaking as someone climbed it. Ashi crouched like an animal ready to pounce.

Clenching his teeth, Singe flung Vennet back hard. The half-elf growled and charged back, the sharp blade of his cutlass raised.

Out of the corner of his eye, Singe saw Geth's face appear above the gangplank--only to stiffen with Dandra's silent warning and vanish again, even as Ashi leaped out of her hiding place. In the same instant, the wizard flung himself down and back before Vennet's blade, dropping onto his hands and kicking out blindly with his feet. The kick was wild and soft, but it was enough to make Vennet stumble back a pace. Singe rolled over and came up onto his knees, shouting the words of a spell.

It felt strange, given the time he had spent studying magic that wouldn't harm
Lightning on Water
, that it was still a fire spell he invoked. Bolts of flame leaped from his hands to sear across the ship's deck, setting wood ablaze in a fiery streak that pointed straight toward the gangplank. Ashi shouted and jumped aside
as the fire reached for her, but the hunter had never been Singe's target. Thrusting himself to his feet, he grabbed Dandra's hand and charged directly along burning path he had created, protected by his ring as Dandra's powers protected her.

But for all that the fiery path roared and crackled, it wasn't very wide--only an arm span or so. Vennet or Ashi could have reached through the flames and skewered him or Dandra easily. If he had judged the captain correctly, though, violence would not be his instinctive reaction to fire on his ship.

He heard the half-elf bellow with rage.

"Get ready!" Singe gasped at Dandra.

The powerful wind generated by Vennet's dragonmark struck them from behind so hard that it sucked Singe's breath away. The flames around them stretched out flat, guttered once, and vanished, utterly extinguished.

Just as it had battered Ashi when Vennet had trained it on her in the ship's hold, though, the wind also caught both the wizard and the kalashtar in its grip, forcing them along before it. Where Ashi had tried to struggle against the wind, however, Singe and Dandra ran with it. Singe caught a brief glimpse of Ashi, clutching the ship's rail helplessly, as they swept by her.

Then the top of the gangplank was in front of him. Still propelled by the wind, he seemed to leap out into empty air, only to come crashing down about halfway along the gangplank's angled length. He fell, rolled heavily, and spilled out onto the dock as limp as a rag doll.

Dandra twisted in the air, landing like a cat in a graceful crouch.

Before Singe could even catch his breath, Geth was kicking him out of the way. The shifter planted his feet on the surface of the dock, grabbed the rails on the sides of the gangplank, and
heaved
. With a groan almost as loud as Geth's own, the gangplank lifted away from the brackets that held it steady at the edge of the deck above. Geth staggered back a step, grunted, and released his grip. The gangplank grated against the ship's side, then slid down to splash into the water. At the same time, the eerie droning chorus of Dandra's own fiery powers hummed in the air. Singe
twisted around in time to see her release a cascade of carefully aimed flames at three of the thick mooring ropes. Intense whitefire burned into the twisted hemp and the ropes, already under tension, snapped like whips.
Lightning on Water
shifted and swayed out from the dock sharply.

In the half-dark of early evening, the docks of Zarash'ak were far from abandoned, however. People turned to stare at them--and up on the deck of the ship, Vennet and Ashi leaned out over the rail. Singe scrambled to his feet, grabbed Geth with one hand and Dandra with the other, and pushed them across the dock into the nearest and deepest shadows.

"Keep going!" he spat. "Dandra, keep your feet on the ground--we don't need any more attention!"

The shadows were the mouth of a narrow alley and Singe found himself squeezing between tight walls toward ruddy light at its far end. Geth, with a broader chest, had to force himself through. His great-gauntlet, wrapped up and stuffed in a bag that hung across his back, scraped the walls harshly.

"What happened back there?" the shifter asked. "I start back up onto the ship and all of the sudden Dandra's screaming in my head, Ashi's jumping out at me, there's fire and wind ..."

"Vennet has loyalties to more than just House Lyrandar," said Singe.

"He follows the Dragon Below! He was going to sell us out to Dah'mir!" Dandra's voice was hot with outrage, but Singe shook his head as he squeezed another pace closer to the alley's exit.

"You, Dandra. I'm pretty certain he was only selling out you. I don't think Geth and I figured as anything more that obstacles. Like Natrac."

"Natrac?" grunted Geth. Singe told him what he had discovered in the half-orc's cabin. "Tiger's blood!" cursed the shifter.

They popped out of the alley onto the edge of a market, still bustling in spite of the gathering night. Singe breathed a prayer of thanks for undeserved blessings and led the way into the crowd, slowly and casually. "Follow me," he ordered. "Geth, keep an eye out behind us."

The crowd in the market was mixed, mostly humans mingling with brawny half-orcs, but a few full-blooded orcs, delicate-looking elves, and lithe little halflings moved through it as well. Geth's shifter features and Dandra's exotic beauty barely stirred a second look. Singe himself felt practically invisible. Still, it seemed like forever before the press of bodies opened up ahead of them and they were on their own again, heading deeper into Zarash'ak with the crowded market between them and the docks. Singe let a little of the tension to ease out him. "Geth?" he asked cautiously.

The shifter shook his head. "No sign of Ashi or Vennet," he reported.

Singe gave a slow sigh of relief. "Twelve moons. We're away."

"
We
are," said Dandra thinly. Singe glanced at her. Her face was pale. "Light of il-Yannah, Singe--Vennet still has Natrac!"

It took an effort of will to hold back the memories of the horrors Dah'mir had inflicted on her. The thought that Natrac might suffer similar tortures was almost too much to bear and sent Tetkashtai retreating to the furthest recesses of her mind. When Dandra looked at Singe and Geth, though, she saw only harsh determination on both men's faces. They shared a glance--and pressed on along the street, putting more distance between them and the docks. Dandra stopped dead. "We can't leave Natrac as Vennet's prisoner!" she protested.

Singe paused long enough to hook his arm around hers and pull her forward. "Dandra, I know." He glanced into her eyes. His gaze was dark. "We shared your memories, didn't we? But we can't go back to
Lightning on Water
, not tonight. They'll be waiting for us."

"Vennet and Ashi? There are three of us and two of them!"

"You have a go with Ashi then, Dandra," said Geth. The shifter's voice was a quiet rasp. "She was tough with her fists and now she's got her sword back. Have you watched the way she moves? She'll be waiting if we go back. If she gets a chance to ambush us in the dark, the odds won't be in our favor for very long."

Singe's arm tightened on hers. "And remember, it's you they want. If we go back, we're delivering you right to them."

Dandra tensed. "But Natrac ..."

"Vennet went to the trouble of drugging him," Geth pointed out with cool practicality. "He's not going to kill him now. He'll be all right until the morning." His hands tightened on the bag containing his great-gauntlet. "We'll go back then."

Singe still had a little money left from the sale of their horses in Yrlag. They found a small inn well away from the docks and took a room for the night. The innkeeper looked at Geth, but a smile and a word from Singe eased his worry. Once they were in their room, Geth flung himself down on one side of the bed and seemed to be asleep almost instantly. Dandra stared at him.

"How does he do that?" she asked. "How
can
he do that?"

"He's been able to sleep whenever he wants for as long as I've known him. No matter what's been happening, give Geth a moment of quiet and he can go to sleep." Singe shook his head in awe. "It's a valuable gift when you're a mercenary."

The wizard turned away, moving to the room's window and throwing back the shutters. The window faced away from the street and out over the low rooftops of Zarash'ak's ramshackle sprawl. A cool breeze drifted in from the distant sea, pushing back some of the pungent marsh smell that clung to the city. After a moment, Dandra slipped across the room to join him.

"You haven't said much about the time that you and Geth served together in the Blademarks," she said.