Maquesta Kar-Thon Read online

  "Look at this." Fritz stood by a pile of helmets, fingering something. Maq and Lendle joined him. He was holding an elaborate, horned helm. The horns, long, slender, and curved, looked sharp enough to impale an enemy. Except for strategic openings for the eyes, the helmet would cover the wearer's entire head, front and back. It showed remarkable craftsmanship but was, at the same time, unspeakably hideous. He placed it on his head. "This is the helmet of a warlord, not a merchant," Fritzen said, adjusting it for a better fit, and running his fingers around the outside of it. "I've never seen anything like this."

  "Nor should you have seen this one." A deep voice came from the doorway.

  Startled, Fritzen and the others whipped around. Salomdhi stood in the entrance to the treasure vault. "Lendle!" he scolded. "What are you doing in here and who are these two with you?" The merchant stamped his foot. "I can see I'm not going to get my money's worth out of you! The constable warned me you might be more trouble than you're worth."

  "No, I'd say the lot of them aren't worth much. But they might provide us some amusement," said a larger figure, coming up to stand behind Salomdhi. "And I so need to be amused right now, Maquesta Kar-Thon."

  Maq started. The voice sounded familiar. Then the figure pushed Salomdhi aside and stepped into the cave.

  "Mandracore!"

  The pirate captain known as Mandracore the Reaver stood before her. A half-ogre like Fritzen, he did not stand quite as tall, but he was stockier, more muscular, and he had none of Fritzen's attractiveness. His coarse, broad features were dotted with warts. Maq had never seen his hair; he always wore a scarf tied tightly around his head. A gold earring in the shape of a grinning skull dangled from one ear.

  "What are you doing on Saifhum?" Maq asked. She turned to Salomdhi and demanded, "What is he doing here with you? I've never heard of a Saifhum merchant dealing with pirates!"

  Behind her Fritzen slid quietly to a bundle of swords. His back to them, he tugged one free and kept it hidden behind his legs.

  Salomdhi looked acutely uncomfortable at Maq's accusations. "I—" he began.

  Mandracore cut in. "My business carries me into quarters that are no concern of yours, Maquesta Kar-Thon. As to what we're doing in this particular cave—your little friend called us back."

  Puzzled, Maq looked over at Lendle. Only then did she notice that the charm around his ankle pulsed insistently with a pale blue light.

  "It's just good luck that this time my business dealings give me the opportunity to settle an old score," Mandracore added. "Too bad your father isn't here. I'd rather settle it with him, Maquesta. But you'll do." He snapped his fingers and two shadowy figures stepped up behind Salomdhi, completely blocking the doorway.

  Being within the cave put Maq, Fritzen, and Lendle at a disadvantage for starting a fight—unless they could lure the pirates, or at least Mandracore, inside. She exchanged glances with her crewmates and saw they felt similarly stymied.

  Salomdhi began backing out of the cave, keeping a wary eye on Mandracore. "What do you mean to do?" Then, apparently not reassured by the look on the pirate's face, he whined, "I want no part of this. I want you all off my property. This is not what your masters are paying me for, Mandracore. There'll be no murders here."

  "Just what services are you providing these scum?" Maq asked.

  "It's just an honest business transaction," the merchant said defensively. "I rent them this storage space, do some buying and selling on their behalf. I'm paid well. I don't ask any questions. What they're doing is none of my concern." Salomdhi puffed out his chest and stuck up his chin self-righteously. Seemingly fortified by his own rationalizations, he addressed Mandracore.

  "You heard what I said—Get out, and take these… these… spies with you!"

  With a raised eyebrow, Mandracore signaled his henchman, who each grabbed one of Salomdhi's arms and ushered the merchant into the treasure vault.

  "No fat merchant talks to Mandracore the Reaver that way," the pirate snarled, shoving his face to within an inch of Salomdhi's. "Think your hands are clean, eh? Then I've got a little lesson for you. This should be very educational."

  With Mandracore half turned away, focused on the squirming merchant, and the other two pirates occupied holding him, Maq saw her chance. She dropped to her knees and grabbed one of the daggers lying on the cave floor. Then she leapt onto Mandracore's back, circling her legs around his waist and her arm around his throat until she nearly cut off his breathing. She scraped the tip of her blade underneath his chin, warning him not to move.

  In the meantime, as soon as Maquesta made her move, Fritzen ran a couple steps toward the pirates holding Salomdhi and jumped up, swinging both legs straight out in front of him in powerful kicks that caught the guards under their chins and sent them tumbling backward. They loosened their hold on the merchant, and fell awkwardly on a mound of spilled gold coins. The half-ogre drew the sword down to the larger one's chest and growled, the sound reverberating in the helmet and indicating that the pirate should stay put.

  Freed from their grip, Salomdhi turned to run but was tackled around the ankles by Lendle, who then expertly flipped the merchant onto his stomach, twisting his arm behind him, inflicting enough pain to keep the man motionless but not, unfortunately, silent. Salomdhi, unused to physical distress, began screaming that his arm was about to break.

  The other pirate knocked down by Fritzen had regained his feet and was circling the half-ogre with long, twin daggers drawn.

  "Stay back," Fritz warned, "or I'll slit your friend's stomach as if he were a pig at the slaughterhouse, and his blood can wash all these pieces of gold."

  Undaunted, the standing pirate laughed and circled closer. Fritz, frustrated, balled his fist and struck the downed man hard in the face, knocking him out and breaking a few of his teeth in the process.

  Maq, still on Mandracore's back, didn't like the situation. Though the pirate facing Fritz was a human, and quite a bit smaller, he seemed agile and practiced, a potentially deadly foe.

  "Tell him to drop the daggers!" Maquesta barked at Mandracore, pressing the flat of her borrowed dagger against his throat. The pirate clenched his jaw closed, refusing. "I'm not kidding!" Maq turned her dagger, pressing the point into the soft underside of his chin until a trickle of blood appeared. "Tell him!" she ordered.

  "Yega!" Mandracore called in strangled tones. "Drop your daggers." Such was the fear-driven obedience that the Reaver commanded from his crew that the pirate obeyed his order immediately. Fritzen picked up the daggers, sticking them in the sash at his waist, and pointed to the ground.

  "Lie down next to your friend!" Fritzen commanded. Again the words reverberated inside the helmet. Shaking his head, he pulled the thing free and dropped it on the ground. "How could anyone wear something like that?" he whispered to himself.

  "Lendle, do something about that noise!" Maq sputtered as Salomdhi continued to wail. Lendle tore a strip from the bottom of Salomdhi's silken tunic, and to the merchant's obvious indignation stuffed it in his mouth, muffling the noise, though not completely stopping it. The merchant broke out into a cold sweat and squirmed harder.

  "Slowly now, let's walk into the other part of the cave," Maq ordered as she tightened her grip on Mandracore's back. "Yega and the other one first, with Fritzen following, then Salomdhi and Lendle. We'll save the best for last, Mandracore." Maq assumed there would be rope in the first section of the cavern, rope they could use to tie up Salomdhi and the pirates. Then they would need to get back to the Perechon as quickly as possible. The charm on Lendle's ankle was still blinking. She didn't know if it was summoning anyone else to the merchant's compound, but she didn't want to take the chance.

  Yega dragged the unconscious pirate to his knees and began pulling him like a sack of potatoes, angling him toward the outer cave. He threw Maq a look of icy contempt as he went. Just as the men were inside the entrance, Maquesta's eyes grew wide.

  "Fritzen! Look out!" The warning came too late for the ha
lf-ogre. Mandracore had stationed a third pirate to keep watch in the garden while he and the others accompanied Salomdhi inside. That pirate, wielding a curved saber, now lunged at Fritzen from just outside the treasure vault's sliding door. Fritz ducked away at the last minute, but the blade still caught him solidly in the shoulder, causing him to wince in pain. The halfogre brought his purloined blade up to parry, catching the next slash and easily deflecting it, but he was stunned from his injury.

  This gave Yega an opening. The pirate darted away from Fritzen, in toward his armed companion and pulled a dagger free from his belt. Now the two stood facing the half-ogre, and they moved in closer.

  "Lendle! Go help him—I'll watch the merchant." Though Lendle was a skilled fighter, Maq was afraid if she went to Fritzen's side Mandracore would be able to overwhelm the gnome. Therefore, Mandracore was her responsibility, and hers alone.

  Before the third pirate could strike at Fritzen again, Lendle leapt forward. The gnome dashed underneath the half-ogre's blade and swung out with a small gardening trowel, slashing the pirate's leg and causing him to howl. As the pirate bent over to inspect his wound, the gnome jumped as hard as his stubby legs allowed, thrusting the trowel at the pirate's chest. The point plunged through the man's colorful garb, finding his heart. He pitched forward, a glassy expression on his face. At the same time, the pirate with the dagger pressed forward, trying to slice at Fritzen's stomach. Still off balance, Fritzen was able to hold on to his borrowed blade, but the saber wound prevented him from using his right arm. Seizing the advantage, the remaining pirate jumped at the half-ogre. Fritzen rolled to the side, striking out with his good arm, bringing his sword up under the pirate's ribs until the tip of the blade passed out his back. The pirate fell, with a wounded Fritz practically on top of him. The last pirate, finally regaining consciousness, crawled toward his fallen comrade's saber. But Lendle hopped between the pirate and the weapon, holding him at bay with the small trowel.

  "Dropitrightnow!" the gnome shouted.

  The pirate looked at Lendle waving the bloody gardening tool, glanced at Mandracore, and pitched the dagger to the cave floor.

  "Now, down on your belly," Lendle added, slowing his speech to make sure the pirate understood. When the pirate complied, the gnome sat on him and looked over at Fritzen. "You all right?"

  The half-ogre groaned and pulled himself off the dead pirate. He looked at Lendle and grinned sheepishly. "So you can do more than cook," he jested. Then his eyes squinted in pain and he glanced at his shoulder.

  Only the point of Maquesta's dagger and the certainty that she would use it kept Mandracore still. Salomdhi, on the other hand, slowly got to his feet and stood paralyzed by fear and horror, not even bothering to take the makeshift gag out of his mouth. His wide eyes took in the bodies and the blood.

  "Lendle, tie up that pirate you're sitting on, and Salomdhi, too. Then help me with Mandracore," Maq directed. "Fritzen, how are you? Press down on that wound!" The half-ogre was sitting with his back propped against the wall, holding his bleeding shoulder.

  "I'm doing what I can, Maquesta. I've lost some blood, but I'm better off than those two." He raised his arm in the direction of Mandracore's dead pirates. "I'll be able to make it back to the Perechon."

  Maq slid down Mandracore and pulled his hands behind him, tying them with a piece of strong hemp. She jostled him to his knees, then shoved him forward. He turned his head to the side just in time so his nose didn't hit the stone floor.

  "This gives me another score to settle with the Kar-Thons," he said bitterly. "I guess I'll be taking that account up with you from now on, now that Melas is out of the picture," Mandracore sneered.

  "What do you know about my father?" Maq asked sharply. "What have you heard?"

  "I have friends in Lacynos," the pirate replied. "I know Melas is living on a temporary stay, pending your return—and provided you're successful."

  Maq frowned, troubled that the Reaver should know the purpose of the Perechon's voyage. "Do your masters in Lacynos have anything to do with that treasure and weapons cache in there?" Maq asked, trying to puzzle out a connection.

  "I didn't say masters, I said friends," the pirate answered harshly. "I have many interests, and in this instance my friends' interests and mine coincided in a way that is filling my purse," Mandracore added, enjoying Maq's discomfort.

  "Well, my interests don't extend to solving riddles posed by vermin like you," Maq said, standing up. The pirates and Salomdhi were now all securely bound. Maq went to stand over the merchant, who was shaking and sweating and appeared to be going into shock.

  "I've never seen anyone killed before," he whispered up at Maq.

  She looked at him disdainfully. "I suspect your honest business dealings have set you on a path to witness many things you haven't seen before—and won't want to. Now, where's the key to Lendle's ankle charm?"

  The merchant motioned his head toward his vest. In an inside pocket, Maq found the key. She removed the charm, a small disk of smooth gray stone embedded with white rings that continued to flash.

  "Where did you get this?" she asked. Salomdhi nodded his head toward Mandracore, who smirked back at Maquesta. Knowing she would get no information from the pirate, Maq dropped the charm on the ground. "Maybe it will help someone find you."

  "Let's go," she said, turning to Lendle.

  Maq helped Fritzen up and supported him as they walked out of the cave.

  "Till we meet again, Maquesta," Mandracore called out as she closed the hillside door.

  As they walked through Salomdhi's house, Lendle pulled a strip of linen off the dining room table and tied it around Fritzen's wound, trying to stanch the flow of blood. The trio could feel eyes watching them, but not one servant made an appearance or tried to stop them.

  "You're a dangerous lady to be around," Fritz said jokingly to Maquesta as they reached the street.

  "I thought you said you liked to live dangerously," she replied. Her tone was light, but her face showed concern. "We have to get back to the wharf and out to the Perechon as fast as we can. I have a feeling it won't be long before help arrives for those scum."

  "I need to make one quick stop while we're at the wharf," Fritz said. "I've a pearl necklace in my pocket that will pay off the debt to my friends. Think of it as your comrade Mandracore buying your new sails."

  Chapter 12

  The Butcher

  "A watcher charm—that is very old magic," Tailonna said thoughtfully.

  Once the Perechon was sailing out of Sea Reach harbor—with new, crisp, white sails on the newly strengthened masts—Maquesta had asked the sea elf and Ilyatha to come to her cabin. She told them about what had transpired on the island, about Lendle's temporary servitude, the cache of treasure and weapons, Mandracore's appearance, and the charm.

  "I am surprised that a simple merchant or even a pirate would know about such things as watcher charms, much less be able to put his hands on one," Tailonna continued.

  "Well, Mandracore kept talking about the friends whose interests he was furthering. I wish I knew who they were," said Maq. She looked up from her thoughts to see that Lendle had slipped into the cabin. "How's Fritzen?" Maq asked the gnome.

  Lendle had, once again, set up the armory as a temporary infirmary, with Fritzen as its sole patient. "He's stubborn, Maquesta Kar-Thon, and he keeps mumbling that being with you is very dangerous business. I am worried about him. He lost a great deal of blood, and he was still not fully recovered from the sea hag attack," Lendle replied, rubbing his chin in concern. "I am not certain what is necessary to treat him. I came to ask Tailonna and Ilyatha to consult with me on his care."

  If the situation hadn't been so serious, Maquesta would have smiled at Lendle's phrasing. The gnome didn't like to admit to any gaps in his knowledge. And he wasn't one to ask for help.

  "Tailonna, would you please take a look at Fritzen?" Maq asked reluctantly.

  The Dimernesti nodded silently, and Maq suppressed a flas
h of irritation. Tailonna had already been of great help, and no doubt would be again before the voyage ended. But Maq found the sea elf maiden's remoteness annoying.

  "We'll keep you posted on his condition," the gnome said. "Oh, one more thing, Maquesta Kar-Thon. Fritzen Dorgaard acquired pocketfuls of gold coins from the treasure cave. He had me divide them among the crew. Morale is much improved."

  Maquesta grinned, pleased at Fritz's generosity. "Ilyatha, I'd like to have a word with you before you join them," she said unnecessarily. The shadow warrior had not made any move toward the door, having telepathically sensed Maq's desire before she stated it.

  "Have you had any communication with Belwar since he left us the other day?" Maq asked once the other two had gone to the armory.

  "No, I have not. Why do you ask?"

  "See if you can contact him. If I know anything about Mandracore, he will try to follow us, and in Sea Reach he gave me cause to think he knew what our mission was," Maq said worriedly. "I know you, too, are anxious to return to Lacynos. Any interference from the Reaver could delay our return past the time… past the deadline Attat has set." Maquesta found she could not speak aloud words that referred to her father's possible death.

  "How could the pirate know anything about what Attat has done?" Ilyatha asked, surprised.

  "I don't know, but I intend to find out," Maq answered. "Mandracore referred to friends in Lacynos. The minotaur Koraf worked in the Horned Bay shipyards. I want to ask him what he has heard about the Reaver. I want your advice on how much I should tell him. Do you think I can trust Koraf? I made him my first mate because by doing so the crew would be forced to accept his presence. But could he be a spy Attat planted on the Perechon?" Maquesta realized she was asking the shadow warrior for his counsel as she once would have asked her father.

  Ilyatha considered the question. "I sense a great anger in the minotaur, matched by an almost equal measure of gentleness," he replied finally. "His nature does not seem a duplicitous one. You have shown good judgment in your actions so far, Maquesta. Trust your own assessment. I believe you have his loyalty."