"Just ye be careful down there, an' don't go gettin' too brave until we get down there with ye."
Darrick nodded, then started down the mountainside toward the riverbank. Mat and Maldrin followed him, as silent as falling snow in the winter.
Raithen followed the steps cut into the riverbank overlooking the boats. When the steps had first been cut from the stone of the mountains, they'd doubtless been of an even keel. Now, after the damage that had been done to the city, they canted to one side, making the descent a tricky one. Since Raithen's crew had been holed up at Tauruk's Port, more than one drunken pirate had ended up in the water below, and two of them had been swept away in the current and likely drowned by the time they reached the Gulf of Westmarch.
He carried a lantern to light the way, and the golden glow played over the striations in the mountainside. In the day, the stone shone blue and slate gray, different levels marked by a deepening of color till the rock looked almost charcoal gray before disappearing beneath the river's edge. The fog maintained a soft presence around him, but he saw the three cogs through it without problem.
Pirates assigned to guard duty squared their shoulders and looked alert as he passed. They deferred to him with politeness he'd beaten into some of them.
A sudden shrill of rope through pulleys alerted him to activity above.
"Look alive, ye great bastards," a rough voice called down. "I've got ye a load of victuals, I have."
"Send it on down," a man called on the cog to Raithen's right. "Been waitin' on it a dog's age. Feel like my stomach's been wrappin' itself around me backbone."
Pressing himself against the mountainside, Raithenwatched as a short, squat barrel was let go. The pulleys slowed the barrel's descent, proving that the load was light. The scent of salted pork passed within inches of Raithen.
"Got you a bottle of wine in there, too," the man called.
"An' ye damn near hit Cap'n Raithen with it, ye lummox," the guard only a few feet from the pirate captain yelled out.
A muttered curse followed. "Excuse me, cap'n," the man said in a contrite voice. "Didn't know it was ye."
Raithen held the lantern up so the man could plainly see his features. "Hurry up."
"Aye, sir. Right away, sir." The pirate raised his voice. "Ye lads heave off with that barrel. We need another, I'll fetch it up later."
The pirates aboard the first cog threw off the lines, and they were hauled back up the block-and-tackle.
As soon as the way was clear, Raithen walked to the first of the small temporary docks floating on the black water. He climbed the cargo net tossed over the side of the cog and stepped to the cog's deck.
"Evenin', cap'n," a scar-faced pirate greeted. A half dozen other pirates did the same but didn't slow in their efforts to take the food from the barrel.
Raithen nodded at the man, feeling the pain in his wounded throat. When the ships were in port, he made certain the men stayed out of ships' stores. All of the cogs stayed fully loaded at all times, in case they had to flee out to deep water. His other ships lay a few days away, anchored off the north coastline in a bay that could be treacherous to an understaffed ship.
Planks spanned the distance between the ships. The river current was gentle enough that the cogs didn't fight the tether while they lay at anchorage. On board Barracuda, the ship kept between the other two, he saw Bull sitting in the prow puffing on a pipe.
"Cap'n," Bull acknowledged, taking the pipe from between his teeth. He was a big man, seemingly assembled from masts. A scarf tied around his head bound hiswounded ear, but bloodstains were visible down the sides of his neck.
"How's the boy, Bull?" Raithen asked.
"Why, he's fine, cap'n," Bull replied. "Any reason he shouldn't be?"
"I heard about your ear."
"This little thing?" Bull touched his wounded ear and grinned. "Why, it ain't nothing for ye to be worryin' over, cap'n."
"I'm not worrying over it," Raithen said. "I figure any pirate who gets taken in by a boy isn't worth the salt I pay him to crew my ship."
Bull's face darkened, but Raithen knew it was out of embarrassment. "It's just that he's such an innocent-lookin' thing, cap'n. Didn't figure him for no shenanigans like this. An' that two-by-four? Why, he like to took me plumb by surprise. I'm right tempted to keep him fer myself if'n the king don't ransom him back. I'm tellin' ye true, cap'n, we've done a lot worse than take on somebody like this boy for crew."
"I'll keep that in mind," Raithen said.
"Aye, sir. I weren't offerin' outta nothin' but respect for ye and that mean-spirited little lad down in the hold."
"I want to see him."
"Cap'n, I swear to ye, I ain't done nothin' to him."
"I know, Bull," Raithen said. "My reasons are my own."
"Aye, sir." Bull took a massive key ring from his waist sash, then knocked the contents of his pipe into the river. No fires except the watch's lanterns were allowed down in the hold, and those were taken there seldom.
Bull walked into the small cargo hold. Raithen followed, inhaling the familiar stink. When he'd been with the Westmarch Navy, ships were not allowed to stink so. Sailors had been kept busy cleaning them out, dosing them with salt water and vinegar to kill any fungus or mold that tried to leach into the wood.
The boy was kept in the small brig in the stern of the cog.
After unlocking the brig door, Bull shoved his big head in, then pulled it out just as quickly. He reached up and caught a board aimed at his face, then tugged on it.
The boy flopped onto the ship's deck, landing hard on his belly and face. Quick as a fish taken out of water, the boy tried to get to his feet. Bull pinned him to the ship's deck with one massive boot.
Incredibly, the boy revealed a huge knowledge of vituperative name-calling.
"Like I said, cap'n," Bull said with a grin, "this 'un here, why, he'd make for a fine pirate, he would."
"Captain?" the boy squalled. Even trapped under Bull's foot, he craned his head around and tried to gaze up. "You're the captain of this pigsty? Why, if I was you, I'd sew a bag for my head and only leave myself one eyehole out of embarrassment."
In the first real amusement he'd felt that night, Raithen glanced down at the boy. "He's not afraid, Bull?"
"Afraid?" the boy squealed. "I'm afraid I'm going to die of boredom. You've had me for five days now. Three of them spent here in this ship. When I get back to my da and he speaks with his brother, the king, why, I'll come back here and help wallop you myself." He clenched his fists and beat the deck. "Let me up, and give me a sword. I'll fight you. By the Light, I'll give you the fight of your life."
Truly taken aback by the boy's demeanor, Raithen studied him. The boy was lean and muscular, starting to lose his baby fat. Raithen guessed he was eleven or twelve, possibly even as much as thirteen. A thick shock of dark hair crowned the boy's head, and the lantern light revealed that he had gray or green eyes.
"Do you even know where you're at, boy?" Raithen asked.
"When the king's navy pays you off or tracks you down," the boy said, "I'll know where you are. Don't you think that I won't."
Squatting down, holding the lantern close to the boy's face, Raithen shook the dagger sheathed along his arm freeagain. He rammed the point into the wooden deck only an inch from the boy's nose.
"The last person to threaten me tonight," Raithen said in a hoarse voice, "died only minutes ago. I won't mind killing another."
The boy's eyes focused on the knife. He swallowed hard but remained silent.
"I'll have your name, boy," Raithen said.
"Lhex," the boy whispered. "My name is Lhex."