Catti-brie and Bruenor composed themselves and looked back to see the tip of the ship’s mast burning like a single candle in the gray mist.
“Ye’re too low,” Catti-brie reiterated.
11. Hot Winds
The Sea Sprite cruised easily under clear blue skies and the lazy warmth of the southern Realms. A strong trade wind kept its sails filled, and only six days after their departure from Baldur’s Gate, the western tip of the Tethyr Peninsula was already in sight—a journey that normally took more than a week.
But a wizard’s call traveled faster still.
Captain Deudermont took the Sea Sprite down the center of Asavir’s Channel, trying to keep a safe distance from the peninsula’s sheltered bays—bays that often held pirates poised for passing merchant vessels—and also cautious to keep a healthy gap of water between his ship and the islands on his west: the Nelanther, the infamous Pirate Isles. The captain felt safe enough in the crowded sea lane, with the banner of Calimport flying above his craft and the sails of several other merchant ships dotting the horizon every so often both in front of and behind the Sea Sprite.
Using a common merchant’s trick, Deudermont closed in on a vessel and shadowed its course, keeping the Sea Sprite in its wake. Less maneuverable and slower than the Sea Sprite and flying the flag of Murann, a lesser city on the Sword Coast, this second ship would provide a much easier target to any pirates in the area.
Eighty feet above the water, taking a turn in the crow’s nest, Wulfgar had the clearest view of the deck of the ship ahead. With his strength and agility, the barbarian was fast becoming quite a sailor, eagerly taking his turn at every job alongside the rest of the crew. His favorite duty was the crow’s nest, though it was a tight fit for a man of his size. He was at peace in the warm breeze and solitude. He rested against the mast, using one hand to block out the daytime glare, and studied the crew’s activities on the ship ahead.
He heard the front ship’s lookout call something down, though he couldn’t make out the words, then saw the crew rushing about frantically, most heading for the prow to watch the horizon. Wulfgar jolted upright and leaned over the nest, straining his eyes to the south.
“How do they feel, having us in tow?” Drizzt, standing beside Deudermont on the bridge, asked the captain. While Wulfgar had been building a rapport working beside the crew, Drizzt had struck a solid friendship with the captain. And realizing the value of the elf’s opinions, Deudermont gladly shared his knowledge of his station, and of the sea, with Drizzt. “Do they understand their role as fodder?”
“They know our purpose in shadowing them, and their captain—if he is an experienced sailor—would do the same if our positions were reversed,” Deudermont replied. “Yet we bring them an extra measure of safety as well. Just having a ship from Calimport in sight will deter many of the pirates.”
“And perhaps they feel that we would come to their aid in the face of such an attack?” Drizzt was quick to ask.
Deudermont knew that Drizzt was interested in discovering if the Sea Sprite would indeed go to the other ship’s aid. Drizzt had a strong streak of honor in him, Deudermont understood, and the captain, of similar morals, admired him for it. But Deudermont’s responsibilities as the captain of a vessel were too involved for such a hypothetical situation. “Perhaps,” he replied.
Drizzt let the line of questioning end, satisfied that Deudermont kept the scales of duty and morality in proper balance.
“Sails to the south!” came Wulfgar’s call from above, bringing many of the Sea Sprite’s crew to the forward rail.
Deudermont’s eyes went to the horizon, then to Wulfgar. “How many?”
“Two ships!” Wulfgar called back. “Running north and even, and wide apart!”
“Port and starboard?” Deudermont asked.
Wulfgar took a close measure of the intercepting course then affirmed the captain’s suspicions. “We will pass between them!”
“Pirates?” Drizzt asked, knowing the answer.
“So it would seem,” the captain replied. The distant sails came into view to the men on the deck.
“I see no flag,” one of the sailors near the bridge called to the captain.
Drizzt pointed to the merchant ship ahead. “Are they the target?”
Deudermont nodded grimly. “So it would seem,” he said again.
“Then let us close up with them,” the drow said. “Two against two seems a fairer fight.”
Deudermont stared into Drizzt’s lavender eyes and was almost stunned by their sudden gleam. How could the captain hope to make this honorable warrior understand their place in the scenario? The Sea Sprite flew Calimport’s flag, the other ship, Murann’s. The two were hardly allies.
“The encounter may not come to blows,” he told Drizzt. “The Murann vessel would be wise to surrender peacefully.”
Drizzt began to see the reasoning. “So flying Calimport’s flag holds responsibilities as well as benefits?”
Deudermont shrugged helplessly. “Think of the thieves’ guilds in the cities you have known,” he explained. “Pirates are much the same an unavoidable nuisance. If we sail in to fight, we would dispel any self-restraint the pirates hold upon themselves, most probably bringing more trouble than need be.”
“And we would mark every ship under Calimport’s flag sailing the Channel,” Drizzt added, no longer looking at the captain, but watching the spectacle unfold before him. The light dropped from his eyes.
Deudermont, inspired by Drizzt’s grasp of principles—a grip that would not allow such acceptance of rogues—put a hand on the elf’s shoulder. “If the encounter comes to blows,” the captain said, drawing Drizzt’s gaze back to his own, “the Sea Sprite will join the battle.”
Drizzt turned back to the horizon and clapped Deudermont’s hand with his own. The eager fire returned to his eyes as Deudermont ordered the crew to stand ready.
The captain really didn’t expect a fight. He had seen dozens of engagements such as this, and normally when the pirates outnumbered their intended victim, the looting was accomplished without bloodshed. But Deudermont, with so many years of experience on the sea, soon realized that something was strange this time. The pirate ships kept their course wide, passing too far abreast of the Murann ship to board it. At first, Deudermont thought the pirates meant to launch a distance strike—one of the pirate vessels had a catapult mounted to its afterdeck—to cripple their victim, though the act seemed unnecessary.
Then the captain understood the truth. The pirates had no interest in the Murann ship. The Sea Sprite was their target.
From his high perch, Wulfgar, too, realized that the pirates were sailing right by the lead ship. “Take up arms!” he cried to the crew. “They aim for us!”
“You may indeed get your fight,” Deudermont said to Drizzt. “It seems that Calimport’s flag will not protect us this time.”
To Drizzt’s night-attuned eyes, the distant ships appeared as no more than tiny black dots in the glare of the shining water, but the drow could make out what was happening well enough. He couldn’t understand the logic of the pirates’ choice, though, and he had a strange feeling that he and Wulfgar might be somehow connected to the unfolding events. “Why us?” he asked Deudermont.
The captain shrugged. “Perhaps they have heard a rumor that one of Calimport’s ships will be laden with a valuable cargo.”
The image of the fireballs exploding in the night sky over Baldur’s Gate flashed in Drizzt’s mind. A signal? he wondered again. He couldn’t yet put all of the pieces together, but his suspicions led him invariably to the theory that he and Wulfgar were somehow involved in the pirates’ choice of ships.