"I know, Calebaan, and I should hate to hear of that happening." Cordyan walked back to the hitching post where they'd left their mounts.
"You like this young man, don't you?" the watch wizard asked.
Cordyan felt her face color and she didn't dare look at her friend. "He is a brave, good man from what I have seen."
"That's not what I asked."
That's the only answer that I'll give you, Calebaan. Anything else is for my thoughts only."
"Then you should not wear them so apparently on your sleeve."
"You think you know so much, then tell me where Baylee is right now and what it is that he seeks."
Calebaan only laughed, which infuriated Cordyan even more.
"You missed dinner last night."
Baylee took his plate from the mess hall and crossed the deck to sit with Ciwa Cthulad near the middle of the cargo vessel. The morning had brought rough seas, and eating in the galley hadn't seemed a good idea. Xuxa hadn't liked the idea at all.
The justifier sat on the rise of deck just above the cargo hold, his plate held before him. Sailcloth cracked and popped overhead. Sailors scurried through the rigging, dropping and adding sheets as orders were carried out.
"I didn't know I would sleep through the whole night" Baylee dropped into a cross-legged position in front of the old ranger. He balanced his plate on his knees, piled high with wheat cakes, bacon and breakfast steak, fried potatoes, and two oranges. He'd had to pay the cook a few silver pieces above his boarding passage for the extra fruit.
"Evidently you needed it. I know you didn't sleep well on the journey from the forgathering."
Xuxa flew to a net of ship's rigging over Baylee's head and remained within reach. She waited politely as he peeled the first orange and sectioned it out. He broke the first wedge in half and offered it up.
Thank you, she said as she took the offered bit of fruit. She chuckled contentedly as she began to eat.
"I offered her dinner last night," Cthulad said, "but she deigned not to eat, chancing instead to await you."
Little did I know you were going to sleep away your life last night, Xuxa chided.
Sorry. Silverware appeared to be something of a luxury aboard Kerrijan's Hammer. Baylee rolled up the first wheat cake, all smothered with butter and honey, and ate it. The wheat cake, after spending the night without food, seemed as good as any he'd ever had. "She meant no offense."
"Oh, none was taken. She explained how she felt and I graciously accepted her decision." Cthulad smiled at the bat. "I sat with her and kept her company. She is quite eloquent."
"There are times," Baylee admitted, "when you can't get her to shut up." He took a strip of bacon in his fingers, broke off a tiny piece, and offered it to. Xuxa.
The azmyth bat lapped at it with her tongue. She wouldn't eat the meat out of preference, but she did like the taste of the grease.
"She seems quite concerned about your relationship with a young woman named Jaeleen," Cthulad said.
Baylee dropped his hand away from Xuxa. She made a frantic grab and managed to snatch the bacon morsel from his fingertips. "That has no bearing on our present course," Baylee pointed out.
“True." Cthulad finished the last bite of his wheat cakes. 'Tell me about Uziraff Fireblade, the man we are going to the Moonshaes to meet."
"He considers himself an explorer." Baylee made a grimace of disgust. "But he is little more than a freebooter who sometimes strikes the skull and crossbones to do a little trading with those who wish to purchase certain discoveries he's been fortunate enough to discover."
"I wouldn't think a man of Fannt Golsway's reputation would deal with such a man."
"When it comes to antiquities," Baylee said, "those are the people an honest explorer deals with most of the time. Grave robbers. Tomb raiders. Body snatchers. Thieves. And killers. You run the gamut of the bottom of all Faerun when you seek to uncover the past. And you have to deal with them all."
"Why?"
Baylee sopped up more honey with another wheat cake and popped it into his mouth. "Because those are the people who generally get into areas that you haven't been able to get into yourself. Some of the regions they make discoveries in are sanctioned, and explorers are viewed only as interlopers. They take things that are better left to museums and true collectors."
"For a price?"
"Yes. If you have a collector with a deep purse, those grave robbers know they can get a lot of gold pieces from someone who really wants a particular piece."
"I've heard some say that the work of an explorer is only one step removed from a grave robber," Cthulad said.
Baylee started to take offense.
He is only asking, Xuxa said, seeking to better understand how you see yourself.
Forcing himself to relax, Baylee said, "In some respects, I suppose the comparisons are inevitable. We operate from the same deep purses. The grave robbers demand the money after they've made the discovery. Explorers ask benefactors to put the money up ahead of time, wheedling and pleading, and showing as much of the information as they dare so that it is not stolen and used by someone else. In the end, all the items that are worthwhile and are recovered end up in the same museums and collectors' hands. Only the prices differ. A thief won't care about the history that goes with a particular piece, but an explorer will learn from it first before passing it along. In fact, many of an explorer's discoveries will be of things that are not of gold or silver. Codices to a forgotten language, for example."
"So it wasn't unusual for Golsway to deal with someone like Uzi-raff?"
"No. In fact, most of the business we did involved dealings with people like him. And much worse." Baylee handed another section of orange to Xuxa. "There are some who lure a willing buyer into a remote location to close the sale, then kill him and seek out yet another buyer."
"When we see Uziraff, will we be able to trust him?"
"If we don't let him out of our sight."
"He has a crew and a ship?"
"Yes."
Cthulad made a sighing noise. "Have you considered the fact that there are only two of us…”
Three, Xuxa added.
"Three," Cthulad corrected himself, "of us who are walking into this pirate's den to strike a deal with him?"
"There is no one else to deal with," Baylee stated simply.
"It will be hard to hold him accountable to any bargain we may strike. Unless you know something I don't."
"If we try to hold him accountable by force," Baylee said, "hell know he has something worth a great deal. It would make him even harder to bargain with."
Cthulad gazed out over the open sea for a time. "I'd feel better if we had a small group of battle-hardened men."
"If that were the case," Baylee said, "we wouldn't even find Uziraff."
"What is it Uziraff has?"
"The location to a shipwreck that happened during the Flight of the Elves from Myth Drannor," Baylee explained. Then he embellished the story, bringing in all the details of Faimcir Glitterwing that Golsway had told him.
When he finished, Cthulad said, "Evidently the library is guarded by someone with a lot of power. Even if you are able to divine the library's location from something in the shipwreck, there remains that to consider."
"I know," Baylee said. "But I'm working on this expedition only one miracle at a time."
"Perhaps it would be better to ask for help from Waterdeep. They have shown an interest. And I've some knowledge of Lord Piergeiron."
"You know him?" "We've met."
Suspicions filled Baylee's head. Xuxa?
His thoughts are unreadable to me, the azmyth bat responded. But everything I can sense about him and his reasons for joining us are nothing but good and honorable.