Beside him, Jak was visible through his new sense. The little man eyed the forecastle, blades in hand.
The slaadi will be in the forecastle, Cale said to Jak and Magadon. Mags, we are both invisible.
Keep me apprised of where you are, Magadon answered. I don't want an errant shot to hit you accidentally.
Cale sent an acknowledgement and he and Jak silently crept among the sleeping crew toward the forecastle. They updated Magadon as to their location every five or so paces. Cale checked the faces of the sleeping crewmen closely, in case a disguised Riven was among them. He was not. Cale figured Riven to be with the slaadi.
Together, the two made their way invisibly over the deck.
It took Azriim a moment to spy the priest and his halfling companion. He spotted them on the maindeck, near the mast. He watched them creep across the deck toward the forecastle, as silent as specters. Their invisibility spells did not shield them from Azriim's vision, but he had almost missed them-despite their invisibility, they both kept to the shadows, seemingly out of professional habit. Azriim pointed them out for Dolgan. Azriim did not see Riven, and the human had not responded to Azriim's mental call. He decided to try again.
Answer me, assassin, he sent.
Be silent, Riven finally responded. Their mindmage may detect the communication. Maintain the connection and I will contact you when I'm ready.
Azriim had not seen the mindmage. He scanned the ship but still did not see him.
We are on the maindeck behind the forecastle, Azriim said. The priest and the halfling are moving right toward us. Where are you? Where is their mindmage?
The assassin did not respond and Azriim sighed with perturbation.
Cale and the halfling drew closer, checking the crew as they approached.
Beside Azriim, Dolgan grew eager for bloodshed. He shifted from foot to foot and grunted softly.
Silence, Azriim commanded him.
The big slaad bit down on his lip until it bled and asked, What are we going to do?
Azriim could have simply fled Demon Binder for Dolphin's Coffer. That had been his plan, after all. He had put Demon Binder on a course far from Dolphin's Coffer and the vicinity of sunken Sakkors. And he could see to it that Cale and his companions would have difficulty following him after they left the ship.
But that would not have been fun at all. Better to just kill them, he thought.
He grinned at his broodmate and said, Let's shoot a lightning bolt down their gullets and burn the ship out from under them.
Dolgan chuckled and pointed his finger at the halfling. Azriim slapped his hand down.
Not yet. When they get close. I want to see his face when it happens.
A dagger toss from the forecastle, Cale saw the slaadi with his magical sense. They were in human form, standing invisibly under the eave of the forecastle's deck. The captain-Azriim, Cale presumed-held a wand in one hand. The mate-Dolgan, no doubt-shifted from foot to foot, licking his lips.
Cale managed not to give a start, though he wondered how they had learned that he was aboard. An alarm spell of some kind, he supposed.
Thinking quickly, he feigned examination of a crewman sleeping in a deckbag near him.
Little man, look at this. He nodded at the sleeping sailor, a grizzled slaver of no interest whatsoever. The man smacked his lips and turned over in his deckbag.
Jak turned and came to Cale's side. Before he could speak, Cale said,
The slaadi are standing to either side of the forecastle door. They see us. I don't think they know that I can see them.
Jak stiffened, but only just. Cale hoped the slaadi had not noticed. He knew he had only a few moments before the creatures would get suspicious.
Can you make them visible? he asked Jak.
Jak nodded, as if at something Cale was saying about the crewman. Cale gestured at another crewman, as though they were making conversation about something.
Just as you're about to finish the spell, you signal me, Cale said. I will close on them. Mags, you shoot at Dolgan the moment he is visible to you. He's to your right of the forecastle door. I will tell you if he moves.
Understood, Magadon answered.
Cale and Jak both nodded, pretending to be in accord about something. They turned and started back toward the forecastle, continuing to move as slowly as before.
Jak palmed his holy symbol and began to incant.
From his vantage in the crow's nest, Magadon looked down at the forecastle. He imagined the slaad's location and drew an arrow to his ear. He found his mental focus, summoned his energy, and caused it to manifest physically on his arrow. The tip's edges glinted dim red, charged with power.
He judged the wind and the distance, and readied himself. The moment Jak rendered the slaadi visible, he would let fly.
His heart nearly stopped when the cold edge of a sharp blade settled against his throat, and the sharp point of another settled against his spine. Magadon had heard nothing.
"Goodeve, Mags," said a voice.
Drasek Riven's voice.
Magadon went cold.
Jak whispered the final word to his spell even as his mental voice said to Cale and Magadon, Now!
Cale stepped from the shadows around him and into the shadows beside Azriim. He materialized at the same moment that the magical pulse from Jak's spell reached the slaadi. The pulse hit Cale and the slaadi and stripped all three of their invisibility.
Cale drove Weaveshear into Azriim's side, through his ribs, through his lungs, and into his heart. The slaad gasped with pain and sank to his knees, his mismatched eyes wide with surprise. Blood poured from his open mouth.
Cale expected a mentally-charged arrow to come streaking out of the crow's nest but it never did. He had his back to Dolgan but his augmented magical sense saw the slaad as he pointed his hand at Cale.
Cale jerked Weaveshear free of Azriim and tried to intercept whatever was coming but he was too slow. A white-hot lightning bolt issued from the slaad's palm, slammed into Cale's side, burned a hole into his flesh, and sent him skidding across the deck. For an alarming moment, his pain-wracked body would not respond to his commands. The air smelled acrid, with an undertone of burning flesh and cloth. But as his shade flesh regenerated the injuries, the pain subsided and his body answered.
Mags! Cale projected to Magadon, climbing to all fours and turning around. Shoot!
Jak became visible as he chanted the words to another spell and fired a bolt of white energy into Dolgan. The divine force hit the slaad in the side. He grunted and took a backward step. Jak charged at him, blades bare.
Meanwhile, Azriim had found his feet. Like Cale, the slaad's flesh was already regenerating. He leered at Cale as he stood, still bleeding from a hole in his side, and spat a gob of blood to the deck.
Cale rose on wobbly legs and brandished Weaveshear.
The noise of the battle was waking the slavers. On the maindeck, sailors rose, assessed the situation, shouted, and grabbed for weapons. A call went up: "Invaders at the forecastle! They're at the captain and Hack. Arms! Arms!"
Cale had only moments. He advanced on Azriim but Magadon's mental voice sounded in his brain. Erevis, stop! Riven. . has me.
It took a moment for the words to register. When they did, Cale stopped cold and cursed. Jak, too, stopped his charge.
"Now, now," said Azriim, favoring his side but still smiling. "Mind the cursing or I'll have Riven gut your mindmage."
Cale gritted his teeth. Magadon's mental projection must have reached the slaadi. Azriim took out his bronze teleportation rod and began turning its dials, slowly, just to gloat. In his other hand, he held a wand of blackened iron capped with an orange jewel.