“Rrreally?” Narsk looked down at Hamil and smiled unpleasantly. “Well, we’ll find out soon enough. If he’s not as good as you think, the rrrest of the crew’ll kill him within three days, or my name’s not Narsk. Are you still willing to sign on with Moonshark, little one?”
“I can look after myself.”
“It’s your neck.” Narsk pointed one clawed finger at Hamil. “I won’t spare a word to save your worthless life if you are wrrrong.”
“What are your terms, Captain?” Geran asked.
“The crew divides half the value of any prize we take, one share each. The three of you make fifty-five hands. You can sleep wherever you find space, and you’ll be fed twice a day. There’s no other pay. I’ll keep your shares in the ship’s chest until you decide to leave, and then I’ll count you out if you want.” The gnoll grinned. “Better that way, less thieving and killing among the crew.”
Hard terms, Hamil said to Geran. He doesn’t care whether his crew likes him much.
They seemed more or less in line with what Geran would have expected of a pirate captain. “What are the rules of the Brotherhood?” he asked.
“There aren’t many,” Narsk answered. “Sorsil can explain them. All you need to know is that you’d better do what I say-or what Sorsil says in my place-or you’ll be damned sorry you didn’t.”
“I wouldn’t expect otherwise. All right, Captain, I’m willing. When do we sail?”
“Tomorrow at sunrise,” Narsk said. “You’ll be pulling oars with the rrrest of the crew.”
“Then if we’re sailing tomorrow morning, I’ve a mind to say my farewells to the ladies of the port before we cast off,” Hamil said. He winked at Geran and gave the gnoll a sly grin. “When do we have to be back on board?”
For a moment Geran was afraid that Narsk was going to tell them that they were finished with their port call and had to remain aboard; after all, why give them a chance to change their minds? But a sly look stole over the gnoll’s face, and he bared his fangs in what Geran supposed was meant to be a friendly grin. “Go say your farewells, then.”
Geran relaxed. He’d judged the gnoll well. Sailors with full purses were all too likely to jump ship at the first opportunity, but penniless sailors were more or less at the captain’s mercy. Narsk was all too happy to let his three new hands spend their last remaining coin ashore, since that would put them well and truly in his power when they straggled back aboard Moonshark. Chances were he had no intention of paying them at all, or at least not until it suited him to do so.
“Back by sunup, or I’ll leave you,” the gnoll warned. Then he ducked back through the small door leading to the aft cabin, shutting it behind him.
Sorsil looked over the three companions and shrugged. “Well, you heard the captain,” she said. “You can go back ashore, or I can show you where to sling your hammocks now. But I’ll warn you that the best spots are taken.”
“The night’s still young,” Geran answered. “We’ll be back before dawn.” Then he trotted back down the gangplank, with Sarth and Hamil a few steps behind. He turned back toward the yellow lanterns marking the location of the taverns along the ruined quay and walked away from Moonshark without a backward glance.
“Well, what now?” Sarth asked quietly.
“I think that a bold opportunity is before us,” Hamil replied. “The question is: should we take it?”
“Do you mean to attack Moonshark before she sails?” Sarth asked.
Geran thought he knew what Hamil had in mind. “Not exactly. What do you think about becoming pirates for a while?”
Sarth stopped in midstride and fixed his dark eyes on Geran. “It strikes me as pure madness,” he said. “Do you have any idea how hard it will be to keep our identities a secret in the close confines of a ship filled with enemies? You may be able to pass yourselves off as deckhands, but I know nothing about ships.”
“I prefer to think of it as audacity, not madness,” Hamil said. “In any event, I have a hard time imagining a better way to spy out the plots of the pirate captains or to find out where the Black Moon ships are lairing.”
Geran chewed on his tongue for a moment, thinking it over. He’d gone along with Sorsil’s offer simply because that seemed a plausible cover for approaching the pirates-nothing more than a ruse to ferret out some rumors of Hulburg’s enemies. A couple of miles away under the clouded Moonsea night, Seadrake waited. He and his companions could slip out of Zhentil Keep and bring the ship into position to catch Moonshark in the morning. But Moonshark wasn’t the prize he was after; he wanted Kraken Queen, and his intuition warned him that she might prove an elusive quarry. All he had to do was board Moonshark before dawn, and Narsk’s ship would take him exactly where he wanted to go. Once he spied out Kraken Queen’s lair, he could slip away to summon Seadrake and bag the Black Moon Brotherhood with a single efficient stroke. With his arcane magic-and Sarth’s-at their disposal, abandoning Narsk’s ship should be simple enough.
“I don’t ask either of you to come with me,” he told Hamil and Sarth, “but I intend to sail with Moonshark in the morning. Seadrake’s in Kara’s command. I want her to take the ship back toward Hulburg and protect shipping as best she can until I return or send word.”
“I’m with you,” Hamil said. The halfling looked up at him with a fierce grin. “You’ll need someone to watch your back.”
Sarth sighed and looked up at the dark skies overhead. “I, too,” he said. “There is an excellent chance that you will have to fight your way off that ship. If so, my magic may be of some small use. But I am going to be a very inept deckhand.”
“Hamil and I can help you with that,” Geran told him. “Besides, there’ll be plenty of men on that ship who know just as little as you do. Narsk needs fighters even more than he needs sailors.”
“Very well,” Sarth said. He frowned unhappily. “I will trust your judgment.”
“Good. That brings up two more things. First … Sarth, you have a spell of flying. Can you return to Seadrake, explain to Kara what we’re doing, and come back swiftly?”
Sarth nodded. “Of course, but we should get out of sight before I take to the air.”
“The place where we left the skiff should do. I don’t think many of the people here are in the habit of roaming the ruins at night.”
“What else?” Hamil asked.
Geran smiled. He knew it was a foolish thing, but it amused him nonetheless. “We’ll need to come up with good pirate names.”
EIGHT
30 Eleint, the Year of the Ageless One (1479 DR)
Moonshark sailed at dawn, as Narsk had promised. Before the lower limb of the sun had cleared the horizon, the half galley hauled in her lines and sculled slowly eastward with the current of the Tesh. By daylight the taverns and dens huddled in the ruins of Zhentil Keep struck Geran as squalid and small. None of the people living there showed themselves as the pirate ship set sail.
As he bent his back to one of the oars and pulled, Geran began to second-guess his strategy. The moment the ship got underway, Narsk and Sorsil dropped any pretense of civility. The burly first mate armed herself with a small cudgel and roamed the main deck freely employing the weapon against anyone who seemed to be shirking. Narsk prowled the quarterdeck, snarling savagely as he issued his orders. Worse yet, Geran’s new shipmates seemed a vicious lot. Most of the crewmen were humans from a wide variety of lands, but some were dwarves, some were half-orcs, some were goblins or kin to goblins, and there was even one ogre-a strapping, dimwitted creature called Kronn, who manned one of the ship’s oars by himself. They wore threadbare tunics, scraps of armor, tattered cloaks, and sodden hoods or misshapen hats. Geran caught more than a few studying him and his friends with calculating looks. Some grinned threateningly at him when he met their gaze. If there weren’t a dozen ready to slit his throat for a silver talent, he would have been astonished.