But the creature had forgotten Ivor, or considered him out of combat, and was taken by surprise when the stocky Turmish man charged, slashing sideways with the short sword.
The startled spellcaster turned, and the snake of blue-green force coalescing from its hand knocked the sword from Ivor’s hand. But the sword was only for distraction. Ivor drew his long knife from his belt with his left hand and slashed at the creature’s forearm with a vicious backhand stroke. The blade bit deep and the creature cried out, falling back against the wall. Ivor’s right hand dangled uselessly at his side, but he retained his grip on his better weapon. Still holding the knife in a backhand stance, he lunged at the wounded thing, aiming for the throat.
It flung up a long-fingered hand. Gareth saw nothing but sensed that the air in the hold had shifted. A ripple like the surface of a windblown pond emanated from the bone-white palm, and Ivor fell back heavily, as if struck by a long staff.
Gareth knew they had no time to reason or negotiate. Darting forward in the gloom, he knocked the creature’s arm up with an underhand blow of the solid hilt of his sword. Off balance and clutching both hands to its breast, it staggered against the wooden board at its back. This was no time to hesitate; with only a breath and a slight back step, Gareth thrust his blade through the creature’s sleeve, down and under the top of its rib cage and into the space where he hoped its heart would be.
He must have guessed right or hit some vital organ regardless, because the creature opened its mouth in a final inarticulate cry and its body spasmed, almost pulling Gareth’s sword from his hand. He pulled his blade from the body, hopping back a pace and ready in case it managed to come at him. Finally it stilled and lay collapsed across a couple of packing boxes, staring at the irregular angle where wall met splintery ceiling, as if it saw infinity there.
Something trickled down Gareth’s face, and his head throbbed acutely-the fighting had reopened the cut on his forehead. Cursing, he dabbed it with his sleeve. He was going to have a perishing great scar if he was ever given a chance to heal up.
There was a heartfelt groan behind him. Gareth jumped and whirled around, sword up. He prayed it wasn’t yet another of those things.
Ivor grinned at him, the tip of Gareth’s sword just touching his chest.
“Jumpy, aren’t you?” he said, shaking his right hand as if it pained him.
“And how.” Gareth turned back to the body and shifted his weapon to his left hand. Bending gingerly over the strange humanoid, he pulled at the elongated hand that curled against its chest. Between its fingers it held a round of metal.
“Lucky thing you’re left-handed,” he remarked over his shoulder as he plucked the object away and examined it, frowning. It was a rather plain bracelet, made like a small torque to slip over the wrist. It didn’t look like anything worth dying over. Surely there were richer pickings in the hold. But the creature had been clutching this.
“It’s proved useful,” said Ivor, and Gareth heard him slide his knife back into place at his belt. Gareth silently agreed. Few opponents in battle, facing a weapon wielded in the right hand, expected the dominant attack to come from a smaller, left-handed weapon.
Ivor leaned close to his shoulder to look at his prize. Gareth examined it as best he could in the dim light. The bracelet was a pale metal, too dull to be silver. Yet it didn’t have the heft or feel of pewter. It was simple, with no embellishment save three red stones-possibly garnets-set evenly along its length. The surface of the metal was polished, smooth to the touch, but looked crosshatched by tiny, even marks. Gareth turned it over in his fingers, frowning. It felt warm. And, oddly, the warmth fluctuated ever so slightly against his skin. It was if the piece had its own tiny heartbeat.
The fluctuation was becoming a flutter, as if he held a small, frightened bird in his hand. Instinct told him to drop it, but curiosity compelled him to hold it. On his upturned palm he could see it quiver, the movement slight but visible.
“Strange thing,” remarked Ivor. “Do you think … Bane’s blood!”
They both jumped. The bracelet flexed, one end butting against Gareth’s hand like a blind worm.
“Sweet Mother’s milk, throw the damned thing away!” said Ivor.
But Gareth couldn’t. He was frozen with an otherworldly fascination with the thing, watching as the strange metal writhed and elongated. Beneath his feet, the wide wooden floorboards shifted up and down as the ship lurched in the water, and he adjusted his balance automatically.
“It’s not doing anything,” said Gareth. “Nothing dangerous, at least.”
Ivor whistled soundlessly. “You know best. It’s you down with the fishes if you’re wrong,” he said. He nudged at a small bag of rough muslin, one of several scattered about the floor, with the tip of his boot. There was a satisfying clink of metal.
“I wonder if that’s what our late friend was so eager to keep from us,” he said. “Let’s have a look.”
Gareth watched as Ivor kneeled and loosed the thin cord tied about the mouth of the bag. He chuckled in satisfaction and held up a couple of elongated coins for Gareth’s perusal.
“Silver?”
“No, my rustic friend,” replied Ivor. “Platinum, or I’m a mermaid.” The coins were stamped with a pattern unfamiliar to Gareth, not unlike the markings on the elflike creature’s robe. He glanced again at the staring blind eyes, wishing he could have asked it about the scrolling runes, about how a member of such an alien race came to be on a merchant freighter on the Moonsea, about the object stirring in his hand. He wished it weren’t necessary to kill it.
But kill he would, if he must to stay alive. To make a safe place in this world, he would see Ping’s ship and all on her destroyed, if that’s what it took.
Between one heartbeat and the next he made a decision.
“Friend Ivor,” he said, casting a quick glance at the hatch overhead. “Would I be wrong to guess that life aboard the Orcsblood has little delight for you?”
Ivor glanced up from sifting through the contents of the bag-all foreign platinum coins, as far as Gareth could see-and narrowed his eyes, considering.
“Not very wrong,” he said. “I find Ping’s policies … unnecessarily harsh and wasteful. And I fear a reckoning is coming. I’d just as soon not be here to taste my share.”
“We think alike,” said Gareth. “And yet it’s my suspicion that for all Ping’s talk of fair share of the spoils and a blessing for the road, none leaves the Orcsblood save in a shark’s belly.”
“Worse. I think he gives them to Helgre,” said Ivor. They both looked nervously at the hatch. The sounds of battle had faded, and they heard the calls of their crewmates, one to another, on the deck of the doomed merchantman. The smell of smoke was heavy in the air.
“Two may have a better chance than one, working together,” said Gareth. “If they can trust each other.”
“If,” agreed Ivor. Carefully he pulled ten of the coins from the bag and transferred them to his own pouch. Six other bags were scattered about-probably fallen from one of the shattered packing boxes. Ivor gathered the bags together, taking ten coins-no more-from each. Before he tied the pouch shut, he went to the corpse and pulled a few-not all-of the gem-set rings adorning the creature’s fingers. Golden rings pierced the frilled ears, and Ivor considered them, then shook his head.
“Being greedy won’t help us,” he said. “See.…”
He held up the bulging pouch before Gareth’s eyes.
“If two could trust each other, they could see that those on night duty drank more than their fill tonight,” he said quickly. “If they were quick, they could climb over the side and cut the dock boat free. Two could row as far as Mulmaster. And seventy platinum is a good start for two. Two who trust each other.”
“Do we?” said Gareth. “You could have taken me from behind after the thing was dead.”