For a moment, Pirvan thought he was going to need to step between the sailor and the wizard, lest they come to blows. Certainly that fear was on the face of everyone within earshot, which probably included everyone in the Boatsteerer and in the street outside!
Tarothin at last took a deep breath, forced his hands down to his sides, and licked his lips.
“Pirvan, make my apologies to your lady, and to others whom you think deserve it. I find that I cannot continue on this quest. Rubina commands all the magic you will need, even if she cannot command herself any better than Jemar.”
The sea barbarian took on the look of a bull walrus about to attack. “I command both myself and my ships. And I say that if you think otherwise, then you can spare yourself ever setting foot aboard any vessel of mine!”
“That will be a pleasure I did not anticipate,” Tarothin nearly snarled, and he strode out so furiously that he collided with a serving boy and brought down both boy and a tray of dishes with a resounding crash.
“This does not seem to have been the best-spent evening since we met,” Jemar said, somewhat later. It had taken some while for the men to pay the landlord for the damages and for Haimya to use her old field-nursing skills to patch up the boy. He would hurt more on the morrow than if Rubina had healed him, but no one was prepared to seek out the Black Robe and interrupt her “healing” of Birak Epron.
Pirvan shortly thereafter declared himself exhausted and strode off for the chamber he shared with Haimya. He was not in the least sleepy, but the need for sleep would serve well enough as an excuse to avoid others until his own temper healed.
He would not have believed Tarothin capable of such folly as that jealous rage. He did not believe Rubina would prove any kind of an adequate replacement for Tarothin, for Karthayan or kender, for she was a Black Robe and therefore a servant of Takhisis. The Dark Queen stood for all that Paladine, patron of the Knights of Solamnia, opposed.
He even wondered if it was lawful, let alone prudent, for him to continue on the quest.
The one consolation he found before he blew out the candle was that he had actually grown sleepy while washing himself and pulling on his nightshirt.
* * * * *
There was someone in the room with Pirvan, and he had his dagger out from under the pillow the moment after he realized this. Then he lay perfectly still-until, by the smell and sound of breathing, by the sound of clothes being removed and boots being slipped off, he recognized Haimya.
He needed no further recognition, but he had it anyway as she slipped into the bed and threw her arms around him from behind. Her warm breath was soft and soothing on the back of his neck. He slipped the dagger back under the pillow and lay still.
“Kurulus has returned,” Haimya said at length. “He says it would be well to make haste, to set our plans afoot. More ships-twenty at least, and soldiers in proportion-are gathering in Istar, to join those already here.”
Pirvan frowned. The plan was simple enough: Jemar would carry Pirvan and some two hundred mercenary soldiers across the bay and land them secretly. They would then march overland, toward the region where Waydol the Minotaur held sway.
Meanwhile, Jemar would sail out of the Bay of Istar, carrying another hundred hired swords, and proceed westward, to meet his remaining ships and men. He would bring them to the coast where Waydol’s stronghold was believed to lie, at the same time as the marching column reached its landward side. Then, having no need to collect Waydol’s head or anyone else’s in order to accomplish their plan, the companions would offer Waydol and even his band safe passage beyond the reach of Istar’s fleets and armies.
If Istar was going to send further strength for sea and land into the north, however, it was now a race. It was not only a race of the companions to reach Waydol’s stronghold before Aurhinius did. It was also a race of the companions against Istar’s preventing Jemar from sailing or the sell-swords from marching.
Also, there was the danger that the Istarians, in their arrogance, might do this by blockading Karthay or landing soldiers in territory that the Karthayans considered they ruled directly, rather than Istar. Either could make the breach between Istar and Karthay open. Preventing that open breach was the whole purpose of Pirvan and Haimya assembling their companions and resources and leaving hearth and home at the behest of the Knights of Solamnia!
Even Haimya’s warmth against him did not ease Pirvan.
She felt that tautness and unease in him and drew him harder against herself. “What troubles you, my lord and love?”
He told her of his thoughts and added his disgust with Tarothin. “I do not know if a man is ever too old to make a fool of himself over a woman. But Tarothin is far too old to throw a tantrum like that, and to endanger sworn companions by it.”
He felt Haimya shaking then, and started to roll over, wanting to hug her and kiss away the tears that would be falling in the next moment.
What happened in the next moment, instead, was her teeth nearly meeting in the lobe of his left ear. The pillow fortunately stifled his yell, and by the time the pain had faded he realized that Haimya was not weeping but quite the reverse.
“My lady,” he whispered. “You can have a pillow to stifle your laughter. But if you do not tell me the jest afterward, I shall stifle you.”
Slowly, Haimya sobered. “I wish we could have told you before,” she began, “but we knew-”
“We?”
“Jemar, Tarothin, and myself. I believe Grimsoar guessed, but he can hold his tongue and countenance.”
“You are adding to the mystery, rather than dispelling it,” Pirvan said, wearily. “Please go on.”
“Simply enough, the quarrel was feigned. Tarothin remains behind, his loyalty to Istar and the kingpriest apparently restored. With a trifle of luck and a few bribes, for which Jemar has provided the silver, Tarothin will be able to sail with the Istarian fleet. This gives us eyes, ears, and magic among our enemies-or at least those who may become so.”
Pirvan shifted position. The warmth of Haimya beside him was so comfortable that he would have gone back to sleep if his mind had not still been whirling like a carnival dancer.
“Did you not trust me?”
“Your honor, yes. Your face, no.”
“My face?”
“It would have been a scroll on which enemies might read what they ought not to. I suppose you were too honest as a thief to be a good actor, and of course you have been a Knight of Solamnia for ten good years-”
It was a while longer before Haimya finally persuaded Pirvan of the truth of the matter. When at last she did, his first reply was to laugh softly into her hair.
Then he took her in his arms.
“Well, I may not be the actor Tarothin is, but I have one blessing for the rest of this quest that he lacks.”
“And that is?”
“He must remain celibate for the remainder of this journey. I, on the other hand-”
Haimya ended the conversation with her lips.
Chapter 9
The little expedition had to retrace its course somewhat to be sure of landing Pirvan and his men securely. Directly across from Karthay would be too close to Istariku and its swelling garrison and fleet. Going north to near the mouth of the bay would mean a long march across territory already garrisoned, where it was not rank tropical forest.
Sailing south meant a long march, but one free of large towns, hostile garrisons, or the more formidable sort of natural obstacles. It was also well-watered country, with plenty of game; there was no hope of the marchers carrying enough food for the whole journey.
What they could not hunt or pick, they intended to buy, and the gold and silver gathered by Jemar and the knights together would go a long way toward opening storehouses. Pirvan hoped that the money would go even farther toward closing mouths.