“Not if I can help it.” Dhamon parried the man’s wide swing, forcing him toward the capstan. As the knight drew back for another blow, Dhamon stepped closer, thrusting the blade up and through a gap in his armor. The wounded knight stepped back, clutching his stomach and brought his long sword down. The impact knocked the weapon out of Dhamon’s hand. The sword clattered to the deck.
Blood flowed from the knight-commander. “Malys wants you alive,” he repeated through clenched teeth. He coughed deeply and backed Dhamon toward the rail. “But I’m not going to see tomorrow. And now neither are you. Don’t know why Malys is so keen on you. Word is you were a knight.” He coughed again, rosy saliva spilling over his lip. “That would make you a traitor.”
The knight-commander drew back his blade, careful not to give Dhamon room to escape. “Rogue knights carry a death sentence.”
His sword arced toward Dhamon but stopped short, falling from his grip even as the knight-commander dropped to his knees. Dhamon’s sword stuck through the man, and Blister’s hands were on the hilt.
Dhamon bent and retrieved the commander’s sword, just as Blister huffed and tugged Dhamon’s sword free. Her hands were trembling.
“I think you better use this sword,” she said. “Too heavy for me. I like my sling better. I have to admit, though, he just wasn’t gonna be stopped by my buttons.”
“You saved my life,” Dhamon panted, as he plucked the sword from her grasp and dashed forward just in time to stop a knight from reaching Blister. He glanced over his shoulder and spotted the kender heading toward the rail, where Usha was climbing over.
“You saved my life,” he repeated as he parried the thrust of a new opponent. “But Palin will take my life sure enough if something happens to his wife.”
Feril had managed to pull up the rear anchor. A burly knight was headed her way, sword out and cursing.
“You’re the wild elf,” the knight said. He slowed and stood a few feet away. “Tattoo on the cheek. We’re ’sposed to kill you. Pity. You’re a pretty thing.”
He moved forward, and Feril spun to the side. Then she darted past him, her bare feet sounding on the deck. She ran hard, leaving him behind, but she still heard the pounding of his footsteps. She rushed to Dhamon’s side. He had just dropped another knight and was standing in front of Usha and Blister, trying to keep them safe.
The Kagonesti glanced around. Bodies littered the deck. Dhamon was bleeding from cuts on his arms and legs, and there was a gash across his stomach. Several yards beyond him, Jasper kept two knights at bay. Despite their longer reaches, they gave the dwarf a wide berth, keeping their eyes on the scepter.
Feril got Dhamon’s attention, pointing to the dwarf, and then to Rig and Fiona on the other side of the ship. Five knights jockeyed for position around the Solamnic and the mariner.
Dhamon pushed his sword into Feril’s hands, and bent to scoop up a blade from a fallen knight. “The Knights of Takhisis use slaves to man their oars,” he shouted above the din of battle. “They’d be down in the hold.” Then he spun on his heels and headed toward Rig and Fiona. “Free them if you can!” he called over his shoulder.
“We have to try,” Usha said, her voice difficult for the Kagonesti to hear over the clang of swords.
“Then let’s go.” The Kagonesti darted toward the open hatch, Usha at her heels. Blister followed, but paused to pelt a knight with a slingful of buttons.
Feril stepped over the body of a knight lying at the edge of the hatch. She bent and pried a long sword out of his cold fingers. She held it out to Usha. “Take it!” The elf pressed the pommel into Usha’s hands. “There might be more knights below.”
The Kagonesti and Usha disappeared below deck. Blister stood at the hatch, sling ready, watching for any knights. None seemed to be interested in the kender any longer. They were directing most of their efforts against Dhamon, Rig, and Fiona and Groller.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Blister taunted softly. “I can take you. I can... hmmm. Maybe weapons aren’t the answer.”
The kender glanced toward the rear of the ship, at the sack Rig and Dhamon had hauled over the side. It sat undisturbed. “Or maybe a different kind of weapon would work,” she said to herself. Blister took a look into the hatch and strained to hear Feril and Usha. “Nothing. Must mean they’re okay so far and not in trouble.” She stuffed her sling in her pocket and headed toward the sack.
At midships, Dhamon was fighting at the side of Rig and Fiona, quickly slashing through two of the five men who surrounded them. That left one foe for each, and Dhamon faced the one in armor.
Several yards beyond them, Groller struggled against three knights, with another three heading toward him. Dhamon tried to keep the half-ogre in sight as he continued to assault his foe.
“There can’t be more than two dozen left now!” Rig cried cheerfully. The mariner was hurt badly, bleeding from a gash in his side and from several deep cuts on his leg. Fiona was exhausted, but uninjured. Her Solamnic armor had protected her well. “We can take ’em!” Rig continued. “We can...” Out of the comer of his eye he saw Groller slump to the deck, six knights around him now. “Groller!”
Dhamon saw what was happening to Groller too, but he could not get past the armored knight in front of him.
The mariner summoned all that was left of his strength and swung his sword. But each thrust was parried, preventing Rig from reaching the half-ogre. “No!” he screamed, as he watched one of the knights shove a sword in Groller’s back. The knight stepped on the half-ogre, tugged the blade free, then pointed toward Rig. The six men turned as one and advanced.
Dhamon tried not to think about Groller as he fought on. He managed to stab his opponent. The knight howled in pain, and when Dhamon struck him again, he dropped his sword and fell to his knees. With one swift stroke, Dhamon whipped his blade across the man’s neck. So much for honor, he said to himself as he stepped forward to fight the half-dozen knights who’d finished off Groller.
Dhamon met the lead knight head-on, plunging his long sword into the man’s unarmored chest. The sword lodged deep and stuck, as the man fell.
Behind him, he heard a throaty groan and a loud thump, but he couldn’t afford to take his eyes off the five men in front of him. Two of those he faced carried shields, black as night with lilies gleaming around the edges. One wielded a wicked-looking morning star.
“Bastards!” Rig, clutching his bleeding side, raced past Dhamon to grapple with the two knights with shields.
“Rig, don’t be a fool!” Dhamon called to him. “You’re badly hurt!” He scanned the deck, spotted a discarded sword, and dove for it, his fingers closing on the pommel, just as three of the knights reached him. He jumped to his feet, and out of the corner of his eye saw Rig reeling from blows.
“Dhamon!” Fiona screamed. “Rig’s down! Help him!” She had her hands full, dueling with two knights. She cast worried glances at the mariner, while swinging her sword erratically.
Rig slumped to his knees, in a growing pool of blood. Somehow he raised his sword just in time to block one of the knight’s blows. Another cut at his sword arm. Rig screamed, and his sword spun away.
“Fight me!” Dhamon challenged the three men in front of him.
“All right, let’s be done with this,” the one with the morning star returned. He took up a position in front of Dhamon, while the knights with swords lined up alongside him.
One of the other two swung again at Rig, and the mariner pitched forward. The knight placed a conquering foot on the body.
“You used to be honorable!” Dhamon snarled. “Honorable!”
The knight with the morning star grinned. “Only you and the lady knight left,” he said as he whirled the weapon in a circle above his head. “And the women who went below decks. We’ll take our time with them. Save ’em for last. I’m not too worried about the kender.”