The Sundering: The Sentinel Part 10

"Hold here," Kleef whispered. "Let's see what they do."

Jang brought the skiff to a stop without so much as the sound of a swirling oar. For the next few minutes, Arietta and her companions sat listening to an angry Yder yell commands and questions in his native tongue. The longer she listened to his raspy voice, the higher the flame of rage and sorrow rose within her. Farnig Seasilver may not have been a paragon of the n.o.ble cla.s.s, but he had still been her father and a grand duke of Cormyr, and he had not deserved the death Yder gave him. That alone would have been reason enough to fight-even had she not understood the importance of helping Joelle and Malik stop Shar from releasing the Shadowfell across all of Toril.

Winches groaned as the Shadovar lowered longboats into the water. Arietta set her quiver at her knee and nocked an arrow, then prayed to Siamorphe to quiet her pounding heart. This would be only the second time she had gone into a life-or-death fight-the first had been when she joined Kleef on Deepwater Bridge-and she found that the waiting frightened her far more than had the actual combat.

At last, a pair of long gray silhouettes glided past the bow of the gallea.s.s and faded into the fog. They were trailing no lines and taking care to move as quietly as possible, so it seemed clear that instead of attempting to free his own vessel, Yder had decided to board the Lonely Roamer from the Wyvern's longboats-just as Greatorm had predicted.

Jang began to move the skiff forward again, and Arietta scanned the Wyvern's looming silhouette for any sign of a Shadovar lookout. It took only moments to find a dark shape moving aft from the bow. She drew her bowstring taut, but did not loose.

The Wyvern had not grounded so solidly that the reef was holding her steady. Instead, she was rolling slightly on her keel, lifting and lowering the target in a steady cycle. Arietta waited until she had the rhythm, then let out her breath and let the arrow fly.

A heartbeat later, it took the dark silhouette in the center of the head and sent him flying back.

Arietta already had her next arrow nocked and, when a second silhouette appeared at the bulwark, she was ready. She loosed instantly this time-and saw the arrow tear through the Shadovar's throat. He stumbled two steps back, then collapsed out of sight.

Not a head shot, but it would have to do. Arietta nocked another arrow and waited, but no more Shadovar appeared as the Wave Wyvern changed from gray shape to wooden s.h.i.+p. Once they'd drawn to within a few paces, Jang stopped rowing. Kleef stood and tossed a hook-and-rope onto the bulwark of the Wave Wyvern, then held the line steady as Jang ascended hand-over-hand.

The Shou was nearly at the top when a Shadovar peered down at him, his gla.s.sy blade already descending to cut the line. Arietta planted an arrow in his dusky face, and Jang was over the bulwark, drawing his slender sword and removing the head before the body had fallen out of sight.

Slinging her bow and quiver over her shoulders, Arietta took the rope next. While the distance wasn't great, she was not as strong as the Shou, and the rocking of the Wyvern made the climb a difficult one. It was nearly a dozen seconds before she neared the top of the rope-and saw Jang reaching down to help her the rest of the way.

"Thank you," she said, clambering onto the deck. "How many remain?"

"I've beheaded the three you hit." Jang pointed to three headless bodies lying on the deck between them and the bow. "I will look for others."

With that, he turned and clambered onto the quarterdeck. Arietta nocked an arrow and kneeled beside the headless body of her last target and tried not to think about the three lives she had just taken. It had been easy to kill the Shadovar when they were the ones attacking, but it felt much different when she was the aggressor. She had to remind herself that her enemies had brought this on themselves, that Yder had killed her father and made a hostage of her mother.

The bulwark crackled beneath Kleef's weight, and a few breaths later he was planting his boots on the deck. He drew his sword and crouched next to her, his eyes scanning the rest of the s.h.i.+p.

"Jang?" he whispered.

Arietta pointed toward the quarterdeck. "He went to check for more guards."

Kleef looked in the direction she had indicated, then nodded in satisfaction when Jang rose from behind the helm and displayed a fist with no upraised fingers.

"Looks like he hasn't found any," Kleef said, turning forward. "Let's finish this."

"You're leaving Jang up here alone?"

"There may be more guards in hiding," Kleef said. "And somebody needs to make sure Yder doesn't come back and surprise us."

Arietta nodded and led him to the forward companionway, which descended to the rowing deck. As eager as she was to find her mother, their plan called for them to seize control of the Wyvern first, and that meant freeing the men the Shadovar had been using as galley slaves.

Kleef paused at the entrance and looked at the agate glowing on the crossguard of his sword, then motioned for Arietta to wait. He kicked the door open and descended the stairs in a single leap.

Arietta peered through the opening and found him six feet below, crouching beneath the low ceiling and spinning, whipping his sword ahead of him in a clearing circle. He caught her eye and dipped his head in a barely perceptible nod, then completed his turn and stepped away from stairs.

Arietta descended the stairs about halfway, then stopped and peered under the railing back toward the rowing benches. Greatorm's fog was not as thick below the Wyvern's decks as it was above, but visibility down there was still even more limited than usual. She had a clear view of only the first three rowing benches, where a dozen haggard men sat with their arms resting on their oars, a few of them too exhausted-or too badly beaten-to even raise their heads.

Kleef pointed his sword at them. "You men," he said. "Are you ready to fight for Cormyr?"

The cheer that came in reply was hardly rousing, but it was sincere, and someone with a gravelly voice said, "Get these shackles off us, and we'll fight."

"Good," Kleef said. "Consider yourselves soldiers again."

He started toward the first bench, and that was when a pair of Shadovar stepped out of the murk behind him. A chorus of half-broken voices croaked warning cries, but Arietta's arrow was already flying toward the shape on the right. It buried itself between the Shadovar's shoulders and sent him sprawling on the deck.

Knowing she had no time to nock a second arrow, Arietta leaped off the stairs, jabbing her bow tip at the figure on the left. Her blow caught the Shadovar in the back of the head, causing little damage but forcing him to glance back over his shoulder.

That was all the hesitation Kleef needed to whirl around and send the fellow's head tumbling. He continued his spin, deftly lifting the blade over Arietta's head and bringing it down through the neck of the Shadovar her arrow had sent sprawling.

A stunned silence fell over the rowing deck. Kleef worked his sword tip free of the wood in which it had buried itself. He glanced at the agate on the crossguard, which had fallen dark again, then relaxed and turned to Arietta.

"Thanks," he said. "You fight pretty well for an heiress."

"And you're not bad for a clumsy ox," Arietta replied.

The retort drew a chorus of catcalls and cheers from the rowing benches, and she knew that Siamorphe's grace was still working through her. She smiled and turned to address the deck.

"You were my father's best men," she said. "He picked you to escort him on the journey to Elversult because he believed you to be his strongest, most capable men-at-arms. Then the Shadovar came and made galley slaves of you. The next time you meet them, I want you to give them reason to regret that!"

Rather than the enthusiastic cheer she had expected, most of the men merely looked down and tried to avoid her gaze. And those who did speak seemed rather embarra.s.sed and apologetic, promising to do their best and not let the Shadovar take them alive again.

Arietta hid her disappointment with a polite smile. "Well, I'm sure you're all very eager to be free." She turned to Kleef. "Shall we?"

Kleef nodded and started down one side of the aisle, his greatsword rising and falling as he freed the men from their bonds. Arietta went down the opposite side with her own sword, though she was not nearly so fast.

Because her father's s.h.i.+p had not been designed as a slave galley, it lacked the steel eye hooks through which shackle chains commonly ran-and even the shackles and chains themselves. So the Shadovar had improvised with their dark magic, binding the ankles of their captives with thick ropes of pure shadowstuff. And while all of Arietta's weapons were enchanted-she was the daughter of a grand duke, after all-she lacked Kleef's strength. Where he simply lopped the lines apart, she found herself sawing and hacking, and she was only halfway down the aisle when she met him coming from the opposite direction.

He glanced over her head toward the men climbing from their benches, then grunted, "Only thirty."

Arietta frowned. "Thirty?"

"Thirty men." Kleef looked back toward her. "And only twenty look strong enough to fight."

Arietta turned to study the men staggering into the aisle behind her. They were filthy and gaunt, with sunken cheeks, lips so cracked they bled, and bare torsos showing through the tattered remnants of their tunics. Their backs were striped by pale welts, and their ribs showed through the gray flesh on their sides. Only their broad shoulders and old scars suggested that they had once been soldiers, and it was obvious that sending them into battle against Yder and his shadow warriors right now would be little short of a death sentence.

"Then it's time to change the plan," Arietta said. "Even Yder can't catch Greatorm in the Wyvern's longboats. All we need to do is deny the Shadovar a s.h.i.+p."

Kleef furrowed his brow. "True enough," he said. "How do we do that without a fight?"

"Like this." Arietta raised her arms, gesturing for the attention of the newly freed captives. "We need to lighten our load. I want you to start dumping cargo-the locked holds first."

An astonished murmur spread across the deck. A red-bearded man whom Arietta recognized as one of her father's personal bodyguards, Balen, stepped forward.

"You're asking us to throw the Seasilver fortune overboard?"

"No, Balen," Arietta said. "I'm telling you."

Balen looked confused. "Why?"

Knowing better than to a.s.sert an authority her father's men might not respect, Arietta simply turned to another captive-a lanky man with a weathered face and a sun-bleached beard.

"Tell him, Mister Grynwald."

Grynwald, who had served her father as the Wyvern's first mate, smiled and pointed at Balen's feet.

"Feel that?" he asked. "The Wyvern is rolling on her keel, and that means she can be freed-if she can shed enough weight."

Balen was quick to shake his head. "Her Grace wouldn't like that."

"She'll like it more than having the Shadovar cut off more fingers," Kleef said. He stepped toward the man, then ran his gaze over the rest of the deck. "Do you really think you're ready to turn the Shadovar away when they return to the s.h.i.+p? Because I don't."

When Kleef's comment drew a muttered chorus of agreement, Arietta added, "The Seasilver fortune is lost no matter what." She could scarcely believe her own words, but she had no doubts about their truth. "At least this way, there's a chance we might be able to return and recover some of it."

Balen looked around at his fellows, then reluctantly nodded. "When you put it that way, I guess we have no choice."

"Good." Kleef turned to Grynwald. "You take charge of that."

"As you like," Grynwald said.

Though it did not escape Arietta's notice that all of her father's men were quicker to acknowledge Kleef's authority than her own, now hardly seemed the time to make an issue of it. She merely nodded her approval, then turned aft.

"I don't suppose the shades have been keeping Her Grace in one of the family cabins?"

"No, my lady." Grynwald pointed forward. "They've had her in the Stink."

Arietta's heart fell. "I was afraid of that."

She started forward, barely noticing as Kleef fell in beside her. The Stink was the crew's nickname for the Wyvern's brig, a cramped little cabin tucked into the forepeak of the s.h.i.+p. She could not imagine her mother surviving twenty hours in there, much less twenty days, and she felt her stomach clenching with every step she took.

Kleef insisted on leading the way as they slipped through the bulkhead and into a dim aisle flanked by open bunks. At the far end stood a pair of officers' cabins and the barred door that led into the brig. After pausing a moment to check for lurking Shadovar, Kleef nodded and motioned Arietta forward.

And that was when Jang's voice rang out from the hatchway behind them. "There is yelling. I think it is coming from the Lonely Roamer."

Arietta heard Kleef curse under his breath, and they both turned to face the Shou.

"Can you see what's happening?" Kleef asked.

Jang shook his head. "The fog is too thick. But one voice belongs to Carlton, and another to Captain Greatorm."

Arietta did not waste time asking what had gone wrong. Clearly, Greatorm had failed to reach the hidden pa.s.sage in time, and soon Joelle and Malik and the others would be fighting for their lives.

"We have to go back," Arietta said. "If Yder is catching up to them-"

"Arietta?" The voice was m.u.f.fled and brittle, and it came from the other side of the brig door. "Is that you?"

Arietta closed her eyes-mostly relieved to hear that voice-then said, "Yes, Your Grace. We'll have you out in a minute."

"What are you doing here?" the grand d.u.c.h.ess demanded. "I had hoped you had escaped."

Kleef looked from the door to Arietta, then whispered, "Jang and I will go back to the Roamer." He turned to leave. "You see to Her Grace."

Arietta caught him by the arm. "No, wait."

"Arietta?" Elira called. "Are you still there?"

"Yes, Mother." Arietta squeezed Kleef's arm, hard, and said, "You wait."

Kleef sighed, but nodded. "Just make it fast."

Arietta released Kleef and slid the bar aside, then pulled the door open to reveal a dark cramped cabin barely four feet wide and five feet long. Her mother sat on the edge of one of the two bunks, holding a bandaged hand and blinking into the dim light. She looked dirty and frail and starving, and Arietta's heart ached at the sight.

"h.e.l.lo, Your Grace," Arietta said, stepping through the door. "Come out of there."

The grand d.u.c.h.ess studied Arietta for a moment, then looked away. "I'm not sure I can," she said. "Perhaps you should have your man carry me."

Kleef made a disgusted sound. Arietta turned to see him glaring down at her with an expression of impatience.

"I'll meet you at the bow," Arietta said. "Just bring the skiff up."

Kleef turned on his heel and started down the aisle. "That's a small skiff, my lady," he said. "It might be better if you stayed behind, in case we need to pick anyone up."

Arietta put some authority into her voice. "Then leave Jang." When Kleef did not even slow down, she quickly added, "What are you going to do if Yder starts hurling magic at you? Throw your sword at him?"

Kleef stopped at the bulkhead and nodded, then turned to Jang. "You take command here," he said. "Don't let the Shadovar retake the s.h.i.+p. Sink it, if need be."

"Sink it?" the grand d.u.c.h.ess demanded, suddenly finding the strength to rise to her feet. "Do you know to whom this s.h.i.+p belongs?"

Arietta slipped an arm around her mother's shoulders. "He knows, Your Grace," she said, guiding her across the threshold of the brig and out into the aisle. "And he's absolutely right. We're at war."

Kleef nodded without looking back. "I'll see you in one minute," he said, turning to ascend the companionway. "Don't be late."

The grand d.u.c.h.ess tensed. "Arietta, did that man just give you an order?"

"I wouldn't call it an order," Arietta said, guiding her mother down the aisle toward a wary-looking Jang. "It's more of a suggestion."

"I know an order when I hear one," the grand d.u.c.h.ess said. "Who is he?"

"He's a topsword in the Watch," Arietta said. "And one of the men who helped take the Wyvern back ... and rescue you."

"So he's common."

"He's far from common," Arietta said, thinking of Kleef's skill with a sword. "But he's not n.o.ble."

"Then what ..." The grand d.u.c.h.ess stopped to turn and peer up at Arietta. "Don't tell me you've taken a watchman as a lover!"

Arietta felt the heat rising to her cheeks. "You must be delirious," she said. "Kleef is a better man than most lords I know, but what you suggest wouldn't be appropriate."